fedssocr

You can always try Purple Dragon www.purpledrag.com They give priority to people who have booked their packages, but if they have a guide available at the time you can book him. I found their service to be very professional and top-notch. They are based in the lobby of Tarntawan Place hotel.

I tried to upgrade from PE to C on the JFK-BKK leg of my flight but the checkin and gate agents told me that would cost something like $1500. I tried to tell them it was supposed to be less than that but they were not interested. The staff at JFK are not Thai staff, but rather contractors who couldn't care less about customer service. The PE seats were OK and I had plenty of room since the seat next to me was empty, but I can't sleep in a sitting position so even the PE seat was not great for me. On the BKK-JFK return I again inquired at checkin about upgrading from PE to C. I was able to buy the upgrade for Bt 26500 which I think was around $700 at the time. It was well worth it as far as I was concerned. I had to leave the checkin area (at Don Muang) and go to the ticket sales office counter to buy the upgrade and then go back to the checkin desk where she had my C class boarding pass waiting for me.

Well, from what I have been reading this attack does not exactly fit the MO of the southern insurgents. Do they drop grenades on people? Do they set up synchronized explosions? And why would they do this when the gov't has been making overtures to them since the coup? If it is them they have to know that the gov't will have to make a big show of cracking down on them. Who has the most to gain here? Remember how the Spanish gov't immediately blamed ETA for the Madrid train bombings only to discover that it was in fact al Qaida instead? I'm just saying jumping to conclusions isn't very helpful when an investigation hasn't even begun. Likewise the unnamed "intelligence authorities" blaming factions loyal to Thaksin ought to wait until there's an actual answer. One report quotes a professor from Chululangkorn Univ. as saying it is obviously not the southern insurgents but is Thaksin's people.

It is a very sad situation for sure. Having the unexploded bombs will hopefully give the authorities some better insight into who is behind it all. Until we know for sure who did it I don't think it's helpful to blame the terrorists from the south or Thaksin's loyalists.

You may not go to the bars every night but you have that option. Those of us who are just visiting don't. Penalized for living there?!? Dude, you live in f****** Thailand, how awesome is that!? If I lived there I would be hard pressed to feel I was being penalized simply because a boy who I may or may not want to off is being sought after by some one else. Count your blessings. However, I am not advocating some sort of rule that says residents must give way to visitors. I'm just saying you potentially have more options than those of us visiting for a limited time. I guess I just come down on the side of whoever is willing to pay the off fee first gets the boy.

This is an interesting thread. I don't have very much experience in this area, so I am not sure I have much of value to add. But surely if you are living there you will always have another chance to "off" the boy if you are missing out on this night. And I think that applies to both sides of the issue being discussed here. And is this some strange bar we're talking about that has but a single boy working in it? The time I spent in the bars was such that I would have had a nearly impossible time choosing among all of the boys on hand. Certainly there are other boys in the bar who would suffice at any given time, no? What is it that you guys are looking for with these boys anyway? Are you trying to find a boyfriend? If that's the case this seems like an odd way to go about it. I think I see both sides of the issue in question. But how long does it really take to decide if you want to off a guy? I think I have a pretty good idea when I call a guy over that I want to take him off or I wouldn't have called him in the first place. I think the bar in this case did the right thing. They give the customer who is buying the boy a drink a chance to off him first. What is it that you are trying to find out to make you decide that is going to take more than a minute to figure out? If you're not taking him off let the guy go make his money with the person that wants to take him. Obviously this has never happened to me, but I have a hard time imagining that I would be upset if some one "usurped" me as it has been called above. It sounds like an ownership issue that some people seem to have. You don't own this guy or have dominion over him just because you bought him a drink. If you want to off him do it. If not, find some one else to off.

I like the "champagne" airport transfer service. For 12,000 baht you get 2 escorts plus a bottle of champagne for your trip from the airport to the hotel. That sounds like one expensive party! But that big suite for 2500 baht looks very nice.

Mtv debuted in the US in 1981. Yes it has become a tired format here. But the Asian version(s) actually do show some music videos. I read that a new small cable company has an exclusive contract with them and VH1 now.

