macaroni21

I was in Phnom Penh recently. However, I haven't found the time to write up the trip reports. In the interim, and taking z909's point, I've given a reply to tamtam via a new thread in the Gay Cambodia forum. Perhaps further discussion, if merited, should be conducted there.

This is really in answer to a question by tamtam in a thread in the Gay Thailand forum, but it's better that I put the answer in Gay Cambodia so that it will be easier to find in future. I was there for four days last month, for a couple of work meetings and considerable free time. I've been to Phnom Penh perhaps ten years before and thus I didn't need to do the standard tourist attractions -- not that there are many. Two days, I think, would be enough. I would recommend the National Museum though. I was fortunate that I had a whole afternoon to myself on one of the days and spent three hours there to closing time. I checked out the bars Toolbox and Space Hair. I walked past Blue Chilli but the road in front had been dug up and was such a mess with trash everywhere, it was quite off-putting (no fault of the bar, I must stress). I also availed the services of young men at two massage places: Hatha Khmer and Dai Khmer. If I had more time, I might have tried a place called Paradise Massage , reportedly above POC bar, and if I didn't have to wake up early in the mornings for appointments and phone calls, I might have checked out the late night dance club Heart of Darkness (said to be increasingly gay) but I didn't. Both the bars I found boring. Basically, none of the waiters/hosts could speak any English. There's no conversation to be had unless you're with friends of your own, or able to strike up a conversation with other drinkers in the bar. They are small bars (Space Hair had 4 tables, Toolbox was full with eight customers). Toolbox at least had a show at 22:30h -- energetic dancing, nothing erotic. Space Hair had no show at all. Blue Chilli reputedly has a drag show -- not my cup of tea, so another reason not to prioritise that place. I can't say anything about POC bar since I did not visit. The cutest boys I found were a bunch of footballers monkeying around at Domino's Pizza! I had more entertainment and eye candy for the price of a pizza than both bars put together. I don't know why Sharky Bar and Restaurant is sometimes mentioned as a place to go. Research via tripadvisor reviews speak of too-loud music and cigarette smoke. The photos there show skimpily-dressed young women. At both places Hatha Khmer and Dai Khmer, oil massage was USD 10 for a 60-minute session. Expected tip USD 20. I found massage skills subpar. Even the afters were rather mechanical. In other words, there is no reason to go back to Phnom Penh (unless work calls again) for another ten years. I should be writing up fuller reports, but it's difficult to find the time. Will try over the next two weeks or so.

Oh gosh, I feel so guilty about the delay (apologies) but I finally got around to writing the report about Ganymede. It is here: https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2020/02/09/almost-written-off-then-he-sat-on-me/ Of course it's a full ten months since OP Jamg03s posed his opening question of this thread. He's probably visited the place long ago.

And the breakfast place looks lovely.

Below is a photo from 2018, taken at a bubbletea cafe in Galle Fort, Sri Lanka, trying to make the best of their situation (no wifi). But as you said, the new generation finds the absence of wifi intolerable, so there was no one but me in this shop for over an hour. Oh, as for the sign cut off at the left edge of the picture, it says "I keep losing weight, but it keeps finding me." I find it quite apposite, and made me feel guilty about having afternoon tea there. I had half a mind to tell the proprietor that making his clients feel guilty about his cakes and bubbletea, and exhorting them to talk (what's that?), is not exactly a secret to success in his business. Mack.

Wonderfully helpful report, daydreamer, though the beach looked a bit disappointing compared to Krabi or Ko Samui. Could you perhaps add a bit more information regarding these: 1. Was the bungalow all yours, or was it a duplex? It seemed large for a single unit, and it had two peak roofs. 2. Could you say something about food options on the island? 3. What about water from the tap -- how was it? (20 years ago on Ko Samed, everything was great except the water which came from a well and looked/smelled dodgy). 4. Presumably the sea was noticeably cleaner than at Jomtien? Mack.

While I do agree that the farangs could have accepted the masks even when they didn't think they needed it, there are two other angles: 1. How many of them knew that this was a VVIP minister, whose face needed to be saved? 2. Consider too the common situation where as we walk down any street, all sorts of product promoters try to give out free gifts/samples; we've all developed a reflex habit of saying 'no'. Mack.

