Bob

More surprising to me is all those countries that even allowed the vehicle (the tuktuk) on their roads (not only because of how it's built but the insurance requirements). Strange.

Every single time I fly out of LAX (which is how I've gone to BKK for years), the security people (the guys/ladies who take your bag to run it through the x-ray machines) specifically ask to make sure your luggage is not locked. I just presumed, because of that, that you weren't allowed to lock your checked-in bags. Maybe it's different elsewhere.

I notice some effects for 2 or 3 days but, frankly, my experience is that I have less jet lag now than I did a decade ago (and that's on the return trip as I've generally had little or no problem when going to Thailand). Up until about 2004, I used to take those god-awful 6AM flights back to the states....which, of course, meant flying to Bangkok the day before, not sleeping very well for 3 or 4 hours (if at all), getting up at 3-3:30AM, and sitting in a cab to the airport at 4PM. No wonder I was a wreck when I got home! But, since 2004, I've taken the EVA flights which leave BKK between 4 and 5 in the afternoon and arrive in LA at 8-9PM. Then, after a night's sleep, I fly back to the midwest the next day. That routine probably more than anything else has lessened any jet lag for me.

I've come back annually (or more than once a year) for many years through LAX and, while it took about 30 minutes at the end of this past April, it usually only takes about 15 minutes for me. In past years, I entered the country through Detroit and that also never took too long (usually 10-20 minutes). And, yea, once through immigration and after promptly getting my suitcase, I experienced for the first time at least a long (20 minutes?) wait to get through the customs deal (which pissed me off as all you do is hand them a piece of paper and keep moving). They had several lines set up to get out of the place and I never experienced that before. As concerns Suvarnabhumi (yea, I realize you didn't ask about it), I've never had to wait more than 10-15 minutes to get through immigration and that's somewhat surprised me as I usually arrive about 11AM on EVA. Probably better then than during the late night rush of falang visitors.

If you like Thai food, just go to where the Thais are eating and you'll usually find that the food is good and relatively inexpensive. It's always worked for me. I'm not sure if it works the same way for falang places but you'd think it ought to in the long run.

I'm not sure about today or even this year but, for years, I would periodically check US exchange rates for baht and each time found that they offerred quite a bit less (4-9%) than what I could get in Thailand. And when I wife funds from the US to my Thai bank account, I always make sure the transfer goes in dollars versus Thai baht (in the latter case, they transfer it to baht here in the US and every time I looked it was a lousy rate). Alternatively, if you think the baht will continue to appreciate against the dollar, just hold onto the baht for the next trip.

Question to the Pattaya ex-pats who need to seek the certified income letter for renewal of your one-year visas: Do you guys wait for consular visits to Pattaya to get your certifications or do you make a trip to Bangkok to get it? I'm just curious as it seems such a bother to have to go to Bangkok to get it (although, for those who like doing other things in Bangkok, I suppose it's a good excuse for a side trip).

I'm not sure why I voted (I'm not 25 nor good looking although I probably have sufficient income) but did so anyway. I picked Chiangmai but only because that's how I currently feel and given my current handicaps as noted. Actually, come to think of it, if I was 25, good-looking, and loaded, I could live anywhere in the world and then I and the vast number of suitors seeking me could form our own new and perfect gay community! (or not)

No problem, I often have trouble connecting my own thoughts (as scattered as they may be at times). If all you were intending to say in your opening post is let's have some reasonable rules and reasonable enforcement, then, yes, I "over-read" your initial post. But that's not the drift I got from it. But, frankly, expressing only my personal preferences, I really don't want to see anything beyond that. Spending any time on a "statement of purpose" or a mission statement sounds again like some academic exercise which I've never found to be very useful. But, if that's what you want, why not privately talk to the owner and moderators about it? And although the owner and moderators might possibly be accepting of an open forum debate as to how they ought to mold or run their board, I feel a little goofy (maybe even a little ungrateful) to be doing it myself.

If I think something was 5 years ago, it more likely was 10 or more years ago (just a function of getting older, I think). Anyway, here's a photo of the Peak (the climbing wall) I took in February of 2008 so my guess is that the actually climbing part of the wall was removed in 2007 or maybe as early as late 2006. Looking at the photo again, I see the "black" stuff (some black waterproofing?) that was behind the wall that to all appearances could look like it was burned (but I don't think it was). [sorry for the slight diversion of the OP]

Two comments: (1) There are two message boards around that have a small minority of people who post the "drivel" (and that's being kind to phrase it that way, in my view) and I blame that simply on the fact that they have no rules and/or the moderator doesn't really enforce any rules. It isn't a "direction" issue unless you also mean simply a lack of rules or moderation. I don't see we have that problem here to any degree that it concerns me. (2) I too find some posts, as you say, not to my liking....but, hell, I find hundreds of things everyday - even in conversation with friends - that aren't necessarily to my liking. My view on that is "so what" (as long as we don't have some frontal character assaults, variety is somewhat the nature of the world we occupy (especially the internet). Your comment about direction of the posts on this board as of late almost sounds like you're asking for some type of editorial/quality control and, if you want the board to effectively vanish, that's what you'll get (just my opinion) if you enforce those standards. Besides, let's face it, the on-going contest is effectively and artificially boosting what you might call the non-quality posts. That's fine, it's pretty easy for me to skip a thread I have little interest in (just as I'm hopeful all others have the freedom to skip anything I might say!).

