aaroninatl

It's one of the things I love to do in big cities. I biked through Times Square a couple years ago... such a rush. But yeah, I'm with you. The streets are so narrow here. And the sidewalks are so cluttered so pedestrians have to walk in the street often. Maybe a bike ride through Lumphini when I get back to Bangkok would be fun. BTW great review @Zaffran !

No idea on that. The attraction to Hua Him and De Nang was pretty much the same.. cost of living. Being near the ocean was a nice perk too. Watched countless videos online from expats who moved to all these places. Those 2 just didn't make my final list. But when I am based here, they'll be easy to explore and relocate to if I like 'em.

Haha you're not far off... it's nothing too off the wall, but yeah when I find that a dancer/performer/escort etc is straight, I usually stop first and give them the option... we can move forward with messing around, a massage, or whatever they usually offer and have my kind of fun instead. I always tell them (usually via Google Translate) that I have lots of respect for doing what they do. I didn't come out until my mid 20s. Before that it was girls... and I'm not bi. So I can relate pretty well to straight guys who are in the predicament of having to be with guys... let alone wrinkly old men. lol If we ever get the chance to hang in person, and I hope that happens, I'll share more of my wacky life and stories. This morning, I'm off to the dentist. 1000 to 1500 baht for a cleaning... gotta love that price. Place has great reviews from expats. Then I'm off to explore that digital nomad area in the northwest part of the city. So might not be too much excitement to live vicariously through today. We'll see. I still have time to check off all the spots @musgrave mentioned. I might try to get Sharky or BRC in tonight. The Japanese teacher I was seeing in Bangkok is flying up Saturday so gotta get the bar visits in at some point this week. 😜

Yesterday was the first time popping one. I think I only knew of them through those cheeseball YouTube clips for Thailand tourists. But within an hour, I felt great. Better than I have the whole trip. Slept better tonight too. Fortunately these ones don't stink. 😜 One thing to note is they say don't take one within 2 hours of taking medication.

Dang it I’m out of likes again. But great post. I can’t remember the last time I went inside a 7 Eleven back in the U.S. It’s where we just go to get the other kind of gas. 😉 I don’t think any here even have gas pumps?

Saturday night update... Today was a productive one. Visited a few new areas of Chiang Mai. Had a great breakfast at an American-style diner near my Airbnb. Then it was off to roam around the city. Had a very authentic Japanese lunch... a little too authentic. My belly was doing cartwheels for a bit. Those charcoal pills at 7 Eleven worked their magic. Finished the day off with a massage at Aqua. Not the fanciest place, but I enjoyed the hour I spent there. Staff was nice. Therapist list was about 2 dozen deep. 1700 baht all in... I still tipped the kid another 200. My review would be rather useless as we didn't do an actual massage. Once the manager told me my guy is straight, I have a thing I like to do with straight guys... not going to get into it here (sorry)... it's my personal thang. But he was accommodating and we had a fun hour. Ordered Grab for dinner. Getting way to addicted to using Grab... so easy and cheap. I love that they use a rating system... it hasn't let me down yet. And I can't get over how quick they are both here and the other Thailand places I've visited. Those motos get the job done. Tonight I started off at Connections. Last night I got there way too early so tonight I dropped by shortly before 10. Still not a single customer in the place... about a dozen guys outside on their phones. If I had my buddies with me I normally travel with, I'd hang for a bit. I hate the awkwardness of being the only customer. So I moved on to New Circle Pub. Really nice clean professional place. Sadly only about 8 or 9 customers... about the same number of performers. Couple of cuties. I exchanged numbers with one. I liked that they had some variety too... if you like muscle, there were a few gym rats. Headed out around 11:30 and since Adam's Apple wasn't far, and some were concerned after my post the other day, wanted to give 'em another shot given that it's Friday night. (Don't know how much difference that makes here.) It was a little busier. Probably about a dozen customers. Most seemed to have chosen their companion for the night. The mamasan let me know they were closing at midnight so I didn't hang. But for the Adam's fans... there was life! Fear not! Alright fellas... long day. Just looked at my app... 12K steps. I'm averaging about 10K a day... my normal is 2K lol. This is one of things I'm excited about with this move. All my clothes are feeling looser. The idea of never owning a car again is so appealing to me. But I'm beat so I'm gonna crash. Have a great weekend!

