Gaybutton

Splashing activities are escalating as predicted, primarily along Beach Road in the city and along Thappraya Road, toward Jomtien Beach, especially once you reach the Thepprasit Road intersection. From there on, it's bumper-to-bumper traffic with plenty of pickup trucks filled with water barrels and teens splashing everyone in sight. Other than that, all I have seen anywhere else are small groups of young children who are for the most part benign. They're lucky to be able to hurl water more than 3 or 4 feet, so they really are not much of a factor. However, for the rest of the week you might as well expect to be splashed sooner or later, so it is a good idea to make sure you protect your valuables and start asking baht bus drivers to let you sit up front with them. Of course, with the temperatures and humidity as high as they are now, a little water splashing might well be a welcome relief.

I asked if they would be willing to provide transportation to customers who don't want to get soaked going to and from dinner. They said they will send a courtesy car upon request provided you are within a reasonable distance (to be determined upon request for the car.) The courtesy car is also available for breakfast during Songkran.

If you are a UBC subscriber, they send you a booklet each month with their entire listings - in English. For shows such as American Idol, you can also download them within hours of the broadcast from eztv.

I think it depends on what they both want. I don't think whether the farang boyfriend supports him has anything to do with it. I'm not so sure the boy is even the issue. It's the friend of the farang. As I said, if it were me and the boyfriend was a working boy, I don't think it would matter much to me when he is going with other farang solely for the purpose of earning his living and using them as nothing more than a customer. For me, it would be a totally different thing if a friend of mine wanted to be one of those farang customers. I would never do that to a friend and I wouldn't stand for a friend doing that to me. Even if I said it was ok, I would still resent the fact that my farang friend even asked. From that moment on, the relationship I have with my farang friend would be forever changed. It was one thing when my farang friend, my boyfriend, and I would be together doing different things. It would be quite another if I now knew my farang friend wants to have sex with my boyfriend and actually asked. After that, whenever we are together I would know what my farang friend wanted to do and probably still wants to do. Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but it would certainly bother me, and it would bother me to the point that I would immediately end the friendship with my farang friend. I would consider that to be a betrayal. I could never see my farang friend the same way again. If that same farang friend had a boyfriend of his own I would never dream of attempting to have sex with that boy, especially in light of the fact that so many other boys are available. My friend saw him first. That's my misfortune. I would have to console myself with my choice from among the hundreds of others. If I want to have sex with a boy, it would never be the boy a friend thinks of as his boyfriend. You said it depends entirely on what the boy wants. If sex with one of my friends is what he wants, then that's one boy who would be out my door.

Put on your glasses. I see mostly farang. Yes, it's an assumption on my part that they're drunk, but I've driven by that area a million times and I always see them drinking starting early in the morning even when it is not Songkran. They're shooting water at people from bars. What do you think they're doing there, having a cup of coffee? I could be wrong about my assumption, but probably not, especially when it reached a point that people complained to the police, enough so that the police actually pursued the complaints. Other than when that idiot (a farang) was arrested for putting acid in his squirt gun and injuring a young boy a few years ago, this is the only time I can recall the police going after the water shooters. I blame the bars as much as the farang doing the shooting. You can see in the pictures that water barrels had been set up. I would think the bar girls did that, not the farang. I also believe the farang were probably encouraged by the bar girls. Either way, how would you like to have been an unsuspecting farang on a baht bus finding himself, his camera, mobile phone, passport, and God-knows-what-else soaked by some morons at a bar when those kinds of water squirting incidents were not supposed to start yet? I think I've made it clear that I love Songkran and all that goes with it, but if I had been a victim of that soaking on that particular day, I too would have been furious. I hope if those people had any of their valuables destroyed, the police made those responsible pay for the damage. I also think that everybody knows to expect the water works to escalate starting now, so now is the time to start protecting your valuables. Between now and the end of the day on the 19th, you're considered fair game.

