vinapu

T0ol's confusion was perfectly understandable. I just took that rather mischievous reference (in the article quoted in the OP) to a guy's beard as his 'manhood' and inserted that into the subject header for my topic. A bit cheeky really, as we all know manhood is a natural progression from boyhood, as in numbers 1, 2 and 4 below.
 
Webster's college dictionary gives these:
 
1. the state or time of being a man..
2. traditional manly qualities.
3. the male genitalia.
4. men collectively.
5. the state of being human.
 
When referring to a man's (the male of the species!) manhood we usually mean his cock, or cock and balls. So Vinapu's timely post above is perhaps worth dwelling on, although I see there are 400 replies to that topic 'All about pubic hair' on that particular forum which I have no intention of reading as I think it can be summarised in 8 words. Some men shave down there and some don't.
 
Going off at a tangent, I came across this website Manhood: the foreskin substitute for circumcised men. I can hear the cries of
anguish already . . . "oh no, not that topic again". That's true, we flogged it to death not long ago. But this is something a little different, at least to me, first time I've heard of it.
 
For anyone interested, check out:
 
http://manhood.mb.ca/
 

last ones

A few more

A Few More

Day 2 in Siem Reap
 
I woke up early today and headed downstairs for a good breakfast. The hotel provides a very nice buffet and I love omelets. The ones here were excellent. The have a wide variety of food for foreigners and locals. It was a lot of Asian delicacies as the majority of the guests are Asian tour groups. The hotel manager said mostly from Korea, China and Japan.
 
I had arranged a tour guide for today. The cost was 25 USD for the day for the guide and the van was another 50 USD. We need a van as there were 3 of us and the guide and driver. We were told that most likely it would rain today but we booked the guide anyway. It did rain. The entire day. There were a few short breaks but we were soaked the entire day. Many of the photos you will see are in the rain. It was just a very cloudy and drizzly day today!
 
The driver and guide were excellent and well worth the money.
 
We stopped by an ATM first thing as I knew we would need American currency to pay for the tickets to get inside the Angkor Wat temples. The ATM's here dispense USD but most places take several forms of currency. The cost is 20 USD for one day, 40 for 3 days and 60 for a week. We were going to only get one day but we wanted to do one more temple the next day so we booked for 2 days. They take a photo of you and you are printed out a pass.
 
From there we were off to see the amazing temples in the area. It truly is a marvelous site. There is so much to see and it is often up and down stairs and hiking in the trails.
 
You can read about the temples from other sites but I'll say that seeing one of the 7 Wonders of the World is just something none of us will ever forget. It was not my first visit here but I did enjoy it so much better because the boys were here with me to experience it.
 
I twisted my ankle in the first 10 minutes and the rest of the day was spent limping around. I still made the day but it was a bit painful. As soon as we got back, my foot went up but it was too late. The damage was done!
 
We left a bit later than the other groups as the boys wanted to leave after 9. When we got to the main temple the guide suggested that we start at the other temples and end at Angkor. We agreed and off we went.
 
One of my favorite temples was the one where Angelina Jolie filmed part of Tomb Raider. The trees covering the temple grounds are fabulous.
 
I also loved the kids from the area all playing in the trees surrounding the temple.
 
We did have tons of kids come up to us today to ask us to give them money or to buy something. After 10 thousand no, no, no, I had one kid ask me to buy a postcard and I told him to count to 100. He did. In English. I gave him some money as I thought he earned it. He was maybe 6 years old.
 
I was told that 80 percent of the children in Cambodia now learn English in school. That came from the guide and I don't know how accurate but so far everyone we met including waiters and gas station attendants spoke very good English.
 
After we finished our tour, and rested, I went for a long swim. The hotel has a salt water pool and it felt great after a long day hiking and trekking.
 
The boys and I ate at the hotel and called it an early night.
 
Sorry there are so many images. It was just one of those days that we all wanted to take a ton of photos. We ended up with over 2,000 images! LOL I won't put them all on there but here are a few samples.

Great pictures and great story, I'm green with envy, waiting for more.
 
From lesser visited places I recommend trip to Mt. Phnom Kulen , sacred mountain of Cambodia,40 km from Siem Reap,  Kobal Spien / river of 1000 lingas ! / with carved riverbed and miniature but picturesque Ta Som temple.
 
Heed firecat's advice about less popular ruin- Banteay Samre I had to myself for quite a while for example.
 
