Gaybutton

After a drink or two, I can already see I'm going to have a big problem with the abbreviations for January and March . . . Anyway, thank you very much Fountainhall and Bob. That chart gets printed out and a definite place in both my wallet and on a laminated card that's going to be with me constantly.

Tuesday, May 27: Opening rates: US Dollar: 32.10 Euro: 50.61 British Pound: 63.535 Australian Dollar: 30.735 Canadian Dollar: 32.2925 _____ Closing rates: US Dollar: 32.12 Euro: 50.53 British Pound: 63.455 Australian Dollar: 30.66 Canadian Dollar: 32.2275

Many people feel the same as you do. Personally, I love when that happens. I have yet to ever feel uncomfortable about it. Of course, these past couple of years several of the bars have been like that even during high season. It's been rough on the bars and even rougher on the boys.

This season is about the lowest I've ever seen it. That's to your advantage, though. You won't have much competition when it comes to availability of the boys you like.

Well, maybe I should have written BM problems. Without a bowl of prunes, at my age that's bound to happen too . . .

I think these sorts of promotions are excellent ideas and do a good job of bringing in more customers, at least temporarily. Those of you who have been around long enough may remember the old Moonlight Bar on Second Road. Quite often they would hold raffles and the winner would get a free off. If I remember correctly, the raffle tickets sold for 20 baht apiece and you could buy as many of them as you pleased. The boys are suffering from this very low season even more than usual. More and more are showing up at the beach, hoping to hook up with a farang, showing up on the gay Thai hookup web sites, and lately I've been getting three to five calls a day from boys I know, hoping I'll be "available" that day. Believe it or not I just now got a call, right in the middle of writing this. The more the bar owners take an interest in doing something that can help out their boys, along with helping themselves, the better I like it and the better it is for all concerned.

That's very good to know and I certainly appreciate the information. Assuming it can be done in my area, that's just what I'm going to do. Once I get around to setting it up, I'll post about it.

Which bank does that? Have you ever had a problem with them taking out the wrong amount? If yes, how much was taken in error and how was the problem resolved? That's something, at least, but I'd rather have a system by which I'm in control. I'd at least like to know how much the bill is before funds are drawn from my account.

Both Bank of Ayudhya and Siam Commercial allow payments to True Move. While I'm at it I guess I should explain that the Thai online banking systems, no matter which bank, have sets of customers to whom online payments can be made. It's not like the American system, in which you can use online banking to pay virtually anybody or any business. The Thai banks have a list of clients. Once you are online you select your payees from a drop-down list. Different banks have different payees available. Maybe someone can help me with some information. I'm trying to figure out if the water bill and electric bill, in Pattaya, can be paid online. I haven't spotted anything that looks like a water bill payee. For electric, I've seen Metropolitan Electric Company, but I believe that's the electric company in Bangkok, not in Pattaya. Does anyone know? If either or both Pattaya bills can be paid online at one of the banks, I want to open an account, especially for the electric bill. When you receive your electric bill, they give you 8 days to pay it. If it hasn't been paid by then, they're out there the next day cutting off your electricity. Then you have to jump through several hoops to get it turned back on. Usually, that's no problem, but there have been times when I was traveling when the electric bill arrived and by the time I got back, the electricity had been cut. A major pain-in-the-ass. If the bill can be paid online, I can always get a neighbor to give me my billing information. I wonder if there's a way to receive the electric bill online or at least check it online.

Monday, May 26: Opening rates: US Dollar: 31.92 Euro: 50.29 British Pound: 63.19 Australian Dollar: 30.5025 Canadian Dollar: 32.16 _____ Closing rates: US Dollar: 31.95 Euro: 50.305 British Pound: 63.16 Australian Dollar: 30.565 Canadian Dollar: 32.21

I don't think anyone is knocking the enthusiasm. I think they're knocking the means by which that enthusiasm is expressed. In all honesty, the way this has been advertised I would have walked in expecting to see a production on par with something Bob Fosse or Harold Prince would have come up with. That's not what it was, and we are being told that if anything more than what actually took place was expected, then we just don't understand what community theater is supposed to be all about. Ok, I'll bite. What is community theater supposed to be all about? What should people expect? If I sit down to a production expecting far more than is delivered, then I leave greatly disappointed if my expectations aren't met. On the other hand, if I know in advance what to expect, and that's what I get, then I leave perfectly satisfied. Rather than being told that I don't understand community theater, or that the sought-after audience does not consist of the expat gay community here, and leaving it at that, then educate me. Obviously I don't have a clue what to expect and apparently many others are just as clueless. At this moment, all I know is people keep telling me if Max Bialystock had selected and staged the plays used in this first production as they were presented, then his scheme just might have worked. I truly have no idea what to expect from community theater.

