Gaybutton

I can handle it if Trump wins that one . . .

Definitely. For me, no question about it, my vote goes to Biden. I am also still eligible to vote in Florida elections. There are two I will vote against when it's time for their elections, One is that moron governor Ron DeSantis. The other is Marco Rubio. For Trump and every one of his supporters currently in office, I hope I'll get to play my favorite Carol Channing song from Hello Dolly - "Wave your little hand and whisper so long dearie." Remember: "Vote early and often . . ."

This has not been mentioned anywhere and I have no evidence of any kind whatsoever to back this up. It's just a thought on my part, so don't be alarmed - but I can't help wondering if and when the bars do reopen, will the powers-that-be ban taking boys off . . . ?

I wouldn't be trying to book any flights just yet. Even if foreigners are allowed to enter Thailand unimpeded, which currently they are not, there are still quite a few things we just don't know yet, such as: 1. Even if they are allowed to fly to Thailand, how many airlines will do so? 2. What will the price of tickets be? 3. Are you willing to risk the possibility of another Covid-19 breakout, and ending up stuck in Thailand if international flights are prohibited again or if your home country won't permit incoming flights? 4. Will your hotel choices be available? 5. Even if the bars are allowed to open again (which by the way may be very soon), will they open again before they can be sure there will be enough customers so they can at least break even? 6. Will the bars have problems getting boys? Many boys went back home when they lost their jobs. Now bus fares have gone up considerably due to the social distancing restrictions. They would not only need enough money to pay the bus fare, but unless something changes the boys are usually paid at the end of the month, which means they would need to have enough money to pay a month's rent and security in advance, enough money for food, personal items, etc. In short, will the bar boys even be able to afford to return? 7. What will be the social distancing restrictions in the bars? We don't know yet. Will the boys and customers be required to wear face masks? Will there be restrictions on the operating hours? 8. Are you willing to risk arriving in Thailand only to find yourself quarantined for 14 days? __________________________________________________________________ And then, there's this. As far as I know, this is the latest information: Foreigners allowed to enter Thailand on case-by-case basis May 29, 2020 Under phase 3 of the lockdown relaxation, foreigners with work permits or permission from the Labour Ministry or other government agencies will be allowed to enter the country, the Foreign Ministry announced on Friday (May 29). “Permission to enter does not cover all groups as we are proceeding step by step,” said deputy spokesman Natapanu Nopakun at a daily briefing on the Covid-19 situation. The Foreign Ministry has informed Thailand’s foreign chambers of commerce about the relaxation. Eligible foreign nationals are invited to submit applications at Thai Embassies in their countries. They must have health insurance and a health certificate. They will also be subject to 14- quarantine on entry to Thailand, either in a state facility or in a private facility at their own cost. Details of the letter sent to all foreign chambers of commerce in Thailand are as follows: 1. The Royal Thai Government's invocation of the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations BE2548 (2005) (No I) dated 25 March BE2563 (2020) to control the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19), closes the entry into the Kingdom of non-Thai nationals, in accordance with the laws on communicable diseases and immigration. However, clause 3 (5) of the Regulation issued under the said Emergency Decree, also allows non-Thai nationals who either possess a valid work permit or have already been granted permission from a Thai government agency to work in the Kingdom, to apply for permission to enter the Kingdom. 2. It is, however, requested that only those in urgent need to enter the Kingdom may submit an application for entry. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in consultation with the Board of Investment and the Ministry of Labour, will consider all requests for entry on a case by case basis, taking into account urgency and economic importance, among others. 3. The procedure for non-Thai nationals who wish to submit an application for entry are as follows: 3.1 Contact the Royal Thai Embassy or the Royal Thai Consulate-General in their country of departure to apply for 'Certificate of Entry into the Kingdom of Thailand" at least 10 working days before the date of intended departure. The applicants must present: (1) copy of his work permits or copy of Ietter of permission issued by a Thai Government agency (in most cases, by the Ministry of Labour) to work in Thailand; (2) a valid health insurance policy covering all expenditures of medical treatment, including Covid-19 worth at least 100,000 USD. 3.2 The Thai Embassy/Consulate-General will forward the application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. If the application is approved, the Thai Embassy/Consulate-General will be instructed to issue the "Certificate of Entry into the Kingdom of Thailand" and appropriate visa to the applicant. 4. At the port of departure/embarkation (eg airline check-in counter), the approved applicant is required to present (I) a "Certificate of Entry into the Kingdom of Thailand" issued by the Royal Thai Embassy Consulate-General; (2) a completed and signed "Declaration Form" obtained from the Embassy/Consulate-General; (3) a Fit to Fly Health Certificate' issued no more than 72 hours before departure; and (4) a health insurance covering all expenditures of medical treatment, including Covid-19, while traveling to Thailand in an amount of at least 100,000 USD. 5. Upon entry into the Kingdom, non-Thai nationals will be subjected to a 14-day state quarantine at a government-designated Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) facility at their own expenses, and obliged to comply with the government's disease prevention measures pursuant to clause 11 of the Regulation issued under Section 9 of the said Emergency Decree. Ministry of Foreign Affairs https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30388723

