daydreamer

Sarica is at the corner of Soi Wall Street and Surawong. I usually go there once or twice when I'm in Bangkok. It's been in the same location for at least 15 years that I know of. They serve Thai food, with some farang and Japanese dishes. It is very popular with Japanese customers, as Soi Thaniya is only a few steps away. The menu, in addition to Thai and English, includes names of the various dishes in Japanese. I was surprised last year to find the restaurant / cafe had changed a bit, with the front section featuring a cannabis menu, and the sign outside with the name Sarica Cannabis. The front half used to be a coffee shop. The cannabis section and the restaurant are divided with glass wall, with a door between the two. The same waiters serve both sections. The side entrance on Soi Wall Street leads directly into the regular dining room.

Do report back, and let us know if you get molested there.

Another new bar you may want to avoid - I just read that a new lesbian bar recently opened on Surawong, close to the Rama IV intersection, near Roadhouse Barbecue and Jim Thompson Silk. It opened on November 22, and the name of the bar is Tuff Bar BKK.

The site where Golden Cock was previously located closed down during the pandemic. I offed boys from the original location of Golden Cock in both January and February 2020, so it was open for business in February 2020. In March 2020, Thailand closed its borders to international travel due to COVID-19. I returned to Bangkok in January 2022, during the days of the Thailand Pass, required AQ hotel stays, and multiple mandatory PCR tests. In January 2022 when I visited Thailand, the Golden Cock was shuttered, and as @neyger said, they had combined with Nature Boy, across the soi, sharing a small combined sign with both business names. The former site of Golden Cock has now been transformed into a restaurant named the Pancake Palace.

For anyone looking for low cost airfare from the US to Thailand or other Asian destinations, there are some really low fares being offered right now on Trip.com. $514 from LAX-BKK round-trip. I checked a random date two week Bangkok trip from Feb 09 - Feb 23, and Korean Air has a round-trip price of only $651. I am on the trip.com email list, and received this today, with sample dates shown. If you're not particular about the air carrier, there are some super low cost deals available at this time.

Indeed, the Democratic party officials were mute as far as Biden's incapacity to fulfill the duties of the office, and to run for another four year term. It was a Hollywood actor that was responsible for loudly starting the conversation. In July 2024, George Clooney shared his opinion when he authored an op-ed in the New York Times, calling for Biden to step down. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/10/biden-age-george-clooney-00167329

If you drive on your trip to Hua Hin, here's another spot accessible by rental car, or a Grab or Bolt car from Hua Hin. I visited Hua Hin in January 2024. About an hour before reaching Hua Hin from Bangkok, it's worth stopping at the Khao Luang cave. It also is a nice day trip from Hua Hin. Here's a photo I took inside the cave.

Thanks for your detailed reports, @jimmie50. It sounds like you had a great group tour, seeing several parts of the country. It's unfortunate you were in Chiang Mai during the Loy Krathong festival time, with the huge numbers of visitors, and bad traffic. Chiang Mai is not usually overcrowded like that. I have been to Chiang Mai more than twenty times in the past 30 years. I like that part of Thailand, and I have explored the provinces of northern Thailand with a number of Thai, Shan, and hilltribe young men over the years. I always avoid the north from February to April, as that's the season farmers burn the rice stubble in the fields, and the air is often very hazy with smoke. Due to your trip report, in the future, I'll also stay away during Loy Krathong.

Bangkok attorney Benjamin Hart and his wife have opened a new restaurant named Pancake Palace. It is located in the shop that was the Golden Cock bar for many years. You may know Benjamin Hart from his Youtube videos, focusing on legal issues affecting farang. He is the managing director of Integrity Legal in Bangkok. Also, Stickman has endorsed the Pancake Palace, and the link is below. Endorsement is at 1:32 in the second video. Has anyone visited the Pancake Palace?

