hojacat

5 hours ago, vinapu said:

it's why it pays to know , at least rough,  address. Wat Po Lanka in case of Men's resort. But now I guess most drivers know it, it has even soi named after it "Men's resort soi" off the main road National #6

So grab isn't popular in PP or is that tuk-tuk are much cheaper?

2 hours ago, Menaughty said:

is there any sauna or place besides online to hire?

 

any info on this place?

https://www.boysclub21.nl

 

Sauna NZ is actually pretty good. Been there twice on Thursdays (is younger's night). Great facilities and love the bar where you can get a drink after done playing with a guy.

Club church is also a vey popular cruise place. I found it a bit cramped though and the crowd just so-so. 

5 hours ago, floridarob said:

If the receptionist was gay, question probably was , is farang top or bottom....#1 question in the gay world 😝

since we mentioned Myanmar in this topic, one of the guys that spent the night with in Yangon told me later than as he exiting the hotel, someone from the reception called him and said: "Hey, you look good. Can you leave your contact number? We have customers that like young guys. We can give you a call". They were pretty much trying to pimp him out.😁

4 hours ago, reader said:

https://spartacus.gayguide.travel/gaytravelindex.pdf

Frankly this list is just as ridiculous as the others. It puts New Caledonia above Thailand. Nothing against NC (I've actually have visited it). Great for diving with its amazing barrier reef, but way fewer options if you want to explore something smoother than corals🤪.

Also, Angola ranking higher than Japan and Barbados ranking higher than Hong Kong. Maybe it's a list for gay people pursuing a vow of chastity. 

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel/southeast-asia-s-second-largest-economy-receives-19-7-million-foreign-tourists-4773479.html

do you think they will the 40 million tourist target?

6 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

And Myanmar 🇲🇲

 

I think this is mostly because of the internal conflict going on in Myanmar. It doesn't much reflect the petty or street crime in there. I've only  went to Myanmar once, 7 years ago so during their brief "democracy" period, but I remember that it felt really safe, especially considering the level of poverty in there. Remember even Lonely Planet mentioning something along that line. They explained by saying that during the long military junta the punishments were really harsh, even for the pettiest of crime.

6 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

And interesting Manila Philippines 🇵🇭

Well, Manila has definitely more crime than BKK, Phnom Phen, Hanoi or even Jakarta. Remember going there the first time around 15 years ago and making the mistake of staying in Malate/Ermite, having read that it was the gay area. It definitely felty more chaotic, dirty and more dangerous than BKK and PP.

5 hours ago, reader said:

But you have to travel down to #54 to find Thailand, #58 Vietnam, #64 is a tie between Singapore and South Korea, followed by #70 Japan and #84 Cambodia.

 

Obviously, the jury was lacking any rice queen.

15 hours ago, roughjock said:

Would go back to PP, although it’s not as walkable and public transit is also poor.

Yeah, I remember it was kinda difficult crossing main roads in PP. How does Grab work in there btw? Did you have the same issues you encountered in Manila? Or is Passap, that @vinapu is mentioning, a better choice? Can you pay by card with Passap?

15 hours ago, roughjock said:

I found Grindr in PP be very active.

Is Grindr the most active app in Cambodia? In Vietnam for example, HeeSay(ex Blued) has way more profiles than Grindr or Hornet.

I'm a slim top guy in my mid-30s, usually look younger than my age. Have had my fair share of Khmer guys in BKK, the US and a couple even in Europe. I'm quite the fan as they have twinkish looks, great bubble butts and tend to be really smooth.  Do you think I'll get the same reception on the apps in there as in Manila or HCMC (as you himself said getting contacted by 30-40 profiles per day). I should also say that I'm also mostly looking for free sex.

16 hours ago, roughjock said:

Gay saunas and clubs were okay.

I rarely go to any club, bar, gogo bar, etc. Usually the only gay venues I care about are cruising bars and saunas. Now regarding the latter I have read mixed reviews in here. A Thai friend of mine though recommended I go to Paul and Arthur. He said he had lots of fun. 