Methinks (meant with respectful humor) that you over-analyze everything. And I'm doubtful that anybody is going to come up with a definitive description or hard set of rules that intellectually boxes the thing into one corner or the other. And maybe a "message board" is even a little like pornography (hard to define but you somewhat know it when you see it)? Scooby owns this particular piece of turf now and I suppose he can make every effort he desires to make an attempt to control the direction, rules, etc.. At the moment, I'm just going to wish him well, let him run it the way he sees fits, and hope it works to my satisfaction (meaning that if it feels comfortable to me around here, I'll hang around; otherwise, not).

Somebody tore down part of the climbing Peak a couple of years ago and then just left it a mess. No significant fire there (although vandals or people playing with fireworks there may have scorched a part of it) that I'm aware of although admittedly it looks like hell. Somebody also trashed the bar area north of the wall a month or so after they finally closed last November (but that tends to happen to boarded up little sheds like that). I guess I define a bar as a "gogo" bar if it has shows and maybe I shouldn't do that. There's occasional dancing (if you call it that - you know, the standing there and shuffling from foot to foot on occasion) at both of the bars mentioned and both have shows (or did every time I was there) but obviously not as organized as the gogo bars of Pattaya, Bangkok, or Phuket. The night market bars are simply host bars (no shows, no dancing, but with staff and assorted hangers-on that can usually be offed).

I'm more familiar with the Chiangmai scene but don't frequent the gogo bars all that often (maybe once or twice a month). I have been back home in the states since May and will be returning to CM for another long stay in two weeks. In my view, there's a good selection of boys at the gogo bars with the following comments(opinions)/notations: (1) There are few ladyboy-types or muscle men (not my cup of tea anyway but I'm noting that in case it's your cup of tea). (2) A fairly good selection of decent-looking boys (again, personal opinion). (3) Adam's Apple was very good earlier this year (I probably haven't been there since March or so) but some have said it's gone downhill rapidly. I thought the bar upstairs was perfectly fine (quite contrary to FH's view) and but do agree with him that the bar/lounge downstairs on the corner is also very nice (although rarely populated). I do agree with FH's description of the some of the seating upstairs as I too didn't like the seating on the tables right next to the stage (the seats had little or no back support and I frankly don't like some of the dancers swinging their "wares" 4 or 5 inches in front of my face) but the seating along the walls (4 or 5 feet from the stage) was perfectly fine to me (after the first visit, I would only sit next to the walls as I learned the first time). (4) New My Way and Circle Pub are not host bars (at least the way I define host bars), they are gogo bars (FH, I'm puzzled why you describe them as host bars). You might enjoy the shows, you might not (I enjoyed the ones I saw from October through about March). And a fair number of very good looking boys, at least when I was there. (5) The "Peak" bars near the night market area closed down last November because the new owner (somebody related to Chang Beer who allegedly is going to build a hotel there someday) booted them out. There was no fire although I will admit the place looked like somebody trashed it the last time I went by there. I had a great time (mao maak!) at one of the closing parties given I paid for one drink and then drank for free for the next many hours! hehe (6) When I was last (maybe February?) at the night market bars on the soi behind the D2 Hotel, five were open and they actually were fairly busy. But I did notice (for the first time in going there fairly regularly for a lot of years) what I thought was a significant underage issue. Others who have been there more recently have reported that there's only about 2 bars open there now and they did also comment that they noticed the same problem mentioned. Maybe - not sure - things will pick up there once the alleged "high" season begins. (7) As FH notes, there is a thriving massage scene in CM although, since there have been so many of them and tourist numbers have been dwindling, they all have been eating each other to death the last couple of years. Two places with nice rooms and staff are One2Come (my favorite) and Mystic Orient Massage. Bbeez Massage has also gotten a lot of nice comments although I've never been there. 2Brothers, as FH reports, also usually gets good reviews. But the tourist numbers have been down for a long time and one might find very little activity at any of the massage places on a given night. (7) There's a very recent report on one of the boards from somebody who lives permanently in CM that Lavender Lanna has reopened it's gogo bar and that it seems to be fairly busy. He did report, however, that there was little or no nudity in the shows and I believe he mentioned that there are more ladyboy-types there now. I'll have to check that out in a couple of weeks. ( There have been a good selection of boys at the various gogo bars so there's no need at all (just my opinion) to bring a boy from elsewhere when visiting Chiangmai. A lot of the boys are Shan or Tai Yai and from both Chiangmai and Chiangrai provinces (at least based on my and others' discussions with them). I've run into very few boys who are really fresh over the border from Burma.

