So how many expatriates who frequent this board, live in a 3,000 Baht per month apartment ? In the US, where tipping, I understand, is mandatory irrespective of the type of service provided, would we have so many whiners debating whether a $30tip is reasonable or not, for a guy being offed ? If a guy is firm about his rates, he would be named and invite immediate ostracisation on this board ! I am not saying that you should pay the guy more or less - just let not the discussion denigrate into arguments about COLI ( Cost of Living Indices) whether in bahts / satang or $ /cents !

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Saturday 18 December 2010.

What a change from earlier this week! Tawan was full (about 50 patrons) for the 10:30 pm show. With some leaving early and others coming in late, I figure a total of 70 patrons came through during the one hour from 10:30 to 11:30. Didn't see a lot of offs though; perhaps those who stayed on after the show (and I wasn't among them) were the truly interested ones.

A little imagination and effort seem to have been put into the show items. One item had Caesar and his centurions came on stage.

The first item was the most interesting, for a totally unexpected reason. Tawan's show always begins with muscle posing, but now instead of briefs, they're wearing some kind of flimsy roman toga. At first it wasn't clear whether they had underwear, but as they flexed, a protrusion slowly became evident beneath the fabric. These men get turned on when they flex! Did you know that?

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Amazing. Cost of living is exactly what the discussion is about. If the cost of living hasn't risen, then it wouldn't explain raising prices.

I don't know why economics is so hard to grasp, but my original point about whether the baht has maintained its strength against other currencies didn't mean I thought Thai prices should reflect other currencies' rise or fall. Of course, they shouldn't. Thai prices should reflect Thai cost of living.

My point was that, as far as the cost of imported goods makes up part of the Thai cost of living (which it does, despite denials), a price rise can't be "justified" on that ground, since the baht's value has kept up with other countries' currencies--unless, of course, the imported goods' price has risen in the currency of their originating countries.

And I think several posters have now affirmed that, for whatever reasons, the Thai cost of living hasn't risen as fast as the supposed cost of certain services that are popular on this board.

Even though an annual inflation rate of 3% or 4% could explain a 50% rise over some 10 years, I don't think it has actually been 10 years since today's supposedly customary 1,500- or 2,000-baht tip was 1,000 bahts.

Why--and whether--such tips have risen so fast and high seems to be still an open question.

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They have risen, and the rise has been in tandem with overall increases in cost of living.
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-- Today, (19th.), forenoon and walking through Soi Twilight - off Suriwong rd. - I saw a new bar -
BLUE MOON BAR.,
- addr.: Soi Twilight, off S'wong. rd.,
Bang rak;
- loc'n.: Between OCEAN BOYS, (ex-FUTURE BOYS.), and the Mid-Eastern rest't. on Rama IV. rd., roughly opp. to MARIO'S, (ex-RED), MASSAGE;
- contact: no info. avail.;
- Smells strongly of fresh paint!
-- Several advert. posters displayed along the soi.

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The bit of ecomomics you've all forgotten is that pricing is ultimately determined not by cost of goods, but by supply and demand.

When supply exceeds demand, prices fall, sometimes to below cost . Competitve pressure amongst the boys to earn a living is what has kept the rate of growth of tips well below the rate of inflation within the Thai economy - absolutley nothing to do with cpi ! These guys are entrepreneurs in a grossly oversupplied free market economy, not index linked civil servants.

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Thanks. Exactly the point that many of us have been trying to make !!

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If you don't like the going rate, attempt to bargain a Cheap Charlie deal then. I'm sure you'll be very popular.
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[quote=stillthrobbing;680861]Maybe not in 2010, but definitely not as long ago as 1990. Bht 1,000 was customary less than 10 years ago.


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NOT right-as 1989 was my first real year in LOS. And-just by pure coincidence, yesterday I reread the TMOT-book, on which I relied for those visits. The short-time quote was then 300-500 THB. At that time 500-the big purple notes, made the hearts of many a boy beat faster. I ahve 4 editions of that book-the last one from 1997, and then it quoted 500-800 as advice for short-time encounters with barboys. 1997 was the year of the the ASian financial crisis and the Baht-crash.
At that time soi Twy-ly was only barred by Twily bar itself (now Hotmail). I talso think there is a marked difference between the bars in that tiny soi and suburban BKK.

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A minor correction: It's Blue Man Bar, not Blue Moon. Presumably they hope punters will come more often than once in a blue moon

And it's a sidewalk bar, like Dick's, not a gogo bar.

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-- Thanks for yr. corr'n. - apreciated!
- Y'day., (19th.), evening I walked-by at around 22.oo.hrs. and was asked to step inside and to join a few others for drinks.

-- As an aside Soi Twilight - off Suriwong rd. - was far from busy at that time - quite unlike what one might expect for a sunday evening during the so-called HIGH/Tourist Season.

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Tourist arrivals are breaking all previous records.

The fact is that fewer and fewer people find those bars to be of interest. I haven't been over there in years.

I bet they will cease to exist before long.
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It is perhaps price resistance more than anything. Jupiter (drinks 270 baht) was full on both occasions that I looked in, possibly on account of its quality of show.

Dream Boy was nearly full on both the weekday night I was in it and the weekend night I popped in again briefly. First drink 300 baht, second drink 260.

Other bars in the soi aren't doing as well. X-size was OK, filling about 60 percent of capacity, but the others (X-boys, Fresh Beach, Ocean, Hotmale) had pathetic audiences for what should be high season. My guess is that when these bars followed price leader Dream Boys and Jupiter up in pricing, they didn't realise that they also had to deliver the same quality of boys and show. Not having done so, the market is smart enough to go only to the bars that give what they consider value for money.

The solution is obvious. If the bars cannot compete with Dream Boy and Jupiter in show quality, then try harder to get better-looking boys and adopt an aggressive discounting strategy to rebalance the value proposition. But this is Thailand and I won't hold my breath.

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Before coming on stage, the performers will masturbate upstairs until they are hard. Then, they will slide up a cock ring to maintain the rigidity.

During the posing, when they clench their abs or tense up their thighs and other muscles, their cocks will jerk up or throb. Its quite a sight if you sit near the stage.

I always wondered... for the sexy muscle show when the ladyboys suck them, will they accidentally enjoy it so much that they suddenly lose control and cum in the condom since they already masturbated for a few minutes upstairs?

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I have seen it happen during a "big cock" show at the old Twilight.

One of the boys came out very well-fluffed, and as some of you remember the performers used to walk along the bar where patrons were free to feel the erection.

A couple over-enthusiastic tugs by a patron, and an unanticipated (but perhaps not unwelcome) surprise was received.

The boy was red-faced, but the crowd loved it.

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