daydreamer

I've noticed that also, that a couple Pattaya private transfer companies I checked haven't raised their prices. The Transport Ministry was in talks last week with the three major Bangkok taxi associations about likely fare increases.

I think not:

Why was hotel next door to the bar a bad idea? I understand that Space Hair boys are not offable during working hours, but aren't they free to do what they want when the bar closes, like the Rainbow Dragon boys in Patpong?

@a-447 is correct. I have lived in both Japan and South Korea. There is no alcohol in Japan named shoju. The Japanese distilled alcohol named shochu is often distilled from grains or sweet potatoes. Sometimes it is mixed into a popular Japanese cocktail called chuhai. Soju is a different beast, it is a Korean liquor. Usually, Japanese shochu has a higher alcohol content than Korean soju.

I also have my father's military items. Like you, I have also wondered what will become of them. Here's what I found when considering future options: You might offer the medals and uniform items to a local VFW or American Legion post. Also, military medals can be returned to the appropriate military branch if unwanted. Another option - the medals and uniforms can be sold to militaria collectors, or a military surplus store, like an Army Navy store. It's better to put the items in the hands of a collector than to dispose of them in the trash, or let them pass to heirs who do not want them, as the heirs would likely then dispose of them. The only US medal that cannot be legally sold is the Medal of Honor.

Not that I've ever seen. Hotel prices are reduced in low season, but I've paid the same prices for drinks or meals regardless of the season.

I have been a customer of Sarika for a long time whenever I'm in Bangkok. I was looking forward to visiting the newly renovated restaurant, but after reading the comments from @vinapu and @jason1975 in his previous post, I'm scratching Sarika off my list. It seems Sarika's focus has now changed to become a trendy spot to hang out and be seen by the Instagram crowd, much the same as the La Cabra Bakery on Silom Soi 3, rather than a local restaurant known primarily for good quality food. Oily and salty food? No thanks.

You asked for correction if wrong, so yes, it is wrong. Taxes and mandatory fees must be included in the advertised airfare price. Only optional fees can be added, such as priority boarding, extra baggage fees, etc. From the US Dept of Transportation website:

Are you suggesting it might lead to an early demise like Ian MacDonald experienced? Don't concern yourself, it's not a place I would choose to stay, mainly because of the location. As far as what I posted, it's all available on the internet in news articles, there was nothing mentioned above that is untrue.

I'm sure they are well aware of the events that happened. If the truth is painful for them, well just think of how the former partners felt.

The Thai police were not investigated, however 18 months after the arrest of Kevin, Thai police admitted that Kevin had been framed. Since the cigarettes were provided by Kevin's two business partners, it was believed that the two owners of Boys, Boys, Boys and the Ambiance Hotel colluded with the police to frame Kevin. With Kevin behind bars, he was effectively removed from the partnership, thus enriching the remaining two partners. Kevin had invested heavily in Boystown, and was a 50% shareholder in Throb and Splash bars, and Copa massage and hotel. While Kevin was locked up, the partners stripped him of his assets in Boystown. The duo even took Kevin's car, and used it as a taxi to transport Ambiance Hotel guests to and from the airport. This was not the first case of a business partner of the duo being eliminated from the Boystown empire. In 1990, a 28 year old man who had invested heavily in the business as a partner died in a mysterious fire in a room of the Ambiance Hotel, located above Boys, Boys, Boys bar. The 28 year old man was another Scot, named Ian MacDonald, who had invested £250,000 with the duo in the businesses. Even more bizarre, after young Ian MacDonald died in the fire, paperwork was produced showing he had left his 50% share of Boys, Boys, Boys and the Ambiance Hotel to a Thai go-go boy, who just happened to be the boyfriend of one of the duo. Ian's 50% share of the businesses was worth £250,000, a princely sum to bequeath to someone who was not even his boyfriend. All very shady. How many 28 year olds would make a will? And then make a go-go boy he was not in a relationship with the sole beneficiary of that will? https://www.tomminogue.com/tom/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Lock-Stock-And-Two-Smoking-Boyz-The-Judgment.pdf https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-sex-club-kings-lose-1053788 https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8029313.former-bradford-man-was-framed/

Not only are King Rama 9 banknotes becoming more rare in daily use, but they are highly prized by Thais who keep and collect them as mementos of the beloved King. I have many of the older notes at home. I took a few with me last trip to spend. I had two Thais ask if I had more of the bills with King Bhumipol. I used a 1992 series 1,000 baht note in The Balcony earlier this year. When I handed it to the bartender, he looked at the old currency note funny, as it was likely older than him, and it was about 10% larger than a current 1,000 baht note. The bartender showed it to the owner, and it was immediately accepted. The King Rama IX bills can be found in local markets being sold at a premium over face value. I saw more than one vendor not long ago asking 50 baht for a King Rama IX version of a 20 baht note.

