Gaybutton

Right now, along with Au Bon Coin, my two favorites are: L'Auberge on Third Road: https://www.facebook.com/LAuberge-916302738496459/ Sands Cafe - of Pratumnak Road at the beach: https://www.facebook.com/SandsCafePattaya

I can only tell you I have been using the apps for years and have communicated with a lot of boys. Whenever I am not sure whether he is or is not a money boy I ask. I have never had a boy offended by it. They simply answer - and they answer honestly. I am actually more wary of boys who say they are not money boys. The following kinda-sorta explains why: Many years ago on a Sunday morning my family was eating breakfast when the telephone rang. My father answered. He listened patiently to whoever was talking to him. Finally my father said, "Sorry, I can't afford a free vacation" and that ended the phone call.

Not yet. It is very unlikely to happen in May. There is a chance for it in June, but at the moment it is only in the talking about it stage.

I would be very careful about that if I were you. If a venue is still open after the official closing time, I would advise leaving. The police do raid those venues. If that happens and you are in there, you'll be arrested right along with the bar employees and other customers. I don't know about anyone else, but the last thing I would want in Thailand is an arrest on my record, especially the next time I need to go to immigration. And the thought of spending even a few hours in a Thai jail is not an experience I would want. I would not want to have to try to explain to a higher raking police officer or a Thai judge why I did not obey the rules. I don't know what the consequences would be. To me, it is not worth the risk. I believe the bottom line is go and have a fabulous time, but whether you like them or not, obey the rules.

I added to my post above while you submitted your latest post. You might want to have a look. There are plenty of varying opinions about which apps are the best. I can tell you the most popular apps are Planet Romeo, Hornet, Grindr, BlueD, and Jack'd. Don't forget about Facebook and LINE, and several other chats such as Instagram and Wechat. And there are plenty of boys on all of them. Which is the best? In my opinion there is no valid answer to that question. My advice is to try them all - often. Whichever of them has the boy who most interests you, then now you have found the best app - for that day . . .

That is an excellent point. I think it is a good idea to start the browsing two weeks to a month before arriving in Thailand. That way, whether the boy is online or not he will receive your message and probably start responding. I would also advise - no matter how cute and charming he may seem - do not make any commitments in advance of meeting him personally - and be very wary even then. Some of these boys excel at getting farang to think they've found the lifelong boy of their dreams. WRONG! Don't limit yourself. I would get his contact information and tell him you'll contact him when you're in town. Here is just one example of what I mean - and there are many, many more. Some of you may remember Crabby and Thomas's Corner Bar in Sunee Plaza. You might also remember their ladyboy manager. She actually had two farang boyfriends who thought she was the only one for them and they were the only one for her. Neither farang knew about the other, but financially supported her. Then her worst nightmare happened. They both unexpectedly showed up in Pattaya at the same time and were here for two weeks. I don't know how in the world she did it, but she somehow managed to juggle things and the two weeks passed without either of them knowing anything about the other or even becoming suspicious. After they left they both continued supporting her. She disappeared even before Corner Bar closed and I have not seen or heard anything about her since. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if those two farang are still supporting her, knowing nothing about the other. Another example. It's been at least 20 years by now, but I remember a boy who used to walk around with not one - not two - not three - but 5 mobile phones. Why? Because he had 5 different farang supporting him and none of them had any idea about the others. And when it's time to leave Thailand make no promises, especially no promises about money. I would thank him for a wonderful time, give him a generous tip, and tell him you hope to see him next time you come. That's it. Nothing more than that. In most cases I've seen over the years, the average is about two weeks after you return home before the pleas for money start coming. Be very careful. Believe me, no matter how much you give them, it's never enough.

I don't recognize your screen name, so in case you don't know who I am, I have been living full time in Pattaya for many years. I think your decision depends on what you're looking for. At the moment, most everything is open except the go-go bars. But there are plenty of gay beer bars open, especially in Jomtien Complex, and plenty of boys, not to mention plenty of boys on the gay hook-up apps. The beaches are open. The restaurants are open. The hours have been relaxed and as of May 1 they are expected to be further relaxed. So, unless the go-go bars are essential to your visit, I'd say to go back. You didn't say when you are thinking about going, but if you're lucky maybe the go-go bars will have reopened by then too. I think we all want to see the go-go bars reopen, including those of us who hardly ever even go to the go-go bars. In any case, those who have been visiting Pattaya have been posting that they have really enjoyed it and I have not seen a single post from anybody saying they regretted their trip. I hope you will choose to go to Pattaya and then later be posting about how much you enjoyed your stay and are glad you went.

