General Reports

[Banana Boi]

Has anyone broken up the long flight into 2 or 3 shorter legs with overnight layover? Would love to go but don't think I could handle the long flight.

Moved response here from the Pattaya thread as the query is not Pattaya specific. I see Natty already had the same thoughts.

I think guys don't do overnight layovers on their way to Thailand because I find a short 2 or 3 day layover in another country like Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Taipei, etc. Would have more expensive flights. They also may have only 2 weeks vacation and want to spend every minute possible getting Thai pussy. None of us enjoy long flights. Why would we?

If I have a short layover of 1 or 3 hours I try looking for an extended layover of 6 or 8 hours and sleep for a few hours at an airport hotel. That way when I arrive in Thailand I'm ready to roll immediately.

[Member #4698]

Has anyone broken up the long flight into 2 or 3 shorter legs with overnight layover? Would love to go but don't think I could handle the long flight.

I used to enjoy laying over for a couple of nights in Amsterdam on my way to and from Thailand. I liked the Coffee shops and then doing the shop girls stoned on nederhash. I have not flown the trans European route in a long time, ultimately preferring the longer trans Pacific route, but I am sure that post pandemic USA. AMS- BKK will be available again. The shortest duration USA transpacific route is to either Manila or Hong Kong. Hong Kong now sucks and I will never lay over there again, but Manila is a great place to stop off for a few days on the way to BKK.

[PedroMorales]

And yes there have been ties with these activists in HK with Taiwan activists and Thailand activists.

You wish to believe they are nice kids whom added each other on facebook or line and there is no larger scale financing or agenda behing, more power to you.

As I've known quite a lot of middle class HKers over the years, I was shocked to see them torching people. Somebody has got those nice folk to a situation where they torch people to death, I don't mind being John Rambo but even Rambo knows when to get out of town.

[Sinofaguo]

It seems you're the naive one. Thailand has been a US proxy state since WW2. The current elite built up its position with American financial and military backing. So do you really think the CIA are going to waste time with student protests when they already have their assets embedded in the establishment?

I'm really well aware of the ties between Thailand and the US for the past decades.

It doesn't change the orientation Thailand took in the more recent years and the fact it refused to side with the US against China but instead chose to embrace China as one of its most important partners.

Your belief that this must be down to "foreign meddling" is straight from the trick book of the Chinese Communist Party.

Who cares about the trick book from CCP. You may dislike the CCP and yet open yourself to the idea that at the same time the USA has a specific agenda.
Its not like the US has been secret about this agenda.
The coalition Pompeo is trying to build in Asia against China is also public knowledge.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/06/a...hnk/index.html

The financing of several Hong Kong groups through the national endowment for democracy is also public knowledge since the NED funding is documented through different votes as its itself funded by the american gov through votes / budgets.
The meetings between the american officials and various parties in HK have been also documented and proven by the american press.
And yes there have been ties with these activists in HK with Taiwan activists and Thailand activists.
If you wish to believe they are just a group of buddies who met on facebook/line by mistake and found common ground and suddenly decided to start mass protest, enjoy the cool story...

Again, opening yourself to the US interests in these events does not mean you believe the Chinese Communist Party to be the saviour of the world. I spend a lot of time in China too, not just thailand, and have a pretty good understanding of how things can be at times for the common people... so I don't need a reality check on that. That being said in a cold war you have 2 sides and both sides can be pretty narrow minded. Saying mccarthysm in the US has been excessive at times or the use of the CIA in various parts of the world did a lot of bad things doesn't mean you love Russia and fall for their propaganda. Its not all white or all black...

[Whoreman]

While there are plenty of good reasons to protests, lets not be naive on why these protests are happening now and and who is fueling them...

First look at National Endowment for Democracy and other similar structures which have been created under Reagan to takeover the job from the CIA into destabilising other country but using democracy as an excuse to make it popular in the media.
https://williamblum.org/chapters/rogue-state/trojan-horse-the-national-endowment-for-democracy

Second look at how Mike Pompeo, former director of the CIA and current state secretary has been pressuring asian countries to take sides in the US vs China cold war.

