Smiles

Can hardly think of anything less healthy ... or more disgusting. Loaded down with cholestrol, fat, sticky shit (***CheeseWhiz!!!). A veritable metaphor of the reason(s) why Amurcans are the fattest, most unhealthy creatures on earth . . . with so many closing in on them fast ( to be fair), including my countrymen. And after lunch, or dinner, or breakfast, they thrown on the thong (or Speedo if the rest of us are lucky) and head down to the beach. Delicious!!! *** For your edification: Cheers ...

Now that's good to know . . . it was an issue I had been wondering about. My trips home will be ~ on average ~ 3-4 months at a time, putting it over the 90-day window for reporting. Thanks 2lz2p & cheers ... PS ... and thanks everyone for the excellent discussion. This has been a good thread.

Not quite sure what Wowpow does sometimes, but he is ~ bless 'is heart ~ quite notorious on message boards for completely screwing up image postings. I'm not even going to think what he managed to do in this instance . . . but here are his photo images (above) un-discomboobalated: (All these photos appeared in the Pattaya City News scandal rag, so don't get yer knickers in a knot). Cheers ....

PDF'ing the area where Saranrom Park is located is way too complicated & tedious. Easier here: [attachmentid=139] By the way .... for the absolute best interactive map of Bangkok, click here: http://www.bangkokbob.net/city_map.htm Cheers ...

This post from jinks on Sawatdee to celebrate the 1 year anniversay of the "NEW" Sawatdee Forum (although the ghastly & thoroughly ungentlemanly place has actually been around for years): http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum...p?p=96256#96256 I'm sure the Owners & Mods here would wish to congratulate their distinguished (if scurrilous) antecedants. One of the replies on this thread is an encapsulated mini history of Message-Boards-Regarding-Gay-Life-in-Thailand which some folks may fiind interesting. And some won't ... Cheers ...

Yeah yeah, love to all. But frankly, I would first attempt to spell "Bangkok", "Pinnacle", "February", "Melbourne (cap 'M')", "Stef (cap 'S'), " a lot", and "itinerary" correctly before venturing out of your home country. I know this gentle criticism may sound rather anal to some Board-wearry farangs here ... but to the Thais, "Bangcock" may be a tad insulting: better to use "Krung Thep" ... no 'cock' apparent. PS ... don't rely on the Spell Check just yet ... Khun Stef is still experimenting, I do believe. And what's more: PPS ... Pay no attention to EarWig, that little insect hasn't spelled any word correctly since his hauntings on the 2nd incarnation of the old Dreaded Ned Board. Cheers ...

If it's any consolation, ElephantSpike had exactly the same problems incorporating a spell check application within Sawatdee. It took a lot of work apparently and wasn't up and working well for some time. But it happened successfully sooner or later and it turned out to be a very good one, with no ongoing glitches now. So good luck! Cheers ...

There is some confusion about this. The important thing to remember is the the Type O-A visa is not available from witrhin Thailand. Only the 12-month Type O Non Imm visa can be applied for from within the country. . . and it is essentially a visa which can be changed or upgraded to a 12-month visa, from a shorter Non Imm O visa. But the rules regarding the UPGRADE of a Non Imm visa within Thailand are somewhat different than the rules for receiving n O-A visa from outside Thailand. The medical certificate is still necessary to receive the Type O-A, but perhaps it is not necessary when UPGRADING to a 12-month visa from within Thailand. (On that point I am not sure ... not being near that yet). As I alluded to in the original post, the 'methods" by which you receive a 12-month (retirement) visa can be different depending on whether you are applying from outside Thailand, or from within. But the bottom line is that ~ using whichever method is best for you ~ you will end up with a visa which will allow you to stay in the Kingdom for 12 months at a stretch with the only proviso being to drop into a Imm Office or cop shop to get stamped every 3 months. An at the end of the 12 month life of the visa you will have the opportunity to extend that retirement visa for another 12 months . . . and on and on and on. Cheers ...

On my return to Vancouver last week I dropped into the Thai Consulate-General office and received all the documents required to make application for the Thailand 12-month Non Immigrant Type O-A Visa. This is not the only way to receive a Non Imm 12-month visa, but it seems to be the easiest way for my own personal circumstances: once I have it, that's it ... no cross-border nonsense every few months. Once granted the 12-month visa the only bureaucracy which should be encountered would be a visit to an immigration office or police station every 3 months to get the visa stamped. I have heard from a good and reliable friend (actually more than one) that this stamping process is pretty much a breezy formality. This type of visa can only be obtained outside of Thailand, and even then not in every country on the planet. Canada is obviously one of the annointed, as is the US, Britain, and I'm assuming, most countries in the European Community, and 'others' (though of that I am not 100% sure). For those countries where this type of visa can be applied for, the rules below would be the same, save the visa fee which would of course be in that country's currency, but equivalent to $200 Canadian. The Thai gentleman who seemed to be in charge at the Vancouver Consulate was most congenial and friendly and answered a lot of my questions regarding some of the perceived ambiguity in the wording of the instructions (quoted below from the Consulate's website). The necessary forms were all together in a nice little package and he pointed out which ones required a stamp as well as a signature. The stamp rigmarole seemed very important to him and I was glad to hear this, as I would like very much to not have this stuff sent back to me for further bureaucratic chasing simply because I didn't get (or understand) the proper procedures. One only wants to go through this once. Anyway, I thought this procedural stuff may be of interest to those on the Board who are seriouisly thinking of retiring (semi-retiring) in Thailand ... are 50-and/or-over ... have enough cash in the bank ... have the minimum monthly income ... can prove they're not a murderer or pedophile ... don't have leprosy ... and aren't already persona non grata in Thailand. Hope those thinking about this will find this useful. (Posted on Sawatdee so I hope not too provocative, and the hair on GB's back doesn't stand up too straght ... just info this time Cheers ...

