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I assume its mainly a fad. I saw a ton of Thai kids at FAT Festival last year in BKK with all sorts of facial piercings. The lip piercing seemed to be especially popular. These were all middle-class teenagers. The tattoos may be more traditional. I don't want to play amateur psychologist too much, but it's also possible that the tattoos are a way to cover up. And all of those piercings and tattoos could be a self-esteem issue. Especially for boys whose job it is to parade around naked or nearly so for a bar full of strangers and then are expected to go off and have sex with all comers.

I guess 34 is better than 32 or 33 for Americans. Unfortunately though our economy over here is in terrible shape as well and it's only likely to keep getting worse. So that will prevent the dollar from gaining much on the TBt.

Ambiance has high speed wireless that works pretty well. The Executive suite rooms also include a laptop for your use along with a printer as well. But of course you can use your own computer instead.

I wonder exactly how they will manage to shoe-horn an elevator into the building. And how much noise and disruption will that construction cause? Putting an elevator into a new building is pretty straightforward, but retro-fitting one into an existing building can't be easy.

with fuel costs rising it probably didn't make sense to keep on flying an aircraft that only seats 200 if it's full. there are other options to connect in Asia. I flew ANA via NRT from Washington last year and enjoyed it. I am going back with them again this year.

wow, you have a beautiful home!

you think this is bad publicity? Bad for the guys being arrested for sure, but I think it's probably good publicity for Pattaya. Here's an interesting tidbit from the Pattaya Mail article: " A media briefing was held on May 19 by Pol Maj Gen Panya Mamen, deputy superintendent of the Investigation Center at the Department for Suppression for Transnational Crime, Pol Col Manoo Mekmorhk, deputy commander of the Tourist Police, Pol Col Naradet Klomtuksing, superintendent of investigation at Tourist Police 2, Tourist Police Headquarters, Pol Maj Col Suwan Un-Anan, chief investigator at Pattaya Tourist Police Station, Pol Col Nopadol Wongnom, superintendent at Pattaya Police Station, and Ms Mariel Schaltz, an official from the USA." Only one of the arrestees appears to have been a US citizen. Most of the them are Europeans. So why is there an official from the USA at this briefing and no one from the UK for example? Also according to the article Sunee Plaza is being closely watched, whatever that means.

It's kind of a double edged sword though. My first time in LoS was Sept 2006. There apparently weren't many tourists in Pattaya at the time. Several times I was the only patron in a bar. All the boys on stage just stare at you expectantly trying very hard to make eye contact and win your attention. It made me extremely uncomfortable to be the center of attention like that. And it almost made me feel obligated spend money that I wouldn't normally have done.

I think a lot of what you say likely hits the nail on the head. But with regard to the poor families, don't they send their boys to Pattaya and BKK just as they send their girls to "work" to help support the family knowing full well what work means. Do they really place a distinction on whether the boy or girl is 15 or 16 or 18 or 20? I wonder if a lot of the effort against farang has to do with xenophobia. Thais are proud of the fact that they are the only country in their neighborhood that was never colonized and subjugated by the West. Of course the kings cut some deals and gave up certain things in order to retain a certain amount of autonomy. But the basic person on the street just knows that the white man never took over their country. So, I suppose the idea of white men coming to Thailand and physically and sexually holding power over their boys is seen as emasculating the country.

how much is that seat with miles only? 80K plus $2300 seems like a ripoff. It only cost me 90,000 miles plus about $50 for the taxes for a StarAlliance award ticket on ANA using United miles from Washington, DC to BKK.

thanks for the correction. I am currently reading "The Demise of the Dollar" which included that info. I guess maybe they didn't catch that when they updated the book.

welcome to inflation. As the speculators keep driving up the price of oil we are going to see prices continue to rise for everything. I am pretty well convinced that there's a new worldwide depression on the way. As the USD continues to sink it is going to drag down lots of other economies. There are the ones like China who are pegged to the dollar. And as Americans are required to cut back on our overconsumption and escalating debt levels everyone who exports stuff to us are going to be in trouble because this market will not be able to afford to buy as much stuff from everywhere else. As for airfares, you know they have really not changed all that much for many, many years. If they had been gradually increasing over time it wouldn't be so noticeable. But now that the airlines are bleeding so much money fares have to go up. They probably won't all survive anyway.

does it seem odd that the only news is about men with boys? are there no men with girls getting arrested?

well, if he was importing boys for what sounds like a very long time it probably wasn't so hard to find him. According to the article he was rotating new boys in and old boys out every week! Of course the Nation article is a bit misleading. Only two of the boys were under 15. Three of them were 19. The headline makes it sound like he had 8 little boys lined up and ready to go. This guy clearly has a lot of money to bankroll this lifestyle. I assume the BIB will take their cut and his life will go on.