I've just been looking at a global map of detected cases and the entire African continent is supposedly free of this coronavirus. I find it hard to believe, given the number of Chinese in so many African countries now. Mack.

This is so tragic. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51403795 It is also rather unnerving. He was 34 years old and no report suggested that he had any underlying disease.

I think many of us here would also read other forums from time to time, but just in case anyone missed it, I am going to re-post a Thai Matichon story that was translated into English (by ???). Credits: I first saw the post by Trongpai on Gaybutton, who linked to Rooster59's post on ThaiVisa. https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1140766-immigration-raids-luxury-‘gay-spa’-in-bangkok-11-foreigners-arrested-some-earning-50k-per-day/ Some new information to note: There were a total of 35 masseurs at the time of the raid -- a pretty large selection. One third were foreigners. All the 11 foreigners "were charged with working without work permits", meaning none were overstayers. And the last sentence gives us an idea of how much VCK charges.

Does working illegally on a valid visit stamp also incur an entry ban of x years, beside a fine? If so, it would still be a heavy price to pay considering that these guy need to earn a living.

Thanks, Jasper for the videos and the translation. I think some perspective is in order. It does look like a pure immigration raid, not any kind of clampdown against gay activities, even if the media reporting (not always within the police's control) goes tabloidy and speaks breathlessly about 50,000 baht a day for the top performer. That said this tidbit must have come from the police who might have been spinning a more "shocked!" story at their news conference. The thing worth noting from about 1 minute 45 seconds of Jasper's second video is that all the guys being led to the police van were in similar black shorts, orange T-shirts, facemasks and black baseball caps. This indicates that the police brought these items so that the arrestees could conceal their identities (save those with exposed tattoos as hank75 pointed out). The media were either directed to, or themselves decided to blur and pixelate the other scenes, particularly those showing other masseurs not arrested. We should at least note this degree of consideration. If they had really wanted to make a homophobic case out of the incident, they needn't have taken all this trouble, and exposed everyone concerned, including Thai masseurs and their customers. So, at a policy level, it suggests that this was a pure immigration operation with no intention of any anti-gay campaign, but at the operational level, the police in charge perhaps couldn't resist injecting their own moralising. For more perspective, what we need to know is whether similar immigration raids are conducted at girlie joints. Perhaps those following other forums like Thaivisa might tell us? If immigration raids are only targetted at gay establishments, that tells us a different story. Some more factoids: Of the 11 foreigners arrested, there was 1 Cambodian, 2 Vietnamese, 4 Lao and 4 Burmese.

I haven't visited VCK in a decade, though from what I have read and heard it hasn't changed much in that time. I visited Ganymede earlier in December and so this comparison is between my recollection of VCK and a pretty recent experience at Ganymede. (report coming....) Other than the fact that they are up along the same stretch of the BTS line, they are quite different places. VCK, per my recollection has a large number of toyboys-for-rent, generally of the better-looking type (by Thai tastes) who cannot really do massage. The rooms have ensuite showers. My recollection is of a production line; hardly any greetings, smiles or little courtesies that can make a huge difference to the experience. Ganymede has more boy-next-door types, but probably fewer on offer than VCK. The one I had (thus sample of one!) did a reasonable massage. As Divine Madman says, each floor (about 4 rooms per floor) has a common bathroom at the end of the hallway. I used a room on the 2nd floor (i.e. one floor up from the reception) and there was no bathtub to be seen, pace earlier reports. It was a fairly commodious shower stall. I didn't see the floor above. Ganymede is less pricey than VCK.

