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The banks will find a way to separate you from your money as much as they possibly can. I think my plan this year is to just buy a stack of baht here before I leave for Asia. American Express travel offices seem to have a good rate and just a 1% fee. I used to just always use my ATM card, but Bank of America is charging a US$5 fee plus 1% of the amount withdrawn which is a huge ripoff and their exchange rate isn't that great either...and now add on this Bt150 fee. So I always would get a pretty big amount of cash to avoid having to pay the fees too many times. I really ought to get a new bank.

here's a site devoted to homerotic Turkish traditional wrestling. Their giant wrestling festival looks like a great time to visit. Turkish Wrestling

I offed a boy once from WWB and once we got back to the hotel he was very shy and reluctant. We took a shower together but once we got to the bed he basically said he couldn't do anything and would leave. He didn't ask for any money and I didn't offer him any. It was odd. I tried not to take it too personally. :-)

my TV provider has this episode on their OnDemand viewing menu. It's pretty interesting and they produced it fast since it was just filmed over Songkran this year.

well, at least they were found guilty of illegally having the weapons. I was always dubious of the assassination charge.

There is a thread in the Gay Asia forum about Sihanoukville http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2338-cambodia-sihanoukville/ It's hard to imagine there is much of a gay scene there yet. I spent some time last year in southern Cambodia at Kep. It is very quiet there. Bokor Mountain was quite interesting and a bone-jarring ride I hope to never repeat. There are some islands off the coast that are unspoiled for the most part.

I think we all know why these places aren't shut down and why the owners don't go to jail. How many times do we talk about endemic corruption across Thai society? Supply and demand are strong market forces. And since these kids are generally not valued by their families or society they end up in places like this. Hopeless people resort to what they need to do to survive. I don't know if the drug use comes first or the sex industry work comes first. But if you are a poor kid with no hope and fewer prospects it's not hard to see how you end up in a place like this.

I believe we have had a thread here previously on Phnom Penh or Cambodia at any rate. There are a couple of gay bars as noted by z909. Blue Chili is a fun little bar with very cute staff. They have drag shows at the weekend. The Salt Lounge is a laid back bar. Both places have locals money-boys looking to hook up. There seems to be a growing scene. There are a couple of blogs http://queercambodia.blogspot.com/ http://www.cambodiaout.webs.com/ And I completely agree on the beauty of Khmer boys. There was a guy at Blue Chili last time I was there who had the most gorgeous face. He looked just like a Khmer Buddha statue.

if you can I would try to stay in the old town. I stayed at the Victoria Angkor which was pretty nice (other than the frequent power outages) but it is located a bit away from town. There are lots of tuk tuks around but didn't use them. I prefer to walk as much as I can.

Purple Dragon do not issue airline tickets themselves. But they use this place on Soi Convent EXPRESS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL-SILOM 10/12-13 CONVENT ROAD BANGKOK 10500 BANGKOK THAILAND Tel:233-4714

I always assumed the boys kept the tips you give them, for example when they sit with you for a while and you give them 100 baht or whatever when you don't take them off. Are you saying that in some places they have to hand that over? I tend to overtip in that situation. And it is funny to watch the boys signal each other to let them know how much you tipped them. I don't know if they think I didn't notice. But the next time I came into the bar I was set upon pretty quickly by a bunch of boys who wanted to sit with me.

you might also want to try Fan Club massage on Soi Convent (near the Silom end on a little sidestreet, I think there is a restaurant called Indigo on the same street). I have had a good time there but it was a little less clean the last time than it had been. But that was 6+ months ago.

The ranking are constantly changing because they are based on votes by the people visiting the site not any sort of objective criteria.

You asked if he had a bf. Did you also ask if he had a girlfriend? Maybe he is married... I think honesty is usually the best policy. You obviously feel guilty or it is weighing on your conscience. So I think you need to unburden yourself. You just need to be prepared for all of the possible outcomes. Maybe he will be relieved to find out you are not looking to marry him on the spot. Maybe he will be unhappy. You can't know that at this point. Maybe he will want to have sex with you, maybe not. But I think your instincts about treating him with some respect are good. The world could use a lot more of that in general.

I don't see how this is a blow to Thai tourism. There is no suggestion that he was kidnapped out of the airport, merely that he turned around and left on his own. Maybe he met a girl/boy who he became infatuated with... Or who knows what he could be involved in. What about the friends he said he went there with on vacation? What happened to them? What do they know?

