Gaybutton

Am I misunderstanding something? I just had a look. There are two pages of listings with the user name Treasure. None are in Thailand. Maybe for some reason he changed his user name or deleted his profile. Is Treasure this boy's user name? Posting his profile number along with the user name would help interested people find him.

For me it's more of a surprise rather than a concern. Personally, I couldn't care less what a farang in Thailand for a holiday has to spend topping up. Compared to how much their holiday costs, I doubt how much they spend for telephone calls is going to be a major financial burden. My surprise is that 7-Eleven is doing this at all. I don't see how they expect the majority of their Thai customers to be able to afford a 300 baht minimum. The only reason that makes any sense to me would be if it's costing 7-Eleven more to accommodate small amount top ups more than they are making from them. Then again, making sense is not necessarily a factor in Thailand. In any case, for those - Thai or farang - who want to top up for as little as 50 baht, it's certainly easy enough to do that other than in 7-Elevens.

I think you're right. I just now checked my online banking to make sure. Top-ups are still available at 50 baht increments. A 50 baht top up choice is still there and available. The only one saying anything about a 300 baht minimum is ChristianPFC. Has anyone else been told that at a 7-Eleven or anywhere else?

Apparently so. Every time I used it the connection was terrible. I uninstalled it. What about others? Is anyone else using LINE in Thailand, especially in Pattaya? What kind of quality are you getting?

One missing option is any phone shop can also sell top-up time.

I have a feeling that's exactly what 7-Eleven has done, at least in Bangkok. It seems to me this 300 baht minimum for a slip is something 7-Eleven came up with for whatever their reasons are. It's not coming from 1-2-Call - not since you can still buy time for as little as 50 baht. Is anyone encountering this 300 baht minimum, whether in a 7-Eleven or not, anywhere other than Bangkok?

In that case, unless you want to buy 300 baht or more, find a different way to buy top up time. I can't speak to anything other than what I see for myself in Pattaya and, as I said, I haven't needed to buy top up time in 10 years - but I do see others buying it and at least where I am, you can buy in 50 baht increments starting with 50 baht. I have no idea why it should be different in Bangkok or anywhere else. Have you tried stores other than 7-Elevens? Have you tried with an ATM? Have you tried with online banking? I don't know how they're expecting the average Thai to part with 300 baht for telephone time. Many can't afford it and 300 baht is as much, or more, than many make for a full day's work. Sometimes I use online banking to buy top up time for some of my Thai friends. With online banking you can buy as little as 50 baht. A few weeks ago, when we encountered each other in the Malaysia Hotel parking lot, that same day I bought a 1-2-Call SIM card for a Thai friend. The 7-Eleven on the corner was out of SIM cards. The mobile phone-pawn shop just up the street had plenty of SIM cards. When I bought the card I also bought time for the card - 100 baht. There was no problem and no mention of a 300 baht minimum. By the way, just today I bought the "pro" version of one of my mobile phone apps. I don't know if this is available with top up rather than subscription, but one of the options was to pay for it via DTAC billing. That's how I paid for it. The conversion from the free version to the "pro" version was instant. First I received an OTP (One Time Password). After entering it, I then received a confirmation from Google Play and another one from DTAC. The purchase price will appear on my next bill from DTAC.

I don't know where you got that from, but I'm in 7-Elevens very frequently and quite often see people buying slips for as little as 50 baht. Just yesterday I was behind a woman buying a 50 baht slip. Don't you have a Thai bank account? You can top up, again for as little as 50 baht, at any ATM. You can also top up via online banking. I use DTAC. If you have a Thai friend, you can also choose to use a subscription rather than top up. That's what I do. I don't have to top up at all. I simply receive a monthly bill via Email and I pay it via online banking. The reason I mention a Thai friend is because for whatever reason, they won't sell a subscription to a farang unless he has a work permit. A Thai friend was perfectly willing to take out a subscription for me in his name and let me have the SIM card. That's how it works with DTAC. I went with the subscription about 10 years ago. I still have the same phone number and I've never had any problems. I would imagine other companies have a similar system available. If I remember correctly, several years ago Geezer told me he has a subscription with AIS and also receives a monthly bill. AIS is 1-2-Call. With a subscription you also don't have to be surprised by the bill you receive. If you have a subscription, one of the items on your Contacts list will be "Billing." You can tap on that any time and a message appears showing you how much your bill is up to that moment. There is no charge for that and you can check as often as you wish. When I pay online, I instantly receive a text message from DTAC verifying the bill has been paid. If you don't have online banking, you can also pay the bill at any bank or ATM.

