vaughn

My favourite restaurant from my very limited time in Pattaya is Pupen Seafood South of Jomtien, it has a really big menu with thai, chinese and other styles of seafood. It is on the expensive side but everything i had there was great. https://g.page/pupenseafood?share (google maps link).

I'm probably 95% into guys, and 5% into women. I generally prefer guys who are slim-toned and on the twink-ish side, but i have never been with a ladyboy. I have been considering exploring nana plaza and soi cowboy when i return to bangkok just to test the waters, but it will be hard to pull me away from the allure of the boy bars.. maybe i will find a forum member who is around at the same time to get some backup on that mission haha

I think there is some contractual issues with AstraZeneca that France and Italy are using to keep the vaccines that were destined for Australia, i'm not really sure of the specifics to be honest. Australia are going to be locally producing the Astra vaccine at our own production facilities so i don't think it will significantly impact us, but it might add some delays to our vaccine roll out.

Life in Asutralia is mostly back to normal, with the exception of no intl' travel. Bars are open, and large gatherings and events are starting again. Mardi Gras in Sydney this weekend went ahead, but in a more limited format and a little less of a party vibe. We had a few outbreaks in 2020 where we went into lockdown with travel restricted between states/regions, people mostly followed the rules, and with quarantine for inbound travelers we managed to avoid widespread issues that a lot of other countries had. Our issue is now that countries supplying the vaccine are withholding our supply because we are not in as dire a need, kind of understandable but still a bit frustrating to be penalized for doing things right.

I dream of the day i can complete option 1, but i'll settle for 3 haha. Thanks for the info

One question I have is what will be the requirements for the members only area? Will it be based on approval after X number of posts or is there some other criteria? Thanks for the update.

Yeah it seems like they made some wrong turns from owning an apartment and by the sounds of it living a fairly comfortable life to where they are now. I am curious about what the catalyst was that got them to this point as well, i would usually assume drugs or medical issues but i guess a low pension and living beyond your means for long enough would do it as well. As you don't end up having to deal with two squatters who won't leave.

That is a really bad situation for them, and my greatest fear for when i (hopefully) retire to Thailand in the future. It sounds like a combination of poor money management, some bad luck, and a reluctance to help themselves. They need to find a way to get accommodation in their home country and take up the embassy on their offer before they become homeless, that will turn their situation from terrible to unbearable for the remainder of their life. Under no circumstances should you allow them to stay with you when they are evicted, that call from them is inevitable and will be the most difficult to turn down, but given their refusal to leave the rental it would be a very bad move for you. I hope the situation works out, and you're a kind soul to help them as much as you have.

Interesting video. I already use HA serum in my skin care, i alternate between HA and a vitamin C serum. I was recommended it by a friend who is a dermatologist, i just follow his advice with no knowledge on the science (i trust him not to give me bad advice and ruin my face haha). Even with my simple regime i've noticed really good results, following it morning and night for 6 months so far: 1. cleanse with a good face cleanser, dove sensitive skin soap is a cheap option that works well, 2. a couple of drops of serum on dry skin, I alternate HA and a vitamin C serum for morning. The brand 'The Ordinary' makes great reasonably priced options, 3. moisturize with a light non-oily moisturizer, 4. Sunscreen, this is a must every day to prevent damage from sun and pollutants, something light and non-oily. I like 'La Roche-Posay' because it is anti-shine and non-perfumed. I went down a path of buying the expensive brands for a while, but i honestly didn't see any benefits over the cheaper brands like The Ordinary

That's fair, i agree there are times it can be our own expectations that spoil it for ourselves, or our mood at the time etc. The gamble is really just my outlook towards finding boys and performance. I don't worry too much if there are a few duds, i go into it knowing that there are no gaurentees.

I would say from my experience the second time the service is often better, mostly because i will only repeat if there is chemistry, and there is less time needed to work out what our preferences are in bed so exploring new things becomes easier. That being said, i've had a repeat turn out to be a dud on the second or third encounter a bunch of times. It's always a gamble, you win some you lose some.

I'm sorry to hear the loss of your friend, and a member of the community. Rest in peace Firecat.

