Gaybutton

How would you like to be the farang engaged to this gal? Of course, every so often we see a boy or two with similar ideas. The following appears in the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS For photos, see: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000009692 _____ POLICE INVESTIGATION PROVES FERTILE At 02.30 on 8th July 2009 a Thai woman identified as Miss Tawin Poungkum aged 35, residing at 1/1 Moo 9, Yangkun, Nongreua, Konkaan Province, made a report to a Pattaya police investigator. Pol. Lt. Col. Reungwit Rakchart that she was robbed by two men of 240,000 baht. This was later proved to be a lie. The woman alleged that on leaving her home, located on Soi Chaiyapruk on a black Honda click motorbike,no. 963, she stopped at the Siam Commercial Bank at the Computer City Building, (Teuk. Com). She withdrew 200,000 baht from the ATM machine and placed the money in her motorbike. Miss Tawin said the money had been sent by her foreigner boyfriend in preparation for their up and coming wedding on the 10th July. She continued to say that she made a second stop at the Krung Sri Ayuthaya bank, near the Friendship Supermarket on the same road to make another withdrawal of 40,000 baht. This second amount was to pay for her debt at the ‘JJ Pub and Karaoke’ in Soi Day-Night, South Pattaya. Miss Tawin, looking very unhappy, explained that while parking her motorbike in front of the JJ pub and counting her money, two men approached her. They were around 20-25. One man had a knife with which he used to threaten her not to scream or resist. She was forced to sit between them on her bike whilst they made their way to Soi Boon Sampun. At the dark area in the Soi, the two men took all her money including the bike and left her there. She made her way to the police station to report the said incident. After continuous questioning, to verify the facts, Pol. Lt. Col. Reungwit began to realise that the story Miss Tawin was reporting, were in fact lies. Miss Tawin finally confessed that she had fabricated the story in order to get a report file for her foreigner boyfriend to see, in order to cover herself that she had in fact spent the money he had sent in preparation for the wedding. Miss Tawin admitted that she had spent most of the money at JJ pub, the male Karaoke bar which she had visited almost every night. She had to pay her debt of 35,000 baht for the last two nights of drinking with the male staff. Miss Tawin said she wanted to have the report document to send to her boyfriend so he would send her more money. However, she preferred to be in jail rather than let her boyfriend know about her behaviour. Pol. Lt. Col. Reungwit filed the case and charged her for reporting lies.

As far as I know, at that hour there are none. If I'm wrong, someone will post a correction, but I think you'll have to take a taxi - about 1400 baht is the usual fare. I haven't figured out why taxis seem to be the only late night transportation to and from the airport considering so many international flights arrive between 10:00pm to 1:00am, and so many international departures require arrival at the airport in the wee hours, but unless you hire a private service, taxis are the only available transportation.

Looks like you just did . . .

I think the reason many were taken in by this was because of the way the article so emphatically states they were victims of a scam. It turned out a little differently. Of course, maybe the couple in the video were paid actors and not the real couple. Just part of the scam to make innocent people look guilty . . . Where is the couple anyway? Still in the hotel? Still in Thailand? Back in the UK? If they are, and anyone owns a store there, watch out! Despite the fact that I have never seen a "cheap motel" anywhere near the airport, does it make sense to anyone that they would have been held in such a place, rather than the airport security's holding cell until handed over to the police? Have you ever heard of anyone being held in a hotel? Have you ever heard of anyone even claiming to have been held in a hotel? I haven't. Oh well, there's a first time for everything.

If it's the dollar, I pick up!

Especially if it's a 'happy ending' massage . . .

In my case, that age was 7.

It's too bad he figured that out too late. So many died or had their lives ruined for nothing. It still goes on even now, every time someone steps on a land mine in Cambodia. You're joking about Bush, aren't you? I don't think he has the capability or learning or figuring out a damned thing. At least McNamara finally admitted he was wrong. Somehow, I don't envision a similar admission ever coming from Bush.

I'm not talking about pop-ups and I'm not talking about ads. My eyes work too. I'm talking about the guy making the commentary. You don't see him? In any case, my question still is unanswered. Why would someone be publishing a video commentary in Thai on a web site done in English. To me that would be the same as going to the CNN web site and a video commentary starts playing in Chinese. Same thing. Come to think of it, why would the ads be in Thai on an English language news web site?

