Rogie

Thanks for mentioning that. I'd not heard that before. Fountainhall quoted: well, being followed isn't very 'refreshing' in my book. If the Cambodian tourist board wants to attract more GLBT visitors they'd do well to rein in this kind of thing. On a slightly frivolous note, if the Adore Cambodia! campaign bears fruit then there'll be more customers in the gay bars and the snoopers'll be hard pressed to keep inconspicuous. It'd be fun to stage a mass organised walk-out of a bar, say at midnight, and see who gets followed where. . . a sort of follow the followers Pied Piper style maybe.

Good news! A few comments from South Africans: Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12306753 Thought for the day: With the world a seemingly less safe and comforting place, and world leaders in low esteem, wouldn't it be wonderful if every country had a leader of the calibre of Nelson Mandela. _________________________________________________________ Regarding the notice from Scooby referred to by Fountainhall, I looked to see when it was posted but it is undated. My recollection is it's been there for several weeks. I fail to see the point in proposing a new way of processing posts if only to be followed by such a long period of inactivity. The Board is clogging up. The old system with 3 Forums worked well enough - but that doesn't mean it can't be changed, of course not, but if a change is proposed then why sit on it? The furious activity stemming from the new admin in his early days has been replaced by inertia. At least, that's the way it looks to me.

Absolutely right! Thanks for the link.

I'd like to think I might get along to see this festival one day. Probably not this year though. Great photos and yet again you can see it in people's eyes, the sheer fun and enjoyment. I've seen this in many festivals and parades in Thailand. People love to dress up and take part. Helping to maintain a long tradition must be an important factor too. I wonder how old this particular festival is? Festivals and parades such as this are a perfect antidote to all those who might be Pattaya'd-out for one reason or another. Hop on a bus or rent a car and go and see for yourself.

I can remember with crystal clarity the first time I became aware mobile phones were changing people's behaviour. Several years ago, I was dining alone in a small restaurant in Ubud, in Bali. Two girls in their twenties were at an adjacent table. After a while I became aware one of them was absent. Been gone a long time I thought. Then I spotted her outside talking on her phone. The other girl just sat there at the table gazing into space. I felt sorry for her to have such a selfish acquaintance. Of course since then I've seen it loads of times and, now I have my own mobile phone, have even had to excuse myself occasionally, although I keep it as short as possible. Do others think that this kind of self-absorption is helping to create more selfish attitudes? I can excuse contemporary grammar and spelling in texting - I use shortcuts myself, but I hate it in e-mail. Well, these message boards are a type of email aren't they? Although we are writing anonymously and to a mixed known & unknown audience, it requires us to type out a coherent message. Badly worded or punctuated text and a smattering of spelling mistakes can make for tortuous reading in message boards as well as those e-mails we receive from our friends and family. It can only get worse! For example if my young nephew sends me an email thanking me for his birthday gift, it would be a bit churlish of me to reply back pointing out all his typing errors. He wouldn't (willingly) write to his uncle again! If we take email versus traditional handwritten letters, one winging its way across the oceans in a few minutes , the other taking a week or more to reach its destination, we can appreciate the effect this has had on our attention spans. Now I get impatient wondering why I've still had no reply to that email I sent just few hours ago. If you don't hear from somebody within a day or so, it's easy to forget you even sent them one! This immediacy of communication is only going to continue unabated, reinforcing the short attention spans we are increasingly getting used to. The only letters I send nowadays are the very occasional ones to people I haven't seen for a while, perhaps friends or family overseas, who don't have email. They are the sort that do not require a reply, maybe inserted into a Christmas card to update them on my activities. The last time I wrote the sort that did need a reply was to a friend in Burma - these took about 2 months between posting and getting his reply. Now even he has email! The last time I ever hand wrote a letter, rather than typing it, was to my two Canadian cousins on the death of my much-loved uncle (much to my chagrin, they never acknowledged them).

You may well already have a reusable bag or two fountainhall, but yes, shows they are a few steps ahead of the rest. I have one made from jute fibre and its brilliant - especially useful for bottles of beer, wine and other 'fragile' items best not left to the tender mercies of a horrible plastic bag! You're showing true lateral thinking there z to link in family size to plastic bag usage. One ought to be expanding (think: a shrinking of those of working age versus a frightening increase in the ageing population) whilst it's the other one that's unsustainable.