There is no timeline set for any return to mass tourism (without hotel quarantine) yet, it is unlikely that individual traveler vaccination status will change that in the short term. The vaccine effectiveness against transmission is still unknown, these vaccines have been developed to prevent severe disease. Until we get health data analysis back from the next few months of vaccine rollout, we will not know the true real world effect on infection and mortality rates for vaccinated populations. When we start to see the results coming back in to public health surveillance networks and risk models have been applied by governments, then it is likely we will start to hear information about timelines for return to tourism. Maybe the vaccines will be extremely effective with plummeting infection and mortality rates. Maybe vaccine effectiveness is moderate and we are stuck with some retention of COVID controls. Maybe we have mutations that lead to vaccine escape variants and we get hit with a whole new world of pain. The good news is we are potentially much closer than we could have ever expected to be at this point in time, i hope we are on the home stretch to getting this under control.

What a difference a year can make. I was in Boyztown and Jomtien last NYE.. admittedly Jomtien still only had about 15-20 customers that i saw at 9pm, but BT was pretty packed and walking street was just chaos. I hope Sunnee holds on long enough for me to finally visit. Thanks for the report z909! Happy new year everyone, hopefully 2021 brings better news for us all to make Bangkok and Patts mission possible again.

I've had money in cryptocurrencies since about 2012, made a few mistakes selling early and re-buying too high. I would be a multi-millionaire if I had of just held on to it all, but hindsight is 20-20 as they say. BTC and XMR are the only two i hold onto now, It's an interesting investment/gamble, but very high risk.

Sweden being in that list is interesting, after i have returned to LOS to confirm this for them, i might need to venture over to Sweden in the future to uhhh investigate these claims :)

I love a good spy novel, added to my reading list! RIP

I do share the same fears, but I try to stay optimistic, with change comes opportunity. we might return to a skeleton of what was once the best location in the world for our interests, but there will be demand and i'm sure lots of tourist money waiting to be spent. When those borders open and tourists can flock back in, there is going to be a mad rush, i predict hotels booked to capacity and prices going pretty high with that initial demand. I wasn't around when Soi Twilight went through it's shutdown, but i assume many of the same fears were around at that time.. some will close, some will move, and in this case some will hold on for dear life until the return of the market.

I've only been to Thailand once, but I haven't found anywhere quite like it with gogos and host bars. I have had good experiences in Hong Kong, Macau, and Shanghai but the boys all work through the apps (grindr, blued etc), price is fairly comparable but the age old problem of the picture matching who turns up is still an issue. Accommodation and overall travel costs were higher than Thailand, especially HK. I'm planning to wait for Thailand to open before i go overseas again for a holiday, but I am curious about Prague and Kiev as destinations in the future.

Climate may play a small role, but i think it much more likely that the results of their low transmission rates comes down to acceptance of rules imposed on the public, and previous experience with epidemics like SARS et al. I'm no expert on SEA politics and cultures, but i don't really hear of people in Bangkok trying to fight a Walmart employee for asking them to wear a mask for example.

I didn't know that, but it should be ok, i'll be sure to find some entertainment for a dry night

I was waiting to see how this all unfolds over the past few weeks, but today i made the call to reschedule my trip, mostly due to the risk of quarantine because my flights transit Hong Kong. Thankfully Cathay Pacific allow a free booking reschedule and i didn't pre-pay at Le Meridian so I have re-booked for June, hopefully things are a little more settled by then but I will have to wait for another year to see Songkran.

I might take grab some cheap shirts and shorts, at least that way I can just ditch them in the bin at the hotel rather than ruining clothes i like.. I can see how it'd get annoying for expats that have it going on every year though, it might lose it's appeal after a few years haha.

That's definitely on the list for my next Pattaya visit! I appreciate all of the suggestions, great info thank you! I agree, wasn't much of a problem with N, he was pretty good at taking a hint when i wasn't interested in going to certain places. There was one moment where i got confused on the night we went to see his friend he said "where you go now" which i thought he meant he wanted to go off alone, I was initially a bit annoyed thinking I'd paid for him to come and he was going to run off with a friend... I ended up saying "uhh what, where you go now?" and he replied "up to you".. then it clicked he meant "where DO you want to go now" haha. I'm 31, and happy to see how it goes. I'm not a massive fan of getting soaked all day and night but when in Rome.. I'll join the party and have some fun. I'm a pretty easy going sort of guy, so even if I'm not enjoying it at the time I'll be able to find somewhere to make my own fun, but i have a feeling I'll love it even just for the experience.

Thanks Is Songkran really bad? are the bars still open for business during that holiday? it is right in the middle of my stay. I saw a few youtube videos etc, I figured it might be interesting to see.. hopefully i don't regret it.