Gaybutton

Well, don't be so "surely." That's exactly what I did. I don't remember word-for-word what I said. What I said was to the effect of, "I'd like to ask if you can put a in request for a business class upgrade if any seats are available." That's about all I said. "Sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn't." - Old Lodge Skins, 'Little Big Man'

I never purchased a business class ticket in my life. I would always purchase economy class. Yet I ended up in business class more often than not. Once I purchased my ticket I would simply call the airline and request a bump-up to business class. They never did it over the telephone, but sometimes the agent would tell me she'll send my request to the gate agent. Sometimes I would be told sorry, but we can't make such a request. Then, just like Thai banks, I would call again in a day or two, get an entirely different response, and the request would be sent. Sometimes I would simply ask the gate agent if I can get a business class bump-up. I didn't get it all the time, but quite often I would find myself in business class. Once I actually ended up in first class . . . from Chicago to London and then first class again from London to Bangkok. All I did was simply ask for it. What can I say? It worked quite often for me and it would save me a pile of cash too. I guess I'm living proof that the squeaky wheel really does sometimes get the grease . . .

The Nazi elite tried the "It's not my fault. I was only obeying orders" defense in the Nuremberg trials. Worked great, didn't it? Tell that to Goering, Ribbentrop, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, et al. Of course, if you have no defense that can justify both torturing and murdering people, most of whom had done absolutely nothing wrong, then the "I had no choice" defense is the last straw to try grasping.

"Tonight's forecast . . . dark. Continued dark for several hours. Widely scattered light is expected in the early morning hours." - George Carlin

That's a much better answer than I could have provided. I didn't know what the hell it meant either . . .

I never did agree with that. I don't see anything wrong with revenge. In my opinion, all this stuff about revenge being something negative and unhealthy is only a cliché. I don't always agree with a cliché. In this case I definitely disagree. Unhealthy? Negative? Tell that to the victims. Tell that to their families. I'd love for each one of them to get just 5 minutes alone with this guy. I believe if revenge is truly unhealthy, then let it be unhealthy for him.

Black Hole of Calcutta, and step on it!

The following appears in PATTAYA ONE: _____ The Secret behind Tuesday’s Rainstorm in Pattaya On Wednesday Afternoon, Pattaya experienced some unseasonal rain. We can reveal that this rain was man-made and was the result of an artificial rain program initiated in nearby Sattahip District to assist local farmers who have seen their crops suffer over the past few months. The idea to produce Artificial Rain comes from His Majesty the King of Thailand who patented the technique back in 2002. On Monday Afternoon a plane loaded with chemicals used to induce rainfall took off and the chemicals were released around Chonburi Province. On Tuesday heavy rainfall was reported throughout the Province thought to be a result of the release of the chemicals on Monday. There are expected to be further rain storms in the next 48 hours around the Province.

I was kidding. Of course he would love to have TV. Have you ever seen "Papillon"? I think he deserves the same kind of solitary confinement. And I'm not kidding about that!

Somehow I have a feeling that a Cambodian prison isn't very much like US prisons. In a way I almost hope he gets television. If Cambodian TV is comparable to the programs I see on Thai TV, that too is worse than the death penalty . . .

Welcome to Nuremberg East. While proponents of the death penalty could justifiably say that no case could possibly cry out more for the death penalty, I'm glad that it isn't available for this guy. That's too easy for a crime of this magnitude. I would much rather see him kept for the rest of his life going stir crazy in a small, hot, cell under miserable conditions, knowing that the day he dies is his only way out. To me, that is a much more terrible punishment. He "expressed regret for his crimes"? Good! I wish him a very, very long life to continue his regret.

