Don't be too shy. Things will get better!

[Travellerdave]

Why indeed ?

Jason You can easily switch the topic back to BOYS. Always a popular subject !

[jason1975]

I did some reading on gold.

96.5% refers to 23 karat.

22 karat is 91.6%.

Current price of gold is about 3000 baht per gram.

5 years ago, during Covid, it was half the price!

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, jason1975 said:

How did this wonderful topic on Pattaya boys become about QR code and contactless payment? 

Likely because free Pattaya boy is not invented yet .

[Min]

16 hours ago, jason1975 said:

How did this wonderful topic on Pattaya boys become about QR code and contactless payment? 

16 hours ago, Travellerdave said:

Jason You can easily switch the topic back to BOYS. Always a popular subject !

10 hours ago, vinapu said:

Likely because free Pattaya boy is not invented yet .

Most threads in this forum, more or less, center around boys and boy payments  When it comes to relationship with money boys, I guess, many still have big problems with "How come you claim it's love and still pay???"

If you come to the commercial scene of Thailand and expect to find love, you are more likely to be in for a great disappointment because the premise is false in the first place. You come here, you should expect to find sex, plenty of it. And when you do, you have nothing to complain about.

Then, if you are lucky (or unlucky, depending on perspective), feeling, care, love and/or relationship may tag along as unexpected but oft appreciated by-products. When that happens, the boy moves from being part of your night to being part of your life. Too bad you can't claim him as a dependent on your tax return though.

To be honest, I myself never saw it coming for me. No doubt, I had seen such relationships in my countless real-life encounters with boys and fellow customers (and in this forum also), but "I'm too cool to fall in love here. Thailand is just all fun for me, no strings attached."

Then all of a sudden, I got smitten. I got hit big time. Of course, I've spent a lot more to "take care" of my guy, I know it, but I can afford it and more importantly I feel much more gratified than those years spending each night with a different boy. I guess you must be in it to feel it and develop empathy for "the poor folks who were hopelessly in love with those mercenary bar boys". 

There is something else I want to share now.

A few weeks after the trip during which I first met J. (I hadn't gotten a chance to come back due to the upcoming Chinese New Year), I got a message from J., saying that he was seriously sick and running out of money, asking if I can give him some money to go home. My first thought was "Already? That soon?"

Naturally, I treated such a request with caution, having heard tons of stories about how the customers still got "milked" by bar boys after they went home. No matter how much I liked J., we barely knew each other at that point. I myself always said no to those requests from other boys. Well, it's not easy for me to help anyway even if I want to. Because as a tourist, I don't have a local Thai bank account and to send money abroad from Vietnam, you need a legit reason, e.g., a medical bill, tour voucher, tuition invoice, etc., to justify the payment, not "the boy I slept with asks for more money".

So I told J. I can't help right then, explaining my tourist status, so he might want to wait until I'm back. When I was finally back to Pattaya post Chinese New Year, he already went home. Talking to people in his bar, I found out he got dengue fever from mosquito bite and had to be hospitalized. I wrote to J. to see how he's doing and promised if he was unable to come back to Thailand, I would go to Laos to see him. However, in my next trip to Thailand the following month, we actually arrived in Pattaya on the same day by coincidence, and from then on, he was the only boy I offed whenever I'm in Pattaya.

Several months later, when we were much closer, I asked him again about that time when he got sick. His hospital stay cost him more than 20K baht. Having no medical insurance, he used up his savings (before Pattaya, J. worked for a Korean company based in Bangkok for some time, with a monthly salary of about 8K) for treatment and had barely enough left to pay for the bus home. Since he was too weak to work post treatment and the doctor advised him to go home to recover, he couldn't wait until I come back. 

I asked J. if he sought help from other customers too and his answer was "No, you are the only one to whom I wrote for help." There was one poignant note in his story. "I didn't even have my birthday party because I was lying exhausted on the bus home that very day." (partly why I tried to make up for him on his birthday this year).

Also, from now on, when I come home, I trust Ko, the bartender, with an emergency fund in case something similar happens again.

[jason1975]

My guy was down with dengue fever too. December 2023. He had to be warded 2 nights. I went to St Louis Hospital to pay for his hospital bill the morning he was discharged. About 15k if I remember correctly.

[jason1975]

4 hours ago, Min said:

I wrote to J. to see how he's doing and promised if he was unable to come back to Thailand, I would go to Laos to see him. However, in my next trip to Thailand the following month, we actually arrived in Pattaya on the same day by coincidence, and from then on, he was the only boy I offed whenever I'm in Pattaya.

Everything is fated!

[MaxBKK]

26 minutes ago, jason1975 said:

My guy was down with dengue fever too. December 2023. He had to be warded 2 nights.

