macaroni21

Um, actually there is no need to factor in the duration of stay. My calculation was very simple. 11,000,000 visitors (from China) in a year divided by 365 days = 30,137 persons arriving each day. What I did assume was no significant seasonal variation. If one was hoping to estimate how many Chinese tourists would be in the country at any given time, then yes, one would have to factor in duration of stay. A week or so ago, I saw somewhere (can't remember where now) a figure of 5 - 6 days as the average duration for a tourist from East Asia. So, if we use 5 as the multiplier, then at any given time, there would be 30,000 x 5 = 150,000 Chinese tourists darting around Thailand.

Airbnb.

In 2019, about 11 million Chinese visited Thailand. That's about 30,000 a day. If we assume 200 passengers per plane, it means 150 flights a day.

In gogo bars most will not bottom, in massage parlours, about half will not. So, to avoid disappointment or unpleasantness later, it's important to settle this question beforehand. Do note that nearly all boys, even when they agree to bottom, will insist on protected sex. From gogo bars, all will do short time, but some cannot do overnight (commitments early morning, for example) so if you're keen on long-time (overnight), ask first. As for fees, some of us settle that in advance too, but some other members leave that unsaid. As a newbie, it may be better to settle that question in advance too at least until you're surer about the going rates.

@moistmango 2 more questions if you don't mind. When you reached moonlight after midnight, were you charged 250 baht or 400 baht for your entry/ drink? I saw a sign on the wall last month that said 250 baht if after midnight, probably because the show would have been over. But that sign was inside the bar, not outside, so people entering would not see it. Secondly, how many boys were left at that hour? I reckon ML begins the evening with 15 to 20 boys. So, knowing how many remain on site at midnight will give us an idea of the offing rate in a wet, low season month.

Thanks. It confirms what a Cambodian boy told me recently. He has to bus to the border every 2weeks. I thought I misheard, but evidently it's official. I wonder why the Cambodians and Burmese have the shortest periods....

Any idea where to find the list of 56 countries, for which visa exemption is extended from 30 to 45 days? If it includes Cambodia Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, it would help our boys. These chaps currently have to do visa runs every 30 days. A real pain in the ass (and cost).

@moistmango Thanks. Looking forward to further reports in the following days. A bit of a shock to hear that Fresh Boys had no one within, but what time were you looking in? Your reference to the bit in Dream Boy about the "siamese twins" attached at a strategic part suggests that this was between 11 and 11:30 pm?

And they should be naked while caged.

I agree with @moistmango but do note that he said "minimum". It also depends on whether there was any agreement to reimburse the taxi ride to your hotel separately. If there wasn't, then it would not be unreasonable to be expecting 1,200 or so as minimum.

This is a very interesting tidbit. It so happens that in 2009 (no typo, really 2009), I reported: "They have one guy (name: Rot) who always does the fuck show. He’s the top. According to Yord whom I offed from Fresh Beach, Rot does it seven nights a week, sometimes twice a night. This, in addition to being part of the big cock parade. Few people on this earth have a curriculum vitae quite like it." This paragraph is from the section on Fresh Boys in https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2022/08/01/bangkok-gogo-bars-update-sept-2009/ Might it be possible that we're referring to the same guy??? If so, has he been in this line of work for 13 years?

And all this while, I was wondering why we're being morally policed by an ethnic minority of Myanmar, the Karens! I will continue using the word "boys". Trying too hard to avoid doing so renders our speech stilted and artificial. In any case, remember the sitcom "Golden Girls"? Those girls were way older than our boys.

Alrighty, for Olddaddy, here's the revived post about the erstwhile Bondi Guest House: https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2022/08/15/beachside-hotel-if-beachside-is-really-important-to-you/ Strangely, what I remember most about that one stay in that hotel was the great fuck that I had with a boy I brought back from Boyztown. 🤣 Never mind the filth... so long as the sex is good.

I am flatterred (insert deep japanese bow). My life was not so dramatic. Yes there was a long hiatus when I couldn't travel much because I had to care for aging parents, oddly enough, similar to the very topic being discussed here. After that issue resolved itself, I found myself working flat out with little free time until I had had enough and quit. I will resurrect my report on Bondi hotel on Dongtan beach just for kicks. The hotel's long gone.

Guilty as charged. Macaroni is Shameless mack. I am not only alive and kicking but whenever opportunities arise, happily testing the bedsprings of hotel beds.

