Thai ID cards + date of birth

[Guest Simon208]

Hi

 

Just a very quick few questions before my much awaited trip to Thailand.

 

From reading some information on Thailand, it would appear that the years on the Thai ID cards are different from those used in Europe.

 

My question is ..if this is the case how can I work out the age of people...do not want any trouble and want to ensure that if I meet with somebody i like he is above the age of consent...what is the age of consent

 

Thanks

[billyhouston]

To convert from Christian Era (CE) to Buddhist Era (BE) you need to add 543. 2009CE becomes 2552BE. Unless you can read the Thai months you need to make certain that your new found friend was born in 2533 or earlier. That way, irrespective of his birthday month, he will be 18 or over.

 

Enjoy!

[Gaybutton]

Billyhouston is correct about the "543 Rule." Add 543 to 2009 and you get 2552, which is the current Thai year.

 

As for the age of consent, technically it is 16 in Thailand if prostitution is not involved. However, you might have a difficult time convincing the police and the Thai courts that money did not exchange hands.

 

We always advise people to make sure your young friend is at least 18 years old. Precautions about that include making sure the boy has an ID card. Don't fall for the "I lose it" or "I leave it in my room" nonsense. If he can't produce his ID card, don't take him. Even the bar boys are required to have their ID cards available on the premises. Also, make sure the ID card actually belongs to the person showing it to you. There have been incidents in which an under-age boy borrows a friend's ID card and sometimes it can be difficult to be able to tell from the photo whether the ID card is his or not.

 

Another thing you can do is plan your stay at an established gay or gay-friendly hotel at which you know the desk staff will check the ID card before allowing the boy to enter. In Pattaya I recommend either The Ambiance or Le Café Royale. Both are in the heart of Boyztown and both will carefully scrutinize the ID card. They deal with these concerns every day.

 

If you want to go a step further, assuming this is your first trip to Thailand, feel free to post a message asking for help from those of us who live here. Several of us would be perfectly happy to send you a PM offering to personally take you around to the bars and/or have you join us at the beach and show you the ropes.

[Bob]

Good advice and information above.

All the new ID cards (mind you, many have the old one) show the birthdate in both Thai (see above) and in English (well, Arabic numbers and English months). If he has one of the new ID

cards, you don't have to worry about knowing the age. Here's an example of the new ID cards:

 

 

For the older cards, you can figure the year as noted above. The hard part is knowing the month as it is in Thai and usually abbreviated. Here's a chart to help you with that:

 

 

I can post a chart for the years if you ask for it (I have one, I just haven't updated it for 4-5 years)

 

 

[Gaybutton]

Thank you for that post, Bob. You just saved a lot of people from anxiety over the age determination problems. I'll bet a lot of people are going to print out a copy of that ID card and chart and carry it with them when they come to Thailand.

[Bob]

No problem. I made the charts about 10 years ago and have posted them many times in the past (probably on Ned's board and your old board too!).

[Guest Simon208]

Many thanks to you all for your help on this...It is greatly appreciated.

 

Simon

[Guest shockdevil]

Thanks for providing the information on Thai IDs. I always had a problem figuring them out.