hojacat

The address is: No. 17, Quanyuan Road, Beitou District, Taipei City, exit 1 of Xinbeitou MRT. I think the entrance fee was just 250, if I remember correctly. Of course it's an American company. You can download either in Thailand or Taiwan. it will use the same language as set up in your Google Play or iOS app store. That's what just my friend has told me. I've only been to emperor twice. I usually go to hot springs when I'm in Taiwan in January and/or March, other times is kinda too hot for me to go to a hot spring. I'm usually a more "straight-to-the-point" type of a guy, so going to a place where I have to wonder if one is gay or not, if it's an appropriate time to touch him or not, ends up being annoying and even a bit boring. I know though that for a lot of people that's what all the thrill is about. I much prefer going to an explicit gay sauna, which I only judge it by the size, age and quality of the crowd that attracts. it's true that same gay saunas have also good facilities, but that's more of an afterthought. Going to the right day and time on soi13 provides a high number of hot twink bodies which you can see, hear and feel right away. If I'm going to a hot spring or spa to relax that the cleanliness and comfort of the facilities is the number one criteria and based on that there is much better both in Beitou and Taipei in general than Emperor, so I usually go to other ones.

what's the check in like and are they ok with guests?

Just take an Uber, at least on your way back. it's never more than 300NTD. According to my friend who goes there often, the best time to go is actually Thursday night, even more than on a weekend. I also would recommend another place called Shan Yue Hot Spring which is 2 minutes walk from XinBeitou station. I think it's popular with gays on Friday and Saturday nights. I went on a Friday night with a Taiwanese friend. Would suggest going around 8-8:30pm. Most of the action actually happens after 10 when the place doesn't accept new customers but the one already present can stay. It's more like an hotel with a man-made sauna but the crowd is really hot, like 90 percent all twinks and jocks between 20-35. I was the only westerner. Didn't play because we left around 9:30 but got the line of one guy which I met later at my hotel and also a guy I hit up later on Grindr told me that he had seen me there. It's not exclusively gay, but they are at least 3/4 of the customers in there.

I have stayed a few times with the last being just in March at an Airbnb in HCMC called Soho Hotel and Residencies. It's a high rise near the walking street. I would say around 50 percent of the building is occupied with short-term guests. You can book through Airbnb, Bookings, Agoda or they even have their own website. I think based on where you book you might even have daily cleaning included. I have booked through Airbnb, so never got it but I have seen the cleaning lady going into some rooms. Think next time might ask the host if they can provide it cause after just the third night my bedsheets show the signs of the high activity level I have on my bed. Checking in has always been super easy. Just walk in straight to the mailbox, get the elevator key and then use a code provided for the apartment's door. Never had to check in or register any of my guests and I have brought people over pretty much every hour of the day or night, from 8:00am-5:00am. they even have free parking, which is pretty useful. I usually book a studio apartment, but it's quite spacious, offers great views and even has a washing machine. I hope that because it's registered also as an hotel they will continue operating in the same way. I don't really wanna use an hotel again in HCMC or Vietnam for that matter. The boutique ones are not that good and the one from international chains have too many restrictions when it comes to guests. In Phnom Phen have used kinda the same type of place the last three times. It's called M residences. It's a high rise and they offer both short-term and long-term apartments. There also have never had an issues with bringing guys at my place. As for Bangkok, I only did it three times in late 2019 and early 2020. I stayed at this place called Klass Silom. As mentioned in here, you had to go through the garage to get in as the front gate would open only by scanning your fingerprints. During the check-in you would had to wait for someone to go in so you could get inside and then get the key in the mailbox. I remember the last time, even the garage was not accessible anymore, so you actually had to wait each time for someone to get in through the main gate so you could also sneak in. Needless to say, that was my last time in there as hotel rates also were quite cheap once Bangkok reopened after Covid. Now though as rates keep going up, I wouldn't mind exploring again the possibility of staying at an Airbnb. Does anyone have any good recommendation for places at Silom?

Yeah, I just discovered it by chance on libgenesis. if anyone is interested reading the book they can message me directly and I can provide the link for downloading the book for free. I'm sure you and others who have lived those years would also find interesting the chapters about Thailand and Japan, the other two Asian countries he covers in that book. Personally I also found amusing his chapter about Montevideo, which is a city I plan to visit this August. Was his English name Sam Sasha by any chance? The author mentions meeting this guy called by that name, who had studied at the University of Texas and in Germany and who had written a book called 25 questions about homosexuality and another one that was a compilation of Chinese historical documents about same-sex love, but never provides the name of the latter book. Yes and I think for the better. I belong to another generation so have known only the HK of the last 10 years but reading that book didn't match the impression of some people in here of how good the old times in HK were compared to nowadays. Honestly, I'm quite happy to be able to discover HK and other Asian cities during these times compared to 30-40, or I would say even 20 years ago.

