The camera is on Jomtien Complex

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On 1/13/2026 at 4:42 PM, Vessey said:

There is a balance to be struck somewhere, some people are desperate to avoid leaving behind any visible 'footprint' of their visits to gay bars, while other of us are less concerned.

On the other hand we bewail the lack of customers and boys in Jomtien, especially in low season, and the consequent failure and closure of bars that we know and love. Some of us also bewail the lack of any effort of self-publicity by the bars themselves to promote themselves and their boys. 

In Soi 6, the girlie bars are always promoting themselves on social media, almost on a daily basis, highlighting the girls working there. Soi 6 is consequently always very busy, reaping the benefits of its publicity.

Boy bars are so very far, far behind them in promoting themselves. My couple of boy spies working in Boyztown regularly report on activity there, often by video calls from their cameras, or rather the lack of customers there, and not just in low season. Toy Boys, for example, seems to have no social media presence at all. 

In Jomtien Complex, boss Charlie is an exception, promoting his highly popular M Bar, Gus Bar, Sunee Bar and now Jungle Bar which are (consequently perhaps) currently the busiest in the Soi. The massage shops in the Complex are also getting in on the act and now regularly appearing on social media. 

In contrast Facebook, TikTok are full of the various Pattaya karaoke bars promoting themselves, showing off the boys and their 'numbers'. 

A thriving gay bar culture in Pattaya/Jomtien needs visual publicity, but a consequence is that we, as customers, might end up getting caught up in that, even if only as a potentially identifiable bald-spot in the background of some bar 🤣 For me that is a price worth paying! 🥰

I think Soi 6 is actually a poor comparison. It did not become famous because of social media. It has been well known for decades because of what it offers and how everything is concentrated in one place.

You can compare it to a street with twenty furniture shops next to each other. People go there because they know exactly what they will find, all in one area. Soi 6 offers cheap, fast, and very visible access to sex, and that alone has always guaranteed foot traffic.

Social media mainly became relevant during Covid as a way to supplement income when bars were forced to close. That does not mean it is the reason Soi 6 is busy now, nor that the same logic applies to boy bars. The dynamics between male–female and male–male markets are simply different, especially online.

I also do not buy the idea that people already in Pattaya need social media to discover that Jomtien Complex is a gay area. Anyone who is already here knows exactly what it is and what it offers. There is no added benefit there. I also seriously doubt that people choose a holiday destination because a bar has a TikTok or Facebook presence.

More importantly, I do not think the real issue is bars promoting themselves. The issue is customers being filmed and shown online without consent. That was the concern being discussed.

There are countless YouTubers walking through these areas filming everyone indiscriminately. You can clearly see people trying to avoid the camera, covering their faces, or moving away, yet the filming continues anyway, often without blurring faces afterward.

These creators are effectively making money off people who just want to enjoy a drink in peace. Calling this the new normal does not make it acceptable. It is not normal, and it is not legal. Thailand even announced a crackdown on this type of filming last year, and rightly so.

Edit: 

One additional point that is worth mentioning: arguably the busiest lady bar in Pattaya, Windmill, has a very strict no filming policy. There are clear signs everywhere, and every customer is explicitly informed of this rule by the doormen before entering. Privacy is taken seriously there, and it clearly does not hurt business.

It is also worth noting that Windmill is not even located directly on Walking Street itself, but in a side soi, yet it still attracts huge crowds consistently. That rather undermines the idea that constant visibility, filming, or social media exposure is a prerequisite for success.

These bars thrive on word of mouth in places where their potential customers already gather, such as forums and community spaces. That is exactly how I, and many others, find out what is going on in Pattaya.