I wonder how they are planning to control how many people enter each car and how many people are even allowed to wait on the platforms. Even then, how do they control social distancing? "There are some things you cannot do." Colin Firth (Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart), 'Conspiracy'

Don't forget - no matter what AirBnB does, and I don't remember if this applies to all of Thailand, but in Pattaya short term rentals less than 1 month are only available at hotels and properties designated as hotels. Other than that, in Pattaya short term rents have been made illegal. There has been a great many complaints about this, but those complaints are falling on deaf ears. In Pattaya, at least, that's the way it is.

I don't know just who to report things like that to, but you should make a point of finding out and reporting it. The penalties for price gouging are severe and people are being arrested for it. Don't think the authorities will just ignore it and do nothing about it. This is one time they really are doing something about it.

Don't be so sure about the second one . . .

Does LINE work in everybody's home country? I know LINE works in Thailand and India, but I have no idea whether it works in Europe, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, or elsewhere. If not, I think remaining on this forum would be better.

I think most of that is also a thing of the past. I doubt much of it happens anymore. However, from many years ago I remember a boy, Won, who was walking around with 5 mobile phones. I asked him what he needed 5 phones for. He told me each one is for a different farang "boyfriend," none of whom know about any of the others. He was very proud about getting away with it. I haven't seen him in years. I don't know what became of him or whether any of the 5 ever found out about any of the others. I also remember a Sunee Plaza ladyboy bar manager who was doing essentially the same thing with 2 different farang - both of whom also thought they were the only one. Both farang showed up unexpectedly in Pattaya at the same time. For 2 weeks he somehow managed to juggle everything around and both farang went back home none the wiser. That bar closed years ago. After it closed I never saw that ladyboy again. There were a lot of such stories back then - in the "golden years" of Pattaya. But I have heard no such stories in quite some time now.

Absolutely right. What the boy does with the money is nobody's business but his own. I can't think of any job where how much the payee should receive is based upon what the payer thinks he will do with the money. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I don't understand farang who spend a lot of money just on airfare alone going to Thailand, stay in nice hotels, enjoy good food in expensive restaurants, drink as if the world will end tomorrow, and then try to justify giving as little as they can get away with to the boys. And meanwhile the boys are the reason these same farang go to Thailand in the first place. If you don't want to pay these boys 1000 to 1500 baht, which is a hell of a lot less than you would pay anywhere else, for what they do for you, then stay home and masturbate to a porn site.

That may have been the case years ago, but it hasn't been that way for a very long time. These days the boys are lucky to be offed at all. It's a little difficult to get offed if the bars are virtually devoid of customers or the customers that do come no longer spend as much money as they used to due to the strong baht. That's one of the reasons so many of them have turned to the apps in hopes of getting a few customers here and there. Times have changed in the bars, and for the boys the changes have not been good. Most of the boys are lucky if working in the bars brings them enough money to barely survive. I doubt there are any boys anymore who make 1500 x 25 = 37,500 a month. It just doesn't happen. Even in the "golden years" of the bars, it rarely happened to other than the few most popular boys.