For carvings Banteai Srei can't be beaten, it will be crowded though but is on way to both Kobal Spien and Mt.Kulen.
 
If you are man of size watch your head in some passages in ruins.

Great story and great photos.  Ask your guide to take you also to some of the less popular ruins.  Much better for photos with nobody there and just as spectacular!1

Day 1: Bangkok to Siem Reap
 
The boys and I decided to go visit Cambodia and Angkor Wat for a few days. And, since my family has been giving me a hard time for staying in the same places and same hotels, I decided this trip would be more of an adventure than a 5 star holiday. I won't skimp on some good things but we will try to make it to Cambodia the cheapest way possible and stay in Siem Reap at an inexpensive hotel.
 
First, we did not make any reservations for transportation. We did make hotel reservations as I would not be able to make the journey without having security of knowing I had a place to stay. So, I went to Expedia. I found a great deal for 3 nights in Siem Reap at the Angkor Miracle Resort & Spa. They were having a sale at Expedia and we took advantage of it and booked our room for 45 USD per night for a pool view. There were cheaper hotels but I heard this one had good Internet and it got good reviews on Trip Advisor, so I booked it.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
http://www.angkormiracle.com/
 
While we were in Bangkok, we decided that we wanted a true adventure and so we chose to take the train to Cambodia. It was a hard decision for me as they had only one and it was not air conditioned and it was very rustic but we decided together this would be fun. The boys told me there was not enough room for my luggage so I packed only ONE backpack. When I got on the train, I saw I had been fooled as there was plenty of overhead space! (but, it would have been a real pain in the butt if I had taken 5 bags to cross the border. less is better on this trip)
 

 

 
 
 
We woke up at 4:30 AM and got showered and left at 5:00 AM. We took a taxi to the train station. The taxi cost 60 baht or about 2USD. The train station only took us about 10 minutes that time of the morning. The train station was Bangkok's main Hualamphong station and the morning train left at 05:55 every day and arriving Aranyaprathet 11:35 (so they say, we were about 30 min late).
 
 

 

 
 
Once you get there, you walk over to the place that sells the tickets. This area has many windows and if you ask, you will be directed to the right one. We all approached and gave our ID's and I was told 48 baht (1.50 USD). That was the price of my ticket but the boys were free as they are Thai and only had to show ID card for the free ticket.
 
 

 
 
 
We got our tickets and made way to the track that we were told to wait at (also on the tickets). The boys told me: "be careful of your pockets" and I said OK. I do remember one boy I met in Pattaya had lived at this train station from the time he was 8 until he was 15 and moved to Pattaya and he said he lived with a group of kids and they all mugged people and picked their pockets. Since I know of this, I was careful.
 
The train is 3rd class only and there is no air conditioner. They do have bathrooms in all the cars but it is VERY basic. The seats are comfortable and you sit 2 to each seat. The boys and I took the spots we wanted and were happy with them. But, the window was broken and so we quickly moved one seat over. That was a good move as a few people sat there on the 6 hour journey and the window came crashing down on them.
 

 

 
 
 
We met a nice couple from England and had a nice chat with them.
 
The train stopped at every little village and town we passed by. Sometimes, there was not even a station in the town but there was just a little dirt near the tracks where people were waiting.
 
We were offered food and drinks on board by the vendors that get on the train and walk up and down the entire time. We got some water which was 10 baht.
 

 

 

 
 
 
We did not eat on the train but many people did.
 
There was a wide variety of people on this train and we met everything from businessmen to students to GoGo boys. There was also a great deal of tourist and backpackers on board. It was a very eclectic mix.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
The seat broke on me. Sad story. But, yes, my girth killed it (or at least flattened it). The boys laughed but I was very embarrassed. It wasn't destroyed but it just moved down a bit. But, it was as loud as the thunder you hear in the midst of a store! I stayed where I was at for a bit but then I moved over to a single seat. It was much better for me. There were periods of time when the train was over full and times when it was sparse with customers. So, when one seat emptied out, I took possession and was very happy the rest of the trip.
 
 

 
 
The train is comfortable and the people working it were all very kind to me and stopped and chatted with us.
 
We got off at Aranyaprathet a bit after 12 and there were Tuk Tuk's waiting for us. They were waiting directly outside the train and as we were getting off, they were all yelling for us to choose them. I chose one once we got off and he said it was 100 baht to the border. I said fine and off we went. It was about 3 miles to the border.
 