Those apps, and others too, have always worked for me, and I've had several phones in Thailand - all Android. The hook-up apps I like worked even on a counterfeit phone I naively bought one time. That phone was bought at Tuk Com and lasted about 5 months before going into its death throes. I haven't seen Pattayamale on the boards in quite some time, but I'd like to take moment to thank him. Several years ago when I bought my first smartphone and was totally clueless about how to use it, Pattayamale spent a lot of time, along with patiently taking a lot of annoying calls from me when I was still confused, showing me how to use it and take advantage of all the features - many of which I didn't even know existed. All kinds of advice and suggestions on this topic - all good. Let us know what you decide to do and whether you end up satisfied with the decision you make.

He won't see your phone number, but the recipient also has to have Line and he needs to have it open. You can't send text messages directly to telephone numbers with Line. There are no charges for texting or speaking, but the connection for speaking is usually bad. I really don't understand why this is even an issue. A Thai SIM card, along with some time, and the cost of making phone calls and text messages is so inexpensive that it's hardly a factor. If you stay in Thailand for two weeks, unless you're making a lot of phone calls and talking for a long time on every one of them, I doubt you would be spending more than 500 baht total - including the SIM card. If you want a second telephone for your Thai SIM card, as I said above, you can buy a brand new basic telephone for as little as 450 baht. If you do that, you would probably still be spending less than 1000 baht total.

I suppose that would depend on which is most cost effective for you. Apparently your carrier is a foreign carrier. How much does it cost you to place calls when you're in Thailand and how many would you anticipate placing? If you want calls from boys, would they even place a call to a foreign number? If it were me, I would get a Thai SIM card. You can get them at any convenience store for about 100 baht and buy time for the card at increments of 50 baht on up. If there is some reason why you would need your foreign SIM card, you could always temporarily switch SIM cards if the need arises. Another method of keeping a phone card topped up would be to have a Thai bank account with online banking. You can then top up from any computer, anywhere in the world.

I would agree depending on what one is looking for. If you're looking for a guaranteed legitimate phone I would avoid Tuk Com. Many of the phone shops at Tuk Com are reputable, but others have no problem about selling counterfeit phones. The problem is it's difficult to know which shops - and there are dozens of them - are the safe ones to buy from. On the other hand, if you're looking only for an inexpensive temporary phone that will probably work if you're in Thailand for a couple weeks holiday, Tuk Com isn't such a bad risk. If you're looking for a cheap basic, but legitimate, phone Tesco-Lotus (and probably Big-C too, but I've never checked), sells perfectly good Nokia phones for as little as 450 baht. About 6 months ago I bought a couple of them to give to a few Thai boys. They both work just fine and are still working just fine. Make sure to take your passport, or at least a photocopy of your passport, if you're going to buy a SIM card. Due to Thailand's recent regulations about registering SIM cards, you'll need to present it or they can't sell you a SIM card. By the way, if you're looking for a top-of-the-line phone, I suggest having a look at the Huawei Mate 8. I recently bought one and I just love that phone. There are plenty of reviews online. You can download the user manuals at: http://consumer.huawei.com/uk/mobile-phones/support/manuals/mate8-uk.htm

That depends on the bar. Some bars are strict about it and others don't seem to care. My guess is the Bangkok bars are probably much more strict than the Pattaya bars. I don't know for sure. I haven't been to a Bangkok go-go bar in years and I doubt I'll ever be in one of them again. I'm not about to pay those prices. I live here. I'm not here for a holiday. I can easily find all the boys I want without setting foot in a bar at all. Of course, if I was coming to Thailand for a holiday and had been without the company of a boy for a very long period of time, I would probably be in a bar as soon as the plane lands, maybe even before checking in at my hotel, and gladly pay them whatever the hell they want. I disagree with your comment, "please don't think a boy is at your side, he is at his bar's side." I don't think that's true. As far as I can tell, the only side he cares about is his own. Most boys I encounter are far more interested in making money than they are in taking sides with the bar - or me. Maybe the attitude of the Tawan bar boys is different. That bar is a 'type' bar - a muscle bar. The last time I was in Tawan is probably more than 10 years ago by now. For me, the muscle bound body builder type is as far from my type as it gets.

