Gaybutton

At the gay beach area, several of the concessions are hosting parties. The umbrellas, of course, are removed since the celebrations are at night, but the tables and chairs will all be set up. The concessions hosting parties offer buffet dinners including the roast pig, all kinds of salads, Thai food, and a variety of farang food. The prices vary between 360 to 380 baht per person, depending on which concession you choose. You need to purchase your tickets in advance. The ever popular Rit's Beach is hosting one of these parties. His tickets are 360 baht per person. If you want to go to the Rit's Beach party, you can buy your tickets either from Rit if you're at the beach or from the Panorama Pub in Boyztown. At just about all of them, dinner is served at 8:00pm If you're concerned that it might rain, of course there's no predicting the weather, but I can tell you in all the years I've been in Thailand it has never rained on Loy Kratong in Pattaya.

http://gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1761

Both hotels used to live up to their reputation. Boys, lots of them, would show up at night looking for customers. The problem was the oldest boy there was probably 16. Nearly all of them were under-age. The police shut down both operations about two years ago. It is my understanding that the owners have been enjoying the hospitality of Thailand's free room and board service ever since.

You can see the menu on Street Life's web site: http://www.streetlife-pattaya.com

Doing your homework is not the problem. It's knowing what homework to do. It's one thing to move from place to place within your own country. It's quite another when you're moving to a totally different country. Besides boys and sex, now you're also moving to a place where you don't read or speak the language, where no matter what you do you'll still always be an outsider, and where just about anything and everything is completely different from the life you've led for 50 years. And then there's all the little, insignificant things. When you get your first electric bill, for example, would you know how and where to pay it without having to ask somebody? Since it is entirely in Thai, would you even know that it's an electric bill? If you lose it, would you know what to do? Of course, that's not a problem, but you'll encounter plenty of little things like that, especially while you're new here, and for some, loads of those little things can add up to a major big thing. And then there is the exchange rates. How would you like to have a decent monthly pension, and find it consistently eaten away by the exchange rates? If you're dependent on exchange rates, you better be prepared for the ups and downs. And right now, I could sure use some ups. If it makes you feel any better, the day I moved to Thailand, as I was stepping on the plane I couldn't help some last minute jitters and thinking, "What the hell am I doing?" But now that I've lived here a number of years, my only regret is that I couldn't have moved here 10 years sooner.

Not only is it cheap, it's also the law. That's why it is very difficult for a farang to obtain a work permit. A work permit will not be issued to a farang if it is a job that can be filled by a Thai citizen. In years past, many farang supplemented their income by providing private English lessons. I wouldn't recommend it. You need a work permit for that too and you are unlikely to get it because there are plenty of Thais proficient in English. You can't even do many kinds of volunteer work without a work permit. I would not advise even trying to work without first consulting both a Thai attorney and Immigration. When I first started coming to Thailand, and long before I knew what I was doing, I had made friends with a Thai boy who was setting up one of those night market stalls. He was selling inexpensive shoes. I helped him place shoes on his display case. I found out later if I had been caught doing that I could have been arrested, heavily fined, deported, and blacklisted from ever returning to Thailand. The bottom line is don't even think about doing any kind of work without a work permit. Another aspect of living in Thailand is everything is relative. People tend to want what they can't have. When I lived in the USA I would have murdered my mother to have just about any one of these Thai boys. Now that I live here, it's ho-hum. I'm certainly not complaining, but just knowing if I want a young gent for some "companionship," all I have to do is pick up my telephone any time I want - 24/7, it is no longer something I can't have. Before living here, all I could think about was my next trip to Thailand and the boys. As soon as I arrived for a holiday the first thing I wanted to do was hit the bars and take a boy off. I, like most holiday makers, was in the bars every night and looking for boys at the beach every day. Now that I live here, I rarely even bother with the go-go bars anymore. My focus is no longer primarily boys, bars, booze, and sex. It's not that I've lost interest in sex. Not hardly! But the fact that it is so readily available here and that I can have it any time I want, I no longer need bars to find exactly what I'm looking for. Before living here I thought I would want to be in the go-go bars every night for the rest of my life. Now, quite frankly, I find them rather boring, expensive, and I don't go very often. I know I've been in Thailand a long time when given the choice, quite often instead of running out to the bars I end up deciding to stay home and watch some video about UFOs that RichLB tells me I "must see." The point is, if the only reason you want to move to Thailand is the availability of sex, then in my opinion that's not enough of a reason and probably the wrong reason in the first place. If you want to move to Thailand and be here for the rest of your life, then you need more than just bars and sex as the motivation. You also need to make a life for yourself. You need to be happy. You need to establish a circle of friends. You need to have things to do. And, very important, you need to have enough money to be able to afford the life you really want. If you truly need a job in order to have enough money, then I think you would be making a grave mistake by moving to Thailand.