Third look at the proximity of the thai protests with the HK protests in terms of methods, in terms of wording, and look at how close the leaders have been both online and in real life through meetings with US third parties medling.

It seems you're the naive one. Thailand has been a US proxy state since WW2. The current elite built up its position with American financial and military backing. So do you really think the CIA are going to waste time with student protests when they already have their assets embedded in the establishment?

Of course students are going to get sick of a corrupt elite brainwashing them with an absurd authoritarian ideology and trampling over their rights and freedoms. And it's not surprising they're going to look over to what happened in Hong Kong and try to learn from them. They call it the Milk Tea Alliance. Your belief that this must be down to "foreign meddling" is straight from the trick book of the Chinese Communist Party.

[PedroMorales]

The King and I might have been banned decades ago but not for the past several years. I have a great blu-ray disc of the 1956 musical version with Yul Brynner that includes Thai subtitles that I bought openly displayed on the shelf at a Thai owned home video store in Fortune Town mall at mrt Phra Ram 9. It is not censored or edited in any way from its original USA theatrical release. The girls love it. I must have watched it a half dozen times with different Thai girls here..

Good on you to keep the women happy with some good wholesome entertainment. Their tastes do tend to be simple, quite like my own. I miss Thermae, heaving with hookers as Maggie May plays.

[PedroMorales]

So, finally we can discuss The King and I, and the opinion of LBFM movie buffs. This site never disappoints. Life has moved on since the Japanese surrendered (in Thailand, if not the Dutch east Indies and French Indo China). We also see posters up to speed on the see hina Containment game and others talking about AR15's / MI6's v machetes and bamboo spears. We all know when Thais fist fight, you should not join in. I'll be giving the AR15's, MI6's, machetes and bamboo spears a miss and thinking of those farangs who think a jab of a needle in Pattaya can allow them party on.

[Sinofaguo]

I've been reading those reports with great interest. I remember when insulting the king could get you in jail. Now there are protests by thousands of Thais against the monarchy. Things are changing. Whither Thailand? Whither our hobby in its most favored destination?

While there are plenty of good reasons to protests, lets not be naive on why these protests are happening now and and who is fueling them...

First look at National Endowment for Democracy and other similar structures which have been created under Reagan to takeover the job from the CIA into destabilising other country but using democracy as an excuse to make it popular in the media.
https://williamblum.org/chapters/rogue-state/trojan-horse-the-national-endowment-for-democracy

Second look at how Mike Pompeo, former director of the CIA and current state secretary has been pressuring asian countries to take sides in the US vs China cold war.

Third look at the proximity of the thai protests with the HK protests in terms of methods, in terms of wording, and look at how close the leaders have been both online and in real life through meetings with US third parties medling.

[EihTooms]

I never even dreamed of insulting King Bhumibol the Great or watching The King and I (banned in Thailand)...

The King and I might have been banned decades ago but not for the past several years. I have a great blu-ray disc of the 1956 musical version with Yul Brynner that includes Thai subtitles that I bought openly displayed on the shelf at a Thai owned home video store in Fortune Town mall at mrt Phra Ram 9. It is not censored or edited in any way from its original USA theatrical release. The girls love it. I must have watched it a half dozen times with different Thai girls here.

I understand there was some sensitivity about it in the past. But there is only one sequence in it that I could see being taken as insulting to the King's intelligence. A funny bit where, due to her superior English language skills, he dictates a letter to the English school teacher offering to send "two male elephants" to then President Lincoln to be released into the American wild so they can produce a herd of elephants to help him win the Civil War. She interrupts and tells him he might not really mean "two male elephants". He looks puzzled, dismisses her and walks away with "you fix up the details!"

On the surface that bit of comedy could be taken as insulting his intelligence, as though the King did not know it takes a male and a female to make a baby. Highly unlikely. But I think the author actually based the joke on a Thai language quirk that does not differentiate between male and female genders. For example, there is one word in Thai for girlfriend OR boyfriend ("fan"). And many times Thais refer to "she/her" when they really mean "he/him" and vice versa because their language does not generally differentiate in that way. There is a brief allusion to that language quirk earlier in the movie when the female English teacher is addressed a couple of times as "Sir."

