PeterRS

At least it gives some idea of what goes on in Bangkok during Songkran. This is the advance official link for 2026 and not a young man in any of it! But lots of pics from previous years can be found on the web. https://www.gcircuit.com/

Of coure you are correct, but isn't that one of the reasons @jimmie50 has asked his questions here on the forum? He genuinely wants answers to a whole variety of issues - and especially the potential pitfalls. Entering any relationship has its own set of probems. Entering one with a man much younger than yourself who lives half a world away - a world and cultures you do not know much about - and clearly has a dose of his own problems relating especially to lack of a visa and the nature of his employment has quite a few more. Starting a romance should be wonderful experience. Others here have found ways around problems. But surely you first have to know what the problems are or might be?

I have never dated a Cambodian and my partner is from Myanmar having had a good education and now working legally in Thailand with a very good employer. So my comments need to be taken with a pinch of salt! First, as @jimmie50 may not be aware, it is the law in Thailand that formal identification (usually through a valid passport) be carried at all times. Naturally there are ways around this as who wants their passport stolen from them. The most common form is a photocopy with the personal details and, importantly, the date of expiry of the visa or permit to stay. Reading this forum, I cannot recall any foreigner having been asked for his identification. After 25 years of living here, I certainly have never had anyone ask. On the other hand, a foreigner needs his passport for a number of transactions. Opening a bank account (if that is actually possible - and often it is not), any bank transactions, applying for a Rabit travel card, changing money at registered money changers, registering at hotels, picking up items from a post office . . . etc. There was a huge fuss made when the British Embassies stopped issuing passports in Asia more than a decade ago. The Thai Embassy did a deal with some private enterprise which now does all the passport transactions. But passports have to be sent to the UK Passport Office in Liverpool to be officially cancelled and then renewed. So a compromise was reached whereby a UK citizen submits a copy of each page of his passport to the enterprise and an inflated fee to cover the cost of sending the copies and the appication form to the UK and a courier to send the new passport back! The estiimated time was between 10 and 12 weeks! Thanks to a lawyer friend in London, when I had to renew two years ago, I learned that if you actually reside in the UK there is also a one-day and one-week process - at extra fees - at Issuing offices in London and Glasgow. Although not living in the UK for more than four decades, I decided to take my chance. I paid for a one week passport, was treated at the office with the utmost courtesy, told there was no problem with my not residing in the UK as long as I provided a UK address. End result. The new passport was delivered to that UK address by courier 48 hours later! I have no idea about the process for US citizens, but an American friend regularly swears blue murder about it. Hopefully that information might help UK citizens living in Thailand. I raise it only because it highights an issue @jimmie50 might face unless he has several free pages in his current passport. If not, it might be advisable to get a new one before the first long stay in Thailand. And with all respect to previous contributors, if a young man with no valid papers is found by the police, whereas a decent amount of cash can usually get them to look the other way, there is no guarantee. Official overstay fees are Bt. 500 per day up to a maximum of Bt. 20,000. But - there are always 'buts' - anyone overstaying by 90+ days will also be banned from entering Thailand for one year. The ban increases by the amount of the overstay. If the overstay is five years, the ban is for ten years.

Maybe not the correct name, but they were internet sites which essentially provided identical information with pics to the apps which eventally appeared on telephones. I met several Thai guys from one in the late 1990s/early 2000s

I forgot to mention two other American expats I got to know in Thailand. Both with Thai partners. The first had been a lawyer whose Thai partner when we met was in his mid-40s and had a good job in a bank. The second had come to Thailand and was besotted with a younger bar boy. Stupidly he had not taken any contact details and so he returned specifically to try and find him. Eventually after a lengthy process they were reunited. They then rented an apartment in Bangkok where they lived together most of the time. I deliberately write "most". I knew the American and had coffee with him each month. He seemed really happy that he had given up his life in the USA. But I knew what he clearly didn't that I had learned from one of his friends, the Thai was actually married with two children.

