Gaybutton

My policy with Viriyah allows any licensed driver to drive the car. As long as it's a licensed driver, the policy fully covers it.

Why carry a large amount of cash at all? If something happens to it, you're up Shit Creek. You get a better rate with travel checks than with cash anyway, so if I were you I'd get travel checks instead. Pattayamale is right. Unless the 50's are new bills, in close to mint condition, most banks are going to refuse to exchange them. The difference between rates for different dollar denominations is negligible. Unless you're planning to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars, it's not going to make a significant difference. I advise travel checks. If it were me I would only bring a few travel checks in case of emergency. I'd put all those 50's back into the bank and bring an ATM card instead. The last thing I would do is carry cash. If you decide to take my advice and use your ATM card instead, make sure you notify the issuing bank before your trip. Let them know where you will be and your travel dates. That way they won't lock your card and it's a lot less hassle if there is any fraudulent use of your card. Ask your bank for an international contact number in case anything happens to the card or if they lock it despite your prior call.

It's really very simple. You can buy a car or motorcycle in Thailand whether you have a Thai driver's license or not. You cannot buy insurance for a car or a motorcycle without a valid Thai driving license. If an unscrupulous insurance agent sells you insurance anyway, but you don't have the Thai driving license, then if there is an accident the insurance company will not pay. If you do have the Thai driving license and insurance for your vehicle, then if an accident happens you call the insurance company immediately and they will send an adjuster over. If you are involved in an accident in which you are injured and rendered incapable of contacting your insurance company, then that's why your vehicle is required to show an insurance sticker on display so the police both know you actually have insurance and can contact your insurance company for you if you are rendered incapable of doing so. If it's a minor one-vehicle accident, such as denting your car on one of those too-high curbs, then you can drive over to the insurance company office. If you are involved in an accident with another vehicle, do not leave the scene. Call both the police and your insurance company. There are 3 levels of car insurance available. The first class insurance covers everything, liability and collision. There are limits set as to how much the insurance company will pay, but there is no deductible. The second class insurance also covers both, but only if the other driver is blamed by the police. If you are blamed, they pay nothing. The third class insurance is liability only, with no collision coverage. As a farang driver, I recommend the first class insurance. If you are buying a new car, then your auto dealership will probably set you up with insurance. You do have the option of obtaining insurance on your own. I highly recommend the Viriyah Insurance company. There are several offices around town, but I suggest going to their main office on Sukhumvit, north of Pattaya in Banglamung. See the Viriyah web site at: http://www.viriyah.co.th/english/Edefault.asp You can call Viriyah by simply dialing 1557. When driving, you are required to carry both your Thai driving license and your passport. Most of the time, when the police stop your vehicle they will ask to see the license, but rarely ask to see the passport. But if you're not carrying it and they do ask, you'll see more of a smile appear on the police officer's face because he now has grounds to give you more of a fine. Remember, the police do not have to accept a copy of your passport and when driving, that's when there is more chance of being stopped by a police officer and asked to produce your papers than any other time. By the way, the stuff the message board "experts" post about how if an accident occurs, then the farang will automatically be blamed whether it's his fault or not is absolute, total nonsense. That is simply not true. I can tell you from personal experience that I was involved in two accidents in which the other driver, each a Thai, was at fault and he was the one who was charged and fined, not me. Other farang drivers out there have told me similar stories.

You don't? Hmmmmm. What are you doing Saturday night?

I always get my little laugh for the day when religious leaders decide to attack gays. No offense to anyone Catholic, but what was that we kept hearing about priests and altar boys? I doubt there is any less of that going on now than there always was. They probably just figured out different ways to avoid being caught. Only a few years ago the joke was that when the Pope called in all the Cardinals to try to do something about the priests and the altar boys, the only way he could get them to agree to attend was to inform them the entertainment would be provided by the Vienna Boys Choir.

