Gaybutton

I see. Well, good! I'm glad it turns out you are a resident. As far as seeing how the gay scene is doing in Pattaya is concerned, you sure found out! So, now you will return to 'normal' Bangkok. I've heard many adjectives applied to Bangkok, but 'normal' - that's a first. In any case, I hope 'abnormal' Pattaya sees you again very soon. This thread and your posts are among my all time favorites. Any time you want do create a similar thread about your exploits in Bangkok, I hope you will.

One thing I've given up on is trying to predict what the exchange rates will be or in what direction they'll move. Over the years I've read what the Bank of Thailand has had to say. I've read what leading economists have had to say. I read what armchair economists have had to say. I'm still waiting for any of them to turn out to be right.

Bob, now I know you know better than to compare the way things work in the USA to the way things work in Thailand. That's just like the old apples and oranges cliche. Certainly tipping is appropriate in Thai restaurants, but the amounts are different and unless a 'service charge' is included in the bill, percentage has nothing to do with the expected tip amounts. I think z909 is mistaken when he says, "I prefer the traditional Asian culture of the service being in the price & no tips . . ." I don't know where he is getting that idea from, but that definitely has not been my experience.

What?!?!? And you're not going to post the final chapter of your saga? You can't do that. When you arrive back home, you've got to tell us about your final day for this trip, especially since you were already at it while most of us in Thailand were still asleep. There's bound to be two or three more, at least, during your last day and I'll bet you'll have "one for the road" just before you leave for the airport. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you take a young gentleman to the airport with you so that you can get one last bit of 'entertainment' in the back of the taxi on the way. I'm sorry you're leaving. You're probably even more sorry, but I have a feeling you'll be back . . . as soon as possible. When will you return? Only last night I was having dinner with some friends and you were very much the subject of our conversation. We would love to have met you, but you never came up for air long enough for that to happen . I think a great many of us already look forward to your next trip and your next set of reports almost as much as you are looking forward to it. You didn't even need Viagra. It's almost a shame you didn't need it. You could have been their poster boy. Well, you still have the rest of today left. You'll probably have more today alone than many stuck in their home countries get in a month, if even that often. I think your posts have done more to attract gay travelers to come here than ten years worth of advertising could possibly have done.

Why didn't your friend call the police?

Thank you. That's the important thing to know. The reasons are kind of a moot point now. If it does reopen at some point, let us know.

I don't know whether you have time to kill, or the way you're spending your time is going to kill you . . . I'm worn out just reading your reports.

Come on, HeyGay. That doesn't tell us much of anything. The question is whether they are closed temporarily of permanently. If you know, please tell us. If you don't know, but can find out, please tel us once you do know.

I can hardly believe it! With all of your adventures, you still actually have time to kill too? How do you do it????

Maybe LMTU, with all that talent, can stick to the subject and find out for us and let us know the status of Cat's Place, and whether it is closed only temporarily or has gone completely out of business. I fail to see what the hamburgers at Niddy's Nook or Monty's has to do with Cat's Place closing up, but I guess I just don't see things the same way some people do. Meanwhile, giving credit where it's due, LMTU does manage to come up with good bar information. Maybe he can come through with information about Cat's Place too. If you had never been there, their web site is still online, with plenty of photos: http://phuleamkham.blogspot.com

Meanwhile, I've been on that section of road a couple times within the past several days. Maybe they have a crew of invisible men and invisible machinery doing the work, but if anybody is there doing any work at all, I missed it.

Google Translate usually yields incomprehensible gibberish, but it will at least tell you accurately where the boy is located. Most seem to be located in Bangkok. Also, if the boy has written his telephone number in Thai, Google Translate is usually accurate about that as well.

If you are talking about the Gboysiam site, you don't need to be registered. I'm not registered. Just click on the guy's photo and the info you need to make contact will pop up on a separate page.

It can't hurt to try. I would think the Tawan Bar would be a good place to start. If you don't see the guy you want, ask the mama-san. They always know who to call. As long as you're willing for money to exchange hands, I doubt you'll have any trouble finding just what you want. You probably won't even need those translations.

