PattayaMale

If you are going to the Roadhouse in Bangkok for their Obama party, you can buy memorabilia there.

I know that there is a party at the Roadhouse in Bangkok. But when a friend who arrives in Pattaya Jan 6 asked me if there were any in Pattaya, I thought it was a good question to ask. Does anyone know of any? Maybe if there is enough interest one of the bars or restaurants will consider doing one

While driving home from dinner tonight I was amazed to see a really big sign with Obama's face on it. I looked closer and saw it was one of the big home supply places advertising "Obama Sale". I have no idea what the point of the sign is but since it is a large chain store I guess it might be something going on across Thailand. Why does the next President of the USA have this effect on the world?

Moving from one area to another last night it seemed that Pattaya was one big party. Glad to hear that in the villages the party was going on too. My Thai friend received a call from his cousin at 4am saying the family could not find a room. My Thai friend checked 2 of the hotels by our house and both were full except 1 room. They charged 1500 for a normally 400 baht room. Oh well, it was just one night. And they were happy to find a room since they had a 4 year. By the way, the reason I understand for making a lot of noise when midnight starts off the New Year is to chase away the bad luck so the New Year will be happy and prosperous. Hope it works!!!

The Pattaya Daily News reported that the first 2 road deaths occurred at 2 am Jan 1 in Pattaya when 2 motorcycles collided. The pictures on the PDN web site shows that neither was wearing helmet. Fortunately these were the only road deaths in the dangerous 7 day period

That is interesting idea. I have seen people sitting there in the past but did not think about it being such a good location to people watch until your post Astro. Enjoy

Tonight my Thai friend and I will be celebrating at Oud's for awhile and then moving on to Dynamite and then to Xzyte. How about you? By the way, last night I was amazed at all the checkpoints police setup. Some were right at the exits of large discos. Not a bad place I thought

I am not sure I understand, when asked, if I am saying this is what happened. As I said I will not comment on my friend's troubles, but not all is as it may seem.

Let me give you a scenario to think about. Suppose some police (it does not matter where) were corrupt. Suppose they decide to use undercover teens to do some stings. Suppose a boy shows you an id card that shows his age as 18. Suppose however that this id turns out later to be a fake one and now an id shows the boy as 15 or 16 or 14 when corrupt police come calling. How many of you make a copy of the id shown to you (possibly fake) so later on you could prove you did due diligence? And in some legal systems would your due diligence even matter? Far fetched? Do police ever plant drugs? Do they collect "tea money" for traffic violations that have never occurred? Do they shake down bars for protection money? Do they collect money to tell owners of impending raids so under age or drug taking boys can flee before the raids? Uhmmmmmmmmmmm? Do they shakedown bars because the bar is playing music, calling it copyright protection? Do they allow buildings to be built higher than allowed by the ocean? Is corruption profitable? Is it part of the fiber of a country even in politics or construction projects in some countries? Would military / police be involved in the drug trade? Do you think you are immune to the corruption? Maybe the stones we throw at others will be thrown at us one day.

I know that there have been many warnings about this. I know many people think it only happens to others. Today I received a call telling me that a good friend had been arrested through a sting operation. It is not for me to give the details but I want to give a warning to others. Make sure that you absolutely DO NOT take anyone home without making sure that they are 18 or over. Under no circumstance take their word for it. Do not fall for any claim of forgetting, losing, etc. If the picture does not look like the person on the id, once again do not take their word that it is them. Remember that their are several groups (NGO's) that are pushing very hard for a "crackdown", and fair or not they are targeting gays. Much better press. Entrapment does not seem to be any kind of defense. So as GayButton and others have said many times. Be more than careful. Be certain. The police may take payoffs to allow underage dancers in some bars. But the issue is separate. Don't think because it is openly happening in a bar, the bar (or police they pay) will protect you. YOU are the only one who can protect you. Please do not post rumors! It will not help anyone and may cause problems as all the message boards are being monitored. Don't think that because you post anonymously you are hidden. Just be careful..