I saw the idiot give his press conference. What a fool (he somewhat reminded me of a strange mixture of Pat Robertson and Warren Jeffs). He said he gave up the event because he was assured that the moslim center in NYC would be moved farther from the "ground zero" site. Twenty minutes later, the NYC Iman said he had no contact with the Florida minister and made no such agreement. I believe the Iman. This fringe lunatic got what he wanted - press coverage.

We yanks owe the vast bulk of the form of our statutory laws and common law to the mother country but we do differ in some respects. Inciting religious/racial hatred is not in itself an offense here although sometimes the people doing it jump over the line of a recognizable offense (such as creating a public disturbance, trespassing, or some such thing). In a way - given some of the colonists were here for more religious freedom - a bit strange that we would be the ones not to have such a law.

There are limits to the freedom of expression (i.e, you can't yell fire in a crowded theater due to safety issues) but sometimes I wonder if we Americans or westerners shouldn't be willing to add a few more mild limits. Why that asshole Reverend Phelps and his wacky followers should be allowed to disrupt funerals or why Koran burners such as these are allowed to affect our national interest is beyond me. I guess all we can hope is that there are some saner heads in the middle east who understand that most Americans don't support this crap at all. We pay too much attention to the "rights" of people who want to act and speak as idiots and too little attention to the "rights" of other people affected by it. For example only, I can understand the right to protest in a public area but I absolutely detest it when those protesters block the paths of others using the same public area or, as has happened to me, invade my personal space by getting 6 inches from my face and screaming and spitting their epithets of ignorance (which caused me to exercise every bit of self-restraint I had as I felt personally threatened and wished to knock the living shit out of them).

Lol. Yea, it's a long word...but not that hard to pronounce if you make an effort. Sir-a-mang-kal-a-jahn.

I think 99% of the tuk tuk drivers in Chiangmai will get you there if you simply say "House of Male." It's been there forever and they all seem to know. Or ask the driver to take you to "Soi 3, Siramangkalajarn" and it's down at the end of that soi on the left. I've only been there once (with the bf) and we went swimming in the pool....which is rather pleasant (and there was some eye candy around the pool). And even there the bf continued with his lessons for me (he was shocked when I dropped my knickers in the lockerroom to don my swimsuit - and so I was compelled to wrap a towel around myself before putting on the suit beneath the towel!).

Actually, that's the first question from BL that actually makes me think he might be in his twenties. He, of course, won't ask that question (or have that perspective) when he's 40 or 50 or 60.....but he just doesn't know that yet. The answer - or least "my" answer - BL is that old people aren't all that attractive (which, I presume, you've already noticed?). But, in my particular case, I would note that I am attracted to older and older guys given I'm getting older myself (as in close to be fossilized). When I was 40, I thought a 20-25 year old was just about right (good looking and old enough to converse like an adult) but, now that I'm slightly over 60, I sorta have the same attitude about some guys 30-40.

The loss of a child seems to be something that parents never get over and normally is an event which dramatically alters how they cope with life. I've sadly watched that with friends and also up close when one of my brothers (one of 11 kids) died in a car accident. We siblings ultimately dealt with it but I don't believe my folks ever got over it. One of the most heartfelt songs that expresses a parent's reaction to loss of a child is "Tears from Heaven" by Eric Clapton. If you understand that he and his wife lost a 7-year old (he fell out of a hotel window in New York City), listening to that song is both difficult to take but, in a strange way, a little inspiring too.

I'm no promoter of Utopia but I think you have some of your information confused. Other than the magazine "Thai Guys" (which was given away free), there wasn't anything found at the office of Spice Trade Tours (not Utopia - although there allegedly was some unknown affialiation with that company) within the Tarntawan Hotel. The cops later allegedly found some underaged porn at the home of one of the directors (a guy named Scoble). The sad tale of what the press first reported as a underaged child deal can be found here: Spice Trade fiasco [i don't know any of these people but did follow the story when it came out a few years back. The moral of this story, of course, is one shouldn't believe much of what the press prints, especially about allegedly lurid matters.]

He surely is and won't be back home to Chiangmai until the end of the month. I think he and the beloved are visiting 29 countries in 30 days (okay, three or four countries) so he's a bit busy to bother with us yokels here.

Your honor! I was simply standing on the corner peeling an orange when this guy, all of a sudden, backed around the corner six times into my knife! Honest! Like Jimmy Carter, I suspect there was a little of that "lust in my heart" going around a bit, TJ. Or at least I hope so!

"Pretty safe" isn't exactly how I'd want to label any airplane that I would use! "Damn safe" might be a notion I'd feel more comfortable with. All in all, based on their history, I'd think (and hope) that Boeing is producing a winner (safety-wise and profits-wise). Time will tell (we probably won't know for sure until 5-10 years after it enters service next year).