Leaderboard

First they came for the illegals, and I did not speak out— Because I was not an illegal. Then they came for the druggies, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a druggie. Then they came for the underaged, and I did not speak out— Because I was not underaged. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. Which was fine because I was on my way to Rio.

Bandwidth Hog?

Wow Adam. This is amazing! We need a new word for this rank. Any suggestions? Adam, thank you for being such an amazing poster and integral part of the site!

To Wake Up and Smell the Flowers

Not only integral, but bright and witty. -

I think corruption is abound everywhere including in the USA. So, don't avoid Thailand based on that. The bars on Soi Twilight have nude shows which are totally illegal in Thailand. The crack downs often occur because someone forgot to pay or didn't pay. These things happen and often it is just the police need some good press and then things return back to normal. I have seen the raids happen in Bangkok and Pattaya and they come and they go but they never harass foreigners. They are there to get the boys and fine the establishments. If boys have drugs in their system, they pay or go to jail.. It is that simple. Without the drugs, most of this would be avoided. But, in every gay community I have been in, drugs are rampant including New York and LA. But, there they don't pee test workers. They have to catch you in the act. In Thailand, a pee test is proof of drugs and thus illegal and thus arrests are made. Often the bars know the police are coming and dress down, stop the nudity and clear out all the illegal workers from Cambodia, Laos, etc. When things die down, they all return. I have seen this a lot. Now, this new government is more conservative than the last and it would not surprise me if things change a bit there. But, I don't see any drastic changes coming.

Nothing has really changed since you were here last. These things happen. They happen at the clubs in Ft.Lauderdale where I live. Police walk in looking for underage, drugs, prostitution. Same in Thailand. Thailand is also under military dictatorship right now. The guy in charge has said he wants to have a moral side. But the police in Thailand do expect to be compensate for their cooperation in turning a blind eye to most things. But sometimes the higher ups put a little pressure on. You also have to remember the workers they are targeting are in the country illegally. Many boys from all over SE Asia come to Thailand for work. But I pretty much guarantee if you were here on vacation, you wouldn't even know this was going on. I'm here 1/2 the year and have friends in management and working boys, so we talk about it and I am more aware. There are others on this site that have been in Thailand when this stuff has happened and will probably tell you the same, it won't interfere with your vacation. I was here when the last government overthrow happened. It makes worldwide press, but most of the protesting was in a very small area and didn't interfer with the average tourist. I always found it interesting when a couple of truckloads of arms troops would go by and the boys wouldn't even look up from there drinks. Last night on Soi Twilght the clubs were packed. The outdoor bars were packed. It was the busiest night I have seen on this trip. My friends have said the police have backed off, but they are still wanting the non-Thai boys were long pants for a bit more. The non-non Thai boys are back on stage doing shows and nudity was in abundance. Your last paragraph is a bit strong and not something I agree with. Do some research on police corruption in Thailand. It runs from taxi, to hotels, to bars. Payoffs in SE Asia are a way of life in most businesses. Gays in Thailand are treated quite well. Probably treated better here than in the U.S. It's not the gays that are being harassed in the clubs, it's the illegals, the drugs and under aged. Also these checks don't happen on a daily basis. This is the first I remember in a couple of years.

Thank you very much for your interesting posts of your visits to Thailand. My reading of various reports related to the gay scene in Thailand, together with reading your reports, causes me to conclude that it is now a standard procedure for the police to visit gay establishments merely to harass sex workers. What changed or what happened to cause this behavior of the Thai police? Is the target of the harassment or raids limited to only at the sex workers? Does the harassment also extend to patrons of the bars or establishments? The current behavior of the police cannot be good for tourism in the gay areas. It has been several years since I last visited Thailand. In the days I visited Thailand, there were no raids and there was no harassment of gays or of establishments. The Thai people seemed to live and let live. Considering the current attitude and behavior of the Thai police, I think I will stay away from Thailand. Instead, I will continue to visit other countries where gays are not considered pariahs and/or members of a low class of people that need to be harassed.

Very interesting article. Thanks for providing the link. I appreciate your posts on various aspects of life in Brazil.

Excellent article and very much appreciated that you created a forum to educate others....While we love going to Brazil, we should know all aspects of the city....the good and the bad....

