Gaybutton

If you feel that way, and obviously many others do as well, I yield to that, but I wish those who want to criticize Niddy's Nook would at least also write something in praise of all the fine work Allen has done. Many out there would be hard pressed for the kind of information he presents if it weren't for all the work he puts in. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong, but it just seems to me to be inappropriate to be attacking Niddy's Nook within the same thread that I thought would be about praising Allen. Of course, if Allen agrees with the idea that this whole thing is nothing more than a publicity stunt at his expense, then I suppose he might choose to express that opinion by refusing to show up. I also concede that I must be missing something. The only time I've eaten at Niddy's Nook was the night they first opened, so I don't really know anything about the place. I've only met Chris and Niddy once and they seemed nice enough to me. I only rarely read the Sawatdee forum, but I have seen threads there criticizing Niddy's Nook, although I admit I didn't read through them. If there is a reason why there is such harshness toward Niddy's Nook and a reason for the assumption that this tribute to Allen is only a publicity stunt rather than something genuine, perhaps someone can write about what that reason is. In all honesty, I have no idea.

Why all the sarcasm? I don't think anyone would rightly dispute the fact that Allen deserves to be awarded for all the work he has put in over the years. As far as I know, since the first weekly report he ever did, he has not missed publishing the report even once. He gets it done even when he is traveling, ill, dealing with personal problems, or anything else. If anyone thinks obtaining all the information, writing it up, and publishing it is easy, then try it and see for yourself how much work goes into it. People have come to rely on his web site for information and the latest for what's going on around town. He asks for nothing in return for all the work he does for the gay community. I realize that some out there have something against Niddy's Nook for whatever reasons you have and yes, Allen deserves to be rewarded at the finest restaurant, but I hope people will consider posting the statements of gratitude that he so richly deserves rather than using this thread as an excuse to chop apart the venue in which the award will be presented.

How other people see me is no concern of mine. The difference is at 16 it is illegal and a person who engages in it risks suffering all the legal consequences. I consistently point that out to people, not out of hatred but as a warning. Not everyone who reads these boards has been reading them for years, as you have. Some are new to these boards and may not be aware of it at all. That is why I am going to continue those sorts of posts whether it bothers you or not.

Actually, it's DTAC, not D-tech. There are two ways to buy DTAC. One is a prepaid phone card, just like One-Two-Call. The other is to open an account. Only Thai citizens can open a DTAC account. In your case I advise sticking with either One-Two-Call or the DTAC prepaid card. If you open a DTAC account for him , then you will receive a monthly bill, and Lord only knows how much the boy will charge up. You won't have any control. At least with a prepaid card you can specify how much you will give him each month for phone cards and set a limitation. As for whether One-Two-Call or DTAC prepaid is better, as far as I can tell it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. I haven't observed any differences between the two at all. Both are available anywhere in Thailand provided the phone is in reach of a signal. Out in the boondocks, there are often problems because sometimes the signal doesn't reach that far.

There is a solution to that. Simply go into a bank and have them withdraw funds from your ATM card as if they are doing a cash advance on a VISA or MasterCard. Then you can take out whatever amount you wish. Of course, that works only if your ATM card has the VISA or MasterCard logo on it. I did that when I had to come up with a huge amount of money to finish paying off the mortgage on my home in Thailand. There was no problem at all. Also, whenever traveling to a foreign country you should notify your bank and credit card companies as to where you will be, your arrival date, your departure date, and whether you intend to do any large-amount transactions. That way, if they know what to expect in advance, you won't end up trying to use an ATM card or credit card only to find it locked or the transaction rejected. It also helps them track down the culprit if there is ever any fraudulent use of your card. One time that happened to me. When I arrived back home after a trip to Thailand there was letter from my credit card company asking me to contact them as soon as possible. When I did, they told me that there were several large transactions that had taken place in Korea and they wanted to know if those were mine. I said they were not. They immediately restored the amount of those transactions to my account. Three weeks later I received a 'thank you' letter from them, telling me that the fact I had notified them in advance as to where I will be alterted them and they were able to charge back to whoever had accepted the phony transactions. They said they lost no money at all because I had informed them in advance.