I've had dengue fever twice - and needed hospital both times. It can really knock you down  - and not just for several days in the hospital ---> it takes several weeks after the fever breaks to get back to normal health. There is a decent dengue vaccine now available in Thailand 🇹🇭 

[siriusBE]

3 hours ago, MaxBKK said:

here is a decent dengue vaccine now available in Thailand 🇹🇭 

Are there any side effects of the vaccination? I will arrive in BKK in two days and this could be an opportunity before I continue to Laos.

[orson]

4 minutes ago, siriusBE said:

Are there any side effects of the vaccination? I will arrive in BKK in two days and this could be an opportunity before I continue to Laos.

Hope it isn't dengvaxia.  It caused quite a nightmare for the health secretary in the Philippines 

[Min]

24 minutes ago, siriusBE said:

Are there any side effects of the vaccination? I will arrive in BKK in two days and this could be an opportunity before I continue to Laos.

It's bad news if you never have it.

[MaxBKK]

From ChatGPT

The newest dengue vaccine available in Thailand is Qdenga®, developed by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Approved in 2023, Qdenga® is a live-attenuated recombinant vaccine designed to protect against all four serotypes of the dengue virus. It is suitable for individuals aged 4 to 60 years, regardless of prior dengue infection, eliminating the need for pre-vaccination screening. 

Clinical studies have demonstrated that Qdenga® offers approximately 80.2% protection against dengue fever and can reduce hospitalization rates by up to 90.4%. The vaccination regimen consists of two doses administered three months apart. 

Prior to Qdenga®, Dengvaxia® (CYD-TDV), developed by Sanofi Pasteur, was the only dengue vaccine available in Thailand since its approval in 2017. Dengvaxia® is recommended only for individuals aged 6 to 45 years who have had a previous dengue infection, due to safety concerns related to antibody-dependent enhancement in dengue-naive individuals. 

For more information or to receive the Qdenga® vaccine, you can contact local healthcare providers such as Bangkok Hospital, which offers the new dengue vaccine. 

[Keithambrose]

43 minutes ago, MaxBKK said:

From ChatGPT

The newest dengue vaccine available in Thailand is Qdenga®, developed by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Approved in 2023, Qdenga® is a live-attenuated recombinant vaccine designed to protect against all four serotypes of the dengue virus. It is suitable for individuals aged 4 to 60 years, regardless of prior dengue infection, eliminating the need for pre-vaccination screening. 

Clinical studies have demonstrated that Qdenga® offers approximately 80.2% protection against dengue fever and can reduce hospitalization rates by up to 90.4%. The vaccination regimen consists of two doses administered three months apart. 

Prior to Qdenga®, Dengvaxia® (CYD-TDV), developed by Sanofi Pasteur, was the only dengue vaccine available in Thailand since its approval in 2017. Dengvaxia® is recommended only for individuals aged 6 to 45 years who have had a previous dengue infection, due to safety concerns related to antibody-dependent enhancement in dengue-naive individuals. 

For more information or to receive the Qdenga® vaccine, you can contact local healthcare providers such as Bangkok Hospital, which offers the new dengue vaccine. 

What about over 60s who constitute a lage part of the readership. Are we too frail?

Incidentally I went to my annual elephant  party yesterday, really, and one of my hosts, Australian, aged 60 hadn't bothered with the shingles vaccine. Luckily I have. Facially he was quite disfigured,  and only has partial sight in one eye. I didn't know it could strike like that. I'm a firm believer in taking every vaccine going,  whatever the Republicans may say. Just read a survey saying measles, whooping cough, polio,  dangerous illnesses, are up sharply in the US, particularly in Republican States.

[siriusBE]

Thanks... what I know is it needs two infections in a row (in a certain time frame) to let the dengue fever break out. Good news for short term tourists, bad new for natives. So I will drop that...

24hrs till BKK 😉

[floridarob]

5 hours ago, MaxBKK said:

The newest dengue vaccine available in Thailand is Qdenga®,

I got this in Brasil had no side effects and the pharmacists said she hasn't had any patients reporting side effects except sore arm....

[vinapu]

10 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

 

. I'm a firm believer in taking every vaccine going,  whatever the Republicans may say. Just read a survey saying measles, whooping cough, polio,  dangerous illnesses, are up sharply in the US, particularly in Republican States.

+1

 

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, siriusBE said:

 

24hrs till BKK 😉

have fun

[vinapu]

21 hours ago, Min said:

If you come to the commercial scene of Thailand and expect to find love, you are more likely to be in for a great disappointment because the premise is false in the first place.

some scientists say " if you want love in Thailand, rent it"

[jason1975]

On 1/13/2025 at 1:16 PM, Min said:

There is something else I want to share now.

