lexusgs Posted April 11, 2010 Posted April 11, 2010 Hi Guys, I've just returned from a short trip to Thailand. My Thai guy had to attend his home town for the red/black ball lottery draw. Red ball you go black ball you don't. I wanted to show my support for him and just turned up the day before he was due to attend as a surprise. I have to say it was truly memorable experience. Anyone else done this before? Quote
Gaybutton Posted April 12, 2010 Posted April 12, 2010 Anyone else done this before? Yes. I was not there to see the red ball-black ball drawing, but I was present the day all the boys who got the red ball had to show up for induction. That was also quite an experience. Quote
atri1666 Posted April 12, 2010 Posted April 12, 2010 Yes. One of my friends from Crazy Pub went home and had luck to got the black ball. He is now back to work and is very happy. Quote
lexusgs Posted April 15, 2010 Author Posted April 15, 2010 I will keep my reply brief. My experience started a day earlier going to the temple to watch my guy have any bad luck washed away by the local monks before going to City Hall at 7am the next day for the lottery draw. Imagine 800 guys 21 yo guys in one place with all their families. Was certainly a busy place. Being the only farang was just a tad daunting! The proceedings started with the Army chief chatting away in Thai to the audience. The next thing I knew my guy stood up with one other lad and I had no clue what was going on....apart from lots of whistles from the 800 guys sat down ready to take the draw. My guy then goes to the front and calls out my name and proceeds to in English saying he needs to talk to me at the stage about something important. Needless to say I walked through the crowd being shouted and whistled at by the whole audience! Turns out that he decided to stand up and admit he was gay along with the other guy. Seemingly, this would have excluded him from taking part in the draw but would also have entailed a visit to the military hospital in BKK to check out his mental health. After taking my bow in front of around 1500 people I advised him to take the draw and stop messing about..be a man! I was then ordered to sit at the front and watch the draw take place by the mean looking Army guys! Who was I to argue?? What an experience and I was made to feel so welcome...can't really imagine that happening anywhere else in the world....My guy was around 580th out of 800 to take the draw. He got a black ball so all turned out ok... Quote
Gaybutton Posted April 15, 2010 Posted April 15, 2010 He got a black ball so all turned out ok... I'm glad it worked out. Did you see anyone get the red ball? I'm curious as to how they responded. Did they take it in stride? Did they get upset? What did you see? Quote
lexusgs Posted April 15, 2010 Author Posted April 15, 2010 GB, As I was the token farang I was given pride of place at the front of the proceedings. The senior Army guys were very welcoming and made sure I was at my guys side when he did the deed. Embarrasing slightly for me but they all thought it was a hoot. The atmosphere was great even when the guys took the red ball! Some very dissapointed faces but they all took it in their stride. Some of the guys were clearly delighted to their chance to sign up. As they were all from the same city(Burriram) most of the guys seemed to know each other, and there were a number of them going to the same Army bases together. Like I said a truly memorable experience for me. Quote
Guest cdnmatt Posted April 15, 2010 Posted April 15, 2010 If he's important to you (and doesn't want to serve), why not just give a "donation" to the military? Then he either magically ends up with a medical condition (don't go that route, as it screws his chances for working out of country in the future), or maybe he ends up magically being relocated to a different province for a couple weeks that has enough recruits already, and doesn't need to do the lottery, or, or, or... I've heard it's not expensive. Maybe 30,000 baht. Quote
lexusgs Posted April 16, 2010 Author Posted April 16, 2010 Matt, He paid his 30,000 one year ago to excuse himself :-) He was called back home 2 months ago by the fixer guy in his home town.It would seem that the army is short on recruits this year and he had to take part. He got 20,000 back from the fixer instead of his 30,000. This happened to 10 others who had paid a year ago to excuse themselves. Quote
Gaybutton Posted April 16, 2010 Posted April 16, 2010 He got 20,000 back from the fixer instead of his 30,000. This happened to 10 others Then I fail to see the point of trying to pay one's way out of it at all. What it amounted to is 10,000 baht per person was lost to this "fixer" and they still wound up having to take their chances. For all practical purposes the "fixer" profited 100,000 baht for essentially guaranteeing nothing. Quote
lexusgs Posted April 16, 2010 Author Posted April 16, 2010 GB, I agree. I realise I have not explained the whole story. My guy was guaranteed(apparently) to be out of it last year when he was 21. The military came back for him a year later. That's one of the reasons why I decided to go and support him. Just another day in Thailand and a nice tidy 100k profit. Quote