Ah hah! And here I was, thinking it was something much more dramatic. And all this time I thought we were both on the same server. I'm very glad all will be ok and back to normal soon. As always, thank you Moses. Without your help, my board would have disappeared long ago.

Thank you very much. I very much appreciate your entire post. I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does I will likely take you up on your offer if I decide to continue doing this. One thing is for sure - I will never use a commercial web host server again. I've been around for a very long time, even before this board or the Sawatdee board ever existed. Some may remember the days of the Gay Pattaya and Dreaded Ned boards. That's when I came into the picture. I've been doing this ever since 300 baud was considered high speed, when a 20 meg hard drive was the top of high end hardware, and when the precursors of modern boards were run by what we used to refer to as sysops. So, if it turns out I really have come to the end of the road, I hope it won't be because of something as useless as a war. Here we are in 2022 and we still have wars? Anyone care to guess where that appears on my "I Don't Get It" list? If the problem is something that can be fixed, Moses will get it fixed. Just have to wait and see.

I will explain what I believe is going on. I was afraid of this - that due to the sanctions imposed on Russia there might be problems for both the Sawatdee board and my Gaybuttonthai board and that, at least for now, appears to be exactly what has happened. I think most of you know Moses is Russian and lives in Russia. He has his own server. Some of you may remember that not very long ago my board was having all kinds of technical problems that even Moses was not able to repair because it was all being caused by the server side. Moses was kind enough to offer to let my board be hosted on his own server. We moved my board to his server. It has been there ever since and has worked perfectly ever since. That is why both boards are currently down. Both boards on the same server. If the sanctions have blocked access to his server and if he can't find a way around it, I don't know what will happen, but it doesn't look very good at the moment. As for my board, I can't even move it to another server because I have no more access to it than any of you have right now. I do make periodic backups, but that doesn't do any good if I can't access the software on the server itself. Right now it is wait and see. I have no present intention of setting up a board on another server. I would have to start the whole thing all over again and I'm not inclined to do that. If Moses can figure out a way to get our boards working again, that would be great. If he cannot, then I made no decisions just yet. After all, I could be totally wrong about why our boards are down and Moses might be able to quickly get the problem fixed. For all I know, the problem may have nothing to do with the sanctions and it just as easily could be that something blew out on his server. So, for now I am in a wait-and-see mode. All I can do is just hope my board is not another casualty of this war. In the meantime, if I wish to post, as long as Michael permits me to post here, this is where I'll do my posting for the time being. I plan to continue trying to keep everyone up to date and well informed as best as I can.

Yes - ME. I don't know what the problem is, but I have an idea what it might be. I'm hoping the problem will clear up within a day or two.

What's wrong with asking in a straightforward way? There is nothing awkward about it. There is no code. I almost always simply ask, "Are you money boy?" I have never been lied to about it and the boys don't mind at all. When a boy tells me yes, he is a money boy, if I am interested in him I make my offer and take it from there. If a boy resents me asking, fine - I'll move right to the next boy.

I'd say unlikely to find that size at the places listed so far in this topic. Try Lazada. If you are not familiar with Lazada, see: https://www.lazada.co.th/

In Bangkok, one shop at least coming close to what you're looking for might be this one. I know of nothing similar currently in Pattaya. https://www.facebook.com/Lucky-Underwear-655898777789044

gerefan is correct. Most years those are the two rainiest months - and they are part of the "official" rainy season.

Visiting Thailand? How about living in Thailand? I can assure you the answer is Go. First, it doesn't rain every day. Second, the rains are only torrential sometimes. Third, when it does rain, it usually lasts 45 minutes to an hour and that's the end of it for that day. Fourth, more often than not the rains occur in the wee hours of the morning. Yes, sometimes it rains hard enough and long enough to cause flooding, but it doesn't happen like that very often. Go to Thailand during rainy season and don't even think about letting that deter you. Most of the time you won't even need an umbrella.

Excellent. In my opinion the two best banks for foreigners are Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn Bank. And getting an account with Bangkok Bank these days is very difficult without either a work permit or retirement visa. I assume he is aware that online banking is available with Bangkok Bank.

I'm glad to know that. Out of curiosity, which bank did he get the account with?

