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The Thai guy looks to be smiling in the photos. I like the line about "fortunately the police happen upon them." Thank goodness the police were there to protect the public at 3:30 AM!

My first visit to Thailand a few years ago was in September for 3 weeks. I honestly don't remember too much rain other than a couple of evening thunderstorms while I was in BKK. But it probably depends on where you are visiting as well. I know some parts of the country have had really bad floods in September and October the last couple of years. I wouldn't expect there to necessarily be a lot of days that are a total washout. But you may encounter late day showers now and then just like other tropical places. I spent four years in Florida for my university studies. Summertime would bring about an hour's worth of thunderstorms in the late afternoon or early evening. Then the sun would come back out and make it even more humid. But my Thailand experience is certainly much more limited than that of others here. There are plenty of indoor activities to keep you occupied if it rains.

We've discussed the question of why you never hear about arrests for abusing girls in either this forum or one of the others before. My guess is that, unfortunately, girls are not highly valued by Thai society. So there isn't as much outrage as there is over boys being abused. However, the notion of foreign men coming to Thailand and abusing the country's young boys/the future of the nation is the issue. It combines the latent xenophobia of Thais with the anti-gay sentiment that exists no matter how "tolerant" Thais claim to be. You don't ever hear much about Thais being arrested either. It is only foreigners. Does anyone believe that there aren't Thai men who are also having sex with young boys or girls? Didn't one of the news reports related to this story say that the men were not convicted previously because the victim disappeared or wouldn't testify so there was no way to go ahead with the charges?

Here's a story that contradicts the notion that no one has ever been arrested with a boy he offed from a go go bar http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2009/07/22/briton-arrested-for-third-time-on-child-sex-charges-thailand/ Of course in this case it is a repeat offender who may have been under some sort of surveillance...

According to this report http://www.pattayapeople.com/default.asp?Folder=16&IdArticle=18204 only 1 underage dancer found, but as noted above 14 of 25 tested positive for drugs. And it sounds like the closure was only going to be temporary.

Central World has a pretty good market on the top floor as well.

The last few years I have planned 3 week trips but that includes time traveling in Thailand and other places in SE Asia. This year I have a month planned. Most of that time around Thailand but about 10 days in Vietnam as well. Last year's trip extended to a month due to the airport closure. I don't like to just stay in one place for a long time or I get a little bored.

Depending on your airline you check to see which terminal you will be in. Apparently the new Terminal 3 is supposed to be pretty nice. You may want to try a website like flyertalk.com to ask this question

Unless there is some sort of international warrant out for your arrest or a warrant in the country you are trying to enter then I don't think there is any reason you would be stopped as long as you present valid travel documents. How many extradition treaties does Thailand have? I would guess that most of these little tin pot countries don't have such treaties with Thailand. He has probably had most, if not all, of these passports up his sleeve for quite some time just in case. There are plenty of countries around the world where money talks. And apparently Thaksin has plenty of cash stashed apart from all of his frozen assets. He is traveling by leased private jet according to reports. That ain't cheap. Now whether all of these renewed efforts to stop his travels actually come to much or not remains to be seen. The UAE said they wouldn't let him back at first and now they say he is welcome to stay as long as he isn't doing politics. Of course he is always doing politics somehow. While I think he belongs in jail it is most likely better for the government that he is not in the country. What sort of treatment would he get in jail? Would they put him in solitary confinement?

It seems like the numbers keep getting revised downwards. First it was 500,000 then 300,000 then 100,000 now tens of thousands. I guess without an official count no one will ever know and it would be disputed even if there was one. I've been reading a lot lately. There's a very good editorial in The Nation I believe by a political science professor. The question is, what do the red shirts really want? It's hard to imagine that all of them want Thaksin back. Of course his aim is to use these people to get his power and money back. But I have a hard time seeing how he could really regain power. I saw the speculation that the "mediator" might give him a royal pardon but I also have a hard time believing that one, especially after all of the things he has said about Prem and the Privy Council the last couple of weeks. The PAD and it's elitist cohorts need to understand that the "people" need to have more say. This rift has taken time to come about and it's not going to be healed very quickly. Some sort of resolution needs to take place of Thailand will just keep going backwards which won't be good for anyone. Unfortunately it's hard to see how bloodshed won't happen at this point. Be careful all of you who are over there.

None of my acquaintances here have ever cast aspersions on me for visiting Thailand. My close friends know I visit the sex venues but I also visit lots of tourist sites as well. And I take a lot of pictures of the tourist-y things which never fail to impress people. So maybe that helps cover for me.

Unfortunately United recently raised the amount of miles required for award tickets so they are not quite the bargain they used to be. I recently decided to start accumulating Air Canada Aeroplan miles instead. I had 51K Amex Reward Points I needed to do something with because I was canceling that card and I could transfer them 1:1 to Aeroplan and they dropped United so I couldn't put them there instead. On Aeroplan you only need 100K miles for a business class award from North America to Asia which is "cheaper" than United. There is apparently a Bank of America Aeroplan visa or mastercard that collects miles but I don't have one of those yet. I recently started using a Starwood Amex card instead. I am also booked on Qatar Airways from JFK for my trip later this year. Their business class seats from JFK are over $3000 cheaper from JFK than from Washington. So I figured it was worth it to make an extra connection. I have been reading some bad things about their ground staff at Doha, but they are using brand new B777-300's from the USA to DOH and also on the connection to BKK now. So they should be very comfortable. Business class has lie flat 180 degree seats. I am not exactly thrilled about the 7 AM arrival. Ideally I would prefer to arrive late afternoon, but hopefully I will be able to get some sleep on the flights.