It's difficult for me to understand why anyone would ask such a question. First, it implies the boyfriend would even be willing to date a friend of yours. If I had a boyfriend willing to do that, someone who I care about and supposedly cares about me, someone with whom I have been together with on a long-them basis, then I would drop the boyfriend along with the friend. They can have each other. With all the boys readily available here, a so-called friend has to ask if he can date your boyfriend? He can't find a different boy? He doesn't mind even the possibility of imposing like that? What kind of a friend is that? It brings to mind that phrase, "With friends like that, who needs enemies?" If you really have been asked that question, and the question was asked seriously, I would make it crystal clear that is totally unacceptable. I would ask the boyfriend, even if he is a working boy, not to let that happen. I would also at best cool the friendship, but more likely drop that person as a friend. It just wouldn't be the same anymore. If the boyfriend is a working boy, it's one thing if you know he is going off with people you've never heard of and probably never will because that's how he makes his living. It's quite another to return to Thailand to hear your farang friend say, "I had a wonderful time with your boyfriend. And wow, is he ever great in bed!" For me, that definitely wouldn't work. I had kind of a bizarre thing happen to me a few months ago. A close friend of mine had hired a gay boy to be his houseboy. As far as I know, that was the extent of their relationship. I really had no interest in interfering with their relationship no matter what the circumstances happened to be, but it was the boy himself who approached me. I brought it to the attention of my friend who assured me that the boy is nothing to him beyond hired help and he would have no problem about it. Still, despite that, I felt very uncomfortable about it. I never did do anything with that particular boy. As I said, there are so many here that I had no need. Also, I felt that even though my friend said he has no problem about it, and I believe that, I still felt that if I pursued it, it would cause some sort of psychological diminishment of the relationship I have with my friend. I would have felt awkward about it, so I left it alone. I do feel that I did the right thing by letting my friend know instead of simply tacitly telling the boy I would rather not and leaving it at that. That boy and my friend are no longer together even in their employer-employee relationship. The boy has contacted me since then. I still felt awkward and did not pursue it. I also did let my friend know the boy is still trying. I have had "should I tell my friend" discussions with others. No matter what the circumstances, if something is going on I would want to know. I would not appreciate my friends doing my thinking for me and avoid telling me what they know. I also would not do that to others. And I don't ever want to be caught up in a "why didn't you tell me" situation.

Apparently, in Pattaya so far most of the water splashing has been confined to a small area along Beach Road. PATTAYA ONE is reporting that tourists on baht buses who did not expect any of this just yet were quite angry and went to the police. The police were out there confiscating the water guns. You can view the story and a few photos on PATTAYA ONE. And who do you see in the photos busy shooting water at people? You guessed it . . . mostly drunken farang. Pattaya Songkran-related water fighting begins

I guess it's time to check back. I just tried it and it worked with no problem.

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has released a video message to Thailand. If you would like to view it (just over a minute long) click the following link: http://www.state.gov/video/?videoid=77621375001

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I never allow the mama-san to have anything to do with it. I invariably make the mama-san go away. I don't let the mama-san choose a boy for me. I don't let the mama-san sit with me. I don't have a conversation with the mama-san. I especially don't let the mama-san sit with me when I've called a boy over. I don't let the mama-san pressure me into anything. I don't buy a drink for the mama-san. I don't tip the mama-san unless I have specifically asked the mama-san to do something for me. I can understand why the bars hire mama-sans to ride herd on the boys and deal with them and their problems. Other than that I've never really understood why the bars even have mama-sans to begin with. Sometimes I think the mama-sans are paid just to annoy the customers. On rare occasions the mama-sans are truly helpful, but for the most part, to me anyway, they're nothing but a pain-in-the-ass and the only people they're interested in helping are themselves. I would be much happier in the bars if the mama-sans were instructed to take care of the boys, but forbidden to interact with the customers at all unless the customer asks. In many cases the mama-sans push certain boys at you, to the exclusion of other boys, because those are the boys who turn over part of their tip to the mama-san. That is another reason why if the mama-san tries to push a boy on me, unless it is the very same boy I would have chosen myself, I refuse and tell the mama-san to leave me alone. As you can see, I'm a real fan of the mama-sans . . .

Then it's started, at least in that area. As far as I know, based on your report, that's the only area in Pattaya where there was any water throwing. Naturally enough, apparently most of it from drunken low-life farang. Just once I'd love to see somebody get angry enough to beat the shit out of some of them . . .