Why does everybody always offer to buy a drink? I'll buy my own drink. Now, if someone offers to buy me a boy for an hour or two . . . . . . . .

10,000 baht? Are you serious? I've never heard of such a thing. 1000 baht, that I could understand, but if any boys were asking for 10,000 baht, that's just ridiculous. I hope you shooed them away. Anyway, yes indeed you can easily pick up boys at the gay beach in Pattaya. That's the reason many of them are there in the first place. I call them "farang hunters," because that's exactly what they are there to do. They want to "have farang." Many of the boys are also bar boys. Many boys are regulars and are there every day. Not a bad job, when you get right down to it. Spending the day on the beach and making some money along with it every so often. I have never been to the beach, ever, even on the slowest days, without at least a few boys there hoping to be picked up. They're not even the only ones. Many of the boys going around asking if you want a massage are also available. Some of the boys working at the beach concessions are also available and sometimes can go with you right then and there (as long as they give a little back to the concession owner). In other words, picking up a boy at the beach is the easiest thing in the world, and a lot less expensive than taking them off from bars. Most of them are very nice and it is quite rare for there to ever be a problem. However, you do have to bear in mind that there have been isolated incidents, including a murder about four years ago. If you do pick up a boy at the beach, I would advise taking some common sense precautions. I would at least make sure he has an ID card and that it's actually his ID card and not a card he borrowed from someone else. Without at least that, if an incident does occur you have no way of tracking him down. Make sure that wherever you are taking him, whether your room, his room, or a short time room somewhere, that the front desk holds his ID card until you give the "all clear" before he can get it back. In other words, I advise taking the same precautions you would take if you were meeting a boy from an online personals site. Again, it is extremely rare for an incident to occur as a result of taking a boy from the beach. I hear about fatal plane crashes more often than I hear about an incident involving a beach boy, but it doesn't hurt to take the precautions.

I agree with that part. People are always sticking their noses into other people's business on these boards. The gossip queens seem to love that. Unfortunately, whether that would make a board a dull place or not, it doesn't make it a right thing to do. In my opinion it's one thing for people to post about a business being open or closed, but it's quite another when people post speculation without having the facts. When you start a sentence with "Presumably," that tells me you don't have the facts or you didn't speak to Googie before posting. Regarding Googies, what we know is that for at least the time being he is closed. That's all we know. As for the reason he is closed, I've heard your version of it along with several other versions. What nobody posting about it seems to have done is to ask Googie himself. In my opinion, posting guesses as to why he is closed without at least being able to post what he says about it himself is unfair, especially if your guess turns out to be wrong. That's what I think, anyway. I have nothing personal for or against Googie. For the record, I've eaten there a grand total of once, and that was nearly five years ago. I don't know Googie personally. I wouldn't know him if he was sitting next to me. It doesn't matter to me personally whether his restaurant is open, closed, or anything else. However, I do think that businesses, especially gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses, ought to be treated fairly on the boards. I think it's the responsibility of the boards and the people posting on them to at least do their best to make sure they're right before writing negative posts that can potentially harm someone's business. I don't know what's going on with postings about Googie's on other boards. I haven't read those posts. But on this board, let's at least have his version of it before declaring "open season," as you put it, on him. Fair enough?

You can buy the car without the license, but you will need it in order to be insured. That's my understanding of it.

Uh-huh. Maybe you think I'm going to count it . . . . . . .