 
 
 
The Tuk Tuk driver tried to take us to the wrong place so he could earn some more money. They do this often. But, I knew this was not the "Official" place and I told him No. No. He finally took us to the right place to enter the line to exit Thailand. They tried to take every other group of foreigners to the same place. LOL When the group saw me raising my voice and directing him to turn around and go to the right place, the English couple did the same thing and 3 others followed. They didn't know what to expect at the border but they said they were glad they saw me leaving.
 

 
 
 
You must leave Thailand and get your passport stamped. I did that and as soon as you leave that area, you are approached by 100 people trying to get you to get their "official" Cambodian Visa. I didn't listen and just looked directly across the street to the real visa office and went there. My little group all followed. The boys did not have to do this as they had to get in another line to get their 15 day Free Visa.
 
The visa to Cambodia is 20 USD. It takes a bit to fill out the paperwork and then give them a photo and your passport and they will give you the visa. It took only about 10 minutes total. After I left there, I saw the Casino I like and I headed straight there as we all wanted to eat and use the restroom before the next journey. We also may have wanted to play a bit of blackjack.
 
After the casino, we had to get the stamp to enter Cambodia. This one took a bit longer as now the process you and take fingerprints of EVERY finger. This did not happen last time I went to Cambodia but it did this time. The process made the wait longer. It took me about 1 hour to get this done.
 
The boys were waiting outside for me as they didn't have to deal with all this bS.
 
Once outside, again everyone wanted us to follow them to either a taxi or a bus. We were tired and decided a taxi. I got the driver to agree to 1000 baht to take us to the hotel in Siem Reap. It took a bit over 2 hours.
 
The hotel is very nice. The pool is beautiful. The Internet works great. The rooms are very comfortable. We had dinner here and that was also very tasty. The boys forgot to bring swimsuits so they took a Tuk Tuk to the night market to buy something to swim in tomorrow.
 
The entire journey took us 12 hours. It was a very long day but I was able to see the Thai countryside and it was beautiful. Rice fields, water buffalo, amazing birds, green wherever we looked and the amazing Thai smiles.
 
It was defiantly a trip I will remember. We will be in Siem Reap for 3 nights and are very excited for our tour guide tomorrow to see the ruins!

So, unless I've missed it being reported in the western press ( and I have been watching out for it) it seems that the D-Day date of the 3rd of Sept has both come and gone for Mr Voyayuth where he blatantly just didn't show up for court and even after all the huffing and puffing of Thai prosecutors it appears that STILL no action has been taken by them to have him arrested again ( assuming he's back in Thailand) after his sudden illness in Singapore whilst away on business. 
 
I mean SURELY someone in Thailand should be screaming about this case now at a very high level as in terms of world wide PR  it really is just getting off the scale now in terms of displaying just how much "money talks" in Thailand - unless of course the people who should be screaming are of course perhaps the same people who are benefiting I guess :-(   So, where's the free press when you need them ? 

If I saw somebody like that in the modern era, maybe I could be forgiven for suspecting some crafty photoshopping, because how on earth can anybody function normally without a mouth? Yes it's in there somewhere, but forget about eating, I shudder to think about that, but if he was a smoker and many men were, that beard is such a health and safety hazard that every time he lit up he'd be advised to carry a portable fire extinguisher in one of his many pockets.
 
Strange that the hair and side-whiskers are neatly groomed, yet the moustache is not. He'd've done better to wax it and curl it away from the mouth. Doing so he might have tickled the fancies of many a young admirer.

Really vinapu?  Can you imagined being samoked by this chap?
 
 

Rather frustrating topic.  There are some drugs just too dangerous to legalize but, on the other hand, the war on drugs has been a miserable failure that's probably cost society (crime to feed drug habits, cost of the criminal process and incarceration, etc.) more than if we just legalized everything. Hell if I know.

In ideal world Christian  would be right - reviews should be written by people who actually visited the place.
 
In real world  this is often unnecessary dream.
 
Dream because there's no way of assessing if review was based on actual visit or just compilation of other's opinions made out of boredom or due to need of expressing oneself in writing.
 
As Michael rightly noticed it still may be of great value for potential information seekers.
 
Never been in Pattaya but being well acquainted with country, go-go system,  massages etc. I can easily write very accurate and detailed  review of scene there including boys names and numbers based on posters entries in this and other forums.
 
