Gaybutton

I have a couple reactions to this. The first is for GayThailand. Why even tell anyone at the bar that you are taking the boy "off" for a long period of time? Why not just give the "off" fee to the boy each day and tell him to take care of it himself? That way you wouldn't be involved at all. Wowpow, I think you should have given the boy 20 baht. You didn't order the drink, but you gave him 200 baht to buy a drink if he wanted one. If the drink was 220 baht, then you had already covered 200 baht of it, hadn't you? If there was an issue, then why didn't you talk to the owner yourself and tell him you were served a drink you didn't order? I've learned that it's best not to get involved with these sorts of disputes. I understand that you don't intend for the boy to end up having to pay, but if a waiter comes over to me with a drink I didn't order, then I wouldn't even let him serve it. I would tell him I didn't order that and would tell him to take it back. If my bill comes and that drink is on it, I would tell him to take it off the bill. An honest mistake is one thing, but this sounds to me like it was intentional.

It would require an attorney to give you an answer you can truly rely on, but my inclination would be to guess that it can't be done. If the house is in his name, then it's in his name and in his control. The only way I can think of to do it would be to buy the house in his name and take out a pre-paid rental contract in your own name for the maximum number of years allowable, thirty I think. You could have some sort of stipulation in the contract that renders the contract null and void if anything happens to you. You would definitely need a Thai attorney for that because the contract would have no validity unless it's registered in the land office. The boy couldn't cheat you by refusing to sign the rental contract because all of it is done at the same moment before any money exchanges hands. The house would remain in your control for the duration of the rental contract and he would not be able to sell it or mortgage it, at least not legally. Just make sure the original "chanoot," the deed, is kept somewhere under your control where he can't get his hands on it until you say so or if you die. The reason for that suggestion is because the boy could collateralize an illegal loan from one of the local loan sharks with it. If the loan shark registers it with the land office, then the house belongs to the loan shark if the boy hasn't paid off the loan by the time your rental contract expires.

Everything's relative. In Pattaya if someone said, "I've had 15 sexual partners," I'll bet the typical response would be, "Is that all?"

I wish I had seen your question earlier. We had dinner at Clubber's this evening and I had a look at Duc's. It is closed. I think Threezone is open, but I didn't really pay any attention, so I'll try to confirm that next time I'm in Sunee Plaza. Again, if anyone else knows, please post.

I'll have to check on Duc's Bar. Maybe someone else knows and will post before I have a chance to check. Regarding your other questions, Jim Jimmy James is the same as it has always been, as far as I can tell. Sundance still remains closed and, so far, no outdoor bar. I have no idea what became of the doormen. They most likely moved on to other bars. The new bar across from Krazy Dragon is Good Boys. In my opinion it is a typical Sunee Plaza go-go bar, filled with cute go-go boys. It's a nice bar, but in my opinion nothing much different from most other go-go bars.

Have you ever wondered what the Royal Family eats? If you are present in Pattaya, now's your chance to find out. The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: _____ Exotic Thai Cuisine Exhibition Opens at the Central Festival Center At the Central Festival Center in North Pattaya and as part of their “Central Plaza Wonderful Weekday Special 2007” a fun event was held on the ground floor of the center called “The Exotic Thai Cuisine 2007”. The event was opened by Khun Nueng, the Great Great Grandchild of a former King of Thailand and Khun Ronagit, Deputy Mayor of Pattaya. This event will conclude on 27th of this month and will feature food which is prepared in the Royal Household and is part of a National exhibition which features in each of Central Plazas outlets around the Kingdom.

No problem at all about the incorrect attribution. As for your opinion about being in a Golden Age, I hope you turn out to be correct. I'd love to be able to agree with you, but I'm just not seeing it the way you do. I hope developments change my opinion.

I hate to break the news, Wowpow, but the quote you attributed to me belongs to Gay Grampa, not to me, although I completely agree with him.

Despite the fact that I'm a smoker, I'm delighted that Monty is taking the first step in the right direction. I'm well aware that others do not appreciate someone else's smoke and I see no reason at all why smokers, including me, can't step outside to smoke. I hope other bars and venues follow suit. Personally, I wish smoking and the sale of tobacco products would be banned altogether. That way I'd be forced to quit.

Even if Purachai ends up as Prime Minister, I don't know if many of us would notice much of a change. In Pattaya, several gay go-go bars have closed for whatever reasons. Euroboys, KBoys, Gacuya, and a few others are closed. More bars seem to be closing than ever before. I've been saying for years that they will probably eventually fail for lack of customers. Other venues that were gay go-go bars at one time have changed over to other forms of business. Some of you may remember bars such as Nok Nok, Diamond, Boys Studio, Playboy, Lek's, etc. All are gone now or have converted over to other forms of business. I realize Pattaya is in the midst of the low part of the low season right now, but this year's high season resembled previous years' low season. I've never seen a low season as low as it is right now. During the past couple of weeks I visited several bars and there were several times the only customer at all was me. In others there were very few customers. A few bars seem to be popular and fill up with customers, but nowhere near as many as before. The beaches have been virtually empty as well. The long-term resident "farang" are usually there, along with a few who are present on holidays, but other than that you certainly won't have any problems finding available beach chairs. The freelance boys that used to scour the beaches in droves, looking for available "farang" seem to have all but given up. There are a few who still try to find "farang" on the beaches, but most of them are the regulars who are there just about every day. It's been a long time since I've seen many new faces. I haven't been to any Bangkok or Chiang Mai bars in a long time. Someone else will have to let us know the situation in those locales. Not that I'm trying to be a doom-and-gloomer, but the gay life in Pattaya is simply not at all what it used to be. If Purachai does indeed become Prime Minister, I don't see very much that he would change that hasn't already changed anyhow.

