hojacat

Well, maybe it's pointless going around naked at SF, NYC, Berlin or Madrid pride cause even if you do it another another day, people won't really get shocked and you wouldn't be much intro trouble anyway. however, I think it's different for Taipei pride. As the Latins used to say: semel in anno licet insanire ("once in a year one is allowed to go crazy") and for the gay population of the biggest continent that place and that day is Taipei pride. It's the day when guys can do stuff, even the wildest one, without having to worry about what others think or being punished for it. Many of my friends in other Asian countries get surprised from the pics I show them of Taipei pride. It's pretty much a relief valve and me and some other people in this forum are happy spectators of it

Glad to see @TotallyOz joining the club of people having a great time in Taiwan and considering it one of the best, if not the best destination in Asia. Both my Western and Asian friends, including Taiwanese themselves, gets always so surprised when I mention how often I visit Taiwan. My short answer has always been: it's the people. Kinda had a similar experience on my last visit to the Beautiful Island. After spending a week in southern Taiwan, I had planned to spend Saturday and Sunday in Taipei. Mostly going to Soi13 and hanging out with some of my friends in there. However, this cute student I first met at the Hi-Men sauna in Kaohsiung and then hanged out twice more during my time in there texted me and said that he missed me and wanted to see me again before I leave. I agreed and offered to pay for his HSR but he said that wasn't necessary. We spent two great days and he even came with me all the way to the airport and said goodbye at the airport security check. Yes, probably would have had more guys and sex if I had spent that weekend by myself, even though he was 100% my type. However, these type of encounters though are much more valuable and memorable than even good sex.

What kind of statement they trying to make? No idea. I would never do it, so can't really imagine what's going on someone's mind that they decide to go out naked on the streets. I would also be a liar If I say that I wouldn't like watching if that person going around naked is a young smooth twink, preferably Asian.

Some pics from the event:

it was a very fun event. The parade stretched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar square. Lots of eyes candies among the people parading and the spectators. There was no one fully or partly naked though, so in a way Taipei pride is more transgressive than the London one. Hard to give an estimate of the audience as people would just look for a while and then go their way. Definitely more than 30K people. Enjoyed the after party events.

On the other hand, isn't Thailand one of the easiest place in Asia to get Prep for free or by paying very little thanks through some sort of royal-family supported schema? most of the guys I meet in Thailand make use of it and say they get it for free. That's in contrast to even much richer places in Asia like Singapore and HK when guys complain that getting Prep is quite expensive and most who use it buy it online, usually from Thailand. Wonder if that has helped push down HIV infection rates in Thailand, which once were one of the highest in Asia?!

I've had guys in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama and Muscat. Most of them either Thai or Filipino, though I had an African guy probably from Madagascar in Doha. Got quite a few hits from locals too but they either don't want to show their face, are too hairy or don't have a good approach when communicating. No question asked when brining guys to your room, though I tend to stay in big international chain hotels. Might be different in smaller hotels. I would suggest you get a local SIM card or use roaming as sometimes the hotel's Wifi block some of the apps. Dubai has definitely the most guys on apps. There is even a Filipino guy living in Dubai that I follow on Twitter. He seems to be pretty busy. I remember in Doha that beside the African and a Thai guy I met this American, in his mid-50s, a physical therapist for the US Athletics team as there was a big Athletics competition in town. He just wanted to give me a massage and then jerk me off. It was actually a pretty good massage. Also in Doha, twice when I was walking out at night, a car stopped by and asked me if I wanted a ride. I kindly declined. Then I remembered that when in college, a Filipino friend told me the same thing had happened to him in Dubai, though this were at a time when apps were still not popular. Seems like that pickup method might still survive in that area, though I think way less than before because of apps.

Soi13 has set the bar too high for any other sauna in Taiwan. If you thought it was good and a busy on a normal weekend, during pride it has almost double the crowd.

Probably around 6-6:30. Don't expect anything like Soi13 though both in terms of facilities and crowd. If you read my post, I went twice there on a Friday and on a Saturday and only on Saturday the crowd was half decent. I don't expect many guys on a Monday, unless they have free entrance for younger guys like some did in HK.

Welcome to the club @12is12

Yeah, even though 357 is great and it's my pesonal top 5 saunas in the world, it's slight far from London 🤣.

I'm going to be in London during the whole pride and was wondering if any of the Londoners in here can suggest the best sauna to go to during that time and by best I mean has crowd that tends to younger guys. I've been to London before but never to a sauna in there. I've only heard of Sweatbox and Pleasuredome before. I'm staying in Soho, so Sweatbox would be the closest. I know they have free entry for guys under 25 on Mondays and Thursdays but does it really attract enough people? The reviews online seem quite mixed. Also, does it have a good Asian crowd considering it's close to Chinatown? A cute twink friend of mine was in London last month and he said that the crowd at Pleasuredome was awful. He and his bf actually enjoyed the Locker Room, a sauna in south London. Has anyone been to any of these?

Wonder who makes up the majority of the clients of African escorts in Bangkok? Locals or foreigners? While I know there are quite a few white escorts, mostly from Russia, Ukraine and other ex Soviet republics in Bangkok and that they mostly target locals or other Asian travelers, it's more difficult to say it about African mbs. I remember showing the Twitter profile of an African escort in BKK to one of my Thai friends in January. He was surprised to know they were African mbs in BKK and said something along the lines of: probably not very popular in here and this is from the same guy that usually hires 2-3 escorts for his birthday parties.