I do get the appeal of beach life though. I like being near one even if I don't go often. That's why De Nang, Samui, Pattaya and Hua Hin were all on my radar at one point. But my thinking now is, if I live in Bangkok or Chiang Mai, those are all within an easy weekend flight away.

You do you, I do me. If someone annoys me and one click can make them go away, I'm all about it. Wish it worked that way in real life. 😜 I find nothing more irritating on boards like this when 2 keyboard warriors hijack a discussion so they can play tough. Mute/ignore is way easier. Lets them think they won.

💯 Subject verb agreement is so sexy. European guys with their cute accents and nearly flawless English drive me wild!

Totally fair question. Pattaya just never struck me when I was back home. The runner-ups that I didn’t end up booking time in were Hua Hin and De Nang. I’m sure I’m slaughtering the spelling. Pattaya looked like a good place to have a fun weekend, but it didn’t strike me as a place where I’d want to spend my day to day. That quick 24 hour visit I did last month gave me mixed feelings about that. I really liked Jomtien. But the parts of Pattaya I saw were less inspiring. But again, I was only there for 24 hours and most of those were spent drinking lol. My Airbnb that I like is occupied those first couple nights I get back to Bangkok so that’s when I’m going back to Pattaya. Gonna have some fun at the bars I didn’t see the first time. I don’t anticipate looking around at possible places to live there, but who knows? The good thing is no matter where I end up. It’s not like I’ll be isolated and can’t visit these other places. Obviously it’ll be a lot easier to jump around from Bangkok. As for the Bangkok neighborhoods, I spent time in about six or seven. I did stay in Silom. And of course that was most of what I wrote about here on these boards. But that’s because again that’s what these boards are all about. But I checked out a bunch of areas when I was going to markets, temples, restaurants, Muay Thai fights, etc. They were all pretty much tourist areas though. The thing you have to remember is when I booked all this trip, Bangkok wasn’t really a contender for me in terms of where I’d want to settle down. It was really just the landing city. And since I’ve always heard about the fun that one can have there that was pretty much what I planned to do. Now that I know it is a contender those last two weeks will be a lot different. The last two weeks were left completely open just for this reason. After Chiang Mai, I knew I would be flying back to Bangkok, but I didn’t know if from there I’d want to jump over to Japan or Vietnam or see Ko Samui again. I really didn’t think there would be two more weeks in Bangkok. But yeah, back to your original question. Jomtien I liked. I’ve lived near beaches for a good chunk of my life and rarely went. And maybe there are other parts of Pattaya I’d like. If you have any suggestions by all means. 👍 The good thing is even if I start in one city I’m not bringing more than two suitcases. The guy who posted earlier how it would probably be smart to start in Bangkok made sense. And if I find the city is too much, I can pack those two bags and move on.

Hadn't thought much about that. Great points. Thanks Eric! It's still super early in the Chiang Mai visit. I like it. Don't know if I love it yet like I did Bangkok. But I've got about 10 more days of exploring to do here. Walked through a few different areas today. I knew it would be cheaper here vs the big city, but not by this much. I like that. I think I like the pace of life here too. It's slower but not too remote. One thing I didn't anticipate meaning so much to me is that whole melting pot thing. I liked that a lot about Bangkok and once it vanished in Ko Samui, I noticed that I missed it big time. There's a good mix here in Chiang Mai. But Bangkok really has it all. And on the flip side, I still like having some American life here too when I feel like a little bit of home. Had gingerbread pancakes this morning with bacon at a diner someone here suggested. It was a nice way to start the morning. So many things to consider for sure. But yeah I can definitely see how being set up initially at least in Bangkok would be advantageous. Getting excited. There are some behind the scenes things going on with my current job (I work only about 10 hours a week at this point) that might complicate things. They are not so crazy about this idea of mine so I might need to form a backup plan. I'm pretty much good to retire now if I want to. But I probably would get bored doing nothing. And I like having a minimal income so I'm not tapping into savings etc. The DTV visa has been the one I have my eye on so lots to consider there. Hoping to not do the retirement one and have to lock up money. Lots of moving pieces.