I just gave it a try after reading your post. It opened right up for me. I don't know why, but sometimes various sites are blocked by some servers within Thailand and are untouched by other servers. Your guess is as good as mine as to why. I also had a look at the post to which you referred. Part of Elephantspike's message reads: "I'm closing this thread. I'm probably going to close the board soon, too, because most of you guys are complete pricks, and I have better things to do with my time."

Well, we certainly wouldn't want you to be "flabber ghosted." How about pointing to any posting I have ever made - ever - in which I claimed to know "just about everything," since you think it is appropriate to say in your post that I have made such claims.

Would you believe I still have yet to see the photo of the corpse? I'm still getting the same six photos I mentioned above. That's another one I can add to my "I don't get it" list. I agree that nobody, including minors, should be imprisoned if they have not committed any crimes, but I also think that minors shouldn't be left to just roam the streets, completely on their own, with no kind of supervision or care at all. On the streets they're on their own and all too often end up being drug addicts, criminals, gang members, or lord-knows-what. The alternatives, such as orphanages, may not be all that great, but they're not hellholes out of a Dickens novel either.

Just for the record, the Gacuya bar is now closed. I don't know whether it's out of business entirely, closed for renovations, or closed during low season. I have no idea whether the bar will reopen.

I have yet to understand why the insurgents attack schools and teachers. We read about schools being torched and teachers being killed quite regularly. Why? I don't get that part. What do they have against schools and teachers?

As far as I know, the only time an outward-bound ticket is not required is when you are in Thailand on a long-term visa, such as the retirement visa, and you are re-entering Thailand with that visa. Just make sure that if you have such a visa and are going to leave Thailand, that you either have a multiple entry visa or a re-entry permit. Without either one of those, if you exit Thailand your visa becomes null and void and you're back on the thirty-day arrival visa. You might have a second surprise that you don't want if you don't have an outward-bound ticket. You would not only lose your visa, but would also be denied entry into Thailand. The reason they are being much more stringent about checking is because there have been more and more problems with foreigners entering Thailand who have no intention of leaving Thailand. These are the people who used to get by with entering Thailand on a thirty-day visa on arrival, and then just making visa runs every month to renew the thirty days. Thailand wants to put a stop to that, and I think rightly so. "Farang" living in Thailand with legitimate visas pay for those visas. People who were making the monthly visa runs were circumventing the system and paying nothing other than the cost of making the visa run. It was a loophole they have now plugged. So, now those who enter Thailand with the intention of staying in Thailand illegally have to at least have purchased an outward-bound ticket. Whether they use that ticket is their own problem.

Sheeesh! This is getting bizarre. I just had another look and what I saw was the same as I saw earlier this morning - six photos, and every one of them are photos of the meeting without the corpse photo. Your guess is as good as mine . . .

I'm not sure why you would think it would be difficult to find it without a map when it is located right in the middle of Sunee Plaza. It seems to me it would be one of the easiest places to find, with or without a map, even if one has never been to Thailand. Also, in my experience if a hotel 'room' in Thailand has a sofa, now it's a 'suite.'

I think they must have placed the wrong photo on that article. Anyway, that particular photo is no longer included in the article.

Obviously none of us have any idea as to how they are doing financially, but there are guests there and they seem to be very happy with it. So far I've heard nothing negative at all. The name of the hotel is Don Plaza.

Photos can be seen on the link: http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_12_06_50_2.htm . Most venues have only the one entrance, which is also the only exit. While fires in these venues are an extremely rare event, I wouldn't want to be too far from the door if one breaks out, especially if the venue happens to be crowded. It's certainly something to think about.

I very much appreciate that, Bob. I still have all of those articles available if anyone wants any of them. Some are a little out of date, but if anyone wants any of those, I'll update them before sending them. The two most frequently requested articles are "How to Obtain the Retirement Visa" and "How to Obtain a Thai Driver's License." I am always happy to send copies of any of my articles upon request. If anyone wants any, just let me know which ones or let me know your questions and I'll either try to answer them and/or send the appropriate article. Please send any requests to me at my E-mail address: gaybutton@gmail.com

I apologize for the delay in responding to your question, but I did not want to respond until I renewed my own retirement visa, doing the same thing. I prefer to rely on my own experience to answer these sorts of questions. The answer is yes, they will accept the proof-of-income statement from previous years. They accepted mine without any problem whatsoever. Just make sure you take the original statement with you when you go to apply for the renewal. They did ask to see it.

I am deeply saddened to report that the initial information we received was indeed true and Ernst died on Saturday at 10:00 AM. We received this confirmation this afternoon from his wife. She did tell us that she intends to keep the restaurant open and operating as always.

I'm delighted to know that you had such a wonderful holiday in Thailand. There's nothing like that first time. Thank you for posting about it. Despite the 'drama' that appears on these boards so often, most people who are living here or are familiar enough are always willing to be of help. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, problems, or concerns you may have. You did not say where you are from, but if you are from the USA, I'd like to suggest that you contact Rhonda, of Norcross Travel, when you are ready to arrange your next flight to Thailand. I've been recommending her for many years because she specializes in travel to Thailand and she always seems to come up with airfares hundreds of dollars less than people are able to find any other way. Her toll free number in the USA is 1-888-888-7157. February is high tourist season in Thailand. I suggest that you start making your bookings at least three months in advance of your trip to be assured of getting the flights and hotels you prefer. We'll see you in February and I know how much you are already looking forward to it.