NIrishGuy

The kiss that perhaps changed the thinking of a generation !?

I cremated my dog a few years back as he was quite big and I didn't fancy having to ( physically) dig a gaping big hole in my front garden under the roses, so the cremation place took him from the vets where he met his end and simple delivered back a simple cardboard box with (his?) ashes inside, which I simply sprinked into the soil around the base of the roses and tossed the soil around them a bit to cover them and it was job done and good for the soil too I imagine and saves me having to look at a doggy grave every day on my way to work and get sad thinking about the poor bugger. I seem to recall it wasn't that expensive either so definitely something I would recommend and is getting quite popular now I believe.

Damn, I was SO disappointed on reading the headline "Pope to resign" to realise that this was an old thread and so related to the last guy, oh well, hope springs eternal that maybe this guy will go soon too and the Catholic Church ( or God if ones to believe the hype re the appointment process :-) will put someone in the job who can actually maybe make a positive difference to the world - but I'll not hold my breath on that one just yet I fear :-(

Interesting to see Michael Douglas's publicist issuing a "clarification" of Michael's interview wishing to highlight the fact that Michael's cancer was NOT actually caused by oral sex, however the Guardian have stood by their story and released the audio file of the interview where it is quite clear what was said - obviously the wife DID give him a bollocking when he got home for telling the truth and the Hollywood PR machine was told to kick into gear to rectify the issue.  To be fair to Michael he has remained silent as I'm guessing he knows the truth and couldn't give a shit who knows and maybe is actually trying to help and warn others of the risks.
 
Mind you wouldn't it just be hilarious if the reason the wife might be objecting is that she KNOWS they haven't had oral sex EVER but yet she's noticed that Marcos their 22 year old hot gardener always seems to be walking around with a big smile on his face and seems to be driving more and more expensive cars of late !!  :-))   

I thought there was absolutely no doubt that the vaccine ABSOLUTELY is ineffective in anyone who has already been exposed to the virus  - and as the virus is able to be passed on by normal every day sexual or even non sexual skin to skin contact it's assumed that a lot of people from say their late teens upwards will already have been exposed to the virus in one way or the other hence why the vaccination is only offered to young school age people.  
 
I do take you're point that "well you'd be no WORSE off" but spending £300-400 quid on something which lets face it most gay guys our age will most certainly have encountered before does seem a little daft, saying that I'm sure LMTU would happily have paid 100 times that to avoid or cure himself of his bout of it but I know any Doctor I've spoken to ( either NHS private) has told me plainly that to get the shots at my age (44) would most probably be a total waste of time and money. ( and before anyone says no, that's not because I'm a particularly bigger tart than any other gay guy I happen to know :-)  

Well I think for an organisation the size and scale of Starbucks to effectively set up their accounts to ensure that they pay NO tax in the Country in which they trade is morally questionable, I have accepted what they are are doing is perfectly legal and I don't disagree with you that that's something the Government should address.
 
However we're not talking about a Company paying slightly less tax here but going out of their way to pay absolutely none by setting up complex accounting procedures to enable them to totally avoid paying UK tax in the country where they genuinely made their profit.
 
Whilst i again absolutely concede they have done nothing illegal I do believe for an organisation of that size who talk so much about their wonderful social responsibly to the communities in which trade etc that is somewhat hypocritical.
 
And to answer your question I pay whatever my accountant tells me to pay tax wise and I don't mean by that that they go on some round the houses tax avoidance scheme but merely take income versus costs, work out the tax bill and I pay it.
 
And I do understand your point and don't entirely disagree with you that Starbucks and other corporations got it in the neck simply for following ( and playing) the rules but I do also believe they went far and away over the norm in order to avoid tax that would normally have been due when a company posts their annual profits and THAT to me for a company with such a strong PR message about their social responsibility is the morally questionable part.

ha you're right SG I DO like the bottle, it's much prettier than all the rest for sure :-)  BUT I do also honestly think the taste of the gin is by far more superior to many others around the same price, although in most bars it's usually a bit more expensive than the rest too I find, but to me is worth the difference - and if the lovely blue bottle getting served to me gives off the vibe of "look, screaming fag in the corner" and so another screaming fag decides to come over and join me for some gayer gin then so much the better :-)
 
ps who's that in your pic ?  I was going to say "was that you when you were young?" -  but surely colour film only came out in the last 60 years or there about's or something so that would rule that option out then no ?? :-))  he he