Much blame heaped onto the baht for the poor tourism numbers. Reader has posted (https://www.gayguides.com/forums/topic/12701-not-enough-tourists-for-koh-samui/?tab=comments#comment-140091) a Bangkok Post story about Koh Samui's occupancy rate of 30% in fourth quarter 2019. Making the situation worse, another 1,000 rooms are to be added to Koh Samui in 2020, the story says. Now we have a story about effects on Phuket (https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1815729/soaring-baht-deals-blow-to-phuket-tourism) saying that "Despite a 4% rise in visitor numbers this year, revenue from tourism is falling," A further paragraph says this, conflating two distinct trends: "He blamed the stronger baht for putting a brake on tourism spending, adding that digital disruption had funnelled tourist services and income towards online platforms controlled by outsiders." An earlier story (https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1813294/tourism-ministry-to-seek-cabinet-nod-for-new-stimulus-deal) from December 11 says the Tourism Ministry is seeking cabinet approval for a "new tourism stimulus package including multiple-entry visas for Chinese tourists, reduced landing fees for airlines and increased airport slot times." The latter idea doesn't make a lot of sense. Swampy and Don Muang are already bursting at the seams -- how are they going to increase the number of slots? The tourist arrival numbers don't seem that bad to me. "This year, Mr Phiphat expects the number of tourist arrivals to reach 40.2 million, outpacing the goal of 39.8 million, but tourism revenue may fall short of the target of 2.04 trillion baht because of the global economic slowdown and solid baht." The article has some interesting numbers re Chinese tourists which, I recall, has been discussed recently with much heat. Out of 32.5 million tourist arrivals for the first ten months of 2019, Chinese tourists made up about 29%, or 9.34 million. "Chinese arrivals in the first 10 months stood at 9.34 million, up 3.6% year-on-year, generating 467 billion baht in tourism income, up 5.5%. The number of Chinese tourists this year should reach the target of 11 million, generating 730 billion baht, Mr Chattan said. The agency is confident that Thailand will receive 12 million Chinese arrivals next year, regardless of baht appreciation, which affects tourist spending." And, in contrast to the stereotype of cheap charlies being bussed around, "Mr Chattan said independent tourists contribute some 60% of Chinese visitors, while the balance are those travelling in groups." Look around Lucky Boys, Dream Boys, Jupiter or Moonlight, and you'll see plenty of these independent tourists. Without them, the bars might have closed down long ago.

I too have not had anything stolen from a Thai hotel room in my countless trips, though of course, I take basic precautions. The nearest I've come to such mishaps would be when the toyboys helped themselves to the minibar without asking. I consider hotel prices for minibar items daylight robbery. I've had one theft though. It was in a Manila hotel room. When the boy left, I realised my watch was missing. A watch is not something I'd think of putting into a safe on coming back into my room. I just take it off and lay it on a table, but nowadays I hardly wear a watch anymore. I guess the present-day equivalent would be a cellphone. I think most of us just leave them around. We'd appear too paranoid by half if we made the effort to stick them into a safe.

I wouldn't use those too after a friend told me of an experience in an African city. The hotel he was in had safes in an alcove near the reception. He dutifully put his passport, cash and some other valuables in there, as did, I suppose, other guests. One night a gang of robbers came, held up the reception guy(s) and emptied out all the safes. They took their time to open each and every locked box. (It didn't help that the police, as expected, were slow to respond). Having so many valuables in a single alcove made it an extra-tempting target; certainly much easier than going room to room. It needn't be said that all the guests were in uproar in the morning.

Now, this is useful. The Amazon site doesn't state the dimensions, but looking at your photos, I reckon it's about 10 or 12 inches, by 6 inches by 2 inches? What do you reckon the weight to be? If a hotel thief, frustrated that he or she can't steal, decides to sabotage the box, how easy would that be? Can he/she simply take away the battery, and if that's done, does it scramble the stored combination? Is there a manual key provided to open the safe? One interesting point: The Amazon site lists as one of the box's features thus: it "Fits up to full-sized 1911 handguns". Only in America! is this important!

I had no sooner finished my post above when I turned to read bbc online news, and the first video I saw there was about a beach in Chennai, southern India. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-india-50625760/chennai-children-play-as-toxic-foam-blankets-indian-beach Makes even Pattaya beach look clean. Seriously, in my (not that many) visits, I have noticed that India has a huge environmental problem. Be prepared for it when you're visiting. I have on occasion taken a nice photo of a landmark, paired with another photo zoomed out; once zoomed out, the filthy, trash-strewn nearby areas come into view, giving a whole new framing to the landmark.

