Gaybutton

Yes, the TM card is the departure card that was stapled into your passport upon your arrival in Thailand. I got my bank letter this week, and for the first time it actually occurred to me to ask what it says. The bank officer with whom I spoke speaks excellent English. He said the letter simply certifies that you do indeed have an account with that particular bank and it says how much money was in that account at the time you asked for the letter. He also said, and I agree, that it really doesn't make any difference how much or how little is in the account as long as you have an account at all (when using the proof-of-income method). You have no need to worry that the bank won't understand what you want. All you have to do is say to a bank officer, "I need letter for Immigration." Believe me, the dinkiest little bank in the most remote corner of Thailand will know exactly what you need. I guarantee you won't be the first farang who has asked for it. It's a standard form. They don't sit there and write out a letter by hand, at least not at my bank. They crank up the computer, write the information on a bank-authorized template, and print it out. The letter is not free. The banks charge for it, usually anywhere between 100 to 300 baht, depending on which bank you deal with. Since they charge for it, you can rest assured they know exactly what you want. Besides, there is only one kind of letter the banks are ever asked to write for Immigration, and that's the letter. If you still feel that your bank may not understand what you want, then all you have to do is walk into your bank tomorrow and ask them for the letter for Immigration and see if they understand. They'll ask for your passbook and your passport, so make sure you have them both with you. You can either pay for the letter or you can tell them you don't need it now, but were just trying to make sure they understood what you want. __________________ Added later: As an afterthought, let's assume the worst case scenario, that being the bank doesn't have a clue as to what you need. If that happens (and it won't) then all you would have to do then would be to go to your local Immigration office, tell them the bank didn't understand, and have someone there write a note explaining the requirement to the bank. I suppose you could also have the bank representative call Immigration and ask, although I'm sure the bank probably has on file the Immigration requirements. In short, the whole point of my long-winded response is to assure you there won't be any problem at all.

Now, you wouldn't be trying to twist my words around, would you? Ok. Many others have done the same thing. You have been lucky because of just that, sheer luck, without really knowing what to look for. That's good. I hope for your sake it continues and stays that way. I did say I've met them. I didn't say I took them all home with me. I have been lucky because I do know what to look for and I know what to accept and what to avoid. In a few years, so will you. I also speak the language fairly well. Do you? Yes, I do persist in advising caution and trusting nobody until they have proved themselves. That's why I have been lucky. I am happy to know, though, that after three months here you've got all the answers. Now, that wouldn't be me twisting your words around, would it?

What worries me is if the day will come when even those prices look good. I may have to do some belt tightening, if I can find a belt big enough to fit around myself.

I believe, but am not certain, they want you to sign those photocopies in their presence, not in advance. Ok, 2lz2p, we're 'go' for another year . . .