Well, of course but that movie is so famous that I don't think it needs an introduction. I saw it at a very young age when I had no idea who Leslie Chung. I think for a very large part of Western audiences Farewell, My Concubine is the one and only exposure they have to Leslie Chung's talent. Happy Together is little known outside cinephiles circles as most people only know from its director, Wong Kar Wai, his next movie after this In the Mood for Love. They were in their mid-20s but it looks more like a pic of three guys in junior year in high school. After my trip to HK last month, I'm convinced that Hong Kongese have the slimiest and the most petite body shape among the big cities in Greater China, much more so than in Taiwan where lots of guys are kinda obsessed with putting on muscles. I made the same remark to this slim twink I met and hanged out with while in HK. His reply: "Oh we also love muscles, but I guess we work more than Taiwanese, so don't have enough time to hit the gym". It made me chuckle.

Isn't it already available in generic form in some markets? Does it mean that the patent holder, I believe is Eli Lilly, still get royalties even from the generic manufacturers? How about in Thailand? When can you buy Cialis? I know many pharmacies in Silom sell Kamagra, in pill or gel form, but that's actually Sidenafil, so Viagra.

In the US you can get a HPV up to 40 or 45 years old but of course maximum efficacy is reached when the vaccine is administered to a virgin patient. The older the person and the higher the number of partners the efficacy drops considerably as you probably have already been exposed to HPV. They say it still might help though like for example reducing the frequency or the severity of genital warts.

Thanks for this article @PeterRS. It sheds light into a not-so-distant period but that feels light-years from the Hong Kong I've known (just returned from it two weeks ago). Thanks also for mentioning Leslie Cheung. This year runs the 20th anniversary of his tragic death. I'm planning to watch Happy Together one more time on my long-haul flight this week. Just a question, wouldn't have been better to make 5 posts under the same topic, instead of 5 separate ones? In time might get difficult find the different parts.

There are plenty of options where to spend one week near Thailand. It all depends what are you looking for (more boys or giving yourself a break) , how much you want to spend, if you like city or nature, etc. HCMC has a large selection of guys and gay venues (there is this gay sauna that supposed to be really good), the food is great and it's a pretty affordable, definitely cheaper than BKK.

Hep A and B vaccines are recommended in the US for men who have sex with men. Plus, it's a good idea for anyone traveling to Southeast Asia. If you had it before, the doctor can check your antibody levels to see if you need a booster.

Were that company also the host of utopia-asia.com or it's completely unrelated? I remember they were my main source of information for bars, clubs and saunas when I started my travels in Asia around 2009. In the coming years though the advent of social medias and dating apps changed the game completely. The number of sites regarding gay traveling and venues recommendations also seems to have multiplied in the last 10 years or so.

It was because of a naming issue, about which many people felt it had political undertones. As per Wikipedia: Washington DC just came up as an immediate alternative. While I agree that the most natural choice in Taiwan would have been Taipei, sometimes these events are also used for promoting a city in the eyes of the world and not just reaffirming established gay capitals. I mean Kaohsiung has as many gay venue or even more than Copenhagen has, which even though an amazing, tolerant and livable city, it's not probably in the top 10 gay cities in Europe when it comes to nightlife. It was however selected for the World Pride 2021. To be completely honest, I wanted it to be held in Kaohsiung so that I could feast my eyes and hopefully another part of my body in a sea of Asian twinks. There were a good number of them during Sydney pride, both locals and visitors. Most of the tourists though were more from the richer Asian countries like: Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, etc even though I met a guy from Indonesia and another from the Thailand visiting Sydney just for the pride. In terms of visas, cost and time you would definetly get a bigger gathering in Taiwan. I guess for now there is only Taipei Pride and to a certain degree Songran and NYE party in Bangkok for people looking for a large gathering of young Asian gay guys.

They do have sex toys at Donki's in Ximending, Taipei but I didn't see them at the one in Silom. The music at that one though is really loud.

Glad to hear you had one of the few twinks at the Hans Men sauna Peter. Soi13 is great but maybe competition is needed for it to lower the price, though on a second though it's better when all the twinks have only one place to go to, unlike Hong Kong. Much easier fishing them. I'm surprised you don't really go to Soi13 during your trips to Soi13? Correct me if I'm wrong but I have the impression you know some Mandarin which usually helps a lot approaching the guys you like, even with a big age difference. I also noted that there wasn't much activity on Blued when I was in Taipei in January. There were so many guys on Grindr and to a lesser number in Hornet. Didn't try Jack'd.

Such a shame that Kaohsiung was stripped off the right to host the World Pride in 2025. It's a beautiful city and it would had attracted crowds from all over Asia, much more than Sydney did (even though the crowd was amazing there and I had so much in every way). I have been to the last three editions of the world pride (NYC, Copenhagen and Malmo) but not sure if I want to go to the one in Washington DC in 2025, probably will go the one in Amsterdam one year later. Hopefully they assign it to Bangkok in 2028 as I'm sure the crowd will be great but that it still 5 years away.

I went to the Babylon's foams party for Songran a few years ago. Really crowded. there was a line outside to get in. R3 also had foam parties during the same period and I would say they were equally good. The venue at R3 was smaller so there was not much space to move but that made touching guys way easier. Never been to Chakran. I'll be going to BKK next week and might want to check it out. Any day/time you recommend? How often do they their foam parties. If I remember correctly, Babylon's used to have a monthly cadence. Both people in this forum and the reviews I'm reading online say that's not really farang-friendly. What's your personal experience?