DivineMadman

Coincidentally I just came saw a (favorable) review of another Greek restaurant on Soi Saladaeng 1/1. Aesop's. Review

Election "Unpredictable and Messy." Coincidentally how I described a recent sexual encounter with a Thai friend ..... https://www.thaipbsworld.com/unpredictable-messy-is-how-the-march-24-election-is-seen-by-academics/

+1. Great place to rent a motorbike and go out into the countryside.

I just got back from another visit to Bali. No problems. I brush my teeth, shower, have ice in drinks, always eat the green (same as BKK and pretty much everywhere). No worries. But I do think this is an area where different people have very different tolerances, and I have the gullet of turkey vulture (apparently). Of course if there is even a slight chance you are susceptible to these sorts of problems, then by all means avoid the anxiety and play it safe. But for regular folks I think it's ok to brush your teeth and shower without worrying too much. Most (but not all) bars and restaurants now get their ice delivered and it's perfectly safe. If you want to eat some authentic Isaan food, I'll make my usual pitch for Somtum Der on Saladaeng. All very hygenic, but not blandized like some restaurants that cater to tourists. The only issue vis a vis your digestion will be how hot and spicy you can take your food. Street food is definitely cheaper than here, but you get a/c and don't have to worry about the other stuff. There are also lots of good choices to be had at the food courts in the malls, and as far as I know should be safe to eat -- as long as you follow the usual rules of going to places that are popular and have good turnover of the food. Gourmet Market in Siam Paragon has a very nice salad bar.

alcohol ban ends 6:00 pm on 24th. Things should get back to normal after that.

But the Pirate Party wasn't allowed. I just got back from Indonesia, where there's also an upcoming election. Sign everywhere there as well.

Crowns Club is very nice and has some very cute twinkier guys. Definitely worth the visit if that's your thing. I haven't gotten around to doing a bigger description of it. Best to connect with them on Line: 8t8000

I'll confess I'm still confused if you are still raising a question about the number of parties competing, which was what you had raised earlier? And I think the point about Pheu Thai and Thai Raksa Chart not competing for the same seats is explained when put in the context of the way the constitution changed the allocation of seats. I didn't think anyone thought that they were really independent parties (i.e., independent of Thaksin). I don't want to carry water for the junta, but Thai history itself is full of examples of the military staging coups and then handing over power to democratically elected governments- albeit for a while. So certainly it happens in Thailand. One can question whether this time it will be different, but it does happen here.

Is the issue that too many or too few have been allowed? With the possible exception of some true fringe groups, I believe the only meaningful party that has - so far - been banned is Thai Raksa Chart, which is/was an off-shoot of the Pheu Thai Red Shirts (Thaksin Shinawatra's peeps). Worth noting that the Pheu Thai party has not been disbanded and is contesting the election vigorously. They take it seriously. As I understand it, the Thai Raksa Chart party was created to take advantage of the way seats will be allocated under the new constitution. To oversimplify: let's pretend the drafters of this constitution thought that Pheu Thai would win "too many" seats in the lower house of parliament on a direct proportional vote, so instead the drafters set up rules that try to award more seats to the smaller parties, and less to the bigger parties. The smart folks at Pheu Thai said, "Hey - let's split into two and take advantage of this, and the way the rules work we actually will end up with more seats in parliament than if we stayed as one bigger party. All well and good and then in a massive strategic error, Thai Raksa Chart/Thaksin thinks they'll win the game with a bold move by nominating the Princess as Thai Raksa Chart's PM candidate, as near as we can tell without first securing royal approval. So bye bye Thai Raksa Chart and now the very good ploy of getting more seats by splitting into two looks to be a bad idea since now one of the two is gone. Was the banning of Thai Raksa Chart motivated by "politics" ? My guess guess would be almost certainly. But maybe such a briiant/stupid move should be disqualifying. BUT in any event, worth again reminding ourselves that Pheu Thai has not been banned. Also in the background, over the past two-three years a few smaller parties that Thaksin had bought or scooped up to make his party in the first place were peeled off by the military or left Pheu Thai for their own reasons, so there are a bunch of smaller parties that are in play and/or have a history of being available to the higher bidder (usually Thaksin). So (1) the junta-drafted constitution is intended to keep junta firmly in control of the Senate and the country for a while yet, but (2) there is a lot of uncertainty over how the voting and seat allocation rules will actually play out. Is there a chance the General faces a defeat in the popular vote? I think there is. Would he take it well. Nothing suggests he would. Will the junta then try to blow up their own constitution in the midst of the coronation celebration. I think no. I think as happens in any parliamentary system where no party wins a majority, there will be lots of backroom action (and not in the fun way) as people figure out who has the seats in parliament and whether coalitions are available. Abhisit (former Democrat PM) has come out saying he would not support the General as PM. If you have have aspirin or a gin & tonic here is a link to a Bangkok Post article explaining the rules for the lower house. Shitshow