There are two stories here. The first is that Thai Airways ticket prices are to rise due to "no choice" fuel surcharges. For the same reason, the dramatically rapid rise in fuel prices, Bangkok taxis are raising their fares by 11%. Throughout Thailand, massive protests and demonstrations are expected to shortly occur because of the rapid rise in the cost of living and people simply cannot cope with it. The first story appears in the THE NATION: _____ THAI Announces Substantial Increases in Fuel Surcharges Boonsong Kositchotethana Thai Airways International (THAI) has bowed to the inevitable again and is passing on higher costs to travelers in a new round of fuel-surcharge increases. The increases, effective on June 25, are much more hefty than the previous adjustment on April 28 _ as much as 140% on certain international routes _ as jet fuel prices have since skyrocketed. Like other airlines across the region, the national carrier is struggling to cope with high jet fuel prices, which have doubled in the past 12 months, through surcharges, hedging and other cost cuts. Jet fuel prices on Tuesday were quoted at US$166.26 a barrel on Singapore's spot market, down by $5.91 from the previous day. THAI executives said the new round of fuel-surcharge increases, however, did not cover the actual incremental fuel costs as the airline was mindful of the impacts on passengers. The calculations of the fuel surcharges were based largely on jet fuel prices of $153 a barrel. Fuel is the largest expense of THAI, accounting for 34% of its total operating cost, compared to 15-18% for wages. The increases in fuel surcharges on THAI's international routes are much more dramatic than those on the domestic routes, mostly in the range of 60-70% with a peak of 140%. Fuel surcharges on all but one domestic route are to rise by 100 baht to 850 baht per leg. But the rate on Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son doubles to 600 baht per sector. The fuel surcharges on international routes vary from one geographical area to another. __________ The second story appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Taxi Fares Set to Increase By Watcharapong Thongrung The Nation Published on June 12, 2008 Bangkok passengers will have to pay 11 per cent more on average for their taxi rides if Deputy Transport Minister Songsak Thongsri approves the proposed fare increase today. Chairat Sa-nguansue, acting director-general of the Land Transport Department, yesterday said Songsak would weigh two options. One would be to keep the charge for the first two kilometres at the current Bt35 but raise the subsequent rates by 50 satang to Bt1 per kilometre, depending on the distance travelled. The other option would be to increase flag fall to Bt40 but raise the subsequent rates by a flat 50 satang per kilometre. Songsak said he would discuss the fare hikes with Transport Minister Santi Prompat before issuing ministerial regulations enforcing them. "The average per-trip fare would go up between Bt12 and Bt14," Songsak said. With their fares frozen since 1996, taxi drivers are asking for an increase now because fuel prices keep rising. Vitoon Naewpanich, chairman of a taxi cooperative, was pleased with the two options even though the operators had asked for a 20-per-cent increase by having flag fall raised to Bt40 and the subsequent rate to Bt1 per kilometre. "We need the hike, because fuel becomes more costly while the cost of the car is up to Bt700,000, from Bt400,000 a few years ago." All sectors of the transport industry are raising their over oil prices. The Supreme Court yesterday lifted the Central Administrative Court's injunction against imposing a surcharge of 3 satang per kilometre on interprovincial coach fares. Bus operators will start levying the surcharge today, worth 40-180 per cent of bus fares. Lorry operators threatened to storm the capital if the government failed to respond to their requests for relief from fuel costs by next Tuesday. About 50 lorries were parked at Bang Na-Trat Road, Km 3. More from the North, Northeast, South and Eastern Seaboard also seized the main arteries in their regions: the Asia, Friendship and Phetkasem highways and Rama II and Laem Chabang roads. "Without any action by June 17, we will invade Bangkok," said Land Transport Federation secretary-general Thongyu Kongkhan. The federation came up with a three-point proposal. Chiefly, lorries must enjoy part of the government's cheap-diesel programme and be entitled to low-interest loans for converting their engines to natural gas for vehicles. "The problem is oil prices are moving constantly," Songsak said. "If we tackle this part, will the overall problem end? A supply of cheap diesel is only a temporary solution."

Just for the record, this morning I applied for my annual retirement visa renewal. I use the proof-of-income statement method. I was in and out of Immigration in ten minutes, with no problems at all.

Oh well, sorry about that. To respond to what you are saying, you have been lucky. Not everyone experiences the same luck. After living here for a number of years already, I'm seeing things a little differently than many who are in Thailand only for a limited time on a holiday. I have, thank God, the opportunity to meet a great more boys than the average holiday maker. My experience tells me that if you are going to err, then err on the side of caution. I used to say I trust people until they give me a reason not to trust them. After being here this long, at least as it applies to the Thai boys, I now say I trust nobody until I have known them long enough to be absolutely certain they can be trusted. As Asmerom says, I too have never had any kind of a serious problem with any of these boys, but I have experienced boyfriend horror stories and I know too many people and have heard too many reliable stories to feel differently. I believe the vast majority of these boys would never try to steal from you or cause you any other problems, but enough of them do, unfortunately, to cause problems for the rest of the honest boys, similar to the way a very few pedophiles give a negative reputation to the vast majority of farang who want nothing to do with under age boys. All anyone can do on these message boards is to warn about the realities here. Whether you choose to heed those warnings is, as the Thais say, "Up to you." In many cases, once something finally happens, now you start listening.

Although he came on strong, I agree with Buaseng that it's not a good idea to give out details about yourself in an online chat. Asmeron, if that's what you want to do, go ahead, but I don't recommend it either. If a boy agrees to meet you, I suggest the first meeting take place on neutral territory, where either one of you could decide to forget it if you so desire, without any kind of problem. (That's one of the things that makes the Malaysia Hotel's outdoor restaurant ideal, when in Bangkok). Have a cup of coffee, or something, with him somewhere first. Check his ID card while you're having that coffee and make sure about his age. Don't just take his word for it. You don't have a legal problem if the boy tells you online that he's 18. You only have a problem if you actually hook up with him for sexual purposes and it turns out he is under 18 despite what he told you. Make sure first. If you have any doubts, have your hotel check his ID. And make sure they actually check his ID card. Some hotels simply hold the card until the boy leaves without bothering to even look at it. You do have to be careful about these gay hookup sites. Until you meet with the boy, you have no way of knowing if he's even using a real photo of himself, or if any of the information he tells you or is on his profile is true. You do, however, have a pretty good idea as to what his real intentions are. Some of them may be sincere, but most of them are looking for a farang, any farang, who is going to give him money, or better still, become a sugar-daddy. The plus side of some of these gay hookup sites is that many of the boys are bar boys. There's probably quite a few on these sites lately considering Pattaya's current 'farang shortage.' Using these sites with the proper precautions can save you from going to the bars and going through the usual routine of buying drinks you don't want in the first place, the pushy mama-san, the boy sitting next to you rubbing your leg from crotch to knee, with the "Where you come from? What you name?" questions, etc, not to mention there are no off fees from gay hookup sites. The down side is you really have no idea who these boys are. If any of them are, to put it politely, "bad news," then you have very little you can do about it. At least, with a bar boy, you can go back to the bar if there has been any trouble, because the bar is required to keep copies of each boy's ID card. But if a gay hookup site boy causes you some kind of a problem, steals from you, or whatever, good luck trying to do anything about it. My guess is the boy didn't intentionally cut off the chat. Something else probably happened. Check again in a few hours. Chances are a message from him will be waiting. He didn't log on to Gay Romeo for his health. He's farang fishing. With you, he reeled one in, so he would very unlikely to cut it short without rhyme or reason. It is possible, I suppose, that he's not a bar boy or money boy, and really did get insulted at the mention of money, but I just now went to Gay Romeo and had a look at his profile to see for myself. I could be wrong, of course, but from what I saw, he might as well be wearing a sign that says "Money Boy." Not that being a money boy is a bad thing. If I were in their shoes I'd be doing the same. But what I saw on his profile certainly looks, to me, typical of the "let's soak the farang for as much as we can get" game player.

