Alexx

I agree, not really a surprise. Maybe if it really bothered more people and actually kept them scared away, things would be different. But to most visitors, it seems like the curfew was much more worrisome than martial law is. Unless court martials will be held for tourists committing crimes here (which is possible/legal, but extremely unlikely considering the potential fallout), that probably won't change.

From the mobile apps, those that are most popular with farang visitors are probably Grindr and Scruff. GayRomeo also gets a lot of traffic from farang visitors, so that's worth a shot, too.

I'd say these kinks are quite rare to find among the locals, and you're looking for farangs anyway, so it seems unlikely that you'd find a club catering to that specifically (I haven't heard of any, for what it's worth). Your best bet are probably online hookups, where some catchy words in your profile might well land you exactly the guys you're looking for.

I've watched it and, for me, it neither stands out as a very good nor as a very bad movie. But it's at least 30 minutes too long. Oh, and I didn't like the ending and would have preferred another outcome (<SPOILER EDITED OUT>), but that didn't surprise me.

It's difficult to give good advice in your particular situation, Praelu, but I think you need to realize that the feeling of urgency and neediness you're experiencing because of your illness makes you very vulnerable. Personally, I'd advice against swimming with the sharks in such a situation, the odds simply aren't in your favor and chances that such a relationship will cause you severe emotional distress on top of your health issues are quite high. Unless you can manage to adopt a "what the heck" attitude, just enjoying the time you can spend together without "thinking too much", that is. From your original question we're discussing here, however, it doesn't look like you're prepared to do that.

Luckily it's well past breakfast time, or I would have choked on my breakfast LOLing...

That's a helpful reminder, Bob, I also keep copies of all important documents and cards such as the ones you've mentioned. Some I still have on paper, everything current I keep in my Dropbox account and can access it from any phone or computer if need be. I also "tidy up" my wallet every now and then to make sure that I only carry around what I really need. When I'm out and about in the city at night, that's one piece of ID (usually my Thai DL because that's the easiest one to replace), one Thai ATM card (also easy to replace), BTS and MRT passes, my health insurance card so that body snatchers could see I've got insurance, and finally the keycard for my condo. Cash only as needed plus a little extra. That's it. Losing that wallet wouldn't cause me sleepless nights, but nevertheless I'd prefer not to.

... or on his way back home after a night out. But yes, that's not an amount worth the trouble of being splashed all over the news. A news report mentioned that he had "important documents" in his wallet, or maybe he just didn't realize he'd make the news.

OP, you like to cloud your objective in mystery, so allow me speculate a bit: You've invited someone to visit you in your country (that he needs a visa for) and he's promised that he'll quit working at a certain Boystown bar. You don't buy that he's done as promised and you want one of the members of this forum to provide you with photographic evidence that he's still working there? Is that right?

It's probably best not to make it "too big a decision", just see how it goes and don't burn your bridges. Initially, I planned to stay in Thailand for two years (for work though, not retired yet), and recently I celebrated my 8-year anniversary. It has never really felt as a big decision for me, because I've always been under the illusion that I can leave anytime. And I say "illusion" only because of the almost magical draw the place still has to me - I'm simply convinced I wouldn't feel as happy anywhere else. All the best, and keep us posted!

You must be joking. Even girls working at McDonald's have offered me BJs and I'm not even a sex tourist either. These offers are about the only reason I keep going back, it surely cannot be the delicious food.

The way I'm reading it, he's just being pragmatic and I cannot blame him. Singapore's government is unwilling to legislate a change, at least at present, because that's what they - in their paternalistic wisdom - think is best for society. There's little the LGBT community can do beyond what they've been doing. Eventually things might fall their way. If I lived in Singapore, I'd take the same pragmatic approach, thinking too much doesn't always make things better.

You're being overly dramatic. While there are indeed venues and vendors where foreigners are made to pay more than locals, it's nowhere close to "everywhere". In fact, at least for the stuff I'm buying on a regular basis here in Thailand, it's very rare. Taking advantage of someone who isn't familiar with the prices, on the other hand, is not uncommon even among Thais. So it's often more a question of knowing the prices and haggling than actual racial discrimination. And really, taking advantage of someone who is perceived as rich and clueless hardly qualifies as racism anyway.

