Alternative destinations

[paborn]

"as long as you have your wits about you and are not a "green" tourist!"

This screams for elaboration. Is there danger?

[kittyboy]

as a response to the OP:
I would highly recommend Phnom Penh in Cambodia... I know its outside your required location of Thailand, but with just a 50 minute flight from BKK, its pretty much the same distance as Phuket or Ko Samui
Just returned from my 3rd trip in 13 months and I can't recommend enough... as long as you have your wits about you and are not a "green" tourist!

My last trip to PP was about 5 years ago. PP was fun but there were not many gay bars.

3 trips in 13 months ! Tell us more about why you like PP. Maybe the gay scene is more active. Detail man..details..Prices...Pictures of guys!! and yes..what is the meaning of the comment about not being a green tourist..I am guessing that means as long as you are not green as in naive?

[bobsaigon2]

This very senior tourist made many trips to Phnom Penh and was not aware of danger. Perhaps my routine assured safety? Any time I left the hotel I hired one of the reliable tuk tuks waiting at the door. Daytime trips to the malls (no sightseeing, thank you) and night time outings to one of the massage venues, with tuk tuk waiting for me while I was being 'cared for'.

Gay owned and managed Rambutan Resort is first rate, next door is the more hedonistic A&P Hotel. Recently had a good report on the Sun and Moon Hotel. Joiners welcome at all of these. And if you are an apps user, your choice of companions is substantial.

[a447]

I didn't really feel in danger during my visits to Phnom Pehn, apart from the time I decided to walk down a dark street to reach Hatha massage.

There were lots of guys sitting on either side of the street drinking. I thought I could easily be a prime target if someone decided to attack a "rich" farang.

I immediately turned around and headed back to the main road.

I met an American girl in a restaurant who told me about her unfortunate experience. She had gone to a night club "to find my fuck for the night." (!!)

She got on the back of his motorcycle to head back to her hotel but at the lights some guys came by on a scooter and grabbed her shoulder bag. She managed to keep hold of it but the motorcycle fell over and landed on her friend's knee, necessitating a trip to the hospital.

"So, no fuck, eh?" I asked.

"Oh no. He was on crutches but managed to make it to my hotel."

And here I was, thinking I was the only one not to let anything get between me and a romp in bed!

[Moses]

It looks like a pleasant city or the city center looks pleasant and it has a low cost of living so a cheap vacation.
If anyone has traveled to the Ukraine in particular or Eastern Europe in general and can make some recommendations I would appreciate it.

mark

Kiyev, Lviv, Odessa - are most interesting Ukrainian cities, they were pearls on map of Ukraine. From them Lviv is most "european". At past 10-12 years economic of Ukraine is in deep depression and Odessa lost a lot: leaving country citizens (mostly Jewish), bad maintenance of roads and buildings, overpriced at high season (July - August). City still keeps charm but it is quite dusty charm for now. From other Ukrainian cities I can suggest Uzhgorod. Security advices: since country is quite poor don't wear expensive clothes and jewelry, expensive looking watches, watch your pockets, don't walk alone by dark streets and don't walk alone far from centers even at day time. Additional warning for tourists who don't looks like white Caucasian - nationalism is quite strong now and you may have troubles outside of centers of cities. For gay tourists: homophobia is on the peak, be discrete.

From EE countries I like Prague, Budapest and Ljubljiana (pronounce: "Lyublyana")

[kittyboy]

Kiyev, Lviv, Odessa - are most interesting Ukrainian cities, they were pearls on map of Ukraine. From them Lviv is most "european". At past 10-12 years economic of Ukraine is in deep depression and Odessa lost a lot: leaving country citizens (mostly Jewish), bad maintenance of roads and buildings, overpriced at high season (July - August). City still keeps charm but it is quite dusty charm for now. From other Ukrainian cities I can suggest Uzhgorod. Security advices: since country is quite poor don't wear expensive clothes and jewelry, expensive looking watches, watch your pockets, don't walk alone by dark streets and don't walk alone far from centers even at day time. Additional warning for tourists who don't looks like white Caucasian - nationalism is quite strong now and you may have troubles outside of centers of cities. For gay tourists: homophobia is on the peak, be discrete.