This evening, July 26, was the latest Pattaya Gay Festival (PGF) dinner at Richard Burk's Amor Restaurant. The restaurant was packed and everyone had a wonderful time. Jim Lumsden did a magnificent job as MC, and he was delightfully entertaining as always. Richard's menu was just delicious. Everything was truly superb. I especially enjoyed the Salmon Rillettes and the Chicken Breast with Herbed Cheeses. After dinner there were great raffle prizes, including bottles of premium wines and liquors, dinners at fine restaurants, a luxury holiday in Phuket, and much more. Congratulations to both Richard and Jim for a fabulous evening. You will see more reports about this evening's dinner on boxertravels.com and in Spice Magazine. The next PGF dinner will be at Bruno's restaurant in August. See www.pattayagayfestival.com for details.

As many of you know, the Top Man bar at Sunee Plaza is under new ownership and has been for about three weeks. The new owner is hosting a party, beginning at 9:00 PM, Friday, July 28. There will be a free buffet and all are welcome. See you there!

Rest assured that whoever did the editing, it wasn't me. I don't even get an 'edit' button unless I wish to edit my own post.

For a first time visit to Pattaya, I am going to suggest either the Ambiance or Le Cafe Royale. Both are located in the heart of Boyztown, right in the middle of all the action. In the Sunee Plaza area, just about everyone who has stayed at Howard's Hotel has thoroughly enjoyed it there and they stay there again and again. All three of those are gay hotels and not only can help you find everything, but they also know all the ropes about helping you to prevent becoming the victim of theft or ending up with an under-age boy. If you wish, shortly before you come to Thailand send me an E-mail at gaybutton@gmail.com . I will be happy to help you out in any way I can and personally show you around.

I'm surprised it takes up to twelve hours. I do online transfers with Bangkok Bank and it's instant.

Well, I'm glad to see you are not going to be contentious, beligerent, or pissy. Sorry, but I have taken a stand against pedophiles for many years and I intend to continue to do so. If that bothers you, then I suggest you refrain from reading my posts because I am going to continue exactly the same kind of posting. Nothing personal, but if someone is going to decide when it's been enough, I guarantee it isn't going to be you.

I didn't say I miss those. I only said you never see them in Thailand, although I wouldn't mind some Lima beans. I also wouldn't mind seeing Lucy and Ethel working in the chocolate factory again. As for Albanian pizza, does it have anchovies? If yes, then send me Granny's recipe . . . I don't know whether they were Thai or not, but I have seen orientals looking at me in Las Vegas. Of course the look I got from them was more like a "you must be joking" look.

You can also get bank accounts with Thai Military Bank and Bank of Ayudhya. Bank of Ayudhya seems to have the easiest rules of all. Also, it doesn't hurt to try again even if you are told you can't open an account. I know of several instances in which a "farang" tried to open an account at one branch, was told he couldn't, and then went to another branch and walked out ten minutes later with a bank account. Regarding Bangkok Bank, I think they have now changed the rules so that you can open an account if you have a 90-day tourist visa. I know for a while they were saying that you must have the retirement visa or work permit, but only a few months ago I accompanied a friend to Bangkok Bank. He had the 90-day tourist visa and had no problem at all opening an account. You can get online banking with all of the banks, but as far as transferring money is concerned, you have to go to the bank, the branch office where the account was opened, and make arrangements to be able to transfer money online. With ATM's you can transfer money to any bank account, even if it is not the same bank. For example, if I want to transfer money at a Bank of Ayudhya ATM to an account someone holds with Siam Commercial, that is no problem at an ATM. You have to have an account with the bank from which you are doing the transfer, though. If you are transferring from a Bank of Ayudhya ATM, then you have to have an account with Bank of Ayudhya. Online is a different story. You can make arrangements to transfer money online, but both the source account and recipient account have to be the same bank. In other words, online you can arrange to transfer from one Bank of Ayudhya account to another Bank of Ayudhya account, but you can't transfer from a Bank of Ayudhya account to a Thai Military Bank account online. Many Thai banks also have telephone service and most have English speaking personnel. I've never tried it, but you might be able to do a transfer right over the telephone. Has anyone tried that?

