Gaybutton

I think you'll be ok. Assuming your flight gets in on time and you don't run into delays at the airport or on the expressway, then you should be in Pattaya by 10:00 AM or possibly even earlier. Just make sure your driver doesn't try to go through Chonburi. It will be insane by the time you get there if your driver tries to take that route. Make sure you take the Route 7 expressway. That route bypasses Chonburi and enters Pattaya at Banglamung. That's going to be the only practical way to get to Pattaya that day, unless you particularly want to go through the city of Chonburi for some reason.

Yes, it is still open and operating normally.

I also did not get out very much today. From what little I did see, it looks as if everything has quieted down and will probably remain relatively quiet through Thursday. Then on Friday it will become progressively massive. One piece of advice: On Friday, if you are traveling to or from Pattaya and trying to either go to Bangkok or come to Pattaya from Bangkok, take the Route 7 expressway. Don't try to go through Chonburi. Friday is Chonburi's main Songkran festival and if you try to go through you'll have a three to five hour delay.

The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: see http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_14_04_51.html for photos. _____ Songkran Festival Begins Early Here in Pattaya Although the Pattaya Songkran Festival does not take place until 19th of this month, celebrations have begun early and we can report that in some areas, the water fighting has well and truly begun. The influx of Thai and Foreign Tourists to Pattaya has begun and the Traffic Police are working tirelessly to ensure that the roads around Pattaya remain unblocked as much as possible. The beaches of Pattaya and Jomtien were busy over the weekend and over the next few days the influx of Tourists is expected to continue. We must warn you that the likelihood of you getting a soaking over the coming week is high and please understand that this is normal during Songkran. We must also warn you that the use of water pipes is illegal in accordance with national regulations and you may be subject to a fine or even incarceration if you are caught using them.

I made no attempt to go to the beach today, but I did cruise through town for a while. I went to Tuk Com and Villa Market, along with a bit more sightseeing. If you are among those in Pattaya and suffering from Songkranophobia, then you might as well start hibernating. There are few places you can go now without getting soaked along the way. Once you get where you're going you're fine, but unless you are riding in an enclosed vehicle, you're gonna get it. I'll give you a little tip, in case you didn't think of it. If you need to ride a baht bus, but don't want to be soaked, take a baht bus on which you can sit up front with the driver. The revelers are all over the main streets now. On the side sois there are usually a few groups of children with squirt guns. Throughout the city traffic seems to be flowing quite well. It's the beach area that's bottlenecking. So, if you're going to the beach (and once you're on the beach nobody will soak you), then I suggest getting a very early start, before the traffic builds up. If you head for the beach much later than 10:30 to 11:00 AM, you'll get stuck in traffic.

"To Save but One Life is to Save the World" - The Talmud

Thank goodness he wasn't hurt. Throwing at motorcycle drivers is supposed to be verboten this year. I hope he reported that group to the police, for all the good it would do. It seems like most of the serious Songkran problems are caused by drunken farang, not by the Thais.

I was at the beach with zzrichard. His report is accurate. Traffic to and from the beach today was tremendous and there was plenty of water splashing going on. There was no way you were going to or from the beach today without getting a soaking. Other than the areas where others are reporting activity, there really wasn't much else. In the neighborhoods, a few kids were out there with their squirt guns, and that was about all. My advice is for the rest of the week, now start wearing clothes that can get soaked. Things like mobile phones, wallets, money, and anything else you don't want soaked need to be wrapped in plastic. And . . . if you are among the "crazies" such as zzrichard and myself, get out there and have fun!!!

Sooooooooooo! As Maude used to say, "God'll getcha for that!" Actually, I found out at dinner this evening I was wrong about no water activity today. One friend came in to Pattaya today. He was on a baht bus, with luggage and a lap top computer, when he got soaked. Naturally, it wasn't even Thais who did it. It was drunken farang. How about that! A Thai holiday, and the Thais haven't even started splashing people. Drunken farang were the first water splashers. More is expected tomorrow. That's when it all really begins.

Saturday, April 12. Still no water splashing activity in Pattaya. I have been getting reports that traffic on the highways is very heavy and depending on the time of day you travel, expect long delays. The reports about police checkpoints are either erroneous or nothing has been set up yet. Yesterday and today I haven't even seen a police officer anywhere on the roads. I haven't even seen them in the usual spots where they pull over helmetless motorcycle drivers.

You've got a deal. It's wet handbags at dawn . . .

Nobody is twisting your words. You're the one who wrote them. Nobody is planning to ban you either. I have a much better idea. Jinks has already locked the Quill thread on SGF, with very good reason, and I can see that more harm than good is going to come from further discussion of the matter. The time has come to follow suit. Until something is heard from either Mr. Quill himself, his representatives, his sons, or anyone else directly involved, this thread is locked and there will be NO further discussion of Mr. Quill's case on this web site.

