Gaybutton

"Dame Gaybutton" couldn't care less. People seem to think this is my web site. It isn't. I'm only a moderator on the message board. The rest of the web site has nothing to do with me. I don't particularly care for porn, but I also have nothing against it as long as there is no kiddie porn of any kind.

It states as follows: Dear Sir/Madam: This is to affirm that ______, an American Citizen, born on ______, at ______, is the holder of U.S. Passport number ______, issued at ______ on ______ and which expires on ______. He/she affirms that he/she receives in amount of US$______ every month from the United States Government and/or other sources. He/she is applying for an extension of a current Thai visa and any assistance you can provide in this request will be greatly appreciated. ________________________________ You fill in the blanks and the embassy notarizes it. The letter simply states that the person involved is affirming his income. It doesn't say anything about verification. In other words, anyone can get the letter and state any amount they want. The embassy is only notarizing the fact that this is what you stated. The whole thing seems ridiculous to me, but that's what Thailand requires in lieu of producing a Thai bank account that holds a minimum of US $20,000 for three months. It's just one more thing on my "I don't get it" list. The best part is the embassy charges 1200 baht for that letter.

Further details are now available in this week's PATTAYA MAIL. See: http://www.pattayamail.com/current/news.shtml#hd11 for details.

So far I haven't spotted anything about it in the local media. Maybe tomorrow . . .

One of the most "massive" raids ever took place last night at Sunee Plaza. The following is an eyewitness account from someone who was there, but wishes to remain anonymous: _____ About 22:00 on May 9, a huge raid was conducted in Sunee Plaza by uniformed Pattaya Police accompanied by army and navy personnel. Swooping from all three entrances to Sunee Pllaza, police went to each bar and required that all the bars' staff come to a meeting point in the soi in front of the Sunee Plaza bar("plastic chairs"). There must have been about 50 law enforcement officials herding over 100 bar employees. Police collected ID cards at their temporary "office" located at the picnic tables on the terrace of the Don Plaza Hotel. Urine samples were collected in the Corner Bar's bathroom and tested using the bar's pool table as a makeshift lab. Several TV cameras were present. In addition, the head official of the Banglamung licensing office led inspections of bars to check on their licenses. The number of young men that were arrested is unknown at this time. However, there were about six that appeared to have failed their initial pee test. The raid was finished about 23:30. No farang were bothered.

Trongpai is correct. At the US embassy you don't need to supply anything. I'll never forget the first time I went to the embassy. I was armed with a stack of documentation to prove my income. When I started to hand it over to the clerk, she stopped me and wasn't interested at all. She said she doesn't need any of that. They just take your word for it. Ok . . . I have no idea what the requirements are at embassies other than the US embassy, but a phone call to your country's embassy should answer that question. To answer Trongpai's question, the immigration police want both the bank passbook, preferably updated the same day you go to apply for the visa, and the letter from the bank. I have also heard they no longer require a medical certificate, but I'll take one anyway. My boyfriend recently needed a medical certificate. Any of the local clinics can supply one. We went to one near my home to get one for him. All he did was walk in and ask for it. He never even saw the doctor. The cashier simply handed one right over to him. We were in and out of that clinic in about 20 seconds. Apparently all that particular clinic required was that you have to actually be alive. The fee was 50 baht . . . Welcome to Thailand.

Many of you may be familiar with my article, "How to Obtain the Retirement Visa." If you would like to have it, please feel free to send an E-mail to me at gaybutton@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send you a copy. As many of you know, one of the ways to get the visa includes a letter from your embassy verifying your monthly retirement income. I have not yet had a chance to personally check this, but yesterday I was told by someone who holds the retirement visa that it is not , repeat not, necessary to obtain a new letter each year when you are about to apply for a new visa. According to his information, the original letter is valid until your passport expires. I hope that's correct. It would save a trip to Bangkok, going to the embassy at those terrible hours (The US embassy is open from 7:30 AM to 11:00 AM and then again from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM), and paying them the 1200 baht fee they require to issue the letter. If anyone has a chance to check this and verify the information before I have a chance to do it myself, please post what you are able to find out.