There were many bars on this block of Pattayaland Soi 1 (Soi 13/3), and some of them closed and re-opened as new businesses with new names over the roughly twenty year period of 1990 to 2010. I dug up a couple archived photos showing some of the bars on this soi. In one photo, we can see Handy Boys was next to Lucky 777 when the photos were taken. In the 1990's, before Lucky 777 existed, I remember the previous bar in the same location was called Charlie Boys. I think Charlie Boys closed about 2002 or 2003, and then later became Lucky 777. A couple bars that moved to Pattayaland Soi 1 were Wild West Boys, which moved from their smaller location on Pattayland Soi 2, to the much larger shop on Pattayaland Soi 1. Also, Star Boys moved from Pattaya Sai Song 15, across Sai Song (Second Road) to Soi 1. At its height of popularity, Pattayaland Soi 1 was very busy, housing numerous boy bars.

Not to nitpick, but the name was Gacuya, not Gaycuya. Here's an old post from 2006 by catawumpuscat (RIP) that mentions Gacuya Bar. If I remember correctly, the narrow Kawaii Bar was just to the left of it, then past that, the stairs leading up to the second floor Dynamite Bar, which was above Kawaii and Gacuya bars.

Yes, you are correct, it's the old Tawana Hotel on Surawong. It's a renovation. Last spring, one of the hotel booking sites was showing the Tawana's status as under renovation, and open early 2026.

Interesting, but definitely not the future Kings 8 and 9. Here's a photo of the two princes - ice skating at the Arosa Kulm Hotel in Switzerland. The future King Bhumiphol is on the left, wearing glasses, and his brother, the future King Rama 8 is on the right. The man in the photo is a hotel staff member, and the woman is the private tutor of the two princes.

The Amber Massage & Nails Salon on Soi Suan Phlu offers what you are looking for, @12is12. Their price list shows a foot scrub and massage package for 550 baht. And you are in luck, as from the photos, there are a number of boys on their staff. The shop is just a short distance from Silom (13 minutes walk). If you walk from Silom, go down Convent Road. There's a pedestrian overpass bridge to cross Sathorn Road, just between Convent Rd and Soi Suan Phlu.

This horrific incident occurred just a short distance from Luang Prabang, while the two were visiting a zip-lining park. The article says they encountered the swarm of killer hornets while climbing a tree with their guide at the eco-adventure resort near Luang Prabang. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/father-and-son-die-after-getting-stung-more-than-a-100-times-by-killer-hornets-in-laos

Yes, it plays Ring My Bell by Anita Ward when you reach for the condoms and toys.

Well, the statement is made in jest amongst the Soi Thaniya girls, poking fun at their Japanese customers behind their backs, by implying that Japanese cocks are only five inches long, and the Japanese men can only last for five minutes during sex, but they pay very well for their five minutes of action.

I have also heard that play on words a few times over the years, but I believe it was always stated as 5,000 baht, not 5,000 Japanese yen. At the current exchange rates, 5,000 yen is only worth a bit over 1,000 baht. I suspect the Soi Thaniya girls would not be very pleased with only 1,000 baht as payment for their services.

Don't discount that as the younger western generation ages, and approaches retirement age, some of them may be inclined travel to the same type Thai boy bars that we frequent today. As the younger western generation ages, some of them may choose to look for younger Thai, Lao, Khmer, or Viet guys. I suspect the younger Asians will be more appealing to the current western youngsters in the future, as they get older, instead of other fellow retirement aged western gentlemen.

I was living in Hong Kong in September 1998, when Typhoon Mangkhut battered the city. The storm did extensive damage to many of the tall buildings in Wan Chai and Hung Hom. I remember seeing the Revenue Tower and Immigration Tower on Gloucester Road in Wan Chai, with about 100 plate glass windows shattered or blown out. The South China Morning Post reported that personal tax documents and immigration papers littered the streets of Wan Chai, after being sucked out of the buildings. My apartment was in the Mid Levels, and luckily was not damaged.

You might ask the new member by return private message if he is planning to notify the following bar owners to change the name of their businesses because it could give mixed messages: Bangkok: Dream Boys, Good Boy, Fresh Boys, G-Boy Bar Pattaya: Toy Boy, X-Boys, Boys Nighclub, Dream Boys, Boy Gaga, SUNEE Intimate Boy, Classic Boy In Thailand, the word boy is commonly used, without any negative connotations or western guilt. Let's allow Thailand to be Thailand, and not attempt to impose western ideas and political correctness where it is not welcome.

