Ruthrieston

From my first visit to Pattaya in 1998, then with a group of friends, I had regular holiday trips every year. Then in 2011 I took early retirement and certainly could not afford to continue living in London, so I sold up and moved to live in Pattaya. I have never regretted it, and still enjoy living here. I hardly ever visit the bars now, but I feel comfortable with my quiet life here, live alone with quite a few friends around.

I prefer to use the term "young gentlemen"

On my last trip to Bangkok I had real problems with taxi drivers refusing to put on the meter. I go to Siam Paragon to shop for books and try to take a taxi from the waiting line outside Siam Paragon where an attendant takes note of your destination and speaks to the taxi driver next in the queue, six drivers refused to put on the meter and with the drivers just taking off and the queue of people waiting behind me getting longer I gave up and went to the sky train.

A decent young man helping his mother to pay the bills, how pathetic were the people who threw him out of his school. I hope he has a happy life with his wife and children.

Back in around 2004 I met a young gentleman who was working in My Life for Happiness bar in Boystown. My first visit to Thailand had been in 1998, so I had seen and heard a lot, but I still fell in love. Took it slowly, in 2005 I flew him over to stay with me in London for a month, and he seemed to enjoy it. In 2006 I brought him over and we celebrated our Civil Partnership in the Registry Office at Chelsea Town Hall, and my friends threw a party for us. That was in December, and then in August 2007 he told me he was missing Thailand and his family and he was leaving. I paid for his flight back to Thailand, drove him to the airport and waved goodbye, with a broken heart. Me friends threw a bigger party after he left! His parting gift was to tell me he had HIV and I should get tested, and yes that was his gift, though my fault for taking the risk of letting him have unprotected sex. Love makes us do stupid things.

What is the VPN paid version and how could I access it please?

I have lived in Pattaya for nearly fourteen years and every day I spend hours listening to BBC Sounds, Radio 2. They have been threatening to block it to those living abroad for months but now there is a message saying it will be blocked from 21st July. I am going to miss that very much. I hate change.

Thank you bkkmfj2648. Luckily for me I get the flu vaccine for free from my Health Insurance company every year. I simply cannot understand why the Thai health care system is not providing the Covid Vaccine at all now. I have a couple of underlying conditions and am 66 yrs old so I am at high risk.

I really don't understand why there are no vaccines available now in Thailand. They handled the covid pandemic really well, but suddenly there are no vaccines to be found anywhere. I agree that it would be sensible to start wearing masks again now.

It appears that I can no longer use Wise to transfer my pension from the UK to my Thai bank. Apparently this is due to an "upgrade" of the Thai bank's computer system. Upgrade?? Presumably I shall have to go back to using the expensive Swift option. Bah humbug!

It appears that I can no longer use Wise to transfer my pension from the UK to my Thai bank. Apparently this is due to an "upgrade" of the Thai bank's computer system. Upgrade?? Presumably I shall have to go back to using the expensive Swift option. Bah humbug!

I fled from my home in Pattaya to Bangkok on 16th, since Songkran finished here on 15th, and I shall stay safe and dry here until 20th when I return home. Bah humbug! This Grumpy old git is happy here!

My first trip to Thailand was in 1998, and I have been living here since 2011. In earlier years I remember that Thai couples would never even hold hands while walking in public, in more recent years it is a regular thing to see. Presumably culture changes over time. I really love seeing the Tomboys holding hands with their girlfriends these days. Though I am confused by the disappearance of the Tomboy clubs that I used to see on Third Road here in Pattaya, which all seem to have vanished.

Thank you daydreamer for showing us this video of Sir Ian as Maggie Smith snogging the seriously cute Jimmy, I watched it yesterday and I still can't stop laughing!

When I moved to live in Pattaya in 2011 I was the proverbial butterfly, having three young gentlemen visiting each day, but in less than a year I fell in love. As he was less than half my age I paid for him to have a room, and I encouraged him to have a job, and he worked as a receptionist in a hotel. After six and a half years I discovered that he was gambling and he asked me to pay his debts a couple of times, which I did. But I then broke off with him as I could not trust him and could not afford to go on paying his debts. Then Covid hit and I continued to pay small amounts into his bank account until the pandemic lifted, then I stopped. Breaking up with him broke my heart and I cried for a year. Never again!

The only thing I want to miss is the water throwing nonsense that makes Pattaya a seriously dangerous and extremely annoying place from 12th to 19th April every year. Stupid drunk farang throwing buckets of water at people riding their motorbikes to work and knocking them flying off their bikes under moving cars. The death rate during Songkran is appalling. I hide in my condo until 16th and then flee to Bangkok until 20th, although if Bangkok is to carry on until 25th that is going to be a disaster.

Viewtalay 5D actually. Khun Jeab is great and she has a few other Thai lawyers working on the team now. Avoid the Kevin idiot, he is an antivaxer.

I am sure you can find a handsome Tomboy to take good care of you.

Pattaya also has dangerously high levels of pollution, the air is so hazy that I can hardly see Koh Larn.

I stopped using baht buses years ago, it was ridiculous being packed in like a tin of sardines. For years I used motorbike taxis, but they are dangerous too, often driving crazy speeds and almost never giving me a helmet to wear. Now that Bolt Taxi app is here I am so grateful, and the prices are good, often the same or even less than I was paying for the motorbike taxis. Picked up in the front of my condo building and delivered to the door of the shopping centre I want to visit, from Pratumnak where I live all the way to Terminal 21 is 120 Baht.

I have never touched this social media nonsense and I have no intention of doing so. Watching families eating while the baby has a phone propped in front of him/her, the three year old has a phone on and the parents are both looking at their phones with no conversation at all is seriously bad for all of them.

I agree entirely. I live in Pattaya, where the Songkran madness lasts a week! I hide in my condo from 13th to 16th and then flee to Bangkok which is like a ghost town while everyone is recovering from the three days of madness, and I return on 20th.

Given how many people are dying in the violence inflicted on the population by the fake government there, these Myanmar nationals should be given asylum in Thailand and treated decently.

I was brought up in Scotland as a Presbyterian, the Minister arrived at our house when I was 12 to say that as I had not been baptised I could not attend Bible Study classes until I was baptised, all news to me. I started visiting other religious groups, with the help of my Religious studies teacher and chose to become a Roman Catholic at the age of fifteen. When I left school I entered an enclosed, silent Benedictine monastery in a semi-ruined building built in the year 1230, Latin Office and Latin Mass sung in Gregorian Chant, seven times a day in the church, no school or parish. I was so happy there, a good community who respected each other, but kept silence and we had separate cells (rooms). After seven years I chose to leave and start a new life and trained as a nurse. I am convinced that though it was never mentioned the community knew I was gay but no one ever spoke of it, I simply felt accepted. As a teenager I tried to commit suicide three times because I could not cope with being gay, and I feel that the community of monks who accepted me gave me the courage to leave and live my life openly and freely.

Looking forward to your trip to sunny Thailand is part of the enjoyment. Have a great trip and enjoy your time here, we never know what lies ahead and should make the most of our time now.