This article is no surprise to anyone who lives or works in Brazil. One of the things in reading this forum which I find so interesting is how people think Brazil is not racist. Brazil is extremely racist as is all of Latin America that I have ever been or worked. You will never see a poor kid from a favela make it big in a traditional way. The spoils of society are reserved for white Europeans (of which I am one) in Latin America it always has and will not change in our lifetimes. One very small example. My driver in Rio when I first met him spoke a little english. He wanted to go to english school so I asked at a party with all White European Brazilians, in a beautiful house in Joa looking up at the Christmas tree which is Rocinha at night, what is the best english school in Rio, they gave me a name and I said I am going to send Thiago there. Your driver Thiago! They all said you can’t send him there and I said why not. Well you all know why not. Well I sent him there anyway. Took him down there and enrolled him in full-time classes and he attended for 3 years and was the most popular guy at the school everyone loved him. A brief second example when I was on another project in Latin America I had a driver who was black. My family came to visit, we stopped at Hagen Daz. Pulled into the parking lot and there were seven or eight SUV with drivers sitting in them. We got out of the SUV and my family (they were visiting) said “Robert isn’t coming”. I said sure Robert can come. Every eye in the parking lot and in the store was on us. I could give 500 examples, daily examples of subtle and overt racism in these countries. At times it works the other way. One day I was walking down the street from my house in the Zona Colonial of a Latin American city and a new restaurant opened and the man outside started yelling at me “no Gringos allowed” and he did this every time I would walk by until he went out of business a few months latter. Rio has one great equalizer the beach. That is the only time everyone is equal. I would love to know how many Brazilians of Non-European decent read the Rio Times. I could make a guess.

For me, I'll always have a good time here. It's no different than in the U.S. When the police decide it's time to do a vice crack down. I just feel bad for the guys trying to make a living. $20 to you or me doesn't mean much, but to them it means eating for a few days. This stuff happens here in cycles. Next it will be the ladyboy clubs and then the girlie clubs. It will be back to normal soon enough. It's interesting with the smuggling situation. I watch a lot of CNN and BBC and see more on this subject than I do on Thai TV. It is showing up in the Bangkok Post. But it's a lot like the religious issues in the south of Thailand, it's a long way from Bangkok and locals don't get worked up about it.

Planetime, there's something of an international flap going on right now about huge numbers of Muslim refugees/economic migrants from northeastern Burma & Bangladesh heading toward Australia. Some are using Thailand as a transit route to Indonesia. The government in Bangkok is coming under pressure to stop 'overlooking' human trafficking. I understand the authorities have sacked a number of low level to mid-level police and army commanders for negligence/complicity and is making a show of clamping down. Possibly the out of the ordinary police attention to the goings on in the bars is a by product of police commanders doing what they can to demonstrate they're getting on message and won't embarrass higher ups. In any case, I hope things settle down soon enough for you to enjoy the remainder of your stay.

It gets stranger by the minute. Went out to Soi Twilight for a bit last night. The police affect is still going on. Now Thai boys can be on stage in their shorts as usual. Now non-Thai boys can be on stage but have to wear long pants.looks kind of strange when seeing 20 boys on stage, half dressed and half undressed. The low season is setting in. Just doesn't seem to be an abundance of tourists around. Still very hot and humid. Haven't seen much rain though in my 3 weeks. Woke up this morning to a big thunder storm and totally overcast all day. Actually with no bright sun the temp has been a bit lower than normal. Took advantage to head to Siam Paragon for some shopping and lunch. They have a food court there that rivals any. Lots of great people watching also. Get home, jump in the pool to cool down a bit. Nap time now before heading out for the evening. Hopefully the police can find something more important to keep themselfs busy tonight, than worry what some boys are wearing on stage in a sex club.

I guess the police have still been affecting the Soi Twilight clubs. It's now been 4 nights that only Thai boys have been allowed to work. This has affected business as not enough boys to do shows . Customers come in, look around and leave. Tonight there was a bit of easing up as only Thai boys could be on stage, but non-Thai boys could be in the clubs as long as they were fully dressed and were sitting in the audience. It was hard for boys to let customers know they were available , but some of them are darn good at it and got some dates. I was told they hope things will be back to normal in the next 2 days. My good friend is Vietnamese and was sitting with me. By the end of the night all 5 of his Vietnam friends that work there sitting with us. All trying to work me. I'm glad I've been around this a little bit, and can say no. I could have drained my bank account tonight. but it was a fun evening and hopefull for the boys, they will be able to start working again tomorrow.

Friday was a bit of a wasted day. We had some heavy thunder, lightning and rain. I was planning to go to Hero Massage. The rain and thunder I could deal with, but the Lightning was really bad. The heavier the rain, the harder to get a taxi. So spent the afternoon in watching TV and reading a book. Friday night I went to Soi Twilight. I heard rumors of police being around Thursday night, though I didn't see anything. But I knew something was up Friday. At Hot Male, only 4 boys working bar downstairs, usually 10 or so. Upstairs on Weekend nights should be 30-40 boys working, only 12. I asked mamasan friend what was going on. He avoided the question but did say only Thai boys working and everybody will be back to work Saturday night. That says police raid. I finally talk to a friend that was off last night and he said police were around checking papers of the clubs and boys. They do this a couple of times a year. Checking bar licenses and illegal boys working. Usually advance warning of raid, so non Thai boys just dissapear for the night. The worse part, because of all the rain in the afternoon it cooled off the evening a bit, so was a pleasant night to be out. I just went to Dicks Cafe to grab a bite to eat and call it an evening.