Yes, I know. Sometimes the baht buses obey those rules.

Monday, June 9: Opening rates: US Dollar: 33.11 Euro: 52.165 British Pound: 65.115 Australian Dollar: 31.7325 Canadian Dollar: 32.3875 _____ Closing rates: US Dollar: 33.04 Euro: 52.145 British Pound: 65.08 Australian Dollar: 31.675 Canadian Dollar: 32.3875

I had never heard of Camfrog until your post. Out of curiosity I downloaded it. I had to use a proxy server to get to the Camfrog web site. Apparently my Thai ISP has decided the Camfrog web site is a no-no. Once I got a proxy server I had no trouble getting into the web site. The program downloaded and installed with no problems. It works with no problem once downloaded and installed. I didn't need a proxy server to use the program. I only thing I needed a proxy server for was simply downloading the program. I tried the 18+ rooms. I got in with no problem and I didn't purchase anything. I got in just fine without purchasing the pro version. How are you using it? I can see the Thai boys just fine, but they're all typing in Thai. I didn't see any of them typing in English. How are you communicating with them? Also, there are quite a few gay rooms in the 18+ section. Do you have a favorite room to recommend?

I've never heard of silent construction. I didn't ask where the elevator will be or how it will be done. Maybe the elevator will be external to the building. I don't know. Their choices are to do this during low season, during high season, or not at all. Doing the construction during low season makes the most sense to me. Knowing the people at The Ambiance, I am sure they'll be doing the work only during the hours that will cause the least disturbance. What else can they do?

Yes, I remember that. If I recall, I was actually once on a baht bus that complied.

Hello, McFly, is anybody home? I'm still getting PMs. Isn't anybody reading this thread? My friends, I still can't access your PMs and you still need to communicate directly with me via Email instead of by PM. I assure you, if and when the PM problem is fixed, I'll post a notice. Until then, please stick to Email.

You're certainly not alone in that. As I said, I don't know whether they have any plans to install elevators too, but I would guess they eventually will. If, in fact, The Ambiance would have an elevator, but Lé Cafe Royale wouldn't, I would think that alone would be quite likely to cause many who make Lé Cafe Royale their first choice to choose The Ambiance instead. I'll see what I can find out. If anyone happens to know or is staying at Lé Cafe Royale, if you are able to find out if they have any elevator plans, please let us know.

Well, I don't want to get into a discussion about airline logistics, but there are other significant costs besides fuel. It's a lot more fuel cost effective to fly a route non-stop than to include stops along the way. On a long haul flight, fuel is not necessarily the largest operating expense, depending on other factors, but I'll certainly agree that it's way up near the top of the list.

If this keeps up, soon people will have to swim across. What was that about a slow boat to China?

The only serious complaint I have ever heard about The Ambiance is the fact that there are no elevators (or lifts, if you prefer) and you have to walk up and down several flights of stairs to get to and from your room. The Ambiance Hotel has started the process for installation an elevator which will service all floors. This will also make the Penthouse suites on the roof, with the private sitting and sun bathing areas, easily accessible to all guests. Approximately 10 million baht is to be spent on the elevator installation. This, along with the upgrading of Throb and Splash bars and the terrace of the Lé Cafe Royale, represents a huge investment in the future of Boyztown and the confidence the owners of these properties have in future gay tourist growth in Pattaya. I have no information at this point as to whether Lé Cafe Royale will also be installing elevators.

