Gaybutton

If someone walks out wearing your shoes, I'd say chances are good it was simply a mistake. If someone walks out wearing your shoes and carrying his own, then I'd say it was a deliberate theft. Of course, the next question is who would go to a temple to steal someone else's shoes?

True story - The first time I was ever in Thailand, in Bangkok I wanted to take a guided tour. From among the tour choices, the one that appealed to me most was called "Temple Tour." It was going to be a city tour that includes stops at the most famous temples - the reclining Buddha, the Emerald Buddha, etc. The tour guide spoke very good English and was well versed about everywhere we were going. I knew about the tradition of removing shoes when entering a temple, but I didn't know why. I was curious. At one of the stops I asked the tour guide why removing shoes before entering was the tradition and why it was such an important thing to do. Based on his lengthy answers throughout the tour, I was expecting a detailed, complex explanation about it. Here's the answer I received: Me: "Why is removing shoes an important requirement when entering a Buddhist temple?" Tour Guide: "Keep floor clean."

Maybe the thief stole them for himself rather than to sell. Nice of Wat Pho to give your friend some shoes. You know what I would have done if my shoes were stolen? I would have stolen somebody else's shoes . . . Woman at Elevator (Rashel Novikoff): "They stole my shoes last week. A pair of good shoes!" WIlly Clark (Walter Matthau): "Who would want your shoes?" - 'The Sunshine Boys'

Before committing to anything, I suggest calling Rhonda at Norcross Travel. 1-888-888-7157. Make sure you speak to Rhonda. I've recommended her for many years. She is actually Laotian. She specializes in travel to Thailand. She always got me tickets at a price far less expensive, often hundreds of dollars less expensive, than any other source I've ever found. Find the lowest price you can. Then talk to Rhonda. Don't be surprised if she beats whatever price you find.

And especially in Bangkok, there are plenty of 'elsewheres,' probably just a few steps from just about any 7-Eleven. I have no idea why any 7-Elevens would want to set a 300 baht minimum to top up mobile phones. Whatever the reason possibilities may be, this being Thailand, whichever reason makes the least sense - that's probably it . . .

Maybe whatever is going on with this 300 baht minimum is happening only in Bangkok, and only in 7-Elevens.

It's been so long since I registered on Planet Romeo - back when it was Gay Romeo - I can't remember whether the guestbook is enabled automatically unless the user intentionally disables it or whether you have to do something to enable it in the first place. If you have to do something to enable it, I can understand why the Thais don't. If it enables automatically upon registration, then I'm at a loss as to why so many of them do indeed disable it.

Until your post I hadn't noticed that. I had a look. You're right. In some cases I can see why. One of the "new Romeos," for example, is K-Romeo69, profile number 28653026. Meanwhile he's another one who deletes his old profile and starts a new one so often that I've lost count of how many times he's done that. I've never met him and I don't intend to. For all I know he might be one of the most fabulous guys around, but my eyebrows raise when they constantly delete old profiles, start new ones and disable their guestbook. I keep away from those guys. As for the others who really are new to Planet Romeo, I have no idea why they disabled their guestbooks.

Just to confirm that you can have a massage boy come to you instead of having to go to a massage shop, today I was on Planet Romeo and saw this profile on the new users list: Profile name: MassagePattaya Profile number: 28668366 Headline: "Let's me know if you want to Massage! in shop or room service!" I've seen many similar profiles offering the same choice.

Would you please submit another insult attempt troll post tomorrow morning? It will be very good for my morning laugh.

Then I guess I got got. I did take it seriously. Oh well . . . Even so, when some of these boys start hitting you up for money, be careful. Just a few days ago I met a boy I liked. Things went beautifully. Then came the first red light. "I no have money in telephone." Ok, I topped up his phone for him. Then came "I not have money for eat." Just today came, "I not have money for pay room." If that is true, he still doesn't have money for "pay room" and it's going to stay that way - at least as far as it concerns me. I liked the boy. I hope he finds a walking ATM farang, but it isn't going to be me. Been there. Done that. Never again. "You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln

Am I supposed to be interested in your word twisting garbage posts?

How should I know what would happen in the Netherlands? For some strange reason I thought we were talking about Thailand. And I would say the chances of the boy being convicted, let alone end up paying, are somewhere between zero and nil. Maybe I'm wrong. Plenty of Thai boys have lied to farang to get money. Have any of them gone to jail, been fined, been ordered to pay restitution, or even been arrested? Once again, my advice is to simply not give him a substantial amount of money in the first place. Then you don't have to worry.

Do you truly believe he wouldn't get away with it? Upon what grounds would there be a lawsuit that a judge wouldn't laugh right out of court? He might have lied about why he wanted it. So what? You gave him the money voluntarily. Nobody forced you to give him anything. Farang: "Gee, your honor. He told me the money was for a new water buffalo, but he got drunk, bought a motorbike, and a new telephone too." Judge: "He did? He changed his mind. Isn't that terrible? Ok, show me the contract he signed that guaranteed how he was going to spend the money and while you're at it, prove to me that he didn't. Otherwise, have a nice day . . ."

You would sue a money boy? Ok, you take him to court and win a judgment. He's a money boy. How's he supposed to pay? You know how you can easily avoid all that? When he asks for money, don't give him any.

The better word would have been correlation. Since, as you say, it's up to me, be informed that I couldn't care less whether you believe it or not or whether you want proof. You want proof? Good. Prove I'm wrong.