Listen, I don’t speak a lick of Thai so I usually give them a pass if they mess my language up. But when you’re an English language learning institution… 😆

This afternoons haul. There may have another purchases that were more healthy not in the photo, but well ya know. 😜

Glad to! You guys helped me immensely in finding the fun when I got here. I don’t sweat it when the bar is a dud. Just makes you appreciate the good ones more. Just like how 90% of the guys who post here are enjoyable to read. Don’t let the trolls ruin it. Just mute. 👍

Yeah I figured it was something along those lines. I guess I wish they would’ve just switched to their native language in Google Translate to make it easier for them. I always feel guilty when I visit a country where I don’t speak the language. Nothing irritates me more than when I see an American getting frustrated with someone in another country because they don’t speak perfect English.

UGH I still see his drivel when he’s quoted by one of you.😆

Yeah, the Facebook photos and flyers definitely looked enticing. I guess it was my first experience with a host bar. Seemed like bait and switch. They were clear about the pricing. But not so much on the experience. It was about as exciting as a dentist office waiting room. I dropped 2000 but more importantly an hour I’ll never get back in my life. Maybe they are technically in CM, but it felt like a distant suburb. The distance wouldn’t have been so much a thing had it been a good time. I feel like I’ve given them more publicity already than they deserve so I’ll just leave the photo and say avoid avoid avoid. I have an appointment for a dental cleaning tomorrow. 1000-1500 baht, almost half what I paid last night. and I’ll actually get a cleaning. 😁 I’ll give a review on the waiting area comparison.

Thanks pal! I guess things just start late around here. Most cities around the world I’ve visited that cater to the “mature” crowd get going around 8. I’ll head back to Connections maybe tonight. It’s walking distance from my place. Chatted with a few of the guys at Orion. Obviously the language barrier was there with most of them, but Google Translate worked its magic to a degree. One thing that I thought was interesting as a lot of the guys didn’t read the screen instead, they insisted on using the Google Translate audio feature. I didn’t think much of it when one used it, but it seemed like all of them did. Doing an apartment tour today. Heading over to the digital nomad neighborhood. I like this condo that I’m in. One definite perk is the number of college guys who live here. When I got back last night, three toned tall basketball player types stepped out of the elevator in towels coming from the pool. I lost my breath for a moment. 😍 And every time I’ve gone to the gym and pool on the top level there is some amazing eye candy. But the neighborhood is very touristy. When you see a Hard Rock, McDonalds and Starbucks on the same corner that’s the giveaway. 😆 I’ll pop back out to the bars tonight.

Friday night part 3. Hope you’re enjoying the live update. 11pm and my mood is much better. I am back at Orion. Much happier now. About a dozen guys. Most of them are seated with clients at the moment. But a good vibe I like this place. Certainly nothing fancy. But I don’t need fancy.

I was going to say the exact same thing. Like I said … trade-offs.

Friday night part 2… The mystery bar was a dud. Complete waste of time and money. I’m not even going to recount the details. Too annoyed. They deserve zero attention. On the long ride back to CM to try to start the night over.

it’s so uniquely Thai how they try to keep from appearing anything but what they are. 😆 Some it’s a bar/restaurant. Some use massage as a front. We should all chip in and just buy a place and name it “Fuck it. It’s a brothel folks.”

