Current Travels in Thailand

[morse]

I am just finishing my trip and am sorry the media has greatly exaggerated the conditions here. Yes, the protests are somewhat of a nuisance (but the bf takes the issues very seriously) but offer no serious impediment to travel in BKK or Thailand. I joke they are Thailand 's version of Woodstock-but with clothing and on valium.
The hotels seem sadly underoccupied-Centre Point at Silom and Ploen Chit seemed deserted. This trip took me to Chiangmai, Hua Him and Kanchanaburi. The Nok air flight to Chiangmai was very sparce, but Chiangmai itself seemed normal. I had a massage at Classic House, but didn't visit the gay bars or ChangPuk area.
Hua Hin seemed overrun with the straight Mogul hordes and my hotel -The Pavilion -appeared to be full. I prefer La Maison near Hua Hin's "bustling " gay district, but couldn't book a room. New Guy bar there was quiet, but very nice. They have a great friendly staff. I didn't try the massages upstairs.
Kanchanaburi was great! We stayed at the Felix River Kawai Resort. Fabulous grounds, two pools and a great restaurant. We hired two kayaks and spent a couple of lazy hours floating down the river. Just the thing for novice placid water kayakers.
The resort is tucked away from the tourist conjestion of the bridge, but an easy walk to it.

[morse]

I seem to have run out of space. My usual massage venues in BBK seem deserted and half or quarter staffed (and just when I was taking up a personal challenge to find a massage boy NOT from Issan -I do wonder who is herding the buffalo). The Fan Club handed out flyers for a free massage -tip excluded. When that happens you know business is SLOW. I do empathize with the plight of the many businesses located in the protests areas. It has really slowed their tourist traffic, what little there is. Even MBK is noticeably dead. As is Terminal 21. But Chinatown appears to have had little impact, although New Years bookings in central BKK are low according to the hotel staff here. Bangkok still retains its allure, but the electricity of the place is temporarily absent.

[ozcamo-old]

I seem to have run out of space. My usual massage venues in BBK seem deserted and half or quarter staffed (and just when I was taking up a personal challenge to find a massage boy NOT from Issan -I do wonder who is herding the buffalo). The Fan Club handed out flyers for a free massage -tip excluded. When that happens you know business is SLOW. I do empathize with the plight of the many businesses located in the protests areas. It has really slowed their tourist traffic, what little there is. Even MBK is noticeably dead. As is Terminal 21. But Chinatown appears to have had little impact, although New Years bookings in central BKK are low according to the hotel staff here. Bangkok still retains its allure, but the electricity of the place is temporarily absent.

Fan Club is doing very well and to be honest I often do the free massage vouchers just to upset the small competitors that try steal my staff. Every time they take one of my staff I simply do free massage for a few days to reduce the numbers they get. It seems to work as they don't think about doing it anymore as they know that I will hurt them financially if they are not nice. Add to this the offer is very popular and tends to boost the money the boys are making and makes them more likely to stay at Fan Club. Only the boys benefit when I do this and they know it all too well.

[kakadai]

Very satisfied with Fan Club. Both the massage and the ...

[Oliver]

The Royalist demonstrations were something of a nuisance when I visited a few weeks ago but, as far as I could see when I had a look at the Silom one, much of the disruption was the result of an extension of the street market which stretched all the way to the the Rama 4 intersection. Admittedly a couple of mean-looking Suthep thugs were controlling the entrance to Rama 4 but otherwise that event was notable for its risible lack of support. My taxi drives to the two airports passed similar scenes, as far as could be discerned. The taxi drivers (who are invariably Red Shirts) both found them a joke though admitted that working people had lost a lot of money. Not that this would upset the Suthep mob, many of whom spent the days in up-market shopping centres and their nights in luxury hotels, joining the demonstrations only to hear that comedian's bizarre rants.
Travelling on to Chiang Mai, I found the Air Asia flights (both ways) more crowded than usual but the city itself had plenty of tourists. I cannot comment on the gay venues but the markets, the restaurants and certainly my hotel were busy. Most of the tourists seemed to be Asian with a particularly high concentration of Japanese men on golfing holidays.
And from there, driving south to Kamphaeng Phaet..... no sign of the rebellion.

Good to hear (a few minutes ago) that the roads are being re-opened in Bangkok. About time too. A metropolitan elite has no right to choose a government or remove one that was democratically elected.