That is not what I said at all. What I said about the pics comments is I don't see the point - and I still don't. Like I said, maybe those who are so keen to let us all know which pics they don't like ought to take a look in a mirror before they start criticizing other people's looks. What I said about the decline of the gay scene - whether prostitution is involved or not - is in part due to the put-down posts, many of which are embellished, about the bars and venues. And that has everything to do with it. It isn't just a few of us who post regularly reading those comments. Look at the view numbers. Do you think people are not influenced by those comments? Instead of people posting about what they don't like about the gay scene, how about posting what they do like. Most gay farang are coming here precisely because of the gay scene, and yet some of those people seem to want to do everything they can to undermine it. Maybe that makes sense to you. It makes none to me.

Easy. All I have to do is read your posts. That does the trick.

I "kinda-sorta" agree with you. Tawan is the only go-go bar I'm aware of in all of Thailand where you can be certain of consistently finding a particular type - the body builder, super muscular type. I know of no other bar where you're always going to know what types will be working there. What you find today might not necessarily be true a week from now. The days of walking into nearly any go-go bar and knowing you're going to find scores of boys and plenty of customers are over. I remember it wasn't all that long ago when people were posting about the need to be at the bar right at opening time to be certain of being able to off the boy you want, before someone else takes him. Anyone feel that is still a necessity? Times have changed. Unless the wheel turns and things somehow revert to the way they used to be, the "golden years" of the gay bar scene, at least in Pattaya, are history. I agree with what you said about some posters going too far. Most gay farang coming to Thailand for a holiday are going to be heading for the bars. Meanwhile, all some seem to want to do is post put-downs about various bars. In case no one has noticed, the number of go-go bars today, and beer bars too, doesn't even come close to the number of bars there were ten years ago. In Pattaya, Sunee Plaza used to be one go-go bar after another. Now there are only three. There used to be about a half dozen go-go bars in the Soi Day-Night area, and even a couple along some of the side streets. Now there are none at all. The massage shops used to be quite busy. Now most of the time I see the boys sitting out front playing with their mobile phones, but I rarely see any customers. I've had some massage boys tell me they get more customers from Planet Romeo than they do at their massage shops. In Pattaya we've also already virtually lost the beach as a place to find scads of boys. Maybe some of these people won't be satisfied until there are no bars left at all. Maybe some ought to consider being more supportive of the scene you come here for instead of putting it down all the time. That is, of course, unless you want to see the reason you come here disappear forever. While I blame mismanagement and failure to do much of anything to attract customers for the eroding away of the bar scene, if it eventually disappears completely and you want to know who is at least partially responsible, if you're a put-down poster, look in a mirror.

Those are freelancers and it's by no means just the now former Copa. Many bars have freelancers doing the same thing. Some bars pay a freelancer 100 baht a night when they show up. Since so many go-go bars are currently in a state of decline or on the verge of going out of business, freelancers are welcomed - especially if they are good at getting customers to buy them drinks or, better still, good at getting customers to take them off. What the go-go bars and beer bars want is the presence of loads of boys. The more the merrier. That's a big part of what attracts customers and that's why freelancers are not only welcomed, but the way thing are going these days, vital. From what I see, the bars that get the most customers are the bars that have a lot of boys. If someone walks into a bar and sees a large number of boys, they're likely to sit down and at least have a drink. On the other hand, if someone walks into a bar and only two or three boys are there, then he's much more likely to turn around and walk right back out the door.

I wouldn't even do that. I fail to see the point of writing about the posted pics at all. For what? It has nothing to do with whether it is complementary or insulting. For me, I simply have no interest at all in somebody saying he likes or dislikes this one or that one. If it interests you and others, fine with me - post your comment. I also fail to see your connection between posts about religion and commenting about boy pics. Nobody is trying to deny you the right to comment if you want to. But if you do, no matter what you say about a particular pic, my reaction is "So what?" I'm interested in people's opinions about issues. I would probably be very interested in what you have to say about religion. But opinions about a pic turning you on or off? Speaking only for myself, zero interest.

I also wouldn't be . . .

That's right. That's why all anyone needs to do to avoid that type of a problem is arrange to see the boy during his non-working hours. Then he won't be missing duty. Of course, there may be a little problem if the boy is expected to be present and working 24 hours a day . . . One can also opt to use the massage service offered by the link in your own posting signature. Somehow I doubt many bosses are going to be suspicious and jealous of that. I like the relatively new euphemism I see popping up every so often regarding having a boy drop by to spend a little time with you - "compensated dating."

I'm with firecat69 and Michael on this one. Suppose I dislike a boy pic somebody posted. Suppose I submit a post saying I don't like him, he's not my type, or whatever else. Is there anyone who really cares whether I like him or not? I'm not the least bit interested in what somebody else has to say about any of the posted pics. I'm only interested in the boys I like. Which ones do I like? Which ones do I not like? Other than me, who cares? We all have our individual tastes and preferences. But before posting that a particular boy doesn't appeal to you, have a look in a mirror. Then, even if he is not your type, see if you can figure out which of the two is better looking. Now, if you'll excuse me, It's time for me to go and masturbate to my nude pics of Ernest Borgnine . . .

The first thing I would do is scour Planet Romeo to see if he has a profile or simply ask him if he has a profile on Planet Romeo or any other hookup site. That way, the massage shop would have nothing to do with it. Failing that, I would ask him for his phone number and/or give him mine and ask him to call me during non-working hours, or call him, which would also eliminate the massage shop as middle man. If none of that works, then you're going to have to go through the massage shop. I disagree with Alizouzou. Whether you can off a boy from a massage shop depends on the individual massage shop. Many do have out-call service, but I have no idea how much to expect to be charged or how to go about paying for it if you're arranging by phone. If all else fails, you could always hang around the massage shop at closing time and catch him after he leaves and is on his way home . . . Seems to me the easiest thing to do is not to off him at all. Why not just get a 'massage' with him at the shop? That way you'll be alone with him, have a chance to find out whether he is what you were hoping he would be, and make whatever other outside arrangements with him when it's just the two of you in the room.