Wow. I thought I was cynical until I read some of the posts in this thread. Maybe things are a little different for those of you who live there. But maybe not. I agree that 500 baht is too little period. Whether the guy was giving up his virginity or not is immaterial as far as I am concerned. That being said though, to me, I think that what the boys expect and what's "fair" to them is one part of the equation. The other part is how much are there services worth to each of us. If I can afford to pay them 1000 baht and it is worth that much to me then I will pay that much without hesitation or worrying that I am paying too much. If I decide to pay double that for some reason, so what. If being generous is part of what makes me feel good about the transaction then I will do it. Does that make me a "sucker"? Maybe it does, but I really don't care if that's what other people think.As long as the boy thinks he is being treated fairly and I am having a good time I don't know that much else matters. Now on the flip side if taking some boy's virginity, or taking a boy, period, is only worth 500 baht to some one then that's a shame I think for everyone involved. Unfortunately it goes with the territory in this line of work. I suspect word gets around fairly quickly. I would imagine that "what the boys think of us" probably has about as many different answers as what we think of the boys. If I were to garner some sort of reputation as being a money machine I would certainly prefer that to a reputation as being some cheapskate farang who treats boys like crap. But I don't expect I will ever get any sort of reputation at all. I waver back and forth between feeling bad that these guys have to do this and thinking that they could make other choices instead. While I was in Pattaya I met a boy in Funny Boys who I liked very much. We went back to my place for a short time. He spoke English quite well and was very sweet. I don't think he had been in town very long and I asked him if he liked Pattaya and he frowned at me and said no. And the feeling I had was that he didn't think he had any options. I like to think that I have been in enough strip clubs and been with enough working boys to have developed a pretty good ability to read people in this line of work and I really felt for this guy.

I was treated at Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital while I was there on my trip. I had food poisoning. They kept me overnight with an IV stuck in me. I found the care to be excellent and cheap. Communicating with the doctor was no problem but some of the nurses were a little difficult to understand.

I was not impressed when I was in Classic Boys. Very pushy mamasan, boring show. In Chiang Mai your choices seem to be failry limited. New My Way has twinkier guys. Finding smooth, young looking guys in Thailand is not difficult.

I think the Chaing Mai floods were back in August. It's all moving downstream now to the central part of the country.

I've been following the flood situation in the Post and Nation. It looks like much of Ayutthaya is underwater from their reporting. I just read an article yesterday that many of the historic sites are submerged and in danger. I made a donation to the Thai Red Cross to help out a little bit with the relief.

That's ridiculous. There are protests against Bush and the government here every day. And even more than that there are tons of alternative media online and elsewhere denouncing Bush and the Republicans in Congress. And polls out today show that most Americans disapprove of the president and the congress and the direction of the country. How free is the media in Thailand today to go against the coup leaders? How free are people there to protest against your government? Of course our government should stay out of Thai internal politics. But I think we also have a right to spend our aid money how we please. I hate Bush and what he has done to the world and our country as much as anyone. And I loved my time in Thailand and the people I met there and think you all have a right to organize your government however you please. But don't delude yourself into thinking that we don't have a right to protest here.

I returned via JFK and was prepared for the 3rd degree. But I was one of the first ones to the passport control line as I was in business class. The woman swiped my passport stamped it and handed it back to me without saying a word. It was the 6:30 AM arriving TG flight. My luggage was among the first bags out and I was the second person to the customs line. A cursory glance at my declaration form a "thank you sir" and that was it. I was off the plane and past customs within 30 minutes I would guess. I was rather surprised at how completely painless it was. I even had declared more than the exemption amount for the stuff I was bringing back and they didn't bother to charge me any duty. But any time I visit Toronto I get extra special treatment from Canada Customs for some odd reason.