That brings to mind an interesting question. By now most people are aware of the problems involved with forming a Thai corporation in order to buy housing. I have seen no discussion at all as to whether that also applies to buying a business. I wonder if that's the case. Can a "farang" buy a business without having to establish a Thai corporation under the same rules as buying a condo? Does anyone out there know the rules that apply to a "farang" establishing a business and buying the building?

Unfortunately, mauRICE is right. The problem posters, for reasons it would take a highly skilled psychiatrist to explain, seem to thrive on causing as many problems as they can get away with. Yes, I did have similar problems before when I was using a public access message board. That's one of the reasons I finally decided on using a board on which nobody could post at all unless they had registered. It's the only way to exercise control. Even Gaypattayan, from the Pattayagay.com web site, had problem posters and he finally got rid of his board entirely. He tried every which way to get these people to stop, but no matter what he did they continued to persist. He finally got fed up and eliminated the problem by eliminating the board. I remember one time he told me about a nut out there who had posted something outrageous. He deleted the post and sent a warning to the person who posted it. Next thing he knew, the message was posted again. He deleted it again. Less than five minutes later the message was back. He deleted and this person must have been sitting by his computer, waiting like a vulture, because every time the post was deleted the nut would re-post it. I don't get it. Apparently there are people out there who think a web site message board is the most important thing in the world, at least to them. That's just crazy. But then again, there are also people out there who do things such as traveling to Thailand and intentionally get involved with under-age sex. Do any of you long-time board users remember the person who used to post on my board under the handle "Aristo?" He would constantly post messages, bragging about coming to Thailand and having sex with under-age boys. He insisted that the worst that could happen would be a 200 baht fine. He would always say, "Big scare" Anybody remember that? What goes on in people's minds? The moment I began requiring registration and took control, that was the last anybody heard from "Aristo." For a long time people kept calling me a control freak. Perhaps I was, but sometimes that's what it takes in order to put a stop to these people.

I've never been in there, so I know nothing about the rooms or their "guest" policy. However, I've passed it often enough to tell you it looks nice enough from the outside. I can also tell you that it is located within easy walking distance of Royal Garden and not all that far from the Boyztown area. Other than that, maybe if there is someone out there who knows more about it than I do, he'll respond. Just out of curiosity, what made you decide on that particular hotel? You are the first time I have ever heard of a gay "farang" wanting to stay there. I suppose we'll all end up hearing all about the place from you rather than the other way around.

If you have not already done so, I suggest checking the board program software, Stef. Many message boards have an option that allows users to log in and remain logged in every time they access the board, rather than having to go through loggin in every time. The administrator section of the software may have a selection that allows you to turn on that option for the users.

Last night I tried the Dolphin Restaurant with a group of friends. It's a 'hole-in-the-wall' restaurant, just off of Soi Day-Night. It's easy to find. Starting at the Flamingo Hotel or Ol

Now you know.

Are we really going to do this on this message board . . . totally change the subject of the thread? It started off as being glad the werb site is now unblocked, but has turned into a pissing contest about the Sawatdee forum, Hedda's blog, and hydras. Personally, I don't see a need for it. We all already know there is an abundance of hydras on Sawatdee. We all already know that a number of people hate Hedda's blog (and yet they're the ones who read the blog more than anyone else does). I fail to see what purpose is being served by starting the war of words all over again. As for me, I think I'll stick to what the subject of this thread is supposed to be . . . hearty congratulations for managing to get the web site unblocked. Let's hope it stays that way.

