General Reports

[Syzygies]

Good info, thanks Syzgies. Does the letter "k" always sound like a "g" as in Kanchanaburi? I'll never be able to learn Thai but I would like to improve my pronunciation a bit.

Yes most people would be surprised it sounds like GARN-chana-booree. Kan sounding Garn is a common Thai girl's name, too, short for Kanchana (sounds like Garn-ja-nar), or also can be short form of Sukanya.

In most Thai words or syllables starting with a K, it sounds like a G (but lacking a buzz or vibration of an English G). If they really want the English K sound, then Kh will be used, as in Sukhumvit / Sukhumwit.

Hence Bongkot massage sounds like Bong-got. Kai sounds like Gai and is the chicken. Khai is the egg.

To get and English T or P (aspirated) sound, usually use Th or Ph in the English spelling of the Thai word, as in Thai and Phuket.

An English Th sound does not exist in Thai language, nor in German. Other English sounds that don't exist in Thai:
Th, Sh, v, x, z,
and lots of consonant sounds in English never appear at the end of a Thai word, e.g.:
f, h, j, l, q, r, s.

Thai l and r are a bit different to English versions.

Many Thai vowel sounds are rather different to English vowels and closer to European vowel sounds like in German as an example.

Unfortunately it takes a very long time to learn Thai pronunciation properly, to include the tones. I would say first 6 months of learning Thai is concentrating on pronunciation. That is the hard part. Vocab is not so tough and Grammar is easy, so little to learn. If someone gets past the first 6 months of hard work, Thai gets a lot easier over time.

I try to learn Isaan too now, however find the pronunciation of the tones very difficult to comprehend, and difficult to find any teacher that can explain it properly, even if they speak Isaan. So the tones are different to normal Thai. Tricky.

[Allover]

Something I thought was very amusing: There is no such place as the River Kwai in Thailand. It is actually the river Kwae (sounds like Qua as in Quack) in province Kanchanaburi (pronounced Garn-chana- booree). Kwai means buffalo but has no relevance at all to the famous river near the "death railway". I guess westerners changed the name to Kwai to make it easier to pronounce but most Thais would have no idea what is being spoken of with wrong pronunciation. As a newbie to Thailand, taxis would misunderstand where I wanted to go, purely because I could not pronounce places properly.

If you tell the taxi to take you to Colonze, you have better pronounce it Co-lawn-SAY, or they will look baffled. And La Defense becomes Lar-day-fawng, Chao Phya 2 becomes Jao-Phra-Yar Song. Its all so tricky for a newbie.

I was once taken to the wrong place because I did not say "In-trar" when I wanted to go to the Indra Regent Hotel. I ended up at the Regent Hotel instead.

First time I asked a taxi to go to Henri Dunant road I had no idea it had to be pronounced: "Ang-ree-doo-nang". I don't know if this is close to the French way or not.

Maybe print a Map including Thai writing if you cannot say it the Thai way, although not sure that Thais can read Maps. LOL.

The most important one of all, there is a place called Pattaya, which does not sound at all like Pa-THAI-ya. It must be like Put-a-yar (Put rhymes with nut), and Phuket sounds like Poo-get.

What makes it all difficult is the English spellings for Thai places are often way off. Thais often spell person names into English in very silly ways too.
The ex prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. His surname is actually sounding like Wait-char-chee-wa. In Thai อภิสิทธิ์ เวชชาชีวะ
There is no letter V sound in Thai language. Sukhumvit road is really Sukhumwit road.

Some guy recently reported his girl was called Van. Since English V sound does not exist in Thai, it probably should have been Waen which means "ring", a common Thai girls name.

Good info, thanks Syzgies. Does the letter "k" always sound like a "g" as in Kanchanaburi? I'll never be able to learn Thai but I would like to improve my pronunciation a bit.

[Syzygies]

Something I thought was very amusing: There is no such place as the River Kwai in Thailand. It is actually the river Kwae (sounds like Qua as in Quack) in province Kanchanaburi (pronounced Garn-chana- booree). Kwai means buffalo but has no relevance at all to the famous river near the "death railway". I guess westerners changed the name to Kwai to make it easier to pronounce but most Thais would have no idea what is being spoken of with wrong pronunciation. As a newbie to Thailand, taxis would misunderstand where I wanted to go, purely because I could not pronounce places properly.

If you tell the taxi to take you to Colonze, you have better pronounce it Co-lawn-SAY, or they will look baffled. And La Defense becomes Lar-day-fawng, Chao Phya 2 becomes Jao-Phra-Yar Song. Its all so tricky for a newbie.