Yes sometimes Pong's English is just fine. And sometimes Pong is also known to lapse into a rather mocking Thai-nglish (Thaibonics?), so gentle ribbing about language seems acceptable. (Also Pong says he has a great massage shop but doesn't share the name, so he's fair game. )

From today's New York Times "In theory, if there is no agreement by March 29, Britain will depart the European Union without any formal deal." From what I read to avoid this outcome they might vote to delay exit, presumably to give more time to hash out an agreement, May could put her deal back to a vote closer to the end of the month in another round of brinksmanship (brinkswomanship?), and then there are those who want to put the hole thing back for another vote. So as a disinterested outsider, seems like pretty much anything can happen with 16 days to go on such an important thing.

yes as long as you confirm that your Line choice will do what you want (or ask the manager(s) via Line to tell you who does what you want).

Who knows, but with luck we're a ways away from that just yet. For the reasons that some people scoff at the "election" (scare quotes), the junta-drafted constitution was drafted to preserve their power for 5 or 20 years, depending on how you look at it. The constitution puts junta appointees in control of the senate for 5 years and the voting rules for allocating seats in the parliament are meant stack the deck (as it were) against what the rest of us might consider the popular vote. And the much talked-about provision that permits the naming of an unelected Prime Minister was written with The Great General in mind, I believe. The current junta-led government has adopted 20 year plans in various areas of government, and I believe the constitution requires that any later government follow those plans. (Seems a particularly terrible idea to me in the fast-changing times.) And it is no easy thing to change the constitution. So even if the pro-regime party doesn't win the popular vote, this regime isn't going anywhere just yet. All just guessing, but I think the current junta will follow the traditional path of the many previous coups before this one and the election will be whatever it is and everyone will make a hash of the it all under the new constitution -- for a while.

+1 I've been using Sabaidee Spa more this year than other shops. Very professional. Lots of handsome men. For my tastes, tend to be a bit better looking than Arena. Seems to be a core group of regular guys working most days and always some new guys popping up on the Line updates from time to time, so a nice mix.

I think you might find that the bars don't make a lot of money on the off fee/bar fine. Some time ago I posted about the Moonlight ad I came across looking for models. I forget the specifics, but I think they paid around 1,500 a night?? I am pretty sure it roughly matches the high off fee for the models. If the model shows up for work, the bar pays him, whether he's off'd or not. Put another way, if a guy gets off'd they still pay him. If you look at it from a model's perspective, he's done the show, chatted with some customers, "worked the room" for a while, all the benefit of the bar, so of course he should still get paid by the bar, and whatever tip he gets later from the customer is just for the time with the customer. Clearly if customers stay away because he's not performing and/or customers aren't buying as many drinks as they might if he was there, then that would hurt the bar's business. As is always the case, I am like wrong on this. Some of the more committed stalkers might be able to confirm or deny. The bars make their real money on the drinks. Not on off fees.

Am I the only one or is that starting to seem a bit stalker-ish?

