Marc in Calif

I've traveled to and lived in Southeast Asia for many decades. I know exactly how things work -- even in the sex tourism industry. I've seen what it once was and what it's become today. Still, it's not "boastfulness" to want to be a somewhat equitable human being when in Asia. Sex tourists have the reputation of Ugly American for a very good reason -- no matter how many massage parlors and go-go bars you visit and how many sex workers you've "had" or "offed." Claiming to be "cheated" as if you're at Harrod's or Macy's is simply laughable when we're talking about such small amounts in our tourist pocketbooks -- wealthy or not. It probably feels cool to be a such a shameless expert in the industry that you classify it according to detailed metrics about massages, parlors, and "codes" for every aspect of a human body. But it's still the sex industry, and it is correctly viewed as ugly. The fact that it exists because of supply and demand doesn't make it a noble enterprise. Yes, most of us take part in it to some degree. We don't have to make each encounter seem like it's an example of a "contract" as described in a microeconomics textbook. So if a newcomer like @revengeboo wants to pay what he wants, nobody needs to call him out on it. He'll figure things out just as you did -- but hopefully not to such an ugly extreme.

Thanks for confirming!

@revengeboo, please excuse and ignore our resident curmudgeon and professional sex tourist @scott456 . He will always tell you that you're paying too much, and he'll encourage you to learn how to be a stingy, greedy complainer just like him. 😇

Exactly right! Those who complain about "high" service fees in third-world countries are perfect examples of stereotypically privleged, spoiled sex tourists. They'll try to bargain instead of pay what amounts to "chump change" in their home cities.

Boo, I posted my comment in direct response to the chronic complainer and know-it-all @Department_Of_Agriculture , who posted a lengthy comment ore than 24 hours ago. He had chastised you for paying too much! And you reacted to his post in the same way I did! 😎

Are they "expats" or actual refugees?

But that means there are bars primarily to find male prostitutes in Israel. There are none.

Where is Dr. @unicorn when we need him?

I hope this doesn't apply to hotel registration desks and lobbies! Will registered guests (and their guests) need a breathalyzer test to go to their rooms? 🤣 Or should I assume that it's just for hotel bars? 🍷🍺

Yet another example of a privileged first-world traveler (who is already paying thousands of dollars/pounds/euros for travel expenses) complaining about what is "chump change" to him but a meaningful amount to the local provider. 🙄

Peter, the caricatures of Russians are marvelous! Is this restaurant still Rusian-owned and managed? I somehow doubt it. Perhaps Moses can tell us if these are accurate depictions of Russians from the 1920s. 🥰

One's post from beginning to end was bitchy. And one did indeed end it "with a genuinely bitchy remark." Was that a lame attempt at sarcasm? It landed l like a turd. 💩

Um, Israel doesn't need gay go-go bars for hooking up with prostitutes. It's not Thailand or Brazil.

I think he will first need to look up the definition of defenestration. 🤡 It's probably a banned word in English -- and even in Russian -- over there in Putin's Dictatorship.

I think that YOU are the one who starts fussing and getting angry when people poke your cherished opinions and clickbait! 🤣 😘 🤣

He craves the attention he gets here, but he doesn't realize that it's mostly mockery. 🤡

I said nothing of the sort, did I? Where did you learn how to read English?

That's because Hamas was crazy enough to attack a state that has received billions of dollars from the United States. It's similar to Russia being crazy enough to attack a state that wasn't afraid to fight back and that had allies that would help.

Do you know what the word manipulatively actually means? I guess not. I said I was comparing. I said nothing about equivalency. I think the Russian habit of propaganda has led you to believe that all facts are "manipulation"! Poor boy. 😰

And a very Happy Hanukkah to you and your people, Moses!

Yes. I was correct. Russians beat and tortured to death an elderly Ukrainian journalist. Don't you believe it? That's sad.

Not at all. I'm free to compare your data with other data elsewhere in the world about athletes killed in war. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend and accept? Can you please show me a forum rule or guideline that mentions and defines the word derail?

And because I'm completely free to comment and compare on any topic/thread on this website, here's another report about journalists killed in war. 17 journalists and media workers have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian Invasion in February 2022, says the Committee to Protect Journalists https://cpj.org/data/killed/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed[]=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed[]=Unconfirmed&type[]=Journalist&type[]=Media Worker&cc_fips[]=UP&start_year=2022&end_year=2023&group_by=year Here are just a few of them: Yevhenii Bal, a 78-year-old writer and journalist, died on April 2, 2022, after three days of severe beatings by Russian forces, according to media reports, a statement by the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists (NUJU) and Bal’s friend Pavlo Kusch, who communicated with CPJ via messaging app and who announced Bal’s death on April 8 in a Facebook post. Oksana Haidar, a 54-year-old Ukrainian journalist and blogger better known under the pseudonym “Ruda Pani,” was killed on or around March 11, 2022, by Russian artillery shelling of the village of Shevchenkove, northeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Vira Hyrych, a journalist for the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service, was killed... on April 28, 2022, when Russian forces shelled a residential apartment building in the Shevchenko district of Kyiv, where Hyrych lived. The attack killed Hyrych and injured at least four people.

Sweetie, I'm sure that this website exists to foster free discussion with very few rules and guidelines. So I am completely free to compare, contrast, and debate any post or comment in any thread. Don't such freedoms exist where you live? 😘

And then there are those who will say, "Oh, I've never experienced any crime there. I know the city and its culture too well." 🙄