Gaybutton

Who's talking about whether life is fair? I'm talking about whether prices are fair. Don't you think that's just a little bit different? Like I said, I don't mind paying a fair, reasonable price beyond what Thais pay. But I mind very much when somebody is trying to rip me off. The venue owners of some of those places that try to rip-off people don't mind at all having their hands out, but if the situation was reversed and they find themselves having to pay an unreasonable price somewhere, they would be the first ones to start screaming. To me it's very simple - if you don't mind paying the price, have a good time. If you do mind, then don't go.

I agree about 90%. Dual pricing is not a "one size fits all." There some things where I would agree dual pricing is fair. Others where I think it is unfair and unacceptable. Also, I know of no standard amount or percentage more that foreigners should pay as opposed to Thais. Some of the actual amounts are fair enough. Others are my idea of price gouging and sheer greed. And sometimes I wonder just who it was who decided that dual pricing at this venue or that venue should even exist, along with how much more foreigners should be charged. Sometimes it is reasonable and sometimes it is outrageous. In short, when it is truly fair I have no problem with it. But sometimes I see it as nothing more than a scam and rip-off. When that happens I usually won't go to that venue. I'll just have to try to survive somehow without going wherever that was.

The good news is, according to a report in today's - January 4 - Pattaya Mail, restaurants outside the city part of Pattaya at least so far are ignoring the edict. The last paragraph of the article says: Full article: https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/pattaya-opens-4-free-screening-points-to-meet-covid-19-test-mandate-385101

Yes, the masks come off in restaurants. Meanwhile, up to now, how many people contracted Covid eating in restaurants? To the best of my knowledge, there have been no incidents of large or small numbers of people getting sick after eating in a restaurant. I don't recall even one person getting sick that was traced back to a restaurant. Are they basing this edict on fact and data or is the idea that eating in restaurants is dangerous something they simply made up? If it's really so risky to eat in restaurants, then why is Chonburi the only province out of all of Thailand's 77 provinces and Pattaya the only major city in all of Thailand to impose this rule? Have I missed something? Is it really more likely to get Covid in Pattaya restaurants than restaurants anywhere else in Thailand? Should we now expect other provincial governors to start saying, "What a great idea! Let's do the same here."? I have not been afraid to eat in restaurants and I see no reason to become afraid. The way some of these people drive, I'm much more afraid trying to go to and from a restaurant than I am once I get there . . . The good news is the information I'm getting is so far Pattaya restaurants have not been complying. I am hearing that people going to restaurants not only have not been asked to do the Covid test, but have not been asked to produce any kind of proof or documentation at all.

Maybe, but when I go to a restaurant the only people I might be sitting next to are the same people I went with to the restaurant. Other tables are far enough away that it shouldn't be a problem, even with masks off. Another way of looking at it - in a restaurant you might be sitting close enough to strangers, but it's the same strangers throughout most of your meal. The odds are they're not carrying Covid whereas in a grocery store you come in close contact with dozens of people. Even though it might only be a second or two, that's enough to spread Covid. When the local news publishes places where people did pick up Covid, it is always places such as grocery stores, department stores, and the like, along with labor camps. I don't recall even one that was traced back to a restaurant. Why is the face mask, hand disinfectant, and temperature check enough to enter any other venue, but not enough to eat in a restaurant? That's the part that makes no sense to me. In my opinion, going to this extreme in restaurants is both absurd and unjustified. Oh well, the powers-that-be forgot to ask my opinion . . .

If that actually happens, will you be surprised? They won't have to evacuate the city. People will leave by their own choice. I hope this won't result in massive free food lines and lost jobs yet again. This bizarre edict is on my "I Don't Get It" list. It makes no sense. Why would anyone be more likely to get Covid in a restaurant than in any other venue? I'm closer to many more people in a grocery store than I am in a restaurant. Pattaya is a tourist dependent city. What kinds of tourists will go to Pattaya and have to deal with this when they can go anywhere else - and I mean anywhere else - in Thailand and walk right into a restaurant perfectly normally? And as a local living in Pattaya, I'm not going to deal with this. I'll either do my own cooking at home or order from one of the food delivery services. This rule is going to help what? They talk about learning to live with Covid - so let us live . . .

My guess is something went wrong with the WiFi, not the board. It works perfectly for me and I have experienced no such problem.

I think most of us already know the real reason - and you got it right . . . In case nobody noticed, as far as I know not a single case of Covid, including the Omicron variant, has occurred due to any of the restaurants, bars, or even bars pretending to be restaurants being open. So, if the current governmental policies remain in place and the police are busy closing down venues, what exactly are they protecting us from?

You are not mistaken. Charlie was a nice guy, but unfortunately a very heavy drinker, which eventually had the unsurprising effect. Most nights he could be found at the Yaya bar after the Kaos bar went out of business. Charlie did have a Thai boyfriend, I believe a Chiang Mai native if I remember correctly. I have no idea what became of him after Charlie's death. He disappeared from Pattaya. He most likely ended up back on the rice farm.