there are always these sorts of little fluctuations. I would suspect that the TBT is coming back a little bit based on the inflation worries in LoS. Over the long term future though I don't see how the USD can do anything but continue it's decline. The level of national debt is just so high with no manufacturing economy to really increase exports which will leave us sinking. It's pretty depressing, in every sense of the word.

here ya go, from Pattaya City News http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_14_05_51.html "In the early hours of Wednesday Morning, Tourist Police Officers from Pattaya arrested a German National apparently caught engaging in sexual activities with two boys under the age of 15. Tourist Police Detectives conducted a raid of a room at the Inchart Apartments in Soi Sunee Plaza, South Pattaya and found Mr. Wolf-Rudiger Engelke aged 67 in a state of undress."

doesn't the article say that he was arrested at a guest house/apartment near Sunee and that he picked the boys up off the street near there? In any event, all of the warnings in the world do not matter. It is a compulsion. It is not rational. Does the press also ever report on Thais being arrested for sex with kids? Do they ever report on people being arrested for sex with underage girls? Why do they put pictures of the naked perp and the kids all over the paper and the web? Do those kids really deserve that? Is it necessary to have the obligatory photo of the boys pointing at the guy?

AVAAZ is donating money directly to the network of monasteries in Burma. THe people are gathering at temples and monasteries because they are the only thing left in some areas. THe monks are tending the people as best they can. This organization seems to be well established. Here's an email I got today: Dear friends, Burma has been devastated by a cyclone—and by the military junta's failure to help its people cope. Help raise relief funds for distribution by Burma's monks: CLICK TO DONATE! In the wake of a massive cyclone, tens of thousands of Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless. But what's happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster—it's also a catastrophe of bad leadership. Burma's brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn't know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations. Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma's government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma's powerful grass roots network of monasteries—the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a leader of the monks: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma's people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face challenges—they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta's rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort—housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls. Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement—but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta's response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime's pockets. The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both. If we all chip in a little bit, we can help them to make a big difference. Click here to donate: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php With hope, Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Paul, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team PS: Here are some links to more information: For more information about Avaaz's work to support the Burmese people, click here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/ For more information about the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis, and the political dimension, see these articles: New York Times: "A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar's Remote Areas." 7 May 2008. BBC: "Will Burma's leaders let aid in?" 6 May 2008. India's Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance, 6 May 2008. BBC: "Disaster tests Burma's junta." 5 May 2008 Times Online: "Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000." 6 May 2008. _________ ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

wow, I was already pretty depressed and after reading this I may go over the edge altogether! The world has an awful lot of problems right now. They say the "misery index" is rising fast due to the food crisis. I guess it's going to get a whole lot more miserable for a lot of people who have no idea what is coming. Or they are willfully ignoring the problems because they are just so daunting. One of my friends had a BF from Germany who wrote for a German economics magazine. Four or five years ago he was predicting a collapse of the US economy based largely on the housing bubble and the fact that we owe so much money to so many other countries. I guess those predictions are finally coming true. People who think this is just going to be a little recessive blip are in for a rude awakening I fear. I am glad I have been traveling the last several years while I am still young. Depending on how bad things end up getting I may not have the option to do that in the future. I wonder if this year's trip may be my last to LoS.

I typically plan using my miles as far in advance as possible to get a free ticket. And I have always managed to get in general what I want. Sometimes I have to adjust by a couple of days or take a routing that is not the most direct. Sometimes you just have to try a couple of times until you get an agent who knows how to work the system and is willing to check all of the partner airlines. I am never able to find anything on airline websites, I always call even though it means a small fee. Cathay must belong to one of the big alliances, right? Call and ask them to check on the partners unless you will only fly CX metal. I managed to get a free seat from Washington to Malta a couple of years ago on about 3 months notice. That was on Lufthansa via FRA using UA miles for a StarAlliance award. But last year and this I am booked in business class to BKK using All Nippon which is very nice. Those were both booked about 8-9 months in advance. I flew business class to Australia several years ago on UA which is typically not an easy route to get so I basically had to book it about at the outer limit of 11 months or so. Be persistent and keep checking. Seats get released all the time for a variety of reasons.