I never really got the whole drag thing either. I think that subculture seems to be dying out a bit in the US these days as gay kids see more "normal" possibilities for themselves. Not that long ago the whole view of gays in mainstream culture was that we were all drag queens or wanted to be women. Now that there are more and different role models I think that has made a big difference. But I think there is a difference between ladyboys and drag queens. When I first went to Thailand it was worth seeing a show or three to have done it. The cabaret shows are least interesting to me. I went to the famous one in Bangkok on my first visit. It was way overpriced and the audience was full of Russian tourists who seemed to have no idea how to react or what they were supposed to be doing when. But now all of the shows are all boring and repetitive to me. I do like to see the boys dancing though...especially if they are actually dancing. Whenever I go to a strip club or go go bar anywhere I am always more attracted to the boys who actually dance or seem to be having a good time.

The Thai guy looks to be smiling in the photos. I like the line about "fortunately the police happen upon them." Thank goodness the police were there to protect the public at 3:30 AM!

My first visit to Thailand a few years ago was in September for 3 weeks. I honestly don't remember too much rain other than a couple of evening thunderstorms while I was in BKK. But it probably depends on where you are visiting as well. I know some parts of the country have had really bad floods in September and October the last couple of years. I wouldn't expect there to necessarily be a lot of days that are a total washout. But you may encounter late day showers now and then just like other tropical places. I spent four years in Florida for my university studies. Summertime would bring about an hour's worth of thunderstorms in the late afternoon or early evening. Then the sun would come back out and make it even more humid. But my Thailand experience is certainly much more limited than that of others here. There are plenty of indoor activities to keep you occupied if it rains.

We've discussed the question of why you never hear about arrests for abusing girls in either this forum or one of the others before. My guess is that, unfortunately, girls are not highly valued by Thai society. So there isn't as much outrage as there is over boys being abused. However, the notion of foreign men coming to Thailand and abusing the country's young boys/the future of the nation is the issue. It combines the latent xenophobia of Thais with the anti-gay sentiment that exists no matter how "tolerant" Thais claim to be. You don't ever hear much about Thais being arrested either. It is only foreigners. Does anyone believe that there aren't Thai men who are also having sex with young boys or girls? Didn't one of the news reports related to this story say that the men were not convicted previously because the victim disappeared or wouldn't testify so there was no way to go ahead with the charges?

Here's a story that contradicts the notion that no one has ever been arrested with a boy he offed from a go go bar http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2009/07/22/briton-arrested-for-third-time-on-child-sex-charges-thailand/ Of course in this case it is a repeat offender who may have been under some sort of surveillance...

According to this report http://www.pattayapeople.com/default.asp?Folder=16&IdArticle=18204 only 1 underage dancer found, but as noted above 14 of 25 tested positive for drugs. And it sounds like the closure was only going to be temporary.

Central World has a pretty good market on the top floor as well.

The last few years I have planned 3 week trips but that includes time traveling in Thailand and other places in SE Asia. This year I have a month planned. Most of that time around Thailand but about 10 days in Vietnam as well. Last year's trip extended to a month due to the airport closure. I don't like to just stay in one place for a long time or I get a little bored.

Depending on your airline you check to see which terminal you will be in. Apparently the new Terminal 3 is supposed to be pretty nice. You may want to try a website like flyertalk.com to ask this question

Unless there is some sort of international warrant out for your arrest or a warrant in the country you are trying to enter then I don't think there is any reason you would be stopped as long as you present valid travel documents. How many extradition treaties does Thailand have? I would guess that most of these little tin pot countries don't have such treaties with Thailand. He has probably had most, if not all, of these passports up his sleeve for quite some time just in case. There are plenty of countries around the world where money talks. And apparently Thaksin has plenty of cash stashed apart from all of his frozen assets. He is traveling by leased private jet according to reports. That ain't cheap. Now whether all of these renewed efforts to stop his travels actually come to much or not remains to be seen. The UAE said they wouldn't let him back at first and now they say he is welcome to stay as long as he isn't doing politics. Of course he is always doing politics somehow. While I think he belongs in jail it is most likely better for the government that he is not in the country. What sort of treatment would he get in jail? Would they put him in solitary confinement?