mauRICE

And you're giving it another Cher farewell tour, so to speak? 🤔😏

Smoking isn't permitted in the bar. I forgot to mention that they also have ladyboy cabaret, sexy boy shows and B-boys performing. B-boys breakdancing feels somewhat dated now and I've seen better cabaret and sexy boy shows elsewhere.

Vinapu is old school. Only charcoal tablets for him.

Boyz Boyz Boyz is now a host bar. This is not your host bar of Sapan Kwaai yore where the guys sit politely in one corner and can be summoned by a customer for a drink and be taken "off". No, this is a glitzy drinking tabernacle with rows and rows of handsome young men dressed in hip hop style standing on stage at appointed times who can be invited over for a drink (or ten) and help the customer whittle away a few hours and/or drink himself under the table. At BBB, a "boy drink" costs 350 Baht which will buy the customer 20 minutes of his time. So if you'd like a host to sit with you for an hour, you buy him three drinks for 1,050 Baht. By the way, the 350 Baht doesn't come with an actual drink - that is separate as you're expected to open a bottle for the table or buy whatever drink is your preference. The host's job is primarily to keep you company and entertained so that you'll open more bottles and buy him more "boy drinks". The hosts range from middling to hot, 20 to 30 years old, athletic and to my eye, on the taller side (by tall, I mean taller than 170 cm which is quite tall by Thai standards). And yes, they are Thai. Clearly they've been screened by management to suit Thai and other Asian tastes. No malnourished-looking waifs here. The guys don't have number tags yet (something to do with waiting for approval from the authorities) so you'll have to indicate to a mamasan who you'd like to sit with you. A majority of the customers are women but all are welcome. They open from 10 PM until 4 AM but doesn't usually get busy until after the clubs and lady bars have closed.

😱 https://thethaiger.com/news/national/accused-thai-man-defends-himself-against-hiv-spreading-claims

The good news is that younger Thais have embraced health and fitness since Covid like I've never seen before. Gyms are mushrooming everywhere, from 20-baht-a-day municipal gyms to 15,000-baht-a-month "by invitation only" fitness clubs. Plenty of fine, athletic bodies on the streets - and the shorts are getting shorter and tighter.😉 To me this is a welcome development; it's great that they're sweating it off in the gym instead of drinking or drugging themselves to death. As for the veterans in the muscle bars, I reckon few of them were natural bodybuilders; I suspect many were getting jacked on roids and thus haven't aged well or suffering from the long-term side effects of steroid use. I understand that this is quite common among bodybuilders everywhere, not just Thailand.

I guess so but in Thailand the most popular way for farang to go is over the balcony of a Pattaya highrise. 🤷

😯 Are you referring to your eyebrows and the hair in your ears?

😯 OMG! Bangkok Post - Elderly man found dead after group sex with other men https://share.google/h439SWCHzA2tdA20Z Where's Keith?

@durianThanks for the video clip and detailed reply. So the go go bars like Tangmo, My Way, etc are now gone? I like Phuket Town and some of the other beaches on the island but have never taken to Patong.

Yes but at this point it's hearsay. I just heard another one from a Thai immigration lawyer friend: apparently it's now 60 + 30, exit, come back in, another 60 + 7, exit. Total of 157 days in any calendar year. I'd take it all with a bucketful salt for now until the Thai authorities come out with a clear and detailed explanation and even then... There's a lot of money to be lost if these multiple border bounces were to be curtailed and many unhappy pockets of powerful people. The guys in the nightlife industry have got it right: let's wait and see...

5 December is Rama IX's birthday and Father's Day in Thailand. Nightlife venues used to close on this day but I don't think they do that anymore? Perhaps they wanted to give all the (sugar) daddies a chance to spend time with their wards. In any event, it will be nice and cool long weekend in Thailand. Enjoy!

The point of the new rules say that a visitor can't stay in Thailand longer than 90 days in any given year without a valid visa. The visa exemption is a grace offered by the Thai government to genuine travellers and tourists. It's not meant for employment. Coming in and out of Thailand and staying for 60 days each time, multiple times a year would certainly invite suspicion as to the visitor's motives. Incidentally, the original press statement released by the immigration department a few days ago did not discriminate between visitors coming by air and through land checkpoints. There are now rumours circulating that the visa exemption will now be reduced to 30 days for certain nationalities and we may hear about this in the coming week. It's a Sunday I don't want to bother my friends at immigration. They tell me they tend to get the news at the last minute most of the time anyway and with no clear guidelines on how to implement the new policies!

Yes, the complicated pork with rice, usually from a female pig, would have cost you more.

If he's been coming in and out of Thailand this past year using the 60-day visa exemption plus 30-day extension at Thai immigration, he will only get a 7-day extension upon application to tidy up his affairs before leaving according to the new rules. No more 30 days. Presumably he won't be allowed to come in again for another year. 🤷 According to one of my friends at immigration, nationalities and demographics with a dubious track record in Thailand for eg those involved in online scamming (Chinese?), using nominees to front businesses (Chinese, Israelis?) or those with a history of bad behaviour (Indians, Israelis?) will be subjected to the utmost scrutiny.

Atlas Shrugged? 🤷

🙄 Is the pope American? As gay as a 100-baht Christmas tree, dear.

Isn't that Pop from Little House on the Prairie? My sister has the books and the DVD box set.

Weekends are for church?

Cashews with chicken?

8500 USD?

😮 At the same time?

Calling them models is a sales and marketing ploy; I doubt any of them would pass an audition for a fashion shoot or a runway call. I think the "models" receive a stipend for every day they show up at the bar and tips and money garlands for sitting with customers. These may or not be enough to sustain them and some do go with customers for handsome tips. Those gym memberships and supplements cost money you know - not to mention the wife or girlfriend waiting at home! The bar is also a good place to meet well-heeled customers and build up a customer base for outcalls, overseas trips (as escorts), etc. Some of the guys may already have sugar daddies and/or sugar mummies and work at the bar for a bit of fun and extra pocket money.

There's still time for a sex change and a facelift.😏

Is it a gay bar? I've always thought of these venues as places where there are men who entertain - and I would define "entertain" very broadly - and are open to whoever can pay to enter. But let's say they do tout themselves as a gay bar, can't a guy, gay or straight, work there as a dancer or server and have the agency to go with whomever he pleases or choose not to go with anyone at all? Wouldn't that be better than compelling them to go with customers and "underperforming", creating bad blood all around?