Londoner

At LHR- and probably elsewhere- sniffer dogs are employed to check out people carrying large amounts of notes . Usually, it's non-British looking travellers who are given particular attention (this is Boris johnson's Britain after all) but I carry a large amount when I travel and so I always have a bank statement. A TV programme showed a Vietnamese woman having her cash taken away from her on the way to her flight.

The rate of undisclosed or untested hiv victims in Bangkok is very high....be very careful. Take your own condoms.

The bar to which I referred earlier styles itself as a karaoke bar. The mamasans tin such bars are often ladyboys....there was a local TV programme about one a few years ago and the bar in question was "run" by three khatoeys. I understand that the ladies who frequent them have plenty of money. Some- as I said before- have non or under-functioning hubbies, others have men who work abroad. Some of them are highly successful bar-girls....I find this surprising. One photo I was shown was of a line of guys in briefs thatcpould have been taken in any gay go go bar. Except that they were all stunning.

My experience (75 trips approx) too. But I take sensible precautions. The chances of a cleaner taking money are remote...she would quickly be identified. The same with other hotel staff, certainly if it involved breaking into safes or bags. Casual visitors? That's in our hands. Professional thieves? maybe at The Oriental. Illicit visitors in hotels....unlikely. Workmen? possible I suppose. However, if we take precautions- safes, locking cases and so on- we are very unlikely to be victims. By the way, my one experience of being a victim occurred before I'd even left London; it was in Heathrow and I lost passport, car keys, house keys , a credit card, money...the whole damn lot. Not to mention the holiday in Thailand. And now I am very watchful while checking-in. I believe the perpetrator to have been masquerading as an employee. A word to the wise!

Has anyone suffered a theft from a hotel room safe in Thailand?

My least-favourite security arrangements were those provided by an otherwise excellent hotel in Chiang Rai; a row of safe boxes near the entrance to Reception but just around a corner. I decided that a locked suitcase was infinitely preferable.

Thanks for the photos.

That's right, squeeze more money out of the poor and line the pockets of the billionaires. Let 'em die. After all we made good money out of our colonialism and imperialism and they are no longer of any use to us now. By the way, I can't remember "paying" for the establishment of the NHS- it was before I was born- but like 90% plus of the UK public I am now benefiting in my advancing years from the efforts of the Socialist government after WW2. I'm also aware that the disdain of the Conservatives for the NHS and desire to underfund it-how many of their MPs deign to use it when they can afford to pay extra to jump the queue?- has made us rely on staff from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean for many years.

There are a number of places like this around the 3rd Road area....I know the mamasan of one of them. He once showed me photos of the staff. The gay bars were outclassed in terms of their looks! Very popular with the Thai wives of ageing falangs, apparently.

....those that can afford it. The thing about the NHS which makes it the envy of the world is that it supports all citizens. Like private education, private health care is there to benefit the wealthy. I hope that the next Labour Government abolishes both. Interestingly, life expectancy in the US is front page news today.

I think it a great shame when Britons spread false information about the NHS on an international forum like this. As a correction, for the vast majority of us, the NHS is one of the greatest achievements of our nation and the envy of world. Particularly the USA. It's why we live longer, on average, than Americans. I appreciate that wealthy Britons who can afford private care don't agree....but "they are few, we are many", as Shelley wrote. I've been impressed by the quality of care I've received in Thailand....in Bangkok when I required a replacements for a lost blood pressure medication and in Chiang Mai when I had a bad cut on my foot. I found the treatment cheap and effective.

Easier posting of photos?

Check Tarntawan on Agoda. It's usually much cheaper there....though I realise it's the high season. We're there in January (we booked early) and are paying only 60% or so of your price.

Thanks llz...that's the one. But beware; I thought I'd be smart with my boyfriend whom I'd only known for a short time, by repeating some phrases in my execrable Thai. He was not amused...and I quickly stopped. On the other hand, I also bought, much later, a book of Thai idiomatic phrases and used some of the "romantic" phrases on him. He was charmed and delighted.

Expect to meet plenty of his entourage in the bars and saunas....though they'll be incognito. The Vatican is, and always has been, full of Friends of Dorothy.

Published about twelve years ago; "Thai for Gay visitors." Damned if I can find my copy! The slang was up-to-date at the time, as my boyfriend confirmed. I bought it in Pattaya.

Agreed; there are not many of us to go round nowadays. That generation- often closeted gays whose formative years were spent in a society where gay sex was illegal and who found freedom in Thailand- have mostly passed on. I'd be surprised if the the Asian customers of today have taken their places in the LTR market.. Look around; if you see falang/Thai couples together in restaurants ,staying at hotels together, shopping and so on, the falang will likely be in his 70s and the Thai in his 30s or thereabouts. Partnerships, as it happens, like mine.

In my experience, nothing gets underway before 2230 in Chiang Mai in the gay bars.

I've said this before- maybe even on this very forum- but one of the abiding memories of my first time in Bangkok, was dropping my wallet in Blue Star (where Dreamboys used to be) and of a waiter running down the soi to return it to me. I've never had a baht stolen in over seventy visits. Of course, I take sensible precautions.

I too find the convenient cynicism of a minority of punters disheartening. I learned a lot from P when we met in 2003 and from his friends, too. Firstly, that the imperative- both religious and social- to send money to parents was overwhelming and that some guys would prefer to go hungry than fail in this responsibility. Secondly, that the guys looked after each other and so if one was going through a bad time in terms of "offs", his friends would take care of him. It may be that things have change on the scene now and I suspect that some of the more popular guys in the big Bangkok bars where Chinese clients are dominant are doing very well nowadays. However, in the period when I was a punter, the one way out of the industry and the achievement of relative comfort was to find a falang (or falangs) who' go the extra mile in terms of support.

Agate (according to my boyfriend) is the best hotel he's stayed in. And we've stayed in many, all over Thailand. I tend to agree. As I've said before, if you book, do so directly with the hotel by email. Best prices.

Agreed. The "feel" of Pattaya is very different to that of Bangkok, though perhaps this is not as marked as it was twenty years ago. Even the guys you meet are different- Lao and Cambodian rather than Vietnamese, for instance, and a higher proportion of twinks. And the falangs? more of them are on extended holidays rather than short stays. It is very different!

Fifty? a youngster by Pattaya- falang standards....and a lot more sanuk lies ahead. The same can't be said of many of us. I have to agree about hotel rooms. I spend more time in my room than in my younger days (when I was fifty...or sixty) and am fortunate enough to be able to pay. Last year , P and i spent a week in Luang Prabang and the hotel, though not cheap, was a disaster. What a relief it was to arrive at the Agate after the journey from Laos. Everything worked! By the way, the Agate website is decidedly odd when it comes to reservations. Anyone planning a stay should consider using an email direct.

I must correct Boy69; I paid 1600 in October and I'm paying 1800 in early January. High Season certainly affects prices....but not that much. The same goes for flights. Anyone staying at the Agate should book direct; unlike other Thai hotels (Tarntawan springs to mind) Agoda et al do not offer the best prices.

Flights and accommodation are always the major costs of a Thailand trip. The good news is that hotel prices remain remarkably good value- I've just paid 1600 pn at the Agate which includes breakfast- while flights booked on-line from LHR to BKK remain good value, particularly if you compare the cost of European travel. Restaurants- of all levels from the cheapest to those offering "fine-dining"- are much more affordable than here in the UK. It's not all bad news!