"I do have high hopes that the Supremes will rule favorably on this issue"
 
I was going to say well I wish they would hurry up but then remembered their famous 1967 hit " you keep me hanging on"..........oh wait no, it was the "other" Supremes you were talking about I guess :-)

petit bourgeoise - the new diet yoghurt that makes you THINK you're SO much better than everyone else when you're dieting and is especially suitable for those that want to end up well hung ! :-)

Man you're not kidding FH, I've just arrived at the Tarntawan after what was more like a canoe trip than a taxi drive from the airport. Accidents galore, rain LASHING down in true monsoon fashion, two foot deep puddles everywhere - and my taxi driver still trying to bomb along at 60 whilst also trying to watch a DVD !!!
 
So yes it's a tad wet out there ( just stopped now actually thankfully) but the way I look at it is its songkran and I'm going to end up wet so whether its from a water pistol or my drowning in a monsoon flood it's little odds and thankfully they've as put me on the 7th floor here I should be safe enough for a while :/)

Ha ha share my plans eh.......wow if there's every going to be a post which so clearly highlights the differences in our two ways of living Christian this will be it :-) as my plans quite simply currently encompass two things - drinking and fucking - but not necessarily in that order ( see, who say's I'm a slave to things being in their natural order) lol
 
But to try at least to "seriously" answer your question whilst the above isn't far off the mark as I generally don't tend to plan to much ahead my general plan will be to arrive in Bkk on Thursday 11th I think speanding the weekend there for Songkran itself ( which as I'm sure you know is the weekend and up to the Monday 15th I belive etc) then on either the Tuesday if I feel like it or more likely the Wednesday on the 17th or so head up to Pattaya remaining there until the 23rd or so - where in each place I'll do the usual round of catching up with friends and fuck buddies (and finding a few new one hopefully) and on the main songkran days either meet up with friends or take one or a few off and take them out for day / night the main songkran day/s activities themselves as it's better fun in a crowd I think ( but not essential). I suggest you maybe head to Koh San Road area to at some point where the crack as we say here in Ireland is 90 ! ( that means it's very good !) as it s ram packed with people all out for a good time with their water guns, day and night and there's a nice daytime (family) atmosphere.
 
Also the main road area outside DJ etc ( sorry I'm having a mental blank re the name just now) is also great as they close off the road to traffic (or at least try to) and it turns into one massive street party all night with people playing with water from early until late and music blaring from the backs of the many trucks that turn up filled with guys and girls ( and more water) and PA sound systems blasting giving a real party atmosphere everywhere - but all in all my general advice ( which I know you'll find alien to you) is try not to plan to much as the whole place ( in those areas anyway) is THAT busy and mental that no matter what your best laid plans are they probably won't happen anyway as you just end up getting sucked into the mad fun somewhere else ( like the water fights in Soi twilight which are also great fun too :-) 
 
Likewise with Pattaya, although I found it a bit more tiresome as unlike Bkk where there was a fairly obvious set two or three days of "water fun" Pattaya's fun dragged on for WAY to long perhaps ( or maybe I was just a bit sick of it all by then) but in general the same rules apply.  And don't perhaps worry about trying to be anywhere or plan anything at a set time etc as the day/s seem to take on a life of their own but certainly down by the sea front both in the city and in Jomtien on the main day itself were great fun with parties everywhere with food stalls the lenght of the road and live music, PA trucks and hot guys running about for what seemed like forever  - so I'm sure you'll not be bored.
 
I have no doubt of course that on reading this you'll be horrified at my lack of planning :-) and after the event you will be able to give me a run down of what I COULD have been doing and what I missed out on - not to mention how much it all cost :-)  but each to their own I guess and I hope / I have no doubt you will enjoy yourself no matter what you decide to do / get up to and I'm looking forward to reading your report already  - and in case you ask where was mine, just remember you've already had it  - drinking and fucking, I need say more.
 
Oh and as for your stated apparent difficulty hooking up - I'm quite concerned about that, so I think I need to take you out and study your technique to see can we not improve your hit rate somewhat  - although I have to warn you to loosen you / your Thai friends up my counselling tips may consist of your having to purchase (and consume) quite alot of alcohol - both for the boy of your dreams - and more importantly ME !  lol        

So, I've finally worked out a way to avoid all the long flights, baht rate drops and expensive off fees as last week on a whim I booked a few nights visiting Canal Street ( which is big gay area) in Manchester and I had an absolutely BRILLIANT time !!
 