Those of you who regularly check THE NATION newspaper's web site may have noticed that lately there is a video that starts automatically playing, apparently some sort of commentary, entirely in Thai. Given that THE NATION is an entirely English language newspaper, does it strike you as a little on the odd side that they would be broadcasting a video in Thai? Considering that the vast majority of people who visit the site are probably native English speakers who don't speak Thai, who is the video for?

Whether or not you like Thaksin, you've got to admit that he doesn't give up easily. The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Thaksin Spotted in Malaysia By Piyanart Srivalo The Nation Published on July 7, 2009 Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra reportedly visited Malaysia last weekend before leaving for Fiji, Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam said yesterday. Thaworn said he understood Thaksin went to Malaysia on Saturday and left on Sunday. However, his reasons for visiting Malaysia are unknown, and Thaworn admitted the report was unconfirmed. Police are verifying it. Thaksin left Malaysia before Thai police could take action, Thaworn said. It remains the responsibility of the police, the attorney-general and the Foreign Ministry to get Thaksin back to serve the convictions against him, he said. The deputy interior minister said the government was not worried by reports Thaksin was back in Thailand's neighbourhood.

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Thailand's Baht May Strengthen to Bt33 Against Dollar BANGKOK, July 6 (TNA) -- The Thai currency, the baht, which had appreciated about 2.3 per cent against the US dollar during the first half of 2009, may strengthen further to Bt33 to the dollar late this year, according to a report issued by Kasikorn Research Centre. The report said the baht--which ranked second in terms of Asian currencies strengthening most among Asian currencies during the first half of 2009, after the Indonesian rupiah, is expected to appreciate further during the second half on the back of economy recovery in China and other Asian countries, including Thailand. Because of the expected economic recovery in Asia, inflation may also take place in the region later this year, which could force central banks, especially China’s, to step up stringent monetary measures aimed at controlling inflation in their countries, it said. It is likely that the baht would move in conjunction with other Asian currencies and could test at Bt33.75 against the dollar and could even strengthen further to Bt33 by late 2009 if supportive factors continued, the report indicated. However, in the worst-case scenario, current positive economic indicators seen in a number of other countries may not be strong enough to push world economic recovery significantly. This may make Asian economies, including that of Thailand, to be in a difficult position to recover and the Thai baht may soften to below Bt34 against the greenback, the report said. The baht by late last Friday was at Bt34.06 against the dollar compared to Bt34.07 the previous day. Banks in Thailand closed Saturday and will reopen Wednesday due to Buddhist religious holidays. (TNA)

Apparently they'll need it after the frustration of trying to find you. Why not also post a photo of that sign at the end of the corridor or, better still, do something to make it perfectly clear how to get there? Obviously the directions you are currently providing are not good enough to make it easy for people unfamiliar with the area to find you. You need to work on that. Next time I'm in Bangkok I'm planning to give your spa a try, but in all honesty I'm not going to bother if it's going to be a major pain just trying to find it the first time.

Of course. A lot of people are just dying to get in. What scares me is when I see my own age getting a hell of a lot closer to many of the subjects of these death notices. At the rate they're dropping off, I hope I make it to Thursday.

Oh man! The three main means by which they get away with it is lack of enforcement of the regulations, certain venues owned by low people in high places, and somehow the wallets of certain members of the local constabulary getting just a little heavier in return for somehow not noticing that these venues are open beyond the ordained hours.

I don't think we're absolutely rigid about it. Most of the time, if it has something to do with Thailand, it winds up in the Gay Thailand forum. I'll often move a post if it is obviously appropriate in one of the other forums. If it's not so obvious, I usually leave it alone. Until these posts started making an issue of it, I didn't think it was bothering anyone. I don't recall complaints about it before. Now all of a sudden a post appeared about it and everybody seems to be jumping on the bandwagon. As I said, it doesn't matter to me one way or another. If that's what everyone wants, it's certainly fine with me. It's entirely GT's decision as to whether he wants to create another forum to accommodate posts about Thailand that don't have much to do with gay aspects of Thailand.