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ SONGKRAN The Long Haul Home (Be smart and stay in, Folks) Published on April 12, 2008 Forget buses and trains: they're all booked up. And get to the airport three hours early if you want to get anywhere Heavy traffic built up yesterday afternoon as people headed back to their family homes for the long Songkran holiday. Route No 9 to the Northeast was the most congested, said Pol Colonel Roy Inkapairoj, Highways Police deputy commander. He said many roads to the North and Northeast would be slow going after 6pm yesterday but expected the traffic would ease today. "We will reverse some inbound lanes on Paholyothin, Asia and Mitraphab roads to outbound lanes for motorists leaving Bangkok when the roads get jammed," Roy said. Traffic was also building up along Mitraphab Road in Lamtrakong area as people left the capital, and all outbound routes were very busy by yesterday evening. Mor Chit bus terminal, Hua Lampong Railway Station and the new Southern Route bus terminal were crowded. Seats on trains and buses were fully booked. Additional services "Normally there are 3,744 trips to the North and Northeast. The number of passengers is expected to reach 250,000 by [yesterday], so another 2,300 trips will be laid on," said Police Colonel Jiradej Prommobol, deputy commander of the Traffic Police Division. Transport Minister Santi Prompat warned people to buy tickets only from ticket counters. Two bus-operators were found to have sold over-priced tickets and face fines of Bt10,000. Suvarnabhumi Airport director Serirat Prasutanond urged passengers to arrive at the airport three hours ahead during the Songkran festival to avoid missing their flights. The Land Transport Depart- ment and the Transport Co estimated there would be up to 900,000 people travelling out of Bangkok during the Thai new year and had provided 6,400 buses, 800 more than last year. At 4pm, 13 deaths and over 300 injuries had been reported on the roads. By Wannapa Phetdee Daily Xpress

Are you being serious? You are saying that the appropriate and qualified people know nothing about the case and don't care about him. How, pray tell, do you know that? You are also saying let's not leave it to those who are professionals and directly involved. Let's just assume they are useless and instead of letting them do their jobs, the gay community ought to take matters into its own hands and start petitioning His Majesty the King. Is that what you advocate? Do you truly believe that would help anything? Even if by some miracle such a petition actually reached someone close to the PM or King, or even the King himself, what do you think would take place? Do you think they're going to say, "Oh, a group of farang within the gay community says the Supreme Court is wrong and this man is innocent. Ok, open the doors and release him."? If you really believe that such an outcome is even remotely possible or if you are saying that Mr. Quill would be better served if those who support him take matters into their own hands instead of letting his attorneys, the embassy, et al, handle his case as best as they can, then the kindest way I can put it is that I disagree with you. Maybe I'm way off base, but if I'm going to listen to anybody, it's going to be the people directly involved in the case. It isn't going to be some anonymous poster on a message board who has decided that he knows better how Mr. Quill's case ought to be handled. If a petition starts circulating that comes from any source other than Mr. Quill's attorneys or the British embassy, then don't expect my name to be on it. It won't be. I think people who decide to take matters into their own hands are going to end up doing more harm to Mr. Quill at this point than any other possibility. Until the attorneys and/or the embassy requests help from the gay community, the best suggestion I can make is butt out.

Things are still quiet and there has been no further word.

Does that mean you're another one who wants to nail me from behind, or that you are looking forward to Songkran reports . . . or both? Ok, the Songkran report for Friday, April 11, as of 6:30 PM, is that I have seen no water splashing whatsoever. I wasn't expecting any today. I am, however, expecting to see a few sporadic splashers tomorrow. On the first day it's usually the under age 10 set in the local neighborhoods. We'll see.

That's the point. An awful lot of people who know absolutely nothing about the case and are privy to no information whatsoever, people who never read any of the court documentation, people who never attended a court session, people who know absolutely nothing about what was presented in court, people who know absolutely nothing about why the Thai court rendered the decision it did, are now posting based upon nothing but gossip, what they see other people posting, and what they read in tabloid articles written by a person who was successfully sued for libel regarding this case. In other words, if you don't know what you're talking about, then don't try to represent yourself as someone who does and don't try to stir up a hornets nest against PGF, Boyztown, or anybody else. Again, my opinion is to leave the matter in the hands of those who are competent, qualified, and directly involved to deal with the situation in the best manner possible. Let them do their jobs. They read these boards too and they're well aware of the support available for Mr. Quill. If they feel that petitions, letters, boycotts, etc. are appropriate actions for the gay community to take; indeed if they feel that any action by the gay community is appropriate or can be helpful in any way, they'll be sure to let us know. Until and unless they do, my position is that it would be detrimental to Mr. Quill's plight for others to interfere, no matter how well intentioned that interference might be.