Small shop. Guy is just starting out. Probably paid someone he might not even know very well to help set up a web page. Maybe cutting and pasting from some other places. He's probably proud he has a nice looking webpage. Personally I prefer to cut the guys some slack. In my experience they don't update on Line all that frequently. Now I feel bad for the the guys for even mentioning them here. Never crossed my mind that someone just try pick apart their webpage.

as Spoon said, it means rimming. One profane word for ass is dtut (ตูด). That sounds a bit like the word for refrigerator dtu yen (ตู้เย็น), so dtu yen (ตู้เย็น) becomes another less "profane" way of saying ass/butt. I once came across a post in a Thai language chatroom roughly translated "refrigerator secret mystery of men" and it was lots photos of cute guys' butts. So then "wash the refrigerator" (ล้างตู้เย็น) =>  rimming. At least that's my guess of the derivation.

I don't think it was me, so maybe a slightly higher standard before calling someone out by name to correct them is in order. And in the specific words in this thread I actually said they do talk about bad stuff.

?

yes but in this particular instance the usual graphics would have spoiled the moment.

Just for common courtesy/respect I always learn the basics - greetings, thank you, no thank you, how much, check please, etc. and a new word or phrase every day of travel - wherever I go. Now if I meet a guy from, for example, Myanmar, I can jokingly list the couple of Burmese words I remember. It's a nice respectful ice-breaker that always earns me a smile. I've found locals always appreciate the effort. Beyond that I think it's optional. Up to you. Certainly around Thailand there are still lots of guys making their way to Bangkok with very little or no english, so it helps expand the pool of available guys and makes it a tad bit easier to get them to do what you want. To this day I regret an episode that happened many years ago when I barely knew any Thai and I was out someplace where the guys had no english and it turned out the guy I was with was asking me if I was looking for a bottom when I thought he was asking me if I wanted to bottom. The one that got away! As you say, google translate is good even though sometimes very limited. But the effort actually to learn a language would most likely eclipse the number of times the problems with google translate really make a difference for the average guy.

I think - for the most part - the guys barely discuss us, and if they do it's only in the extremes - extremely bad or gross, smells, trying to get out of paying or paying less, odd behavior. Put another way, I think they discuss us the same way a baristas at a coffee shop discuss their customers. Or they might comment on the hotel or something special like that, in the same way that they often post facebook pictures of themselves in particularly fancy bathrooms for their friends in the know to see. If customer becomes a "regular" or starts doing things outside of work, then of course they will discuss it with their friends. For us as customers the encounters often take on a bit more meaning and fantasy-fulfilling expectations. For them it's just a job and it's always nice when it turns out particularly pleasant. Make clear before agreeing to off a guy that you want to stay and see the show (if that's what you want). It certainly 100% accepted that you do that. Once I used to spend time with someone from Dreamboys who was a university student, and he really appreciated the earlier evenings. When I would off a guy and want to stay for the show, personally I always let the guy go get changed so he's more comfortable in his regular clothes. The other solution of course would be to wait until after the show to say you're going to off him, although there's always the risk he goes off with a different customer. Up to you.

Anything you give will be appreciated. I once gave a guy a bottle of nice cologne. He lit up because he said it was the first he ever got "original" cologne, instead of the cheap knock-off on the streets, and no matter how hard he works he would never spend that kind of money on something so frivolous for himself. Any gift, big or small will be appreciated.

I know many guys who don't go to country for a particular customer. In fact most of the guys that I'm thinking of go entirely on their own, sometimes but not always with a friend or two, just on spec'. They start working the apps or already have a connection at a massage shop. They buy their own tickets, get through immigration and set all on their own (or with their friends). They have the mutual support/information sharing networks about where to stay, etc.. There are several from VN in my Hornet feed right now here who are basically doing just that, and I know VN guys, Cambodian guys, Laos guys and Thai guys who have been to more places throughout Asia than I have been (almost). I consider it risky but they're young and resilient. They do fine.