Ok, so it's an old map. The rest of it is accurate. If you want to make a better map, go right ahead.

Many people have been asking where Cherry's Restaurant is. I'm not very good at this, but I made a little home-made map that I hope will help you find it. Look toward the top right of the map.

"I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate." - George Burns

Technically you are absolutely right. On a practical basis, the law might as well say that prostitution above age 18 is perfectly legal. To my knowledge, there has never been an arrest for prostitution involving age 18 and over in the entire modern history of Thailand. Regarding the penalties, as far as I can tell, the younger the harsher. I wouldn't want to spend one day in a Thai prison, let alone years. Then, once you are released, you get deported and blacklisted, and in several western countries you then get to stand trial and be penalized all over again. One of the things on my "I Don't Get It" list is why the pedophiles go after boys that young in the first place. There are so many Thai boys who are 18 years old, and can prove it, but look much younger. If the issue is whether they have reached puberty, many of them shave that area or would be perfectly willing to do so. The majority of them shave their armpits too. It seems to me the pedophiles can easily get the look they desire. Along with just a touch of imagination, they could get what they're after without any risk at all. But noooooooo. They've got to go after the boys who are truly under-age. I wonder what those who have been arrested would say now if they were asked whether they would do it again.

Actually, I already pointed this out in another thread, but the boy may not be 16. According to the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS. he's 15. See: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000006081 I have a feeling the boy is more likely to be 15 than 16, but either way, you put it into the perfect nutshell when you said "perhaps not." It doesn't matter whether the police have previously shown concern for the "buffer" age group or not because they can get zealous about it any time they please. Since there is currently quite a bit of publicity about these sorts of arrests, then people better assume the police are highly zealous for the time being. The issue is so simple: You are placing yourself at serious risk unless the boy is at least 18 years old. If the boy is 17 years and 364 days old, you're at risk. I'd add a day to it if it happens to be a leap year. There is only one way to be assured of safety and that is to do exactly what you always do. Check the boy's ID carefully and make damned sure the ID card is actually his. If you don't know how to check or you can't tell whether the picture on the ID card is really him, then have your hotel check for you. Do not . . . repeat, do not trust what a bar's mama-san tells you. If the boy comes up with some excuse for not having his ID card, then don't take him. The current Thai year is 2551. The boy hasn't reached age 18 unless his birth year is 2533 or more. For those who don't know this little trick, there is the "543 Rule." Subtract 543 from the Thai year and you'll have the western calendar year. 2551-543=2008. If the boy is 18, then he was born in 1990. 1990+543=2533.

A group of six of us gave the new location a try. Cherry's gets a 'thumbs up' from all of us. The food and presentation is still superb. The menu is exactly the same. Now there is much more seating, along with a separate dining room. The salad bar is now in the center of the restaurant and there are several more selections now. The wine selection is more extensive. What appears to be an outdoor seating area is under construction. To answer the parking question, there is room for about eight cars, directly in front of the restaurant. Even though it is low season, I recommend reservations. We arrived shortly after 7:00 PM. Despite about double the number of tables now, by 7:45 there were only two unoccupied tables left. The number for reservations is: 086-314-5819.

I don't know. What I do know is that in every recent instance it has been male farang arrested for sex with under-age boys. I don't remember ever seeing a news article about a male or female farang being arrested in Thailand for sex with under-age girls. Does that mean it's never happened or it goes unreported? I have no idea.

You know that to be true. I know that to be true. Probably everyone else also knows that to be true. What you say makes perfect sense and is absolutely logical. That's why I fully agree with your prediction that it will never happen . . .