I managed to find a posting I made on my own web site last year, right after we returned from our trip. It is quite a bit more detailed. Here it is again: __________ As many of you know,I spent the past several days traveling to the Udon Thani area to witness the Naga Fireballs. I traveled with a close friend, his boyfriend, and my boyfriend. We gave some thought to flying to Udon Thani and then renting a car, but we opted to make the 10-hour drive instead. That way we could do some additional sightseeing and have much more freedom of movement than we otherwise could have had. This was the first time I've made the drive to that area of Thailand. The roads are surprisingly good. We had no problems at all. I've decided not to name the hotel at which we stayed in Udon Thani. I'll give them credit for providing spotless, large rooms with good basic amenities, a comfortable bed, and excellent bathroom facilities. Other than that I wouldn't make a special trip. They do provide breakfast with the room. It is, however, the most God-awful breakfast I remember ever having. Two ice cold eggs, not properly cooked, stale toast, badly done coffee, a slice of poor quality ham, half a hotdog-like sausage and crummy service. They don't give you a menu. You just walk in and take what they give you. Needless to say, that was the first and last time we ate the breakfast. We arrived on the night of October 16. The room was 700 baht. The next two nights were going to be 900 baht due to the Naga fireballs festival, which marks the end of Buddhist Lent. The fireballs festival was going to occur on the night of October 18, so we had a full day to see what Udon Thani is all about. I think I fully understand now why so many boys from Udon Thani, and similar areas of Thailand, choose to work in the gay bars. There's really nothing there at all except for rice farms. There are a couple discos and karokes, and a good shopping mall, with a movie theater and bowling alley, and that's about it. Of course, most of these boys can afford only to walk through the shopping mall once in awhile without being able to buy a thing. We spent the day driving around. We ended up at the Phu Phrabat Historical Park which was about 60 kilometers outside of Udon Thani. It was nice, but not, in my opinion, worth a special trip. The ruins were quite ancient and there were even cave drawings, but it's way out in the middle of nowhere. If you don't have a car, you're not going . . . We also did some shopping. We spent some time at the Banchiang National Museum. That, I thought, was worth it. It's the best archeological museum I've seen in Thailand. The restored city was quite interesting and the museum featured large quantities of ancient artifacts, especially earthenware vases. There is plenty of street market shopping just outside the museum. We came home with plenty of replica vases at amazingly inexpensive prices. The morning of the 18th, sans the hotel breakfast, we headed up toward Nong Khai. That's where the Mekong River is, and that's where the fireballs are seen. We were advised to get there before lunchtime in order to avoid major traffic problems. This phenomenon attracts hundreds of thousands of people from all over Thailand. We ended up at a Buddhist temple, right on the Mekong River shore. We were not exactly there by ourselves. There had to be at least 100,000 people in that location alone. We were told, after we got there, that this was actually the best location in all of Thailand to view the phenomenon. We arrived shortly past noon. Nothing was expected to happen before 7:00 PM. There was a carnival-like atmosphere, with plenty of food, souvenir sales, etc. We staked out our claim on some benches that seemed to offer the best view. And then we waited . . . I mean we waited and waited and waited and waited. The heat of the day was almost intolerable and there wasn't a breath of breeze at all. We were roasting alive. To add to the misery, a tout on a microphone was blaring his sales