This is good to know TJ, but a bit late now that I went out and bought my Thai friend a New Year's present because I was told it was at 35=$1. Next time I am going to wait for GB to post the exchange rate!!!!!!!

Oh sh--. My Thai friend will certainly thank you, but as for me #$%@*

Sorry HeyGay. I am a bit simple. I do not understand your point. Not your fault but would you post your point as though you are talking to a 3rd grader.

I want to thank GB for staying on top of this, but geese I hope he can get out to the beach or take a walk instead of being glued to the exchange rate. I had this vision of him sitting at Bangkok Bank with his web enabled mobile phone reporting every time the baht changed, which I appreciate. But since I told my Thai friend that I could not buy him a New Years present unless the rate hit 35..............I hope it does not break 34.9 until Jan 2.

One of the big differences I see today between the PAD and Red Shirts is that the PAD was not violent in their protest at first. There was not the rock throwing and grenade attacks that the Red Shirts seem to use as there first resort. After being shot at by police, some PAD did become a bit violent. I believe the Red Shirts are more disposed to violence and that it is more probable that this violence will cause the military to act.

"(like GB, God sometimes stops by for a glass now and then)" Laurence don't be confused, GB is the one who thinks he is God, God is really Rainwalker.

It seems that this message board has become much busier over the last several weeks. Is it GayThailand's promotion or are some people becoming a little tired of the nastiness that appears to always happen on at least one other Board? I have started to make this Board the first I read and I am finding that I tire of the nastiness on xxx. One of the other Boards I also enjoy is Ting Tong. They have a few that post some really good pictures.

The fluctuations seem to be posted 3 or four times a day. When the dollar was weaker I was sending 3.8 million baht out of the country from a sale of a property. From the time I started the transaction (showing the correct paper work and having it checked) I lost about $500 as the baht strengthened. I protested politely saying they had told me a better rate when we started the transaction. They showed me the conversion sheet they just received. I just sat in silence for a few moments and the man doing the transaction said, "ok" and gave me a little bit better rate.

I believe entrapment is very legal in Thailand. A few months back a "customer" went into a lady's beer bar and after a drink asked them to play a CD he "just" bought. The bar refused but the man was persistent so they put the CD in to play and were promptly arrested under the copyright law. The bar owner said he cold pay 30,000 baht there on the spot or go to jail. The bar owner and a few other owners went to the Police Station to protest this setup. The commander at the police station told the protesters that the copyright group had all ready told them earlier that night what was going to be done and he had no objection. They paid bail the next morning and decided to go to trial. I read this (details are close) in the Pattaya Mail. So I would not be shocked either.

To Air Asia's credit, they did realize that there was a problem with on time arrival and departure and have seemed to have worked well to correct this. Now if the delay is over 2 hours they give a 1800 baht voucher. So those that flew Air Asia many months ago may be happy to see that Air Asia seemed to listen to those complaints and have taken action. I have flown Air Asia recently several times and feel it is good value and maybe I have been lucky but they have been on time.

I have read in the last 2 days that China is going to try and make the Yuang the international currency. I only thing that may delay this is if China can stay stable as a state. If the economy in China tanks, there might be great unrest. We live in very interesting times.

The IDL is not supposed to replace a countries own driver's license. It is only a permit to drive with an out of country license for a period of time. So if I was driving thru France, Italy, etc and had a valid Thia drivers license and a IDL which lists what is on my Thai license, and that license is valid the police would accept that.

I have now done a little research on this and found out that what is available is a Translation of your countries drivers license. In my case Thai. This is called an International Drivers permit. It is valid only with a country's issued drivers license. The purpose is to help police understand things that are written on your license. The authority for this (is claimed) to be a signing of a UN document by 200 countries. The purpose is to make sure transportation is not impeded between countries. I still want to do more research on this. But that is what I learned so far.

I see that the exchange rate for the US dollar has broken 35 baht today. Maybe 36 by New Years???

Where does someone get an International Driver's License if they only have a Thai Driver's License? Unfortunately my California State driver's license expired since retiring here.