I walked through Boyztown this evening, around 21:00, with no plans to stop as I'd just walked the length of the beach. Had also met a Khmer lad earlier in the evening.
About half a dozen lads were sat outside Toy Boys in white underwear. Not the kind of skimpy outfits that certain board owners prefer, but it's certainly better than anything I've seen in Bangkok this year. At least a couple of the lads looked cute.
I presume them sitting outside implies no customers, which is unfortunate.
I shall have to visit soon, preferably when I'm not the only punter.
X-Boys, Dream Boys, A-Bomb and Boyz Boyz Boyz all appeared to be open.
Bar Reports
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Gaybutton
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Re: Bar Reports
Hmmm, got any particular board owners in mind?
NOT the kind of skimpy outfits that certain board owners prefer? Then not even worth the bother for this board owner . . .
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Jun
Re: Bar Reports
Only one has expressed a preference
I also prefer to see skimpy underwear in a gogo, but in 2022 the choice is limited and I suspect Toy Boys would be the second best gogo bar in Thailand (for twinks).
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Gaybutton
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Re: Bar Reports
I wonder who that might be . . .
Yet another reason why it's been quite a while since the last time I was in a go-go bar. Based on these reports, that absence is likely to continue for another long while.
"I don't get no respect at all. Yesterday I was in a bar. They told me to leave. They wanted to start the happy hour.
Day before that I was in another bar. I told the bartender to make me a Zombie. He told me God beat him to it"
- Rodney Dangerfield
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Jun
Re: Bar Reports
Sunee Plaza
Winner Boys. I counted 6 boys in underwear. Two nice cute ones. Two tattooed types who look like they belong in Nice Boys. One tall and with hairy legs and the final one was slightly fat.
Two of the not-cute ones were with another customer when I arrived.
One cute lad in nice small red briefs was dancing on stage quite a bit and the other cute one in acceptable black underwear made the odd appearance. Eventually I invited the one in red to sit with me. A very nice lad and he looks better the closer you get. Cute smile and well behaved. Didn't even push me for a boy drink until I offered.
I think two other farang ventured inside later, but so pleasant was the company, I didn't even notice if they stayed.
Very much worth the visit, just for the company of the one lad.
Draught beer 89. Boy drink approx 150.
A few farang and the owner were sat outside. Yes, more people outside than inside the bar. Someone ought to take the plastic chairs away and burn them, so the gogo bar might receive some attention.
There were perhaps 30 customers at the other bars, particularly Rainbow, the one on the corner, Diamond and one other. I didn't notice any lads at all at some of the bars. Sunee looks more like a drinking venue than one with boy bars.
Although I did buy a drink in a gogo bar for the first time in over a year.
[From daytime observations, I can confirm that the former Forest House Site is being converted into what looks like a laundry, as was reported elsewhere].
On down the hill, across the road and to....The Dolls House, just for comparison purposes. Ladies on stage, mostly with everything on display. A small beer costs, would you believe, 50 baht. I won't be back in a hurry, but no fobbing customers off with staff in jeans and high drink prices here. 50 baht with nudity on stage.
Swiftly on towards the Boyztown area. Noted the mirrors on the wall in the former Vasa bar. Dreamboys had men in Jeans and quite a few Asian customers. I didn't stop. A-Bomb had some tub of lard in jeans visible through the glass door, so I proceeded onto Toy Boys. Roughly 8 boys on stage in underwear, plus a few others around sat with customers.
The quality was poor. Generally overweight, or a few years older than ideal. The best candidate couldn't manage anything other than a scowl.
To my left was one young Asian customer sat drinking with some of the boys.
On the other side were two farang, sat with a group of boys. As far as I could guess, that group comprised one Thai who I think they brought with them and the remainder were bar boys. One was cute and slim.
Their faces brightened up considerably when the farang went outside for a while and they were left to drink together.
Three elderly farang arrived and one had a lad sit with him.
The beer was 280 baht, but they bought me another one for free. That buys some goodwill, but the selection of boys was nowhere near good enough to get me rushing back.
The highlight of the night was, by some margin, the company of the adorable lad in red briefs at Winner Boys.
Next morning, I overheard two farang....