I was once taken to the wrong place because I did not say "In-trar" when I wanted to go to the Indra Regent Hotel. I ended up at the Regent Hotel instead.

First time I asked a taxi to go to Henri Dunant road I had no idea it had to be pronounced: "Ang-ree-doo-nang". I don't know if this is close to the French way or not.

Maybe print a Map including Thai writing if you cannot say it the Thai way, although not sure that Thais can read Maps. LOL.

The most important one of all, there is a place called Pattaya, which does not sound at all like Pa-THAI-ya. It must be like Put-a-yar (Put rhymes with nut), and Phuket sounds like Poo-get.

What makes it all difficult is the English spellings for Thai places are often way off. Thais often spell person names into English in very silly ways too.
The ex prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. His surname is actually sounding like Wait-char-chee-wa. In Thai อภิสิทธิ์ เวชชาชีวะ
There is no letter V sound in Thai language. Sukhumvit road is really Sukhumwit road.

Some guy recently reported his girl was called Van. Since English V sound does not exist in Thai, it probably should have been Waen which means "ring", a common Thai girls name.

[Syzygies]

Check Inn 99 (with the Philippean band) has relocated:

From 01 August 2016 edition of "The Midnight Hour":

"When the Check Inn 99 closed on July 2 (or the wee hours of July 3.) of this year, a new home had already been found on Soi 24. And for consistency's sake, it would be another (soft) merger. This time with the Admiral's Pub & Restaurant. And for consistency's sake, yet again, both signages may be found on entering. It will be interesting to see what the final signage will read. But you can take it to your bookie that it will have a "99" therein. ".

Also look here for pics of Chrome bar and Wood Bar (the new Dr. BJ frontages), (find "Chrome bar"):
http://www.bangkokeyes.com/

[Squalid]

I recall some "know it all" (I forget his handle just now) on the forum, well before the Nataree raids happened, rubbishing me, when I suggested that many girls there did not have full freedom to do what they like and that Traffic-ing was going on (and many non Thai girls), big time. I am only just catching up with the old news now, as was overseas not paying attention..

Where in the article of thePhuketnews is written that the girls in Nataree had not full freedom to leave the job? I read that many of them were "lured" to work at Nataree. English is not my first language but I think that "lured" does not mean "compelled", "forced" or "constrained".

I have been with several girls at Nataree and all of them showed me a good smile, either before the session and after (when I gave them their tip, LOL). My experience is that I never had the impression to be with someone forced to stay there.

The investigations director of the "anti-traffic ing organization" who provided the audio recordings proving that the girls were "lured" into prostitution at Nataree, now is surely very happy that the women were fined and are lacking the full freedom to leave the detention center.

[VishudJb]

I recall some "know it all" (I forget his handle just now) on the forum, well before the Nataree raids happened, rubbishing me, when I suggested that many girls there did not have full freedom to do what they like and that Traffic-ing was going on (and many non Thai girls), big time. I am only just catching up with the old news now, as was overseas not paying attention.

http://www.thephuketnews.com/five-br...rges-57836.php#BB1 WEjKTrAywZFVp. 97.

Apologies I could not find any really recent news popping up from a search.

Now I recall Mr. Ixgzca, saying these things were in the past, (on 18 july 2015 - I found it by search):
http://www.internationalsexguide.inf...=1#post1748265

Naturally I feel sorry for the girls caught up in this problem. Plenty of girls have the unfortunate problem of not being legal simply because they were not born in Thailand. Obviously the legal girls can just move to some other place to work. Let girls make an honest living, providing there are no pimps to control them.

I much prefer uncontrolled girls free to do whatever they want, free to turn up to work as little as they please, etc.

Nice FR with good information bro.

[Mr Enternational]

I much prefer uncontrolled girls free to do whatever they want, free to turn up to work as little as they please, etc.

I wish I could do the same at work. But unfortunately a business can't be run when employees get to come to work only when they choose. But if you work for yourself and are your own boss, then hey, knock yourself out. Even then, you are going to lose customers if you choose to work sporadically.

[Syzygies]

I recall some "know it all" (I forget his handle just now) on the forum, well before the Nataree raids happened, rubbishing me, when I suggested that many girls there did not have full freedom to do what they like and that Traffic-ing was going on (and many non Thai girls), big time. I am only just catching up with the old news now, as was overseas not paying attention.

http://www.thephuketnews.com/five-br...rges-57836.php#BB1 WEjKTrAywZFVp. 97.

Apologies I could not find any really recent news popping up from a search.