I'm beginning to think we need a separate forum just for obituaries. _____ Robert McNamara, Ex-Defense Secretary, Dies (CNN) -- Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, a key architect of the U.S. war in Vietnam under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, has died at age 93, according to his family. McNamara was a member of Kennedy's inner circle during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the United States and the Soviet Union stood on the brink of nuclear war. But he became a public lightning rod for his management of the war in Vietnam, overseeing the U.S. military commitment there as it grew from fewer than 1,000 advisers to more than half a million troops. Though the increasingly unpopular conflict was sometimes dubbed "McNamara's War," he later said both administrations were "terribly wrong" to have pursued military action beyond 1963. "External military force cannot reconstruct a failed state, and Vietnam, during much of that period, was a failed state politically," he told CNN in a 1996 interview for the "Cold War" documentary series. "We didn't recognize it as such." A native of San Francisco, McNamara studied economics at the University of California and earned a master's degree in business from Harvard. He was a staff officer in the Army Air Corps during World War II, when he studied the results of American bombing raids on Germany and Japan in search of ways to improve their accuracy and efficiency. After the war, he joined the Ford Motor Company and became its president in November 1960 -- the first person to lead the company from outside its founding family. A month later, the newly elected Kennedy asked him to become secretary of defense, making him one of the "whiz kids" who joined the young president's administration. In October 1962, after the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, McNamara was one of Kennedy's top advisers in the standoff that followed. The United States imposed a naval "quarantine" on Cuba, a Soviet ally, and prepared for possible airstrikes or an invasion. The Soviets withdrew the missiles in exchange for a U.S. guarantee not to invade Cuba, a step that allowed Soviet premier Nikita Kruschev to present the pullback as a success to his own people. In the 2003 documentary "The Fog of War," McNamara told filmmaker Errol Morris that the experience taught American policymakers to "put ourselves inside their skin and look at us through their eyes." But he added, "In the end, we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war." McNamara is credited with using the management techniques he mastered as a corporate executive to streamline the Pentagon, computerizing and smoothing out much of the U.S. military's vast purchasing and personnel system. And in Vietnam, he attempted to use those techniques to measure the progress of the war. Metrics such as use of "body counts" and scientific solutions such as using the herbicide Agent Orange to defoliate jungles in which communist guerrillas hid became trademarks of the conflict. McNamara made several trips to South Vietnam to study the situation firsthand. He, Johnson and other U.S. officials portrayed the war as a necessary battle in the Cold War, a proxy struggle to prevent communism from taking control of all of Southeast Asia. But while they saw the conflict as another front in the standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, which backed communist North Vietnam, McNamara acknowledged later that they underestimated Vietnamese nationalism and opposition to the U.S.-backed government in Saigon. "The conflict within South Vietnam itself had all of the characteristics of a civil war, and we didn't look upon it as largely a civil war, and we weren't measuring our progress as one would have in what was largely a civil war," he told CNN. Casualties mounted, as did domestic opposition to the war. In 1965, a Quaker anti-war protester, Norman Morrison, set himself on fire outside McNamara's office window. In 1967, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched on the Pentagon, which was ringed with troops. By November 1967, McNamara told Johnson that there was "no reasonable way" to end the war quickly, and that the United States needed to reduce its forces in Vietnam and turn the fighting over to the American-backed government in Saigon. By the end of that month, Johnson announced he was replacing McNamara at the Pentagon and moving him to the World Bank. But by March 1968, Johnson had reached virtually the same conclusion as McNamara. He issued a call for peace talks and announced he would not seek re-election. After leaving the Pentagon in early 1968, McNamara spent 12 years leading the World Bank. He said little publicly about Vietnam until the publication of a 1995 memoir, "In Retrospect." "You don't know what I know about how inflammatory my words can appear," he told Morris. "A lot of people misunderstand the war, misunderstand me. A lot of people think I'm a son of a bitch."