Somebody would follow and comment, o yes vinapu, you were right, this hotel was noisy, drinks at that bar were too diluted , this boy was great kisser and I saw drunk Taiwanese guy throwing baht notes at boys  in the same bar you saw him.
 
Would this compilation be less useful for somebody going there than actual visitor's testimony ?
 
Not being pizza eater with clear conscience I can recommend Mama Dolores to everybody based on recent Michael's post about the place, even if I choose to dress it as personal experience -where will be harm? Michael, his BF and Christian dined there last weekend and are posting today , obviously they weren't poisoned, right ?. So nobody would be  deceived.
 
Unnecessary part is here: even most accurate review is just this, review with reviewer opinion thrown in.
 
It may be correct , it may be not, our  preferences , tastes , wallet capacity and myriad of other factors are influencing what we say.
Crappy place may receive good review because of mood of poster or great company he was with.
 
Excellent place may stumble just once- remember Michaels's bad experience in HERO few weeks ago and he isfrequent visitor and great fan of the place.
 
Imagine if the same happened to somebody  who was there for first time, review would be full of disgust by eyewitness observation but would it do HERO  a justice?
 
So no reason to carp about reviews, read it , digest, take grain of salt, finish your drink and experience place for yourself.

In ideal world Christian  would be right - reviews should be written by people who actually visited the place.
 
In real world  this is often unnecessary dream.
 
Dream because there's no way of assessing if review was based on actual visit or just compilation of other's opinions made out of boredom or due to need of expressing oneself in writing.
 
As Michael rightly noticed it still may be of great value for potential information seekers.
 
Never been in Pattaya but being well acquainted with country, go-go system,  massages etc. I can easily write very accurate and detailed  review of scene there including boys names and numbers based on posters entries in this and other forums.
 
Somebody would follow and comment, o yes vinapu, you were right, this hotel was noisy, drinks at that bar were too diluted , this boy was great kisser and I saw drunk Taiwanese guy throwing baht notes at boys  in the same bar you saw him.
 
Would this compilation be less useful for somebody going there than actual visitor's testimony ?
 
Not being pizza eater with clear conscience I can recommend Mama Dolores to everybody based on recent Michael's post about the place, even if I choose to dress it as personal experience -where will be harm? Michael, his BF and Christian dined there last weekend and are posting today , obviously they weren't poisoned, right ?. So nobody would be  deceived.
 
Unnecessary part is here: even most accurate review is just this, review with reviewer opinion thrown in.
 
It may be correct , it may be not, our  preferences , tastes , wallet capacity and myriad of other factors are influencing what we say.
Crappy place may receive good review because of mood of poster or great company he was with.
 
Excellent place may stumble just once- remember Michaels's bad experience in HERO few weeks ago and he isfrequent visitor and great fan of the place.
 
Imagine if the same happened to somebody  who was there for first time, review would be full of disgust by eyewitness observation but would it do HERO  a justice?
 
So no reason to carp about reviews, read it , digest, take grain of salt, finish your drink and experience place for yourself.

I have to agree with Michael. There is no reason for us to expect Scooby to search for posts and link them to the listings. Last time I checked this site is free and therefore I am sure Scooby has many things to do in order to make a living.
 
If a business is given a Listing here and there has been a previous post on that business then the OP or anyone can reply and add that link. Will that make the listing better, of course it will and I believe most posters here will be more then happy to add a reply of a previous relevant post. 
 
If something gets left out , it will not be a tragedy!

It is interesting that you quoted Beachlover as I am taking a trip to Cambodia soon and I'll be following a lot of his suggested itinerary. I guess it was not beneficial to you or others but when I started researching my trip, I found a thread he posted the most helpful one on the site for what I needed to know. I don't know whether or not he actually took the trip or not and thus the controversy that surrounded his post but when I read it I found a lot of useful information. So, to me, it was very helpful.
 
 
There is a difference in a Review and a Listing for the site. For one, all the listings are located in a separate forum and Scooby is the one making them. Many of us posters on the site write reviews like the one I did just yesterday re: Mama Dolores. I think that Mama Dolores should be a listing on the site. But, I don't expect that the admin will visit it before he puts it up just like I don't expect Expedia or Agoda to have reviews of all the places they list. There is a difference. It may be subtle to some but when a listing is put on the site, it opens it up for members to comment and discuss. It seems to me that is what a forum is for.
 
