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This scheme still exists-and is not as such govmt run. Though it very well may have been fed a lot by Taksin in his time. Most people in such positions hardly distinguish between institution 1-2-3: its all the ''rattaban''=govmt. A more sensiuble rule to all those schools might have been to scrap the numerous uniforms the pupils have to buy-would not 1 or 2 sets be enough? Now often they seem to need a differentone for all days of the week. The rumor has it that the teachers run those shops.....(but that was the case before Taksin came and is still so). And here in BKK there were still the hyper-critcs who pretold that as soon as the tires got flat-the bikes would be abandoned or sold on. There would need to be extra money for maintanenance.

all THAI banks charge a flat 33 bt/TC. Some foreign banks-notably HK&SB much more or wont even touch them. This fee is for a value of 100 not offset by the slightly higher rate they offer (which means a TC for 100 gives less Baht-cash as a note of 100). with 500 it may-or be equal. There are slight differences in rate between Thai banks-mostly UOB, Kasikorn and Siam CITY bank offer best. If you are not too afraid of bringing more cash to get a better rate- some private exchanges (best known is SuperRich here in BKK-beside BigC/opposite WTC on Rajprasonng) offer the very best rates for that.

dear patexpat-to avoid people writing unnecessary and to avoid unpleasant surprises-just be more precise (also applies to anyone asking same-same) 1.it may mean both the town (=amphoe muang) or all of the province=chiangwat around. that may mean up to 150 kms away. 2.specify your price level or minimum wanted comfort level (as it seems to me most posters appear to be enormously fussy about it). In general-provided you book a double-provincial hotels will not bar any temporary ''guests'' whatever their sexe. You may be offered some company in fact when coming in alone. Another thing to note is that locally some hotels may mainly serve the short-time bisnis-that means banging on doors (time over!!) all night. 3.Thai people hardly ever would even think of using the web for that-they go and see-or some let agents do a booking. There will be plenty of hotels (in the city) in the low-medium and lower brackets and the odd more upmarket one. The lower priced will not have any web-presence. All will have space-well in at least 99% of cases.

With the current mushrooming of those massageplaces (various types-but I mean those where extras are simply expected or the main ingredient after the massage) I wonder if someone can remember when about and which one was started-long ago. At Banana I heard this place is soon 10 (or was that 12-tiger cycle?) years old. HERO and ALBURY must also have been around for ages. But was there some place that started it all up-and about when? Its mainly curiosity-has not much practical use today. A bit like APOLLO once started the go-go-scene (in what i think is now Balcony/soi4) soon followed by Hotmail and Brabiery on Suriwong. Yes-its all BKK-as thats where I stay. Dont know too much about Pattaya.

according to some friends-and now in the press (weekly free giveaway BK-magazine) FAKE dancehall/disco/cafe, has moved to bigger premises in the OToKo area (thats south of Chatuchak weekend market-for some years now a very well known ''young Thai for young Thai'' meeting spot. Was praised as an alternative to DJ-station, now that Lang Suan bars are closed. But without the cumbersome things DJ is also known for. The old house were FAKE was is now a more quiet cafe-doing wine specials. This might appeal to some of you to check it out. Also new in that area is G-zone. But spots there open/close/reopen at breakneck speed. For some insider description-older issue of the blogs of ricequeendiary.com (before he met his current Leo+Princess) are best. Much similar to what is going on here at RamKamHaeng/LamSalee. BTW: O-To-KO is the fresh market there-open daily-that is known among better-off BKKians for organic and bioligical grown vegetables and fruits. (BTS-in between Sapan kwai and Mochit).