You mean riding your bicycle from Chiang Mai to Amsterdam, and then on to the North Pole was not among your reasons? I certainly never thought your apartment full of boys had anything to do with it . . . By the way, did anyone other than me notice I screwed up my own earlier post by talking twice about not knowing the realities of living in Thailand? I just now noticed that. I guess when I wrote that post I was thinking with my crotch again. I have to give my hands a rest and remember to send them flowers . . . "I came for the waters." - Humphrey Bogart, 'Casablanca'

If you meet the eligibility requirements for a retirement visa and can be assured of receiving enough money each month, by pension or otherwise, then all you have to do is buy your airline ticket, pack your bags, and come on over. If you're going to need a job in Thailand to support yourself, then it's not going to happen. Even if you can find a job that pays enough and you can get a work permit (very difficult to get), what happens if something goes wrong, such as the place you're working for going out of business, getting fired, an accident, illness, or something else? I wouldn't try counting on that. It's too great a risk if you have to depend on a job to be able to stay in Thailand. You said it yourself. You were here a grand total of once, briefly, and that was several years ago. In other words, you really know nothing at all about the realities of living in Thailand. If, despite that, you're going to think with your crotch rather than with your brain, then if you do try to come over on a permanent basis, make sure you leave yourself an escape route and a life to go back to in case things don't work out the way you seem to be hoping and expecting. You did not indicate your age. If you're younger than 50, for the time being my advice would be to save up until you have enough to come back for more holidays in Thailand whenever you can. Bear in mind, coming here for a holiday is one thing. Living here is quite another. From your post, I can see that sex is your main reason for wanting to be here. Everything you mention in your post is about bars, massages, and sex. You brought up nothing else. Others may disagree, but sex alone is, in my opinion, nowhere near enough of a reason to come to Thailand on a permanent basis. You need time to really get to know Thailand and all that is involved in living here. If you truly believe living here means only a lifetime of sexual paradise, and that's all there is to it, then you're dreaming and not being at all realistic. In your own post you said you were only in Thailand once, for a brief time, and that was several years ago. In other words, you know virtually nothing about the realities of living in Thailand. You need time here, a lot of time, to even begin to know what you're getting into if you eventually intend to make Thailand your home. If despite that you're still going to do your thinking with your crotch rather than with your brain, then if nothing else make sure you leave yourself an escape route and a life to go back to in case things don't work out the way you seem to be hoping and expecting.

I agree with firecat69. 1000 baht per day plus expenses is certainly plenty. Three weeks, with some free time to do his own thing, plus even more of a tip at the end is what these boys pray for. I would not ask, "Is this ok for you?" I already know that it is. In my opinion, as soon as you start asking instead of offering, now you've just given him leeway to try to get more. I would limit it to a take it or leave it offer, making sure he understands what you are offering, your expectations, what will take place during those three weeks, where you'll be going if you plan any trips, whether he'll be getting to eat his Thai food, etc. Somehow I doubt he would expect to get a better offer that day. He'll be delighted with it and he won't be pretending to be delighted with it. He really will be. I would, however, make sure you have some sort of understanding that permits you to have an amicable "escape" method, in case things don't work out as you are hoping. Three weeks can be a very long time if what you expect and what you get turn out to be two different things. The same goes for him, by the way. I would make it clear to him that if at any time he wants out, it will not be a problem and he will still get the per-day amount you had promised.

No, not everything. But I know enough to know a troll when I see one. I also know that on my worst day, I still know far more about Thailand than you'll ever know on your best day. Then I was right. When you posted, "I, for once, do not check GB message board at all," you were lying. You just proved it. Scooby overrode my decision and let you back in. You're his problem now.

I see. Of course you have no biases despite the fact I placed you on moderated mode on this board. Scooby let you back in. I hope he doesn't live to regret it. Let me see if I have this right. You don't check my board at all, and yet you know nothing useful is to be found "over there." I'd say you're either psychic or lying. I think I know which of the two it is. I wonder why I'm reminded of: "I don't watch it, but I know enough to comment on it." - Dan Quayle speaking about the 'Murphy Brown' television program.

That's the last thing in the world I would ever want.

I am? Strange. I haven't noticed any. I don't know why I and/or my board keep getting dragged into these discussions, and not just on this board. Sometimes I feel as if I'm being blamed somehow for lower post numbers on other boards. If people really followed me to my board, I don't know of any reason that would prevent them from also posting here or any other board. So far my board has been a huge success, but for whatever reasons there are always people who in effect want to say, "It may appear that way, but not really." I've probably said this dozens of times over the years. You don't measure the success of a board by numbers of posts. Numbers of posts don't mean a damned thing, especially when you look at the kinds of posts and the kinds of people writing those posts that appear on certain boards. If high numbers of snide remark, sarcastic, and put-down posts are even a part of what constitutes a successful board, then I don't want any part of that kind of success. Maybe some want to measure success by numbers of posts. Not me. It's the quality that counts, not the numbers. If a board is doing what the person who created it intended for the board to do, then it is successful, even if posts rarely appear on then board at all. If Scooby is satisfied with the direction his board is going, then this board is successful. If not, then it is not successful. To me it's as simple as that.

