I'm gonna end this right now!

You've got to be kidding. Am I dreaming? Is there something wrong with my browser setting?

Is any buddy ELSE reading the news that I've been reading lately? There's a major H1N1 FLU outbreak there (Swine Flu Cases Exceed 1 million is today's headline????). Is it SAFE to go to the dentist there? My cousin's husband got quarantined in Beijing! And my favorite late night hangout in bangkok isn't open now I was told. Really hot/wet seaosn now I hear??? Complaints of RAINING every day in the chat room it seems, and thats the DEAD chat room I add. I went online to do seat assignment yesterday and thei're half full, the whole way. This is summer ?!??!? Seems everyone knows somethin' I don't. In a place that's had the ARMY in the streets twice within 3 years recently, I guess. Coups, I mean really, come on! That's hard to beat! Airport takeovers? OK, beaten again. I'll never forget almost getting STUCK a few days near the border with Burma (it was lots's of FUN, though, depsite all, hehhehehehe) while my 30 day visa was expiring. Then back in Bangkok where my "boyfriend" stole my portable DVD player. Guys who LIE on their profiles say they want dating when they are looking for something else - not to be trusted I guess. Should I think different? The ATM fuck-up that took too long to fix. And what I saw in a taxi cab one day! And red shirts, yikes. What's next? I don't believe this.

For the penalty I'm CANCELING next week's trip (DONE!) and then maybe, maybe fall. Save myself some jetlag for now. Hopefully for a LOT less than half what this one would have cost me. I hear prices are going to callapse after September 1. I had really hoped to decide where to begin my retirement in Thailand by the end of this year. Now I'm looking back in the guide. :-( Our pride ain't much but we got it. My feet are walking now ... somewhere else. Maybe south of the border, Mexico, Honduras? wjo knows? :-( Am I crazy or what? I don't think there is anything any buddy can say to me to make me change THAT mind. I know I'm gonna miss those late nighgt breakfasts massage by the pool.

Anyway, thanks for all the help this past year, guys.

That's all I have to say about it now.

Thanks for that Billy

TravelerGymBkk,

About half of the people I know who now live in Thailand are looking for some place else to move. Some want to get out right away. One guy I know who has lived here for about ten years recently said "I hate this place". This negative feeling has become quite fierce over the past year. I think it has to do with many different annoying elements that all seem to be converging now. At the moment, it appears that things will become even worse over the coming months, but I have no crystal ball, I assure you. Personally, I still find Thailand mildly interesting, but nothing even similar to what it was in years gone by. Some have suggested it has reached the "tipping point" from which it will not recover.

I have friends who have moved to Mexico and Costa Rica. In both of those places it is a big help if you speak at least some Spanish. It is easy to chat up pretty teenage boys who in many ways I find far more beautiful than those in Thailand. One note of caution on Mexico I have learned from a friend who moved there about 8 years ago from Asia. He suggests getting a map of Mexico that shows where the drug related cartels operate. There are several such maps online. The drug cartels limit their activities to only certain regions. My friend suggests selecting from areas outside where the cartels have their operations which leaves a huge and desirable area of Mexico to pick from.

Costa Rica is also a lovely place. Lots of nice boys around and you don't need to go to any bars to meet them since there are lots of plazas where people congregate all day to socialize. For me, I like Costa Rica because it offers daytime opportunities. The food in Costa Rica is also more Continental than Latin American which I also like. The main drawback to Costa Rica today is that lesbians have invaded the place and that usually spells doom for gay males. Just one look at what happened in Provincetown when the lezzies took over is enough to scare one out of one's wits. It's also a good idea to avoid the few gay hotels in Costa Rica which are overflowing with pretentious and tacky foreign queens, more interested in backstabbing gossip than in sex, which I would presume are not exactly what you are looking for.

Good luck in your travels.

But the problem is that no one listens, including the media.

That's not the problem.

The problem is that no one can do anything about it.

'I'm gonna end this right now.' You have a valid point. Swine flu is rife here, and I am coughing and sneezing all the time I'm typing this. I complained in another thread on this site that compared with 10 years ago Pattaya seems to have lost its pioneering zip. We're almost into August and the European school holidays have started, but what should be a mini high season is as flat as a pancake. I also commented somewhere that we have of course been trying to shut Thailand down since last year's demos and airport closures, and now it seems we may have achieved overkill. It was one thing to get the Russian mafia out, but we do require at least a few respectable looking tourists in our resort for window dressing if nothing else.