And, I thought the quote below summed things up pretty nicely. If there is a problem with any listing, just comment on it or PM Scooby to change it. That seems pretty easy and simple to me.
 
 

I just put Hua Hin as idea - it is  after all it's Royal family  vacationing ground or at least was  so must have some charm and class.
My only contact with beach in Thailand is when I visit Fresh Beach Boys bar in Soi Twilight so take my advice lightly in sun and sand field.
 
 
Don't panic about rain - likely it will rain  but those are not whole day deluges, rather intensive but usually short.
 
Silom area is  the best to stay , wise choice from every angle.
 
If you get nostalgic food wise visit Small Middle East / Africa between sois 3 and 5 on Sukhumvit / BTS Nana /, for  while you will feel removed from Bangkok.
 
If inclined for more  touristy stuff do not forget about Snake Farm, almost across the street from Soi Twilight, shows at 11 and 2.30, each different.
 
As for more mature boys, try Hotmale bar and Tawan, that one for muscle lowers only.
 
As for sauna and preference for tourists and older men, sounds as invitation to visit Babylon sauna, short taxi hop from Silom.

Yes, I agree and just as stupid IMHO is a guy that doesn't take care of his boy after his death.  We have also heard that story over and over and I had one good friend who died and was worth millions with his porn empire and his lover had been with him for years.  But, he didn't have a will and thus everything went to his family and being Baptist, they didn't want anything to do with the business (after they squeezed as much money as they could out of it) and they let it fold.
 
I also know of others do were with their lover for years and did not take care of them. 
 
Both instances are crazy IMHO. 
 
Intelligent people do some stupid things when love or sex is concerned.  I have done some stupid things as well so I count myself as one of them. But, I would never just put my life security in anyone else's hands that I didn't know from the time I was born (family).   Your friend did that and while we can all feel bad for him, I have to say it is a shame that people do these things.  Often times, they know better.  They advise others not to do the same as them as their "boy" is special. 

I am sorry to hear this but who on earth puts their home in someone's name without a lease? That is just insane.
 
I see this here all the time.  A farang falls in love with someone he is providing support financially and he feels they love him just as much and he puts house or condo in the name of the BF. 
 
I am sorry, but I just don't get it.  How intelligent people can do such stupid things is beyond me. If you want to give the BF a house, fine. That is great.  But, if you have the need for the home as well, then other details have to be worked out.

I agree it is foolish but fools
fall in love and do stupid
things. I was wild about first
Thai bf and he never stopped telling
me that renting was bad and I should
buy. He did end up with gold and
motorbike plus more but no house.
Many farangs throw reason out the window
and believe their teenage bf loves
their ancient wrinkled carcass as much
as they love the teenager. It's an old story.

Mama Dolores Pizza
 
Christian had suggested Mama Dolores Pizza to me so the BF and I met him for dinner there last night.
 
First, I really enjoyed meeting Christian. He is a super nice guy with a fascinating life. The BF who does not like many farangs in Thailand even said when we left that he really like Christian and was happy to have met him. He never says this about anyone but Christian spoke in a way that he understood and was a part of the conversation all night.  That is very rare as he normally sits at the table and is very quiet.
 
Mama Dolores is an open air Pizza place near Sathorn Soi 1 in Bangkok. The place was full when the BF and I got there at bit before 8 and we had to wait for a table.  The waiters were nice and professional. There was a mix of both farang and Thai with the Thai's having the majority.
 
We ordered a make your own pizza and put ham, blue cheese, corn and pineapple on it.  The crust is a bit thinner than I prefer but the taste of the pizza was great.  We all gave it a 4 star. 
 
The BF also had some lamb kabobs and they were OK.  The french fries and onion rings were also tasty.
 
All in all, we really enjoyed the pizza and the company.  We will defiantly be going back there many times as the BF really liked the place as well. 
 
Thank you to Christian for a great recommendation!
 
Mama Dolores Old Time Pizza
20 Thanon Yen Akat, Thung Maha Mek Sathon, Bangkok 10120, Thailand
 

I just put Hua Hin as idea - it is  after all it's Royal family  vacationing ground or at least was  so must have some charm and class.
My only contact with beach in Thailand is when I visit Fresh Beach Boys bar in Soi Twilight so take my advice lightly in sun and sand field.
 
 
Don't panic about rain - likely it will rain  but those are not whole day deluges, rather intensive but usually short.
 
Silom area is  the best to stay , wise choice from every angle.
 