The following, including the photo, appears in the BANGKOK POST: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/8533...-creating-alarm _____ Counterfeit Banknotes Creating Alarm By: POST REPORTERS Published: 23/12/2008 at 12:00 AM The public can bring charges against shops that refuse to accept 1,000 baht banknotes for fear they might be counterfeit, police say. Deputy Metropolitan Police chief Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay Nimmano said yesterday people who are issued counterfeit notes by ATMs can also file charges against banks with police. Banknote forgers would be liable to life imprisonment and people who knowingly pass fake notes face one to 15 years in jail, he said. The police chief spoke out after reports that many vendors were refusing to accept 1,000 baht banknotes from customers and that people were choosing to withdraw less than 1,000 baht from ATMs at each transaction, to avoid receiving 1,000 baht banknotes. Twatchai Yongkittikul, secretary-general of the Thai Bankers Association (TBA), said the public should not panic about fake notes. "There is no problem about receiving counterfeits from ATMs," he said. "All banks check banknotes before they put them in ATMs." He said even though the number of forgeries had increased, there were still relatively few in circulation. The TBA would monitor the situation and call a meeting with its members to develop a strategy if the problem became any worse, he said. Bangkok Bank, the country's largest bank, said it was training counter tellers to check banknotes carefully, especially 1,000 baht notes. The number of counterfeits increased significantly over the festive season. Giant retail stores report finding fake notes in many provinces. If there is doubt about a note's authenticity, clerks ask customers to pay with another note. Machines to check watermarks on notes have also been installed in toll booths. Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Preawpan Damapong has ordered police to track down the forgers and distributors. In Nakhon Si Thammarat, counterfeiters were arrested in two districts with phoney 500 and 1,000 baht notes. In Nan's Chiang Klang district, Nim Ganpai, 50, went to make a 4,500 baht deposit to pay her bank loan, only to be told one of the 1,000 notes was counterfeit. She said she received the note when she sold a cow two months ago. In Tak, 1,000 baht notes were not being accepted at the border market in Mae Sot district after counterfeits were found. The fake notes were so similar to real notes that some were said to have been deposited at banks. "I have changed my payment method and now use an ATM to transfer funds, or a cheque. It is so hard to check if the notes are real," said Tak chamber of commerce president Suchart Treeratwattana. In Nakhon Ratchasima, Namphon Songklang, 40, a butcher at Mae Kim Heng market in Muang district, said when customers pay in 1,000 baht notes, vendors get together to help inspect them. If the note is deemed to be fake, they detain the person and alert police. Some vendors had earlier phoney notes. In Trat, customs officers are watching for fakes, but because of staff constraints search people only if they look suspicious. People are allowed to take no more than 200,000 baht out of the country at a time.

I'm wondering what point you are trying to make. If you feel curious about the reasons why Googie's is closed or feel that it's anyone's business other than his own, rather than second guessing or trying to make him look foolish through innuendo, why don't you simply ask him? You can contact him via Email at: googies-pattaya@hotmail.com You can call him at: 085 227 0114 Let us know what he tells you after you make contact with him.

Of course he will. I'll be there . . . .

I only wish! But then I would have ended up with Geezer as my boyfriend . . . . . Was I ever that age? I thought you might enjoy my school photo below:

