Bwana_LB

(Copied from elsewhere. No indication of how long approval might take or cost, but this is a huge improvement on the best PrEP available now) Gilead, a California based pharmaceutical company, announced on Thursday (20 June 2024) that it was ending the phase 3, blinded clinical trial of its new, twice-a-year shot for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV, lenacapavir, because it is too effective. In this sort of clinical trial, some participants are randomly assigned to the new intervention that's under investigation (i.e. lenacapavir) and some are randomly assigned to the current standard of care (i.e. Truvada or Descovy, PrEP pills that must be taken every day). Why? Because it would be unethical to use placebo when we know that once-daily PrEP pills do prevent HIV. The trial is also "blinded" to prevent investigator bias from influencing the results – to the maximum extent practicable, the investigators carrying out the research do not know, while the trial is being carried out, which participants are getting which treatment, nor do they know how effective those treatments are. But an Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) has access to all of the data. The IDMC can see, while the trial is ongoing, which participants have gotten which interventions, and they can see how effective those interventions are. The IDMC saw that none of the 2,134 women who received the twice-yearly injection of lenacapavir developed HIV. 0 cases of HIV in any of the participants assigned to lenacapavir. There were 16 cases of HIV in the 1,068 women assigned to Truvada. There were 39 cases of HIV in the 2,136 women assigned to Descovy. At that point, the IDMC has an ethical duty to recommend the blinded trial be stopped, and all of the participants assigned to Truvada and Descovy be offered lenacapavir. Why? Because they know lenacapavir works, it is superior to either Truvada or Descovy, and once that fact has been established, it would be unethical to deny participants the option to receive the more effective PrEP option of lenacapavir. Lenacapavir is not the first injectable PrEP agent. FDA approved "apretude" in 2021; it must be injected every other month. The game changing nature of lenacapavir is that it only requires two injections per year in order to achieve 100% efficacy.

I've never heard of a pharmacy declining to sell w/o a prescription. LB Pharmacy on lower Suk certainly will sell you any basic prescription.

A new hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 11, the place looks quite nice. They opened this month, and have some great deals for people coming in the next month or two. BTW, in response to an email query, they indicate that they are guest-friendly, asking only that guests leave ID at the front desk. https://www.airahotelbangkok.com

I had stomach and bowel issues with Truvada. I quite taking it and decided to just be extra vigilant about being covered at the appropriate times. I have not tried Descovy, but have friends who said they had similar stomach and bowel issues.

It took me years to get over that Rolex I purchased at the corner of Soi 4 and Soi 6.

That's the place. Not surprised it's gone. I think the hotel was a bit bothered to learn that they were hosting a club full of working girls.

It's been a long time since I stayed there. I liked the hotel itself. Good rooms and facilities. When I stayed there they had a dance club that attracted freelancers (all gg as far as I could tell), and they all asked premium prices.

I have invited afternoon treats to the pool. About 25% have taken me up on the offer. But... CanadaVisitor's first two points are on target. The girls have mainly stayed in the shade, under a pool umbrella. And most will get in the pool but not get their hair wet. Some just sit with their feet dangling in the water. At least half tell me they don't know how to swim. But a few have jumped in and taken full advantage of the pool. Mostly we just sit, talk, and have something to drink.

Yes, let them heal. The ulcers are a pathway for infections of many sorts (not just HIV) to enter your system. Also, the ulcers themselves MAY reflect an active case of HPV. Most HPV cases will clear on their own and are not dangerous, but some types of HPV are precancerous.

