mauRICE

The camaraderie and conviviality among members of this forum is amazing and I'm glad I decided to re-join last year. I remember it used to be quite acrimonious and not very pleasant in the old forums; one was overrun by sock puppets and a close-knit mafia cabal intent on gratuitously yanking the chain of others "just for fun", and another was run by a megalomaniacal control freak who not only took pleasure in deleting posts but pride in banning his precious few members. For a while, my dear friend Hedda and I took refuge in the very clever Baht-Stop which lasted much longer than we had expected although it was very much a niche forum focussed on socio-political events in Thailand and the rest of the world. I still very much miss it.

We went to Krabi last year. It was a family trip and we drove there. It's only a six-hour drive from my home town but we broke the journey in Songkhla and spent a night there. Phuket is to visit friends in Phuket town although we'd probably drive down to Patong one evening to see what's been happening.

I have; the first time 25 years ago and the second in 2023, after Covid. Still beautiful in many areas but I didn't care for the traffic and the crowds. I'm partial to other places in Indonesia for eg Lombok and the beautiful Gili Islands nearby, the cool hills of Bandung in West Java and the gentleness of Solo in Central Java. Broadly speaking, the short and chain-smoking Javanese guys don't appeal to me but Indonesia has got some very handsome men of mixed parentage, mainly descendants of Arab, Chinese and Dutch settlers.

I read somewhere there was a Rome Club in that soi many years ago but it had burned down or something.

Looking anticipatingly at your magic calendar now? 😉

Is that why you had to quote him twice - for emphasis?

Pattaya is where the queens go to meet their ladyboys-in-waiting. For hunks and muscular guys, @vinapu has presented you with a few options and I believe @emiel1981 has had some success meeting muscular guys online. Note that Boyz Boyz Boyz is a host bar where customers go to get drunk with the hosts. Any sexual activity off the premises is entirely subject to negotiations with the host. They can and do say no. Mama-sans and the venue don't usually get involved.

The Enquirer more likely.

AA? 🤔

Thanks for the heads up @vinapu. My plans aren't firm yet and I was just toying with the idea of going to Phuket. Is traffic going into Pattaya always bad? I don't recall it being that bad. My hotel is very close to the Royal Garden Plaza.

Most likely in the first week of April, via Bangkok. Sadly, Air Asia will stop flying KUL to UTP direct at the end of this month. I guess there hasn't been much demand. Alternatively I might do KUL-HKT and then HKT-UTP on Bangkok Airways. I haven't been to Phuket and Pattaya in ages. Hopefully we'll get to meet some other time. 🤞 Oh my! I just saw an elderly farang in a sexy white dress at the Buenos anniversary party in Jomtien Complex in my social media feed. That Olddaddy sure gets around!

Size queens?

Why?

Where? 🤔

Any feedback on Red Room Bar? I hear it's also popular with residents and visitors.

He did but they would inevitably quarrel with one another and get booted out by the venue owner. Happened many times.

Presumably the volume was even worse for customers in the bar watching the show? Yikes! This was one of the shows I had on my to-watch list when I visit next month.

That's right, chicken and cashew nuts and som tam would be the peak of sophistication. Far too showy. 🙄

Thanks for the update @Tomontheroad. Interested readers might also want to know the sauna's admission fee and location.

But I thought the zapiekanka was an open-faced sandwich? 🤔 I guess vinapu can always improvise it by dipping it in somtam, and have it with a side of chicken and cashew nuts and two Thai kielbasas. 😉

Pattaya Music Festival 2026 (March 6–28, 2026): Extensive concerts across Pattaya Beach, Jomtien Beach, Koh Larn, and Lan Pho Naklua. But I thought these were local bands performing and therefore attracting mostly Thais? Or maybe people are planning to have one final bang in Thailand before the US and Israel bring us into WW3. Anyway, enjoy your stay in Thailand, Foolish. As always, don't do anything foolish. 😏

This has got to be vinapu's paragraph of the year and indeed this forum's, of which there are many, many worthy contenders. And it's still early in the year. I give up. 🤷

Who's that lady in red? Satan? I read from several credible sources that US soldiers, many of whom are from the Bible Belt and are not very highly educated, are psyched into thinking that attacking Iran and destroying Palestine would bring about the end of times and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Oh wait, it's the Bible and Christian pastors that guide US foreign policy (and, of course, Netanyahu and AIPAC), not common sense, compassion or their much touted constitution. Who needs the UN when you've got God whispering in one ear and Satan in the other.

Yup. Neighbours quarrel, even those in homogeneous neighbourhoods, as each household seeks to protect and advance its own interests.

Old colonial chestnut - all of them are the same, makes it easier to stereotype and dehumanise them. It's the same argument that Zionists and Westerners put foward when they say, "Why don't the Arab countries take in the Palestinians; they're all the same anyway." In fact, the Zionists and the genocidal Israeli regime conveniently say there is no such thing as a Palestinian - only Arabs - as they seek to erase any semblance of Palestinian identity and sovereignity. What else? Black people are all the same, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese are all the same...oops, sorry, "Orientals". Saudis are Sunni while the majority of native Bahrainis are Shia but their leadership is Sunni. I think Kuwait has got a 65-35 Sunni-Shia split with, again, Sunni rulers. They're not all the same. Even within each country there are different sub cultures and groups with differing rates of development and literacy and different perspectives on religion and modernity. And as far as I know, KSA and Ummarat get along. Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and parts of Myanmar share geographical borders, religious and ethno traits yet they have skirmishes from time to time. Could they be said to meddling in each other's affairs too despite their "sameness" in many respects? And why is that? Surprised you missed this one. The issue therefore is not whether they're the same ethnically, culturally and/or religiously but whether they have compatible geo-political and socio-economic interests. Each country wants to project and protect its sovereignity. I know it can be hard for some people but try not to view everything through a racial or ethnic lens.