I was just reading last week this book called "Out in the World: Gay and Lesbian Life from Buenos Aires to Bangkok" by Neil Miller where he covers different countries in 6 continents. It's not really a travel guide but each reads more like a magazine report about gay life and community in each country. The book was published in 1992, so is definitely outdated but it contains some interesting historical information and descriptions. Tbh, his chapter about HK has a bit of gloomy tone. He mentions the two establishments you quote: Disco Disco (who he claims that people just call it "the disco") and Waltzing Matilda (same as you he mentions the bar was of dubious character and that it attracts teenage gangs and their girlfriends). He also mentions another bar called the Dateline (and which is called just "the bar") around the corner of the Disco. According to him, the bar tends to be quite segregated between Chinese and Westerners. Here, he meets Julian Chan who he claims is the most important and probably the only gay activist in HK. He is the founder of the Ten Percent Club, the only gay club in HK. He mentions the same guy again when the author visits Bangkok for the Third Asian Lesbian and Gay Conference. A letter written by Julian informs the participants about the decriminalization of homosexuality in HK. The vote he says was 31-13. The chapter of HK ends with him visiting a public lavatory known as a gay cruise spot where he sees a guy he had a long conversation only 30 minutes before but who pretends not to know him. "If you want to understand gay life in HK, this is where you will find it" the author was told about public lavatories where gay man cruised and had sex. Yes, that's what I mention in my post but some of those bars might be worth checking like the one with free cocktail nights. if anyone is interested about recent reviews of gay saunas in HK, they can read my older posts in here. I go in great details on what day and time to go and what's the main crowd on each of them My favorite remains Hutong.

I'm more curious with they mean by BJB? I wonder if they will charge extra for the private rooms. They are definitely trying to attract with that so called relaxation room (seen by the end of that TikTok video) the crowd of local guys living far from Silom who are looking for a place to crash on weekends after partying at DJ, GOD and Rush.

Btw, is phone snatching really a problem in PP? I first heard it from A Japanese friend this January while I was telling him I had a better time that expected in PP in December and planned to go again there by the end of the month. He mentioned that PP is quite famous phone snatching and that the police usually just let it go. I was quite surprised because it felt very safe both times in PP. I always thought that among the big cities in Southeast Asia this kind of things happen only in HCMC or Manila. Is there any particular area that needs to be avoided in PP?

600baht on a normal weekend night is a pretty steep price. I think it will make it the most expensive in Bangkok (even more expensive than Keybox in Singapore). Mania charges that only during Songran and White Party nights. If it doesn't offer a lower price to locals, like most saunas in Bangkok do, it will almost exclusively be populated with tourists and judging from their name and poster they are going for the Chinese crowd, which is not an easy one to win over. Good facilities by itself won't cut it. It has to at least throw nightly events combined with a good pool of sexy performers that interact with the crowd like Mania, R3, Chakran and Krubb do. Will be curious to see the length of the crowd in Mania this Songran compared with the massive one last year.

or you can go for an Airbnb, especially in PP. There plenty of new towers in there to choose from, and some of them even offer daily housekeeping service, which resolves one of the weakest points of choosing an Airbnb imo (it feels so good to have new sheets and towels when you get back from lunch after having fun with a local twink). Never had any questions asked about bringing visitors and I had guys come and go from my room even at 3-4 AM and sometimes more than one guy at the same time😃

https://www.fastcompany.com/91298370/fda-poppers-crackdow-double-scorpio-stops-operations Maybe some people on this site might better start stocking up on poppers. Personally, as a top, I never use and really don't like the smell but they do make a good gift for some of my regular guys in Thailand and Cambodia. Good to have them also while traveling in Japan and Korea cause as far as I know they don't sell them n there and some guys won't meet a foreigner without using poppers as they claim it's too painful🤪.

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/property/hcmc-bans-airbnb-like-short-term-lease-of-residential-apartments-4856470.html Wonder how strict they are going to enforce it, even though the one I usually stay at when in HCMC is both an hotel and apartment, so might escape the ban. If they are really serious in enforcing it , I'm sure it will keep some people away from visiting.

