Gaybutton

Here's a little bit of clarification about the "cure" for jellyfish stings. I thought I had made it clear that the papaya trick works on minor stings. It's not going to work on a major sting, such as the box jellyfish. I received a message from Topjohn5, who works in the medical field, with the following information, and his information is obviously far more reliable than mine: _____ First, I am not a doctor but I am a paramedic (EMT) and I have a lot of first hand experience in trauma situations including deadly stings and venom injections. I remembered reading about vinegar and the common home cures on these stings in one of my text books many years ago. So, I went and did a quick check online since my text books are in boxes somewhere, lol. I will be happy to provide you good medical text sources if you need it but a real quick read on the subject is on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubozoa Wikipedia does not always get it perfect sometimes but in this case they do a good job. The bottom line is that the compound in vinegar which is acetic acid is the ONLY reliable cure for this deadly sting and not papain. Of, the 19 box jellyfish species really only two can kill you and then they need to inject enough venom in you as well to do kill you. But, unfortunately, there are many deaths from these 2 creatures and acetic acid is the only thing that blocks the stingers (called nematocysts) from firing. It doesn't help the pain at all except by not allowing more injections of venom but it can save a life by blocking the firing of the stinger. Papaya is one of the many urban legands that are a cure for this sting. You are right about the meat tenderizer (papain) in papaya and it does help relieve stings of all minor types which would include your basic jellyfish. But papain does nothing for this venom which is one of the most deadly animal venoms in the world. Now, to be fair where there could be confusion with papaya as a cure (beside the meat tenderizer one above) could be simply from the fact that acetic acid is found naturally in small amounts when many foods especially fruits breakdown. So, it is possible that someone a long time ago got stung (but not a deadly sting) and then a rotten papaya was applied to the wound site (if there had been a rotten apple it would have worked the same way though). Since trace amounts of acetic acid were present in that papaya and, if the sting was minor, the papaya could have disabled the weak venom (very very weak venom and not this animal) and some minor relief could have occurred with the patient. But, there is NO, possible way that there is enough acetic acid in a rotten papaya (or any fruit) that would help a dying human stung by one of these creatures! _______________ So, there you have it. I guess if you take along some papaya and some vinegar, but are lucky enough not to be stung, you can at least make a salad . . .

No, it's much warmer than that in Pattaya, but not uncomfortably hot.

Unfortunately, yes.

A similar proposition to allow gay marriage was also on the Florida ballot. It too was rejected. The fact that the USA still stigmatizes gay rights robbed us of some of the joy of the Obama victory. It could have been worse. If McCain had won, gay marriage would still have been rejected.

In that case I recommend Sunee Plaza.

In Pattaya, at least, I have never heard of any sting ray attacks. Every so often stinging jellyfish appear, but they are a different species. Their presence is usually short lived and the stings are minor unless you are allergic. By the way, if you ever do get stung by a jellyfish, try to get a papaya. Papayas are readily available in Thailand year round. What you want to do is scoop out the pulp and place the exposed rind on the sting. Papayas are rich in papain, an enzyme that breaks down protein. If you are familiar with Adolph's Meat Tenderizer, look at the label. You'll see that the key ingredient is papain, and that's why it works. Jellyfish stings are protein stings, so the papain in papayas works quickly to provide relief. The Thai word for papaya is pronounced "mah-lah-GAW." There's also a way to avoid sting rays wherever you are. Sting rays settle on the bottom and wait for their prey. Most people who get stung stepped right on top of a sting ray and bingo! Right in the calf! So, it's quite simple. Don't walk forward in the water. If you do, you have to lift your foot to take a step and if there are sting rays around, you could step on one. Instead, walk backwards in the water. That way you can easily drag your feet, rather than lift them. Sting rays will feel the vibration long before you're close enough to be stung and they'll swim away.

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Cold Weather to Last until Middle February: Forecast Chief The forecast chief of the Meteorological Department said Wednesday that cold weather would last until the middle of February. Somchai Baimunag, director of the department's Weather Forecast Office, said cold weather would begin on November 8 and would last until the middle of February. He said the temperature would be about one or two degrees lower than last year. He said the temperature in Bangkok in December and January would be drop to about 17 to 18 Celsius degree. ___________________ For Pattaya, that's good news. The temperatures here have been much more pleasant and mild lately and apparently will continue to be so for the next several months.

I suggest going to the Sawatdee Forum ( http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com ) and doing a search for Hua Hin. A large number of posts will come up which ought to provide all the information you seek. On that forum I also suggest contacting Smiles. He lives in Hua Hun and will probably be happy to help you.