Now I recall Mr. Ixgzca, saying these things were in the past, (on 18 july 2015 - I found it by search):
http://www.internationalsexguide.inf...=1#post1748265

Naturally I feel sorry for the girls caught up in this problem. Plenty of girls have the unfortunate problem of not being legal simply because they were not born in Thailand. Obviously the legal girls can just move to some other place to work. Let girls make an honest living, providing there are no pimps to control them.

I much prefer uncontrolled girls free to do whatever they want, free to turn up to work as little as they please, etc.

[Dashy767]

I have fucked both of them.

Pam twice. She has a car and one time she met me at the airport.

They are both great pieces of ass and very nice.

Google.

Pam has new boobs now. No lb. YMMV but personally she takes care and is honest.

Definitely not Lb. PM me for latest details and photos. Could not upload.

[Dinghy]

Reads like a novel. Throw in some adventures featuring lions and man eating tribals, this could be the next Oscar winner.

Separate thought. I wonder how this poor prince charming is doing now, rescuing a bar girl is hard work.

Well, there is an old saying - "you can take the girl out of the bar, but you can't take the bar out of the girl. "

[D Cups]

Rawlinson must be gay or some kind of preacher fanatic or both QUOTE=Intransit;1 l-pay-for-bad-things-weve-done-revelations-of-aussie-sex-tourists-.

[Intransit]

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel...3aa5a2c1547acd

'Do you think we'll pay for bad things we've done?' Revelations of Aussie sex tourists in Thailand.

July 4, 20166:59 pm.

Two Thai women working at a bar in the red light district in Bangkok, a popular destination for Australia sex tourists.

IT'S a warm Monday evening, and somewhere in southeast Asia an Australian man is about to enter a bar filled with beautiful young women.

Dan isn't ashamed to say that he's spent a lot of time in karaoke bars and red light districts around Thailand. After all, he's just one of many Western men doing the same thing.

But while Dan could be your average Australian sex tourist there's one thing that sets him apart; he's actually an undercover rescue worker, searching for [CodeWord902] girls and trafficking victims.

"It's a rough industry," he admits, as we talk of the girls he has seen rescued and the men who travel to Thailand to purchase them.

While the exact figures vary, research has shown Australian men to be among the largest contributors to sex tourism in southeast Asia, with cities such as Pattaya becoming a "home away from home" for an increasing number of Australian retirees.

However, despite being surrounded by beautiful beaches, cheap dining and endless sex, Dan says that many of the Western sex tourists he meets still feel like "something is missing".

"These men who've moved to Thailand, moved to Pattaya, moved to Bangkok, they've all got the same story," he says, sharing with me about the sex tourists and expats he's gotten to know over the years.

"They think coming to Thailand for sex is going to fill a void in their lives, so they pursue this dream — and then they realise that the lifestyle they've chosen is empty and meaningless. ".

Over the years Dan has spent time talking to many western sex tourists, many of whom — he says — seem to share a hauntingly universal story of broken relationships and regrets.

"At first they say, 'I get sex whenever I want, it's great!' But when you go a little bit deeper they always talk about their broken relationships, and how their marriage was the only one time that they felt true intimacy and love; that they could truly trust somebody," he reveals.

In particular, Dan remembers an Australian man who threw away his relationship back home to follow a lifestyle of freedom and pleasure in Thailand; a decision the man admitted was the 'biggest regret of his life. '.

"he tried everything to fill the void," says Dan. "Sex with young girls, sex with ladyboys, everything. And then one day he got to a point where he was like, 'what's next? What's left to try?

"I was sitting next to him, and out on the street in front of us were deaf girls, prostituting. He said: 'Hmm, deaf girls. Do you think they might be a good root?

It's easy to understand the emotional toll that such work takes on rescue workers and anti-trafficking staff like Dan, but it's a cause he says he never regrets leaving Australia for.

"Sometimes I wish that my calling was back in Australia, but there's a lot of hurt and broken girls that need assistance, and that's why I'm here," he says.

Sharing with me the impact that his work has had on him, Dan says that journeying into red light districts at times feels like he is entering the "most evil places on earth," but the joy that comes from helping young women inspires him to keep going.

"When we first meet them the girls they hate themselves. These girls were raped and abused, and now they feel that's all they're worth," he says. "So to see them loving life and thriving is what gets me off. ".

It's evident that Dan feels deeply for each of these girls, and his voice is often drenched with emotion as he talks about the damage done to young women at the hands of men looking to satisfy their own lust.

"Men pay for sex and then they leave; they don't journey with the girl," he says. "They don't see her crying in her room. They don't see the side I see after a rescue.

"The more men that have had sex with them, the harder it is and the less worth they feel. Lots of guys say 'they love it, they love this work. ' No, they don't," Dan says emotionally.