A few weeks after the trip during which I first met J. (I hadn't gotten a chance to come back due to the upcoming Chinese New Year), I got a message from J., saying that he was seriously sick and running out of money, asking if I can give him some money to go home. My first thought was "Already? That soon?"

Naturally, I treated such a request with caution, having heard tons of stories about how the customers still got "milked" by bar boys after they went home. No matter how much I liked J., we barely knew each other at that point. I myself always said no to those requests from other boys. Well, it's not easy for me to help anyway even if I want to. Because as a tourist, I don't have a local Thai bank account and to send money abroad from Vietnam, you need a legit reason, e.g., a medical bill, tour voucher, tuition invoice, etc., to justify the payment, not "the boy I slept with asks for more money".

So I told J. I can't help right then, explaining my tourist status, so he might want to wait until I'm back. When I was finally back to Pattaya post Chinese New Year, he already went home. Talking to people in his bar, I found out he got dengue fever from mosquito bite and had to be hospitalized. I wrote to J. to see how he's doing and promised if he was unable to come back to Thailand, I would go to Laos to see him. However, in my next trip to Thailand the following month, we actually arrived in Pattaya on the same day by coincidence, and from then on, he was the only boy I offed whenever I'm in Pattaya.

Several months later, when we were much closer, I asked him again about that time when he got sick. His hospital stay cost him more than 20K baht. Having no medical insurance, he used up his savings (before Pattaya, J. worked for a Korean company based in Bangkok for some time, with a monthly salary of about 8K) for treatment and had barely enough left to pay for the bus home. Since he was too weak to work post treatment and the doctor advised him to go home to recover, he couldn't wait until I come back. 

I asked J. if he sought help from other customers too and his answer was "No, you are the only one to whom I wrote for help." There was one poignant note in his story. "I didn't even have my birthday party because I was lying exhausted on the bus home that very day." (partly why I tried to make up for him on his birthday this year).

Also, from now on, when I come home, I trust Ko, the bartender, with an emergency fund in case something similar happens again.

I am sure after you found out about J's sad situation, you felt guilty for not helping him.

I felt the same for my guy last year. His grandmother had passed away in Vietnam and he needed to go back urgently so he asked me for one way air ticket and I obliged and booked for him.

Once in Vietnam, he asked me for money to pay for funeral expenses and it was a huge sum and I refused and ignored his messages. I felt that I had already helped him through buying his air ticket. I also felt that his family members in Vietnam should be chipping in to pay for funeral. Also, in my mind, why do you need such an elaborate and expensive funeral?

It caused some tension between me and him for a few months after that. When we met again, he showed me photos of funeral and I started to feel guilty. I could have sent some money over. Not the amount asked for but I could have sent just a fraction.

[vinapu]

28 minutes ago, jason1975 said:

I am sure after you found out about J's sad situation, you felt guilty for not helping him.

I felt the same for my guy last year. His grandmother had passed away in Vietnam and he needed to go back urgently so he asked me for one way air ticket and I obliged and booked for him.

Once in Vietnam, he asked me for money to pay for funeral expenses and it was a huge sum and I refused and ignored his messages. I felt that I had already helped him through buying his air ticket. I also felt that his family members in Vietnam should be chipping in to pay for funeral.

I think you  did right thing, you helped him to go to funeral and that should be it. Good karma earned .Your reasoning about family paying for funeral itself is sound.

Nothing stops us from sending or giving money for whatever, as long as WE  feel happy about helping but boys shouldn't expect us to finance their lives and family affairs.

[Min]

On 1/13/2025 at 4:23 PM, jason1975 said:

My guy was down with dengue fever too. December 2023. He had to be warded 2 nights. I went to St Louis Hospital to pay for his hospital bill the morning he was discharged. About 15k if I remember correctly.

I already said it but I'm gonna say that again: he's lucky you've been there for him all those times.

On 1/13/2025 at 4:56 PM, MaxBKK said:

I've had dengue fever twice - and needed hospital both times. It can really knock you down  - and not just for several days in the hospital ---> it takes several weeks after the fever breaks to get back to normal health. There is a decent dengue vaccine now available in Thailand 🇹🇭 

Thanks for sharing your experience. While I'm sorry that you had to suffer twice (it looks like you were infected with a different strain each time), your experience corroborates what J. told me and makes me realize what an ordeal it must have been for both of you.

14 minutes ago, vinapu said:

I think you  did right thing, you helped him to go to funeral and that should be it. Good karma earned .Your reasoning about family paying for funeral itself is sound.

Nothing stops us from sending or giving money for whatever, as long as WE  feel happy about helping but boys shouldn't expect us to finance their lives and family affairs.

Agree. @jason1975, no matter how much you care for him, you should draw a clear line when it comes to funding. I have no problems with saying NO to certain requests from J., telling him they were not reasonable.