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I thought this trend had died off, but I guess not

No, I have not stayed there in several years. I also wouldn't be surprised that it is in need of some renovation. It looks like they are still Siri Sathorn according to their website http://sirisathorn.com/

From there we drove to Hua Hin which took all day. And today was a backtrack to Phetchaburi to visit King Monkut's hill top palace and the very cool Khao Luang cave which has sunbeams that stream in around 10 AM. No photos allowed inside the palace but the rest of the outdoor spaces are very pretty. You reach the top of the hill by taking a funicular. I think it was 230 baht for the cable car ride up and back plus entry to the palace. The cave was just 10 baht. Haven't had a chance to go through the photos from the palace yet.

The next day we did a visit to Sangkhlaburi which is near the border with Myanmar. Really not all that much to see given the amount of time it took to get there and back. But there is this long timber bridge called the Mon Bridge. And you can take a long boat to this old-ish temple (built in the 1950s actually) that ended up being submerged when a dam was build on the river.

I couldn't quite figure out where to put this... But I've been out in Kanchanaburi for the last few days. Yesterday we visited Huay Mae Kamin waterfall. It's about 45km past Erawan Falls which are currently closed due to storm damage a couple of weeks ago. It is spectacular and magical. It's quite reminiscent of Kuang Si in Luang Prabang with several levels and beautiful green waters. Also quite easy to get to with parking right near the most beautiful parts of the falls. But take the walk to tier 6 and you're rewarded by an enormous abundance of butterflies. I've never seen anything like it. Well worth the 300 baht entry for foreigners Lots of long drives and winding roads out in that part of the country.

given all of the stories about the horrors of Grindr meetings I'm not so sure it's wise to have anyone just walk into your room like that.

certainly lots of discussion about this. The consensus I've seen seems to point to it's expiration as scheduled. Apparently people who have been arriving in the last week or so have only been getting the number of days until the end of April on their entry into the country rather than 45 days from their arrival.

Today was not 50% off so I paid the regular price

I guess we all have lines we won't cross. Zoo Spa and Onsen (On Nut BTS) In my case, I felt like I had to return to Zoo Spa despite their high prices because I just had to meet "Phoenix". He's better looking in person and taller than I expected. I don't know why I just expect everyone to be short. There seems to have been a split between this branch and the new branch on the Thonburi side near Talat Phlu which is now called Z Spa. Who doesn't love some DRAMA?! So instead of sharing boys between the two they seem to have chosen their sides. One odd thing about this place is the constant changing of prices. I think maybe the boss is figuring out that his prices are too high. Last night it was "50% off". There's a new "package" called Cuteboy Package. I'm not sure how it's different from a regular massage. It's supposed to be a 90 minute body massage for 2500 (+ tip which is 1500). The massage as such was actually very good. Some parts were a bit repetitive but it was quite relaxing on the whole. Once I flipped over things progressed quickly. He wouldn't do a body to body massage but I found that being a bit more assertive about what I was looking for was beneficial. My ending was satisfactory. On the whole this place is still probably too expensive, but since I don't know when I am ever coming back here again I didn't feel bad about overspending to satisfy my curiosity.

I think in general I agree that as happens with all countries that build towards middle income there are more opportunities to do other things. Certainly we see lots of sex workers from neighboring countries. But I think youth unemployment is fairly high.

The Thaiger had a similar story the other day https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/bangkok-comes-in-at-5th-place-on-airbnbs-top-trending-global-travel-spots-in-2023 "Airbnb is working closely with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to drive more long-term stays in Thailand. Both parties co-launched a Live and Work Anywhere digital guide in January this year to support the growth of digital nomads in Thailand."

Anyone ever go to Jey Spa?

it sounds like the beds will be separate from the regular seats. You would have your seat and then rent the bed for part of the flight. So you would still have your seat to sit in for take off and landing

This evening it was time to get back on the table M89 (Lad Phrao 15/1) I saw this place on Twitter (https://twitter.com/M89Massage) It's a bit off the usual beaten track, but just a quick 10 minute walk from the Lad Phrao MRT. Shop is quite nice and modern. Not too much English spoken here, but we all managed with good humor. I used Line to make a booking several hours ahead of time. I arrived shortly before 7 PM and my masseur, Mr. Ten, was already there. (Photos below). I was smitten with his photos on Twitter. He was a bit taller and better built than I was expecting. The room up several flights was very nice. En suite shower, music playing on a decent speaker. Small bottle of cold water provided. I selected my usual 90 min massage which was 650 baht (there was a 100 baht off promo going on). Minimum tip 500. I was invited to shower and Ten came back to the room just as I was finishing the shower. Nice massage table with a good amount of cushion on the top. After a few dud massages this one was much more of what I like. He started with my back and some full weight Thai massage but relatively quickly transitioned to a very relaxing oil massage with a good variety of strokes. He draped the part he wasn't working on and used Google translate to let me know to tell him if the AC was too cold. Overall I found Ten to be a very pleasant masseur who was interested in giving me a good service. He then moved on to my legs and eventually flipped me over. He had been clothed up until this point but eventually the clothes came off. I was happy with the finish. Then we showered separately. He again used Google translate to ask me some questions about where I am staying and how long I have been here which I thought was nice. I think the session lasted about 75 minutes. On the whole it was a very nice experience.