I use the Firefox web browser. This is the process for this particular browser: With the Firefox browser open, click on the three hash-marks in the upper right corner. in the drop-down menu that appears, go to Settings. Then in the new window that opens, on the left, you will see "Search". Click on that, and you can change the default search engine to another one of your choice. In other web browsers, the process should be fairly similar.

The Mae Sa Elephant Camp is a good one, located in Mae Rim, not too far from Chiang Mai. Woody will know the location. I went there with a Thai boy. The camp offers full day and half day programs, but we just showed up in a rental car, and paid a small admission fee, without joining a program, so that we were free to wander around the camp on our own. We wanted to see the elephants up close, but we were not interested in bathing the elephants in the river, as the programs all seem to include. If you do decide to bathe the elephants in the river, I suggest taking an extra set of dry clothing, as you'll get soaked. The camp also offers a bamboo raft trip down the river that runs right next to the camp. After wandering around, and visiting the elephants, we took the raft trip. The trip lasted about 45 minutes, then the crew brings you back to the camp (upriver) in a van. Here are a few photos taken at the Mae Sa Elephant Camp:

Since you mentioned Korea in one sentence, let's not forget another of Emperor Hirohito's evil plans, hatched against the entire Korean peninsula. During the Japanese annexation and occupation of Korea, that lasted from 1910-1945, the Japanese could have chosen to act responsibly, but instead acted as total barbarians against the Korean people and culture. The Japanese executed the Korean Queen, forbid spoken and written Korean language, destroyed huge amounts of Korean cultural artifacts, etc. They exploited Korea's resources for their own profit, starved the people, all Korean rice crops were used for the Japanese only. They deforested vast areas of Korea, including national forests, and shipped the timber to Japan. I had a conversation with an older Korean man years ago in South Korea. I was amazed to learn that he could speak fluent Japanese. But sadly, he went on to tell me that he was forced to learn Japanese in school as a child, as it was not allowed to speak or write his native Korean language in public or in school. After talking with him about his childhood years during the Japanese occupation, I began to realize the hardships that Hirohito had imposed on much of Asia during the first half of the 20th century. Another deplorable chapter in the history of Japan is brought to light in the excellent book entitled Gold Warriors, by Sterling Seagrave. It chronicles the massive stripping of Asian wealth by the Japanese army, during WWII, commonly known as Yamashita's gold, named after General Yamashita, who carried out the massive and detailed plan. In an ironic twist, a large part of the wealth of European countries was sent to their respective Asian colonies just before WWII for safekeeping, to prevent it being plundered by Hiltler's forces. This made for easy pickings for the Japanese army, as these colonies were invaded and occupied. Throughout Japanese occupied Asia, bank vaults were emptied of gold bullion. The Japanese army went door to door, systematically searching each building for anything of value. Wealth was stolen from temples, museums, jewelry stores, national treasuries, private homes and collections, etc, and it all became the property of Japan. The amount of stolen treasure was so extensive, that jewels were pried from their settings, sorted by type, and transported in steel oil drums. Gold was melted and poured into bars, all bearing the mark of imperial Japan. Although much of the treasure is believed to still be hidden in booby-trapped caves and tunnels in the Philippines, many shiploads of gold and jewels made it to Japan, often on ships disguised with the red cross, to avoid enemy fire in the waters of the Pacific. Here's a 17 minute video that tells of some of Japan's history with Korea:

Another trick I use to often find a lower price for a room on Agoda or Booking.com is to search on the hotel aggregator sites such as Trivago or Skyscanner, and others. Often, an offer on the hotel aggregator sites leads to a lower linked price on Agoda or Booking.com, or a free breakfast included in the room price, where if you go directly to Agoda or Booking.com, you may find a different offer for the same class of room. Those aggregator sites can only stay in business if they can sharpen the pencil on competitive pricing. They will compare prices for a number of hotel booking sites on one page. Sometimes the difference in price is fairly substantial. Just be sure you are comparing the same class of room, and that both websites include taxes and fees. Of course, both the aggregator site and the hotel booking site make a commission from the hotel, but I'm OK with that. Business is business.