How dire is the situation on the ground in Pattaya among Thai boys/men?

[Dodger]

A friend who worked in a hotel in Pattaya has been to Bangkok and Surin and back to Pattaya and is going to Surin again soon for a funeral of a relative.

Coming from Pattaya or Bangkok, you go through Buriram province before reaching Surin. Is there police who check people who want to get off bus or train in Buriram? Most buses have two doors, but for trains, each carriage has four doors and you would need someone at each door to control passengers leaving train.

I can only tell you what I've heard - but have not seen this with my own eyes:

According to an announcement that was published back in March, travelers entering Buriram via car, bus, rail or air, will be flagged upon arrival and either placed in a 14 day quarantine (if they are arriving from abroad) or a 14 day isolation for inter-province travelers. As far as the efficiency of these checks at the bus or rail stations, I really have no idea. I do know that they stop all cars entering the province. My partner Jai has family members residing in both Surin and neighboring Ubon Ratchathani who have not visited their homes here in Buriram since this mandate was announced.

My guess is that some travelers make it in - and some don't. Right now a farang and his Thai wife who live near Jai's home were placed on 14 day isolation for making a one day shopping trip to Ubon and then reentering Buriram by car.

All said, I would imagine this interprovincial travel restriction will be lifted (or modified) soon. Fingers crossed.

[a447]

Yes, it is difficult during the lockdown; very boring for many of us expats. I agree, what you said about the money boys and others who live on a pittance and unable to save due to lack of financial skills.

Add to that the fact that they are young guys who are in perpetual party mode.

Weren't we like that at their age? I certainly was -and still am to some extent! - so I would be the last to criticize them.

I just hope they come to their senses early enough in their "career" and learn to put aside some money for the future.

Both my regulars in Thailand have done just that. My Bangkok guy in particular has well and truly set himself up for the future by buying up farmland and cattle in his home town.

As for all those other guys I've had fun times with over many years, I can only hope they are all well and safe and are somehow managing to get by. I'm reassured by the fact that they are quite willing to help each other out when times are tough. They are very quick to look after each other and I see that as one of their many admirable qualities.

[Nirish guy]

You can find the same lack of empathy in far- right websites complaining about Afro-Americans. Why can't everyone else be just like us?

It's a bit much to conflate people members here ( myself included) consciously choosing not to send money to random boys / prostitutes that they hardly know, especially when we know that that same boys / prostitutes main accepted job IS to extract just as much money out of us all as they possibly can, by all and any means necessary, either in the short term or if they're very good in the longer term too and putting that choice down to being akin to far right white supremacists / racists - dont you think ?

As Dinagam has already pointed out above the boys and their chosen job profession has been going on since time immemorial and our deciding not to donate further than our agreed "fee" to the ever continuing build of their mother, fathers or their own new house up country somewhere does not necessarily make us "better or worse people" than those who do - maybe just perhaps a little less gullible that those who do perhaps WITHOUT realising THAT is what they ( and many others ) have actually been doing.

And as for the boys lack of education and poor financial planning skills, well, just try short changing him and see how little time it takes before that situation is brought to your attention. Likewise on rent day ( which seems to come around about 10 times every month for some boys apparently) again "somehow" they always seem to manage - so perhaps they're not quite as unskilled in forward planning as some of us might like to think.

We are NOT their saviours or rescuers, the Thai population will manage quite well whether we're there or not, differently perhaps and not with the latest iPhone for sure maybe, but we ( and all the other groups that have visited Thailand) just come and go and we / they are simply "there for the taking" during our travels there ( and now even when returning home it seems too thanks to chat Apps !) - and all until the next group arrives ( Russians, Chinese etc etc) - which I dont criticise the Thais' for in ANY way by the way, good luck to them, if they can find people (stupid) enough to carry on giving them money for years for no more reason than the maybe fucked their son or daughter once or twice when they were working out trying to reel in a "rich stupid faring" whilst out at work being a prosititute then I take my hat off to them, again, not as stupid as some here would seem to think it seems !

The Thai population have managed just fine long before we came and will do long after we've all left, of that I'm sure. I'm guessing ALL of us, if we see a genuine case of real need, real hunger etc would step up in a heart beat but to suggest that people choosing not to send money to every / any boy / prostitute who decides to add us to their Whatsapp "sucker" list makes us somehow akin to a far right racist is simply ridiculous in my view ( and not to say offensive too of course).

So, if it makes you feel good about yourself then certainly you should carry on sending to each and every boy who decides to send you a request, but I wont be and I dont feel guilty about that in any way and I'm certainly not a far right supremacist either the last time I checked.

[arsenal]

"the Thai population will manage quite well whether we're there or not,"

How dare you. You take that back. The Thai population, or at least a certain demographic of it will most absolutely definitely positively not manage quite well or otherwise without myself being there to ensure said demographic is managing well either quite or otherwise and myself in order to ensure said managing is up to the standards of myself will absolutely definitely positively be getting there as soon as possible entirely to assist in the managing of the aforementioned demographic. I hope that's clear. Manage without us indeed, whoever heard the like?

[Nirish guy]

Let me repeat......before we / you arrived and long after you / we're gone ........ they'll be JUST fine I wouldn't fret :-)

[francois]

It's a bit much to conflate people members here ( myself included) consciously choosing not to send money to random boys / prostitutes that they hardly know,

ad infinitum.

NIrish guy, that is the most woeful post you have made to date!

[arsenal]

If by "we" you mean tourists then the 10s of thousands of Thais who derived their income entirely from the tourist industry aren't "just fine" are they because their income has dried up. And those same people lived/worked under the radar so are not entitled to any govt help. And those were the people that we went there for. So if they were "just fine" in the past and will be in the future they're most definitely not right now.

[Nirish guy]

ad infinitum.

NIrish guy, that is the most woeful post you have made to date!

We must be getting different levels of professional begging messages then is all I can assume, as I said if it makes you happy then please, feel free to go right ahead and send what you wish to who you wish, it's a free world - and that of course works both ways.

[Moggy]

It is a bit galling receiving plea's for money when messages are sent from top of the range phones costing in the region of 30 to 45,000 bht

[Oliver2]

I'm a little puzzled...how do these guys gain access to customers' phone numbers and emails? Wouldn't hornet and Romeo be a better bet for contacts in Thailand?