One of the things I always recommend to people who are taking strangers to their rooms is to have the desk clerk check the person's ID card and hold it until an "all clear" is received from the "farang" and the person leaves. I would still recommend that, but it may not be enough. Anyone reading the news in Pattaya is well aware that crime has been steadily on the increase. I've been reading more and more stories in which the "farang" does take that precaution and yet he still becomes a victim of theft, even when the hotel has made a copy of the criminal's ID card. In virtually every case, the "farang" has left money, mobile phones, cameras, or other valuables in plain sight. Apparently that is often too much of a temptation for would-be thieves, despite the ID card being left at the front desk. The thing to do is make sure there are no valuables accessible at all. Lock them in the room safe or leave them in the hotel safe. No matter how sweet and innocent looking the person you take to your room may be, it is a very risky mistake to have valuables accessible. The same people who become victims of these crimes probably are also reading these news items, and yet they still leave valuables in plain sight and then wonder why they became a victim. Most of the time the theft occurs when the "farang" is either in the bathroom or asleep. I know that many "farang" want the Thai boy to spend the night with them, but I don't recommend it. Until you really get to know the boy, I recommend short-time only. In other words, my recommendation is to do whatever it is you brought him to your room to do, give him his tip, and then send him home. It's sad to have to make such a recommendation, but that's the safest thing to do.

The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS (Click the link for photos: http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_07_05_50_2.htm ): _____ English Man Arrested by Tourist Police Accused of Conducting Lewd Acts with Minors Police Colonel Choochart, the acting Commander of Tourist Police in Thailand led this press conference at the Tourist Police Station in South Pattaya on Sunday Afternoon which announced the arrest of an English National accused of conducting lewd acts with minors. Acting on an arrest warrant issued earlier in the week, the suspect was arrested at house number 51/27 in Soi Nong Yai in Banglamung. The warrant number 502/2550 dated 5th May stated that the suspect was alleged to have conducted sexual acts with three boys aged between 12 and 17. All three boys were found inside the house at the time of the arrest. At the Police Station, Mr. Richard Jeremy Morrish aged 66 originally from Sunderland in UK confessed to taking in the three boys after a request from their parents to support them through school. A laptop containing sexually explicit images of the boys was found along with pictures around the house. Mr. Morrish, a former teacher here in Thailand who is now living on a retirement visa denied all allegations and is now being held at Banglamung Police Station after bail was refused. The initial complaint came after one of the boys was caught glue sniffing and was told to leave the house by the suspect. The British Embassy in Bangkok is aware of the case and is arranging legal representation for Mr. Morrish.

Six

Most of these arrests I read about are not arrests stemming from someone taking an under-age boy "off" from a bar. Most of these arrests seem to occur with local "farang" residents who make "arrangements" in their own neighborhoods. The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Briton Arrested for Alleged Child Molestation Chonburi - A 66-year-old former English teacher was arrested Sunday for allegedly molesting two underage boys. Acting tourist police chief Pol. Col Chuchart Suwannakhom told a press conference that Morrish Richard Jeremy was arrested for having sex with a 12-year-old boy and 14-year-old boy and took their pictures. Chuchart said police found a lot of pornographic pictures of boys in the Briton's notebook computer. The Briton was arrested at his rented house in Chonburi's Banglamung district. Chuchart said the man adopted the two boys from their parents, promising to be their stepfather but later sexually abusing them by having them. The Nation

A few days ago the police launched a raid against the pirate software and DVD vendors at Tuk Com. The following appeared in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: _____ 1.5 Million Baht raid of Tuk.Com IT Center in South Pattaya It is widely known that the Tuk.Com IT Center located on the South Pattaya Road sells copies of well known Audio CD’s and DVD Movies on the 4th Floor. The vendors run the risk of arrest and confiscation of the CD’s on a daily basis and we have reported on raids by Police at the Center on many occasions. This is one such raid conducted by Police Lieutenant Colonel Santi from Pattaya Police Station who conducted a raid of around 30 shops on the 4th Floor of the Center on Wednesday Night. On this occasion no vendors could be arrested as they were able to escape before the Police arrived. The Police entered each unattended shop and confiscated over 10,000 CD’s, VCD’s and DVD’s worth an estimated 1.5 Million Baht. The Police will conduct further investigations into the sale of these items at the Center and will attempt to locate and arrest the vendors as soon as they can. _____ Today I was in Tuk Com. Out of curiosity I went to the fourth floor. Lo and behold, every one of the vendors was back in business, fully stocked. Welcome to Thailand, y'all.

http://www.mosaikpattaya.com

I'm beginning to wonder if there actually are any professionals in Pattaya who know what they're doing. Of course, they might be highly professional . . . get paid big bucks to do the road work, but use cheap, inferior products with which to do the work, hire uneducated, unskilled workers, make a bundle, and to hell with the rest.