pitch, non-stop, all day. I have to admire somebody who can scream into a microphone six or seven hours straight, without a pause. Add to that the inevitable blaringly loud, constant music, and that's what we endured the entire day. The temple, at least, did have restrooms available. They were filthy squatters, but at least they were there. We almost decided that it just isn't worth going through this, no matter how spectacular the phenomenon might turn out to be, but after having driven so long to get there we weren't about to give up. Finally the sun went down. Unfortunately it didn't relieve the heat. If anything, the heat increased because all the people who came to see the phenomenon began to crowd in around us and there was no possibility of a breeze reaching us. So, we looked across the Mekong River, at Laos, as the sun set and we waited again. It was completely dark by 6:30. 7:00 PM finally came. No fireballs. There were plenty of lit up decorated barges, and fire floats meandering down the river, but no fireballs. Kids constantly lit firecrackers and shot off bottle rockets, but no fireballs. 7:30 PM . . . still nothing. We were dying from the heat, but we stayed on. 8:00 PM . . . nothing. Then, at about 8:15 suddenly a bright red globe began to slowly rise up from the river. It appeared to be the size of a basketball. Just our luck, it was partially obscured by a sign, but everyone was oohing and ahhing, and there it was! It lasted about thirty or forty seconds before it dissipated. Then, again, nothing. At about 8:40 another one rose up, from a completely different spot in the river. It too lasted about thirty or forty seconds. Then nothing again. A little after 9:00 PM we had enough. We weren't alone. Throngs of people also had enough for one day and were starting to leave. We decided to get going too. We at least got to see two of them, but this year that's all there was. We found out the next day that the two we saw were the only ones to to appear along the river at all this year. Even after we left there were no more. We were told that some years it's spectacular and some years you're lucky to see any at all. We were there during an off year, apparently, but we did at least get to see two of them. I can tell you one thing. I no longer believe that the fireballs are man-made. I just can't conceive of anything man-made being limited to a grand total of two, with hundreds of thousands of people there. It was too dark to even have a hope of seeing what these fireballs actually are or what causes them, but I am convinced that whatever they are, it's a natural occurrence. We said there's no way we'll do this again, although a year is a long time. I would like to see it some time when it is spectacular. My boyfriend's father said the year he went to see it there were twenty fireballs. Some years there are hundreds. If you want to experience it, you'll just have to take your chances as we did. We all agreed it was well worth the trip and we did have a wonderful time and a lot of fun, other than suffering through the waiting period that day. Also, we didn't come away totally disappointed. We did get to see two of them, and that beats having gone through all that and seeing nothing at all, which is probably exactly what happened at many other locations along the river. We also give the police a lot of credit. They were out there in massive numbers as people were leaving. They opened the highway only in one direction. The only direction you could go was toward Nong Khai and Udon Thani. We thought, with the massive numbers of people there that we would be hours getting back to the hotel. We made it back in 90 minutes. I have no idea what produces these fireballs, but at least the two we saw were indeed spectacular. We tried to take some photos, but our cameras are just not sophistocated enough to be able to capture anything more than a red streak, and that doesn't even begin to do justice to what we saw. Would I consider doing this again? Ask me next October.