Well, Lunar New Year is not really a great time to visit any city as a tourist in Greater China or even Vietnam as most of the places are closed and people like to hang out with family. FLM is probably the most foreign friendly bar in HK. Usually that's where local guys take their foreign "date" to or go there to find one. There is an entrance fee after a certain hour. The bars around Causeway Bay are much more sticky rice. If one really wants to go though, I would suggest a place called Vibranium. It offers free cocktails on Wednesday from 9-11PM. Even though has the priciest entrance fee in Asia (260HKD which makes it more expensive even to London or Paris) still remains one of the best even after so many years. The facilities are well-kept, pretty clean and the crowd, if you got on the right days and time, is pretty sexy. I have posted a few reviews about that place under this topic. True, it continues to have a sizable and ardent presence of potato queens. I know there are quite a few old-timers in here that have spent part of their life in HK so can give a better historical perspective. I'm younger and my first visit was only in 2014 ( quite the year the with the umbrella "revolution" going on) so maybe it's true that the city has changed for the worse, though I feel it's more the case of other Asian cities getting much better and now competing with HK in a lot of things that made HK unique in the 70s-80s and even 90s. Personally I visit at least twice a year for usually a 4-5 days period each time. Between restaurants (it still has an amazing culinary scene and not just for Cantonese cuisine), hiking, M+ exhibitions, cocktail bar with friends, Hutong and guys from apps, it always ends up being a great time.

Well, considering the safety level on the first two places you mentioned, it's almost understandable they have to do that. In Vietnam on the hand, it's just outdated bureaucratic manners. Luckily Airbnb exists, so I can enjoy the company of Viet guys at any given hour without having to worry about the judgement of a front desk.

That's not bad at all.

Thanks @floridarob Sounds more like what I experienced in the Philippines where it depended on the hotel and sometimes even on the time of the day. I think Vietnam is still the strictest when it comes to hotel guests.

Thanks @Moses Was the wait at the airport for the car to arrive long ? Looks like Grab has moved into this meeting-point model in all the airports it operates. The one at BKK though it's so poorly run and the wait is quite long. Luckily I learnt my lesson and now only order Bolt and take the car on the 4th floor when I land ion there. It has been pretty and fast though in other places like Cambodia and Vietnam.

Planning to return to Bali after almost 10 years and have a few practical questions that hopefully some people here can help me with: Is Grab or any other ridesharing app easily available in Bali? Remember reading 1-2 years ago about taxi drivers protesting the presence of Grab in there. Can you order a Grab straight from the airport? I remember guys had no problems going straight to my room but all of them had to register at reception. Some asked for my first and last name and what surprised me at that time, a few of them knew my name and nationality even though I had given them only my room number, so I guess they were provided to them by reception when they registered. Do you think is better to pick up guys straight from the lobby as I don't want to give them my credentials? Do they have to register if you are with them? Are there any proper gay saunas in Bali? I've heard of Elegantz in here but that sounds more like a massage place to me (plus someone mentioned that it got busted by police a few months ago)

Talking about drugs, I recommend these mid-length Taiwanese film about drug use in Taipei's gay community (a city that from what I have heard the drug use in its gay community has epidemic proportions) The actors are really sexy. Personally, I never done any drugs, including weed even though it's legal where I reside. I have been though to several group actions in different parts of Asia, Europe and N. America where people were consuming hard drugs, mostly the ones mentioned by @simcity in his post. To be honest, the quality of sex has always been pretty mediocre in those kind of situations. The guys just can't concentrate and seem more preoccupied with their drug or going through their phone that what you actually doing with them and then there is always that smell of strong chemicals in the air that hits you as soon as you enter the place where people are consuming it. My strategy is usually just looking for the guy I like the most, try to finish quickly with him and then pretty much just leave. It's very difficult holding a rational conversation with a bunch of people in that state.

how many guys do you think where at A and P at around 9pm? sorry if I'm insisting too much.

Can you please elaborate more about your experience about saunas in PP? Like how many people at peak hour in A&R? Are there cabins you can play in or most of the action happens in the open and that's why it needs to be dark? I just returned this past November in PP after a 15 years time distance from my first visit. Found a city with many more towers (don't remember any last time) and much more Chinese presence. Luckily with also many more apps to use. First for transportation, mostly tukTuk on Grab as I could pay with my CC (not sure if PassApp is cash only) and second for boys through Grindr/hornet. In the 5 days that I was there averaged around 2 per day, though had 4 guys one of the days. However, I didn't get to go to any sauna, as I was there during weekdays so thought might not be worth going. Heading again for another 5 days at the end of this month and I definitely wanna try them this time. Which one of those two you recommend for a guy that likes young twinks?

it's a multi-nights event (I think 4-5). Each night there is a different theme and the night before the last, is called the white night as you are expected to wear all white. It kinda gives the name to the whole event, that's why it's also called the main event. The conclusive night is always on NYE with a cool countdown. The scenes from that video are a mix from all the nights. I went to only one night and saw some of them, but other scenes definitely happened some other night. So, it's not strictly the countdown.

I don't know. Maybe they feel people would be tired on the last day but the main event (actually called white party) is always the night before NYE.

Same as last year. Just the main one.

I only went to the main party (the one you have to wear white) which is usually the day before NYE. My friends that went on that night said the the only good moment was the countdown and after that it got quite boring and most people start leaving including them.