Q "How was Boyztown"
A "Very quiet, except for the noise"
Winner Boys. I counted 6 boys in underwear. Two nice cute ones. Two tattooed types who look like they belong in Nice Boys. One tall and with hairy legs and the final one was slightly fat.
Two of the not-cute ones were with another customer when I arrived.
One cute lad in nice small red briefs was dancing on stage quite a bit and the other cute one in acceptable black underwear made the odd appearance. Eventually I invited the one in red to sit with me. A very nice lad and he looks better the closer you get. Cute smile and well behaved. Didn't even push me for a boy drink until I offered.
I think two other farang ventured inside later, but so pleasant was the company, I didn't even notice if they stayed.
Very much worth the visit, just for the company of the one lad.
Draught beer 89. Boy drink approx 150.
A few farang and the owner were sat outside. Yes, more people outside than inside the bar. Someone ought to take the plastic chairs away and burn them, so the gogo bar might receive some attention.
There were perhaps 30 customers at the other bars, particularly Rainbow, the one on the corner, Diamond and one other. I didn't notice any lads at all at some of the bars. Sunee looks more like a drinking venue than one with boy bars.
Although I did buy a drink in a gogo bar for the first time in over a year.
[From daytime observations, I can confirm that the former Forest House Site is being converted into what looks like a laundry, as was reported elsewhere].
On down the hill, across the road and to....The Dolls House, just for comparison purposes. Ladies on stage, mostly with everything on display. A small beer costs, would you believe, 50 baht. I won't be back in a hurry, but no fobbing customers off with staff in jeans and high drink prices here. 50 baht with nudity on stage.
Swiftly on towards the Boyztown area. Noted the mirrors on the wall in the former Vasa bar. Dreamboys had men in Jeans and quite a few Asian customers. I didn't stop. A-Bomb had some tub of lard in jeans visible through the glass door, so I proceeded onto Toy Boys. Roughly 8 boys on stage in underwear, plus a few others around sat with customers.
The quality was poor. Generally overweight, or a few years older than ideal. The best candidate couldn't manage anything other than a scowl.
To my left was one young Asian customer sat drinking with some of the boys.
On the other side were two farang, sat with a group of boys. As far as I could guess, that group comprised one Thai who I think they brought with them and the remainder were bar boys. One was cute and slim.
Their faces brightened up considerably when the farang went outside for a while and they were left to drink together.
Three elderly farang arrived and one had a lad sit with him.
The beer was 280 baht, but they bought me another one for free. That buys some goodwill, but the selection of boys was nowhere near good enough to get me rushing back.
The highlight of the night was, by some margin, the company of the adorable lad in red briefs at Winner Boys.
Next morning, I overheard two farang....
Q "How was Boyztown"
A "Very quiet, except for the noise"
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Jun
Re: Bar Reports
One Jomtien bar is advertising for staff, complete with a mention of a work permit. That doesn't quite align with the consensus view that foreign staff are not allowed to work in bars. I've no idea which is correct, but its best not to be sure about a consensus view until finding evidence.
Having walked form North to South Pattaya several times, I note the open fronted girly bars on the streets between the beach road and second road are busy at about 15:30. One street was so busy with customers and vendor vehicles, I decided against using it to get to beach road. Compare with Boyztown, which is still quiet at 17:00 and perhaps has fewer customers per bar even after 21:00.
There are a couple of obvious differences. Firstly, the girly bars on these streets have scantily clad ladies chatting with customers, whereas the open air Boyztown bars have fully clothed staff, who mainly serve drinks and don't entertain customers.
Secondly, I suspect the drink prices in the girly bars are quite a bit lower than the 120~130 baht on Boyztown. That certainly was the case on Soi Bukhao, where I paid 60 baht per bottle having found a bar showing the final (rigged) Grand Prix in 2021. I would guess it's a tad more expensive at the better quality bars. I guess buying the staff drinks empties the wallet faster as well, but I shall stick to carrying out walk by research here.
The large girly bars with plump ladies behind the counters further south still seem quiet during late afternoon. So the straight market does have some standards.
To be fair, the drink pricing in Jomtien ranges from 80-100 baht, often with cute staff at the bars. So with a better atmosphere and lower prices, it's no wonder they have taken trade off Boyztown.