My recent flights in Qatar Q suites were just OK. Part of it was the timing of the flights. On one leg there was a wailing baby in the cabin who eventually settled down, but my earplugs did help quite a bit. My long flight from IAD to DOH was on a somewhat older aircraft and the suite had definitely seen better days and the door kept sliding open. I didn't find the mattress pad thing to be of much help on the hard seat. The leg to BKK was on a more recently fitted aircraft so the suite was in better condition. At least the door stayed closed. And the seat was a little softer. ANA has a mattress pad which is quite surprisingly comfortable.

aren't most of those "tourists" just cross-border traffic from Malaysia?

I'm not the most proficient Line user, but I think it's better that it's based on username rather than phone number since when I am traveling I am not using my home SIM and don't have access to my home phone number. I seem to recall that you can search your contacts to see who is on Line. My current problem is navigating around the way all of the massage shops use Line

My guess is that the guys are able to set their own tip amounts

People should feel free to chime in if they wish with their own reports. I know people enjoy hearing what's going on now. Fresh Boys After being here a week I finally went to a gogo tonight. Fresh Boys was on the agenda. I remembered all of the reasons why I usually avoid gogos these days. Pushy mamasan who wouldn't stop touching me. When I arrived I was the only customer so the pressure of all those eyes on me was intense. Too many people asking for tips for doing absolutely nothing. For a Monday night there ended up being a decent-sized crowd for the show (which began at 10:15). I'd guess there were around 20 or so people there at the peak and somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 boys of various shapes and sizes. I'd reckon about a half dozen would have been possible offs for me. Drinks 400, off fee 500. The show was not especially exciting. Several drag queen lip syncs, a dance number by 4 boys, the usual things like the candle wax show, big cock show, the boys banging on the pole with their poles. Mr Boy #31 was everywhere in the show - handsome, tall, lean, defined guy with a big cock. I didn't really intend to off anyone until a spur of the moment decision to take Mr. Lam #8 out of the bar. Skinny, young Vietnamese boy with a surprisingly big cock. I really had my eye on #5 who I think was the best looking boy in the bar face-wise. I always have had a thing for blonds and Asian boys with blond dyed hair do it for me. But he was otherwise occupied by someone else as the show neared its end. Maybe another time.

I've been in Bangkok for a week. I haven't been here since 2019. I haven't noticed large numbers of tourists. But I will also note that it's just too damn hot. Even if you were escaping northern winter, I think it's just unbearable. Add in the pollution situation and I am not sure this time of year is really a good measure of the amount of tourists or trends.

I am basically exactly the same kind of guest as you are. However, don't kid yourself about a month-long booking making an otherwise not above-board booking magically above-board. The host needs to have the right licensing to make any sort of monthly booking technically legal. Chances are 99% or better that no host in a condo building would have such a license since I'm pretty sure they are not issued for such properties. Likewise if the building bans short term rentals or sublets then staying a month doesn't put the place in compliance. I believe most buildings you'd want to stay in require at least a 6 month or 1 year lease. Lots of rentals of that sort exist in the neighborhood, typically arranged by property management companies. I haven't had any issues at this point where I am staying. But I am using the garage entrance to get into the building which always feels like I am sneaking around. And I feel some shame using my keycard in the elevator if there are any real residents present scanning their fingerprints. I've noticed a couple of other obvious interlopers though as well. I prefer apartments too. But next time I will just shell out for a serviced apartment hotel option

I was there around 2PM so it wasn't late in the day

the weird thing is that it's taken so long for this case to be brought. Michael Cohen already served his sentence for his part in the same crime. This is just the appetizer. The GA cases will be much more substantial. And the classified documents case and the rest of the special counsel investigation could end up being bigger still. He's going to be very busy in court for quite some time

Today's adventures took me to Siam Square. Obviously it's been the center of youth culture here for a long time. Now they've set up some areas for young student bands to play in the evenings. I've seen some big name groups play on the street there as well. Off to one side of the action tonight was a giant kpop dance party that was so fun. Mostly it seemed to be queer boys and their girl friends of all shapes and sizes and little sisters and brothers. Whoever knew the choreo would jump in when a song started playing or they would clear the dance area for those who did know the moves. Everyone was having so much fun. Lots of girly boys in skirts. It all just felt so incredibly positive and empowering. You could tell that it was a great community. I'd estimate a couple of hundred dancers and a large collection of on-lookers. It was heart-warming for this tired old queen. The bands were interesting too. Most seemed to be HS kids. One group included two boys with rainbow guitar straps - one with a pink guitar and the other with a bass that had a little kawaii stuffed animal hanging off of it. Lots of girl musicians and singers in the mix. Pretty much all cover songs that I recognized. Overall it was a fun place to spend some time.