Gaybutton

Sorry, but that's utter nonsense. How stupid do you think the police are? This kid tried to set fire to a motorcycle. Maybe you think the police are going to play games when it comes to arson, but I don't. If he had done that to me, you can bet your bottom dollar I would have taken it to the police. My friend, if you're going to let some idiotic kid intimidate you when he is the one out there committing crimes, that's your business. I wouldn't think twice about it and yes, I would be right back in Sunee Plaza the next night with no fears or qualms whatsoever. I will agree that it would be better handled Thai-to-Thai, but since it didn't happen that way, you won't find me looking the other way for fear of it backfiring on me. Your assumptions about what I really think are dead wrong.

The following appears in PATTAYA ONE: _____

Since when? "I came for the waters." -Humphrey Bogart, 'Casablanca'

I would like someone to explain, step-by-step and very clearly, how to use CamFrog. I can't figure out how to chat with anyone. Nothing I try works. I can send messages to the main screen, but how do you start a chat with a specific user? "Explain it to me, like I'm a four-year old." -Denzel Washington, 'Philadelphia'

400 baht for an off? 150 baht for the boy's drink, which is usually a soft drink? If that's the case, maybe the bar ought to be renamed "Greedy Bar." Happy Bar used to be one of my favorites. At those prices why go there at all? There are one or two other bars in the vicinity. If this guy is going to charge prices like that, he may very well be pricing himself right out of the market. A drink for the boy, your own drink, and the 150 baht fee to go upstairs and you can already kiss at least 700 baht goodbye before you even think about tipping the boy or having a second drink. Those boys would have to be very, very special to get me to pay him those kinds of prices.

You are probably thinking of the new spa-massage-restaurant that just opened across from Monty's. I haven't been in there yet and the name escapes me, but Duo is still where it always was and is open.

I see. Well, good! I'm glad it turns out you are a resident. As far as seeing how the gay scene is doing in Pattaya is concerned, you sure found out! So, now you will return to 'normal' Bangkok. I've heard many adjectives applied to Bangkok, but 'normal' - that's a first. In any case, I hope 'abnormal' Pattaya sees you again very soon. This thread and your posts are among my all time favorites. Any time you want do create a similar thread about your exploits in Bangkok, I hope you will.

One thing I've given up on is trying to predict what the exchange rates will be or in what direction they'll move. Over the years I've read what the Bank of Thailand has had to say. I've read what leading economists have had to say. I read what armchair economists have had to say. I'm still waiting for any of them to turn out to be right.

Bob, now I know you know better than to compare the way things work in the USA to the way things work in Thailand. That's just like the old apples and oranges cliche. Certainly tipping is appropriate in Thai restaurants, but the amounts are different and unless a 'service charge' is included in the bill, percentage has nothing to do with the expected tip amounts. I think z909 is mistaken when he says, "I prefer the traditional Asian culture of the service being in the price & no tips . . ." I don't know where he is getting that idea from, but that definitely has not been my experience.

What?!?!? And you're not going to post the final chapter of your saga? You can't do that. When you arrive back home, you've got to tell us about your final day for this trip, especially since you were already at it while most of us in Thailand were still asleep. There's bound to be two or three more, at least, during your last day and I'll bet you'll have "one for the road" just before you leave for the airport. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you take a young gentleman to the airport with you so that you can get one last bit of 'entertainment' in the back of the taxi on the way. I'm sorry you're leaving. You're probably even more sorry, but I have a feeling you'll be back . . . as soon as possible. When will you return? Only last night I was having dinner with some friends and you were very much the subject of our conversation. We would love to have met you, but you never came up for air long enough for that to happen . I think a great many of us already look forward to your next trip and your next set of reports almost as much as you are looking forward to it. You didn't even need Viagra. It's almost a shame you didn't need it. You could have been their poster boy. Well, you still have the rest of today left. You'll probably have more today alone than many stuck in their home countries get in a month, if even that often. I think your posts have done more to attract gay travelers to come here than ten years worth of advertising could possibly have done.

Why didn't your friend call the police?

Thank you. That's the important thing to know. The reasons are kind of a moot point now. If it does reopen at some point, let us know.

I don't know whether you have time to kill, or the way you're spending your time is going to kill you . . . I'm worn out just reading your reports.

Come on, HeyGay. That doesn't tell us much of anything. The question is whether they are closed temporarily of permanently. If you know, please tell us. If you don't know, but can find out, please tel us once you do know.

I can hardly believe it! With all of your adventures, you still actually have time to kill too? How do you do it????