"When we almost got arrested for being gay in Delhi" -- an alarming headline from one of Nomadic Boys' articles. Fortunately it explains that it was just a shakedown to get a bribe and anyway the law has changed since the incident in 2016. India is one of those places I have to go to for work and hardly ever get to see more of. I keep telling myself I should do a vacation there one day but have yet to get around to it. My sense is that the scene is not publicly accessible, you need to know someone to take you in. My brief glances at the apps however suggest that they are very active, but 2 hurdles: Outside of business and elite circles, English is much lass spoken than we might otherwise assume. I also believe the guys on the apps would have difficulties hosting you since most Indians live with their families. A couple of years ago, I made a side trip from Mumbai (where I was on business) to Kerala for a long weekend (not quite a vacation by my standards). Freed from the constraints of scheduling, I could wander around in a more relaxed way and noticed that here and there people were cruising. Mostly, I remained no more than a distant observer, though on two occasions I became prey. One was at a ferry terminal where a guy spotted me looking at a bunch of very good looking young men monkeying around. This guy figured out my interest and started to make a move on me. Unfortunately, it was a very public place (a busy ferry landing) and he didn't seem anywhere near my type, so it went no further. Another cruising incident (I think the very same afternoon or the next day) was at a temple! Once again, not truly my type, and I was too far from my hotel to even consider taking him back with me. I also had two massages while in the beach towns of Kerala. I had nothing but massage in mind, but as is my usual practice, I looked only for massage places where the service-provider was male. These were quite common. On both occasions, the masseur progressed to handjobs but remained fully clothed. The first time, I didn't want to go too far to tug away his clothing, not being familiar with the rules of the game, so to speak. The second time I tugged. But he resisted, so that was that. In short, nothing like Thailand. I think India must be seen as one of those countries (like most countries in the world) where sexual interest cannot be a major reason for going otherwise you'll be disappointed. If it happens, it's a bonus.

Great report by the OP. Fired up my itch to plan another trip. One small detail I noticed: Crowne Plaza Hotel Lumpini Park had no problem with the Arena guy joining you in the room right on check-in. Did you have to pre-arrange that with the hotel? I suppose it's less of a problem if during daylight hours.

At the risk of unfair speculation -- and I don't know this mamasan you're referring to -- whenever I meet with people whose behaviour has suddenly deteriorated, two thoughts come to mind: 1. The influence of mind-altering substances. 2. The new job pays much less than the old job and so there's a chip on the shoulder or a desperation to make up for the shortfall.

Here you go, 3 maps from the magazine. Good for the next couple of months but not forever, alas. Bars open and close all the time. (I didn't think there was any use for the Phuket map).

Your "occasional poodle of water" made me smile too.

Ah, that reminds me! At the same conference where I caught up with the Ethiopian guy -- I had known him from earlier -- he was one of 3 delegates from Africa. He at least, arrived on time, courtesy Ethiopian Airlines. There was supposed to be a delegate from either Uganda or Tanzania or some East African country, but she didn't show up at the meeting till 48 hours later on the conference's penultimate day, her planes having been repeatedly delayed. By the time she was settled in, it was time to pack for departure. She then was scheduled to fly home the next evening! I presume she made it. The 3rd guy from Africa was a Nigerian who showed up on time, but after the conference, I heard from the grapevine that he never went back home. Instead he slipped into illegal status somewhere. For all I know, he might be camping out in the Calais "jungle" right now hoping to steal into a container crossing into the UK! I shall stop here. I am getting dangerously close to racial profiling territory which is not my intention at all.

While I too don't know the cost differential between 150 kmh and 250kmh (and I agree that 150 kmh might be optimal for DMK to U-Tapao), I suspect the biggest factor would be the cost of land acquisition. Trains running at 250 kmh cannot tolerate the curves that slower trains can. In certain sections, they simply cannot run along the same rail reserves that had been set aside for slower trains; needing new pathways altogether. In urban Bangkok and the Eastern corridor, that sounds like a very expensive proposition. In China, the HSR mostly run on very different pathways compared to the old railways. In many cities, they also have new stations away from the city centre because the HSR just cannot run into downtown. Example: Bangkok's airport railway is barely able (with screeches and scratches) to make the turn out of Suvarnabhumi to the direction parallel to the expressway. We can forget about a HSR doing the same turn, unless it slows down to low-speed-rail speed, in which case, what's the point?