My guess is they are already as well aware of it as the rest of us. Why nothing much is done to relieve the problems is anybody's guess. Maybe they don't go down that street often enough for the problems to affect them personally. My guess is that if it did affect them personally the problems would be resolved within a week.

Locals and holiday travelers have been plagued for nearly a year now as the city has torn up roads (yet again) to install new, supposedly high capacity drainage pipes. For many years, whenever there are heavy rains, much of Pattaya floods because the current drainage system cannot even begin to cope. Lord only knows what is coming up out of those backed up pipes. As a result, there are heavy traffic jams while homes, shops, and streets get flooded out. Of course, major pothole problems occur during and after each each set of rains because of the shoddy work that went into building the roads in the first place, and even shoddier work in repairing the potholes. During every rain, it's still the same streets that flood. At this very moment, many of Pattaya's most heavily trafficked roads are already torn up while the new drainage pipes are being installed. The current rains only add to an already present and persistent problem. I probably don't even have to tell you that the roads and areas in which the new drainage pipes have already been installed were among the first to flood out during the heavy rains of the past few days. Most of the time, the Thai people just live with it and don't make a lot of noise about it. But now, even they have had enough. The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: (see http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_04_05_50.htm for photos) _____ Anger as Floods Return to Pattaya Despite New Drainage Pipes Installed by City Hall After four days of almost non-stop rain, Pattaya is clearly suffering as many areas are suffering from flooding. We were out around the City on Friday Night and saw for ourselves the surface water present in many areas as the cities recently modified drainage system clearly cannot cope and pipes blocked with sand and waste have not been cleared on a regular basis as promised by City Hall. Areas experiencing the worst floods were Soi Beokeow, Tepprasit Road in Jomtien, Soi Arunothai in Central Pattaya and the North end of Pattaya Third Road. The Pattaya City Call Center Number 1337 has been inundated with calls from residents complaining about the flood water and demanding immediate action from City Hall. According to weather reports, the rainstorms are now over for now allowing City Hall to survey the City and ask themselves why the Millions of Baht spend on new drainage pipes has clearly not made a difference.

An E-mail from a friend reminded me that it's been a long time since I wrote about Rhonda, of Norcross Travel. Many traveling to Thailand from the USA may not have heard of her and end up paying much more than necessary for airfare. I used Rhonda for my flights to Thailand for many years and she was always able to get airfares hundreds of dollars less than any other source I was ever able to find. She specializes in travel to Thailand. I suggest first trying to find the lowest airfares you can, but contacting Rhonda before you commit to anything. She'll probably be able to beat the price, and beat it by several hundred dollars. The toll free number for Norcross Travel is 1-888-888-7157. Make sure to specifically ask to speak to Rhonda. Also, if you want to be assured of getting flier miles, let Rhonda know that. Sometimes I took the lowest airfare she was able to get, but the fare did not include the miles. It may cost a little more, but the flier miles are worth a few extra bucks.

The PGF dinner was absolutely fabulous! "Madame Jim" did a marvelously entertaining job as Master of Ceremonies, as he always does. Bruno's was packed and many familiar faces were there, including Richard Burk, of the Amor Restaurant ( see http://www.amorrestaurant.com ), the owner of Café New Orleans (please forgive me - I just can't remember his name - - Alzheimer's) (see http://www.cafeneworleans.info ), Boxer of Boxer Travels (see http://www.boxertravels.net ), Mr. Graham of Sticky Rice magazine (see http://www.stickyrice.ws ), Rob Astbury, Gaypattayan, and others. The food was just excellent (see the menu in the post above). Fredi pulled out all the stops for this one and everything was delicious, cooked to perfection, and elegantly served by his wonderful staff. Wonderful prizes had been donated for the raffle, ranging from bottles of liquor to furniture to dinner vouchers at the Amor, Café New Orleans, and Bruno's. The top prize was a diamond ring, worth 56,000 baht, donated by Honest Gems. A great deal of money was raised, not only from the raffle, but also from very generous personal donations, both from many personally present and many who were not able to attend. The next PGF dinner will be at the Balcony Restaurant in North Pattaya. If you are fortunate enough to be in Pattaya when these events are held, try to be there for them. They are always wonderful, unforgettable evenings, and last night was no exception. It was one of the best ones yet.