Just spent 8 nights at the Mercure on Soi 11 and thought I'd offer up my take. I had a King room with shower and bathtub, one of several options. It's not their largest or their smallest room, but was plenty large for my needs (photos below). I arrived at midnight, and check-in was quick and simple. I purchased a room without the breakfast add-on, as I like to explore various breakfast options around town. I booked well in advance, while prices were still depressed by Covid, so got a rate of about $86/night. When I checked in, the rate being offered at that time was about $112. My room was on the 16th floor and away from Soi 11, so as quiet as a room will get in that part of town. I had no issues with noise A funny moment: I was only interested in sleeping after a 27 hour trip with a 15 hour time change, but could not figure out how to turn off the room lights. I searched everywhere (I thought) for the switches, finally calling the front desk to send someone up. The control for the room lights (nearly all of them) was in the middle of the bed headboard, hiding behind a stack of pillows. Description of room: The room was plenty spacious, and had pretty much everything I would want. The king bed was comfortable and the bed linens were high quality. Four large pillows. There was a desk with two chairs, and an additional two guest chairs with a small table. Opposite the bed there was a small storage unit with two drawers for clothes, and a flat screen TV above it. TV worked fine and was decent sized, but I never watched any TV. To the left of this, towards the door to the room and the door to the bathroom, was a platform to set luggage on, a small fridge (not a minibar), and then a closet with a decent sized safe (big enough for a laptop). Across from the closet was the door to the bathroom. As mentioned, the bathroom had both a glass-enclosed shower, with adjustable/handheld shower head and a rainfall shower head. Across from the shower was a full tub with an adjustable/handheld shower head (for some reason, many Thai girls seem to prefer to shower in the tub...I don't get it). Tub had a wall mounted soap dispenser, shower had wall mounted soap, shampoo, and conditioner dispensers. Next to the shower was a toilet with the essential bum gun, and next to it a shower and sink with ample room for storage of toiletries. Pros: Comfortable bed Good AC that was easy to control air speed and room temp Great hot water. It was easy to control, and never ran low. Two large bath sheets and two smaller bath towels Plenty of seating for guests. Chairs came in handy for sex as well. Housekeeping was responsive to requests for extra towels, hangers, etc. I tipped daily. Good reading lights by the bed. Cons: Lighting was hard to control. No dimming, and ceiling lights were either all on or all off. No power outlets next to the bed! Charging phones had to be done at the desk or on top of the fridge. This was a nuisance. Aside from liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion, there were no other amenities in the bathroom. No plastic hair cover for the girls, etc. Fridge was on the small side. Room for a few drinks and not much else. The Hotel: The lobby is nothing fancy. From the driveway you walk through sliding glass doors, across a seating area with a concierge stand, past the elevators (one left, one right), and to the actual reception desks. One of the two hotel restaurants (Lily Fu's) is on the ground floor to the right of the hotel entrance, and can be entered from inside or outside the hotel. Another restaurant (Gaucho Argentinean Steakhouse) is loosely affiliated with the hotel and is just to the left of the hotel. The hotel has a parking garage (4 levels), a pool, bar, and gym that sit above the parking garage, and 16 floors of rooms (1-16, minus 13th, plus a Penthouse level). I spent a fair amount of time at the pool. One of the better pools I've used. There are actually two pools: a smaller and very shallow splash pool for kids and a larger pool, still fairly shallow (1.2 meters) for swimming. The pool is surround by ample seating of various sorts with shade for the sun-averse. The bar sits at one end of the pool, and has a decent drink and food menu. Neither cheap nor overpriced. The gym, glass enclosed and looking out over the pool, was also very good, with plenty of cardio and weight machines. Pros: Lobby easy to negotiate. It's a decent walk (of shame?) to the elevators, but you have the option of skipping the desk and taking your guests straight to your room. Elevators require a room key to get to a particular floor, so no surprise guests will appear at your door (as has happened to me at other hotels). Breakfast buffet at Lily Fu's is excellent, at 299 baht. Egg station, all the usual options for American/English breakfast, tons of Asian options, good selection of fruit, juices, breads and pastries, coffees and teas, etc. One can sit open air in the front of the restaurant facing Soi 11 or sit back further inside or at the bar. In the evening, Lily Fu's is a bar/restaurant and is pretty active. Good drink options, reasonably priced, and usually quite crowded. The food is primarily pan-Asian and good, but there are better options, so I only had a quick meal there one time when convenience was key. Gym was great and never crowded. Pool would get busy, but there was always ample seating. Cons: The hotel is definitely a family hotel. Not exclusively so, but if you're a shy monger just know that you'll be dealing with lots of couples on vacation, families with kids, and so forth. The clients were incredibly diverse, a little United Nations. Didn't bother me at all, but I know some here prefer hotels that cater primarily to mongers. I'm afraid there are fewer and fewer of those, and they are generally not the best hotels. Pool area could get noisy when a few families with kids would show up. The pool is my reading area, and shouting kids are distracting. Come on the early side for breakfast. At least while I was in town the restaurant got quite crowded by 9:30. Fortunately, I'm an early riser. Conclusion: Depending on the rate I can get, I'd definitely stay again. Did I mention that Cindy's Secrets is about 100 yards from the hotel, and that it's a short walk to Check In Bar? And that Soi 11 really has lots of options for food at any time of day, and plenty of nightlife. By 9 pm freelancers show up along Soi 11 closer to Sukhumvit. I definitely preferred staying here over Soi 4. Soi 11 is now also the hub for the mobile marijuana dispensaries. There were at least ten vans selling marijuana along Soi 11 (and tons of dispensaries along Sukhumvit), including two vans parked in front of the Mercure in the evenings. Didn't imbibe. I liked getting in walks to the skytrain from the hotel (maybe 5 minutes), and Terminal 21 is just a 10 minute walk. The morning I left, at 5 am, there were four girls from Cindy's sitting in front of my hotel, so I went out and chatted with them. The street was still pretty active, but mostly filled with bargirls and freelancers ending their nights by getting something to eat or drink. I don't think Soi 11 ever sleeps.

