I was in Pattaya last weekend to attend Mr Thailand and can confirm that a number of Tawan men were competing. Some looked spectacular.
During the last couple of weeks I have made early mid week visits to the bar. The Mr Thailand contestants were not there and a few of the older 'boys' have a waistline similar to mine. There was, however, about a dozen new boys available. I was quite taken with them. Not bodybuilders but good athletic bodies with good hair and skin. Not the village poor look. They came from Buriram, Sisaket, Surin, Roi Et from what I remember.
I plan to investigate this further once the hoards of gay boys attending the Gcircuit party vacate the bar.

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if i remember correctly number 50 seems young and delicious. his apartment was just ransacked when i was there and might need some help. i got this info from the guy i was with and not directly from him, so it *might* be true.

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second hand trip report from an acquaintance. Lek and the original Nop are back in the province for vacation. i guess these are the ones who were not able to go home for songkran. Arthur is said to have left tawan and now has his own gym.

my acquaintance noticed that the guys who do not do shows are given 100bht for the night, and wonders how these boys can manage living in bangkok. we all know of reports of some guys milking farangs, some even have multiple sponsors. but i believe these are exception rather than the rule. i did notice some of them have nice looking motorbike, and even SUVs. but my acquaintance said he saw one guy working as a motorbike taxi driver and his heart immediately melted for the guy. he is in a whirlwind of emotions feeling love or pity or compassion for him.

aside from this, his trip report is same same. am not sure if the peak season is ending.

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No one can live on 100 baht a day in Bangkok.

But these guys are not meant to.

They are meant to get johns and score tricks.

Two tricks a month and they are in minimum wage territory.

Two tricks a day, and they're getting more than what a bank manager gets.

There is no reason whatsoever to pity any of these guys, though I'm sure that's what they are hoping their customers will do.

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the boys are clearly divided by the have and have nots. the easiest way to determine this is by their cellphones. most of the superstars will have an iphone5 while the others will have a non-data capable cellphone.

an addendum to my acquaintance trip report was he saw a very old guy in the tawan line up. he was told the guy was 48 years old wearing the 28 tag. i was told the guy was one of the pioneers of tawan. still in good shape for his age, but definitely showing the age.

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One doesn't have to feel sorry for the have-nots, either. If they can't make it in "show business", they can easily get a "regular" job and have happy lives like the 60 million other Thais in the country.

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a very astute observation icon. it'll help slap the senses back to my acquaintance who seems to be on a post bangkok depression.

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Is the party over? Are there still shows under the curfew?
Should I just cancel my trip?

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Not quite that simple.

Most are bought on a small deposit and monthly payments along with hefty interest charges.

Many of these youngsters are not thinking about whether they can really afford the more expensive models (example - could be 25,000Baht, meaning overall 2 to 2.5 years of monthly payments, maybe even more) regardless of whether they get regular offs or not.

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Soi 2 deserted and soi 4 packing up at 11pm. Howeve the main problem is getting a taxi after 11pm. Gas stations close so the taxis are only wanting to take rides if on their was home. We waited over an hour for a taxi that would take us 15 mins to rama3. Not fun in silom stranded as every thing closing.

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