Alexx

Good point, cutelad27. Those who pay cash (for a house/condo/car/whatever) are probably doomed in such a scenario. If there's a loan in BF's name and he cannot service it on his own, things are much more favorable.

Last time I went to Men Factory, it would have been safe. Not sure how much luggage you have though, if it doesn't fit into your locker I'm not sure if you'd find a safe place there to store it for the night. That's an interesting idea, by the way. After a night out in Silom, I planned to sleep at Men Factory for a couple of hours to take the BTS back home in the morning. I did accomplish my mission (stay until closing time, take the BTS), but I didn't get any sleep thanks to two other patrons (not that I'm complaining, mind you!).

Good to know, if I'm feeling desperate during Songkran, I'll check it out in between water battles on Silom.

My wildest experience was being invited to a private party hosted by a gay Thai friend of mine at that time. When I arrived in the late afternoon, three hot Thai guys including that friend were already drinking and talking nonsense. So far, so good, I fit right in. What I didn't know, however, was that they were also snorting coke, as I found out not much later when the next round was due. I was quite unprepared for that and politely declined their offer to join, but as the day progressed, I did end up having sex with all of them (separately, they were "just friends"). Here's the dilemma, at least for me: These drugged up guys were incredibly hot and horny, and I had sex with three of them within hours, so this experience qualifies in the "wild" category. However, I'm very much against substance abuse, and not only because it's illegal. I usually stay as far away from drug abusers as possible, so in fact I've never met any of them ever again since that day. But this happened during my first full-time year in Bangkok, and from a purely sexual point of view, I'm still fantasizing about it sometimes...

You're probably referring to something else, to a visa extension based on employment: If you want to apply for such an extension of stay for a Non-Immigrant B Visa based on working for a Thai company as a foreigner, one of the requirements is a minimum amount of registered capital per foreign employee. Hence "per person", and that's indeed 2 million baht. But do take note, you don't get this visa extension because of your investment (it could in fact also be sponsored by a company that's owned by someone else), but because you work for that company. If that's what you mean, also take note that it doesn't stop with this minimum capital requirement: You usually also have to hire Thai employees at a certain ratio (typically 4 per employed foreigner) and the company has to pay you a salary. The minimum amount of this salary - and that's where pong's information comes into play - depends on nationality. For most Westerners, it's 50,000 baht per month. See http://www.sunbeltlegaladvisors.com/immigration/business-visa/ for a brief overview.

Same here. There is (or used to be) something like an Investment Visa, but I think the amount was (or still is) 10 million baht. A condo might qualify, but I'm not sure about that and in any case it would then have to be quite an expensive one. I agree with those who've argued that now isn't a good time to invest in Thailand. I'd wait and see how things develop, and even the political situation aside, other nearby countries might well steal the show. Another reason why I've so far always rented instead of buying a condo in Bangkok is maintenance, or the lack thereof. Once you've bought a place, you're pretty much locked in if the condo management is crappy and allows the common areas to deteriorate (and that's not uncommon here). Renting, on the other hand, you can move to a shiny new place if something's wrong or if you don't like how the neighborhood is developing.

Very true! An ex-boyfriend's mother, who speaks very little English, nicknamed her daughter Toon, simply because she was fascinated with cartoons. And that's just one example, many Thais have funny stories to tell about how their nickname(s) came about. Regarding t-shirts, a couple of days ago I saw a Thai Muslim girl, veiled and otherwise decently dressed, sporting a t-shirt reading, "I'll go to hell".

Well that's quite common, I think. I actually helped a bar girl (!) writing such an email once, if more by accident. During one of my first ever visits to Bangkok, I staid at a hotel in the Lower Sukhumvit area and went to an internet cafe in Nana at some point. Out of the blue, a suspiciously dressed yet very friendly girl approached me like, "Excuse me? Can you help me write something please? I cannot write English."... I did help her and it turned out to be a carefully worded request for money due to an emergency situation. She said she needs to send it to her boyfriend, and so we did. So far, so good, had the story ended there! I had my suspicions, however, when - after sending him the email - she asked how to copy and paste the text to send it to some other addresses, too... Oh well! Little had I known.

Those are just their nicknames. Some use the same nickname for their family and for their various circles of friends, others different ones with different groups of people.

At least get the buffalo meat prices right, will you!

I've never been to Golden Cock myself, but I've read quite a bit about it. So here's my question: Wasn't the fact that it was kind of a dump part of its particular appeal to those who liked the place? Won't it be just like many other bars after the upgrade?

Jeez, these self-indulgent queens make me thoroughly sick.