The following appears in the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS: _____ HALF A MILLION BAHT MISSING FROM DUTCH COUPLE‘S PATTAYA BANK ACCOUNT A Dutch couple living in Pattaya claims that over half a million baht is missing from their bank account at the Kasikorn Bank. At 10:00 am. on 21st December2008, after reporting the matter to Pattaya police investigator Pol. Lt. Col. Wanlop Kungtaratip, Mr. Frank Bouwmeester, [44] and Mrs. Johanna Doorn [66], a Dutch couple residing at 102 / 6, Moo 11, Nongprue, Banglamung, made a complaint to the media that 500,525 Baht had been removed from their bank account during the course of 2 days in July 2008. Mrs. Doorn , the owner of the Bank account, said she had been a customer of the South Pattaya branch of Kasikorn Bank for more than 8 years. She had an ATM Card for her convenience to withdraw cash up to a maximum of about 20,000 baht a day. On the 1st July this year, she had transferred 7000 baht to her son at Nongkai through the bank ATM service. On the 3rd July she tried to withdraw cash from the ATM but it was rejected with a "wrong pin code" message. At first she thought that the machine was faulty so she tried another, but received the same response. The couple then went to the Kasikorn Bank, South Pattaya branch, where their original account was issued. They told the story to the bank officer and also asked for a new card since the old one was 8 years old. While waiting for their new card, they asked for an updated statement from their bank book and were shocked to find out that over half a million baht was missing from their previous balance of 1.5 million baht. Transactions involving the missing funds were recorded during the 2nd and the 3rd of July 2008. The bank officer told them to stay calm and said that they would be informed once more details of the transactions had been found. On the 5th July, they checked their account again at an ATM and were shocked to find that a further 49,000 baht had been withdrawn while the ATM card was still in their possession and they were allowed to withdraw only 20,000 baht a day. They once again visited the bank, where the officer told them not to worry, and the money should be refunded to their account again on the following day, but this never happened. The couple decided to meet the bank manager of the South Pattaya branch, Mr. Waigoon Kriengsakpong, who, after listening to their complaints, found out that the money had been transferred via an ATM in Hatyai , Songklah to somebody's account in Surathani and Kalasin. The couple claimed that they did not have any Thai friends or relatives in Thailand. However, Mr. Waigoon promised to refer their case to the head office in Bangkok as soon as possible. Mrs. Doorn said that on the 18th December, the assistant director of customer service from the bank head office, Mr. Chaiyasit Jindacharin, had called them and informed that the bank could not replace the missing funds to their account. He also added that there was the possibility her husband may have given the ATM card to somebody to withdraw the money. She thought that this was a terrible excuse and that they should have checked the receiver's account. "I have retired and bought a 10 million baht house in Thailand and I've been a long time customer with the bank for more than 8 years. My husband is always with me and he has shown no signs of unfaithful behaviour. Now that we have a problem, instead of responding fast and seriously checking the system, they choose to transfer the fault to the customer. I don't understand why Thai banks have such a terrible system. I have reported this to the police and complained to the media to protect my own rights" she finally added.

Sounds great to me:

I have never flown on Air Asia, but I am inclined to believe that the troubles you experienced were more bad luck than anything else. Certainly flight delays are common on any airline. Sometimes it's the fault of the airline and sometimes it isn't. When flying on a discount carrier I don't expect everything to operate as smoothly as on major air carriers. My personal worst horror story happened this time of year, about 8 or 9 years ago by now. I was coming to Thailand on Northwest Airlines via Minneapolis and Tokyo. I was going to arrive on Christmas Eve. I had reservations at a nice hotel in Bangkok. My boyfriend was going to meet me at the airport. We looked forward to spending Christmas Day in Bangkok. When I arrived in Minneapolis everything seemed to be fine. The 747 was sitting there at the departure gate. About an hour before flight time the crew started showing up and boarding. I knew something was wrong when the crew members started coming off the plane and milling around the entrance door. Not very long after that an announcement was made that there will be a 45 minute delay. They said they had the wrong plane at the gate and they're bringing another one over from the hanger. My first reaction was 'yeah, right.' Wrong plane? You've got to be kidding. I figured this was probably airline bullshit in place of telling us this plane had a serious problem. At least they discovered the problem while the plane was on the ground. Minneapolis is a Northwest hub airport, so they did have other planes available. They brought over another 747, exactly the same model. The crew boarded and about 20 minutes later so did the passengers. After we had boarded and settled into our seats, then came an announcement that there's something wrong with this plane too! One of the lavatories sprung a leak and it needed to be fixed before the plane could depart. There would be a 20 minute delay. Nearly an hour later came the announcement that the repair is going to take longer than they thought and we should be ready to go in about 20 more minutes. Then came the next announcement. They don't know how long this will take. Meanwhile we were all stuck sitting there on the plane, already over 2 hours late and a flight of nearly 11 hours facing us. They would not let us off the plane. We sat there for a good 4 hours before the plane was finally ready to go. They pushed back the plane, cranked up the engines, and the captain announced that before takeoff he wants to have the plane de-iced. The plane taxied over to the de-icing area and the de-icing trucks hosed down the plane immediately. We still didn't go. We sat there for a full hour after the de-icing before the plane finally took off. There was never an announcement of any kind as to why there was another long delay like that. We were on that plane, after already being delayed by nearly an hour before even boarding, for 5 hours before even leaving the airport! By the time the plane arrived in Tokyo all the outbound flights were already long gone. They were going to have to put the entire planeload of ongoing passengers in a hotel overnight. I have to hand it to the Japanese. They had everything done very efficiently. When we got off the plane they had several booths set up, each with a sign on it for different destinations. About a dozen people lined up at the booth marked 'Bangkok.' They gave us boarding passes for the flight for the next day and a compensation booklet with meal vouchers, etc. Then we were all taken to a very good hotel. When we got there, the Japanese already had our names and rooms ready. We didn't even have to go through a check-in process. I said to one of the Japanese hotel staff members, "You people really know what you're doing. You have this down to an art form. This must happen often." The response was, "Happen every day! Every day! Some time two time every day! Always Northwest!" I believed him. I have yet to ever be on a Northwest flight that went smoothly. As I was headed toward my room I saw a sign on the restaurant door. "Gala Christmas Buffet." Well, I thought, at least I'll get a buffet out of it with all that fabulous Japanese food. One of the coupons in Northwest's compensation package was for a 3 minute call to anywhere in the world to let people know about the delay. I picked up the phone in the room. Dead as a doornail. After all I had already been through, I was in no mood for this. I took the phone down to the hotel front desk and told them it isn't working. The desk clerk actually said, "Why didn't you call us from your room? We would bring another phone." "How could I call from the room?" was my response. "The phone is dead!" Once they replaced the phone I was going to call my boyfriend to let him know. I dialed the access number on the voucher. Then I got a voice that said to enter the number I wish to dial. Then the voice asked for a PIN number. I kept that voucher booklet for nearly 2 years. If there was a PIN number anywhere, I never found it! I ended up paying for the call myself. Ok, now I could at least go and enjoy the Japanese buffet. I walked in and what was it? Turkey, ham, and everything Grandma might make. I didn't even bother to eat. I just gave up, returned to my room, and went to sleep. I finally arrived in Bangkok the next day around noon. My luggage arrived the next day! A few hours delay once in a while on Air Asia? Piece of cake!

I disagree with the point I think you're trying to make. I don't see any particular reason why those things even should be said. I believe most people would assume those things without a need to verbalize them. Apparently the man already had a speedy recovery since, according to a post above, he already has been seen in Sunee Plaza again. People, including me, want to know what happened and why it happened. So many of us go to Sunee Plaza that this story is of interest and, since the media has provided only minimal detail, speculation about what may have happened is perfectly normal and understandable.

When you get right down to it, is there really a soi around Sunee Plaza that isn't a Soi Ya Ba?

That sounds better every time I hear it . . . They could introduce happy hour prices, have contests or drawings for free offs or drinks, do what Monty did and have either free or discounted off fees after certain hours, and probably many different ideas. Simply lowering the music volume would get me to come in a lot more often. I'm sure there are plenty of things the bars can do to attract more customers rather than watch them walk right by.

From where to where?

I agree. Apparently Pascal understands exactly the same thing we've been talking about. If you want to attract customers during hard times, then offer incentives and reduced prices. Once word of these prices and the quality of the menu begins to circulate, reservations will likely be a must. If some of the bars would figure out the same thing, they wouldn't be in trouble.

Casa Pascal is now offering their "Fantastic Set Menu" at very reasonable prices. Click the link to view the menu:

Now, how could anyone possibly resist your ass? It must have taken all the will power the guy could muster.

Honest Gems really is honest too. They quite often contribute very valuable jewelery to PGF for use in the raffles during the PGF dinners.