PattayaMale

Reading the Bangkok Post and The Nation to day it seems that most ministries are blaming the PAD for things from reduced tourism to an expected high level of unemployment in 2009 as well as the government not making it's predicted 5% growth rate. If you also read the Pattaya Mail of this week in the Letters to the Editor sectionis a letter from a guy that has been visiting Thailand for 40 years and another from a guy that said when he was trying to book a room for his vacation, hotels were fully booked. I thought that things many don't admit to is what the guy that has been visiting for 40 years said. Basically he wrote Thailand is getting very expensive compared to the past. He gave some good examples. There is also the stress of a lot more traffic and terribly maintained beaches. Last week I took a visitor to the Sanctuary of Truth which we really enjoyed. One of the activities is speed boat ride that takes you out in front of the Sanctuary. We drove through meters and meters of waste floating in the water. What a way to turn off visitors!! I never saw any beach or water area so filthy. The point being that in my view the PAD (although I don't agree with all their tactics) have become a very convenient target for the government to point at for all the problems the government should have fixed long ago.

I think it means tail as in butt. But am not sure of the cock part ????? I found it interesting that you thought the way you did but I guess you have a point. I am sure that someone will let us know after tonight. What I found interesting is that it will open at 2pm. I note that many of the girly bars seem to be open 24 hours. So finally those of us that usually in bed by 8pm will have a place to go.

I have read for months that there would be violence in Bangkok. But each day passes and no such thing happens (except for one very tragic day). If it were not for the Bangkok Post or the Nation Newspaper and some posting on the message boards I would have no idea anything was going on since I live in Pattaya. The floods that are happening in the North and South are probably more of a problem for many Thais. The weather in Pattaya has been just wonderful for this time of year the last few weeks. Those on their way here should find a good vacation.

TOQ..... I like twinks and boyish looks too......alot.... :P Have any pictures for me? (Old friend from "Dirty Sally's)

I took a poll of Thais that supported Thaskin before PAD had their protests, and found out that 2 of the 2 I asked had actually gone from supporting Thaskin to believe he should get out of politics completely not as he is doing now by having proxies for him run the government. True, 2 Thais are not a very large sample. But I wonder if PAD has changed many peoples views.

Each time I have gone to Vietnam I had a travel agency get my Visa and they did this for no extra fee (of course had to pay for the visa). I wish that the Asian countries that require a visa could adopt what Cambodia has done. They have an e-visa service which allows you to apply online, send a picture, pay through pay pal and then receive a visa to print out. The whole process from application to receiving the visa by email takes about an hour. 10 minutes to fill out form and pay "pay-pal" and then with in the next half hour an email is received telling you to print out 2 copies of visa.

I have never seen these TOQ. Do you have any? Is there a place locally to purchase any? What great Christmas presents!!

I enjoy going to that site sometimes when I visit GayThailand forum. Someone told me it was owned by GayThailand (the Flirt for Free site). Is it? I think it is fun to look for free

Why Kuala Lumpur? Is it very gay friendly? Never been there. For me I would go to Cambodia which reminds me of Thailand maybe 30 years ago. I would try to get some partners and start the Boystown of Cambodia

I love to have over friends and cook Thanksgiving dinner too and have found out that many Thais do not really like turkey. I have no idea why since they eat rats and bugs. Unfortunately this Thanksgiving I will be celebrating at Bumrungrad hospital as they attempt to fix the heart stents that Bangkok Hospital Pattaya inserted which were too small. Does anywhere deliver Thanksgiving dinner??

Did Buddha have any teachings on corruption? ;) ;)

That was nice of you. Is it hard to do? Is the an instruction manual some where?

Thanks for setting the record straight. If I was you I would give up moderating for a few months and enter the contest. B)

In addition to paying MUCH more attention to the infrastructure, I think Pattaya should be promoted as what really brings tourists here........the adult entertainment capital of the world! This idea of promoting it as a first class family beach resort is silly. Too many truly nice beach resorts in the world while there is only 1 Pattaya. To make it a more complete package, they should work on HIGH END casinos as a long term investment.

I am one of the posters that have increased the number of posts I have made and am trying to add at least 3 posts of substance each day. I don't know if others think my post are substantial or not but I am trying to add something to this message board and yes a fun way to see if I win or not. It is a bit bothersome to me when a moderator, in this case GB, thinks it is wrong to increase posts to win a contest when that is part of the rules. I don't really understand the objection.........or as usual, I misunderstood his meaning

I have taken our "family" dogs to several different vets around town. All seemed to be ok, but I feel now I have found one that is very good. The name of the clinic is Pattaya Veterinary Clinic. It is on Pattaya Tai past third road at soi 12 on the north side. The doctor is very fluent in English and has now treated all of our (7) dogs at least once. He even came to our house to inspect the large dog house we built to give us advice on keeping it clean and suggested cleaning products we could get. I would like to start a poll on how many expats have cats or dogs here but am not sure how to do that..........