The lower rates at the Mercure didn't last long. The room I paid $78US a night for in late January has gone up to $102US. Better than the $125 they had been asking, but rates seem pretty fluid these days, thanks to dynamic pricing systems.

Patience. Rates very frequently drop about two months out. I was looking to book a room at the Mercure Soi 11 for late January arrival. In early Nov. the advertised rate was about $125. In mid-Nov. the rate dropped to $78, and I booked. Not sure what you're looking to pay, but I see that the rates at the Mercure Soi 11 are as low as $73 in March. Citrus Suites is asking $88 for their executive suite, which is a huge room.

I have been unable to locate the topic where a few of us were discussing the high prices in BKK for hotels this high season. The discussion included how high the asking prices were at the Mercure on Soi 11, among other regular haunts. Oliver and I both suggested that BMs wait a bit to book places, as prices would often drop for bookings closer to one's travel dates. Drop they did. I was tracking the prices at the Mercure, and for my trip dates (arriving late January) the rate for the room I wanted had been in the neighborhood of $120/night. Well, on Friday they dropped to $77. That rate includes a 5% discount for Accor Live Limitless members (free to join) and a discount for a stay of 7 nights or longer. Given the advantages of this hotel (nice rooms, good pool, and location!), I grabbed it. Life is always sweeter when that next return trip has been booked.

It is literally steps away from Soi 11 on Sukhumvit. BIG sign! I'm not sure what the attraction is. Beer is cheap but food is lousy.

No problem doing so at Citrus Soi 6.

If money is literally no issue (nor is location), my neighbors (a very, very wealthy Thai couple) INSIST that the only choice is the Capella Bangkok, located on the river. Most of the truly exceptional 5-star hotels are on the riverfront (the Mandarin Oriental, the Peninsula, the Siam). My neighbors put me up at the Capella when I came out for their youngest daughter's wedding. It was spectacular, but a miserable location for bringing back LBs. I think even the most brazen of us would feel uncomfortable bring a LB in through their lobby. I've stayed at the JW Marriott many times (used to have a great govt. rate). It's fine, and the location is great, but the rooms are nothing special. I think the rooms at the Hyatt Regency are actually nicer. I'm perfectly comfortable with "lesser" accommodations now, and my go-to place is the Mercure Soi 11.

I'll be interested in your review. Soi 11 is a great location. There's plenty of excellent food on Soi 11, a lively freelancer scene at night, and--depending on your mood--you're steps away from the LBs and Cindy's and the GGs at Lusty Lady. That's why Mercure has become my BKK base.

Going through the parking garage is not an option. In the evenings the lobby is rarely very busy (most of the action is in the bar/restaurant to the right of the lobby). The elevators are located BEFORE you reach the check-in area. If you go to the check-in desks they will ask, and if a girl arrives unaccompanied she will have to leave her ID before they will send her up in the elevator, but if you come in and walk straight to the elevators, they might not even see you. I skip the desk when I'm with a girl I know well from one of the bars. If with a freelancer I use the desk.

I came in on a Tuesday (late January) on Thai from NRT, arriving at about 10:30p. Cleared immigration in 5 minutes, but luggage took 30 minutes to start arriving.

Agreed on the fries.

Do you have a target price range?

On the topic of burgers, just 10 yards from from Bang Bang Burgers is Artisan Craft Burgers. They are pricier, but the burgers are terrific, as are the fries. https://www.artisancraftburger.com

Pic of the marijuana van in front of the Mercure. There were two parked there every evening.

1. I don't recall, but think something essential was wired to that plug near the bed. 2. I took a couple of freelancers to the desk and had them leave their IDs, then after the deed was done walked them back to the reception desk to get their ID. I took a few Cindy's/CIB girls upstairs without dropping off IDs because there's a certain guarantee of safety when the girls work for Cindy or June.

My only complaint from my couple of stays at the Dawin was the AC. The room was either hot or walk-in freezer cold. Hopefully they replace their AC system in the remodel. I had no problem bringing in two LBs at a time. If anything, the security was almost too lax.