mauRICE

A snippet from last night's Valentine's Day show. moonlightvalentine'sday.mp4

What joke? I was hoping that @Keithambrose would pick up on the famous nervous shock case of Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (1991) that arose from the Hillsborough disaster where the House of Lords ruled that relatives watching the events on television or hearing about them did not satisfy the criteria for being secondary victims. Torts was my favourite subject and @Keithambrose has a pithy way of walking us down memory lane with his vast legal knowledge.

Oh dear, not another Hillsborough waiting to happen, I hope. Thankfully cricket fans tend to be more subdued than football fans.

There used to be a social group there called the Barmy Army. I wonder if they still exist. It was said that they were among the original balloon chasers although I'm not sure how far this was true. Wasn't there a bar or restaurant in Silom Soi 2 that was popular with the older set? One evening my friends and I were too early for G.O.D. which was next door to it and we decided to drop in for a tipple and some finger food and had all the eyes in the restaurant leering at us. It was quite creepy. Of course, this was around fifteen years ago when we were relatively young ourselves. I think it was called Robert's, Dick's or something (but not Dick's Cafe).

Leaving you to reach for your smelling salts, safely tucked away in your lace handkerchief? 😏 Not sure how being a busy bar justifies having an attitude as you say... I've been to many establishments which many would describe as top end and one of the main reasons why they are deemed top end is because of their humble and accommodating staff and how they're able to make every patron feel special.

Thanks for your response, @hank75. For the record, I wasn't the one asking but @zombie, based on what he had heard from "a source in another bar". I mentioned you as you seemed familiar with Jupiter. I hadn't been to Jupiter for a long time as the last time I went, I found the offerings on display didn't commensurate with their attitude. I've had much better service and met fresh, humble, non-jaded, and to my eye much better looking guys at Thai-style places. And until I saw Joey recently, I've practically lost all interest in Patpong. Honestly I would find the back-and-forth negotiations tiresome but I understand and accept the transactional nature of the business. And where are these stunners that people speak of? I regularly receive Jupiter's promotional material and catwalk videos in my social media feeds and would be hardpressed to call anyone there a stunner and at least half a dozen of them are faces I recognise from different venues in the country ten years ago! Again, I accept that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Thailand has no shortage of attractive men and women, and in my experience, most of them are not in the bars, at least not the ones in Patpong or Pattaya. Simply go on the BTS for a quick hard on! At the gyms I go to (I move around), a handsome, athletic, student-type from a humble background would be thrilled at getting 2,000 Baht for a couple of hours of his time. Of course the trick is knowing who to approach and how to approach them and it wouldn't be an immediate or guaranteed bang. These guys are often genuine - and you'd have to be genuine too and be seriously interested in them as human beings to get a response. I've established quite a few long-term friendships this way over the years. None of that attitude one could expect from a crusty prostitute. I know this isn't a fair comparison but I just wanted to give a bit of a perspective as to why I'm often incredulous at the shennanigans that you guys are willing to put up with in Patpong.

Safe travels, @jimmie50. ✌️🫶

Perhaps a guy just trying his luck or a very popular guy who thinks he's worth that much? Or it's the guy's "polite" way of giving the customer the brush off? @hank75 might have some insights and I believe @spoon also had a negative experience there recently.

...and the world breathes a collective sigh of relief.

Glad to hear you had a good trip, vin. Safe journey home and looking forward to reading your trip report of a thousand likes, if not licks. 😉🫶🙏🏻

The very lovely and very American Kristy Gnome:

You're overqualified for Jomtien Complex; you don't need a personality to go there...or a pulse for that matter!

I initially read this as "something in heels" which wouldn't be far off with these guys.

Says the avid collector of exotic stamps. 🙄

I thought of you when I read the news @jimmie50 and I don't think you'll be affected. As @floridarob says, it's still being discussed and my guess is it'll only be implemented after Songkran, the start of the low leason.

As far as I know, the opening was announced on Facebook, not on YouTube. https://www.facebook.com/people/White-Cat-BAR/61570325579094/

Joey 😉

Thanks for the quick and positive report, vin. I hope to see this new venue survive and succeed too. I hadn't been to the old Atlas but I'll drop by the White Cat when I'm in Bangkok next month. I don't understand why some people seem determined to trash and mock new venues even before they're open or are facing teething problems if they already are. Pay them a visit at least before making some kind of assessment. There may be problems which we, as outsiders, cannot see or fathom in the unique Thai nightlife business, legal and social culture and upon which applying western business models as a framework for analysis may not be the most instructive or constructive. Until I read forums like this one, I've barely felt the changes in the nightlife industry. I know there've been plenty but I've always gone with the flow and adapted to the changes bit by bit not only in the nightlife industry but more importantly in the wider Thai society itself, as I myself have changed in the last twenty years. I think this ability and willingness to acknowledge that I'm no longer the naive, non-Thai-speaking twentysomething who first visited "gay Thailand" two decades ago is why I rarely have anything to gripe or pontificate about. Even if all the bars and massage parlours were to close tomorrow, I'd still go to Thailand knowing that I'm going to feel, if not very happy, then at the very least very much contented. 🙏🏻

Well, not quite... Whose tight side should we be focussing on? I can't imagine any of our forum members having a tight side left. 😏

@mima_bk's arms aren't long enough.

😂🤣😅 Ohh you're precious. Thanks for the good laugh - what a great way to start the morning. You have a good one too!

There's a huge, upmarket "super club" by that name which opened in December last year in Huay Kwang, Bangkok.

A thousand apologies, Memsahib, but today is my day off (wobbles head).

Olddaddy gives new meaning to the concept of "brain drain" and it is continuing.