They were protesting -but I think khun macaroni reads the newspprs very well to know that- against BangkokBank. BKKBank is in their idea the housebank of the privy council and associated rulers.

hello mister, how are you? NO-not that recent-but neither any report that the scene of old has changed that much: 1.the KaraOke etc-clothed boys-meets-bars in the dead-end soi off Pradipat. Adam. and BeHigh= the only with ''gogo'' and some farang clientele. 2.sauna: 3, Farose, Adonis (both quite basic and near filthy) and 39 underground. 3.now various massage places so common in BKK-you know the usual lists. Like in the Liberty Hotel etc. 4.quite nearby are the OToKo places-aimed at young ThaiforThai, but open/close at breakneck speed. selamat jalan yah, dan kembali lagi.

chances are very, very slim. BBg-I have said so before-simply is not a popular thing in Thaild. Good grief, it is not! The ''workout men'' at LUmpini/exercise are said to be for 95% Tawan-workers. I have frankly never seen any ad or other thing about massagehouses proclaiming to have those types. Sites like gayromeo-or the various Thai-only sites (newest seems to be msngaythai)-just try-at least they have easy search engines on them.

khop khun, macaroni and the others-helped me a lot in writing. Slowly, slowly I am getting some idea as to what khun macaroni is actually working for. What OP=the 1st Q forgot were the PINK shirts-has nothing to do with our bentness-but they replaced the old yellow shirts, worn on monday (yellow=see hluang=the colour of the king), when the yellow movement took the airport and that colour got a bad rep. No shirts-thats what I guess are go-go boys for. Now-I happen to stay in the old part of BKK where the yellows have their HQ (Pra Athit House-with ASTV) and often walk the Sanam luang-where the reds have all their propaganda. Ive seen and walked in 5 ''mobs'' (thats just a neutral Thai word for demonstration-remember those of you in the days against the VN war??-just the same). The yellows are not as such just pro-current govmt-but support it more by lack of any better. Their filosofy is a bit weird-they want a big part of parliament to be appointed by the king and other high-ranks, and in the meantine the masses can be educated-to not vote for the reds (I guess). I know this may offend some Brits (as I am not from there-so assume I can make some sweeping statement)-it does have some similarity to the Brit class divide and ''them versus us'' beliefs. Why the reds supprot the capital gains of Taksin? By lack of any better-there is currently no real leader able to replace him. Taksin still ''feeds'' them with undercover payments of safety guards etc. It is often rumoured (from the other side) that all their demonstrators get paid and bussed in from Buriram and those places. So they also fear their own money might get confiscated as next step. Taksin is a very shrewd fox, able to do strategical thinking ways ahead. This is something most Thai completely lack. He must have various scenario's ready for whatever the judges will rule on friday. What I wonder myself is how that shrewd fox did not foresee (he must have known his enemies at the time) that the fall of him-he gained billions of baht -legally-by selling his Mobuy shares to Singapore. And still he needed to also gain the few million in due taxes?? Most think that his over-greedy wife, Potjamarn, was the reason behind it. But I guess we will never know. And-further again to khun macaroni-I myself hope that some workable coalition between the 2 ''parties'' might be best. Lets hope for the best of both worlds.

nitnoi, or cheuy-cheuy, When the wheather is really hot-it does help to get on with it. but the idea that ALL Thai food is loaded with prikkie noo (mouse shit peppers) is not quite true. Most of the everyday 1-platemeals are not. Thats why on every table (the real tourist restrts excepted) you see the 4-glassholders with sugar. salty nam pla, sour nam and grained chillies. So anyone can adjust to own taste. But khun GB-you live here long enough to know that-youre smart enough to notice anything. If you eat with a group-and order plates to share-there should be the balance between hot/mild (=cheut) a medium spiced. BTW: gulping water -if you had a spoonful of too-hot-does not help. Nor beer. Eat a spoonful of plain rice to soak it.

In the english newspaper Bangkokpost of sun 14/2 there was (in the supllement) a one page article about the gay scene in this area of Tokyo (that means the 2nd sub-district of Shibuya, a major commuter train station on the ringline Yamanote). Major trend was its slow decline, which was said to be caused by internet dating sites. Nevertheless there were some interesting items: -dozens and dozens of very small, if not tiny, bars aiming at a very specialised group, like bearded countrymen or pot-bellied salarymen over 55, or seniors wanting to meet juniors, or those in schooluniform, or cross-dressers, etc. -a major hotel (buy ticket for 13 hour stay for 2600Yen=950 THB), which is mainly aimed at cruising, leave roomdoor open, like in sauna cubicles. Strictly NO chewing-gum allowed! As I understand from other fora the BKKpost does not allow links to it or will threaten you if they discover if you do that. I have been to Japan-long time ago. I always thought many of these places ban white foreigners (the master will stand with arms crossed at the door signing this to you), but does anyone happen to know a little more about this scene? What about other major cities like Osaka?