The drugs (less than 100 yaa baa tablets) were found in a carton of cigarettes, that much is true, however there was overwhelming suspicion the drugs were planted there, and then the party that planted the drugs notified the police of exactly in which carton, and which pack within that carton to find the drugs. As for the cigarettes having been smuggled, no, they were still in the country of purchase, they had not been smuggled. Kevin was stopped still inside the Pattaya city limits. According to news articles: "The cigarettes were acquired by his partners, and came from Don Muang airport duty free via a friendly policeman." and "In one of the packets in just one of a staggering 198 cartons police found just under 100 yaa baa tablets. Quill was not a drug user. Yaa baa was certainly not the drug of choice of his destination, the UK, and never has been." It's obvious that Kevin was set up. A carton of Benson and Hedges cigarettes contains 10 packets. Kevin had 198 cartons in his car, so that's 1,980 packets of 20 cigarettes each. Out of the 1,980 cigarette packs, the police knew exactly where the small amount of pills (less than 100 tablets) were hidden, inside just one packet. How is it the police did not open the other 1,979 cigarette packs? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2106000.stm https://www.andrew-drummond.news/prisoner-of-boyztown-gets-sentence_15/ And here's the video of the seizure. The unopened cartons of Benson and Hedges can be seen on the table, and Kevin can be seen in the video. It's highly unusual that upon finding illegal drugs, that police searching for contraband would stop looking after finding less than 100 tablets, leaving all the other cartons unopened.

@Brak , you might be thinking of Moonlight, not Midnight if you're into muscular guys. Midnight is an open-air beer bar located on Patpong 2. You can try that too, as boys can be offed from Midnight, but for big hunks, Moonlight is the bar with muscular models.

Several of the Saphan Kwai massage shops offer outcall service to your room or hotel. Both Loveboy and 15M offer this. I used outcall a couple times earlier this year. Yes, you have to pay for the boy's transportation, but the cost versus your time to travel and from to Saphan Kwai is well worth the fee. Not to mention, you have the comfort of your room, without possible mattresses on the floor or steep staircases to navigate. The Saphan Kwai shop I used sent each boy by Grab bike. Shop owner sent a Grab link to my phone by Line, so I could see his exact live location on a map, as he made his way closer to my hotel in Silom. Easy, when the Grab bike is close to your hotel, just go down to lobby to meet your masseur. I asked the shop owner to pay the boy for everything at hotel, avoiding transferring money to shop, very easy if you don't have a way to transfer funds electronically in Thailand. Some shops allow this, just ask on Line.

@floridarob is correct, just because a bottle seal is unbroken, that doesn't prove the contents are genuine. On the most recent edition of The Signal from two days ago, produced by The Nation Thailand, the subject is fake medicine - "Can you trust the medicine in Thailand?" In the video, thousands of new fake bottle caps are shown in a scam factory, ready to seal bottles of fake cough syrup. If they can produce fake cap seals for 100 baht cough syrup bottles, then they can make them for 1,500 baht bottles of liquor. And as @floridarob said, for a liquor to be fake doesn't necessarily mean it contains methanol. It can be a fake of a name brand made with ethanol.

Not @vinapu , but I was able to post an image on the forum yesterday. It appears the issue has been fixed. I also was unable to upload photos two days ago, receiving the same Error code - 200.

There are two new designs of US passports. There is a limited edition 250th Anniversary "Patriot Passport". It is restricted to 250,000 total copies and must be applied for in person. This is the only version confirmed to have an image of Donald Trump inside. This book contains 26 pages. Since this limited edition is not available for online or mail-in applications, it's easy to avoid the Trump image if you wish to. The "Flight of the Eagle" redesign (2028): An upcoming standard blue passport book is set to launch in 2028 featuring a larger golden eagle emblem on the cover. This is the revised design, to replace the current style. This book contains 38 pages. The current edition will be the last version to offer the 50 page book option.

Not correct, all applicants get to keep their old passports. If applying by mail, the State Department returns the old passport by mail 2-4 weeks after processing. From the State Dept website:

Same here, I tried to upload small photos to a DM today, and I received the same error message.

Yes, that was Thai hospitality, except for the fat cunt remark. I also remember the bars in Saphan Kwai in the sois off Pradipat Road used to bring a cold towel, and often a small plate with sliced fresh fruit. Once when I was in Soi Twilight, a bar manager broke out a case of small battery operated alarm clocks, and the waiters handed out one to every customer. I still have mine. I think the bar was X-Boys.

And I see they've dropped the "Sarica" spelling, and reverted back to the old spelling of the restaurant name, as it used to be. Glad they've reopened.

Yes, I've read that. Maybe he'll change his mind after the flooding fiasco.

Thanks @bkkmfj2648. I looked up btoutcall. Their massage menu is below. A word of warning, if you make a booking with btoutcall, don't make it in advance, the menu says the service starts from the time the customer makes the reservation. That's odd for an outcall service. Possibly from the time the masseur leaves the shop, but from the time the reservation is made?

Next time you're in 7-Eleven, you may want to pick up a can or bottle of Birdy coffee. Birdy is another Japanese coffee brand, made by the multi-national Ajinomoto Co. They have many varieties, including some lower sugar types. The larger 7-Eleven stores will likely carry a wider variety.