Duh . The post above you quoted. You're a quick one Mr Teller. Cheers ...

. . . even though every quivering fibre of your body tells you you'd just die to have that ability Cheers ...

Not working Stefano ... "ERROR ON PAGE" message when clicking on the Spell Check button. Tried again and got a different message: "DONE" ... but nothing happened. I waited to no avail. Bugs are not out I'm afraid. Cheers ...

That does put a new twist on things for sure. What's the tip to witness this? Or is Francois thinking of paying us? Carry on though ... sounds interesting. Sooooo Pattaya! Cheers ...

Good luck GT. Regarding the "other" 2 message boards (which you have mentioned above, so I feel quite comfortable in doing likewise ... I'm sure the Moderator will agree): Sawatdee may not be so 'nice' at times - often even 'stirring', I concede - but at least the topics are started (and replied to) by a plethora of different posters, rather than 50% (I counted) of the topics being started (and replied to!) by either yourself or Gaybutton. That in itself tells me that the whole cloth of offerings there are as varied in their information, story-telling, opinions, or just-plain-bullsh*t, as the participation here is thin and predicatable, given the ratio of postings pouring from the keyboard fingers of two men named "G". As for Baht-Stop . . . it's a Hedda vanity board in every aspect except the name. The ratio there has even less depth than here ... 70% of the postings on the "H" forum are from The Ego and his Id, a ponderously boring pamphlateer named Snowy. And one would sound less than objective I suppose if one casually mentioned that each post by said duo is simply the same tired old variation on a theme. ( The theme needing no further advertisement from me ). Cheers ...

Thanks for mentioning this guest house Snowkat. It was posted in a message some time ago on Sawatdee and at the time I remember thinking it looked very inviting ... with prices to match. But I forgot to stash it away, couldn't remember the name, who posted it etc etc etc. It's in my Hotel 'favourites' now and hope to try it one of these days. Most appreciated. Cheers ...

Actually GayThailand, I think something is amiss. Right now ~ replying to this thread ~ I am actually logged out, and have been most of the day. The prompt at the top is asking for me to Log In, but here I am replying to your post. I cannot Log out because the Board/website tells me I'm already logged out ... but I'm not. A glitch for sure ... Strange to see my handle at the bottom of the page showing up in the 'Logged In' list, when in fact I logged out quite awhile ago. When I could ... now I can't Cheers ....

Wowpow and his miniatures This excellent dude worth enlarging in anyone's book: [attachmentid=78] Cheers ...

You're joking of course. Obese gourmands ("Fat Fucks" to you and me) are the life blood of bordellos like Pattaya and Cancun and Las Vegas. Trust me, they'll be salivating over the fare at Niddy's and then, just as quickly, and with hardly a polite burp, experiencing voluptuous pre-orgasms over the Thanksgiving pigout (even though Thai folks won't know what the hell holiday it is). What planet are you living on? The words/phrases "All-You-Can-Eat" and "Buffet" are religious mantras to a certain population of the Gay Community. Cheers ...

Never did ... never will I doubt either one of us is loosing sleep over it. ( Now, I suppose there will a GB retort as to the whether it's true REM, or just a meaningless shallow slumber. Now THAT'S anal ). Cheers ...

Well, that at least proves my Theory of The Anally-Minded. Cheers mate ...

Better yet, why not just put the links to a couple of good currency converters to the top of the page, then folks could do it themselves ... quickly, and minus the editorial commentary. The Yahoo converter is a beauty and gives one a nice little graph to watch their chosen currency come crashing to the ground (see below), or rising to the heavens .. better!! ( http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...&submit=Convert ) The currency converter at Oanda ( http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic ) is nice as you can plug in any date frm the past and see how it compares to what you're gettig now (the Yahoo graph does the same thing visually, but Oanda gives you 5 decimal places ~ for the anally-minded. Uh oh .... !! [attachmentid=68] Cheers ...

You seem so needy LMTY? First off, there is a semenal treatise on "Underwear Sniffing" by the Moderator . . . . what more could one ask for? Cheers ...

Poor old Jinks. He started off most innocently by offering his services to ElephantSpike as a Moderator for Sawatdee Forum. Now the Board has apparently gone down one more time. How many dips below the sea is a drowning man supposed to have? About now Jinks must be feeling like Henry The Second the night before the murder of Thomas Becket: " ... Is there no man amongst thou who will rid me of this accurs'd message board .. ?" One cannot but achknowledge that the long journey of Sawatdee Forum has been a rocky yet interesting road. Jinks ... you are a right trouper, mate! Cheers ...

Try NOT cutting and pasting. Cheers ...

Well !!! It's one thing to remove a few posts (Catty has nothing to say anyway, about anything. Never did. Good show on that call), and LMTU is as passe as the 70's (a decade he still lives in, if not haunts) . . . . but isn't deleting the entire thread a bit over the top? I thought my delicious commentary was worth saving. Hedda's was Just-Plain-Typical and thus good to save as "an example". A couple of others were relevent in terms of objecting to the stupidity of both of them. (That is to say, Catty & LMTU ... not Hedda). Khun GayThailand, have you ever thought of adding "Ayatollah" to your handle's back end? Now now, don 't tell me that 'back end' has not seen use. I've been reading your exploits after all ... quite appalling I should add. Power to the bitches ... I say!!!!! Cheers ...