I went last year. There are several supposedly good loacations and Phon Pisai is one of them. First, I would urge you to make your hotel reservations right now. This attracts a great many Thai people and many make their reservations months and months in advance. Once you are there, you're going to need transporation of some kind because most hotels are nowhere near where you'll have to go to see the fireballs. You also need to get there one night prior to the fireballs. You need to leave the hotel very early the next morning if you want any chance at all of avoiding the traffic jams and then getting a good spot. You're going to be sitting out there all day in blistering hot sun. Be prepared for that. Most locations have plenty of concessionaires, so food and water are no problem, but you want to be somewhere where you can get to a restroom and out of the sun. We endured that for all those hours and last year there were only two fireballs. Sometimes there are dozens, but at least we saw two of them. It was a difficult day, to be sure, but I'm glad we did it and I am thinking about doing it again.

One of everybody's favorite character actors, Jack Warden, has died at age 85. While I realize that this has nothing to do with gay Thailand, I thought people might want to know: _____ Veteran Actor Jack Warden Dead at 85 LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Jack Warden, an Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor who played gruff cops, coaches and soldiers in a career that spanned five decades, has died. He was 85. Warden, who lived in Manhattan, died Wednesday at a hospital in New York, Sidney Pazoff, his longtime business manager, said in Los Angeles Friday. "Everything gave out. Old age," Pazoff said. "He really had turned downhill in the past month; heart and then kidney and then all kinds of stuff." Warden was nominated twice for supporting-actor Oscars in two Warren Beatty movies. He was nominated for his role as a businessman in 1975's "Shampoo" and as the good-hearted football trainer in 1978's "Heaven Can Wait." He won a supporting actor Emmy for his role as Chicago Bears coach George Halas in the 1971 made-for-TV movie "Brian's Song" and was twice nominated in the 1980s as leading actor in a comedy for his show "Crazy Like a Fox." Warden, with his white hair, weathered face and gravelly voice, was in demand for character parts for decades. In real life, the former boxer, deckhand and paratrooper was anything but a tough guy. "Very gentle. Very dapper," Pazoff said. "Most of them (actors) are pretty true to the characters that they play. He was one who was not." Warden was born John H. Lebzelter in 1920 in Newark, New Jersey. He was still in high school during the Depression when he tried his hand at professional boxing under his mother's maiden name of Costello. He had 13 welterweight bouts in the Louisville area before joining the Navy, where he was sent to China and patrolled the Yangtze River. He also had jobs as a nightclub bouncer, a lifeguard and a deckhand on an East River tugboat. In 1941, he joined the Merchant Marine. He served in the engine room as his ship made convoy runs to Europe. "The constant bombings were nerve-racking below decks," he recalled. He quit in 1942 and enlisted in the Army. He was a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division but shortly before D-Day broke his leg during a nighttime practice jump in Britain. "They sent me back to the States," he recalled in a 1988 Associated Press interview. "I was in a hospital for nearly a year." A fellow soldier who had been an actor gave him a play to read and he was hooked. He recovered enough to take part in the Battle of the Bulge and, after the war, went to New York to pursue an acting career. He attended acting classes and did Tennessee Williams plays in repertory companies and moved on to appear in live TV shows such as the famed "Studio One." During the 1950s his career flourished. Besides TV work, he appeared on Broadway in shows such as Clifford Odets' "Golden Boy" and Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge." He had small roles in 1953's Oscar-winning "From Here to Eternity" and the submarine thriller "Run Silent, Run Deep," but his breakthrough role was Juror No. 7, a salesman who wants a quick decision in a murder case, in 1957's "Twelve Angry Men." Over the years he had a number of recurring or starring TV roles. He was a major in "The Wackiest Ship in the Army"; the coach on "Mr. Peepers"; a coach again on the small-screen version of "The Bad News Bears"; detectives in "Asphalt Jungle," "N.Y.P.D." and "Jigsaw John"; and a private investigator in "Crazy Like a Fox." His numerous big-screen roles included a news editor in 1976's "All the President's Men," Paul Newman's law partner in 1982's "The Verdict' and the president in the 1979 Peter Sellers movie "Being There." His later roles came in Woody Allen's 1994 "Bullets Over Broadway"; Beatty's 1998 political satire "Bulworth" and the 2000 football movie "The Replacements." Pazoff said Warden is survived by his longtime girlfriend, Marucha Hinds; estranged wife, Vanda; a son, Christopher; and two grandchildren.

The easiest way to give you the information is to point out the article in the laest "Sticky Rice." You can read all about it at: www.stickyrice.ws/?view=sec-PTY/sansuk

If the police are finally doing something substantial about street gangs, then I'm all for it. Gang activity has been a growing menace in Pattaya and the street gangs prey on each other as well as on "farang." Every week there are more and more stories showing up in the local media about gang activity, shootings, beatings, thefts, purse and gold necklace snatchings, robberies, and even gang-related murders. It was only a few years ago that I felt perfectly in Pattaya at any loacation at any time of day or night. Not anymore. Now you have to be very careful about where you go at night and you are placing yourself at great risk if you are alone and venturing away from well lit areas where there are not plenty of other people around. There are more and more posts about how to keep your belongings safe from theft. Unfortunately, now you have to take precautions, when you "off" a boy, such as making sure he has an ID card, that it is actually his, that he is of legal age, and that wherever you take him you make sure security or the front desk holds his ID card until he leaves, and that you either accompany the boy personally or speak with whoever is holding his ID card before he gets it back. You have to either hide or lock up any items of value. When you take the "pre and post business" shower, you have to make sure your money is with you. Only a few years ago I would never have felt a need to take most of those precautions, but today you have to be out of your mind not to. The story of what took place in Sunee Plaza sounds like an isolated incident, but news reports of late have been talking about the necessity of crackdowns on these gangs. I hope that's what's going on. The only news I have ever heard, until this, about any police presence in Sunee Plaza whatsoever has always been about a bar raid, looking for under-age boys and patrons, looking for foreign boys working in the bar, and trying to catch a "farang" engaged in sex with an under-age boy. It will be very interesting once we hear what this raid was all about.