Gaybutton

Considering his recent medical problem, why not get him a good health insurance policy? I realize that's not exactly a romantic gift, but it would certainly be something useful for him to have, and he can't sell it or give it to anyone.

Even more nuts than that is the regulation that forbids sex during shore leave for navy men who have been at sea for months.

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Immigration Bureau to Move to Chang Wattana Immigration Bureau will move from its Soi Suan Plu office to new location in the new Government Office Center on Chang Wattana road this month, a senior immigration officer said Friday. The new office is situated on the second floor of Building B, New Government Center, which is near Consular Department of Foreign Ministry. It will be fully open for service on September 28, Pol Lt Col Uraiwan Harnpradit said, adding the Bureau will still provide service at Suan Plu Office until September 25. ____________________ Immigration 1 Division (Bangkok Immigration Division) Service for area in Bangkok as : - Visa Extension - Re-entry Permit - Issue and change visa - Resident permit - Resident certificate - Aliens Registration - 90 Days Address report will be moved to Government Center, Chaengwattana Road Soi 7 (close to the Department of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chaengwattana Road) on Monday 28th September 2009 (Except special labor of Laos, Cambodian and Myanmar nationalities service at old office) Location : Government Center Chaengwattana Building B , No. 120 , Moo 3 , Chaengwattana Road , Tungsonghong Sub-District , Laksi District, Bangkok 10210 (As shown in the map) Tel : 0-2141-9889 , Fax : 0-2143-8228 Remarks : Only in case of visa issuing, visa extension and 90 days report for the special labor of 3 nationalities ( Laos, Cambodia, Mynmar ) is still be serviced at Immigration Bureau, Soi Suan Plu, Satorn, Bangkok More details Call Center 1178 http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/move.html

I agree about the location. If the rooms are furnished, then I think their asking prices are within reason. The only thing I saw on their web site that I thought was exaggerated was the part about the Pattaya nightlife being only ten minutes away. That would be so if there were no traffic problems, but these days getting into the city without traffic problems is becoming more and more uncommon. Even so, I would say unless traffic is unusually heavy it shouldn't take more than twenty minutes to get from that location into the city on a baht bus. Motorcycle taxis, of course, are quicker.

I haven't been there. Can you give us some details about the bar?

That sounds like the same one to me. I agree with you. The service isn't anything to get excited about. It never was. But the food is very good and the portions are large enough that you have to be very hungry to finish it all.

The only two Pan Pans I know about are the one in Jomtien and the one in the new Central shopping plaza. I haven't eaten there, but I've passed by the one in Central several times. I don't see any problems with it. It's smaller than the one in Jomtien, but I did notice they have a brick pizza oven, just as they do in Jomtien. They also have a dessert bar, but it's outside the restaurant in the main hallway. It doesn't have much of a selection and doesn't compare well at all with the one in Jomtien.

For me, if I'm feeling upset or am having a problem about anything, I usually remind myself that at least I'm here in Thailand having the problem. That usually cures it for me very quickly.

Another Italian restaurant that I like is on a very narrow soi on Jomtien Beach Road. If you're coming down Thappraya, as soon as you make that left turn onto Jomtien Beach Road, the restaurant (I can't think of the name) is on the first soi you come to. The owner is Italian and he will also make off-menu items upon request. In Bangkok I haven't tried many Italian restaurants, but I do like the Lido restaurant very much. That restaurant is on the soi in front of the Malaysia Hotel, the soi the starts at the 7-Eleven on the corner and goes up past the Oh Ho restaurant. That restaurant has a web site at http://www.lidobangkok.com , but oddly enough they don't include their menu on the site.

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ New Sex Change Regulations from Nov 29 Published on September 12, 2009 From November 29, the Medical Council of Thailand will strictly enforce new regulations allowing only those transgendered people aged over 18 to undergo a sex change operation, secretary general Dr Samphan Komrit said yesterday. Transgendered people aged 18-20 must have parental consent, while those over 20 can decide for themselves. Transgendered people must also consult a psychiatrist, live as a woman for a year and receive hormone therapy before being allowed to undergo a sex change operation. Surgeons who provide such operations must be registered with the Medical Council and treat any complications that may occur following surgery. Samphan said these regulations would raise the standard of sexchange operations. He said surgeons violating the regulations would face warnings and even revocation of their medical license. Transgender Women of Thailand chairperson Yollada Suanyot expressed satisfaction with the new regulations but said relevant agencies, such as the Interior, Foreign and Justice ministries, should revise laws to allow transgendered people to change their gender title from Mr to Miss. Yollada said changing their gender title after undergoing a sex change would help transgendered people live with dignity. "It would be good if we could change from being a Mr to a Miss, because then we could proudly assert we're a women. We'd no longer have to explain we're a 'ladyboy' when anyone looks at our ID or passport," she said. "We want to live with dignity, the same as anyone else." Office of the Attorney General investigator Sermkiat Woradit suggested transgendered people band together to request the independent National Human Rights Commission to help revise all laws involving them, be it civil, criminal or family law. Samphan said he backed this idea and that relevant agencies should issue special laws for "third sex" citizens.

Not only is it fair, you're also absolutely right, including the part about different branches of the same bank. I'll bet I'm not the only one around here who has gotten completely different answers from branches of the same bank.