That's strange. It hasn't been blocked in Pattaya and a hell of a lot of the personals posted on that site are from boys living in Bangkok and posting their ads from Bangkok. I also have not heard of any criminal cases being brought against that site or any of the other personals sites. I have a feeling you are the victim of a hacker, not an official site blocking.

I don't see why. Everyone knows that sometimes bars advertise free parties and free buffets for all comers. I see no reason in the world to feel uncomfortable about going if you wish. I believe it is incumbent upon the bar to make it clear whether the public is invited or whether it is a private party. The bars would have to be idiots not to realize that without something to indicate whether the affair is public or private, then people are going to be confused. In any case, if the bar is hosting a party, then I think it is their responsibility to make it clear who the party is for.

I'm sorry it would overload your brain. It wouldn't overload mine and under those circumstances I doubt I would care about who did or did not change their user names. The point I am trying to make is that finding hookups online, and finding them quickly, is rarely a problem. If it's a boy you have never met before, it's just about the same as taking a boy off from a bar who you have never taken off before. You don't know what you're going to get. I also don't know why you keep harping about Gay Romeo. I keep saying it's a good hookup site, but it isn't the only hookup site. Another good site is Gboysiam ( http://www.gboysiam.com/picpost ). Many of the boys who post personals on that site include their telephone numbers. I never call them directly. I send a text message first. If they're interested, they get back to me very quickly. Then we talk. There are several more good hookup sites too. If a boy has changed his user name on that site or on Gay Romeo, so what? I've already said there is not necessarily anything sinister in that. Many do that just to cause them to appear as new users and, hopefuly, have a better chance at getting responses. I don't even recall seeing a boy change his user name because of negative comments in his guestbook. If anything, they just lock their guestbook. In an unfamiliar city or small town where there are no gay venues, I can spend time trying to find hookups on my own (and that's usually easy to do). I can also get online and find hookups that way. It's a matter of personal preference. Less than two months ago I was traveling in Issan. One of my stops was in a rural town out in the middle of nowhere. I stopped there to visit a boy I had become friendly with in Pattaya. He had since moved back home. While I was there, he and some of his friends took me to a waterfall, about 30 miles from the town. Even out there, where I may be one of the few farang ever to go there, not one, but two boys came on to me. I could easily have had either one of them (and both were my type too!). All it takes is eye contact and a smile. The only reason I didn't do anything more than chat and flirt was because I was already with the boy I had come to visit. Anyone who has seen me already knows my looks would have to improve just to look terrible, and yet I never have problems finding a hookup. And often enough, it's a hookup who will not accept money even when I offer it. They never seem to mind having me pay for everything we do, but quite often they make it quite clear they are not money boys. If it works for me, rest assured it can work for just about anybody. So, you really do have a choice. You can go out boy hunting or you can get online. Either way seems to work just fine.

That is why I said, "Those of you who can, but don't, you're on my "I Don't Get It" list." If you can't, you can't. I was talking about those who can.

How on earth do you know what a tourist is likely or unlikely to do? If it were me, that's exactly what I would do, and I wouldn't necessarily limit myself to Gay Romeo. Gay Romeo is hardly the only personals site. All anyone would need to do is go into any internet cafe and get online. When I've traveled to other Thai cities I've done that and often within minutes have easily arranged meeting a new 'friend.'

Contact you for what purpose? I'm not following what you are trying to do. Are you looking for information about the body building contest? Are you looking for somebody to help you hook up with some of the contestants? Something else? Very likely, you find the gay (or gay-for-pay) contestants at the Tawan bar anyhow. That seems to be the main gathering spot.

Don't you think a substantial number of people probably like to look at the personals sites, whether Gay Romeo or other sites, regularly whether they're in Thailand or not? If I was back in the USA I'd still be looking quite frequently and when it started getting close to the time for me to go to Thailand I'd be trying to arrange hookups with the boys who I want to meet. I would also just as readily spot user name changes.