Yes, it was a lot of temples, and while they were all beautiful they did sort of all start to blend together after a while. I felt like there was plenty of down time. When I travel I like to go out and see things. I am not one for just sitting on the beach and doing nothing. I did travel around using the SkyTrain quite a bit when I was in BKK. We also took a lot of taxis, but they are so cheap that it made sense when there were two of us. In Pattaya I mostly walked but took the baht bus to the beach. In Chiang Mai my guide picked me up and drove me everywhere. I definitely felt like it was a good value for me. I am used to traveling in Europe so it was probably about the same as I would have spent on a 3 week trip there where I usually travel by public transportation and tour on my own without a guide. And once in Thailand everything was so cheap. Meals ended up costing what seemed like next to nothing. I did enjoy very much having the hotels' private car transport from/to the airport and the pickup from BKK to Pattaya. I didn't really know for sure how much to tip the guides. The company suggests that the average tip is Bt800. I felt like they did a very good job for the most part so I was not unhappy to pay 1000. I am fairly well off, so if spending that much makes their lives better I am happy to share especially since I felt like they took such good care of me. The drivers seemed happily surprised when I tipped them as well, but obviously I did not tip them as much as the guides.

That's OK, I don't mind. It's a public forum after all, and I don't think anyone is going to make any money off of my intellectual property. :-) Here's a photo album. I will be adding more when I have time http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/socrguy11us/...f363scd&.src=ph

