ChristianPFC

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/08/23/mahanakhon-celebrates-completion-and-title-thailands-tallest-building-light-show A Thai friend told me today that they have been running tests for days, so I went tonight to find the best spot to watch (and because I might not be able to go tomorrow). Very poor view from skyarc (almost completely blocked by W), poor view from BTS public areas, probably good view from train platform. I found best public view spot from old cemetary in Silom Soi 9. Even better from Silom Plaza (where Super Rich money exchange is) Arena Massage (you have to walk through the massage place - I have been customer there before - and up 2 floors). When I asked boys outside for viewing spot, they let me in, but after about 5 minutes someone else came and told me I have to go down or out or have a massage. Side note: there is The Best Massage on ground level of the complex, has a lot of boys (they were out eating when I passed). No good public spot in Silom Plaza (nor anywhere else in that are, I estimate from walking there before). Cloud47 would be a good view point (at least those parts that point to that direction). A friend was on Baiyok 2 yesterday and saw it from there.

In that case you can keep him, I'm not interested any more.

I reported my gay and sightseeing activities in Cambodia here: http://christianpfc.blogspot.com/search/label/Cambodia (Jul 2014, Jan 2016, Aug 2016 will be published soon) Advice on Angkor Wat: the food there is grossly overpriced and my meal was of poor quality (my friend complained as well), bring your own lunch.

That's a poor start. Add the issues about his and your visa, and just giving him money for the trip (to go alone) seems the best solution to me.

Traveling (and time to prepare before and process data afterwards), participating in forums and writing a blog, walking around in Bangkok (everything under 5 km is walking distance for me) and ogling at cute boys, meeting friends, going to saunas, reading on the internet and on paper.

The op has my full support. I would have done the same, except for giving less taxi money (I always ask where the boy is now, so I can estimate how much return trip by taxi is). Possible solutions: check pictures closely in advance (if boy doesn't have several clear pictures, ask for recent clear picture; if pictures don't match - abort), meet in a public place, do a video chat. Video chat saved me a disappointment in April: http://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2016/05/dating-thai-boys-39-youre-not-slim.html

Three active forums, of which this is currently the busiest. Everyone who has been around for a while will notice that the same subjects are discussed over and over again (favorites are drink prices, tips for boys and tips for service staff). You have to distinguish between active members and total member number. There can be thousands of registered members, many of them not participating in discussion, maybe not even reading any more. (And those who participate, you have to rate the quality of their participation.)

Most places I eat at are non-tipping anyway. Upset? Is lack of tip something to be upset about? As far as I know, Thailand is a non-tipping culture and tipping has been brought by tourists, and is restricted to tourist areas. I consider tipping a social evil that starts a spiral of lowering wages and compensate by tips, leading to annoying behavior of staff and absurdities like employing people to hand customers a towel in the toilet in Tam Nam Kon Isan disco in Pattaya.

I was in X-Boys last weekend (drink price 150 Baht for my orange juice, that's the first time drink prices come down, I remember paying 240 (?) in their previous location about two years ago), but didn't see any boy who matches. Sounds good! What is his profile on gayromeo. Even better a review by someone who has personal experience?

There is a lot to do and to see in and around Pattaya, I made a list: http://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2014/03/daytime-activities-in-pattaya.html However after coming to Pattaya for years, I have been to most of them. Some are worth going again after a few years. Daytime highlight of my next Pattaya trip will probably be visiting all second hand bookshops and making a comprehensive list.

I dislike the idea of tipping and would prefer a system like in Japan (which I know only from internet: good service and no tipping). In the past I was inconsistent in Thailand, sometimes tip, sometimes don't tip, but now changed to this to not tipping.

But how do you initiate activities? I want to get my hands on the boy's skin, so when suitable during the massage, I will touch him (shorts and sleeveless shirts are good, these traditional costumes not because there can be many layers of cloth and I don't know where to slip my hand in), then he might move indicating he doesn't like this, or ask if I want a hand job, or ask how much I will tip, all of which disturbs the flow, and anyway I would like a slow change from standard massage to erotic.

I use lube from sachets that you get in gay saunas. Wipe it off my hands after applying because I don't like wet and sticky. As for the smell, it really sticks to my skin. I wipe it off and later shower (hands wet but not particularly washing my hands), and then go out and find that my hands still smell of lube.

Not recommended. I need all my senses when walking along busy roads, and hearing what happens around me is important.

A year ago I sat through the show at BoyzBoyzBoyz and quite liked it. Yesterday 10 pm at X-Boys Pattaya was so-so, at least focused on boys and cocks (I have no interest in ladyboys, singing, dancing at all). With the B-Boys (completely new group, none of the original left as far as I remember) passing through audience collecting tips, and two of their own boys joined at the hip passing through audience collecting tips.

Yes, please continue. Highly entertaining. My favorite thread this year. A few days ago I had a boy who is overly ticklish (I knew already from our previous encounters). I will synchronize our next encounter with shaving (I shave about twice per month) and see if that solves the problem (I want to run my hands and lips all over his body).

I often had to pierce the holes in bum gun and shower head with a toothpick to remove limescale in cheaper hotels in the provinces. I neither read reviews nor book hotels, over 90% of my hotel stays are walk in. But I have a friend who is extremely fussy about hotel rooms, he even changed rooms in one night because an hour after checking in, he noticed something he didn't like.

