bkkmfj2648

Spot on Keith - the Thai government(s) {past and present} almost always use this tactic. They propose some ideas (can be radical or not) and wait for the feedback to understand which way to go. Unfortunately, when they put in motion the idea to tax us who make bank transfers {inbound remittances} into Thailand as Assessable Income - there was NO pushback (because we are mostly unseen and don't have a voice) - Thailand proceeded and implemented this tax change effective 01-Jan-2024. Now the government is thinking about another tax collection idea - which is to tax our global income - income that we make outside of Thailand. Again, there seems to be NO pushback - as those mostly impacted don't seem to have a voice = non Thai citizens and some wealthy Thai citizens who have big assets outside of Thailand and prefer to remain silent due to potential exposure about said assets that create income that are out of Thailand. So, let us see what comes our way in 2025 🤔

The key to having a fresh air life here is to live OUTSIDE of Pattaya city. I live in Dongtan beach at Jomtien = fresh air every day.

it's a suspenseful cliff hanger 😮

They truly need to upscale their money sash garlands. These are so popular all over Thailand you can even order money garland kits from Lazada or Shopee.

@jason1975 great story about your Chess pickup strategy. I love it. It is subtle, sweet, and intelligent. Jason, have you ever seen the 2015 Thai gay film = How to Win at Checkers {Every Time} ? I believe that the Thai people knew the film as "My Hero" instead of the long film name in English. I know that this film is partly about checkers, instead of chess - but I saw from your current ongoing trip report that you often go to see a movie during the afternoon - so I wanted to bring this gay film to your attention. It sheds some light on many Thai cultural traditions (both positive and negative). I truly enjoyed this film. You can watch film for free on Daily Motion at : Enjoy.

For many months now I have been reading article after article on the many ways that this current new Thai government is trying to find ways to increase tax revenue. In my 2 years and 4 months of living here - I have not seen such fervor by the government to do so. Is there something awful in the background lurking for this urgency? The only thing that I can think about is perhaps the almost 3 years of closure due to the Covid epidemic had more serious negative impact to the Thailand financial resources that the current government appears to be desperately trying to fill that financial hole ? But the Thai baht continues to remain strong so it does not make sense all of this new urgency to increase taxes in many areas (VAT, real estate, NIT, tax us foreigners on incoming bank transfers, etc.). thoughts ?

Yes, add me to that list. Pattaya and Jomtien as a paradise ... as a tourist ... heavily influenced my decision to retire here. But the reality of living here is not a paradise ... My original plan was to retire in Italy (as I also have an Italian passport). But some years back on the gay Roman beach I saw some situations that turned me off of that idea to retire in Italy. The elderly retired gay Italians on the gay beach are often despised by the non-elderly gays. On some occasions, I saw with my own eyes old retirees who had sand kicked on them when they tried to strike up a conversation with the other younger gay Italians. After I saw those incidents - I remembered that I NEVER saw this type of behavior in Thailand - especially at the gay Dongtan beach here in Jomtien. The elderly are very welcome. So, I guess our retirement locations have good and bad. For me, living here is too transactional - but I would rather have that problem than having sand kicked on me because I am old and the young gays despise us gay elders - because their hostility towards us is their own fear of getting old.

You made my day @Olddaddy Too many of the expats here (Pattaya / Jomtien) forgot how to have fun, stay healthy, and create a positive attitude. Dancing is good for your health and morale. Sitting in those bar chairs night after night with the standard uninnovative and unexciting bar manager mantra of "farang sit and farang drink" is just SO boring. @Olddaddy please open a cool fun dance place in Jomtien. I know many of the readership prefer Bangkok - but there is no sea to look at and the air is so much fresher and healthier out here at the seaside.

Thanks for the trip tips. On my first trip to Vietnam (2019) I went on a tour of the Chu Chi Tunnels and 1 time was enough for me. In the part of those tiny tunnels (built for a small Vietnamese body structure) I got stuck (wedged in between the low ceiling and floor) and I lost site of my tour group in the tunnel. I started to freak out (heart racing, sweating) but I forced myself to stay calm. Once I calmed down, I slowly managed to free myself and advance myself in the tunnel like a snake towards the opening where the rest of the tour group was and when I tried to stand up in the underground bunker I fainted and passed out. The tour guide and some of the tourists got me to lay down flat and gave me some sweet drink and then I was fine. At that juncture, I exited the tunnel system and my tour group continued. Later on at lunch, many jokes were sent my way, where one Asian guy said to me - well the Vietcong built these tunnels to keep the Americans out and today we saw that it was very effective. We all had a good laugh, as I was the only person from the USA in our tour group.