well, if you really want to know... I think I paid about $3300 for my 3 weeks to Purple Dragon. My flight arrangements to/from Thailand were made on my own. And I did tip my guides generally about Bt1000 per day. The guides all speak English and are TAT licensed. I first spent about 4 days in BKK staying at the Tarntawan. I thought it was a decent enough place. I liked their guest policy of hanging onto his ID card and calling to check that everything was OK before giving it back to him. The breakfast was OK. They collected me from the airport on arrival. My first day of touring was to Wat Pho and Wat Arun and then a longtail boat trip around the canals of Thonburi. Then we had lunch at the Oriental and then the Jim Thompson house museum. That was all included in what I paid. That night I had an evening guide to show me the scene. He was very cool and seemed to know everyone. He was one of the original "Thai Friends" guides who has been with the company from the beginning. We had dinner at Sphinx and then took in the shows at Boys Bangkok and Future Boys. They claimed at the time that the full sex show was not going to happen because there were too many police around. The second day I had my guide's service from 10 AM to 10 PM. We went to see the big teakwood mansion that used to be a royal residence and then to the big Italianate throne hall that is in the same park and the white marble temple nearby that was built with the leftover marble from the throne hall. From there we had lunch at a little Thai restaurant with traditional music right by the Democracy Monument. From there we went down to the Ancient City Muang Boran which I thought was very interesting and enjoyed very much even though it was quite hot. In the evening we went to the Calypso cabaret show which I could have done without. The tickets were very expensive and I am not really a big fan of those sorts of shows. It was also odd in that the audience was mainly Asian and Russian tourists who didn't seem to really understand when they were supposed to applaud. Day 3 was the Royal Palace and then the National museum. After lunch we went to Paragon to look around there for a bit. I went and got a massage at Bonny massage which was actually pretty good and the massage boy was very cute and sweet. I also had dinner afterwards at Dick's which I really enjoyed. I thought the food was good and so was the service. It was fun to watch the world go by out on the soi. The next day it was off to Pattaya. The Ambiance's driver came and picked me up at the Tarntawan. I really liked having the transfers taken care of. The problem with Ambiance was that it has the most uncomfortable beds I have ever attempted to sleep on. That evening my guide took out to see the scene. We had dinner at some touristy restaurant first. Then he showed me how the baht bus system operates. We went to Sunee and stopped in Krazy Dragon for a drink. We didn't go to any of the other bars that night. I also went to Splash to see the water show and saw part of the lip sync show at Throb. The mamasans were not too pushy but since there were few customers they were really fighting over me. I also had a quick drink at Boyz Boyz Boyz. I stayed in Pattaya until Monday. I spent some time at the beach on Friday and found it to be very pleasant except for the constant attempts to sell me everything. I loved Thailand, but the ever-present hawkers trying to sell me "sexy movie", "lady massage" and all sorts of other things was the most annoying part. I went back to Sunee that night and stopped in at a couple of bars which frankly shocked me. This was my first time in Thailand and I thought that the police had worked hard to eradicate the whole underage sex thing, but these places were pretty much exclusively boys too young to be doing what they were doing, especially so openly. Saturday I spent the day with my guide. We went to the botanic garden/elephant show place...I can't remember it's name. They also have what is supposed to be a Thai cultural dance show too. We also went to the aquarium and to the "Sanctuary of Truth" and up to the big Buddha on the hill. It was a pretty full day. That evening I went to Funny Boys. There were several cute guys there and I was one of maybe two customers so all pleading eyes were on me which made me rather uncomfortable. The ladyboy mamasan was actually very nice and I ended up offing a very sweet boy...number 10 whose name I frankly can't remember. He spoke English very well and gave my a nice massage among other things. Sunday I woke up feeling very unwell. I think lunch at the Sanctuary of Truth had some very negative consequences. By lunch time I was feeling a bit better and since I was leaving the next day I thought I would try the beach one more time. Which ended up being a mistake. I was getting a massage at the beach and more or less blacked out for a second, started sweating profusely and tossed my cookies all over the beach...several times. It was quite embarrassing. Everyone was asking if I had too much whiskey the night before which was not the problem. There was an American doctor nearby who suggested I go to the hospital. Once I made it back to the hotel I asked the front desk to arrange for the car to take me to the hospital. I spent the night at Bangkok Pattaya hospital with an IV stuck in my hand. The care was excellent and amazingly cheap, about $350 for a very nice private room and all of the medication and care. The Ambiance did a very nice job helping me out getting me to the hospital and coming to pick me up when I was discharged. At that point it was obvious that I would miss my flight to Chiang Mai so I asked the front desk to call Purple Dragon and let them know so they could contact the hotel in Chiang Mai. As we were driving to the airport the folks at Purple Dragon called to say that the had me rebooked on the next flight and that everything was arranged. I arrived in Chiang Mai and was picked up by the good people from the Lanna Mantra hotel. The hotel is really beautiful and located right on the Ping River. I had a river view from my bed. The only problem with the hotel is that it is located about 15 minutes away from town so it is not easy access, but if you want a quiet sanctuary it fits the bill. My guide came out to meet me in the evening and took me to eat but since my stomach was still not well we didn't go out after that. The next day we toured some temples around Chiang Mai including up the mountain to Doi Suthep. That night after dinner we went to Circle Bar to see the show. The bar is very dark but they have an OK show, but not a full sex show. The guys are more muscle-y than I usually go for but they were quite handsome and hung. The day after was a quick day trip to Lamphun to see the big temple there and the museum. And I did a bit of craft shopping including an umbrella factory. We also went to the Shinawatra silk factory but I didn't want to buy anything there. :-) That night after dinner we went to the show at New My Way which was much more twink-y. I liked the show. It was the usual mix of naked guys, and ladyboy lipsyncing. They also had these two skinny boys who did music video type choreographed dance numbers. I liked them very much but wish they had smiled more. I like it when it's obvious they have put some work into and that they really enjoy dancing. The following day was a longer trip to Lampang which was also very interesting. Then it was a drive up to Chiang Rai through the mountains. I enjoyed the drive but the van drivers are a little crazy. Almost like Bangkok taxi drivers. It was more temples up there and then a trip up to the Golden Triangle, the opium museum, and the little town on the Myanmar border whose name also escapes me at the moment. It was lots of driving around but I enjoyed it. I stayed the night at the Wiang Inn in Chaing Rai which was frankly a dump. The common areas were nice, but the guest room was smelly and a bit dingy. Saturday we drove up to Doi Tung. I really enjoyed the beautiful flower garden and the King's late mother's house on the mountain. We also stopped in at the hill tribe craft village briefly. Then from there I flew back to Bangkok. SUnday was an all day tour of Ayutthaya which I found really fascinating. My guide that day was excellent. We saw lots of temples and all of the old ruins and took another longtail boat ride around the island. We stayed until after dark when the old sites are lit up by floodlights. It was cool but since the sites are all closed you can only see them from the outside and it was difficult to photograph them which had been an aim of mine. After that my time in BKK was fairly quiet. I did some shopping at all of the big malls. Tuesday I had a guide again all day but I had seen most of the sites already. So went to the flower market which I enjoyed and then spent some time wandering around Chinatown. We also saw the solid gold Buddha.That night was supposed to be one of the highlights of my trip...a concert by ModernDog out at the Party House Pub by Seacon Square. Thanks to the band and the guys at Purple Dragon we were able to get a map and find out how to get there. We arrived rather early and had dinner at the pool hall across the street. We went inside the venue and I was very impressed. Party House is a great live music space. Well laid out and and excellent sound system. The opening band was pretty good but I thought they played longer than they should have. They started around 10 and played to 11:15 or so. As they were changing over between bands the club put CNN up on the big screens with coup coverage. I was a little perplexed. Most people either didn't seem to notice or didn't much care. ModernDog came out around 11:45, played half of one song and were promptly stopped by the club's management. So the coup scuttled what was going to be a great show. We were a little worried that it might be hard to get a taxi back to the city but it turned out to be not so hard. My guide was concerned that he might have a hard time getting home because he lives out by Bang Sue. I was up late watching the news. On my return to BKK I stayed 2 nights at Tarntawan before moving around the corner to the Siam Heritage hotel. I had a 1 bedroom suite which was beautiful and overlooked Suriwong Rd. They have a fairly strict no unregistered guests policy though which might be bad for some. The staff were all quite nice even though the folks at the front desk don't speak much English. Overall I had a great time in Thailand. Almost all of the people I met were super nice and I felt very much welcome. I liked having a personal guide showing me around and it was definitely worth it to me. I don't know when I will return, but I do plan to go back and see some of the other places that I missed. And I would like to visit Angkor Wat as well while I am in the neighborhood next time. I took about 900 photos. It will take me a while to sift through them all.

