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ChristianPFC

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Posts posted by ChristianPFC

  1. Automatic translation sometimes gives good results, in other occasions is useless. You have to consider that it works poorly for slang, and that's what most posts on facebook or online dating are. But for clear pronunciation / correct writing and standard language, results are good.

    A recent example: I was in Central Plaza Westgate and got a message from a Thai who used online translation:

    Quote

    Entering the toilet class3

    Can you guess what it means? To me it's immediately obvious, as the Thai word for "class" (in a school or university) and "level/storey" (in a bulding) is the same. So he was asking me to come to 3rd floor toilet.

  2. On 2/24/2019 at 9:58 AM, colmx said:

    The difference is that most punters will want to visit 4-5 bars in a night and see going on in each place before choosing an off, so its not an occasional luxury, its multiple luxuries in the same night....nobody wants 5 steak dinners in the same night!

    And lets face it Jupiter is merely a gourmet burger, and should cost no more than that!

    I adjust my frequency of visits to prices.

    In Bangkok, I go only to one bar, and only a few times per year, when friends from abroad are in town. Let's make that 4 bar visits per year.

    In Pattaya, I visit 3 or 4 bars per night, sometimes two nights in a row, once per month.

    In both Bangkok and Pattaya there are bars that I don't visit at all because their business model does not fit my preferences.

  3. Gayromeo has lost considerable and is only worth considering in Bangkok and Pattaya (I haven't been to Phuket or Chiang Mai for a while, so I don't know how active it's there).

    When I go to the provinces, I first open hornet. But that's only because with a free account I can see a limited number of profiles, whereas with blued you can go around the world if you have time. The video advertising on hornet is really annoying.

    If I had to choose one of the three, it would be blued.

    A friend reports good results with grindr, some day I will open an account.

  4. For X-Boys Pattaya I have recent experience that you can have a boy sitting with you and get away without buying a drink. That's not my normal mode of operation, but here how it came:

    I'm not a fan of X-Boys Pattaya and haven't been for over a year. But I spotted a cute boy Ball online, and he works in X-Boys, and after over a year it's time to re-assess the bar and their show. So I went shortly before show to see the boys on rotation first, and then the show after.

    Before show started, lights went off and all boys left stage, and Ball came to sit with me uninvited (important; if I invite a boy I always buy him a drink). I think three staff asked me if I would buy him a drink, a firm "no" and they left me in peace and the boy sitting on my side. As there were only few other customers, I didn't feel he loses on opportunity for an off, and tipped him 100 when I left. The audition was positive, and some day I might meet him before or after work.

    I freely admit I'm a cheapskate. Under certain circumstances I can justify paying 280 THB for drink for me, but I cannot justify paying 300 THB for a boy drink. And if staff had told me the boy cannot sit with me unless I buy him a drink, I would have replied "then he will have to sit somewhere else", and taken all communication with the boy online.

    If a boy sits with me uninvited, and he is not my type, then no drink and no tip.

    X-Boys Bangkok, I haven't been for years (?) and cannot tell.

    But I clearly remember I offed a boy from Classic Boys about 2012 without even entering the bar, just asking at door if he is in, pay off fee, and go (after boy dressing). And similar elsewhere, but with entering the bar and drinking, call the boy over, ask him "do you want to go with me?" (no details about activities or money) and send him back to dress.

  5. On 2/24/2019 at 5:47 PM, colmx said:

    It's a pity that it's impossible to block anyone on PR without them clearly seeing that you have blocked them!

    I like it! On gayromeo I know that someone has blocked me, which I find more honest than Line or hornet or facebook with "content not available" or other similar messages. Worst is hornet, where the chat is gone.

  6. I voted "no" "too dangerous" "too far". "Too far" is not a valid argument, as from Germany distance to Brasil is similar as to Thailand.

    In principle I'm interested in Brasil, however:

    I speak Thai already and know my way around here (SEAsia), safety is a big issue for me (I want to be able to walk anywhere anytime without safety issues), and my impression is that Brasilians are more hunky and more hairy (and I don't want someone who shaves, or use depilatory cream, I wanted natural absence of hair where it doesn't belong) than SEAsians. And anyway, my time is completely consumed between Thailand, Germany, Taiwan and Myanmar. There is no chance of me going to Brasil anytime soon.

    Another point is: have those who have been to Brasil paid for sexual services or was it free? Nowadays, most of my encounters here (SEAsia) are free, whereas in Brasil I would probably have to start by paying to get an impression what's available and what's possible.