Maybe LMTU, with all that talent, can stick to the subject and find out for us and let us know the status of Cat's Place, and whether it is closed only temporarily or has gone completely out of business. I fail to see what the hamburgers at Niddy's Nook or Monty's has to do with Cat's Place closing up, but I guess I just don't see things the same way some people do. Meanwhile, giving credit where it's due, LMTU does manage to come up with good bar information. Maybe he can come through with information about Cat's Place too. If you had never been there, their web site is still online, with plenty of photos: http://phuleamkham.blogspot.com

Meanwhile, I've been on that section of road a couple times within the past several days. Maybe they have a crew of invisible men and invisible machinery doing the work, but if anybody is there doing any work at all, I missed it.

Google Translate usually yields incomprehensible gibberish, but it will at least tell you accurately where the boy is located. Most seem to be located in Bangkok. Also, if the boy has written his telephone number in Thai, Google Translate is usually accurate about that as well.

If you are talking about the Gboysiam site, you don't need to be registered. I'm not registered. Just click on the guy's photo and the info you need to make contact will pop up on a separate page.

It can't hurt to try. I would think the Tawan Bar would be a good place to start. If you don't see the guy you want, ask the mama-san. They always know who to call. As long as you're willing for money to exchange hands, I doubt you'll have any trouble finding just what you want. You probably won't even need those translations.

That's strange. It hasn't been blocked in Pattaya and a hell of a lot of the personals posted on that site are from boys living in Bangkok and posting their ads from Bangkok. I also have not heard of any criminal cases being brought against that site or any of the other personals sites. I have a feeling you are the victim of a hacker, not an official site blocking.

I don't see why. Everyone knows that sometimes bars advertise free parties and free buffets for all comers. I see no reason in the world to feel uncomfortable about going if you wish. I believe it is incumbent upon the bar to make it clear whether the public is invited or whether it is a private party. The bars would have to be idiots not to realize that without something to indicate whether the affair is public or private, then people are going to be confused. In any case, if the bar is hosting a party, then I think it is their responsibility to make it clear who the party is for.

I'm sorry it would overload your brain. It wouldn't overload mine and under those circumstances I doubt I would care about who did or did not change their user names. The point I am trying to make is that finding hookups online, and finding them quickly, is rarely a problem. If it's a boy you have never met before, it's just about the same as taking a boy off from a bar who you have never taken off before. You don't know what you're going to get. I also don't know why you keep harping about Gay Romeo. I keep saying it's a good hookup site, but it isn't the only hookup site. Another good site is Gboysiam ( http://www.gboysiam.com/picpost ). Many of the boys who post personals on that site include their telephone numbers. I never call them directly. I send a text message first. If they're interested, they get back to me very quickly. Then we talk. There are several more good hookup sites too. If a boy has changed his user name on that site or on Gay Romeo, so what? I've already said there is not necessarily anything sinister in that. Many do that just to cause them to appear as new users and, hopefuly, have a better chance at getting responses. I don't even recall seeing a boy change his user name because of negative comments in his guestbook. If anything, they just lock their guestbook. In an unfamiliar city or small town where there are no gay venues, I can spend time trying to find hookups on my own (and that's usually easy to do). I can also get online and find hookups that way. It's a matter of personal preference. Less than two months ago I was traveling in Issan. One of my stops was in a rural town out in the middle of nowhere. I stopped there to visit a boy I had become friendly with in Pattaya. He had since moved back home. While I was there, he and some of his friends took me to a waterfall, about 30 miles from the town. Even out there, where I may be one of the few farang ever to go there, not one, but two boys came on to me. I could easily have had either one of them (and both were my type too!). All it takes is eye contact and a smile. The only reason I didn't do anything more than chat and flirt was because I was already with the boy I had come to visit. Anyone who has seen me already knows my looks would have to improve just to look terrible, and yet I never have problems finding a hookup. And often enough, it's a hookup who will not accept money even when I offer it. They never seem to mind having me pay for everything we do, but quite often they make it quite clear they are not money boys. If it works for me, rest assured it can work for just about anybody. So, you really do have a choice. You can go out boy hunting or you can get online. Either way seems to work just fine.

That is why I said, "Those of you who can, but don't, you're on my "I Don't Get It" list." If you can't, you can't. I was talking about those who can.

How on earth do you know what a tourist is likely or unlikely to do? If it were me, that's exactly what I would do, and I wouldn't necessarily limit myself to Gay Romeo. Gay Romeo is hardly the only personals site. All anyone would need to do is go into any internet cafe and get online. When I've traveled to other Thai cities I've done that and often within minutes have easily arranged meeting a new 'friend.'