Today, Monday, April 12, virtually no Songkran splashing was going on. A friend reported that there were a couple kids in the age 5-8 bracket with squirt guns and that was about it. Realizing that I'm closing the barn door after the horse has left, today was the last day that the immigration office will be open this week. Sorry, but I did not know that until just a short time ago. The office will reopen on Monday, April 19. From what I understand, all the immigration offices in Thailand will be closed this week, with the possible exception of border crossings. It did strike me as strange that the Pattaya office will reopen on April 19. That's the big Songkran madhouse day in Pattaya. Who's going to immigration on that day, of all days? Nevertheless, that's when they'll reopen, so the officer told me. I was there today myself getting my 90-day address report out of the way.

Is that what you thought? Well, you see that, z909? I forgot to warn you when you signed on as a moderator here. Before you can kid around you first have to make sure it's ok with voldemar. As far as I'm concerned, voldemar, you can take your righteous indignation and . . . Well, I'll just let you fill in the rest of the sentence. How's that for disrespect? Many of your posts are intelligent and well thought out, but you also don't seem to have a problem about personally insulting people. You can dish it out. Now we'll see if you can take it. I don't see z909's joke as disrespectful to anybody, except of course you. That part is fine with me.

On another board I spotted this video from someone who was actually there when the gunfire broke out. I think it is worth watching:

I disagree with that part of your reply. It might have been his first time taking a boy off, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was his first time in the bars or his first time calling a boy over to sit with him. It also doesn't mean he was necessarily naive about how things are done in the bars. Because he wrote this post, if it is to be believed, then obviously he reads this board. It would be difficult for me to accept the idea that he could read this board and yet be so clueless when he decided to take the boy off.

Yes. I was not there to see the red ball-black ball drawing, but I was present the day all the boys who got the red ball had to show up for induction. That was also quite an experience.

Then, my friend, you don't know how things work in the bars here. If you called him over to sit with you, then buying the boy a drink and tipping him is exactly what you are expected to do. He also will receive between 20 and 50 baht from the bar when you buy a drink for him. If you have some reason why you don't want to buy a drink for him, or at least offer to, then you should tip him 120 baht at minimum. If you were busy publicly groping and fondling him, then you ought to tip him a hell of a lot more than that. Of course, if the boy came to sit with you uninvited, then you are under no obligation to buy him a drink or tip him anything at all. When bar boys try to do that to me, they never even get the chance to sit down. I shoo them away immediately. If a boy is going to sit next to me, get his drink, and also get a tip, it's going to be a boy I called over. It definitely won't be a boy who tried to force himself on me (unless, of course, I like him better than the boy I had in mind in the first place). It's not the whiskey story that seems strange to me. It's the 3:00am call from the mama-san just when you happened to be in the bathroom. If you can't see that was a set-up, then you can't see the obvious. I do, however, have one problem with the whiskey story. In your first post you said you were leaving two days later and you went back to the bar the next day just before 2:00am to give him the bottle. In your post above you said you were leaving the very next morning. Am I misunderstanding something or has your story changed? And why would you wait until nearly 2:00am to go out and give him a bottle of whiskey? What were you doing until then? You took him off at 1:30am and were on the town until 3:00am. That part seems strange too. Why were you on the town at all, especially at that hour? Where did you take him? What was even still open? Whose idea was it to go on the town instead of to your room? Maybe you didn't go anywhere. Maybe you decided to just take a little 90 minute stroll beginning at 1:30am. That 3:00am call from the mama-san was no coincidence. If the mama-san just happened to call at that moment, then it's the first time in the entire history of Pattaya that I've ever heard of a mama-san calling a boy at all once he's been taken off, much less a call to tell him he needs to leave his customer. And at that hour too. Sorry, but I don't buy that one. I'm not saying the call didn't take place. I'm saying you were bullshitted about the reason for the call. If I understood you correctly, the call was supposedly to remind the boy he needs to visit his mother in the hospital and he needs to leave. That's absurd. It would be just as absurd if the call was to advise the boy that his mother is in the hospital and the boy had not known that earlier. If someone was calling to inform the boy, are you telling me that whoever it was would have placed the call to the mama-san instead of directly to the boy? The call would have had to come from someone who knows the boy, wouldn't it? Why would that person call the mama-san, but not the boy directly? Maybe because that person would have had the mama-san's telephone number, but would not have the boy's telephone number? I'd have a little problem buying that one too. That's part of why I'm saying your story doesn't make much sense. Obviously I wasn't there, but my guess is the boy set up that call to get rid of you. He didn't just walk away because he wanted to try to get money out of you before leaving. I'm guessing that your idea of a fun night on the town was his idea of being bored shitless when all he really wanted to do was perform the obligatory sex, get his money, and see you later. I could be wrong, but that's what I believe really happened. RichLB's advice is go ahead and see the boy again if you really liked him. My advice is find someone else.