From EE countries I like Prague, Budapest and Ljubljiana (pronounce: "Lyublyana")

I was in Ljubljiana 2 summers ago with my foster son. Only spent 2 days there but it is a lovely city. We looked around the city. I really liked it. It was affordable, up in the foot hills of the mountains so it was very temperate (Cold and snowy in the winter).

I did not find any gay life there but the foster son was a big hit on Grindr (He is much better looking than me). He got laid a 2 times from Grindr hookups. I was not so lucky.

We drove from Bologna to Ljubljiana then down to Pula Croatia and back to Italy.
Croatia was also nice..but gay life seems much more closeted in those countries.
Nothing beats Thailand for its gay go go and host bars - or if anything does beat it then please share as I want to visit that locale.

[colmx]

This very senior tourist made many trips to Phnom Penh and was not aware of danger. Perhaps my routine assured safety?

Yes that's what I meant about being a green tourist, use common sense:
-Take the hotel tuktuks (and possibly pay the extra $1 for the pleasure, but they are usually trustworthy)
-Always have loads of $1 USD notes available for Tuktuks so they don't play the old "no change" game if you hand them $5 for a $4 ride
-Get a fixed price airport voucher and take the official taxis from the rank in airport
-Don't accept any change in USD that has even the slightest bit of damage or looks slightly worn
-Check your change, especially when they hand you mixed USD and a shitload of Riels
-Don't listen to the touts offering you all kinds of illegal activities and narcotics etc.

There is also a new style of TukTuk after arriving into the city, they are similar in style to the Phuket Tuktuks and much more comfortable than the old style carriages
A new local app called Pass App can be used for ordering TukTuks or Uber style cars

Recently had a good report on the Sun and Moon Hotel. Joiners welcome at all of these.

We stayed at the Sun & Moon and it was really fantastic, brand new, funky modern design, friendly staff etc.
They warn on the Keycard envelope that joiners must pay $10USD, but when we got back to the hotel (usually after 4am) there was never anybody there to enforce a joiner fee. My understanding is that the manager there is one of "us"

The hotel is flanked by Space Bar on one side and POC Bar around the corner (and also the 2 POC massage shops), however for us Toolbox is definitely the best bar for cute gay boys. Spoke to the boss briefly and he only hires guys that do not screech!

Blue Chilli is the other main gay pub, but we never made it there this time (we were too enamoured with the Toolbox boys!)

Heart of Darkness Club now has a LB show at midnight Thurs-Saturday, so that where we usually ended up till late and it still draws large crowds, although a few too many free loading backpacker types

One night some Khmer friends brought us to Blue Line, which is a huge Khmer club, I ended up bumping into an ex-Pattaya shag there... small world!

[christianpfc]

-Don't accept any change in USD that has even the slightest bit of damage or looks slightly worn

That depends on the denomination. 100 USD bill have to be in good condition to be accepted. 1 USD notes have been in circulation in Cambodia for years and show it.

Begin of Sep 2018 in Siem Reap. When I wanted to pay 20 USD for a hotel room (normally I don't spend that much for a room, but here were circumstanced that required finding a place quickly) with a 100 USD note, the cashier didn't have change, went away with my 100 USD note to ask for change elsewhere, and then came back with the 100 USD note. So I paid with 20 USD. (I have to get small change for the 100 USD notes I get from money exchange somewhere.) Later I had an idea that there might be a scam, walking away with a genuine 100 USD note and returning a good fake. But in this case I was lucky, I used the 100 USD to pay elsewhere. But in future I should take a picture so I have the serial number.

[colmx]

the cashier didn't have change, went away with my 100 USD note to ask for change elsewhere.... But in future I should take a picture so I have the serial number.

Actually that's another scam that a Khmer friend warned us of in disco and said when you hand over a 100USD note you always quote the last 4 digits of the serial number to the waiter. That way they can't come back a few mins later with a different note and claim it's a fake.

Oh and we had a slightly worn 20 USD (change from a bar) that nobody would accept. So our only option was to convert it into riel (at 10% loss) to use as tip money for show and waiter tips etc

[werner]

A couple questions about alternative destinations to Thailand:

Has anyone been to the Philippines lately? It used to --and I have not been there for 25 years-- have some fun clubs with a lot of attractive guys. Does anyone remember Club 690 at its peak?

Have many members visited the Toolbox bar in Phnom Penh, Cambodia? what were your experiences there? Are the cute guys offable?

I have heard from some Forum members that the cutest and hottest Cambodia guys are actually in Pattaya.