For what it is worth, for reasons I don't understand this sort of thing happens when switching servers. When I had my own board, my web host company used to regularly screw things up. It seemed like once every six months or so they would switch servers and quite a number of messages went missing. Even backups failed to restore them. Some may remember the time when the entire message board disappeared and the whole thing had to be started all over again. It was quite frustrating, but there it is. It happens. The best anyone can do under the circumstances is to re-post any messages they felt were important, but are now missing. Try as he might, I don't think Stef will be able to restore any that are still missing. Those messages now reside in the Internet Twilight Zone.

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ NZ Telecom Denies Right to be Gay Wellington (dpa) - A woman's email to Telecom New Zealand's help-desk was rejected because the company's filter system found her name, Gay, "inappropriate for business-like communication," a newspaper reported on Sunday. Gay Hamilton, of Nelson, admitted that she did happen to be gay but was concerned that the country's biggest public company had spent time and resources deciding that the word was offensive, the Herald on Sunday reported. "If they do have to put content filters on, then maybe they should ensure that it only gets genuinely abusive words," she told the paper. Telecom's automated reply to her email said the message "was identified by our content filtering processes as containing language that may be considered inappropriate for business-like communication." It confirmed that the offending word was "gay". Public relations spokesman Lenska Papich said the response was triggered by Telecom's internal email monitoring system, which exists to "prevent misuse of email technologies in the workplace and act as a deterrent to harassment. "Our systems internally detect a number of words, including both the words gay and heterosexual, that could be deemed as inappropriate for use at work," she said.

Wowpow, if you have not already done so, I suggest sending a PM directly to Stef. He'll receive an E-mail letting him know he has a PM waiting and he'll become aware of the problem much faster that way. Stef is the one who handles the technical problems.

You should also delete the cache. Another problem is that some keylogger programs out there are sophisticated enough that they won't appear on the task manager. However, following the above advice is about the best you can do.

Regarding drinking water at 1 baht per liter, the only way I can think of to do that is to have a water filter installed. There are all kinds of makes and models available, but I don't trust them. I prefer to buy bottled drinking water. I buy mine from a local bottling outlet. It works out to about 2.4 baht per liter. Of course, they probably use the same kinds of water filters that I don't trust . . .

That's a very good guess. Perhaps the following article, from the PATTAYA CITY NEWS will clarify what was going on, and why: _____ Karaoke Bars, Go-Go Bars and Beer Bars Checked in Continuing Crackdown on Late Night Entertainment Venues Bar Owners who watch this program should be aware that a crackdown is currently ongoing in the Pattaya area. Pattaya Police in conjunction with Banglamung District Licensing Officers visited many late night entertainment venues on Friday Night. Soi Sunee Plaza and the Naklua Road were targeted on this night and we caught up with them at the Kunza Karaoke Club in Naklua where the staff were urine tested. A total of 10 staff members failed the test confirming the presence of met-amphetamine in their systems; however a search of the club did not uncover any narcotics on the premise. In this case a report of the incident was sent to the Provincial Governors Office who will decide if any revocation of licenses is warranted in this case. We understand the bar crackdown will continue for the next few weeks.

I agree with khaolakguy on this one, especially the part about "however much money you give will be never be enough." In most cases with which I'm familiar, that's the way it usually works out. To my mind, it doesn't matter whether the boy was taken "off" from a bar or not. In my opinion, no matter where the boy was working, Geezer comes closest to reasonable if a finite amount is to be set. Noy9000 originally asked: I think it needs to be clarified as to just how long "long-term" means. Are we talking about a matter of days, weeks, months? In my opinion, if it is a matter of days or weeks, a finite amount ought to work quite well, provided that you first make sure the boy understands what he will be getting and he agrees to it. When you start getting into months, then I believe that's when it starts becoming a different story and changes need to be made, depending on the circumstances.