As far as I know, in Bangkok there is only one, the Grand Hyatt Erawan.

Maybe it would be a good idea to find out who the boy is and you go see him . . . I take exception to a lot of what you're saying. First, I see nothing in either of ChristianPFC's posts that indicate the boy knew in advance how much he was going to get. Also, if somehow he did know in advance that he was only going to get 500 baht, then I doubt he would have gone off with him at all unless he was desperate for money. It is possible the boy simply concluded that he was unlikely to get very much out of ChristianPFC. After all, he said it himself that he did not buy the boy a drink, but did give him a 100 baht tip. Isn't it the usual procedure, if you call a boy over to sit with you, to buy him a drink and give him 100 baht? Have you ever heard of a mama-san calling a boy once he has been taken off, let alone at 3:00am? I haven't. It's pretty obvious to me that for whatever reason, as soon as ChristianPFC went to the bathroom, the boy arranged the call. It's still strange, though. The boy must have had several opportunities during the evening to have a moment or two to be alone and make an arrangement for a call much earlier. If he's anything like every other Thai boy I know, then he probably received a few calls during the evening. They would have spoken Thai, so the boy easily could have made a call arrangement while knowing ChristianPFC wouldn't understand what was being said. And if the boy simply wanted to get away from ChristianPFC, there must have been plenty of opportunities where he could easily have simply walked off. The only scenario that makes any sense to me, if we're being told the truth and if we're being told the whole story, is that the boy really was enjoying the evening. But when it came time for sex he wanted to get out of it. He didn't walk off because he wanted to be paid. So, he came up with this trick and this excuse. And he got paid. Not much, but he got paid. So much for that old saying about how you can't have your cake and eat it too. One other possibility is that ChristianPFC might have inadvertently said or done something to upset the boy without realizing he had done so. That's happened to me and I'll bet it's happened to many farang. Has anyone reading this ever been in a situation in which suddenly the boy you were with got angry with you, and to this day you're still trying to figure out what you had said or done? Certainly if ChristianPFC wants to see this boy again it's his decision. But given the number of boys available in Pattaya, if it were me I wouldn't. Of course we're not taking into consideration that the boy might reject going off with ChristianPFC when he returns. Still, there is a lot about this story that just doesn't quite gel.

How do you know? It could have been an overnight long-time off. And considering the number of offs boys are getting these days, I would have been after the bird-in-the-hand. You're going to have to explain how a call at just the right moment, telling the boy he needs to leave because he's visiting mama in the hospital the next day, or what would make the mama-san think this boy even needed reminding, or even if he really was going to visit mama the next day why that should mean he needs to leave, makes even the remotest sense.

Protests, riots, and governments may come and go, but Saranrom Park lives on! May it stay that way. Leave it to HeyGay to go cruising right in the middle of violent rioting. Do you remember the movie 'Oliver'? One of my favorite scenes occurs right near the end of the movie. The villain gets shot and hung. The crowd is staring up at the body swinging on the end of a rope from above. Meanwhile The Artful Dodger seizes that moment to pick a pocket. What does HeyGay do? Pick a boy. I kind of have to admire that. . .

You can edit your posts for a short period of time after writing them. I think for about a half hour.

At 10:35pm I received the following from a friend via text message. He did not say his source, but here is what he said: _____ FLASH: At least 5 dead, 300 wounded in Bangkok clashes with Red-Shirts. Report: One foreign tourist was shot in the chest after saying to a soldier "Fuck you." __________________ THE NATION is reporting at least 8 dead, 486 wounded so far. I can't get through to the BANGKOK POST to see what they're saying. I've tried several times, but it won't load right now. In any case, no matter which media source has the latest accurate information, obviously there have been deaths and numerous injuries. It's a shame to see it come to this, but there it is.