Walking and baht-bus. The vast majority of what I do is covered by these two. I use mocy only in case of emergency because they are more dangerous (my head is the upmost and my knees are the outmost points, usually no helmet is provided) and rather expensive. After many years without using mocy in Pattaya, I used mocy Sat 05.08.2016 at around 3 am from Tamnam Isan to Tuk-Com with a friend (alone I would have walked). Cost me 150 Baht (originally he wanted 80 per person, I countered with 100 for both, then accepted 150). That's 3.1 km! For 150 Baht, I could go 15 km in a metered taxi in Bangkok. I stated destination in clear Thai, nonetheless he must have realized that I don't know prices because that is clearly too much (but an emergency situation). What do others pay?

I know the minimum amount (5000 THB) and my purchase was above it (6900 THB). The shop was in Fortune Town Rama 9. I don't know how long or on what visa you can be in Thailand to qualify for refund, but when I bought my current camera in 2014, that was not an issue. But you could accuse me of taking the phone back into Thailand. ---------- Firecat69 has a point. 10 members (most of them experienced travelers judging by their postings, not newbies or people who should get out more) have not experienced scams or thefts, but Bucky and I have multiple. I have no explanation for that (other than that Bucky and I are just more observant and intellectually superior to the scammers/thiefs and therefore noticed the scam/theft whereas the other 10 members simply didn't notice the scam/theft; but then those 10 could claim to be even more observant and intellectually superior so they didn't fall for the scam/theft in the first place).

There we go! When I bought my current mobile phone just a week before flying from Thailand to Cambodia, I was told by staff that mobile phones are exempt from VAT refund. Did they just not have the form or were to lazy to do the paperwork or were just ignorant? (This is not a scam, just a misinformation that cost me money. Similar for thefts, they are not scam, but cost me money. The common thread in thread is an avoidable loss of money due to scams, thefts, misinformation.)

The previous years there was never a discussion about time, but this year I had at least two money boys telling me they only have 1 hour time (or similar, like arriving 20:10 and telling me he has to leave 21:00). When I messaged one back that I will take him another day when he has more time, he agreed to 1h 30min. With two straight boys obviously without any previous gay experience that I managed to get into my room this year, there was talk throughout about being hungry and wanting to go eating, some appointment in 30 minutes, motorbike was borrowed from friend and has to be returned soon and so on, that I had to cut the encounter short because I don't like rushing sex and I don't like talking during sex. But at 500 Baht, I can easily write the money off (with one body I didn't even get hard because rushing and talking totally put me off) and tell them upfront if/when I meet them again what I have in mind.

Re above post: I have read that the scammers even copy the names the drivers of the company you booked hold up. But what if you paid online? Bucky's experiences are totally plausible, and I think it is rather firecat69 who has been lucky or didn't realize he was scammed or money was stolen. Now I remember two more situations: Theft of money in Sakon Nakon when I was in the shower in my friend's house. Over 4000 Baht, thief was probably the driver. This was a year ago, next time I go I might ask where the driver is and reveal the truth (at that time, I told my friend I lost the money and asked for help searching). That makes 4 confirmed thefts out of about 200 boys. I now have set up my camera in a hidden spot in my room and arranged light and angle so I can film that part of my room where I put my trousers (with wallet) when I take shower. Tested yesterday with a boy who might be a thief, but he stayed on bed reading book while I was in the shower. But I have a boy who I know is a thief because I counted before and after our previous encounter. If/when I invite him again, it will be caught on video! (Just of personal interest, I won't tell him that I know he is a thief.) On my second (?) trip to Thailand, a friend took me to ICK disco in Ramkhamhaeng 89/2 (then Singapore, then Wave, now permanently closed). I paid for drink with 1000 Baht note. My friend got drunk and disappeared (so he told me the following day when communication was resumed). I looked around for my friend and waited for change until closing time. Then I asked waiter for change, but nobody spoke English so I left without change.

A Thai friend occasionally borrows money from me (and returns most of it, but it can take long), so I told him to write down how he spends his money. About 1/3 of his income goes to his mother. In the West, we pay a similar fraction as social insurances, so it's not that different. From what I understand, the order of importance is: mother >> other familiy > friends > pet >> farang customer/boyfriend After some years of boyfriendship, farang might get a status above pet.

I just read the discussion preceding this thread (numazu warned of the broken phone scam), and now I vaguely remember having read about the following scam: someone is walking and looking at his phone (which is already broken) and deliberately runs into a tourist and drops the phone, in order to accuse the tourist of running into him. He then requests a replacement, backed up by friends of the scammer who appear as passers-by and witnessed the accident. There is/was a similar story of a woman forcing bird food on tourists to feed birds at Sanam Luang, and asking for outrageous amounts of money afterwards, backed up by friends of her.

This question brings us closer to the reasons for my total rejection of drugs. I use knives to cut things and accept the risks associated with knives. I ride cars and buses and accept the risk of accidents (even without drunk driving and speeding, there would be accidents). But my experiences with drugs (getting drunk once and being around smokers or drunks) are entirely in the negative to neutral range. Second hand smoke ranges from just annoying to tearing eyes (when there are important reasons to stay in an area with smokers, like gay disco). When I was around 18, I once got drunk. My brain remained clear, but I had physical problems (unable to walk straight). When other people are drunk, it's at best mildly amusing or entertaining, but mostly annoying. I occasionally observe glue sniffers, rather saddening and the smell is disgusting. That leads to the question: if someone provided me with a positive experience with drugs, would I change my mind? But there will be no experience at all, I wouldn't take anything because it's illegal and because I'm a chemist (I wouldn't take in substances that laymen tempered with, and I wouldn't take clean substances because if I liked it, I could make it myself*, produce more than my own consumption, and get down a slippery slope). *True only for some substances. Morphine derived drugs cannot be produced economically in the laboratory, the only viable source is poppy. Precursors for stuff than can be made in the laboratory are restricted in sale and use.