I don't recommend that. If the authorities catch up to it - and sooner or later they will - if you are accepting payment, but don't have a work permit, the penalties are the same. From among all the things you want to see and do in Thailand, you definitely don't want spending time in a Thai jail to be one of your experiences. You also are going to need a Thai bank account. I recommend Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank, or Siam Commercial Bank. Until you have a work permit, you are probably going to need an agent to help you open the account. These days it is very difficult to open a Thai bank account without the help of an agent. See: https://www.mots-services.com/ Mots is an honest, reliable, competent service. You can see what they offer and the prices for the service. Meanwhile, based on what you're writing, I would recommend spending at least 6 months in Thailand before committing to anything at all. Seems to me you have an awful lot to learn.

You're in your 20s? You forgot to mention that part too. My friend, if you're still in your 20s the last thing you're going to have a problem with is finding Thais who will want sex with you, no matter what you look like. And unless you want to pay for it, you 'll find plenty of guys who will want sex with you for free. As for teaching English, that may be more difficult than you think. Teachers in Thailand are not paid very much. You're going to need the right kind of visa if you want to stay long term in Thailand. You're going to need a college degree and proper credentials. You're going to need to take Thailand's TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course, and you're going to need a work permit. If you lack any of those, especially the work permit, the only place you'll end up being able to teach English is in a Thai prison after you get arrested and before you're deported. I would also learn to speak and read Thai if I were you, and that isn't something you'll accomplish overnight. Be very careful and make sure you know that you're doing before attempting to work in Thailand.

I'm going to suggest trying the apps before going to strictly commercial venues. Try Grindr, but also try Hornet, Planet Romeo, Jackd, and Blued. Many boys on the apps are non commercial and also speak English fairly well. I would register on all the apps before your trip and upload a few decent photos of yourself. If you get responses - and believe me, you will - you can then explain what you are looking for, along with what you don't want. Use simple language and no slang. That way, the boy will know what to expect when he meets you and you won't have to feel awkward or embarrassed because you will already have communicated with the boy. In my opinion, if the first thing the boy seems interested in is "How much you pay me?", that's a wrong boy and move on. Also, this cultural norm stuff is a lot of garbage. Over the years I've seen all kinds of dos and don'ts information. Nearly all of it is nonsense and you'll find the boys pay attention to hardly any of it. It's the last thing you need to worry about. Just be yourself and you'll be fine. If it's all new to you, you might be a little apprehensive at first. That will pass quickly - very quickly.

Many of you know my board, https://www.gaybuttonthai.com was down for a couple days. The problem has now been fixed and we are up and running again. Thank you very much Moses, owner of the Sawatdee board, for fixing the problem.

I think my first video game was the first video game - Pong. I can clearly remember, before there were home versions, long lines of people waiting their turn to play it. We thought it was the most phenomenal thing ever. At the time, I suppose it was. My first computer was the Atari. When games first started coming out, they had to be loaded with a tape recorder. It could take as much as an hour waiting for the game to load. Then, of course, when you turned off the computer, now the game was gone. I also remember a friend who was really into computer technology. In those days he was among the first to use a floppy disk. I remember he was on top of the world when he had his first 20 meg machine. Today your smartphone has far more computer power than they had when Neil Armstrong went to the moon. Now I am hoping the next innovation in computer technology won't be smaller, more powerful chips or greater speed. I'm hoping for computers that simply work - all the time.

One of the things still not clear to me: You go to a designated quarantine hotel with the expectation of having to stay there a few days and then you're released. What if it doesn't work out quite that way. What if other people in the hotel teat positive for Covid? What happens to your own quarantine? Will you still be released when you expected to be released? Will you be held for further quarantine and testing? If you have already left the hotel, will you be tracked down and re-quarantined? What if you've been released, but Covid is found somewhere you recently were? Will you be tracked down and re-quarantined? What happens if you find yourself under quarantine the day you're supposed to be on a plane returning home? I really don't know how any of that works.

Yes, that must be a problem for many - use them by a certain date or lose them. Of course no law says Thailand has to be the holiday destination. If it were me, I would have a Plan B in case things look really bad for going to Thailand or if Thailand closes the borders even before the vacation days. Also, if it were me, especially since the current situation in Thailand continues to deteriorate rather than improve, I would avoid as much as possible having to pay anything in advance - just in case. "If one plan fails, it's good to have another" - Sam Jaffe (Simonides), 'Ben Hur'