Last night I was in the bars in Boystown area, Sunee Plaza and Jomtien. The places I went were very full. Is it possible that the idea that there would be no high season this year, was just fear? I have read that tourism is down 50%, but possibly the gay dollar is stronger now. Families traveling might have a harder time paying the vacation bill. I am sure that as always, poorly managed bars may not be doing well, but others seem to be doing well..........at least last night.

I also agree with Topjohn that the guy is too artificial looking for me. I wonder if TOQ took that picture himself or is it one that has been "photo shopped"? Where is Geezer on this topic? I think Geezer is the king of muscle boys now.

Even though I never dated in high school or college, even though I played football and bowled, I lived with a guy or brought a couple guys to my house and we played strip poker (that was so long ago, when jocks just "couldn't" be gay). I was accepted into the Army Security Agency after a background check and later worked as a translator for the National Security Agency with a Top Secret crpyto clearance. It wasn't until I was 30 that I finally put 2+2 together..........denial was easy. I remember the first gay disco I went into which was 600 miles away from where I lived. I remember entering by a back door and pulling my jacket over my head so no one would know that it was me going into the disco. A year later I moved into another state to work for a computer company and lived with my boyfriend---we stayed together for 15 years. When my mom was aging she moved in to our house to live. We never talked about "gay" until one day when she was 78, I said to her, "Mom why did you never ask if I was gay." She sat there reading her book and looked up puzzled and said "I knew you would tell me when you wanted". I guess that is how I lived. Everyone knew (knows) but there was no need to ever proclaim it. Looking back now, maybe that is why when out with my female colleagues, they always said, "Look over there, isn't that guy gorgeous?" and never questioned when I replied "sure is!!!!"

I have lived with a Thai friend for over 10 years. When I met him 10 years ago he had a small tattoo on his shoulder. Over the years I told him how much I disliked tattoos and complimented his smooth brown skin. Since I had not yet retired we saw each other on a web cam once a week. Three years ago a few days before I was to return to Pattaya we were talking on the web cam and he said he had something to show me when I arrived. For some reason I asked him to turn around. He hesitated, but did and that is when I saw a tattoo of a sumo wrestler covering his back. I was shocked and really upset. I remember saying, "Why" and disconnected the web cam. I tried to understand why he did this. I thought it was a sign of disrespect, or maybe a subtle message that he did not want to be my friend. I sat and fumed for hours and finally decided that it was foolish on my part to ruin what I felt was a magic relationship. Well to make my point, we are still happily enjoying the life we share and as far as tattoos go, I still would prefer a body without them but have learned it is more important to see the heart and soul of a person.......sounds corny..........

Actually I do like the large sign in Times Square New York. It is set much higher than the one on Walking Street. In my opinion that new sign is not progress or a sign of the times. The old sign is seen on many post cards and like the "Hollywood" sign in Los Angeles and Notre Dame in Paris is really almost a trade mark brand that just by seeing it you know that it stands for something historical. I also like to people watch and agree that Walking Street provides that. It is the scale and placement of the sign I think is out of place. But as you say as time passes things change............

I recently had a friend visiting that flew from LAX to Bangkok on Singapore Air A340-500. It is an all single Business Class aircraft. I looked at the pictures on Singapore Air's web site. This was his first time to fly this aircraft. He said it was very nice with great service. I thought maybe I would book this flight if I go back to the USA this next year... until I saw the price..... Then I thought what a great promotion it would be for GayThailand......Any chance????

One thing about having a guest visit from outside of Thailand is that you often see areas of town that as an ex pat you may not visit very much. One of the areas for me is walking street. I hardly ever go there anymore. But this week I took my friend to walking street. The most obvious change for me was the over sized LCD (?) panel that has replaced the old walking street entrance sign. In my view it is terrible! It is very bright. It is so bright we had to put our hand up to partially cover our eyes. It also seemed to be playing commercials about soap products and the like. If you haven't seen the new (I have no idea how long it has been there) sign take a look. I would be interested to know if you liked the old or this new sign better

Even though I live in Pattaya I hardly ever go to the beach. But since I have a friend visiting, we went there today and sat at Ritt's. It was a great day but I was astonished at how unclean the toilet area is even though they charge 5 baht to use the toilet. I had assumed that the 5 baht was to pay the workers that would clean the toilet. Instead it was very dirty. A lady sits in front collecting the money, but that seems to be it. Just collect 5 baht. The Pattaya city council comes up with these very expensive plans to help bring in tourists but seems to overlook the small but important things like having a clean bathroom which people have to pay to use.

Very good point Gaybutton. I agree with you. The restaurant is Googie's. He had the same cooks for a couple years. The senior cook found a better paying job. The other cook would miss a day now and again which caused Googie to have to close. He told me he was able to find cooks that did cart work, but he needs someone who can also cook western food. It is best that those interested inquire t the restaurant which is in Day Night Plaza across from Day Night Hotel.