I do-we (EU) have the choice of leaving it-what most do, or asking to get it back-it will then have 3 or 4 big holes in it-they used to cut of 1 corner before. 1 of these holes should go through the pasptfoto. In future-with those chip-embedded bio-things, I suppose they will also destroy that-as these types of paspt have only been issued since 2 years-it will take another 3 for those to expire.

hello to you+happy new year of tiger. The answer seems more easy to me: use google translate backwards-I assume it was one of those 'funny'' translates on google from Thai to angkrit. It may make some sense to me if I just translate it literally into Thai-but at 7.49 sunday morning that a bit too early. (BTW: there used to be a lively trade in webshops for boys+girls to have all those letters and mails to their temporary darlins translated into passable english. A nice side-earning for poor english teachers.

They tried to do that-for the last 3-4 years, once it was cancelled due to the death of the late Queen mother and once because of?? some demo or whatever. Frankly-I rather think the main instream of other Chinese tourists would come here for Thai things-not what they can see better @ home. Also fireworks from private persons is about banned here in BKK (believe it or not-at least on songkran it works), though it needs an awful lot to keep a superstitious Chinese from doing the things he thinks should be done to keep up the tradition. But I agree with you re the contents-in fact I went to the BMA tourist office (its nearby where I stay and they are much more knowledgeable about this city-much more as the TAT) and the lady looking for all the announcements clearly saw it first time too-and was rather amazed. I guess someone at cityhall realised too late about it-and then all the dragons. lions etc. were already booked. BTW-I took a walk last night-and hit a temple fair, local Thai style and then was quite amazed in front of CityHall-it turned out to be an INDIAN holy festival for the 3 gods of Shiva, Vishnu and Ganesh-with bollywood pop, indian songs, and Thai dance. Said to last another 2 days=today+morrow, suk and sau. This Chinatown here is mainly the goldshops on Charoen Krung and New Road. Thats just bisnis. But as I said-about all of Khet PraNakorn is Chinese-many more small scale and also-scrape under the surface-a fair lot of illegal migrants doing the underpaid menial jobs hidden behind the fences. Those rich gold-bisnismen go out. The others stay-and today they clean all their front-windows, tomorrow they burn the multi-million $$ money of Hellbank copy-copies and the paper mobuys, and then the roasted pigheads come and the fat gooses and all that. I'll get the usual tasteless pink cake from the neighbours-no pun intended, as they are only in pink. And the spoilt rich girls high matayom nearby had about 12 red-rose vendors this morning to woo their faen with that-20 bt/piece. its just that I had some time now-it has nothing to do with the usual contents of this forum. Wish someone could just briefly write down what Pattaya sees of it-just curious.

as for events: if you open any newspaper, it would seem the main event is yet another shopping-extravaganza in about any of the multitude of malls, centres, stores we have here. As for this big city of Bangkok: most unknowing tourists expect some major festival. Thats not the case, nor has it ever been. Its about like a foreign visitor in the UK on 25/12, except that there are also Thai neighborhoods to escape to. In front of what I still call WTC, but is now Centran World-this whole week there have been dancers, music and troopers from mainland China-look for free. In Yaowarat/''Chinatown'' (about the whole of PraNakorn khet here in BKK is Chinese and not all are the super-rich type of bisnispeople), according to the BMA/tourist info (=not the TAT) there will be festivities in Yaowarat on 14+15/2 (which looks a bit of mistake to me-untill I later saw banners telling the same)- with again some Chinese (lion/dragon) dance-always good for some more pix, and-hey-concerts of LOOK THOONG and some modern-dog style new Thai pop group, of which I have already forgotten the name. Now thats real Chinese, nah? from 16.00 till ''late eve''. BALCONY bar, silom-4, will have a roasted pig allyoucaneat festival on sun 14/2-free for its members, pay for non-mmb. Expect an awful lot of Chinese from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, etc. (and mainland-China Eastern has 88 extra flights laid on), as they have holidaytime. So the not-stick-to-much-to-the-family gays from there might also grow in number in places like Babylon, X-sizeboys, and the like. If boyfriend-you for the time being has any grasp of it, he might hint at those ang-pao red envelopes Thai like to receive with the proper contents. Sorry-its so long ago Ive been to Pattaya, I leave that to others better in the know for the going-ons there. There is now a major dispute (believe me-Chinese are 100 times more superstitous as you can even dream of) if the obligatory red Shirts showing the symbol of the coming new Year (=the metal tiger=MY sign too!!) should be replaced by pink, this as not to provoke unwanted political connotations with reds. Alas-this came too late-the orders have been delivered and connot be changed now. And to chip in with Valentine=Carrefour offers boxer shorts with red hearts on them for an unbelieveable 39 bt. only!