I suppose the offence to the King could have been that Yul Brynner was not Thai. But it seems they have gotten over it as it is on the home video version at least.

Also, there are more recent live action (non Thai actor playing the King) and animated versions of The King and I that have played on Netflix Thailand off and on over the years.

Oh, one interesting side note about The King and I is the King's number one son in that story, the one Brynner's King hands the reigns of power to as he is dying and the new young King immediately begins to decree a more liberal demeanor with regard to royalty by the royal subjects is King Chulalongkorn, the King for whom a notable universitiy, hospital, etc in Bangkok are named.

[GettingFedUp]

I am also aware of how King Bhumibol the Great became king when the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces surrendered.

Your awareness is flawed. The Japanese announced their surrender in August 1945 and the surrender agreement was signed on 2 September 1945. King Bhumibol became king when his brother died "in mysterious circumstances" on 9 June 1946. There's plenty of conflicting reading matter and conspiracy theories out there about these "Mysterious circumstances" but I've never seen any linking it to the Imperial Japanese occupation of (or alliance with, depending on viewpoint) Thailand during WW2.

Indeed neither of them were even in Thailand during WW2.

There is no vaccine against machettes.

Machetes don't stop M16 rounds. Let us all hope it doesn't come to that this time.

[PedroMorales]

I am very aware of the rules of lèse-majesté in Thailand. I once almost got lynched because taxi drivers thought I had insulted the Royal Flowers in Chiang Mai when King Bhumibol the Great ruled. I tired to save two Belgian arrested at gun point for defacing a 50 baht note with his head on it. I know the drill backwards. I am also ware of this web site's long standing policy towards King Bhumibol the Great. I am also aware of how King Bhumibol the Great became king when the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces surrendered.

I never even dreamed of insulting King Bhumibol the Great or watching The King and I (banned in Thailand).

However, King Bhumibol the Great is dead. He lived mostly in Hua Hin. This bloke is shacked up in Germany with 1000 Hi soc Thai hookers. It is all over international media. I am not making any positive or negative comment. Just saying the balloon is going up and it is not going to be pleasant.

Thailand is the Land of Smiles. But Pol Pot always smiled. It is going to be nasty. I was chatting to some Pattaya hookers tonight, They have nothing. Such people are dangerous. Guys here want to get a shot of some untested vaccine. There is no vaccine against machettes.

Not sure where you're presently residing Pedro but if in Thailand I would caution against sharing anti monarchy sentiments online. Not wise.

[Lobowmc]

Is this money ever used to help the Thai people?

Thailand Has a good economy. I always wonder why all the money goes.

[PedroMorales]

I've been reading those reports with great interest. I remember when insulting the king could get you in jail. Now there are protests by thousands of Thais against the monarchy. Things are changing. Whither Thailand? Whither our hobby in its most favored destination?

There are contrary reports too, saying the demos are small and foreign led. I see Thailand as being in play to contain China. The King is not helping. I would expect farang to find themselves literally in the firing line as the economy tanks. All this nonsense talk of a vaccine, when none exist for flus and people dispensing polio shots have been shot. The new normal is to get some providers and do things low key. A lot of Thais, I'd say, would love to see the back of Pattaya, the LBFMs and their lovers. Thailand is overdue an eruption.

[Turgid]

Here is an article summarising the current protests and current attitudes to the current monarch: https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/thail...tpRSYaVukl3qV0.

If you are interested in Thailand, you should read it as there is a lot of violence around the corner. The Thais have had enough and I imagine the farang will have a heavy toll to pay. The article seems very informed, much more so than LBFMs and those who idolise them.

I've been reading those reports with great interest. I remember when insulting the king could get you in jail. Now there are protests by thousands of Thais against the monarchy. Things are changing. Whither Thailand? Whither our hobby in its most favored destination?

[EihTooms]

A correction? We aren't required as you noted for everyone on Medicare? Currently as far as I know it isn't required if you have a Retirement Extension Immigration O, which I have had for 15 years and it isn't required only Visa currently Immigration O-A!

You're right, I was just thinking of USA citizens over the age of 65 where Medicare coverage for a Covid vaccine was in question who are also O-A Non Immigrant long stay/retirement visa holders.