It is interesting. One of the papers had a story today saying a new group "the blue shirts" was ready to defend the airport. Apparently the blue shirts are some sort of airport employees. The Nation is reporting just 3000 red shirts left at GH this morning. And there is also this which I find really hilarious: Red-shirts to rally at City Hall A group of red-shirted protesters from the Government House will be deploy to demonstrate at the Bangkok City Hall Friday, their leader Natthawut Saikua said. He said the red-shirted people would protest against the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration for failing to deploy enough mobile toilets to serve the demonstrators outside the Government House. The Nation ---- As if the government is responsible for making the protesters comfortable while they cause chaos for the city/country! Maybe their patron could provide some toilets for them.

I'm afraid I don't have those links handy. But Google is your friend. :-)

Absolutely you should go to Cambodia. It will be HOT and maybe a little rain here and there but if you are in the neighborhood it is definitely worth seeing Angkor and the other sites in Siem Reap. With only 10 days I would say split the time evenly between Bangkok and Siem Reap. I like Phnom Penh but there isn't a whole lot to it and with so little time I think it is worth skipping this trip. You can always go another time. If you do go to Phnom Penh however, there are a couple of gay bars. Blue Chili and Salt Lounge. But you can fly directly from Bangkok to Siem Reap so I would do that if I were you. There is a gay bar in Siem Reap. But on the whole the gay scene in Cambodia is nowhere near as in your face as it is in Thailand. But in my opinion the young men there are stunning so there is plenty of eye candy around. As for hotel recommendations that really depends on your budget. I stayed at the Victoria in Siem Reap. I thought it was OK but it is far from the main town. I would probably stay at Hotel De La Paix or FCC Angkor if I were to visit again. The temples of Angkor are amazing. There are lots of them too. It is worth taking a day to visit Phnom Kulen which takes a while to drive to and then up the mountain and Beng Melea temple is a bit farther away as well. I combined both of those in one day and it worked well. Since it will be hot you will need to pace yourself a bit. I can definitely recommend Purple Dragon's services in Cambodia. If you go to Phnom Penh I can certainly recommend the Quay Hotel. It is very high-design and quite cool. The rooms on the front have views of the Mekong/Tonle Sap but they also have traffic noise from the busy street. Very close to the Grand Palace and other sites. I stayed at the Intercontinental there as well. It is nice in a chain hotel sort of way but far removed from the main city action. The Amanjaya is supposed to be nice too. Vietnam is certainly another option. I am planning to visit there later this year when I return to SE Asia. But I understand that there is even less of a gay scene there. Just binge on sex while you are in Thailand and you should be set to hold you over while you visit tamer places. If you can manage more time you should do it. It seems a shame to go all that way for only 10 days' visit.

so you guys don't mind sexual exploitation of young boys as long as they aren't young Thai boys?

That makes sense. Looks like the event is being webcast live. So I can see it from the comfort of my own home.

Wow. I just saw the line up. Lots of my favorites playing! Nologo, Supersub, Potato, Abuse the Youth, plus several others. Does it cool down after sunset? Or will it be ungodly hot? Wish I could be there. It's a similar lineup to FAT Festival which I have attended the last couple of years but at least that is mainly indoors at Impact convention center in Bangkok.

Didn't Lance Armstrong's bike get stolen in California a few weeks ago while he was in a race? So, while it is certainly cold comfort, you are in good company. I guess things are getting pretty desperate in California these days.

I'm not so sure he would disappear. He still sees himself as the legitimate PM of Thailand who was wrongly overthrown. I would imagine anyone with an ego as enormous as his will not go away until he can set what he sees as the giant wrong done to him right. And there is pride and "face" as well. He feels like he has been greatly insulted and will want his revenge until he dies would be my guess.

According to The Nation the debate is between suicide and execution http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/02/24...al_30096436.php

thanks for the correction....but my basic point remains the same

As I said on another message board, I wonder why they were so quick to rule out suicide. It is possible that he put the bag over his own head in order to suffocate in case the hanging didn't work. I saw a program on television recently that dealt with hanging and its use as capital punishment. They mentioned that if you didn't have the right length of rope or the wrong sort of knot that decapitation is quite possible. Apparently it used to happen all the time until they figured out the exact right length of rope based on the body weight and the noose knot has to be arranged correctly to kill the person pretty much instantly. And yes, indeed, Saddam Hussein was decapitated by his hanging.

most airlines are cutting back flights and scaling down aircraft on routes that don't require the number of seats that some of the more comfortable planes have. ANA has changed the aircraft on their NRT-BKK flights from a B777 to a smaller B767.

perhaps the police agree with the thugs