I also will be there only from Sunday till Friday, as I want to spend the weekend in Singapore (quite the fan of the Keybox sauna in there). So not sure, if it will be the best time to go to a sauna in there.

Sorry for this barrage of questions and I hope people in here don't feel I'm derailing this topic.

5 hours ago, roughjock said:

It hasn’t improved. My local friends said the government has restricted the amount of Grab drivers that can be employed. At certain times I was unable to get a Grab at all. From BGC to Makati for example, at 5-6PM. Tried for 35 minutes. Many times you will wait for an assigned car, then they end up being 15 minutes away. I was selecting 4-seat, 6-seat, taxi AND shared for options too.

Thanks for this piece of information @roughjock Honestly, was the biggest issue during my trip to the Phils, mostly because it was unexpected. It started at the airport where I tried for around 45 minutes and at the end had to queue up for a regular taxi. Pretty frustrating, especially when it happed night time..

Never had this kind of problem  in other countries where Grab is available. I would say Vietnam is probably the best. Never had to wait more than 2 minutes for the car to show up. I was actually thinking of going to Cebu this December, as I have never been in that city. It's choice between Cebu and Phnom Penh, as the last time I was in Cambodia was around 15 years, while I was still in college, so it was before the advent of apps. I was already leaning more towards PP but your info kinda sealed the deal.

5 hours ago, ChristianPFC said:

Now the offerings of Cambodia and Myanmar more than compensate for the effort and expense to get a visa, but starting from zero, visa free countries first for me.

I agree, that's why i mentioned seasoned traveler compared to more sporadic ones. I still think that in light of Thailand extending the visa free period and the number of countries it offers it too and even Indonesia removing the need for a visa on arrival for many countries, the visa policy of Cambodia and Vietnam is pretty shortsighted.

I believe Cambodia still maintains the requirement for a visa because it doesn't want to give up the income that it generates. It can probably be solved by implementing an arrival/departure tax. Vietnam's policy is a bit more peculiar as they allow a good number of European countries to travel without visa but not citizens of the US, Canada, Australia, France which represent quite a big market. I assume is because these countries have large Vietnamese diasporas, including opponents of the ruling party, so the visa is there just to filter out any "agitator".

On 7/17/2024 at 8:07 PM, roughjock said:

Public transit is poor in the city so you will be taking Grab a lot.

Turned out that taking a Grab, at least for me when I was in Manila around 2 years ago, was much more difficult that I was expecting. Lots of times I had to wait 4-5 minutes just to have a car assigned to me and then wait sometimes even 10 minutes for the car to arrive. Around 4-5 times I even got a "All drivers are busy. Retry later" message.

Not sure if the situation is better now but at that made my trip quite

On 7/17/2024 at 8:07 PM, roughjock said:

Most hotels have security/doormen. If you invite anyone over, they will often take the ID of your guest and register them in a log book. When the guest leaves, you will be checked on and made sure you’re okay before the guest is allowed to leave. You can get past this by walking your guest in and out, but if you are nervous of people knowing your business, keep in mind that it’s impossible to be discreet.

I think it's mostly like that in Manila. none of my guests had to go through check-in at the hotel I was staying in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.  It's still more flexible that in some other countries like Vietnam where the check-in at hotels is strictly enforced. In both countries if you want more privacy (maybe because you are bringing 2+ more at the same time) an Airbnb is the best choice.

On 7/17/2024 at 8:07 PM, roughjock said:

As someone who pays for big dicks or muscular builds, I could not find either for free OR paid. 200+ unique profiles messaged me, so it wasn’t due to lack of options.

 

I think the Philippines is more suitable for a top tourist. My main issue with Pinoy guys though is that a good number of them are not as smooth as other Asians. It's true also that they tend to be super clingy. Way more than other guys in SEA.

40 minutes ago, Lucky said:

The original link failed me. Try this:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/16/asia/thailand-bangkok-hotel-poisoning-intl/index.html

Thanks. Looks like Yahoo removed the link. Does anyone know how to embed text from a link in a post? Used to be that when you would paste a link, it would give you the option to automatically paste its content but looks like this new version of WordPress doesn't do that anymore.