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ 'Killing Fields' Trial Begins PHNOM PENH (AFP) -- The torturer-in-chief for Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime finally faced trial Tuesday in the first case heard by a UN-backed genocide tribunal into the horrors of the "Killing Fields" 30 years ago. Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias Duch, faces charges of crimes against humanity over his iron-fisted rule at Tuol Sleng prison, where he is accused of presiding over the deaths of 15,000 men, women and children. He sat solemnly in the dock as hundreds of people turned up to watch the start of proceedings against a key figure in the ultra-communist regime, which killed around two million people in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities. "I prayed for dawn as soon as possible so that I could see this trial start," said artist Vann Nath, who became one of only a about a dozen survivors from the prison after he was put to work painting pro-regime pictures. Under Duch, a former math teacher now aged 66, Tuol Sleng was used to extract false confessions from alleged traitors that they were agents of foreign powers including the CIA. Most inmates were taken from the prison, a former high school, for execution at nearby Choeung Ek, an orchard now known as the "Killing Fields". Adults were beaten to death with hoes while children's heads were smashed against trees. On Tuesday, Duch wore a blue shirt and listened through earphones as the court opened the trial behind a huge bullet-proof screen to prevent revenge attacks by his victims. He did not speak publicly. Officials transported him to court in an armoured Land Cruiser the short distance from the nearby villa where he is being held with four top Khmer Rouge leaders, who all face trial later this year. Duch is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and premeditated murder and faces a life sentence. The tribunal cannot impose the death penalty. "This first hearing represents the realisation of significant efforts in establishing a fair and independent tribunal to try those in senior leadership positions," chief judge Nil Nonn said at the opening of the trial. For Cambodians the controversial tribunal, established in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between Cambodia and the United Nations, is seen as the last chance to bring the Khmer Rouge's surviving leaders to book. Court spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said Tuesday's initial hearing was "very, very significant" for the conflict-scarred nation, even though it is expected to last less than three days as it involves procedural matters. With full testimony not due to start until March, defence lawyer Francois Roux complained to the court that it was "unacceptable" that Duch had been held without trial for more than nine years. The hearing adjourned after seven hours of legal arguments, mainly about the admissibility of witnesses. Like most of the Khmer Rouge's top figures, Duch lived freely for years and was only arrested in 1999 when a journalist found him working as an aid worker in the jungle. He was formally transferred to the tribunal in July 2007. He has previously expressed regret for his crimes but has said that he was acting under orders from leaders of the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime. Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge rose to power as a tragic spinoff from the US conflict in Vietnam, emptying Cambodia's cities to take society back to a rural "Year Zero". They wiped out nearly a quarter of the population, targeting city dwellers, intellectuals and even people who wore glasses in their bid to root out anyone who threatened the peasant revolution. The regime was ousted by Vietnamese-backed forces in January 1979. Pol Pot died in 1998. The tribunal has been delayed by legal arguments and bail hearings, and has faced controversy over allegations of political interference by the government over the prosecution of further suspects. The government of Cambodian premier Hun Sen has been accused of trying to protect former Khmer Rouge cadres from justice.

Unfortunately for some, another new regulation that apparently is being enforced is, with the exception of 90-day address reports, you have to take care of any other Immigration requirements in the office closest to your place of residence.

I take it to mean either a customer or a relationship, whether short term (as little as a few hours) or long term.

If that's the way it's displayed, then it's kind of a jumbled up mess, but it looks like they're showing a couple rounds of trading - how much they'll pay to buy dollars and how much you have to pay if you're buying dollars. "Sight" means the exchange rate you get if you walk into the bank to exchange actual cash or if you are receiving money via direct deposit into your Thai bank account. If you have a Thai bank account, then when you withdraw funds the equivalent dollar value (or whatever currency you use) is usually on par with the 'sight' value.

Not really. Whether they'll do it immediately or tell you to come back the next day normally depends on the time of day you submitted your paperwork and how big the pile happens to be of passports waiting for the permit.