That's much better!

I think it's because someone saw me roaming around at night when I thought nobody was looking . . . . . .

I don't know, but I'd sure like it better if we're talking about (and seeing photos of) eye candy rather than politics.

Look at the bright side. At least you were warned. In my area they simply cut it, with no advance warning of any kind, without anyone having any idea why it was cut, and without having any idea how long the electricity will be off. It doesn't happen often and they also seem to have solved the problem of power outages during rain storms, but it is certainly an unpleasant surprise when it does happen.

That's a question almost impossible to answer. Everybody has his own ideas of what constitutes the "top places." Nobody can read your mind to know what types of boys you like or which bars would be best for you even if we knew. My advice, since you're closest to Pattayaland if you're staying at the Marriott, is to check out some of those bars. You're sure to find a boy you like in one of them. The bars do allow you to step in, quickly have a look at the boys, and then leave if you don't spot boys you like. That will save you time if you're in a hurry.

Yours is not the first such story I've heard regarding hotels in Thailand. Some hotels, for example, take care of the "bird in the hand" first. In other words, if you booked a room for two nights, and then decide to stay a third night or more, many hotels allow that even if someone else has a reservation and the hotel is out of rooms. The person with a reservation shows up only to be told there is no room for him. Imagine the joy of that little circumstance if it happens to be a person who just arrived after a long, grueling international flight. Sometimes the hotel will help find another place to stay and sometimes they just give you the sheepish smile, say 'sorry,' and you're on your own. Often I hear stories about someone trying to book a room via Email to the hotel, and they can't get a response from the hotel. A popular Bangkok hotel is the Pinnacle Hotel. Most prefer to book through Jimmy. Jimmy is Thai, but runs a travel service from a room on the 13th floor of the hotel. You get a major discount booking through Jimmy, but you'll see the Second Coming of Christ before Jimmy will answer Email, or even read it. If you're going to book through Jimmy, you'll have to call. It's the only way. His number is 081-859-6585. If you're calling from within Thailand, most of the time he'll ask to call you back. Usually it takes a few hours before he does, but he really will call back, so at least you don't have that problem. However, his office hours are 10:00am to 3:00pm. If you don't call within those hours he won't answer his phone. Jimmy is a great guy, speaks fluent English, and is extremely helpful, especially if it's your first time in Bangkok, but he's also somewhat of a character. If you're really lucky, when you go to his office to pay him you might get out of there within a half hour. (you pay Jimmy directly if you book through him. You check in at the front desk and tell them you booked through Jimmy, but you don't pay at the front desk. You pay in Jimmy's office.) What I learned to do is to place what I owe him into an envelope (there are envelopes in your room), write my name and room number on the envelope, and push it under his door during his non-office hours. That works just fine and is perfectly acceptable to him. Somebody told me a story, but I can't remember the name of the place, about staying at a small hotel in Bangkok. The price included breakfast. Unfortunately, what they didn't tell him is the breakfast is not served at the hotel. To get the breakfast, they give you a voucher and send you to another hotel, about half a mile away! Welcome to Thailand . . . When I was in high school they had driver's education then. I always remembered what my instructor repeated so often: "Always expect the unexpected." That saved my life more than once while driving. That same phrase also seems to apply with virtually anything in Thailand. You would be well served to remember it. That way, you won't be so shocked when something totally bizarre happens. When it comes to bizarre experiences in Thailand, I'll bet just about everyone reading this message has at least one story, more likely several stories.

If you are in the USA, you know what the best thing is about the election? No matter who wins, that's the end of all the political ads.

Getting back to the subject of this thread, the rains are not yet over. We had two or three very nice days, but the rain is back. It's only 8 more days until the Loy Khratong holiday. I hope the rains don't ruin it. Usually this time of year the weather is beautiful, but days without rain here are few and far between lately. Only a few years ago this part of Thailand was going through a severe drought. Given a choice, I'll take the rain. Having rain each day gets unpleasant after a while, but going through that drought was really terrible, not to mention expensive if you happened to be one of the locals who was forced to buy water from the delivery trucks every few days. Fortunately, most of the rains have not been heavy enough to cause serious or prolonged flooding problems.

Ohhhhhhh, ok. Now I understand your confusion. Usually, we refer to message boards and forums. One message board may have several forums. Gaythailand.com is a message board. "Gay Asia" and "The Beer Bar" are each a forum on the message board. Sometimes I get criticized for writing long-winded explanatory posts (among plenty of other things I get criticized for). This illustrates the reason I do that. I try to anticipate everything readers might confuse and deal with it in my post. Most of the time that seems to work, but there are plenty of times when it doesn't.

