I have sent an email to Nicky's to ask why they are closing the newsletter, so far I havent received a response.
If the Forums go too ( which im predicting one or two will close soon) then those of you overseas will be in the dark about what is happening in Pattaya.
Your not missing much apart from bar closures and less boys around and the ones that are around are ancient as my good friend LMTU used to say.
18 is a legally empowered adult. Below that is not.
Yes 18yo but in some Western Countries it is indeed 16yo.
To me that is too young but who am I to judge if I saw a 60yo man walking hand in hand with a 16yo in a Country where its legal?
Should he be despised ? The thing was apparently it was once legal in Thailand but things changed which resulted in a lot of farangs trying other Countries.
Im certainly not going to judge anyone,where its legal its their right.
all I want to do is find out why farangs have either stopped their trips to Pattaya or lessen their visits.
Even statistically gay becoming expats have dropped off the last few years .
Why we have bars such as Corner Bar , Colonial , Come in , all going out of business and now a gay newsletter who says its not worth their time.
Punters can blame it on not having air conditioning, overpriced drinks etc but I think its more than that.
Last edited by garypattaya; June 9th, 2016 at 10:22.
And how would you know his age if it was not you walking around with him?Originally Posted by garypattaya
It's certainly not the same place it was 25 years ago for me. From the magic, from a time when foreigners were few and treated with great respect...no matter how they behaved. Now a days, the standard of living has improved, Thais are more customers to that industry and the industry one of foreigners or greatly less fortunate. You can blame the phone all Thais have and the connection they now have to the world, world values and predjudisms.
I think you'll find prostitution to become less socially accepted around the world. People are more connected and I think Thais in general want to see a change in how they are viewed, through the same western stereotypes we're exposed to about Thailand. I can't speak for the Phillipines, but as US relations normalize with Cuba...the Rose industry along the Malecon will vanish overnight, compared to Thailand's slow decline.
It's also a supply and demand world and so much like the red light district in Amsterdam, I'm sure you'll see some degree of the commercialized industry...on the female side of Thailand's industry.
I'm not sure what Forums you are predicting will close soon, I'm very doubtful Gaybutton or Sawatdee will close anytime soon. What you may see though is the continued evolution of this site as we try to reach out to Gay Travelers of all ages and nationalities who are interested in traveling to or living in Thailand. Thailand might be changing, but for people like me who love the food and culture and the beach lifestyle down at Jomtien...there will always be something to come back to.
Surfcrest
Moses (June 9th, 2016)
Gary, most of us know our way around the internet (chatrooms, forums, and such) where one comes all kind of weirdos (yes even worse than here - LOL) - and can tell you the term "boylover" has only ONE meaning - and it's not a guy into 18yos (or usually even 16yos).
If I'm being extremely generous, I guess Old Jock maybe misunderstood the term.
It's lower than 16 across most of Europe, I think Spain it's still 13 with Germany, Portugal, Italy and a few others at 14, and France and Greece at 15. I've never believed that high age of consent laws stop paedophiles, more often such laws end up criminalising those they're supposed to protect, ie. 18 year olds being charged with statutory rape for sleeping with their consenting 17 year old girlfriends, youngsters who "sext" naked pictures of themselves being charged with making and distributing child pornography, etc. etc.
It's already over, and not just in Thailand. There's been a seismic shift in the bar scene globally, drinking establishments of any kind are now rarely a viable commercial proposition. I'm in central London and I only have to look around me, my five nearest pubs have been demolished and turned into blocks of flats in just the last decade or so. As for the gay "scene", apart from Old Compton Street, it's dead if not yet buried.
I've only been to Thailand once, and whilst I'm returning again shortly, that'll be more as a base for visiting other countries. I had a great time, and thoroughly enjoyed the night life, but it's not something I'd want to do on a regular basis. For me, it was a bit like visiting the Moulin Rouge or Crazy Horse in Paris, something you do as a tourist, just the once.
I engaged most of my Thai playmates through an agency and online, a few via hookup apps and on one occasion just giving a gorgeous guy a card with my temporary contact details. It's not hard to believe the majority of guys must prefer the freelance lifestyle to being enslaved to a bar regime. I'm also sure that for regular hirers, online is a much cheaper option, given that offing from a bar seemed to cost us anything up to 10,000 baht when everything was taken into account.
There will always be a few successful show bars, but more as a slightly naughty tourist traps. For the rest, there's online !!
I agree the scene is dying in Thailand. But as I have noted today and in previous posts, it is growing in Taiwan - and especially in Taipei. Although that perhaps depends on how you define "scene". If you mean go-go bars and commercial establishments that are basically a cover for the sex industry, you'd have to include Taiwan for there are few around. But if you just mean a scene catering to everyday gay guys who are out for a good time and perhaps occasionally a hook-up, then Taipei's gay scene is growing rapidly.
Tobi (June 12th, 2016)
I know very little about Taiwan. Do you perceive any specific reason for the expansion of the scene, ie. is being "out" only recently acceptable? Also, is the "scene" accommodating in an interracial and intergenerational sense? We went to an obviously highly successful "gay" disco cum stage show in Thailand, but there were only a couple of farang in attendance and I certainly felt like the oldest swinger in town. Fortunately we were in a box but I wouldn't have felt comfortable if we'd been standing around a table on the main floor, bit like grandparents popping into the Ministry of Sound in London to watch the kids having a bop!!
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