I'm not surprised. When I was a teenager my brother and I encountered a blind violin-playing beggar. We put some money into his cup. Several months later we encountered him again. This time he was deaf . . .

Me too, especially once it became well known that most, perhaps all, of these beggars are mafia controlled. Many are brought in from other countries, particularly Cambodia. They work all day and get to keep 100 baht for themselves. Anything beyond that goes right into the hands of the mafia. Quite often when you see women beggars with babies, or grandmothers with babies, the babies are not even their own. Lord-only-knows where the babies came from. In any case I'm not going to support that and they won't get a single baht from me. To my mind the only way to put a stop to it, since most of the time the police seem to look the other way, is to make it worthless for the mafia to send out these beggars. If nobody gives them anything, then it will stop. I don't think it's mean or callous to refuse these beggars when they're operating illegally in the first place and they don't even get to keep any of the money beyond a pittance, just enough or them to eat and that's about it.

I still don't think it's much of an ordeal, although my post had nothing to do with converting foreign currencies. When you receive money by direct deposit into one of Bangkok Bank's foreign branches, when it reaches your account the conversion has already been done unless you have opened a foreign currency account. I really don't see the point in keeping your funds in foreign currency unless its value is rising against the exchange rate. It seems pointless to me to keep money in foreign currency if the exchange rate is holding steady or especially if your currency exchange value is dropping against the baht.

Actually they have had a joiner fee for years, but as far as I know they have never enforced it. They never asked me to pay a joiner fee. When booking a room through Jimmy. his recommendation is to book a room for two. That way they can't charge a joiner fee.

If the 90-day closures take place, that will also create a serious hardship for the staff. When they close down 1 bar, the boys don't have too much of a problem finding work in another bar. But if they're going to shut down 5 bars, that's going to mean somewhere around 100 boys and bar staff out of work for 90 days. It could create a windfall for the bars that remain open. It could also force bars that are already in financial trouble to go out of business. On the other hand, it could make some of the scofflaw bar owners realize that the authorities are not playing games anymore about bars that continue to employ under-age boys. If this does occur, then part of the 90 days will be during the beginning of high season, not a good time for the bars to have to be closed.

Who said anything about a contradiction? I'm curious whether, based on what he writes, he goes to the bars or not. I agree with much of what he said about the way the bar owners treat the staff, but that doesn't stop me from going to the bars. I'm just wondering whether it stops him.

You better check his ID to make sure before taking him to your room . . .

That depends on your point of view. If you're looking at it strictly from a cost point of view, then the post is serious. If you're looking at it from the point of view that's below one's personal equator, then well . . . . . I may be totally naive about certain things, but I'm sure everyone comes here for the waters.

In my case, I haven't tried it yet, but I am planning to at some point within the next several days.

I don't view that aspect of it as something negative. I see it as positive. I don't see anything wrong with it as long as they're providing their 'services' within the bounds of the law. And by law, I mean what is actually enforced, not something that's been on the books for lord-knows-how-many years and has yet to ever be enforced. Yes, on a technical level prostitution is illegal in Thailand. On a practical level, it's perfectly legal. That satisfies me and I don't regard myself as less of a person for partaking and I don't see bar owners such as Mark as less of a person for providing. My question to you, Hedda, is do you support your position by refusing to patronize the bars?

Sounds almost as if that couple is grooming their kids for a future job doing the same thing.

I'm sure everyone is correct about how it would be less expensive to take rent boys in your home country rather than traveling to Thailand, but we all have our different points of view. To my mind, if your only reason for traveling to Thailand is sex, then that's not exactly the best reason to travel here. I would think the best reasons to travel to Thailand would include enjoying and experiencing as much as you can of what Thailand has to offer and also be able to take boys. But if you're coming to Thailand only for the boys, then I would agree that you're better off staying home and spending your money on rent boys.

They can think about it, but I doubt they would ever be allowed to close a public thoroughfare. Don't forget the tenement apartments in Sunee Plaza. It would be a little difficult to tell a kid he can't go home. Issuing special IDs to kids living in Sunee would be of no help. You can't deny access to friends and relatives coming over and you can't deny kids access to the street if they're on one side of Sunee Plaza and want to go to the other side. In other words, closing off the streets would not be a viable solution and would be illegal in any case. It's a truly difficult situation for the bar owners. There is already such a lack of customers and stepping up the raids is certainly no help. I'm almost convinced that someone in authority is trying to harass the bars out of business. Find one under-age boy, even if he managed to sneak in as a customer, or find one boy on ya ba, and close the bar. They'll also lose even more customers if people start avoiding Sunee Plaza for fear of being caught up in a raid. While nothing happens to the farang during these raids, it certainly is not a pleasant experience. The bar owners are caught between a rock and a hard place. The current system places the responsibility squarely on their shoulders. It doesn't seem fair to me that the bar owners have to also be de-facto police officers and also have to become responsible for their employees' use of drugs. Meanwhile, bar owners throughout Pattaya are protesting the restricted bar opening hours. I'm surprised they're not including police harassment as part of their protest. These raids are not limited to only Sunee Plaza. I can understand bar owners being held responsible if they have employees under-age, but I have never understood holding them responsible for their employees using drugs on their own time.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if their answer would be "Don't go at peak time."