I am surprised by the behavior of the boys. With so few farang currently present I would have thought they would be trying their best to entice an off or at least a drink and a tip. Apparently not. Here we are, concerned about the bars reopening. It never would have occurred to me that the boys would show such little interest. If the bars reopen and customers find that kind of attitude from the boys, then why bother to reopen at all? If I had gone to a bar and was treated like that, it would be a hell of a long time before I'd be a customer there again. If I were the owner of a bar with boys behaving like that, I would be furious. Entertaining and attracting customers - that's their job. They're not supposed to be there to goof around by themselves and virtually ignore customers. The bar owners better wake up and figure out that it is going to take much more than simply reopening to attract a profitable customer base. They better have a little chat with the boys and make sure of an attitude change - like right now.

In Thailand? Please give me about 15 minutes to finish having my little laugh. And if you really want to start laughing, that controversial health minister - the one who called us "dirty farang" announced today that he is "ready to be Thailand's next Prime Minister".

I look at it a little differently. I don't have a preference. I look at all the apps. Whichever one has the boy I like best and if he is available, that's my favorite app - for that day . . .

Police ban the appetite for booze in Jomtien’s gay street By Barry Kenyon December 11, 2021 A police raid at the Jomtien Complex, sometimes known as Super Town, has effectively closed the open-street gay bars just one week after they had reopened. It had been widely assumed that the bars were in the clear serving alcohol provided that they had obtained the SHA (Safety & Health Administration) certificate issued by government bodies. However, Pattaya police and officials from the Department of Provincial Administration, which issues licenses, pointed out that the SHA certificate covers many types of businesses including restaurants, accommodation, travel agencies, health spas, souvenir shops etc. The SHA is not in itself a go-ahead to serve booze. The other requirement is that the business is licensed to serve food and – crucially – has eating as its main income earner. Bars which serve booze as the mainstay, but offer food to customers as a sideline, are not deemed to be eligible under the Chonburi governor’s provincial edict of December 4 which specifies “restaurants”. They must also have the SHA certificate which requires a vaccinated staff, satisfactory sanitation and high-level public services. The popular Yupin’s restaurant in the Complex is an example of a fully-qualified business which can legally serve beer, wine and spirits to dining customers. Police captain Tanakit said that the bars in question were really posing as eateries to justify selling alcohol, but this was not the purpose of the provincial edict which was designed to limit the spread of Covid. If bars wished to operate, they must offer food and soft drinks only and should close by 9 pm. Making a commercial profit on this basis is a no-no, although one Complex bar has been open for coffee and cakes for several weeks already. Properly licensed restaurants with SHA certification can serve alcohol from 11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm under the provincial decree. Police added that they had received reports in the last few days that parties had been held in the offending bars until well past midnight with minimal attention paid to social distancing and mask wearing. No bar owners, staff or customers were arrested during the initial raid, but warnings were issued in clear language. The Jomtien Complex, prior to the pandemic, was the center of Pattaya’s once-famed gay scene with competitors Boyztown and Sunee Plaza already well past their prime. Police later told reporters that they were not specifically targeting gay venues, pointing out that their raids until now had been on non-gay establishments operating illegally. But bar workers in the Complex commented that a merry Christmas 2021 now seems out of the question. Government spokesmen have said that the intention is to allow night life to operate normally from mid January. But this depends on the success of the national vaccination program, the level of Covid infections and, in particular, the behavior of the Omicron virus variant. Meanwhile, Pattaya’s well-known nighteries such as Walking Street and Sexy Soi 6 remain mostly shuttered. Shaking off the resort’s ghost town image is proving very difficult indeed. https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/police-ban-the-appetite-for-booze-in-jomtiens-gay-street-382600

I walked through this evening, Saturday December 11. Dead as a doornail. Mostly dark. A couple restaurants were open. A couple massage shops were open. The only bar I saw open was @Home bar. I doubt there was a total of more than 25 boys in the entire complex.

Where did I say anything about thinking I could make a case?

That was a great experience. I'm glad you shared it with us. I really like that story.

I'm usually the same when eating, but sometimes there are things worth getting distracted for. Besides, if the boys are wearing next to nothing in the restaurant, if the food isn't any good WHO CARES . . . ?

Why not? If the waiters were clad only in underwear, guess which restaurant I'd be eating in most often . . .

Fully clothed? That's a lot of slack. And I don't know why they are fully clothed or even wearing jeans. I know of no rules that say they can't be in their briefs, as before. I remember the good ol' days when in some bars they weren't fully clothed. They were fully naked - not even the briefs. That is going back quite a number of years now, but it was true. However, for me, the boys in briefs are much more appealing than completely naked.

It does. I hope all goes well and you enjoy your time in Thailand.