As I listen to Dan recount story after story, I wonder how a man so moved by justice can bear to speak to the men who purchase girls and women for sex. After all, many of the girls he has seen rescued were once raped and paid for by western sex tourists, men who Dan says excuse their behavior by claiming that they are helping the women.

"I feel like saying, 'if your daughter ended up in Thailand and didn't have any way to make money, and she was working in one of these bars, would you mind if I went and had sex with her? Would you see that as me helping her?

"They would do anything to get them out of there, but they justify it when it's a Thai girl," he says.

Incredibly however, for a man who has at times seen the worst of humanity, and heard every possible excuse, Dan can't help but feel sadness for the men he meets.

"Understandably, a lot of people in Australia, a lot of women, look at these men with bitterness and hatred and anger, but when you talk to these men, you realise the truth; that they're hurting men, they're lost men, they're men who've made decisions that have set them on a path of destruction," he explains.

"I remember one man asking, 'do you think after we die, we'll have to pay for all of these bad things that we've done? He recalls.

Recognising that each of these men are fighting their own battles does not mean that Dan condones their behavior, but rather, he understands that sex tourists need help to overcome their addictions — which in some cases, are killing them.

Over the past five years there have been many reports of Western men "obsessed with the Pattaya lifestyle" committing suicide from their hotel balconies; some of which have been caught on camera.

"Pattaya is meant to be the capital for men who want to move overseas for sex, but so many men commit suicide there," says Dan sadly.

"We were working with police and they showed us a video of a guy who threw himself off his balcony. They call it the 'Pattaya Plunge. '.

Discussions on the website 'Thai Visa' show that Western suicides are common, with many referring to the mysterious deaths as 'the Pattaya Flyers club. ' Some attribute the high rate of deaths to the region's wild and unsustainable lifestyle.

" . All the balcony jumpers is becoming all too frequent (sic)," says one user.

"Maybe after all it isn't paradise here, as some want us to believe?" says another.

It's an issue that has caught the attention of several organisations and ministry groups around Thailand such as Night Light International, and the MST Project, both of which aim to provide support to male sex tourists.

It's something that Dan agrees is well needed, not only to help men overcome their addictions, but to also help stop the damage done to young girls caught in the industry.

"I think if there were a group of men who went to the bars to meet these guys — not to preach at them — but to get alongside these men, to become mates with them and listen to their stories. That would definitely help," Dan says.

As we come to the end of our chat, I ask the rescue worker what he would say to these men if he could say anything; if he didn't have to hide who he was.

"If I could say everything and anything, I guess it would be: 'are you happy with who you've become, are you happy with this life?

"You can use all your skills and abilities to help people, not to take from them," he says.

"It's not too late to turn things around and become the man you're proud of. ".

[Blanquiceleste]

Very unlikely story.

SNIP

former bad girl, saved by a prince on a white horse, now repenting and admonishing would be "sideliners" to give up their wicked ways? Really?

Reads like a novel. Throw in some adventures featuring lions and man eating tribals, this could be the next Oscar winner.

Separate thought. I wonder how this poor prince charming is doing now, rescuing a bar girl is hard work.

[Mr Enternational]

Very unlikely story. 500 000 baht per month at a rate of 7 000 baht per customer is over 70 customers per month or 2 to 3 per day, every day!

I don't call that a "siideline girl" who "occasionally" has some paid sex.

At those prices, she'd be happy to catch one customer a day, some days, if she's lucky.

I call B.S. on that story: former bad girl, saved by a prince on a white horse, now repenting and admonishing would be "sideliners" to give up their wicked ways? Really?

Why do they make it so obvious? I went from 500,000 baht per month fucking 2 guys per day for 6 years (totalling over US$1 million) to making 8000 baht per month doing what kind of job all day in an office with a university education. Likely story.

[Wolvenvacht]

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/06/2...r-story-online

In Bangkok, "sideline" girls or "freelancers" are students, or women with day jobs, who aren't opposed to occasionally being paid for sex when they have overdue bills or the new iPhone comes out.

Recently, a former sideline girl, who says she has given up the sex work that generated her THB500,000 a month, shared her story on the popular Thai forum Pantip with the title, "Sideline Girl Repents. ".

Very unlikely story. 500 000 baht per month at a rate of 7 000 baht per customer is over 70 customers per month or 2 to 3 per day, every day!

I don't call that a "siideline girl" who "occasionally" has some paid sex.

At those prices, she'd be happy to catch one customer a day, some days, if she's lucky.

I call B.S. on that story: former bad girl, saved by a prince on a white horse, now repenting and admonishing would be "sideliners" to give up their wicked ways? Really?