First, you're using the wrong term. I don't know why, but "bar fine" almost always applies to lady-boy bars. For the rest of the gay bars, the usual term is "off." The answer to your question is no, the boy doesn't have to pay the bar anything. It doesn't matter why the boy might not have shown up for work. The bar will simply dock his pay for that night. Boys failing to show up for work is a very common problem. Many of these boys show up for work if they feel like working that night. If they don't feel like working, they very often simply don't go. That kind of thinking is quite common. Years ago the owner of a popular gay hotel told me a story. The hotel employed an electrician - who also did all kinds of other work. He was a full time employee. One day he didn't show up for work. He didn't call in. There was no word from him at all. The hotel tried to contact him, but for whatever reason, they couldn't. When several days passed, and nobody had heard from him or knew where he was, they hired somebody else. After about two weeks, the hotel owner arrived at his usual time in the morning and there was the electrician, working as if nothing ever happened. The hotel owner asked, "What are you doing here? Where have you been?" The answer was, "I go holiday." The hotel owner advised him that his holiday just became a whole lot longer. The electrician was dumbfounded. He had absolutely no idea why he was being fired. That kind of attitude and thinking applies to a great many bar boys. Many couldn't care less whether they're fired or not. They all know if they lose their job at one bar, all they have to do is go to another bar and they'll have a new job that same day. Just today I was talking with a boy who works in a Sunee Plaza beer bar. He told me he's going to wait until the end of the month when he gets paid (Thais typically get paid once per month - the last day of the month). Then he's going to quit and try a Jomtien Complex bar. I asked why he's doing that. His answer was tantamount to 'the grass is greener there.' I asked which bar he's planning to try. He said he'll decide that when he goes. He'll decide. He's not the least bit worried about it. He knows he can walk into any bar he wants and will be hired on the spot.

I wouldn't. Suppose you truly believe, in that circumstance, the bar is entitled to an off fee. How would you go about paying it? Would you make a special trip to the bar during their open hours to pay it? That would work great if you're planning to leave town that same day or won't be anywhere near the bar. Would you give the money to the boy and trust him to give it to the bar? 3 guesses what the likelihood is of the boy giving the money to the bar instead of just pocketing it for himself. Would you give the bar an off fee in advance and trust the boy will show up at the appointed place and time? Maybe he will and maybe he won't. That's not good enough for me. What a boy does during non-working hours is his own affair and has nothing to do with the bar. Also, many boys are not actually employed by a bar at all. Many are freelancers who work in the bars and get maybe 100 baht per night from the bar or work without compensation from the bar at all, in hopes of being taken off by a customer. I know some boys who have a "legitimate" job during the day, and often also will work in a bar at night, trying to supplement their income. In my opinion a bar is entitled to an off fee if, and only if, the boy is in the bar during working hours and that's what he's doing - working. Suppose you didn't even make an arrangement, but encounter the boy during the day by sheer chance. If he goes to your room with you, do you think the bar is entitled to an off fee? Don't forget, many of the bar boys are also Gay Romeo boys. If you meet a boy via Gay Romeo, and then find out he also works in a bar, do you think the bar is entitled to an off fee? My answer to both of the above questions is no. If I take a boy off from a bar, the bar is entitled to the off fee. Under any other circumstances the bar is entitled to nothing, and from me that's exactly what the bar will get - nothing.

When I see photos of boys from years ago, I can't help but wonder whatever became of them - like a "Where Are They Now?" article. Many boys I used to like and often see have vanished. My guess is most of them ended up back on the rice farm.

Thank you and everyone else who posted and sent me PMs about this. I very much appreciate the kind thoughts. I never intended to be public about my personal troubles, but it did seem to me to be appropriate considering some of the context of this topic. One of my friends told me a comment someone else told him regarding the terrible experience I went through, and really still am going through, was "I guess GB isn't the heartless son of a bitch I thought he is." I liked that comment, but shhhhh! Don't tell anybody. I'd hate to see my reputation go out the window . . .