I don't think any of us are really going to know until the rules come into effect and we start seeing what the various immigration offices are going to do. In all my years living in Thailand, if I've learned nothing else, I've learned that no matter what the immigration rules are, it all comes down to what the immigration officer you're dealing with decides to do, all too often at the whim of the officer regardless of the rules. My suggestion for O-A retirement visa holders who wish to renew, do so as far in advance of the expiration date as possible. That way, if there is anything they want you to do, you will still have time to get it done. If the immigration officer tells you something you don't want to hear, whatever you do, don't get angry or argue with him. It won't do any good, won't get him to change his mind, and will only make things worse. Whatever he tells you that you need to do, you're going to have to do it. It will be either that, or you don't get the visa.

I don't agree. I also don't agree with your reasoning as to why Jomtien Complex is thriving. Jomtien Complex is thriving and has been thriving long before Sunee Plaza started having problems and Boystown prices started skyrocketing. Jomtien Complex does quite well, even during the lowest part of low season. It's a different kind of atmosphere there. There are good hotels within the complex and nearby. The drink prices are quite reasonable. The off fees are reasonable. There are good restaurants in the complex and many more nearby. It's a short walk to the beach from the complex. It's on the baht bus route. There is good shopping nearby. The only thing Jomtien Complex doesn't have is go-go bars. While I'm sure most of us would love for go-go bars to be available in the complex, it's not a long ride to the Boystown and Sunee Plaza go-go bars. I urge everyone to give Jomtien Complex a try at least once during your next trip and judge for yourself. Between Jomtien Complex, Sunee Plaza, and Boystown, for me no question about it. Jomtien Complex is my preference and had been for a long time.

Do I need to tell you who owns it or can you guess . . . ?

Unfortunately there is an ordinance prohibiting go-go bars in Jomtien.

It could certainly apply to any immigration staff who mistreat people for no good reason in any country.

Part of that problem is many of them apply their own interpretation of the rules. Because of that, when you go to immigration you can never be sure what you're walking into. Too much seems to be at the whim of individual immigration officers rather than a reliable set of standards. Along with that, different immigration offices apply their own set of rules.

Especially if the person who wants only to spend the night has a departure ticket for the next day. Unless he is carrying contraband or something, what's the problem? I can understand immigration officials wanting to prevent the wrong people from entering their country, but I see too many reports of perfectly innocent people being harassed and treated like criminals only because the official they are dealing with is far too overzealous and apparently likes to assert his authority. While immigration wants to prevent 'bad' people from getting in, how about also preventing the wrong types of people from getting these immigration jobs in the first place.

Does the UK have the same problem Thailand claims to have - foreigners getting hospital treatment and then skipping out on the bill?

Seems to me that's the way it comes across. "Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I didn't know it had to be yours." - Ed Asner (Lou Grant), 'Lou Grant'

"The day I don't like living in Thailand anymore, I know where the airport is." - Geezer

My own favorite was when I had a boy at my house and it was raining rather heavily when it was time for him to leave. I told him he should stay until the rain ends. He said, "No problem raining. I have condom." Of course, he was trying to convey he has a raincoat.

Not at all. In Pattaya there are plenty of them all over town, and now more of them than before. They're not just for farang and Thais. Most accommodate Thai couples who need a place to go other than at home with their entire families present. As stated above, if you want to off a boy and take him to a short-time room, why ask us? Ask the boys. They all know just where to go. Have a look here, and these are just some of them: http://www.pattayasweethearts.com/loveinns.htm

Of course I do, but your post said, "I wonder what your opinion will be when you reach 70 years and cannot get or afford health insurance here." Maybe I'm wrong, but that comes across as directed toward me. At age 70 my annual premium will likely be somewhere between US $4500 to $4700 based on the rate at which the premium has risen annually.