The Boyztown area gogo scene will also not be a draw for everyone either. 4 out of 5 bars have the larger more muscular lads in jeans. Anyone looking for twinks just has Toy Boys.
Having walked form North to South Pattaya several times, I note the open fronted girly bars on the streets between the beach road and second road are busy at about 15:30. One street was so busy with customers and vendor vehicles, I decided against using it to get to beach road. Compare with Boyztown, which is still quiet at 17:00 and perhaps has fewer customers per bar even after 21:00.
There are a couple of obvious differences. Firstly, the girly bars on these streets have scantily clad ladies chatting with customers, whereas the open air Boyztown bars have fully clothed staff, who mainly serve drinks and don't entertain customers.
Secondly, I suspect the drink prices in the girly bars are quite a bit lower than the 120~130 baht on Boyztown. That certainly was the case on Soi Bukhao, where I paid 60 baht per bottle having found a bar showing the final (rigged) Grand Prix in 2021. I would guess it's a tad more expensive at the better quality bars. I guess buying the staff drinks empties the wallet faster as well, but I shall stick to carrying out walk by research here.
The large girly bars with plump ladies behind the counters further south still seem quiet during late afternoon. So the straight market does have some standards.
To be fair, the drink pricing in Jomtien ranges from 80-100 baht, often with cute staff at the bars. So with a better atmosphere and lower prices, it's no wonder they have taken trade off Boyztown.
The Boyztown area gogo scene will also not be a draw for everyone either. 4 out of 5 bars have the larger more muscular lads in jeans. Anyone looking for twinks just has Toy Boys.
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BKKDreamer
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Re: Bar Reports
One of my Thai friends told me an interesting story. Boss of a certain shop are told in advance that the BiB will be making a visit soon into the Jomtien Complex. Boss tells the guys that work there to bring down the shutters and to CLOSE the shop before the BiB arrive. He tells all the foreigners who don't have a work permit to get out of the Complex to not be seen.Jun wrote: ↑Tue Dec 20, 2022 1:00 pm One Jomtien bar is advertising for staff, complete with a mention of a work permit. That doesn't quite align with the consensus view that foreign staff are not allowed to work in bars. I've no idea which is correct, but its best not to be sure about a consensus view until finding evidence.
I said to my friend why this behavior ? He said that the BiB will force the shop owner to pay between 15.000 to 20.000 baht fine for each single worker who does not have a proper work permit. My friend said that if he had to pay this fine that his shop would go out of business and need to close. I said, well why doesn't the boss hire more Thai guys to work in the shop? My friend replied, the Thais cannot be found or don't want to do this kind of work anymore.
In my opinion, this is another reason for the demise of our places that us falangs want to go to. If the bosses/owners of the establishments cannot find workers with proper work permits and can only hire foreigners from the neighboring country with the risk of the BiB asking for a 15.000 to 20.000 baht fine for each single worker -->> how can these shops even manage to stay open for us falang ???
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Jun
Re: Bar Reports
Not only do the Thais have other job opportunities, but there is also a low birth rate and a higher proportion of the younger population are overweight these days. So fewer young people and from that group, a smaller proportion are fit. Then these have no problem getting regular jobs.BKKDreamer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 20, 2022 1:17 pm In my opinion, this is another reason for the demise of our places that us falangs want to go to. If the bosses/owners of the establishments cannot find workers with proper work permits and can only hire foreigners from the neighboring country with the risk of the BiB asking for a 15.000 to 20.000 baht fine for each single worker -->> how can these shops even manage to stay open for us falang ???
I'm not sure how the girly bars cope with the same challenges.
As for the police mafia, where there is a group of bars, the obvious answer is for them to place observers to watch out for the police and sound the alarm.
Then, when visiting what might just be the only gogo bar in Thailand with a small number of cute twinks on stage in underwear, guess what ?
There are more customers drinking outside the bar than inside it. (Winner)
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Gaybutton
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Re: Bar Reports
There is nothing new in this. This is what has been going on for many years. The bars get a tip-off that a raid is imminent. It is illegal for non-Thais to work anywhere at all, including the bars, without a work permit - and not a single one of these bar boys will have a work permit. The bars want them to skedaddle so they don't get fined and/or shut down. This was especially prevalent when some of the bars hired under-age boys. The non-Thai boys want to get away so they don't get arrested, fined, and sent back home, especially if they entered Thailand illegally and/or a urine test would show they have been using drugs.