Three years ago in July 2019, it was 1,000 baht for the house. See: https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2019/08/06/senso-still-good-after-ten-years/ So price increased 10 percent. The lad I had on that occasion didn't have massage skills either.

I walked through the area. It had a buzz, that's for sure. But what struck me was that in all the re-design, they still kept to the notion that the more concrete the better - very common idea throughout Thailand - resulting a a worse heat island than Bangkok already is. With the humidity (no breeze either) It wasn't pleasant at all. They should have designed for trees and green spaces. The other thing that struck me was the amount of noise, not just in Siam Square, but on the other side of Siam Station as well, i.e. the Siam Paragon, Siam Center side. Partly, it's the result of the events they put up but I'm sure there's also the reflection from all the concrete.

Very interesting intel. I can empathise with the poor leaseholder's decision. It sounds like one of those situations where the losses are smaller just paying the rent on unused space, compared to trying to open the business and losing money paying the rent plus bleeding red ink from operations. But what it means is that there is hope... though it is debatable how long it will take for Xi Jinping to change course. It only proves what I have said before. Lucky Boys was way too big a space. The business does not have the agility to adjust to circumstances that a smaller business would have.

Like Neyger and Vinapu, I travel at the back of the plane for leisure. I used to fly business class quite a bit but those were the days when others (company) paid the fare. I can appreciate the difference in service, but for me it all seems quite unnecessary. I'd rather spend the money on other things that are more important to me. It all seems quite unnecessary to me because I am lucky in a way. I am below average in height and I am able to keep my body mass index (BMI) under 25. So, an economy seat is OK for me. A premium economy would be plenty. One of the few blessings in life from being small-built. Other aspects discussed here are also unimportant to me. - Business class lounges? I don't want to sit while waiting to sit in the plane for the next several hours. I prefer to walk/explore the terminal, get some exercise while I can. - Nice food? I want to stay away from temptation to maintain my BMI. There's also the risk of bloating when air pressure is reduced at altitude, making sleep harder. - Drinks? Never really acquired a taste for that. I am no connoisseur of fine wines. A flatbed would be nice, I agree, but then I am able to sleep in a seat. I don't even own noise-cancellation earphones like Neyger. I have considered buying one, but my normal (wellpadded) earphones muffle cabin noise to a significant degree, and so far, they're good enough to help me sleep. Neyger's inflatable thing - I really don't know what to call it - is intriguing, but here's my question: How much huffing and puffing will it need to get inflated? In any case, I'm not sure that I would want to carry one more thing when my simple inflatable pillow seems good enough.

I was there last month. I was never directed to the service elevator, though I had previously read reports about that and was conscious of the possibility. However, I should add that the latest that I went back to Raya Hotel was probably around 11:30pm, at which hour I still used the front entrance and guest elevators. Perhaps those reports referred to the wee hours of the morning? Then again, nowhere did I see any signs put up by the hotel to alert guests that a detour might be required at some time in the night. So maybe it's no longer the case? By the way, my review of Raya was uploaded yesterday on my blog. https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2022/08/02/the-sequestered-fridge/

Last month, every trip I made between Jomtien and Pattaya, I used songtaews, and paid 10 baht each time, iincluding the time I went all the way to Terminal 21. On no occasion did I have to wait more than 3 minutes for a songtaew to come by. Likewise each time when I boarded a songtaew at South Pattaya Road x Second Road for the trip back to Jomtien, on no occasion did I have to wait more than 3 minutes for the vehicle to fill up with passengers and get going. I can't imagine why I would ever need to spend 60 baht or 100 baht.

They've dug up some 500 metres of Thappraya Road, starting from the South Pattaya Road junction towards Jomtien. It's normally a narrow two-lane road, but now there remains only one lane open to traffic. The authorities didn't see fit to turn that lane (temporarily) into a one-way street, diverting traffic away to other streets. Songtaews (what Gaybutton calls baht buses) crawl their way through this bottleneck, adding a further 20 minutes to what should normally be a 20 minute ride. I found it frustrating.

Yes! You reminded me! It was not the ambience I wanted, and to think they even made me pay for it. They should have been paying me.

You're not wrong. It was closed permanently. Then a Japanese buyer came along. I hope that poor sod is not a total fool, has deep pockets, has a proper business plan, and has the energy and willpower to make the plan happen. As someone who has an interest in business behaviour, I think it will make an interesting case study one way or another in the months/years to come.

Typo. 40-50 % female...