vinapu

which reminds me that in my travels only twice I came to hotel completely soaked to the last thread of fabric in my clothes by the rain which caught me on the road, Hue north of Da Nang being one of them

right, apologoies

no need nor reason to be ashamed. I know somebody in similar situation happening in Montego Bay , Jamaica, this time early in the evening on busy street. When he laughed both guys claiming to be police off, he was shown a knife and a gun which straightened him up in a second. Difference with your case was, he left his phone in hotel but had most of his money on him and then fun part comes -robbers took his money from the wallet but knowingly left him 20 $ so one can plausibly claim they were part time angels

your story reminded me meeting guy who was coming to Pattaya for 15 years and by his own admission it never crossed his mind that Jomtien- Swampy bus can be used not only to get to the airport , but it's also best mean to get to the city itself with bus and air link train combination

well said, even in 24 years since I came 1st time it changed plenty. General rule is , businesses must react to changing tastes and needs of their customers , sometimes gambling on the outcome. We thought demise of soi Twilight will ruin scene but it did not happen. On another hand BBB in Pattaya, which once I considered best go-go in whole Thailand, now it's completely off radar because boys are fully dressed on the stage. Yet, they pack bar night after night to a degree other bars in Pattaya can only dream about. If we stop patronising existing venues, slowly but surely they, one by one , shrink and disappear. I asked two bar boys from different bars, each fairly popular , who used also to advertise on Grindr why they stopped. Answers couldn't be more different - one said he stopped because he did not have enough traffic to bother. Other one said he managed to get enough contacts that he is happy with traffic he gets from those loyal customers so he doesn't need to bother any longer for now. Both are still working in the bars but 2nd one become freelancer and comes and goes as he pleases. So as we see business acumen is what it really counts

I wouldn't discount 6th sense but it could be innocent coincidence of friend driving by , seeing him and asking if he wants a ride. on another hand keep your 6th sense on. My friend visiting Sajgon in Januray 2024 was stopped on the street by friendly young man ( he is not a gay ) who wanted to practice English and claimed to see him in the airport two days earlier which was spot on as it was when he arrived. Long story short ,that idiot was driven to some gambling den where he was promised to win big , luckily at the last minute he had enough sense to refuse entry and stop passing taxi to drive away . Only then , by his own admission , he realized how close he was to possible real danger. Crooks are everywhere, no need to be paranoid but 6th sense must be on 8 days a week , 25 hrs a day

relax, bkkmfj will return to Pattaya to live there relieved that all those experiments are over, mark my words

reading you post I realized why I'm not one shedding much tears about decline of go-go bars. While my first Thai venue ever was a bar ( called Up To You on Rama 4 where Take -a Nap hostel later was ) it was my trip #8 or even 9 when I really started patronizing bars , happy with massage venues like Aqua Spa and Arena until then . Equally Pattaya did not come to my radar until my 9th trip and even then I was not impressed at all but forum members told me to give hear a chance and I'm glad I did. On another hand to this day I see great advantage of having those venues with live guys as opposite to apps where rarely I see anybody interesting and if I do , it's usually guy I know already from other places.

now I understand better what secret bombing of Laos during Vietnam war means, not only POTUS was kept in the dark by Kissinger but you too

replace Rap with Jazz in sentence above and you have me also I still maintain that best music is silence as it's kind of quiet If I'm in need to good music I just sing, no need to technology it must be his older brother as I went to school with Bach but as you know I'm an inch younger than you

I was told some farms there are size of Belgium

Thank you , I generally am half-full glass kind of guy indeed. When comes to go-go bars in Thailand neither I'm longing for the past as I know it is gone anyways, no matter how I liked it then and there. Neither I'm overly concerned about future as not being teenager anymore means my time horizon narrows. I take what is at the plate when I'm there and try to make best out of it, generally with success. I rather see fully dressed guy I like look of and he smiles at me than almost naked whom I don't like much and he avoids my eye sight anyways. I truly believe and practice what I usually say - all we need is one bar and one guy there we like , rest is just garnishment, of course more of it the better but garnishment still

yes, auto corrector is stupid

no need to be humble, call me paranoid idiot or whatever, you know me, lol I still stick to that lesson - any place I visit and I visited quite a few, where I'm even thinking if I should be concerned about security I consider compromised. My most cherished moment from Bangkok is not one of many meetings with boys, is 3 am walk through completely deserted streets from Furama Silom to that big white hotel by Saphan Taksin station ( name escaped me, starts with C ). When I get to my room I realized that not even for second thought of any danger crossed my mind.

you must be still believing in Santa Claus. While generally you are right it still warrants to be vigilant. One of our members checked ID in the bar and it age was ok, still hotel security questioned if ID presented is in fact boy's - which turned out to be spot on. No 18+ infraction issue here , boy lost his ID and borrowed somebody else's to secure an off but still.... they may be gone but smell still lingers and quite a few times upon return immigration wondered sneakily why I travel to Thailand so often and on occasion or two I was even put aside even politely being asked if they can see pictures in my camera, tough luck for them as I generally almost never take pictures of other people , never mind partially dressed.

some peasants are obviously very affluent

perhaps they want but are not able to check everything they are bombarded with. Now thank to ubiquitous media anybody can be expert on vaccines, space flights, currency movements and even street prostitution and speak with misleading authority on the subject.

right but take my word for it, paper money collectors are not that discerning, logic being that some pieces hare hard to come by in ANY conditions

it depends how they are measured, by money volume volume or number of transactions. Buying chewing gum for 1.25 or phone for 500 is still one transaction each but volume is different. As for hardware keep in mind that coins have very long life span so cost spreads over number of years.

looks that retaliation against Trump tariffs kicked in already

It used to be VERY sexy hunky dentist in Thai Smile office on Silom between soi 4 and Patpong 2 but disappeared already pre-covid

there's also one in Ontario, Canada

Valid points. Trump introduced new form of diplomacy - publicly humiliating other heads of state in the White House. First Zelensky , now Ramaphosa. Not before long some of them may be looking for excuses not to accept invitation and sudden diarrhoeas among heads of state may take epidemic proportions. As for Israel's actions inevitably day is coming when some prominent politician or other influential person accused , rightly or wrongly about being anti-Semitic will respond 'so what?' or ' what's exactly wrong with that ? ". Israelis have plenty excuses to defend their actions but in long run killing 50000 to revenge death of 500 or even 5000 will demand somebody to be called for it. As for Brexit , it's for British to deal with that folly - 55% say it was wrong but it leaves 45% who still don't think so.

You are talking Paris , France or Paris, Texas ?

about time, Australia and Canada stopped making cents while ago and it went without glitch for all I know. Even nickel ( for those not in the know it's 5 cents coin, 10 cents is called dime ) should be on it's way out . When was last time somebody saw 25 or 50 satang coin ? Even Cambodian guys in Space bar last August were surprised when I pulled few 200 riels banknotes claiming they never saw those.