Ah well, the pathetic few residents who are left will have to struggle along coping with the cheap booze, wonderful food, benign climate (a steady 30C right through the year) and our continuing work of social rehabilitation with the luckless denizens of of Sunee Plaza and Dongtan Beach. Incidentally, I investigated the much hyped Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast of Mexico back in 2006 - charming, but my god the the beach was crowded. At least on Dongtan you can just about see the sand.......

For the penalty I'm CANCELING next week's trip (DONE!) and then maybe, maybe fall.

Thank you. More boys for us leftovers.
Please stay away - there are enough negative assholes in Pattaya already.

[Khor tose]

If you want facts to frighten you, they can all be swayed any way you like, read through this :-

If this is true, it's frightening

Sadly I don't know who Dr David Hill is but he sounds genuine. This was his post to The Barrow Evening Mail recently. It sent a chill down my spine and thought it worth passing on...
My problem is that there is no citation for your article. I googled the Burrow evening Mail and could not find the article, and the paper borders on a rag paper with sensationalized stories. I googled Dr Hill England and saw one reference with the article in the London Evening Standard which is an absolute rag, but again could not find the article. I see that your reading skills are on par with your writing skills.

[x in pattaya]

About half of the people I know who now live in Thailand are looking for some place else to move. Some want to get out right away. One guy I know who has lived here for about ten years recently said "I hate this place". This negative feeling has become quite fierce over the past year. I think it has to do with many different annoying elements that all seem to be converging now.




The most annoying elements are the constantly whining/whingeing farangs who ceaselessly proclaim their imminent departure and predict the demise of Thailand as a consequence. ItтАЩs been going on for ages. The alleged recent intensity is probably more related to the fact that Thai Immigrations appears to be tightening the screws on those who are unable to legitimize their prolonged presence here and who resort to doing visa runs pretending to be tourists.

Undoubtedly there have been quite a few тАЬeventsтАЭ recently that provide ample excuses for the bar beer bozos to increase the pitch of their whining, but after a lifetime of being at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder wherever theyтАЩve settled, ranting about the slings & arrows of outrageous fortune that disturb the alcoholic haze that cocoons & insulates them from reality is a habit they canтАЩt give up easily.

Those of us who continue to enjoy life in Thailand are often accused of seeing things through rose-colored glasses but in fact we had a clear understanding of what life in Thailand would be, including the assortment of positives and negatives, and an even clearer vision of what life was really like back in farangland.

So please, whoever wants to get out right away, donтАЩt stand in their way. IтАЩm sure wherever they end up will still provide an endless catalogue of annoyances for them to bitch & moan about. At least by going they will help to put the тАЬSmileтАЭ back into the LOS for those of us remaining.


About half of the people I know ... are looking for some place else to move.

I believe that's what is known as cause-and-effect.

[Khor tose]

About half of the people I know who now live in Thailand are looking for some place else to move. Some want to get out right away.
I believe that's what is known as cause-and-effect.

Congratulations, you are the recipient of the rarely given brilliant posting award, which intitles you to one free drink should we ever meet.

[attachment=0:2se6qdsg]Brilliant post award.jpg[/attachment:2se6qdsg]

[Smiles]

" ... which intitles you to one free drink should we ever meet ... "
X doesn't drink. However, I nice oily leg massage has been known to turn him all squishy and nostalgic, unlike his bitch persona on this Board.

[x in pattaya]

However, I nice oily leg massage has been known to turn him all squishy and nostalgic, unlike his bitch persona on this Board.

Yes, but next time give me a little warning first and trim your finger nails.

...and you misspelled "butch."

Never mind Swine flu. We all better be looking out for an outbreak of TROLL FLU. This topic has a pretty bad case of it and if we're not careful it may infest the entire Board!

Jeepers! :puke:

[cdnmatt]

Not to be a jerk TravelerGymBkk, but why even bother posting a thread like this? Ok, so you don't want to travel to Thailand, then by all means, don't travel to Thailand. It's not an overly difficult concept. The rest of us do have minds of our own, and can decide what we'd like to do with our lives. :bom:

As for swine flu, the WHO has already publicly stated more people die annually due to the regular flu than have died due to swine flu. Not to mention, look at the past; SARS, mad cow disease, etc., etc... they didn't wipe out the human civilization, and I doubt swine flu will either. If anything, worrying about it is probably worst for your health anyway, because it's medically proven that stress is one of the biggest factors to health problems.