A lot of people are preaching doom and gloom about Pattaya's bar scene. I see nothing to indicate that the bars are in any kind of imminent danger of closing their doors for good. Internet or not, people still enjoy going to the bars and despite the lower numbers of customers, the bars are still going strong. I think the bars ae going to be here or a very long time to come. As far as the boys working the bars and working the Internet, I don't think many of them are doing "either or." If anything, they're doing both. Don't forget that the primary goal for many of these boys is to reel in a farang for a permanent sugar-daddy relationship. Many are trying to get off the rice farm and lead a comfortable life. "Have farang" is the most promising chance of accomplishing that. So, they're going to be in the bars and on the Internet. Few of them lead much of a life in the first place. I get the same answer most of the time when I talk with these boys. I'll ask what they do most days. The most common answer is "I go work and I go sleep." When I ask them what else they do, the usual answer is "Look TV." When I ask why they don't do anything else, the answer is almost always "No have money." I see "experts" posting on these boards quite often who seem to be under the impression that most of these boys are taken off almost daily, often twice or even more and that they must have plenty of money. Nothing could be further from the reality. Most are lucky if they're taken off two or three times in a month. Very few are any more fortunate than that and a great many are far less fortunate than that. Every so often a boy gets lucky and a customer takes them off for days or even weeks at a time. But every one of them will tell you about how they, or their friends, get all kinds of promises of financial help and support from farang who have become infatuated with them during their holiday here. Then the farang returns to his home country and the boy never hears from him again or the money supply quickly fizzles out. Many people post about how the boys try to get money via the dead water buffalo, the sick grandmother, the mother who can't work, the leaking roof, etc. I don't blame them. So many of them get promises from farang that are only rarely fulfilled and many of the boys perceive farang as chronic liars who have only one thing in mind - sex, and couldn't care less about the boy and his future. It works both ways, folks. So, they're going to be in the bars and many will be on the Internet as well. And I, for one, do not believe the bars are going anywhere. Some will fail and some will change hands, but the scene itself, I believe, is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and beyond.

If you get away from the areas where there are loads of farang, the going price is often 50 baht. Just 4 doors down from me a Thai woman converted the front of her house into a barber shop. I always get my hair cut at her place. She's as good as any barber in town. Her fee is 50 baht. Come to think of it, I'm about due for a haircut. I'll be seeing her very soon.

I agree with you. I think part of the problem is the competence level of those in charge. "You're doing a great job, Brownie." Sheeeesh. You might as well have awarded Leona Helmsley the Medal of Freedom for her altruistic philanthropic work. The USA can't seem to get its own act together, let alone be ready to jump in and help other countries when disaster strikes. Hurricane Katrina comes to mind. I went through Hurricane Andrew. I was lucky. I had no serious damage and I had my electricity back within three days. But a major portion of Miami was completely wiped out. To this very day you can still see trees that were bent over during that hurricane. Thousands and thousands of people lost everything and their homes were just gone. A huge number of people had nowhere they could go and ended up sleeping outside, and then later in makeshift tent cities. What did the federal government do? The best I can remember is not much more was done other than to let victims be late paying their taxes without a penalty being assessed. I also remember that absolutely nothing was done in a timely manner. Everyone knows that when a major disaster occurs, the first 48 hours are the most critical. I remember President George Bush, Sr. came to Miami, surveyed the damage, said, "I've never seen anything like it," and went back to the White House. Well, that certainly was a big help. You've never seen anything like it? Guess what, Georgie - neither had anyone else.

I don't know where you are getting some of your ideas from, but you don't have to tip anything. Nobody can force you to leave a tip. And I sure as hell wouldn't give more of a tip to someone just because he "wasn't happy." I'll be the one who decides how much of a tip I'll give. Not happy with my tip? Tough shit! If you don't like what I gave you, give it back. I agree with most of what z909 is saying with regard to who he tips and how much. I will not, however, give a bar boy more of a tip, especially if I tipped above the standard in the first place. I also won't under-tip a bar boy, even if he's a dud, unless a very unusual circumstance warrants it. The only exception I can think of that I would make to that is if I have asked for something "special" and he agreed, but then won't do what he agreed to do. Taylorsquare, I get the impression that you are easily intimidated. Stop that! Don't let unscrupulous people walk all over you.