I remember when raids would happen and bars were not tipped off, or at least not tipped off in time. I would witness police carting off boys by the truckload. Sometimes they would never be seen in the bars again and sometimes they would be back by the next evening.
Many Thai boys stopped working in the bars when the customer numbers started to diminish. There was a time when many of them could make more money in a month, working in the bars, than they could in a year doing anything else. But when there were no longer enough customers to sustain that, the Thai boys began to disappear from the bars. The Lao, Cambodian, and Burmese boys started to outnumber the Thai boys because even under those circumstances they were still making much more than they could hope for in their home countries. Even if they eventually got caught, they still were way ahead.
One thing farang do not have to worry about - whether they could get into trouble if they are caught taking a non-Thai boy off from a bar. The answer is the farang will not be in any trouble at all. It is not the customer's responsibility to verify the boy's nationality or whether he is legally working in the bar. However, it is a totally different story if the farang is caught with an under-age boy. They would be arrested, prosecuted, and usually serve time in a Thai prison. Then, once they were released they would be deported and would find themselves in serious legal trouble upon their return home.
Nevertheless Pattaya for a long time was a magnet for pedophiles. Virtually all of that is a thing of the past. The bars that would hire under-age boys are all long gone. I know of no bars that hire under-age boys anymore and it has been years since I have heard of pedophiles plaguing the bars. That problem is now ancient history.
Your point about bars having to pay hefty fines if they are caught hiring non-Thai boys is well taken. That hardly ever happens. The boys know the system and know how to escape. When was the last time you heard about any non-Thai boys arrested for working in the bars? Even on rare occasions when they are caught, do you truly believe the bars end up really paying those hefty fines?
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Jun
Re: Bar Reports
Zoomer Host bar Jomtien
About 7 boys, one lady boy and an older lady? manager. One other customer. So fewer customers than the bars in Jomtien complex, including those off the main street. They may struggle at this location. Staff treading that fine line between friendly and pushy. With no customers, perhaps they are making an effort. Beer 80 baht.
Onto the complex. There are now several gay bars on streets around the main one, but I decided to walk past them all first. That plan lasted until I got to the first proper bar on the main street, JQX, which is located between The Venue and Home bar. There I encountered one lad I know, with a lovely smile, persuasively asking me to join him. So I sat with him for a couple of beers. Customer drink 100, boy drink 150.
Quite pleasant company and JQX is just far enough down the street to escape the worst of the noise from The Palace. The Palace seems to be the most persistent offender, so they don't get my business, ever.
The JQX bar has a couple of those Japanese style toilets, complete with wash and dry. I didn't test them, but this compares well with some other bars. After all, we still read about no running water in Nice Boys.
Sometime in the last 10 months, the Sun bar has crossed the road to occupy slightly smaller premises. A new bar occupies their old site and has fewer customers.
About 7 boys, one lady boy and an older lady? manager. One other customer. So fewer customers than the bars in Jomtien complex, including those off the main street. They may struggle at this location. Staff treading that fine line between friendly and pushy. With no customers, perhaps they are making an effort. Beer 80 baht.
Onto the complex. There are now several gay bars on streets around the main one, but I decided to walk past them all first. That plan lasted until I got to the first proper bar on the main street, JQX, which is located between The Venue and Home bar. There I encountered one lad I know, with a lovely smile, persuasively asking me to join him. So I sat with him for a couple of beers. Customer drink 100, boy drink 150.
Quite pleasant company and JQX is just far enough down the street to escape the worst of the noise from The Palace. The Palace seems to be the most persistent offender, so they don't get my business, ever.
The JQX bar has a couple of those Japanese style toilets, complete with wash and dry. I didn't test them, but this compares well with some other bars. After all, we still read about no running water in Nice Boys.
Sometime in the last 10 months, the Sun bar has crossed the road to occupy slightly smaller premises. A new bar occupies their old site and has fewer customers.