56 minutes ago, Travelingguy said:

Usually this sort of thing is due to carbon monoxide.  Usually due to heating which would not be used in Thailand.  But cooking and water heating might use natural gas or propane.

 

I would say that' carbon monoxide poising is the most probable cause. Reminds me of https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/28/americas/sandals-bahamas-resort-deaths-carbon-monoxide-police/index.html. I always thought though that water heating in Thailand is mostly electric, usually through the use of tankless heaters. 

If that is found to be the case, hopefully it pushes hotels to install CO detectors. 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/riddle-six-foreigners-found-dead-151229507.htm

12 hours ago, vinapu said:

on unrelated note - I know quite a few well travelled people who are going only to countries where there's no requirement for visa, missing great destinations like Cambodia or India in process 

Most probably people over 60s that don't have much domestication with online things. Don't think any seasonal traveler under 40s would make a decision just based on visa policy. I mean, Vietnam is still very popular with Americans, Aussie and Canadians even though they have to apply online for a visa.

Have to agree though that some visa websites are not easy to navigate, the photo requirements are ridiculous or they are just plain buggy. Was applying for an Uzbekistan visa around two months ago and got stuck at the photo validation step. Thankfully Reddit came to my help.

6 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

I want to go to 🇲🇾Malaysia 🇲🇾for 7 or 8 days in October 

I can only take a short break because of work 

I was there on a stopover last year in the airport and there was some very sexy indian Malaysian boys working there 🤪 

I know a few of you including Vinapu went there but I can't find the links to Malaysia on here 

I'm a bit concerned though the hotels may not allow joiners from Grindr ?

Maybe an Airbnb may be better 

I guess no gay bars 

 

No problem with guests at hotels in Malaysia. Much better than other places like Vietnam, Indonesia or Philippines were you need the check-in your guests. Plenty of affordable Airbnbs though if you choose to do that.

4 minutes ago, gayinpattaya said:

He certainly took ID cards, and had them sign a model release form. The platforms he publishes on require copies of these under US law. Standard 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements.

I meant he did that with every guy he had sex with, even the ones he didn't record, just to be safe. Of course you need an ID and a release form if you want to publish on OF.

17 minutes ago, gayinpattaya said:

These are the type of crimes that concern me. While I wouldn't question his guilt or innocence, how is it proven that he himself send these files over the internet? Is there a witness? How many people have access to your WIFI network? Reminds one to keep security up.

It would be very easy to frame a crime like this. Not saying someone did. 

I think in his particular case, the FBI arrested a different guy for possession of child pornography. During his confession, he made the name of Austin Wolf and said he was exchanging videos with him. Using his phones, the FBI exchanged more videos with AW and were able to track their destination as the apartment where he lived. I think this was enough evidence for a judge to issue a search warrant for his apartment where they found a SD card containing numerous videos of child pornography including the one with the 10 years old guy mentioned above. 

I think a guy as notorious as Austin Wolf in the gay circles, known for his liking of young twinks, would have to worry more about being framed by the guys he had sex with than by authorities. Easy for a 16 or 17 years old guy to induce to meet him and then blackmail him later. He probably checked the ID and even probably took a pic of it for every guy he had sex with, but even that might not be enough as most IDs can be faked quite easily.

I think what made this news quite surprising and generated so much buzz online, beside the hideous nature of the charges brought against him, is the fact that it happened to a guy who could pretty much had almost any twink in this world and in most cases even make money out of having sex with them. 

I actually saw Austin Wolf at a big orgy in LA around three weeks before he got arrested. He probably had sex with 6-8 guys that night. Every time I got a peek of him, there was a circle of young twinks around him when he was having sex, ready to go next with him. You would think these kind of guys won't feel the need to watch any kind of porn.

As this athletic young British guy in BKK told me around 2 years ago after we were done sharing a local twink: Since moving to Thailand, kinda forgot what masturbation is" (he was really successful with the local crowd).

On 7/6/2024 at 4:11 PM, Keithambrose said:

I must say that I think that Thailand is one of the safest countries  to visit. Though simple precautions,  dressing down, no Posh watches (unless you are a Cabinet Minister), etc, are always sensible. Wandering about, late at night, I have never felt  threatened. 