and now that I have a few more secs of time onhand-most/nearly all of your Qs are answered-as I pretold above-even on this very forum/part-just scroll down a very few lines. GAY BALI is the super-obvious name-I wont make a link for that.

Have been there quite a few times-but last time was now some time ago. Booked for late may the next trip. You ask a lot of questions- and I think (too lazy to check now) that either on this forum or the other well known Thaui-gay, like tingtong or sawatdee there have been numerous reports-the scene does not appear to change as fast or that much as here in LOS. First; Indonesia is lovely (IMHO), much more as Thailand brown, friendly, rice-eating people-nation, I call it a warm human bath. Sadly Bali is about the most touristy-commercialised part of it, and then the Kuta/Legian beach area the very most. But alas-thats where the ''action'' is. For what to see-juyst flip oppen any guidebook. Locals-Bali is quite mixed-it seems the original Balinese are the guys constantly pestering you for trrransporrrt, misterrrr, make you good prrrrrrice, misterrrrr, cool drrrrink, etc. But Bali is also the ultimate holiday-destination for any Indonesian who can afford it. And its like a smaller Pattaya-in that it has the same fame for partly closeted Indo gay guys. If you ask others-who dont know you and nothing of your level of budget-about tours and places to stay-tell at least the minimum you expect. I for me try to go by myself as much as possible, forfeiting tours. But then I speak a fair lot of bahasa. It is-BTW-very easy and quite cheap to hire car for the day-driver included-to do your own privatised tour. Your newly found temp. friend will be quite happy to tag along. In those bars listed-try utopia-asia etc-youll find willing boys who expect some renumeration. The general advice they always gave me-this is utter tawar=bargain country-to make a deal beforehand. Prices will be much lower as what they are said to be here in LOS-less as half is still a good prrrrrice. Most is done in US or AU$-the rupiah is very cumbersome to count (1US$ about 10.000). The other action place is after sunset at the beach-Kuta end. No need to be told where-they''ll find you. I never used gayromeo and the like-just do a dummy search to see how many are on, pretty obvious to me. There are probably more Indo sites in their language. But the real hidden gems of Indo are not on Bali-oh, those kasar East Jawa (Java timur) boys- and the Bataks, and that Dayak student in Malang (son of headhunter), etc..... Selamat jalan, yah! dan kembali lagi.

Interesting read. Yes, it is quite difficult to tell similar looking letters apart. Even more so in hand-written Thai. Having myself worked with dyslectics (in another as english-european setting)-you may know-those people that keep on confusing b/d, p/q and many more, these must exist in Thailand too-and must have an awful hard time as there are so more chances for confusion. Even though I have a good friend as professor in Thai at Thammasat uni-it remains a mystery. He himself had hardly known about this fenomenon untill I explained it to him.

watdee noy, duay. i only read this back today. Its just compared to prices in ''downtown'' BKK-mostly 10/20 bt/day/piece. often in some places even free for guests they know and who stay before and after. you have learnty math at school-thats 5 or 10 times as much.