  7. On 2/3/2019 at 2:43 PM, z909 said:

    Anyway, can anyone here advise on how to find a really good language teacher?

    No. Anyway, it depends on what you want to learn. My main interest is in reading, so I can understand what's written. Whereas most students, and subsequently most courses, focus on speaking and listening. I'm interested in grammar and history of a language, which I get from internet and books, but not from classes. And finally, there is this wonderful tool of the International Phonetic Alphabet, which I have never seen used in class (neither at school nor at adult education).

    Once you have a certain level, language exchange is something to look into. The experience in Taipei (Chinese-German) was positive. In Thailand I haven't tried it yet as I travel a lot and cannot plan more than a day in advance.

    The question is rather to study in class or individual courses. Both Thai (in 2011) and Chinese (in 2018) I started in class, but found large parts a waste of time, nay detrimental (when you talk with your classmates in the target language). I would say, the higher cost of individual courses is offset by having the full attention of your teacher and not being subjected to wrongly pronounced target language.

    Pronunciation is actually the only part where I need a native speaker. And it took me a bit to get my teacher in Taiwan to understand not to stop correcting my pronunciation when she understands what I'm saying, but when it is correctly pronounced. Everything else I can study on my own, with books or internet.

  8. On 2/5/2019 at 1:24 PM, Schuft said:

    He lives in Chaing Rai and he loves the beach so I am taking him to Pattaya  (I have never been) for the weekend.

    Your boyfriend loves beach or the beach in Pattaya/Jomtien? I'm not a beach person, but even I can say that the beach in Pattaya/Jomtien is not the finest Thailand has to offer. And if I had a boyfriend, I wouldn't go to Pattaya with him (because, apart from the gogo bars and a few tourist attractions, I don't like Pattaya).

  9. Extension of validity varies greatly from one provider to the other. Maximum validity for AIS is 365 days. Registering your number does not help. I did so in 2012 (?) hoping that would keep the number to my name, but the time I came to Thailand for holiday, it was beyond validity and I couldn't get the number back. Between AIS, you can transfer validity or balance for a small fee.

    @ChristianPFC is using these machines (I never have) and can advise more 

    These machines do indeed come with or without service fee, as high as 5 THB for 100 THB top-op, i.e. you have to insert 105 THB.

    There is an interesting problem related to expiration of SIM-cards. I have saved someone's number, his validity expires, the number is assigned to a new SIM-card and bought by a new person. The network detects activity, and LINE adds this person. I message him/her, hoping to find a long-lost friend. Usually it's pretty quick to figure out it's not the person I'm looking for, but once I ended up with a Thai woman who insisted she loves me and wanted to marry me, and when I told her that's impossible because I'm gay, she wanted to borrow 20,000 THB.

  10. I don't like the entire idea of making appointments with service providers and popular boys (a very short step to attitude and unreasonable expectations).

    I want to be the one in high demand and who is popular, and I will go to places where I am (Pattaya gogo bars, street trade).

    Daydreamer's report reminds me of my recent (Dec 2018) survey of Myanmar massage shops. No appointment, but I had name and address of a shop, but with unclear numbering I walked past twice, and there was no sign. Asked a local for help, and he called the number, and someone waved out of a window above us. So I went up, and still no sign, but door was open and I was asked to come in. The selection of massage boys was poor, so I made an excuse, said Thank You and left.

  11. On 2/4/2019 at 8:59 PM, reader said:

    Or maybe they'll migrate further out to less expensive neighborhoods. Saphan Kwai, for example, once offered many gay venues.

    As you wrote: "once". Saphan Kwai is in decline as well, and here I assume it's not rising rents or lack of foreign customers.

    When you are looking for prostitution, gogo bars and massage shops provide that.

    For free encounters, gay saunas and discos could provide that, but my success rate is low.

    Online has everything: free and paid, and 90% of my free encounters are from online. There is just no brick-and-mortar place that could provide such a selection. Online, I can fish in entire Thailand. I'm just back from a nice encounter in Sakaew. I went there for sightseeing, and meeting a local boy at night was the icing on the cake.

     

  12. On 1/25/2019 at 2:28 PM, DivineMadman said:

    Somewhere in the midst of it all is a tiny sports field that takes clever advantage of a unique footprint and one some design awards.  I do want to get to see that at some point.