MikkeS69, I know what you mean. In that respect, I think Bangkok is a much better hunting ground. Compared to Pattaya, it seems much easier to find guys who are more or less just looking for sex. I've met great guys using GayRomeo and apps like Grindr and Jack'd, and once you know what to look for, it's easy to know who's in it for the money and who's just horny. Needless to say, you have to be compatible with them, if they're not interested they just won't write back, like in any other big city.

Be careful not to go from one extreme to the other. First being infatuated with someone who didn't really love you, as you found out the hard way, and now joining the ranks of the jaded ones who mistakenly think all Thai guys are the same, while they've limited their experiences to a very particular subset. Thais who are different from those who make themselves readily available to visiting tourists do exist, but it can be quite an effort to meet them, and most of them aren't living in Pattaya either. If you wanted to find a good American housewife, Las Vegas probably wouldn't be the first place you should be looking either. Keep in mind that you were on a holiday, so what kind of a relationship can you really expect to have when you're here for just a couple of weeks? Instead of going for Thais who aren't after your money, you might well be better off to play along with those who do, enjoying the fun while it lasts and avoiding to be scammed next time around, now that you've learned that lesson.

I'm using Chrome and my spellchecker works here, too. So there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this site in particular that prevents spellcheckers from working. Maybe Firefox has a per-site setting that was turned off by accident?

Yeah but see, that's a very good point! When you're fresh from "Farang Land", 32,000 THB for a language course doesn't sound like a lot of money. It took me quite a while of actually living in Thailand to get a good idea about prices here, and even more importantly, to put them into perspective regarding typical Thai salaries. That said, some Thais have serious money and the fees some of the private schools and universities charge are quite high. So while 32,000 THB is an outlandish demand coming from a regular (low-income) Thai guy for a run-of-the-mill language course and therefor certainly warrants caution and scrutiny, some people do pay that and more for their education.

Welcome, atakannnn, tell us about your Thailand plans!

It's nice that the blocked roads will be opened to traffic again, yes, but as far as the political rift is concerned, this doesn't change anything much. Things will remain quite interesting, but the attention will shift to the NACC and the courts at least for a while.

I go to Terminal 21 frequently, as it's very close to where I live. But yes, it's right at the Asoke protest site. Many protesters in fact use Terminal's food court and, uhm, other facilities to get through the day in relative comfort. So considering the recent attack at the Ratchaprasong site (outside Big C and also nearby Central World), it's worth keeping in mind that the same could happen in Asoke as well. Hopefully not, but there are less exposed shopping centers than Terminal 21, so use your best judgment. No idea when it will all end, and how. Your guess is as good as anyone's!

On Sukhumvit, it's mostly the Asoke intersection that is affected, because that's where one of the protest sites is located. Sometimes the protesters are on the move, so at some times other stretches of Sukhumvit Road are affected as well (Sukhumvit is a very long road, so "the area around Sukhumvit" is quite vague).

Of course they have a preference. But given the free choice, most of them would probably have sex with almost none of their actual customers, neither the Asian ones nor the Caucasian ones. And that's the point, they're still there because they want to make money. And I'm with firecat69, if that's their job then they'd better provide their customers with the service they (reasonably) expect. Given the free choice, most 7/11 clerks would prefer to sleep in instead of going to work early in the morning, too. Heck, I would prefer to get double the salary for half the work. Preference vs the real world, sex workers aren't all that special.

What we don't know is if this guy who slipped the lady a paper with his number had any previous 'history' with her. At least we cannot tell from the OP. Maybe they had met at some point and he just wanted to meet her again. In this case, his behavior might be acceptable, because he (a) knew that she's a professional companion and (b) didn't want to disturb too much while she was with someone else, while making sure she can contact him. In this case, what would you do? Let's say you met a gorgeous boy during your last holiday, but this time around you cannot seem to find him anywhere. Suddenly, you see him with another farang at your hotel, and knowing it's a chance encounter, you might want to make sure somehow that he knows how he can get in touch with you. Personally, I would be very reluctant to do the same like that guy in vinapu's story, but is it really that wrong in such a situation? Not sure.

In my imagination, most bar boys find neither their Asian customers nor their farang customers attractive. They go with them because it's their job and pays the bills. Simple as that.

Garrison, if your shopping bags aren't that heavy, I'd consider using the BTS (Skytrain) to get to/fro Central World. That would be the Chidlom station of the Sukhumvit line. You could then proceed to Ekkamai station, also on Sukhumvit line, from where it's a short walk to the bus terminal. From a traffic point of view, that's the most predictable way to travel. If you've got to carry heavy stuff, that's probably not an option, in this case allow plenty of time for the taxi journeys (Central World can be a problem, no protests in the vicinity of Ekkamai bus terminal).

Well, in all honesty, nobody can tell you if these areas will be safe two months from now. I'd say keep following the news and ask again a couple of weeks before. On a lighter note, gCircuit was fun last year! Chances are you'll have fun this year, too.