Thirty plus gay bars and clubs, everyone in party mode every night, great music, cheap drink, quality and not expensive hotels - and how about this the first guy I met was a hot Thai guy from Bangkok !!! :-) who kindly agreed to slip away from his BF for a few hours for some hot (unpaid) fun ( even though he kept insisting his BF was just his friend lol), I then met another 26 year old local guy who also then kept me up for the other half the night so its a weekends fun I won't forget in a while :-) !
 
So it appears that one doesn't need to travel half way round the world after all to have a damn good time - and sometimes the most obvious things and places that the ones that are staring us in the face all along it seems.
 
So I'm now back at the airport to fly home ( wrecked after getting about 5 hours sleep in total all weekend ) and will most definitely be back for more of Manchester's delights :-)

Yes, it is always good to let things go. History passes us by and we must all move on. 
I once had a good friend in Thailand that I adored and I spent many nights with him chatting and visiting bars and clubs. You could say he was my best friend for several years. Then, all of the sudden he changed and turned into a very nasty person. When this happened, I was saddened but I moved on. It was easy for me to move on as I knew it was the best thing for both of us. But, unfortunately, he did not move on and to this day still holds a grudge. It is sad when people can't move on. But, Willy I am sure you are nothing like my friend as you seem very level headed and you posses the ability to move on from this. I hope you do move on and not hold the past against me. We all make mistakes don't we? Isn't part of live being able to truly move on?
 
I am so glad you have decided that you will move forward and not concentrate on history and old grudges or sadness. I think that is very wise of you and also a very healthy thing to do.

Oh really, that's good to hear, now as well as having a social conscience re marriage equality and gay rights etc if we can then also perhaps get them to start paying some tax back into the UK economy after extracting their profits out of it for the good of the very customers they got the money from in the first place then we'll really have cracked the nut ! ( or in their case coffee bean perhaps :-)

Hi Micheal,
 
I'm enjoying reading your reports, you've the stamina of a 20 year old it seems !! Lucky you ! :-)
 
One question if I may - and I've asked this before elsewhere but never really received a sensible answer), when you decide to take a working boy ( or three in your case lol) whilst in the sauna how does that work payment wise ?
 
I mean I'm assuming you ( and they) are mainly in just a towel or naked so do you work "on account" or is it strictly proforma payments only lol with a trip to your locker ( accompanied by them?) before you go into the private room or do they accompany you as you're leaving to enable you to settle up ( he there must be one hell of a queue following you some nights if that's the case :-))
 
Although I noticed you mentioned about not particularily wanting to leave your wallet in one place that looked a bit dodgy so does that imply one might take a small bag with some cash etc around with you in some places.
 
Also again just for general info do all the saunas there tend to be "safe" with any amount of confirms and lube freely available in each cubicle or is it like the crazy system in Babylon Bkk etc where after using your two supplied confirms and one lube you have to traipse all the down to reception to ask for more - which in your case must be VERY tiring and cause sore legs with so many journeys being required in each trip !! :-)

I'm more a hob knob man myself but I find those picky Italians get AWFULLY prissy when you start dunking them in their caffe and even more so if they break off before you get eating them and they start to ask you to leave, see between them and the damned french.......God SOME people eh ! :-)

Here is the best photo I have seen today. Any others?

"As Fountainhall says, it's always worth checking the hotel's own website for a price comparison - it can be the cheapest."
 
As well as checking their website I would also highly recommend ringing the hotel direct and speaking to reservations as a lot of the time ( especially in Thailand I find) the hotel web site prices are sent to the web programmer at the start of the season and are rarely changed, whereas in reality "actual" hotel prices can tend to flucuate wildly and if the hotel is not busy some great rates can be achieved.
 
I was told by a Pattaya hotel manager that his (and most if not all ) hotels sign a contract with Agoda and their like to promise that the hotel will never knowingly undercut the Agodas published rate - at risk should they get caught of losing their Agoda bookings status, hence why the hotel website rate may not be the "actual" cheapest negoiatable rate, also sometimes taxes and other various Agoda add on's can mysteriously "disappear" when booking directly with certain hotels if perhaps cash is being paid etc.
 