Let me just say that Purple Dragon's service has been excellent for me. I am just finishing my first 3 week visit to Thailand and everything was arranged by Purple Dragon. Everyone has treated me exceptionally well and having a personal guide show me around everywhere has been fantastic. Obviously it is more expensive than doing it all yourself but it was well worth what I paid as far as I am concerned. They went above and beyond my expectation and really took good care of me.

I enjoyed Funny Boys as well when I was there. The mamasan was very friendly and helpful without being overly pushy. There were several cute boys there any one of which would have been fine for me. The boy I selected actually spoke very good English and was a little shy but very sweet.

Last night was supposed to be one of the highlights of my trip...a concert by ModernDog in a very nice venue in outer Bangkok. Unfortunately after they were able to play half a song the plug got pulled on the show. It was a bit surreal. While we were waiting after the opening act finished and MD got set up the big screen TVs in the club switched to CNN with the news of the coup shortly before midnight. The band came out and started but then the club manager stopped them. Very disappointing personally, but even more importantly I hope that everything works out OK for Thailand and the Thai people. Luckily we were able to get a taxi back to the city fairly easily. I had BBC World here at my hotel no problem last night when I got back here around 1 AM and it has been working all day today. They don't have CNN here. ESPN was out last night for some reason. The only effects I have seen here in BKK is much lighter than usual traffic. Suriwong Rd. is eerily quiet. Other than banks being closed and a few more police here and there though things seem to be operating fairly normally. I went shopping at Paragon and Central World and while it was very quiet in both places most stores were open except the higher end jewelry stores.

I wonder how much the film was editted for its US release. The Weinsteins are notorious for butchering films in a way they think makes them better suited for the US market, but infuriates the core of people who would prefer to see it unedited. I happened to see the film on the plane on the way over and I enjoyed it. I'm not sure what sort of expectations they had for its US boxoffice...

I was out with my guide on last Monday 4/9 and had planned to see the sex show at Boys BKK (I think, there are so many bars there I didn't learn all of their names yet), but they told us there was a tip about the cops being around so they had to tone down the show. Just big cocks in their tiny little briefs and then a shower show that was actually pretty hot after the fire guy's show was decidedly less 'hot'. Several very nice looking boys there. Then we went across the street to another bar (Fresh Boys? Future Boys?) and their show was also not so wild but both places had a ton of gogo boys and a fair number of customers for a Monday night I thought. Am in Pattaya now and it has been fairly eye-opening. How do all of these places stay in business since they are all right next to each other with pretty much the same product? In a way I think I understand how the Sunee area bars may be able to do it given what they are doing there. Looking forward to leaving here for Chiang Mai on Monday for some quieter times as my first time Thailand tour continues.