[krobbie]

Personally TravelerGymBkk I'm thrilled to bits there will be one less person at the airport. I like to get through pronto, so I don't need fence sitters in my way when I rush through customs to see my man.

Perhaps you haven't noticed that the H1N1 virus is not restricted to Thailand (I think your estimates are a bit ... exaggerated) but it's everywhere. Are we then to stay barricaded in our homes throughout the world? Not bloody likely! I'm freezing my tits off in Auckland. I'd rather be warm and damp than cold and damp.

I will be packing my wet weather sneekers and my wet weather prosthetic leg and I'm off and away at the very beginning of September. I am looking forward to meeting only the positive stalwarts who enjoy their surrounds in Thailand. Have a lovely time in Costa Rica ... no, really.

Regards
krobbie

[pennyboy]

I believe there are more cases of H1N1 per head of population here in the Uk than anyhwere else but I do not personally know anyone who has been infected nevermind died. Until (and if) it mutates into something serious it is simply a mild form of 'flu and many who are infected have no symptoms at all . Almost all those who have died in the UK have had other serious underlying health problems.

Since I first visited Thailand about 15 years ago I have been hearing from old timers that they were going home as " it's not the same as it used to be " and justify this with tales of rampant corruption, crime,rip-offs,greedy boys, and my favoutite " a lower class of visitors to Thailand". Generally ,to me, they are guys who have just got tired af the good life that places like Pattaya offer and cannot just go home without trying to justify their actions. Maybe they are just trying to save face.

[Khor tose]

I believe there are more cases of H1N1 per head of population here in the Uk than anyhwere else but I do not personally know anyone who has been infected nevermind died. Until (and if) it mutates into something serious it is simply a mild form of 'flu and many who are infected have no symptoms at all . Almost all those who have died in the UK have had other serious underlying health problems.

Since I first visited Thailand about 15 years ago I have been hearing from old timers that they were going home as " it's not the same as it used to be " and justify this with tales of rampant corruption, crime,rip-offs,greedy boys, and my favoutite " a lower class of visitors to Thailand". Generally ,to me, they are guys who have just got tired af the good life that places like Pattaya offer and cannot just go home without trying to justify their actions. Maybe they are just trying to save face.

I know I am going to take some shots, but I grow tired of "the good life" in Pattaya after a week at the most. Fortunately, I discovered Chiang Mai where there are a lot more possibilities and things to do then, "lets check out the new/remodelled/reopened/under new management/all new boys go-go bars". I sometimes wonder if the people who leave lack the imagination to know that all of Thailand is not Pattaya. Oh well, different strokes for different folks.

[TrongpaiExpat]

Speaking of a go-go's Khor tose, let us know what's going on at the Adam's Apple, Chiang Mai, new/remodeled/reopened/under new management and all that when you get in town.

[Khor tose]

Speaking of a go-go's Khor tose, let us know what's going on at the Adam's Apple, Chiang Mai, new/remodeled/reopened/under new management and all that when you get in town.

I will, it is American owned and I am really curious if he is going to stick with straight boys like the other CM go-gos or try to find gay boys. I promise to do my best, and will endeavor to do an in depth investigation.

[Rene]

I promise to do my best, and will endeavor to do an in depth investigation.

Khor tose, I'd leave your copies of Handley's book in Seattle. Bad enough you will be packing all those red shirts in your luggage.

[Smiles]

" ... I promise to do my best, and will endeavor to do an in depth investigation ... "
A new proctologist in town. Lucky Chiang Mai.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en- ... 3c786deaa8 (http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=8e1dd08b-8331-494c-b297-583c786deaa8)

Swine flu must run its course, whether it turns into a doomday event will be evident this time next year. Most governments seem to be taking it fairly seriously from what I read in the press and companies are picking up the batton. Cleanliness would appear to be the path to salvation.
I like Pattaya. I always include it in my trips to Thailand, and always have a lot of fun there. I shall be back in a couple of months and I am looking forward to it.