The same holds true for me - as long as the boys at least are shirtless. But if they are fully clothed in jeans and also wearing shirts, I fail to see much point in going to those go-go bars where you're going to pay exorbitant prices for drinks. You might as well go to a beer bar where the boys are also fully clothed, but the drink prices are far less expensive. Also, I have never had some sort of mama-san try to pressure me in a beer bar. For me, that has happened only in go-go bars. I learned a long time ago - never buy a drink for a mama-san who sits with me, uninvited, and starts the pressure routine. I make the mama-san get lost and try it with some other customer.

I'm not surprised by that. My guess is they want to make sure, if a leg took you to a country Thailand has currently banned, that you were simply in transit and did not spend time there. Of course, if you had spent time in a banned country I doubt they would have let you board to continue on to Thailand - either that or who knows what might have happened upon arrival in Thailand. In any case, no matter what their reason was, I'm glad you made it and had a trouble-free experience upon arrival. My next question is why did you go now, before the bars and entertainment venues have opened? And now, because of the Omicron variant, they are already talking about postponing the reopenings even further. How long will you be in Thailand before returning home?

After you took the photo, how much further did that boy get . . . ?

The absurd 2pm-5pm ban on alcohol sales is still in place and apparently it also applies to restaurants, but for now I doubt any restaurant owners are complaining. I think what most of us hope is if all goes well and if the Omicron variant doesn't cause problems in Thailand, maybe they will allow the bars to reopen in mid-January after all. __________________________________________________ Pattaya and other Chonburi ‘Blue Zones’ officially allowed to sell alcohol in restaurants December 4, 2021 Chonburi the Blue Zone: Chonburi, Thailand The Chonburi Governor has released new orders through their Public Relations Facebook page this evening allowing (November 3rd) alcohol sales and drinks which are now allowed in the Chonburi ‘Blue Zone’ areas including Pattaya and Banglamung. Chonburi ‘Blue Zones’ are Banglamung, Pattaya including Koh Larn, Si Racha, Koh Sichang, and for Sattahip only in Najomtien and the Bang Saray sub-district. Only restaurants in the blue zone and with SHA certificates are allowed alcohol sales and drinks inside. Alcohol sales are allowed from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. and from 5:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. These restaurants must clearly show their certificates. Nightclubs, pubs, bars, karaoke, soapies remain closed. The order is effective NOW until further notice. The order had been in place previously for almost eight months but rising pressure from many business owners and sectors helped lift the unpopular ban. https://thepattayanews.com/2021/12/03/pattaya-and-other-chonburi-blue-zones-officially-allowed-to-sell-alcohol-in-restaurants ____________________________________________________________________________ Booze in Pattaya is still only semi-legal say police By Barry Kenyon December 4, 2021 Thailand’s favorite seaside resort has given a sigh of relief after the ban on alcohol was lifted for diners. Effective late December 3. The Chonburi governor’s office has decreed the liberalization in restaurants and cafes provided they display prominently the Safety and Health Administration Plus sticker. And you don’t need to prove you are eating a meal as you enjoy a beer. A restaurant is also a bar. The certification is only awarded to businesses – which can be souvenir shops or transport companies as well as hotels and eateries – which demonstrate they are keeping strictly to the policies of the Ministry of Health, are observing social distancing and have fully-vaccinated staff. That should include ongoing self-antigen health testing, but that detail appears to have disappeared from recent official statements. Meanwhile, local police are reminding the public at large that the new policy has restrictions. Booze can be served only from 11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm. These time restraints reflect a 1970s military junta proclamation which sought to ban afternoon intoxication and ensured you were safely in bed before midnight. The same rule was revived after the 2014 coup and still applies in supermarkets and convenience stores selling beer, spirits and wines. Nobody seems sure how many Pattaya businesses are already approved by SHA. City Hall said that all hotels registered with Thailand Pass carried the quality assurance certification, together with some other hotels and high-class restaurants. An optimistic total might be in the region of 500 local businesses. Although a flurry of applications is now expected via the SHA website, many small operators such as street vendors or small cafes simply cannot afford the registration fees or pass the stringent health requirements. The pre-Christmas announcement by the Chonburi Communicable Disease Committee was expected. The ban on the sale of alcohol in restaurants had become a farce by the end of November with many owners even allowing wine glasses and beer bottles on tables rather than faking with teapots and cups. Police checks were reserved for occasional raids on midnight parties in supposedly-padlocked clubs and private premises. Granted for two years, SHA certification can be withdrawn at any time if health inspectors discover any backsliding. For example, a vaccinated employee might be replaced by an ant-vaxxer or a cockroach might be found in the beef stew. In practice, cancellation of certificates is a rare phenomenon. Maintaining standards over time isn’t one of Thailand’s strongest points. https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/booze-in-pattaya-is-still-only-semi-legal-say-police-381588