I do both, it depends: When my company pays, I fly business class, when I have to pay myself, I fly cattle class (but I can upgrade quite often, which I do when possible). I'm reasonably young, neither very tall nor broader than the seat, don't have any medical conditions, can sleep reasonably well even in cattle class... so whenever I cannot manage to get a "free" upgrade, I prefer spending more at my destination instead. In the good old days of visiting Thailand, I went straight to work after a night flight in cattle class and a shower. No big deal for me.

Wow, ChristianPFC, I'm really impressed! Whenever I've been to Singapore, I've never managed to spend less than that in a single day, not including accomodation.

While I'd agree that many Thais are racist by Western standards, that's nothing that really worries me when having my daily encounters with Thais. There's no Thai equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan, after all. In the West, the pendulum has swung full-circle from one extreme (very rabid and violent forms of open racism) to another extreme (political correctness above all). The current overly PC state of affairs in the West is a consequence of its past - Thais simply lack that background. It is, however, a complex matter. One might think education has a lot to do with it, but it's often the educated Thais who are the most xenophobic, at least as far as their rhetoric goes. Nationalism that doesn't go hand in hand with racism or xenophobia is rare, the world over.

Great reports again, firecat69, I hope your ankle will be back to normal soon. Have a nice trip to these other countries!

I just wondered about mouthwash, too, when I saw the huge bottles at Chakran's bathroom again. Having so many people use the same bottle, it might do more harm than good? As for injuries in Thailand, I haven't had any except for some little bruises yet. Nothing that has required me to seek medical attention thus far. Knocking on wood that my luck won't run out any time soon... Nevertheless, I think good insurance is a must-have.

I think most newbies get a very friendly reception here, and I remember some of them who have posted about their first experiences with great success. This one wasn't that lucky, but really, his OP did have "fabricated story" written all over it and he hasn't made things better with the replies that have followed. As for his agenda, if his only agenda is attention seeking, congratulations, that's a lively thread. I don't think he's a bar owner trying to discourage people from using GayRomeo, that's pretty far fetched and if bar owners really were THAT clever they simply wouldn't run a bar in Thailand in the first place. Michael does make a good point about scam artists being able to smell a newbie from miles away. That's true, so maybe it isn't as unlikely as I thought that someone's very first experience turns bad with such grandeur.

Awesome reports, GoldMember, I've enjoyed reading all of them! I hope you can return to South-East Asia soon - I'm looking forward to read more from you.

My problem with the OP is that it's a typical "farang's worst nightmare" story, and not very original at that. Busted! With! Drugs! In! Thailand! O! M! G! In other words, a farang troll simply dreaming up that particular plot seems much more likely than a Thai boy actually coming up with that idea and following through with it. Would it work? Probably, sometimes. But there are even easier and far less confrontative ways to get some extra cash. Now, had that story come from a long-term poster who had met many GR guys and finally encountered a really bad apple, I would probably buy it.

Wow, that's an eye opener Firecat! I've seen your report and his profile before, but your shower pics of him are SO much hotter than all his own profile pics, which didn't really look appealing to me.

Yeah I was being overly dramatic, the Middle Path usually works best and I think that's also the case with the blessings of modern medicine. On the one hand, I'm happy that I don't have to die from a very trivial illness at a young age, but on the other hand, if three out of my four grandparents are any indication, I could probably do without the last 5-10 years of my (so projected) life span.

I'm not so sure. Thanks to the advances of modern medicine, far too many people end up as human vegetables, spending their last years or even decades hibernating at some dreary retirement home. Given the choice between that fate and having a lot of sex but also having to die at a sexually active age from an STD, I'd be willing to travel back in time to be crowned King of France. Since I don't really have that choice, my best bet is leading a somewhat unhealthy lifestyle (to be clear, I'm not talking about having unprotected sex, what I mean specifically is: strictly no sports, deliberately living in a polluted place like Bangkok, tasty food trumps healthful food, a night out boozing trumps drinking beetroot juice) and not taking members of the medical profession too seriously.

Saying "cannot" when you actually "can" is a white lie that the one at the receiving end usually just has to swallow. Perfectly normal in Thailand, who is going to challenge you by questioning why you "cannot"? Not many!