For instance I have just confimed a room with a nice Silom hotel which was shown on Agoda at an all in price of around 3300 baht a night and have secured EXACTLY the same room directly for 2400 baht a night ( to be fair that should have been 2800 Baht but I was given a further discount as a regular visitor, but still even the original 500 baht a night over 11 nights all adds up I guess so it was worth the original inital phone call to the hotel directly in my case.  
 
"Some hotels ask for credit card details to be sent to confirm a booking. They ask for this to be done by normal, unencrypted email - I hate that idea! "
 
I would second that and after attending a crime prevention course on internet security would STRONGLY suggest that no one ever sends unencrypted credit card details via email as criminals are currently using many forms of botnets to infect machines worldwide which then  trawl through emails trying to indentify strings of numbers that suit the "shape" of credit card details i.e card number length and expriry dates all in one email etc and then copy and send them in bulk once collected to the criminal gang, so if asked I always refuse and if I HAVE to send my details at worst I will agree to send them by fax and nothing else.  

Loosen up, gentlemen.  Seems somewhat silly to me to get into lectures about "profanity" and how a gentleman should act just because a single reference is made to a "flaming a**hole."  If that gets anyone's skirt in a knot, perhaps a little valium would help.
 
But, as noted, any semi-literate poster here simply doesn't use profanity.  Well, at least I never fucking do.  

Can I just add on a slightly less serous note (which is always much better I find) that several people have (correctly) referred to me as a "newbie"  - so, can I just request that you keep that up  - for about 7 seven years in fact  - as just for a split second there it made me feel terribly young again ! :-)  Thanks for that, you almost made my week ! :-)

Whilst I appreciate what you are trying to do Khor Torse at the risk of repeating myself please do not deem to speak for me, I have not spoken anywhere about leaving anything, speaking personally I don't do drama and my simply regisitering here is ( to me anyway) no big deal and as I've already said nothing should be read into that by anyone and the fact that three different people all registered here for their own individual reasons is really nothing that this board should feel the need to worry about or discuss any more than any other random person joining.
 
As has already been mentioned assuming that I ( and the other people I guess) adhere to the rules of this site I really don't see the need for any further discussion re this matter.  And again in the very nicest possible way please don't assume to know my reasons for regisitering here as they may well and do in fact have absolutely nothing to do with ANY one individual poster who may or may not be posting on both boards ( actually I don't even know who you're talking about nor care less). I'm all for a quiet life and having a bit of fun and mutual enjoyment on the various Thailand boards is my aim, simple as that. I'm surmising by your posts that you maybe believe that three people joining all at once was some sort of coreographed move, I can assure you that it wasn't and in fact the three of us weren't even aware the others had also joined until we noticed each others names here after signing up. 
 
So, I do understand your believing (incorrectly) that there may be a need for caution at some level I can assure you (certainly in my case and I'm sure i can also speak for the others in this regard too) there is really no need for undue concern or discussion re this matter further and assuming all board rules are adhered to that should be the end of the matter.
 
So lets all post or read or whatever it is we do as normal and move on now please as this thread has already raised the subject of three random people subscribing to this board much much more than should ever have been necessary anyway I believe.  Many thanks  - and thank you (all) for the welcome as well by the way !  

As I've recently just registered ( even though I've been reading the board for many years) I'm not sure if you're referring to me in your three new members but I think you'll find I haven't or didn't announce anything to anyone either here or on SGF as I've nothing to announce.
 
As SG said I came here without comment and had no intention of bringing a discussion from another board to here so have no fear there, as I've said previously I also post on GBs board too so posting here or there or anywhere is no big deal to me and nothing should be read into that by anyone.
 
Meanwhile thank you for your open letter formal welcome ( at least I think that's what it was :-) and I look forward to continue reading and contributing at times hopefully to the many educating, entertaining and respectful posts that appear here.

As I've recently just registered ( even though I've been reading the board for many years) I'm not sure if you're referring to me in your three new members but I think you'll find I haven't or didn't announce anything to anyone either here or on SGF as I've nothing to announce.
 
As SG said I came here without comment and had no intention of bringing a discussion from another board to here so have no fear there, as I've said previously I also post on GBs board too so posting here or there or anywhere is no big deal to me and nothing should be read into that by anyone.
 
Meanwhile thank you for your open letter formal welcome ( at least I think that's what it was :-) and I look forward to continue reading and contributing at times hopefully to the many educating, entertaining and respectful posts that appear here.