If you live here in Thailand as a retiree - you need to worry about the "stamp in the passport" - as us retirees have a Thailand chore to perform every 90 days - to show our face and to report where we live to immigration. They take your passport and flip through the pages (analyzing if you had any in and outs) to see if you violated the 90 day reporting requirement. Without the stamp in your passport (because of the above mentioned scan automation) how can you prove to immigration if their records do not agree with your records to avoid that you are fined if their is a discrepancy in the 90 day reporting requirement ? I will fly to The Philippines later this month - so, I will try to see if I can opt for a manual stamp on exit.

Spot on @Min It is all about raising their status in a very nice way that is great for the bar, his colleagues, and you - as in the Thai culture, everyone will remember you as Mr. Jai dii.

wow - again I truly enjoy your reporting style - as it is very engaging. I will keep these notes with me as I will go to Vietnam next year for 4 to 5 months. I will be based in Da Nang - but from your report, I see that a trip to Saigon may be in order. Thanks 🤩

@colom-bien Excellent trip report. I love your writing style - it keeps you engaged eager to hear the next words and/or segment. Bravo!! I loved the part where you mention that you keep meeting Laos guys and no Thai guys. I find this ironic, because recently the Thai government decided to raid some of the bars where one of the justifications was that the raid would protect the jobs that were raided for the Thais. But, as you saw, there were hardly any Thais to do said work. So, it Thailand wants to continue to have a vibrant tourist industry they should embrace the guys who are willing to come from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia to do the work that fewer and fewer Thais want to do.

Please take the time (30 pages) to read the below hyperlinked report as it is dear to my former employer regarding the downside of this type of work and its potential linkages with human traffiking. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol2/iss4/10/ I already wrote about this in another thread at: I post it again to raise our sensitivity towards the plights of our guys that we encounter. obviously, not everyone suffers from what is reported in this well written report - but do we really know the background history of the guys that we off?

I completely understand this - especially if you see the guy that you have invested a lot of time and emotion (and 🤑) sitting and/or being offed by someone you know - it is very uncomfortable. These are the dangers of getting emotionally intertwined with the local MBs. When I was a tourist, it was easier, because there was a near "safety" expiration end date, when I would be on the airplane back to my home country - and consequently, my eyes would not be exposed to any of this based on the old adage: This is the disadvantage of living here - as there is no escape like when we were a tourist.

@Min I love these intimate updates as they give back the lost hope that living in Pattaya has become too transactional. It is nice to hear and learn first hand that traditional real love still does exist here.

Many of the English publications for us foreign consumption often leave out critical trends and important news tidbits about what is really going on behind the scenes in Thailand's plans for taxation, reforms, and new legislation, all shortly on the near horizon. If you already live here full time - you really don't want any last minute surprises to rear their ugly head and you don't have time to react and to make an alternate plan. Proper planning takes a lot of time and energy - ESPECIALLY - if it would mean to vacate Thailand - so better to start early than to wait until it is too late. I found this Thai article, published by www.prachachat.net to be VERY comprehensive about the plans and goals of the current Thai Finance Minister about taxation: https://www.prachachat.net/finance/news-1708405 Take the time to translate it and you will be very informed and it will allow you to see the clear direction that this new Thai government wishes to undertake. A few important excerpts (already translated with Google Chrome right click feature):

As a hopeless romantic, I love what you wrote above. I wish you and J all the BEST!!

For me - prices don't change - as I pay the same price for all 12 months. I only pay premium pricing for: those visiting from BKK who may command a higher price, those who are foreigners visiting from far away places (outside of South East Asia) - who tend to command a higher price For your second point, I yield on my regulars if they strike luck with a tourist and/or seasonal who is willing to pay much more. I am genuinely happy for them to get this type of additional business - because if they are smart, they will save this windfall for the dreaded low season.

@Min this is an excellent story and I have also encountered this type of thinking. I think that these guys who are new to Pattaya and move here from more luxuriously priced markets (Bangkok and/or Phuket) did not do their market research and consequently don't get any (or very few offs) because they hold onto their previous market rates. Usually 1 of 2 things happens: They adjust their rates to Pattaya rates, They leave Pattaya. As I highlighted in your above comment - the low season will force his hand when on many nights the Jomtien Complex can be like a ghost town - where the 2 things that are missing are; the tumbleweed, and the punters (potential customers).