Friday night part 1… OK, there’s definitely no earlybird scene tonight. After dinner I wandered by Orion bar and Connections and neither were really going yet. Confused employees wondered why I was there. Connections seem to have a few guys hanging out. But I guess they don’t get going till at least 10? The guys in the photo sitting outside made no effort. So I just left. . I already made a table reservation at the “Hugs” / Flowers place for 930 so I’m back at my Airbnb for a few. Anyone have any experience with this “Horbuppachat” place? As best as I can tell it opened this year. From the flyer it looks like you rent a room for an hour. But it’s a bar/restaurant. Maybe it’s a host bar. Planning to wing it tonight with Google Translate as my wingman. We’ll see what happens. The photos of the guys on their Facebook are promising.

I know I've said it 100 times but guys, availability of guys, availability of paid guy options, Grindr search results, gay bars, gay clubs... zero impact on my decision. :) Good healthcare. Safe neighborhoods. Cost of living. Quality of life. Weather. Those are the variables that matter. Thus why Chiang Mai was more of a leading contender over Bangkok. With 2 cities down on this visit, much has changed. Koh Samui is off the list now. It felt like I was in Daytona Beach. I like chill, but it was too chill. Bangkok surprised me. I thought the heat would be unbearable. I thought there would be brutal air quality with all the traffic. Bangkok just had all the positives of a big city in the US without the drawbacks I'm used to with American big cities... crazy expensive rents, rudeness, the smell of urine everywhere, crime. So as of now, Bangkok might be my leading contender - at least to start when I move here. I loved the diversity since it's like their NYC with populations from all the Asian countries. I loved the convenience of having everything within a short walk. But Bangkok's lead so far has Z-E-R-O to do with gay life. When I'm not in vacation mode, I almost never go to gay bars or load up Grindr. Most of my friends are straight. You're far more likely to see me at a sports bar than stuffing $1 bills in underwear. It's why your "PLU" term was lost on me. :). I think because I've posted about the bars people assume it's a big factor. It's not. It's just what this message board is about. I've gone to temples too but that doesn't mean I'm going to be a Buddhist. So far I haven't really formed an opinion one way or the other on Chiang Mai. It's only been 24 hours. I love the condo I'm in. The rent is crazy low. I think it's a nice compromise between Bangkok and Samui in terms of pace. But I haven't been to all the neighborhoods yet. I've got 2 weeks to explore. And then if Bangkok is still the leader after that, I've got 2 more weeks there to do a deeper dive on neighborhoods and apartments.

Yup. All you can do is support what we have left. When we complain about drink prices or fees, the bars aren't non-profits. The conveniences of the internet have decimated many industries. Most Americans haven't held a newspaper in decades. Online you get the news instantly (rarely accurately) for free. People like convenience and immediacy. And now they like the news spun just the way they want so there are cable channels that'll tell you exactly what you want to hear. When's the last time you used a phone book? It's all a trade off. You've still got a pretty robust number of options here in Thailand.... especially in Pattaya and Bangkok. I'd imagine both have quite a bit of time left before the inevitable. Someone earlier mentioned Prague. That used to be a fun playground. Escape is probably the closest thing I can say I've been to that's like a host bar. You'd be buzzed in. There'd be a dozen or two cute Czech guys roaming around a club. Once you picked your guy, you'd invite him over and negotiate. He'd be yours for the night both at the club and after. You paid for your drinks and theirs. No off fee because there was a cover charge and the drink prices were elevated. None of those bars exist anymore in Prague as far as I know. It's all online. And for the guys, can you blame them? Imagine you're 21 and it's Friday night. Do you want to try to seduce a bunch of old men in person for 6 hours or wait for your phone to buzz with an offer and only lose an hour of your time from video games or your girlfriend? (Most of the guys working in the Czech scene then were straight... which I loved!) Anyway yeah, listen technology changes things. We used to have 3 TV stations now there are 300. Beyond that there's YouTube and instant gratification of streaming services so you don't wait for your show to come on anymore. People like convenience and the internet blew everything wide open in many industries... especially "adult entertainment." We don't have to go to a theater to find something to jerk off to. You double click on your favorite website. Same thing happened to hooking up... for money and not for money. What can you do? You can't uninvent the internet. Just support what we have left.