I agree, but in your posts you haven't said whether the owner was there or whether you tried to speak with the owner.

I would start with the bar owner. The owner may not even be aware of the actions of his employees.

That's outrageous, even for Pattaya. That's one bar I would never be in again. Even if you didn't mind that others were helping themselves to the bottle you bought, I think it takes a hell of a nerve for them to have even tried when they were neither invited nor offered. And then to get a bill for a mama-san's drink when the drink came out of the bottle you had purchased and the mama-san was never invited to take a drink from it in the first place? I wonder how they expected to justify that.

Nobody mentioned the pushcart food vendors. They, of course, are mobile and sell cheap food everywhere you go. You'll find everything from dried squid to fried rice, Thai sausages, desserts, coffee, a variety of fish dishes - you name it and someone's got it. It doesn't get any cheaper than that.

He was very grateful. He said if that farang comes back he will refuse to sit with him and refuse to go off with him if asked. He also told the mama-san. I couldn't understand everything that was said, but I was able to understand enough to know the mama-san would support whatever the boy wanted to do.

I remember an incident several years ago when Villa Rouge was still Kaos. I was in there and saw a farang who used to come to Pattaya regularly, about three times per year. He was sitting in a corner with a boy, fondling him all over the place, publicly, and you could see by the boy's face he was mortified. This farang also took out his wallet several times and was showing off the wad of cash he had inside, as if to assure the boy he was going to get a substantial tip. Then he called for his bill, paid it, and took 20 baht out of his wallet and handed it to the boy. When I could see that was all the boy was going to get and the look on the boy's face, I was so angry I went over there myself, before the farang had a chance to stand up, and gave the boy 100 baht. The farang was startled, started to say something, but then changed his mind and simply left. I was going to say something myself, but then thought better of it when it was obvious this guy knew exactly what I would have said.

Along with having a GPS, I have used some of the products by Thinknet. Excellent! And several of their products are sold at Bookazine. http://www.thinknet.co.th/06/eng/home.html

I've got my own board to worry about now, so I'm not going to volunteer, but I have an idea I bet would go over REAL big: HeyGay, wanna be a moderator? I do have one suggestion, and I don't mean to upset anyone, but unless they have quietly left, you have a couple of moderators who never moderate, one of whom not only never moderates, but never even posts - at least not under his moderator name. If it were me, they would be demoted in favor of people who, if they want to be moderators, will actually do something. Other than GT, the only one I ever see trying to do anything is z909.

Unless something has changed, the moderators here have always had the authority to unilaterally set posts to invisible. As a moderator, when you see posts that are causing problems for the board, you not only should have the authority to set offending posts to invisible, but you have the duty to do so. If your hands are being tied in that respect, then I fail to see the point of being a moderator.

I don't know exactly where since I don't know Bangkok all that well, but I would want to be somewhere with easy access to the Skytrain or BTS, preferably also close to the places in Bangkok I am most likely to frequent. I would not want to drive any more than necessary in Bangkok, but I would like to be in an area with relatively easy access to expressways. That said, I'm kind of like GaySacGuy in that, for me, Bangkok is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. I usually try to go to Bangkok, just as a change of pace, every month or every other month for a few days. I usually have a good time when I'm there, but quite frankly three or four days there is plenty for me and I'm always glad to get back to Pattaya. Of course, that feeling might change if I ever get to know more about Bangkok and what it has to offer. Obviously there is far more to Bangkok and living in Bangkok than I know. But so far there has been nothing I want to do in Bangkok that can't be done during the times I visit.

I wonder if he is any relation to the good reverend Phelps.

Actually it was Khortose who was the recipient of that remark. You forgot to include the fact that I later posted a public apology to him, on this forum, which he accepted. Laurence left because he knew he was about 1 post away from being thrown out. I've misjudged you. Until now I thought you were a pretty good guy and I was disappointed you chose not to register on my board. After reading this post, now I'm glad you didn't. I'd appreciate it if you keep it that way. People who alter "facts" to suit their own agenda are precisely the kinds of people I don't want. Considering I am no longer a moderator on this board, and you knew that, you conjure up this post, getting it wrong of course, as a totally unprovoked put-down. You even spent time hunting up that cartoon. This board is welcome to you - or maybe a better way to put it is this board is stuck with you.