I apologize for going off topic, but there are some things I think need to be said. Nobody relishes having to do that, but at least get somebody, even if a professional nurse has to be hired - and that would not be particularly expensive in Thailand - to take care of the person you're living with and supposedly love. You don't just abandon him and the responsibility that's supposed to go with it. This guy did nothing. You might remember my old boyfriend. Even though we "finished" several years ago, I was still putting him through college and helping him as best as I could. He was six months away from earning a doctorate. Several weeks ago he became quite ill and had to be hospitalized. He was in the hospital nearly two weeks before anyone even told me about it. Once I knew, I was in that hospital every day and was watching his condition get worse and worse until he finally looked like a dying anorexic. He became so weak that he couldn't even move his legs and arms without help. He had to be catheterized and put in adult diapers and developed bed sores. If you think that was easy to watch, and be virtually helpless to do anything about it, think again. I paid to have him moved to a private room. His father stayed with him 24/7. I was not responsible for him, but I did everything I could to try to help. The point is no matter how difficult it may be to watch somebody you're close to suffer and die, that is not - at least to me - a good enough excuse to have just abandoned Allen. If you truly believe that is something to reward with 20,000 baht, or anything at all, I can only say your opinion is different from mine. 19 days ago he died. His family had no money, so I also paid for his funeral. It's going to take me a very long time to be able to get over it. He was only 28.

Actually that would be a terrible gesture. That so-called boyfriend literally abandoned Allen toward the end. He would often leave Allen completely alone and helpless in his condo. Friends would come and find Allen unable to move and lying in his own filth, and he had been that way for hours. No food. No water. No nothing. When Allen was dying in the hospital the boy was rarely there at all and was interested only in what would happen with Allen's belongings and money. There is an appropriate gesture - but giving him money is not exactly the gesture I have in mind.

Allen and I were close friends. Knowing him as I did, I think he would be quite pleased to see interest in his board still exists more than a decade later. He certainly never gave any indication that he would want his board and his efforts to eventually vanish from memory. I'm happy to see what Moses is doing and I believe Allen would be even happier. I see nothing inappropriate about it at all.

Regarding the photo of the boy that inspired the current dispute, his face is not clear enough to be certain, but I'm sure I recognize him. He used to be a regular at the beach, but disappeared several years ago. I haven't seen him anywhere since. If he's still in Pattaya or on Gay Romeo or any of the other apps, I haven't spotted him there either. Travellerdave said "What every gay beach should have plenty of." Dongtan beach really did have "plenty of" several years ago. I certainly enjoyed it when it was difficult to choose which boy I wanted since there were so many of them. Now, along with that boy, they've all disappeared too, which is why I rarely go to the beach at all these days. Whenever I see a post giving us an update of Dongtan Beach, I keep hoping to see something that says available boys are starting to come back. Unfortunately, so far the posts usually tell us it's still rare to see any boys at all other than boys with a farang who brought them there. No matter how you choose to refer to them or categorize them, at Dongtan beach there are few to none to refer to or categorize anymore.

I agree completely with firecat69's post above and since I live in Pattaya I've probably had much more 'practice'. The worst problem I've ever had with any Gay Romeo boy is if he turns out to be a dud, and that has hardly ever happened. I have never had a theft. The only time I've ever had a boy show up who was not the boy in the photos worked out just fine for me. It turned out that I liked that boy much better than the boy in the photos. That was a few years ago and I still see him regularly. I used to prefer the bars to the apps. Times have changed. Now it's the opposite. I prefer the apps to the bars.

Which one?

I know nothing about the place, whether it meets proper medical standards, or even whether it's licensed, but in Pattaya there is a "Testosterone Clinic" at the corner of Third Road and Pattaya Klang.

I'm banging on it? I'll repeat - this week, if you don't want to carry your passport, then don't. Personally, I don't give a damn whether you carry it with you or not. I posted what the police are doing. What you decide to do in light of that - I couldn't care less. Are you even in Thailand this week? Ok, I've said my piece. I won't post further on this topic. You can have the last word. Do you think you can do it without the snide remarks, or are they necessary for you to make your point?