Bringing New Comers Up to Speed on Thailand?

[latintopxxx]

getting mixed mesages here...some of you have multiple personalities residing in one body...u need help...on the one hand all Thais are good loving caring that can read your heart and soul and if you treat thgem like little princes they will look after you loyally until its time to be reincarnated....now u r telling us to beware if the traps...that all the love and attention being showered upon us is fake...that they are a bunch of con artists...boy am I glad I stayed true to my instincts...I stick to the tourist area populated by whores...and treat every encounter as a business transaction...am only renting them short time...like chewing gum...once the flavour has gone need a new one...

[latintopxxx]

...But yes..agree that tourist town Thailand is an adults playground...very few places in the world where I can find guys displaying their wares on a stage...and i can easily cheaply order one...where I can have a twink or a muscle man..where its so easy and safe and convenient...sure there are bars in small town Brazil where Mbs hang around...mostly lates teens early twenties...believe Mexico is also good but nothing as easy as Thailand...or as accomodating...

[Dodger]

A lesson my father taught me when I was young about "managing money" certainly paid dividends when I started coming to Thailand.

My father and his 3 older brothers traveled from Chicago to Las Vegas routinely once a year for a long weekend of gambling. They did this for as long as I can remember...never returned home boasting about winning any money...but always went on-and-on about the wonderful times they had.

He explained very clearly to me and my brother that you don't go to a place like Las Vegas expecting to win money, because that's rarely the case, you go there for the pure enjoyment and the experience. He went on to tell us that when the day comes that we want to experience Vegas for ourselves that we should only take the amount of money that we are willing to contribute to Las Vegas for the enjoyment and experience they provide...nothing more - nothing less.

The reason this comes to mind is because this is exactly how I've always handled myself in Thailand. Not just the first holiday here - but the 40 consecutive holidays that were to follow over a 20 year period. I brought along enough money to have as much "boy fun" as I wanted for the durations of my holidays - but never once in all those years went over my budget

I guess the advise I would give the first time visitor, or for that fact any visitor, would be to do the exact same thing. Never spend more money in Thailand than you budgeted to spend when you were back home packing your bags. Don't promise that "boy of the moment" ANYTHING unless it fits within your holiday budget, and whatever you do don't ever place the "needs" of any stranger (regardless of how much you adore him) ahead of your own personal financial needs.

[cdnmatt]

Good advice Dodger. I went the total opposite direction, decided love trumps immigration law, said fuck it, and just overstayed for 8 years because there were no legal immigation routes for me to stay there.

My friend is the exact same way. I keep telling him to apply for a multi entry tourist VISA, because that gives you in total approx 270 days in Thailand. That's enough time to figure everything out, and where you want to be.

More than likely, he'll just get scammed to hell and back, then end up at my place in Laos for some comfort and relaxation. Who knows.

[cdnmatt]

getting mixed mesages here...some of you have multiple personalities residing in one body...u need help...on the one hand all Thais are good loving caring that can read your heart and soul and if you treat thgem like little princes they will look after you loyally until its time to be reincarnated....now u r telling us to beware if the traps...that all the love and attention being showered upon us is fake...that they are a bunch of con artists...

understandable. Depends on the situation and what part of the country you're in, right? I think the same goes for all countries out there.

For example, I'm going to act quite differently at an office building in West Vancouver than I would at a bush party outside of Ft McMurray, Alberta, type of thing.

[latintopxxx]

i need a strong drink....now im finding myself in sgreement with both dodger and matty....what has the world come to

[pong]

From what I understand Colombia seems to be the new Brazil as for finding guys-there even also seem to be the odd Guys-for-rent-bar in Bogota or perhaps Medellin (where you can choose them when they stand behind a glass-just like TH often used to have pre 2000-and possibly still for str8 girlie girls.
Having had a very satisfying crop of guys from yes, over the Mekong, the real Laos and not that laughable ´ he lao´ for Isany guys, now in this stay I must say they act very well and also seem to be able to keep and stick to the byzantine Thai/ASEAN rules for staying here. From what I understand the economic situation over there is so dire that most have lost jobs and inflation is also rampant-1000 of their kips is just 2 THB. Which means 1000 THB is half a million of those kips. One or two spoke pretty good english and told were sacked as hotelworkers due to hotel being closed. Or there was the odd student from there at 1 of BKKs dozens of uni´s. Those from Vientiane usually speak enough clear Thai to be understood, some others from way out the sticks only Lao-then it gets too difficult for me. They all tend to be a bit rough at the edges and also have very long lasting stamina for the pleasurable things in life. You will be in heaven, dear Matt even in Champasak or Pakse or whatever tiny town. BUT-again BUT DO adhere to their immigration rules-it remains an communist ruled country for that and all the fees are also a major source of income. The major sources for Laos to make foreign money are selling electricity from the waterworks and the fees that airlines have to pay for flying over it. But thats a long digress from what this topic started with. Happily-as I perused the reopened 2nd hand bookshop here-there are still many boox about that subject for low prices-and some are even quite funny and still instructive. If and how that would differ for that Laos: well, wait&see, I think yes in some respects.
Did you book the one way tickets already? How will you bridge the gap from BKK to over that Mekong? When van we expect real from on theground reports about this people´s republic?

[cdnmatt]

Yeah, inflation has been absolutely rampant inLaos as of late. To the point it's just totally shocking to me. Sending $200 CAD via Western previously would result in ~1,600,000 Kip, whereas nowadays it's I think upwards of ~2,800,000 Kip.

No worries about immigration, I got that covered.

And no worries about anything else either. I probably know the culture, language, and societal norms better than you do, so all is well ther. My only real issue is going to be the whole blind thing, but I think I should be good there and have enough love from good people to take care of me.

It'll definitely be an adventure, that's for sure.

[Mancs]

Inflation in Laos 38% annual in November. I seem to choose a lot of Laos men. Maybe because they are a bit more 'lad next door' than Thai men?

[pong]

Sabai dee, Matty. So when will that big trip now come? Kowp jay lay lay. Can you get that sticky rice=khao niao in Canuck to get adjusted already?