    I have been to both sport fields (there are supposed to be more, but the footage is fake or an artist's impression). One I passed recently, and it's a great example how something that was created with good intentions became a failure due to poor construction and lack of maintenance. About one year after construction, cracks appeared in the ground, and it turned into a giant dog toilet, and is now used as general storage area. The other one I have to check next time I'm in the area. Worth a full article with pictures on my blog some day.

    The one in picture above is/was real, but now looks like a garbage dump.

  13. Cars are to blame for many evils, but not for this. There were as many cars and traffic jams 6 months ago, without such pollution levels.

    And you have to consider that there are 12 million people who belch, fart, vomit, smoke, piss and shit and prepare food over open fires. Those fumes from kitchens burn in the eyes when then the wind blows them into the area where customers sit. And incense in temples. (My mother does incense for Christmas, bordering on chemical warfare, but I haven't been in Europe in winter for years so it doesn't affect me.)

    The problem is the weather conditions that trap all the pollution in the city. But there is nothing we can do about the weather, only produce less pollutants.

  14. I think the Ambiance cannot be accessed by car as Boystown is car-free (at night for sure, during day I don't remember cars there). And I had similar situations elsewhere, where the hotel was marked between two roads in google maps and it was not clear which road is the entrance to hotel.

    When I take a taxi, I know exactly where I'm going and can give directions. It happens that taxi driver does not know the place.

    But tourist who does not know directions and does not speak Thai has to rely on luck, that either google maps is correct or taxi driver knows the place.

    Jomtien vs Boystown. I'm not interested in beer bars, so I spend only little, if any, time in Jomtien. Boys in underwear on stage are more interesting than fully dressed boys sitting, from that alone there might be a bias in attraction. However, I saw a few cute boys in Jomtien, and my current and all time favorite works there.

  15. On 1/28/2019 at 11:23 PM, Boy69 said:

    ... take a short sailing to the beutiful island Kho Larn...

    Full of tourists (Chinese tour groups!!!) and a waste management problem?

    In Chonburi province there is Koh Si Chang (not to be confused with Koh Chang) and Bang Saen which I find interesting places.

     

  16. There is one masseur No in former Lomchoey, now Zy massage in Soi Ngamduplee, who is my type but was only so-so when I had massage with him some years ago, who is on hornet with a profile mostly in Thai, but having "no sex" in English. It puzzles me why someone who works in gay massage would put "no sex" in his online dating profile. If I didn't know him, I would skip him for that reason.

  17. Great reports!

    On 1/29/2019 at 9:26 PM, z909 said:

    You are right to pick up on the floor levels issue.   They just don't get it.    Brand new high end tower blocks and yet there is a 2 inch random step in the floor where none should be necessary if the place is surveyed and constructed properly.    

    I still clearly remember when I was about 15 and my parents went with me to Scotland for holiday, the hotel was labyrinthine, but I forgot how many turns and steps up and down it took to get from my room to my parents'.

    Fake disco has a lot of steps, from stage going up to the wall, which might help to give everyone a view of stage, but has disadvantages when walking there drunk and without seeing the floor. (Before someone asks: I'm talking about my observation of others, not personal experience.)

    And the gogo bar in a side soi of Bua Khao in Pattaya that closed around 2013, there was a step of a few centimeter, invisible in low light and dark tiles, on the way to toilet, where I hurt my toe.

    And many more construction and interior design mishaps.

    Taxi at airport. The last years, I always took the ARL from airport to town, and in some cases took taxi from ARL station closest to my room. If I were ever to take a taxi from airport, I would do at departure level to save the 50 THB fee. They built turnstiles to prevent people from doing so, but the last time I did (2014?) the turnstiles could turn in both directions!

    I think that last time I took a taxi from there, despite agreeing on use of meter when I asked first, when we were on our way the driver asked for fixed fare, which I refused, so he sent me back to the same spot. That together with several other mishaps taxi from and even taxi to airport, was enough to give up.

    ARL is clearly cheaper, takes about the same time, I am strong enough to carry my luggage, and my departure and arrival times are when ARL operates, so I don't bother with all the taxi bullshit any more.

    Grab. All reports are positive, I might try some day. But I assume their maps are based on google maps, which has plenty of mistakes. If you have no local knowledge, and the location on google maps is wrong, you can't blame the driver. I just checked and Tuk-Com is correct on google maps, I have no idea why your trip went wrong. There is a multi story car park somewhere behind Tuk-Com which could be the place your driver took you. "Parking Garage Parking couvert Tuk Com" on google maps.

     

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