I really appreciate all these posts, questions, comments, corrections, etc. I use all these sorts of things when I do revision work and it's all an enormous help to me because it helps me to be more accurate and it also helps me to anticipate the kinds of questions and concerns people have, all of which will be addressed in the next revision, whenever that will be. Please don't hesitate to ask questions or inform me of inaccuracies whenever they occur. My goal in this article is to try to make obtaining and renewing the retirement visa as easy as possible and to address concerns people have. Since I deal only with the US embassy, any information you can provide about the embassy policies, prices, hours for service, required documents, etc, of your own home country will be included in the next revision. Also, if your embassy has consular service available in other cities, such as Barry Kenyon's service for the UK in Pattaya, please let me know. Barry is the only consul I know about anywhere in Thailand. Speaking of Barry, I do not have his contact information. If you do, then please obtain his permission first, and if he grants it go ahead and post it so that people from the UK will know how to get in touch with him if the need arises.

Technically you are correct. On a practical level, it works well if it's Thai-to-Thai. With farang-to-Thai, the assumption is going to be that money is involved. The PATTAYA CITY NEWS article reports the boy as being 16. The PATTAYA DAILY NEWS article reports the boy as being 15. Either way, according to both articles, this man picked up the boy in Sunee Plaza and took him to a short time room. It's going to be awfully difficult for this man to convince the police and the Thai courts that he took a Sunee Plaza street boy to a short time room, and yet money wasn't involved. He'd have a rough time convincing me too. Sometimes people get upset if the word "alleged" isn't used. After all, the man isn't guilty until he's found guilty in court. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way in Thailand. In Thailand there is no presumption of innocence. In Thailand it's presumption of guilt unless you can prove your innocence. Even if this man really did take the boy without money being involved and even if the boy is 16 and even if this man can prove it, look at the trouble he's in and look at what he's going to have to go through under any circumstances. Is it worth it? If the boy was 18, then there wouldn't have been any problem. To me, if you see a boy you like, but fail to check his ID and make damned sure he's 18 or older first, then you're out of your mind for taking the risk. I've said many times that it is rare for someone to be arrested for taking a Sunee Plaza bar boy off from a bar, no matter what the boy's age is. This man, according to the articles, didn't take the boy off from a bar. He picked him up from the streets. But obviously there is a crackdown going on. Especially if there is a crackdown going on, would you really want to take the risk if the boy is less than age 18?

It just boggles my mind, considering the number of recent arrests, that people are still out there engaging in pedophilia sex and apparently thinking they can do it with impunity. These people probably read the same news articles everyone else reads, but they go out and do this anyway. Even with this number of recent arrests, tomorrow there will still be pedophiles out there trying to get away with it. The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: _____ Briton Arrested On Paedophile Charges At around 4:30 on Friday morning police brought a 46-year-old British national, Mr Andrew John Gallacher, back to the Soi 9 station after allegedly finding him engaged in illegal sexual activities at his home with a 16-year-old Thai male. Police claim Mr Gallacher had picked up the boy in the Soi Sunee Plaza area of South Pattaya and brought him back for the purposes of sex and a promise of 500 baht. At the station police asked Mr Gallacher to open his computer, which had been brought back when he was arrested. On the computer were a large number of photos of young Thai males in various stages of undress, leading police to the conclusion that this was not the first time Mr Gallacher had engaged in sexual activities with local boys. Mr Gallacher is due to face court in the coming days. __________ For photos see: http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_23_05_51.html For a more detailed article and even more photos, see: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000006081

They have their methods and we have ours. I think doing whatever we can do to stop the pedophiles is an important thing to at least try to do for two reasons. One is the harm it causes to such young boys and I don't think the gay community should ignore it. The second is the stigma it places on the rest of us simply because we're gay. On this board, discussion of this issue is welcomed and encouraged. The threads that discuss it are clearly titled. If some people don't want to deal with it or discuss it, then nobody is forcing them to read the threads. We, of course, have no way of knowing if the discussions and threads about it have ever stopped a single pedophile or even caused them to think twice. But maybe our efforts have done something. I hope so.

According to the PATTAYA MAIL, the police are not only going to go after the suspected pedophiles themselves, but now will start going after the owners and operators of properties where these offenses take place. For the full story, click: http://www.pattayamail.com/current/news.shtml#hd10

I can't speak to that comment, but I really do hope for the sake of all concerned that Pattaya Players succeeds. I believe Chris has probably put his life's blood and probably quite a bit of his own money, not to mention massive amounts of time, to create this, and I think it's a damned good idea. I want it to work, but I think the over-advertising is going to be detrimental if it continues. I don't want to see it fail because of it and that's why I'm expressing my opinion about it.