Plenty of food-for-thought in what you say Rich. I do not live in Thailand/Pattaya but if I were ever to do so I'd be concerned about keeping middle-aged spread at bay (as far as possible!) so knowing about sporting activities would be of great interest. By the way, not having played softball, what is a 'pick-up group' ?

Whoa, steady on here! All this talk of 'pincer movements' - you sound like a war games enthusiast. The rest of your post reminds me of the stealth bomber. HeyGay and PeterP seems to think it might happen - do others agree?

I don't expect z to be impressed with this, but I was more than happy to get from A to B on the back of a taxi ridden by a woman. Nice steady progress and none of those flashy manoevres some guys seem to relish.

I know what you mean KhorTose, but my fist reading of your comment was your bf funded his trips to the salon courtesy of you. If any of you have ladyboy lovers or close friends you will know they take their pampering really seriously.

Could it be the fact Nick is a ladyboy have anything to do with it, I wonder?

When I was younger and sported a luxurious head of hair, getting it shampooed, cut and blown dry was a really pleasant hour or so. I thought it made me look good, so I felt great too. Now I'm a bit thinner on top I agree with z, get it over with tout suite. The shampoo and blow dry component went for a burton many moons ago. My current dilemma - should I start using hair dye? I keep persuading myself it ain't gray enough yet. By the time I get round to it, it'll be too late, I just know it!

Having stayed in places in both Pattaya and Jomtien, I can well see how it is possible to appreciate both sides of the coin, so Z909 is calling 'heads' and prefers to be based in Pattaya and Moses calls 'tails' and opts for Jomtien. One of the bones of contention seems to be the sometimes awkward business of getting from A to B, and back again. On previous visits I have hired a small Honda or Yamaha motorbike (or what i would call a moped). If you are based in Pattaya it is dead easy to get to Jomtien and, if I recall correctly, parking is only 10 baht and very easy and convenient. Easy to ride back into Pattaya at the end of the afternoon. If I were to be based in Jomtien that would be tricky as riding my moped into Boystown or Sunee in the evening would mean I'd have to forego any alcohol. One thing I won't do is drink and ride - that's madness. But people do of course and you have to watch out for them if you are on a bike.

Back to OP's question. A similar question was posted on gaybuttonthai.com a few days ago. . . A contributor on that message board fired back just two words 'Street food' which I thought was a pretty good (and perhaps unintentionally witty) response. My answer to OP's poser is this: Street food certainly but also any small restaurant or even hole in the wall - I am quite happy venturing into those kinds of places because I go with my Thai friend who does the choosing (knowing thr kind of thing I like) and seldom am I disappointed. The price is right too, rarely do we pay more than 500 baht for two which includes a large bottle of beer for me and a soft drink for him. One of his favourite types of places are where they do what he calls a barbecue. Those places where you cook your own food, meat and veg and noodles over hot coals. They are amazingly cheap too and I've often been with 4 or 5 Thai friends and the bill's a snip. Although you might (well I know I do!) think there's a risk of catching food poisoning from that kind of cooking - where in addition the meat's left out in the open for customers to make their choices - I've never had any adverse reaction at all.

There's indeed a town called Maidenhead in England, but I wasn't aware of any pub called 'The Maidenhead'. That doesn't mean there isn't one! There are plenty of different pub names, some are funny and some plain daft IMO. In the daft category I would include a chain of pubs that appeared on the scene about 20 years ago called 'Slug and Lettuce' - I'm sorry but to me that one's too contrived. Here's another daft one but at least it has some genuine history attached to it: The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn That pub has the longest name of any pub in the UK. Maybe there are longer elsewhere!

Yes Not the top banner, the forum bit Includes the font colour too now I look closely. One or two guys have previously commented they'd rather have a different font colour (I know the person making the post can change it but 99% of posts are in the default colour).

I agree. The burgundy, or claret if you prefer, has to either go or else find some way to improve the contrast. For example to the right of the 'Search' option you can just make out some writing, but I can't read it. The 'Rate Topic' and the stars next to it could be a lot more visible too.

