On 3/31/2026 at 6:54 AM, simon43 said:

All the massage 'ladies' plying for customers in my immediate locality are (to put it honestly), fat, old and ugly

They're all beautiful. It's we who make them ugly.

On 3/31/2026 at 10:54 AM, simon43 said:

I'm staying in the 'luxury' of a back-alley soi 4 (Nana) guest-house right now (I'm a cheapskate...)

That sub-Soi sounds like Scott St off Soi 4. It had all the massage ladies and ladyboys near the entrance. I booked a week in a cheap "hotel" in that Soi in January this year and moved out after the first night thus forfeiting my money. I felt really uneasy in that room.

On 3/31/2026 at 3:22 PM, spidermike007 said:

They simply have too many alternatives online with all the suckers around the world with cash in their pocket.

I suspect OnlyFans and similar sites have ruined the offline market.

3 hours ago, wil iam not said:

Oh, do you not ''celebrate'' April Fool's Day where you live, I DID say it was a joke. Sorry if you misread or mis-interpreted what I meant.

Did you help the Apollo guys to get there and back? And it is very fortunate that the Artemis doesn't run on Diesel. 555 (that means ha ha ha in Thai)

Whatever, good luck and hope that their Gods, whoever they worship, gives them a safe & sound journey.

Has anyone checked on where Mr Kubrick is now.........oh yeh, dead and buried, so who will make the TV movies?

I'm a Brit, so didn't work on any Apollo projects. I worked on projects for ESA - European Space Agency.

Nowadays, my collaboration (on a hobby basis), is with Roscosmos (Russian Space Agency), acting as a go-between between Russian college 'cubesats' and schools in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, helping to get students' space-theme drawings uploaded to these Cubesats and then re-broadcast back to Earth. (Sadly, NASA isn't interested in encouraging school kids in Asia to have an interest in space projects...)

I haven't yet met any April Fool's Day incidents today, (I think!!)

4 hours ago, Legal Lifeline said:

Fair comment- we all know there re no pockets in a shroud- and often the more assets you have the more issues you have as well maintaining them, insuring etc etc

Any materialism i had was killed off 1998 when i went backpacking for a year and all i needed was 1 backpack

On 3/31/2026 at 12:43 AM, georgegeorgia said:

The ones I did use were horrendous, someone eating near me ,washing dishes etc nearby

And none of them knows how to give a proper massage. They just spend an hour rubbing lotion up and down your legs.

On 3/31/2026 at 3:38 AM, SAFETY FIRST said:

Soi 13/1 and 2, soi Honey have young, sexy, slim girls sat out front.

I assume they provide happy endings if desired?

2 minutes ago, thecyclist said:

I assume they provide happy endings if desired?

No massages there

12 hours ago, FarangFB said:

Indeed the math doesn't seem to be mathing in some cases.

Also in many of these massage shops, the ladies in the front are perpetually eating. It doesn't matter what time of the day you visit, they are eating. How and why do they eat so much? I know street food is cheap, but damn.

That is true. But the same for office ladies, receptionists... Pretty much all Thai females.

22 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

I am not convinced that it has visited Thailand in the last 20 or more years!

"it"? Is georgieboy a bot?

12 minutes ago, thecyclist said:

I assume they provide happy endings if desired?

They have a special price for all in, everything around 1300 baht.

1 minute ago, thecyclist said:

"it"? Is georgieboy a bot?

"It" does not seem to know what "it" is or where "it" is at any time!

On 3/31/2026 at 11:37 AM, simon43 said:

Since I never use the services of these ladies, and I no longer live in Thaiand for many years, I can't say that I've noticed...

Well that was certainly very helpful in moving the discussion forward, thank you so much for your brain insights.

1 hour ago, scottiejohn said:

"It" does not seem to know what "it" is or where "it" is at any time!

Perfect for our non-binary, super identity fluid age.

1 hour ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

They have a special price for all in, everything around 1300 baht.

That's what it used to cost on Soi 6/sex(until a few years ago).

10 hours ago, simon43 said:

A lot of what you say is true, not only for Thai women, but for women in the UK, USA etc. They want material possessions, to 'show off' to their friends and neighbours. I was slow to realise (3 marriages and divorces), that my wives didn't actually love me, but loved my money ( was once a $millionaire, thanks to some mobile phone apps that I developed 25 years ago), and what it could do for their 'standing' in the neighbourhood.