Thank you for confirming this. The problem in this gayguides.com forum is that the majority of the readership are what I label as: seasonals - they live here for part of the year for 4 to 5 months, tourists - people on vacation who stay for a maximum of a couple of weeks. Generally, the above mentioned groups cannot sympathize with what it is like to live here FULL-TIME and consequently, cannot relate or sympathize with the struggle that us who live here full time, in both the low and high seasons, experience on a day to day basis. I am also guilty. For many many years, I was in the above mentioned tourist category, and the fact that almost everything here is transactional did not bother me because it was such good value for money when compared with my originating home country. It never occurred to me that this required transactional nature would grate on me later in my life when I would eventually live here as a full time retiree - and this has unfortunately been an unpleasant trade-off discovery. A good Thai friend of mine - she told me last month that she thinks that if I did not live in Pattaya (a very transactional type of city) that I would be better off. The problem is to discover where? Hua Hin ? Koh Samui ? Chiang Mai ?

Wow - I am so happy to hear this news about how the past was less transactional. If only we could have these types of places now in 2024. The transactional nature of 90% of the places and guys on offer in existence today, renders the experience to be depressing. When I was a tourist and an occassional visitor --> I loved it. Now that I live here full time I find that it is a big turnoff.

Nice summary of your stay in JC. I truly enjoyed Loy Krathong - it is my favorite Thai Buddhist holiday and I totally embrace it. I spent the evening on the Dongtan beach (directly in front of where all of those ladies do their daily aerobics) with my gym trainer and her Esaan friends. We sat down on a beach mat on the sand and drank together and then eventually launched our Krathongs into the sea after saying our prayers and then afterwards we then launched our floating fire lanterns into the sky - it was truly breathtaking to see the Jomtien sky full of illuminated lanterns all over the sea. I often wondered where did all of those floating lanterns end up. Well, the next morning while walking to the gym I found many of them on the ground within the VT complex where I live and even on the busy Thappraya road - so they do get quite far from the sea where they are launched. Please remember that in March - it will already be starting the beginning of the wind down from high season - and this is when the guys start to become more desperate - due to the lack of customers. Yes, there are us who live here full time - but there are not enough of us full-timers to support the massive number of guys who are looking to fill their wallets with Thai baht for food + rent. There is a temporary economic upward blip - during the Songkran week in mid April and then it crashes downward until late October when all of you part-time vacationers start to return to help with the filling of the local Thai wallets for food + rent. If you want to see the JC guys at their happiest - then it is usually during the high season.

@Olddaddy - well the owner of the Jomtien Gym Fitness Center must have heard your above request. This morning when I arrived at the gym (day 2 in the new location), there were a massive number of additional NEW dumbbells. As you can see from the below 2 photos taken this morning the increase in dumbbells is over 200% with an emphasis on the more larger (heavier) size. I am really liking the new space as it is located in the former 2nd floor of the Giant Octopus restaurant, where the gym is in the upper floor in a huge vast space that is also 200% bigger than the former space in the Skypark Lucean showroom. The BEST part of this new gym is that it is directly on Jomtien Beach Road meters from the sea. When you are doing your cardio you have an awesome view of the beach and sea. In the former gym, you had a view onto the south bound traffic lanes of Jomtien Second Road. In addition, the owner probably added an additional 100% in new weight machines. So, this new relocated gym has a lot of future potential. I need to correct some above reported information: The gym owner was paying 95,000 baht monthly for the former space (I had previously incorrectly reported 100,000 baht), The gym owner is now paying 200,000 baht monthly for this new space - which includes 2 large floors - where the gym is on the upper floor and in the lower floor is the former Giant Octopus restaurant space - which for now is empty - but gym rumors report that the owner will reopen the restaurant with a new name. Additional photos: Looking from the back of the gym free weight area towards the main entrance and front desk. Looking from the front main desk area towards the cardio area with the sea view

After watching my mother from afar waste away from dementia in her last years in a super expensive ($8,000 to $9,000 USD) assisted living home - I definitely do not want to finish that way. So, for a lot less money, I would prefer to waste away my last years living in a condo with some cute Thai guys who would take care of me and make those last years fun.