so you mean Pattaya? would be nice to those not knowing all the fringes of LOS=Land of Smiles to explain. Note/this jumps in my mind: it simply depends on what U think is concert-a small-scale will be held there daily-somewhere-there are more of those places fairly close by. 14/4 is also Chinese New Year-so the happy bosses of Sino-Thai origin treat staff to their red ang-pao filled envelopes, so there is money around and for me thats enough reason to put the volume on too loud again and have the lao khao flow. Let us mow lam with LuLu and LaLa!

living nearby during the Thai dry season myself, I would say mr jtrack is only partly right. Yes, Khaosarn (avoid to stay there-too noisy and dumpy) and the area around (named Banglamphu) have 100s of cheap and notsocheap anymore guesthouses. The really cheap ones (thats NO AC , just a bed and a fan, cost 2/300 THB) will in general NOT allow ANY guests or even Thai persons in. On the ever increasing number of mid-class (a small, but tidy AC-room, with fridge, TV etc. now often also with WiFi) it varies-some do, others do not. This banning of guests is a particular fenomenon not very common in the rest of Thailand. Sites like khaosanroad or khaosanroader list a lot of them-but still less as half of what is available. Very near to the Royal is the BOONSIRI hotel-quite new, Thai style, can be found on most hotelbookingsites and also hostelbookers, has a short-time hotel just across and is 400 mtrs from Saranrom, and just 10 from an awful bunch of extremely annoying katoeys in the evenings, might fit your bill. But DO read reviews on tripadvisor, its noisy. OR you may avail yourself of other shorttime hotels-they also have separate floors for ''normal'' overnight guests-like the Palace or the nmbrd. hotel behind the Benz showroom on Ratchdamnern where all the buses stop. If you had simply said what was the negative factor in BBB=it might also have led to better aimed answers. Also be aware that due to longtime renovation Sanam Luang will be closed as from today on-that means an awful big and howthiswill be still not known shift of stalls, persons, thieves etc. to nearby-to the extent it may also change the Saranrom or canal scene. Finally: as with nearly all these general questions, a normal guidebook would also have the answers

nevr used it, but know of it since years-even at old Don Muang. Reports at various traveller-forums tell this: 1.yes its there-as one might expect from any decent big international airport in this world-and its reliable enough. 2.cost is a whopping 100 bt/piece/day 3.they scan the things at delivery-and have big note about no laptops or precious items. There have been a few isolated reports of those going missing. They store for long time in some cellar-so retrieving it on depart. may take a while, but can be done at any window-not just the one you used 1st time. 4.like also in this world-about any place you stay first will also hold luggage-at much lower prices. So if you hit BKK again just before leave and after the trip-use that.

me as an oldbie just returned to this steaming city yesterday evening, but I wont fit the description. Never mind-but make life easier for you and responders, please tell for what activtirs you need this lad-for see the city+surroundings, or the gay life/areas-this may make a lot of difference. These 2 may not really overlap that much. Besides: for see the normal 1st time major tourist sights, just a guidebook is needed. BKK has over 100.00 taximeters-most filling up the trasnport-ossie. Most of them can-if the need exists-also be hired for the whole day with some bargaining. and have a nice stay-tham dee-day dee!

For days and days I can live without any need for bargaining. It really depends on what. Food stalls and restaurants-never (unless its a premade deal for a big group). The new western-style shops: never. The small mom+pop-streetside shops: you buy only such small things there, that any bargaining seems futile. Nonetheless-if you really would want to buy say 10/12 items there-you can try. Typically the assumed need for bargaining seems much larger to tourists as they tend to buy the things that are sold that way. In fact I have learnt very much to distrust anything without marked prices. The more Thai a market is-the more you see prices displayed. Usually Thai people simply know the price, like for tuk tuks, motosys etc. So this also eliminates the need for. (the new wave of Chinese made watches seem to be everywhere in BKK now-and all are marked at 100 bt.)

Thoese eggs are farely rare in THaild-but quite common all over South-East Asia, esp. in the Phillippines. Could also be duck. And now just guess what they are thought of to be good for (no prizes this time!!..... For more weird food the neighbours, Laos and Myanmar=Birma, offer much, much more in weirdness. I once sat in a bus-with many white tourists-in Laos when we stopped and saw a Laos lady strip a squirrel te get ready for the cooking pot. The 2 white young ladies behind me about fainted....