As for walking, I have bronchiectasis lung disease - not terminal but incurable and that requires me to walk km every day to keep my lungs clear :) I guess Thai women hate it when they see me eschew a car or motorbike or BTS and instead walk in the hot sun lol!

I gave up on material possessions when I realised that (for me), they didn't bring happiness. I have a good laptop and that's all I need for my online teaching and entertainment. I do splash out on my ham radio gear, but sometimes that gets me into trouble (arrested twice in Laos lol!).

I love to travel and see new cultures, people, even local street scenes. That's difficult when you're tied down with a wife, house that you own, 'bricks and motor' job etc.

Anyway, this is nothing to do with massage shops - just answering your question :)

Thanks Simon for your detailed answer! Highly appreciate your perspective. I dm you also.

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Well that was certainly very helpful in moving the discussion forward, thank you so much for your brain insights.

Well, I was replying to a direct comment! :)

On 3/31/2026 at 10:28 AM, scottiejohn said:

On 3/31/2026 at 5:18 AM, potless said:

Im not convinced that he actually leaves Pattaya.

I am not convinced that it has visited Thailand in the last 20 or more years!

Its a mystery. They seek him here, they seek him there .....

On 3/31/2026 at 3:37 AM, scubascuba3 said:

They do struggle to make money, foreigners who buy massage shops soon regret it, there is one chain that is very likely money laundering, big growth in shops, empty.

Too many massage shops, same bars, same indian restaurants

There are quite a few that are very busy most of the day and night, with a lot of girls.

1 hour ago, JensenZ said:

There are quite a few that are very busy most of the day and night, with a lot of girls.

Yes some will be busy, some will have too many ladies which means they only get a few customers a day max

On 4/1/2026 at 4:42 AM, Maxbkkcm said:

Why did you downgrade your possessions ?? You achieved to get what everyone wants. Houses and cars. Why minimalism? Thai would dream to have 3 houses and 3 cars. They dont want to possess less

3 divorces typically reduce ones possessions !

On 3/31/2026 at 3:43 AM, georgegeorgia said:

When I was in Pattaya I would walk past numerous massage shops with normally large middle aged to very mature age ladies sitting outside

There were groups of them like a woman's social club

I often wonder are they tax fronts , because I can't see how they turn a profit?

The ones I did use were horrendous, someone eating near me ,washing dishes etc nearby

So why would one open up a massage shop and employ these larger middle aged ladies to sit outside?

As the self proclaimed academic, shouldn't you be telling us how they survive? Surely you have done a full statistical analysis on the subject?

Or just full of it as most of us suspect?

1 minute ago, emptypockets said:

As the self proclaimed academic, shouldn't you be telling us how they survive? Surely you have done a full statistical analysis on the subject?

Or just full of it as most of us suspect?

The first thing is to get a volunteer job ..like yourself writing on forums all day , thankyou for your free service Sir

Who needs staff when we have volunteers like yourself, thankyou

4 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

The first thing is to get a volunteer job ..like yourself writing on forums all day , thankyou for your free service Sir

Who needs staff when we have volunteers like yourself, thankyou

Seek help, you need it.

for some reason I've got the notion stuck in my head that @georgegeorgia is identical to the character "Frank Spencer" from the 1970's BBC comedy series Some mothers do "ave ' em"

I can't read anything he posts without imagining it being said in that ridiculous voice,

Uk members will know what I mean

7 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

for some reason I've got the notion stuck in my head that @georgegeorgia is identical to the character "Frank Spencer" from the 1970's BBC comedy series Some mothers do "ave ' em"

I can't read anything he posts without imagining it being said in that ridiculous voice,

Uk members will know what I mean

I see him as more of a Manuel from Fawlty Towers without the accent.

7 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

for some reason I've got the notion stuck in my head that @georgegeorgia is identical to the character "Frank Spencer" from the 1970's BBC comedy series Some mothers do "ave ' em"

I can't read anything he posts without imagining it being said in that ridiculous voice,

Uk members will know what I mean

I am not from the UK, and I know what you mean used to love that show.

On 3/31/2026 at 6:54 AM, simon43 said:

I very much doubt that these rotund women have any formal training in massage, (and I'm not risking my frail body to find out...)

I don't know about that. Probably a few weeks training and a nice certificate is given. In some cases that may have been decades ago.