new bar in jomtiem

[Smiles]

Although I disagree vehemently with Oliver's politics (much of the time ... there are small agreements every so often, every 7 years or so)
But I agree just as vehemently with his head-scratching regarding the tendency towards bitterness -- bitterness which is glued to one's shoulder and kicks in doors -- which raises it's ugly head quite often lately.
I do appreciate the difference between humour -- even cutting, sarcastic humour -- and bitterness. The latter has arrived here more than it should, and is not welcome.

On the other hand -- there's always another hand -- emasculating the board in order to keep 'nastiness' away is a loosers game as well. Just more bureaucratic 'posting rules' never works, and the board itself suffers. Defending the Middle Ground is better, at every turn.

[snotface]

Those people in Thailand, as the temperature drops here in the UK and darkness falls at 1600, should count themselves extremely fortunate and replace their anger with gratitude and grace for a lifestyle that the vast majority of us envy.

I do count myself incredibly lucky living in Thailand. You only have to look at the horrors going on around the world every day on the news to fully appreciate the good fortune. I can do exactly what I want from dawn to dusk. Feeling hungry? - the fridge is fully stocked and nearby restaurants galore. Want to read a book? - plenty on my shelves. Fancy sex? - send a text message or go to a bar. Yet I am only too aware that much of the time I am not happy. I'm not usually depressed, but just feeling a low-level buzz of part-boredom, part-disquiet. Saying something unkind which I later regret seems like a safety valve. The times when my mood lifts in a really satisfying way are usually when I do something to help others - a friend who has some problem perhaps. Does that prompt me to become a charity volunteer or some such thing? Not on your life! That's the burden of being an ordinary person ruled by the ego with its constant call of 'pleasure me, pleasure me'.

[bkkguy]

'Fuck off' as a reply to a 'sissyboy' or anybody for that matter who is simply doing their job by asking the non-threatening question of whether you might wish to sit in their bar..........is low class, ignorant, boorish and arrogant.

you want "low class, ignorant, boorish and arrogant"- in Bangkok I stay in Surawong and every day as I go out for lunch, dinner or shopping I pass 20 massage places in a few blocks in Surawong and Silom and every one has staff outside shouting "you want massage" and shoving unwanted advertising in my face on a public footpath, if I walk down Soi Twilight, or in Jomtien walk through Jomtien Complex then touts for multiple bars shout and aggressively grab my arm and try to drag me into their venue

I am constantly surprised that venue owners and touts who think it is just "their job" to behave like this are surprised when this boorish and arrogant behavior does not elicit a polite response, and that so many posters on this thread consider this behavior acceptable because the weather in Thailand is better than in their home country or they find some of the staff attractive!

but yes I take you point about the possibility of needing to extract a stiletto heal from your head - but unfortunately the typical Thai response of never saying anything but just never visiting the area again only seems to encourage even more aggressive behavior as visitor numbers decline

bkkguy

[Oliver]

I stay in Surawong too and I do not recognise it from bkkguy's description. Yes, there are massage bars along the road and yes, there are often guys and girls sitting outside them. Yes, they sometimes- sometimes- offer leaflets and even occasionally ask if I want a massage. But I've never had one take my by my arm in over twenty years of visits, nor experienced any form of aggression or rudeness. iI is their job to try to entice punters into their establishments and this they do with charm; invariably so in my experience.
There was a time when some of the barkers outside go-go bars in Soi Twilight were apt to grab passers-by but that problem has not been apparent for the past few years. There are many- and often discussed- reasons for the decline visitor numbers; aggressive Thais is not one of them.
Once again, I an intrigued by the unhappiness that a walk along Surawong Road provokes . I enjoy every minute as I make the journey to Soi Twilight and enjoy seeing cute and charming masseurs (of both sexes) . If they ask me if I want a massage, I say "no thanks"....and smile.

[bkkguy]

I stay in Surawong too and I do not recognise it from bkkguy's description.

unfortunately rose-coloured glasses clash as much with my complexion as they do with my personality

bkkguy

[latintopxxx]

bkkguy...u need an attitude readjustment...

[scottish-guy]

...and if you just put the gimp mask on and let LatintopXXX lock you into his stocks, he'll give you one!

[FarangRuMak]

unfortunately rose-coloured glasses clash as much with my complexion as they do with my personality

bkkguy

I don’t find Thailand particularly agressive in terms of sidewalk promotion.
Walking from Jim Thompson’s shop to the Tarntawan Hotel entrance there are only 3 massage venues that I can recall and about the same number on the other side.
The same distance on Silom has more perhaps but the staff are very polite in their solicitations in all of these venues.
Twilight has its own style which is a bit more pushy but nowadays mostly involve women putting up fake resistance to being led inside to see bigger cock than their husbands’.
I found the vendors in Saigon very pushy and ignorant.
They will grab and yank at your clothing at you as you pass their stalls.
These are the people that provoke me into explitivity.

[FarangRuMak]

MFAS...clearly u have not been in Thailand long..if at all...there is no need to be vulgar in a Buddhist peaceful land of smiles bubble butted boy filled paradise..a simple demure no thanks you suffices..

MFAS has graced Thailand with his presence for many years.
At this stage he has seen it all and like a senior walrus on his rock he‘s earned the right to be cormudgeonous - if that’s a real word and even if it isn’t.

[joe552]

Curmudgeonly. You're welcome.