Today, during the second round of trading, the exchange rate crept to just above 35 baht to the US dollar for the first time in months. Some people have been reporting that they have already been getting an exchange rate in the 35's when using foreign ATM cards. The round 2 exchange rates are as follows: US Dollar: 35.01 Euro: 44.21 British Pound: 49.61 Australian Dollar: 22.4325 Canadian Dollar: 27.9225 In the past I would usually post the opening and closing daily rates, but I've been busy lately, so this time I'll let you gents check for yourselves. Both the Bank of Ayudhya and Siam Commercial Bank update online several times during the day. Bank of Ayudhya: http://www.krungsri.com/en/foreign-exchange-rates.aspx Siam Commercial Bank: http://www.scb.co.th/exchange/bk-pvsexchange.htm

There will be no flame war. Not on this board. If someone tries it, his post will quickly be gone and maybe so will he if he persists. My experience tells me that while so many boys hate working in the bars, that has nothing to do with their willingness to go with farang. It's the bar work itself they dislike, but going with farang is the reason they put up with the bar work. The boys tell me going with farang is exactly what they want and working in the bars gives them the best opportunity to "have farang."

I hate to burst the bubble for the doom and gloomers, but I believe what the forecasters say is worthless. That isn't merely wishful thinking. I've been reading forecasts about the baht and the US dollar for two years and I have yet to see even one forecaster get it even close to right. The truth is nobody knows what will happen. It can't hurt anything to be ready in case the worst really does happen, but I'll save my worrying for when it becomes necessary.

That would be a nice dream, wouldn't it? If that was the case, then people would be snatching them up. Unfortunately when the article says, "The condo market for mid priced condos (under 5 million baht) is down 80%," that means sales are down, not prices.

Thank you for your detailed post. First, the moderator at Thaivisa is both right and wrong. Only within the past couple of years did Immigration start referring to it as a retirement visa and now they also stamp the word "retirement" on the visa itself. However, the form you fill out to obtain the visa is an 'extension of temporary stay' application. I've attached a copy of it below. Yes, most banks do require you to obtain the 'letter for Immigration' from the branch at which you originally opened the account, so it does help to try to open your account at a convenient location. If you move, you can always close your account and open a new one at another branch. It is my understanding that Immigration accepts the bank letter up to one week prior to the day you apply for the visa, although they do prefer the letter and bank passbook update to be dated the same day you apply for the visa. Ok, that's two people so far, lvdkeyes and buckeroo2, who went through the process and were not asked to supply anything other than the proof-of-income statement from the embassy.

Well, there's a great reason to persecute, ruin lives, and even murder. What do people like this asshole do, get themselves graduate degrees from the Hitler Institute of Humanity? Why is it so incredibly common for people like that to end up in positions of authority in so many governments throughout the world? Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Ceausescu, Papa Doc Duvalier, Milosovitch, to name just a few. How do people like that get to be people like that?

Whether popular or not, few boys seem to hold on to the money. As you said, most either squander it or send most if home to mama, who squanders it herself. For many of these boys, saving money is a totally alien concept. I've certainly seen plenty of times when no matter how much money the boy has today, by tomorrow it's gone . . . all of it. The sending money home to mama thing is so deeply ingrained in so many of these boys, they're willing to live in what by our standards would be considered deplorable conditions, with little to do and even less money to spend doing it, so they can send as much money home to mama as they possibly can. A very common problem a farang encounters when he makes one of these boys his boyfriend is the expectation that he will start taking care of the boy's family financial problems. Some farang are wealthy enough to do that without much difficulty, but if you're not so wealthy or not willing to do that, then you better set ground rules about it right at the outset of your relationship, before you fall into that trap. Once you start providing 'help' there's no end to it.

Of course it's better, but it still stinks. The boys I know don't view it as a good job. They view it as the lesser of the evils.

First, I'd like to correct your aviation terminology. It's not a direct flight. A direct flight is any flight with at least one stop before you reach your destination. You don't have to change planes, but there will be at least one stop. The LAX-BKK flight is a non-stop flight. That means there are no stops between your point of departure and your destination. To my knowledge, Thai Airways is not presently considering reinstating the New York-Bangkok non-stop flight. Also, to my knowledge, there are no plans to end the Los Angeles-Bangkok non-stop flights. As a matter of fact, a friend arrived on that very flight just three days ago. He said he loved it and it was a long flight, but very nice.