If you get nostalgic food wise visit Small Middle East / Africa between sois 3 and 5 on Sukhumvit / BTS Nana /, for  while you will feel removed from Bangkok.
 
If inclined for more  touristy stuff do not forget about Snake Farm, almost across the street from Soi Twilight, shows at 11 and 2.30, each different.
 
As for more mature boys, try Hotmale bar and Tawan, that one for muscle lowers only.
 
As for sauna and preference for tourists and older men, sounds as invitation to visit Babylon sauna, short taxi hop from Silom.

I have stayed at the Sukhothai but not Banyan Tree which is right next door. Sukhothai is a very nice hotel. But the location is not ideal in my opinion. It is closer to Babylon though for your sauna adventures. It's not as close to Silom (time wise) as you might think due to the road configuration. MRT is about 10 or so minutes walk away. Sathorn is a very busy road especially during rush hours. If you want to be in the middle of it all then Le Meridien would be a better choice. It's extremely close to the gogo bars for example and Suriwong Rd has a lot to offer. And probably 10-15 walk to BTS skytrain.
 
Or you might consider somewhere like the Dusit Thani which is in a very good location on Silom right across from Lumpini Park. Very close to BTS and MRT and there's a ton of street life right there on Silom. One problem with staying at the Sukhothai is that there's nothing right around the hotel as far as food for example.
 
I used to stay at the Siri Sathorn all the time. It's a serviced apartment place run by the same company as the Sukhothai. You get a lot more space, your own kitchen, etc. The location is not the greatest as it is 10 minutes or more walk to Silom Rd but they have a shuttle van during the day that can drop you off on Silom and you just have to walk back or take a taxi. Probably a good 20 minute walk the gogo bars. 
 
One problem with Bangkok is that there are just too many great choices of places to stay at reasonable prices. I think it can lead to some paralysis in making a choice. Service is almost uniformly gracious and friendly wherever you stay.

Good article.
 
Whilst the plight of Burmese refugees and hill-tribe girls and boys (two examples mentioned in the article) is a recognised problem, as the article says although relatively few in absolute terms - 200 or so, compared with 30,000 Thais and unknown numbers of Lao, Burmese and Cambodians - foreigners sleeping rough serve as a jolt to the system for ordinary Thai people, unused to seeing foreigners who've hit rock bottom.
 
I recall reading the odd post on the gay Thailand forums where a guy's Thai boyfriend has turned out a bad apple, perhaps the falung had invested money in a business with his Thai bf set up to run it. Maybe it was a bar, that's one of the most common, but whatever it might have been, the enterprise is ruined by dishonesty, laziness, or maybe just simple misunderstanding. Of course, some falung are hardly paragons of virtue themselves, but I'd like to stick to cases where it's the Thai person who messes up. There have also been cases of falung being strung along by reckless boyfriends just riding the gravy train for all it's worth. Throw a large gambling debt into the melting pot and you have a highly combustible situation. 
 
Many foreigners end up marrying Thai women, and of course there are many more heterosexual relationships then gay ones. As the article says, once the falung's wife has it all sown up - house in her name, etc - that's the point at which the genuine loving wife parts company from her conniving deceitful compatriot. One common problem is when the falung, under his wife's urging or perhaps out of ignorance, builds a house in her village or in the local vicinity. That's really raising the stakes as if things turn sour he has his wife's relatives to contend with. I've read of instances where the wife has died and her foreign husband driven off the land by greedy relatives. 
 
There will always be a plenty of foreign men coming to Thailand and falling for one of its girls or young men, but how do you stop it turning sour on you, or not getting out before it's too late? Forget about the wet behind the ears crowd who land in LoS borne along on a wave of euphoria but without a clue about what makes the country tick. That leaves us with the savvy know-alls. Trouble is, you might be a know-it-all in your home country, you might have the T-shirt even, but that counts for nothing in Thailand. Some of you will remember Brains, the master scientist in the Thunderbirds puppet series, poor chap, he probably never had much luck under the sheets, so unlikely he'd throw away his heart on an empty whim. And that's the problem with many foreign men - slowly but surely, behind all those testosterone-fuelled nights of passion, the old brain box atrophies away. 
 
If gay marriage becomes legal in Thailand, I don't think us guys have too much to worry about. It's true the person you might decide to marry is Thai, with all that entails, but what it boils down to is . . . he's a man. He's a man, not a woman.