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Inflation at 10-Year High May Rate of 7.6 Percent Forces BOT to Revise its Forecasts Thailand's inflation rate soared to 7.6 per cent in May, the highest in nearly a decade, due to the unrelenting rise of oil prices. According to the Commerce Ministry, May inflation was the highest since August 1998, prompting the Bank of Thailand to announce it would revise its economic growth and inflation rate forecast for the year. "The BOT will revise its forecast of economic indicators again as oil prices now have already surged higher than the worst-case scenario," BOT senior director Amara Sriphayak said. The central bank forecast for GDP growth in 2008 is currently 4.8 to 6 per cent. The central bank also forecast headline and core inflation for this year at 4-5 per cent, and 1.5-2.5 per cent, respectively. Amara said the inflation rate is a cause for concern as oil prices are rising continually. Currently, however, the central bank considers an equal risk between growth and inflation. "Higher inflation and the rising cost of living because of oil prices makes people more cautious about spending money," Bloomberg quoted Kasikornbank president Prasarn Trairatvorakul as saying. Consumer confidence, which fell for the first time in six months in April, may decline further in coming months as oil prices increase, said Thanavath Phonvichai, an economist at the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce. According to Bloomberg, Indonesia's consumer prices rose 10.4 per cent in May from a year ago, while India's inflation has accelerated to its fastest pace in more than three and a half years. The Thai government also asked four refineries controlled by state-owned PTT to cut diesel prices for six months to ease inflation. "The ministry will look at all products to see what we can do to reduce the public's burden," Bloomberg quoted Commerce Ministry permanent secretary Siripol Yodmuangcharoen as saying. The inflation rate in Thailand, Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, may be as high as 5.8 per cent this year, up from 2.3 per cent in 2007.

Would you really want to chance that and risk the possibility of facing tax evasion charges? That doesn't sound like a very good idea to me.

Actually, that has nothing to do with it. Those flights are almost always full. It's not the number of seats being filled. It's the operating cost. When it gets to a point that operating costs are eating away the profits, even on totally full flights, then it makes no business sense to keep it going. Some might argue that raising the ticket prices would be the answer, but then the prices would have to be raised to the point that the cost of a ticket can no longer compete with other carriers and the price simply would not be worth it to enough people to cover the additional cost and reap a good profit for the airline. If Thai Airways ever invests in the new Airbus A-380s, then it could be a profitable enterprise for them again and they may eventually reinstate those non-stop flights. But that's at least several years away, if it ever happens at all. If I am correct, Thai Airways had intended to buy some of those aircraft, but the current economy has forced the airline to shelve their A-380 plans for the foreseeable future.

That is a very nice surprise. They never gave that to me, so apparently that is a more recent rule change. Congratulations on your new visa. I would also suggest, now that you have it, getting a Thai driving license, even if you don't intend to drive.

A great many farang complain about the fact they are asked to pay 10 baht per ride in Pattaya while Thais pay only 5 baht. That complaint might disappear if 10 baht per ride starts to look pretty good. The baht bus drivers have filed a petition asking to be allowed to raise their prices. Apparently nothing is yet specified as to what the new fares will be, if the increase is approved. Quite frankly, with fuel prices the way they are now I can't say I blame them. Pretty soon, those who complain about the fares may be longing for the "good old days" when farang fares were "only" 10 baht. Details are in this week's PATTAYA MAIL: http://www.pattayamail.com/current/news.shtml#hd5

I said I would continue publishing the opening and closing rates for the baht if any significant movement continues. Right now the movement is significant, and still moving favorably. The closing rates for today, Friday, June 6 are: US Dollar: 32.94 Euro: 51.27 British Pound: 64.34 Australian Dollar: 31.40 Canadian Dollar: 32.2075 The Bank of Thailand is saying the reason for the current trend is due to a major sell-off of Thai stocks. As for me continuing to publish the rates, I'm afraid I will not be able to keep my promise for most of next week. I will be out of town most of the week and will not be able to publish the rates until I return. If you wish to monitor the rates yourself, I suggest the Bank of Ayudhya web site as the most accurate and most often updated: http://www.krungsri.com/thai/exchange01.aspx

From Pattaya's main bus terminal (that's the 'regular' bus station) on North Road (Pattaya Nua) the airport buses run at the following times: 6:00 AM 9:00 AM 11:00 AM 1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 10:00 PM The fare is 150 baht. There is also an airport bus that runs from Soi Chaiyapruk (very far south on Jomtien Beach Road). It is located on Soi Chaiyapruk, about half a block from Jomtien Beach Road. The fare is 106 baht. That bus also stops at the secondary bus terminal on Sukhumvit Highway, just south of Central Road (Pattaya Klang). Sorry, I don't have the schedule for that bus.