It's exactly 4:00 PM in Thailand at the time of this post. I just tried SGF. It worked just fine for me.

Well, thank you gentlemen. When you're here I'll be sure to bend over for you. Come to think of it, for most Americans, just a few days from now is April 15. That's when IRS stands behind you and gets you to bend over a little further.

I still think the best course of action is to do whatever Mr. Kenyon advises people to do. He's the true expert. If he advises trying to get international authorities to turn the screws, then I would be all for it. If he does not, then I think it will either lead to nothing or by the time it does any good, Mr. Quill will be out of prison anyway. As I said, it can't hurt anything to try, and I'm not trying to tell people they shouldn't try, but I would rather see those who wish to try spend their time doing something that has a good chance of working instead of wasting valuable time on procedures that won't accomplish anything.

I think I will write one more comment after all. I'm seeing the ideas posted here and elsewhere that suggest writing letters and petitions to various people, including His Majesty the King, boycotting certain businesses, trying to blame others, etc, none of which will help Mr. Quill. All any of that will do is allow those who participated an opportunity to feel better about themselves because they'll be able to say, "At least I tried something," but Mr. Quill will still be in prison nevertheless. First, when His Majesty the King grants amnesty, it's done as a gesture on his birthday and does not include those who are in prison on drug convictions. In most cases the royal amnesties are not actual releases from prison, but reductions of sentences based on reports of good behavior. From what I understand, actual releases from prison do not occur until at least two of these amnesties have been granted. That's what I have been told, anyway. I suppose it can't hurt anything to try, although I think those who really want to help Mr. Quill need to understand that they're not dealing with Western law, Western logic, or a Western justice system. I think those who wish to try to help Mr. Quill would be doing him a far greater service by placing the situation into the hands of those professionally competent and qualified to accomplish something. Many know there is an extremely knowledgeable local British Consul, Mr. Kenyon, in Pattaya. I wouldn't do anything beyond what he advises. If he does have advice, it will become public knowledge soon enough. I believe the only thing that can be of any practical help Mr. Quill now would be to uncover some sort of new evidence that could prove he was wrongly convicted or some new legal approaches that could convince the court to reverse its decision. If people really want to do something useful, then I believe they should try to find the best attorney in Thailand, qualified to handle this sort of case, at this point in the case, and place it in his hands. Perhaps finding a highly skilled detective company that might be able to uncover some sort of new evidence that was never presented in court could help. I also believe that the best that can be hoped for at this stage is a prison transfer to the UK, based on humanitarian reasons because of Mr. Quill's health problems. An actual release from prison is the least likely thing to occur. That simply is not going to happen. Other than that, it is my opinion that the rest of the suggestions I have read are empty procedures at best that, in the end, will do nothing at all that can actually help Mr. Quill at this stage of the game.

I know many of you cannot be in Pattaya for Songkran or choose not to be here. It all begins as of now. So far I have not seen any water splashing going on at all. Usually none of that begins until April 12, and it's usually sporadic, but builds up daily until the big day on the 19th. There is, however, a city ordinance already in effect that prohibits certain kinds of work to be taking place. For example, a friend is having an apartment renovated. As of today (April 11), the workers are not allowed to do any of the work. That sort of work cannot continue until after the Songkran holiday is over. I'll post a report of any goings on I see, each day, until the holiday comes to an end. If any of you who happen to be in Pattaya have anything to add, please do.

I do have confirmation now and the story is true. I prefer not to post additional details. Mr. Quill is, and has been, a very well known figure in Pattaya for many years. I see nothing wrong with posting the fact of the outcome of this matter, however I do think it would be inappropriate to use Mr. Quill's misfortunes as a catalyst for the gossip queens. Mr. Quill, no matter what your opinion of him or your opinion of the case might be, is obviously going through a tremendously difficult time now and I don't think this board should accommodate those who wish to write posts that violate his privacy and would only make matters worse for him. I will not stop people from posting about this unless posting rules are violated. Other than confirming the fact of the matter, I do not intend to personally post anything further about it. I see nothing to be gained.

I could be wrong. I seem to remember being told that when I first signed up for Maxnet, but I'm going strictly by my memory, which isn't exactly the most reliable resource in the world. I suppose someone will have to check with Maxnet to find out the actual price.

I'm pretty sure I've seen Log Cabin in Villa Market, although I know they don't carry Mrs. Butterworth's. As for the oatmeal, I've seen Quaker Oats at Villa Market too, but I don't think they carry the variety packets. Villa Market claims they can special order items you want if they don't carry them. However, several of my friends have placed special orders, but never received anything and it's been months. Regarding Hi-Speed Internet, I use Maxnet and I'm getting very good speed. You can get, if you really need it, a dedicated line. That will provide speeds comparable to what you are accustomed to, but it's expensive, about 5000 baht per month. I'm getting all the speed I need with Maxnet.