Two stories here. We've got one in which a farang decided a great way to spend the evening is to be dancing naked in the streets. The second is about a farang who has a Thai wife, and another wife back in the UK, and he also has an interesting way to try getting out of his bar bill: The following appears in the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS: for photos, see: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000009670 _____ TWO-TIMING BRITISH DRUNK AND DANCING NAKED TOURIST ATTRACT ATTENTION ON PATTAYA BEACH In the early hours of 6th July 2009, a male foreigner was reported to be dancing naked on Pattaya beach opposite Soi 8, 500 meters away from the police station. At 4:00 am several reporters had gathered to observe 3 drunken tourists, 2 men and 1 woman aged 35-40, drinking and dancing on an open area of the beach. One of the men was naked and being egged on by his companions, as passersby stopped and stared at them. Some people stopped and scolded him but the man didn’t seem to care. The exhibitionist continued his prancing for a further 20 minutes before putting on his clothes. The threesome continued chatting for a while, then crossed the road, grabbed their motorbikes and rode away. ____________________ At the same location, at the same time on the night before, 5th July, an English man ran down to the beach and swam out to sea in an attempt to escape from paying his bar bill. He climbed among the fishing boats and it took police 30 minutes to convince him to give himself up. He was taken out of the water by the rescue team and taken to the police station to calm down and sober up. The 41-year-old British man was identified as Mr. Gary William Donovan and, in a heavily drunken state, he told the police that he was stressed out because his two wives [Thai and English] were both pregnant and he was worried that they would find out about each other. The mental pressure had led to a drinking binge at the Cloud Nine Beer bar in Soi 9, totting up a 1155 baht bill which he was unable to pay. In full view of the bar staff and people around the area he ran away towards the sea in front of the bar. One of the bar staff, Miss Somjai Kongsomsong, [39] then called the police to report the incident. Witness accounts, including one from the bar owner, gave a clear impression that Mr. Donovan made a habit of leaving behind unpaid bills. Police decided to keep him at the station until he could get his story straight and investigations would continue.

Mike's All New White Night, is now on its 7th menu change since May. Recent additions are the Chilli Con Carne, Pan-fried Chicken thigh with Green Peppercorn and Mustard sauce, and the very popular Roast Duck breast with an Orange and Mango sauce. On the desert selection the Summer Pudding continues to be the favourite and the English style Pancakes served with sugar and fresh lime wedges, are mouth watering! At only 190B for two courses and just 250B for four courses it really is terrific value for money. Let me also remind you that we are currently open from 9.30am every day for Breakfast and we stay open through to 10pm. See you soon, Mike & the Team.

I believe on that thread I said people can ask questions without fear of being put down by other posters. I don't think I said anything about on which forum the questions have to appear. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other. GT reads this forum every day and he'll see these posts. It's entirely his decision. I have nothing to do with that aspect of decision making on this board. I have no access to any of the board programming. Considering that you gents are saying that's what you want, I'm sure GT take it seriously. If he does decide to go with your ideas, I just hope everyone will cooperate so that I don't end up having to spend time moving posts from forum to forum.

What makes you think I would put down your idea? I have no reason to support or put down your idea. I think people tend to forget this is not my web site. It belongs to GT. He makes those decisions. I have nothing to do with it. I simply moderate what's here. If he wants to put in another forum, I have no objection. If he wants things to remain status quo, I also have no objection.

Don't you carry a mobile phone? Their number is 02 251 1009. Why not get a taxi, call their number, and have them explain to the taxi driver where to take you?

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Release Prisoners, Says PM By: ANUCHA CHAROENPO Published: 6/07/2009 Thailand wants the Burmese government to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners as part of its national reconciliation process, acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn says. The position was conveyed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in talks on Saturday. Thailand is chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations until the end of the year. Mr Ban made a stopover in Bangkok on his way from Burma. The Burmese junta refused his request to meet Mrs Suu Kyi who is on trial for violating her detention conditions. Although Mr Ban's request was rejected, Thailand supported the UN in playing a role in attempts to bring about national reconciliation in Burma, Mr Panitan quoted the prime minister as saying. The 10-member Asean will try to address the problem of Burma at meetings of Southeast Asian foreign ministers and the grouping's coming summit, he said. Asean foreign ministers will hold talks on July 20 in Phuket followed by talks until July 23 with their dialogue partners. Their leaders will gather at the resort island in October. Mr Ban told the prime minister he was disappointed with Burma for not allowing him to meet the National League for Democracy leader. The prime minister will pay his first official visit to Burma at the end of the month, the acting spokesman said. It was uncertain whether he would raise the issue of Mrs Suu Kyi at meetings with Burmese leaders, he said.

No need to be sad. I thank you for your comments. I think it is crystal clear as to what we will and will not tolerate on this board. The person in question chose his actions and the consequences of them for himself. There is nothing more to be said. Now I think the questions about duvet covers have been sufficiently answered, which is what the topic of this thread was supposed to be about. The only direction this thread can go now would be to debate about the actions of one poster or debate about my response to those actions. Since that has nothing to do with duvet covers, it's time to move on. If anyone wishes to continue the debate about the Laurence-Gaybutton dispute, feel free to do so, but on a new thread. This thread is now locked.