The nearest analogy I can think of would be this: Imagine your favourite bar, or maybe just one you popped into from time to time, had a change of owner. The quirky Australian who used to treat all his customers like old friends, fell ill and had to sell up. The new owner breezed in, tidied the place up but was deemed a bit brash, so a few of the regulars wandered off. Even those that stuck around though were seen to patronise the bar on a less regular basis and that was thought to be because another bar opened up around that time. The other bar was brand spanking new, although if you looked closely it was obvious a few corners had been cut, however the new owners took the trouble to scout around until they found what they hoped was the ideal choice of manager - a vastly experienced chap with nerves of steel. Things just seemed to click straightaway. The place was humming. But even before the paint was dry in the new establishment, those with keen hearing could already make out the gossip and dark mutterings emanating from the Sunee bar across the road where the chattering classes gathered, the bar of lost dreams whose regulars were already predicting . . . To be continued. (Just in case anybody is wondering, that is supposed to be funny. It is not my intention to cause offence. A good message board will attract good posters. Keep up the good work on Gay Thailand Forum and things should work out ok. For what it's worth I will continue to check the Board out and post whenever the mood grabs me).

Sure, it's mighty fine to hear about the good guys winning for once. I don't understand: why these pirates have got away with it for so long why it was even allowed to happen in the first place why cargo ships aren't better protected why, if cargo ship are so vulnerable, nothing was done about it The cost of this mission undertaken by the US Marines must be enormous, financially. It's pathetic if cargo ships owned by rich industrial nations (this one was German) cannot come up with some way of protecting their fleets against a blood-thirsty band of third world pirates. So, what'd I do if I was in charge? I'd get together a select band of highly paid mercenaries. When one of my boats enters the stretch of water where the pirates hang out 'my boys' would be helicoptered in to ride shot gun. After killing all the pirates they'd be airlifted off and given a heroes welcome. End of problem (?)

Good poll Rich! Unusual Even though pure escapist nonsense, I had to think hard before coming down in favour of Europe. Whereas I live in the UK most of the year, that hypothetical chap would enjoy going back to his home country from time to time but not be based there. Reasons would include: The weather! We don't get many periods of really good weather in the UK. I'd love to learn a foreign language or two whilst living in a foreign country The chance to get to know all the major European capitals As Gay Thailand mentions, ease of travel from one country to another One drawback to living the high life at such a tender age, would be I'd have to make that decision before seeing many other parts of the world. As things stand, at my age now, I have seen a large part of the world, so it's easier to decide. Having said that I have never visited South America, but would not want to put my 25 year old self in exile there in a place (a whole continent!) I've never seen. So I'd want to stipulate I'd stick with Europe until I got tired of it and then I'd stretch my wings and venture farther afield.

Beachlover, like you I wish that were so... Maybe it comes a shock to firstime visitors, especially those with families with children, where the beach is pretty crucial for full enjoyment of the classic 'family holiday'. However, most people who come back to Pattaya know the beach is poor, or more specifically the beach is so-so and the sea is vile. Why do they come back then? Because they don't care, or at least they don't care enough to overide their other reasons for coming, whatever they may be. When I come to Pattaya/Jomtien, I like to spend the odd day on the beach in a nice traditional deck chair, watching the world go by, snoozing and generally doing nothing much. I haven't been in the water at Jomtien for 5 years, and probably never will again.

Thank you TJ, I've just read it. Hardly a scoop, more dishing the dirt on Jerry Springer. I've never seen one of his shows, just hearing about them makes me want to puke. What a jerk, having overweight people on his ego trip, exhibiting them as was popular at one time in fairground freak shows. No thought as to the longterm welfare of his 'guests'. Many of you will no doubt have had people forward into your mailbox those supposedly funny collections of photos of people shoppong at Walmart. The people in those are either overweight or badly dressed. So what? Walmart sounds a ghastly place, but people have a right to shop there if they want without some snooping anorak going around with a hidden camera.

Indeed you can! Agree with you about the brothels, plenty of ladies there.

You are right - English is spoken everywhere tourists congregate. As for off the beaten track, there will obviously be some remote places where English is not spoken, but even there I wouldn't mind betting people will understand a few words of basic English, but even if they cannot, there's bound to be somebody they know who does. As for where to start. Up to you! I've been to India twice and saw the Taj neither time. So what? no big deal (but I still intend to go back some time and see it!) IMO Delhi would be a good place to start. Easy to get to and a good hub.

I like your style!