I do hope you are correct. As i wrote earlier, I found it very difficult to cope with long distance relationships, even though I never had one with anyone who worked in the sex business. Basically out of fear - earlier I called it jealousy. If i found someone so attractive and wanted to spend all my time with him, I'd wonder who else might feel the same way when he was in his own country. And being apart for even just weeks at a time, would he being younger give into temptation? The thought that he would be spending the night with another man just nagged at me constantly - and not in a nice way. Perhaps I am just from a much older school! Most of the time that was probably stupidity on my part. But your Cam, who sounds a delighful young man, works in the sex trade. Reading the start of your post above, to be frank I cannot see any Bangkok gay bar willing to accept anyone as an employee if there is the condition "no offs". That is basically the reason for the bars. To make money through regular offs. Drinking with customers takes time, keeps a boy away from being offed by other customers and makes little profit. An off is basically pure profit. Decades ago, if an employee did not gain enough offs over a certain period, he was fired from the bar. Not sure of the situation now. I have some expat friends here in Thailand who have had relationships of well over 20 years with considerably younger Thais. Their Thai partners also did not work in the sex trade. One met through an app. Another in the disco DJ station. The first was already living in Thailand. The second in London but he soon managed to get a visa for his soon-to-be partner who then relocated to London. They will soon retire to Chiang Mai. The point is that whereas the first young Thai had his own business and did not require any financing for anything - apart from the house they had built together on the outskirts of Bangkok - the second was a student who on graduation found well-paid work. I do sugggest on your next long visit, you do not spend all your time with Cam no matter how strongly you feel about him. Go on the apps and meet up with guys who have decent jobs - even if only just for a coffee. At the very least that might reinforce your views on Cam.

A really excellent post.

I use it regularly.

Agreed. But as the No. 2 executive of a major airline stated unequivocally that it appears depending on the origin of the ticket, that has to be one reason. As hinted in the ChatGpt list.

I had heard about the possibility of the Rabbit card and the MRT cards being merged. But there was a problem in that seniors get half price on the MRT and the Skytrain was not prepared to accept that. I do have the half price card and understandably would prefer not to give it up.

Not sure of the situation now as this happened quite a few years ago. But it was the first time I had ever seen the initials on a boarding pass. On my return to Hong Kong i asked a friend who was no. 2 in Cathay Pacific. He told me it was almost certainly because the check-in staff had noticed the ticket had been issued in Bangkok which in those days was regarded as something of a security risk. It was a flight to LAX and my first flight originating in the USA.

Would Pattaya seriously be a good place for a beach experience, given that it is inhabited by generally a large number of older gay farang and you want to be primarily on your own? Thailand has great beaches elsewhere. In my view Phuket and Samui are overly expensive. Rayong might be a better bet. Further away, I always loved Khaolak about an hour north of Phuket airport - huge beaches, hotels very separated and not really a resort-type area. Eating in hotels was expensive but there were local restaurants on the beach with really good food at moderate prices. It's a bit of a hassle getting there as it is about an hour's drive north of Phuket airport, but once there there are lots of things to do. I appreciate the immigration status issue and hope there may be be some way around that eventually. The famous 'James Bond' island as featured in one of the movies Village on stilts

As an insight into Thai thinking, when the Rabbit stored value card was first issued there was a limit of Bt.4,000. Maybe the same now, I have no idea. But the reason given for having a passport copied was "to avoid money laundering!"

I wonder why it could get messy. Check-in staff and Immigration officers usually have the routing of passengers on the screens in front of them. I wrote before that once having had several stops in Europe on an RTW ticket that had actually been issued in Bangkok (where they were cheaper), I had SSS stamped in large letters on my boardng pass at LGA. The security lady then went through everything even to the point of taking belongings out of my bag and placing them on a desk so other passengers could see! I later learned that this stands for Special Security Screening and is not especially for those originating in countries the USA does not like. I did not like it, but I do not see how this gets messy. Slightly more time consuming perhaps but I still fail to understand why the USA does not accept that some passengers use their airports as transit points.

Thanks for these facts of which I was not aware, although I have noticed that what was always called the Observer now has Guardian at the top. And my apologies for omitting the link.