Londoner

You are better off being sick in Cuba, despite sixty years of Yankee sanctions. Particularly if you are Black.

Im conscious that I've bored many a board (well, two) with my complaints about loud music but Spoon's reference to Cupidol reminds me that I was a victim that night as well. At 0200, I looked over the Ambiance balcony to see what was happening and was irritated that the "show" was for the benefit of only four customers, all- as far I could discern- falangs. I thought it bad enough when an even louder party outside Copa a few years back had attracted a mere twelve punters at 0300...but four?

Yes.... no doubt they pay a heavy price in later years. They should be offered ear-plugs. No....a better idea; turn the bloody music down. Who really enjoys it?

It was certainly happening when I was eating across the soi at Balcony. But at Banana?

Verys Strange....but kitsch, I'm afraid. Like the White temple at Chiang Rai. For me, the oddest is the "Tunnel Temple" at Chiang Mai- Wat Umong. And it's 700 years old. Built into a mountain side. Fascinating grounds too.

A beer bar with waiters available for offing .

What are the current recommendations for host bars in Bangkok.? Welcome looked busy when I was there in Balcony a couple of months ago while Banana on Soi 4 less so. However, I understand that there are other floors to that establishment...are they just bars with hosts too? And what about Patpong 1/2....anything similar there?

I did what traveller123 suggested....and have enjoyed six trips at Agate.Thanks for such good advice! As usual, I advise contacting the hotel direct rather than using Agoda et al. if you can cope with the noise of Boyztown( we can't) Ambiance has some excellent offers. The penthouse rooms are worth the extra.

At LHR- and probably elsewhere- sniffer dogs are employed to check out people carrying large amounts of notes . Usually, it's non-British looking travellers who are given particular attention (this is Boris johnson's Britain after all) but I carry a large amount when I travel and so I always have a bank statement. A TV programme showed a Vietnamese woman having her cash taken away from her on the way to her flight.

The rate of undisclosed or untested hiv victims in Bangkok is very high....be very careful. Take your own condoms.

The bar to which I referred earlier styles itself as a karaoke bar. The mamasans tin such bars are often ladyboys....there was a local TV programme about one a few years ago and the bar in question was "run" by three khatoeys. I understand that the ladies who frequent them have plenty of money. Some- as I said before- have non or under-functioning hubbies, others have men who work abroad. Some of them are highly successful bar-girls....I find this surprising. One photo I was shown was of a line of guys in briefs thatcpould have been taken in any gay go go bar. Except that they were all stunning.

My experience (75 trips approx) too. But I take sensible precautions. The chances of a cleaner taking money are remote...she would quickly be identified. The same with other hotel staff, certainly if it involved breaking into safes or bags. Casual visitors? That's in our hands. Professional thieves? maybe at The Oriental. Illicit visitors in hotels....unlikely. Workmen? possible I suppose. However, if we take precautions- safes, locking cases and so on- we are very unlikely to be victims. By the way, my one experience of being a victim occurred before I'd even left London; it was in Heathrow and I lost passport, car keys, house keys , a credit card, money...the whole damn lot. Not to mention the holiday in Thailand. And now I am very watchful while checking-in. I believe the perpetrator to have been masquerading as an employee. A word to the wise!

Has anyone suffered a theft from a hotel room safe in Thailand?

My least-favourite security arrangements were those provided by an otherwise excellent hotel in Chiang Rai; a row of safe boxes near the entrance to Reception but just around a corner. I decided that a locked suitcase was infinitely preferable.

Thanks for the photos.

That's right, squeeze more money out of the poor and line the pockets of the billionaires. Let 'em die. After all we made good money out of our colonialism and imperialism and they are no longer of any use to us now. By the way, I can't remember "paying" for the establishment of the NHS- it was before I was born- but like 90% plus of the UK public I am now benefiting in my advancing years from the efforts of the Socialist government after WW2. I'm also aware that the disdain of the Conservatives for the NHS and desire to underfund it-how many of their MPs deign to use it when they can afford to pay extra to jump the queue?- has made us rely on staff from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean for many years.

There are a number of places like this around the 3rd Road area....I know the mamasan of one of them. He once showed me photos of the staff. The gay bars were outclassed in terms of their looks! Very popular with the Thai wives of ageing falangs, apparently.

....those that can afford it. The thing about the NHS which makes it the envy of the world is that it supports all citizens. Like private education, private health care is there to benefit the wealthy. I hope that the next Labour Government abolishes both. Interestingly, life expectancy in the US is front page news today.

I think it a great shame when Britons spread false information about the NHS on an international forum like this. As a correction, for the vast majority of us, the NHS is one of the greatest achievements of our nation and the envy of world. Particularly the USA. It's why we live longer, on average, than Americans. I appreciate that wealthy Britons who can afford private care don't agree....but "they are few, we are many", as Shelley wrote. I've been impressed by the quality of care I've received in Thailand....in Bangkok when I required a replacements for a lost blood pressure medication and in Chiang Mai when I had a bad cut on my foot. I found the treatment cheap and effective.

Easier posting of photos?

Check Tarntawan on Agoda. It's usually much cheaper there....though I realise it's the high season. We're there in January (we booked early) and are paying only 60% or so of your price.

Thanks llz...that's the one. But beware; I thought I'd be smart with my boyfriend whom I'd only known for a short time, by repeating some phrases in my execrable Thai. He was not amused...and I quickly stopped. On the other hand, I also bought, much later, a book of Thai idiomatic phrases and used some of the "romantic" phrases on him. He was charmed and delighted.

Expect to meet plenty of his entourage in the bars and saunas....though they'll be incognito. The Vatican is, and always has been, full of Friends of Dorothy.

Published about twelve years ago; "Thai for Gay visitors." Damned if I can find my copy! The slang was up-to-date at the time, as my boyfriend confirmed. I bought it in Pattaya.

Agreed; there are not many of us to go round nowadays. That generation- often closeted gays whose formative years were spent in a society where gay sex was illegal and who found freedom in Thailand- have mostly passed on. I'd be surprised if the the Asian customers of today have taken their places in the LTR market.. Look around; if you see falang/Thai couples together in restaurants ,staying at hotels together, shopping and so on, the falang will likely be in his 70s and the Thai in his 30s or thereabouts. Partnerships, as it happens, like mine.