If you're looking for a real tour guide that is fairly easy to arrange I would imagine, especially in low season. You can always contact Purple Dragon (www.purpledrag.com) and use one of their guides. They are pretty much uniformly excellent and communicate very well. I think a full day with the guide is something like $50-60. You pay for lunch and transport as well as admissions. But for things like the Palace the guide gets in free. I swear by them and have had fantastic times traveling with them the last two years. They also have guides who can help you navigate the nightlife scene as well. They are based at the Tarntawan Place hotel so they are easy to find.

this is quite a story. After Googling and reading the story from the Scottish press from several years ago it's actually a pretty shocking story. It certainly makes me re-think my choice of where to stay and visit when I am in Pattaya.

well, given the reports we have seen on the incredibly high drink prices it may be that a vicious cycle has been created. In addition to it being low season people aren't interested in spending all of their money on drinks. And because there are so few customers I suppose the bars have to raise prices to cover their costs. Of course the rise of the baht may factor in a bit too. When it was 40 to the USD a higher price might not seem so bad, but with it sitting around 31 to the dollar now that's a pretty big difference. since I am not there I don't know for sure, but it seems like this may be a factor.

As I noted in the Sihanoukville thread: As for gay scene, there isn't much of one. There are a couple of gay or gay friendly bars in Phnom Penh. I visited Salt Lounge while I was there. It's very friendly. I happened to be there for their 3rd anniversary party which was quite an event. I know I have written about it elsewhere if not here before. They set up a stage out front with a tent over it that took up about half of the street. They had some (bad) drag, candle and fire dancers, and a few other things. For the Cambodians who had never been outside of their country before it was something the likes of which they had never seen. If you are used to shows in BKK and elsewhere I think it was a bit quaint. But I felt kind of honored to be there to share the experience with them. They have a website: http://www.thesaltlounge.com/ The Sticky Rice guide to gay Asia has links for gay places in Cambodia. Where to stay depends on your budget. I stayed at the Intercontinental last year. It was very nice in a chain hotel sort of way. The breakfast was good but the dining room was a bit overwhelmed with tour groups. This year I will be spending a night at the Amanjaya. It is much better located right near the river, palace, and Silver Pagoda. The Intercontinental is not very close to most of things a tourist would want to see. The Raffles Le Royale is supposed to be the best hotel in town, and I would guess it has prices to match. You could do PP in 2 days. There are no go-go bars or anything like that. If there is a commercial sex scene it must be pretty underground there. At least I didn't see it. There is certainly a great deal of poverty for sure. There's no "massage" scene either like there is in Thailand. I did have a massage but it was a legit massage with both of us fully clothed. They gave me a tshirt and loose pants to put on. The masseur was similarly attired. That was for a basic Thai-style massage. I supposed if I had opted for an oil massage instead I would have been naked but my guess is that the masseur would have still been fully clothed. He put me in a number of interesting positions. As for what to do in the city, there really aren't all that many tourist attractions. There is the wat on top of Phnom Penh (which means Penh's Hill). The grand palace is very nice, but not as nice as the Grand Palace in BKK. The one in PP is only about 100 years old. The Silver Pagoda is on the same grounds as the palace. I think it's a pretty well-confirmed rumor that the current king is gay. There is the genocide museum. Other than that there's the casino and the riverfront park. The national museum is OK, mainly just a collection of statuary without much identification. And there are a bunch of women inside who will try to get you to buy flowers for all of the Buddha statues. There are a couple of old markets that are crowded and hot. I arranged my visit using Purple Dragon tours (www.purpledrag.com). My guide, Nol, is a fascinating and passionate guy. He was a monk from age 8 until he graduated from school. He took me to visit his old monastery which is near the palace which was a special treat. He has very strong opinions about all sorts of things. His accent took a little getting used to. But I had a really great time just spending time with him and our driver and eating our meals together. I will be returning to see him later this year. Having a guide and driver was a big time saver and very informative.

That is a detailed reply. As he says you basically pay for things in USD and get small change in Riels. Most prices are quoted in dollars. As for gay scene, there isn't much of one. There are a couple of gay or gay friendly bars in Phnom Penh. I visited Salt Lounge while I was there. It's very friendly. I happened to be there for their 3rd anniversary party which was quite an event. I know I have written about it elsewhere if not here before. They set up a stage out front with a tent over it that took up about half of the street. They had some (bad) drag, candle and fire dancers, and a few other things. For the Cambodians who had never been outside of their country before it was something the likes of which they had never seen. If you are used to shows in BKK and elsewhere I think it was a bit quaint. But I felt kind of honored to be there to share the experience with them. They have a website: http://www.thesaltlounge.com/ The Sticky Rice guide to gay Asia has links for gay places in Cambodia. There is also apparently a gay bar in Siem Reap (Linga Bar) that is supposed to be really nice. I was so tired after visiting the temples all day that I never ventured out to find it. I loved Cambodia. I will be going back for a few days in November on my next return to SE Asia. I am not really into beaches so I don't have much interest in Sihanoukville. This time I will be heading down to Kep and visiting the old sites around that area. Although the lodging options in Kep are fairly dire from the looks of things so I am sure S-ville is much better in that regard. I think Bokor is easily doable from S-ville though as well.