Do the laws, stupid or not, really matter, at least regarding traffic laws? It's much more common to see traffic laws totally ignored than it is to see them obeyed.

Since you ask it, this sort of post belongs on our "Beer Bar" forum since it has nothing to do with Thailand, but you're relatively new here and you did ask, so I think we can let it stand this time.

Hmmm. How would you know if you're right? Wouldn't McCain have to win too?

I hope you're joking. All the posts that count toward this contest have to be posted on this board. If the Ting Tong board wants to host their own posting contest, that's up to them. If this contests had anything to do with posts on other boards too, then I wouldn't involve myself in keeping score. It takes enough time to count up the daily posts right here and keep records, let alone to start doing the same thing on other boards. Besides, there are some boards I don't read at all except maybe once in a blue moon. No, I at least will not be publishing totals or answering "What's my score so far?" Emails or PMs. I don't have time for that. The best I'll do, if you want, is to let you know where you stand once a month by Email, if you send me an Email request, and I won't even do that without GT's permission. In the 2000 election in Florida, my voting precinct was not among those involved in the screw-up.

I hope it's quite clear to everyone now. Sometimes it's difficult because when we write, it's perfectly clear to us, but sometimes it's not so clear to the other guy. If this helps, yesterday there were six people who submitted at least three posts. One submitted thirteen posts. Each of them now has one slip with his name on it in the hat. If those same people submit at least three posts today, they each get another slip with his name on it placed into the hat. If somebody who has not posted at least three times in one day, since the contest began, does submit at least three posts today, his gets a slip of paper placed into the hat. Anyone who writes at least 3 posts in one day gets one slip with his name on it placed into the hat. He can write three posts or three-hundred posts today, but he remains eligible for one slip per day. GT - Do you know yet what day, time, and place the drawing will take place when the time comes?

The rules state, "Every day we will tally the number of people that have 3 or more posts. Winner (to be drawn by independent witnesses) must have made 3+ posts, on any given day, and also at least 150 posts over the competition period" I see nothing in the rules that say how the posts have to be spread out, although I think most reasonable people would spread them out over time. There might be a few people who try to take advantage of us, but I doubt most people here would do that. I'm not expecting people to post every single day during the contest. Sometimes people can't post whether they want to or not, due to the goings-on in their lives. Sometimes people's computers go kerflooey and they can't post while their computer is being repaired. Things happen.

November 1 is simply the starting date of this contest. Your posts would count no matter when they begin to appear during the contest period. The parameter is 3+ posts on any day during that period. Your post above counts, but only if there are at least 2 more posts from you today. If you write 2 more posts today, now you'll have your minimum of 3 in a given day. If you write 100 more posts today, then every one of them will be counted and tallied. If you write no more posts today or 1 more post today, you don't reach the minimum of 3, so none of them would be tallied and counted. Both GayThailand and I are each keeping score individually, to make sure there are no mistakes. Yesterday, I had one person who wrote 13 posts. All 13 count toward his total for whoever ends up the winner. As of the end of the day on February 28, 2009, we stop counting. At that point everyone who ended up with at least 150 posts will have his name placed in "the hat." Then one name will be pulled from that hat. The person whose name gets pulled is the winner. The winner is not necessarily whoever wrote the most posts. You could have 150 posts or 10,000 posts, but what you get from that is the opportunity to have your name placed in "the hat." It takes 150 cumulative qualifying posts to have your name placed in the hat. You could write all 150 of them, I suppose, during the day on February 28 and they would be counted, provided they are qualifying posts. On the other hand, I suppose if you reach 150 posts at some point during this week, technically you could write no more posts at all during the contest period and still end up being the winner. I'm jealous! One of you guys gets a trip. I'm a moderator here. All I'll get is an opportunity to congratulate the winner. I don't get an opportunity for a free visit to see dear old Mom.

The situation changes from day to day. Only a few days ago a major demonstration was held at the British embassy, and that's in close proximity to other major embassies. Also, marches were held that affected major shopping districts. In other words, the safe move, and I think the smart move, is to make sure what's going on, where it's going on, and when it's going on before inadvertently finding yourself in the middle of a mess. I don't think it's necessary to warn people away from popular tourist attractions, but I do think it's wise to check things as best as you can before stepping into what could be a potential mine field.