It's not only Thailand and Bangkok. Pretty much most of the cities in East and partly in Southeast Asia ( Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Busan, Taipei, HK, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Singapore, etc) are much safer than cities of similar size in Europe and definitely in North and South America. It's personally one of the main reasons (right behind of of course the hot boys) why it's my favorite region in the world. You can enjoy everything a big city has to offer without worrying about petty crime.

 https://www.advocate.com/news/austin-wolf-arrested-child-pornography

On 6/21/2024 at 9:07 PM, reader said:

Schengen-style, visa-free travel in practice means seamless travel through the signatory countries without the burden of undue passport inspection. The concept creates a much more welcoming environment for tourists by simplifying the multi-entry process by air, sea and land. Given the hesitancy of ASEAN in agreeing any major policy changes and its history of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of member states, a joint visa plan by Thailand and her neighbors remains a worthy dream under discussion since 2010. ASEAN will sleep on it.

It's not very clear from this article that when they mention a Schengen-type visa, are they just talking about a visa that allows you to enter in any of the ASEAN countries or they are talking about no border controls among ASEAN members by land, sea or air?!

If it's the former, I don't see much benefits for most of the members of this forum, maybe only being able to stay up to 90 days in places like: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos or Thailand where now you can only stay up to 30 0r 60 days.

If it's the latter then the people more happy about it will actually be the citizens of the poorer ASEAN countries like: Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos as it will make it way more easier to work (although illegally) in the richer ASEAN countries like Singapore and Brunei, or even Malaysia and Thailand. Honestly, don't really see that happening anytime soon.

Even in Europe poorer countries like Romania or Bulgaria only joined the Schengen area much later and after strong opposition, even though they had been EU members for a while. I can't imagine Singapore letting anyone from Myanmar or Laos pouring in their city without any checks.

It will be so great if you would only need two shots for the whole as your Prep treatment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/20/gilead-prep-lenacapavir-succeeds-in-phase-3-trial.html

11 hours ago, reader said:

Those are valid concerns. After retirement, my visits became longer (30 and now 60 days), Airbnb’s became more economical and practical. Since my regular guy is my only overnight guest, shared housekeeping chores are not an issue. 

Only use units that have washer in room. And luckily found super attentive agent who takes care of maintenance issues quickly.

But for most visitors hotels are the option of choice. Finding suitable ones should be simple because so many members have reported their experiences on forum.

There are definitely places and occasions where staying in Airbnbs makes more sense. Personally, it's a must when I visit Vietnam (because of their strict check-in policy) and definitely recommended for the Philippines and even Indonesia.

The longest I usually stay in Thailand is three weeks and so hotels work better for me. Kinda love coming after lunch and seeing the room all in order after the craziness of evenings and mornings.

On 6/17/2024 at 8:23 PM, Olddaddy said:

My next trip to Manila will be a short 8 nights.

I'm tossing up between a hotel or Airbnb 

Obviously hotel will be a little more expensive though just a few hundred dollars more .

There are positives & negatives to both.

What's your experience of this if you have stayed in both?

Beside the usual drawbacks of using an Airbnb like sometimes complicated check-in/check-out instructions, slow response if something is not working, etc I feel like the biggest drawback of using an Airbnb in places where you are expecting a high volume of in-bed activity (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Phili, etc) is the lack of daily housekeeping.

Personally, I can't imagine sleeping in the same bedsheets for 8 days in southeast Asia. Even if you or the guy(s) are super clean, just the sweat that eventually  ends up in the sheets during that time period would make it a very unpleasant and unhygienic place to sleep.

Some hosts offer a housekeeping service every x number of days, usually with an extra charge. It's something you should definitely look at if you plan to go through the Airbnb route.

32 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

Could be, housing in Sydney is very expensive.  I didn't get that feeling about Toronto  when I was there in April.

Though Sydney is definitely more expensive than Toronto in most categories, I think it's the favorable exchange rate between USD/CAD that makes feel like Toronto is affordable and Sydney is not too bad when visiting those places. For locals though, it's a different story.