Pattaya Reports

[QUOTE=Al Grace;1254560]The movie experience sounds interesting. Were many other people sharing the experience? (I mean the pre movie reception experience and not the under the blanket experience)[/QUOTE]It was almost like a private theatre. These was nobody else in the entire theatre but it was a late show on Saturday night. Tickets for the First Class theatre are 700 baht per person compared to the standard seat theatre of 150 baht per person. Of course that's the whole idea of First Class to charge several times the price to get more room & better service, right?

[QUOTE=Wolf Hound; 1254738]Nice work Sushi. I don't have PM but would appreciate her number.

Thanks[/QUOTE]Please pay your $20 membership fee to ISG like the rest have done & you will be able to PM as we do.

Today was my second visit to Fairtex Sport & Racquet Club as a guest of a friend. The usual guest fee is 300 baht. Included are rock climbing & 15 minutes of muai thai training. There are also lots of free weights & machines, aerobic & yoga classes, a large swimming pool, sauna, steam room, showers with soap, complementary towel service, & a juice bar. These is also a squash court but today a couple old farts were kinda racquetball in that court. It was mildly entertaining to watch.

Today, I went specifically to do the rock climbing. It was very tough. The Muay Thai training involving punching & kicking trainers was challenging but fun. FYI - getting there is about 50 baht & about 15 minutes by motortaxi from Soi 13 & 2nd road, near the Avenue shopping mall. It's a fun way to spend the afternoon so checkout their website then see it in person!

[url]http://www.fairtexpattaya.com/[/url]

After my workout, I had a 7:30 dinner with a different female Thai friend at Sukishi Korean BBQ on the 5th floor at Central Festival. [url]http://www.sukishigroup.com/th/index.php[/url] Sushi appetizer, Special Korean seafood grill platter for 2, a whole fish side dish, drinks, & dessert was just under 1200 baht. After dinner, we played a few video games then went for a nightcap before she went home around 12:30. Nice time, like a first date, with a normal English-speaking girl with a regular day job. Of course, no monetary gift but I paid for everything.

On my 15 minute walk back to my hotel along beach road, I found a very slender 28 yo girl. She asked 500 baht for FS (including BBBJ). I asked for non-face pictures and anal for more baht but she declined both. Service was just barely satisfactory from this "bare bones" skinny girl but no CIM, no extra anything. Before she left, I again offered 200 baht more for pictures of her body, not her face but she declined. This is the first time I was inclined NOT to tip & DIDN'T. Perhaps my Canadian lunch friend is influencing me. Sorry, no pictures today. Oh well, less for her means more for the next girl.

The point of this is that decent 500 baht service providers can easily be found on Beach Road in just a few minutes while walking back to your hotel from dinner. Happy hunting!

Fellow ISG Members,

I'm leaving on Friday so let's all get together for lunch on Thursday, March 8 at 12 noon at the EDGE restaurant on the 15th floor at the Hilton Hotel to trade stories! Newbies are welcome to come & ask questions! There is a great buffet for only 350 baht (including tax & service charge). Drinks are extra. We each pay for our own lunch & drinks as the restaurant will do seperate checks. I went to this restaurant yesterday with a fellow ISG member & it was fantastic. Added benefit. It was great fun watching young Thai girls with foreign boyfriends!

Please reply here or PM if you are able to come so I can make a reservation for us.

The King of Pattaya. Mr. Enternational, are you in?

Edge Restaurant at the Hilton: This contemporary Pattaya restaurant caters for a wide variety of tastes offering a selection of delicious international and Asian favorites. The mood is relaxed and welcoming, offering casual dining by day and transforming into a stylish venue with a seductive vibe by night. Located on level 14 of the Hilton Pattaya hotel, Edge offers indoor and outdoor terrace dining, stunning views of Pattaya Bay and an abundance of natural light.

[url]http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/BKKHPHI-Hilton-Pattaya-hotel/dining.do[/url]

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE3i1ppy8xU[/url]

[QUOTE=Sushilover808; 1254899]Fellow ISG Members,

I'm leaving on Friday so let's all get together for lunch on Thursday, March 8 at 12 noon at the EDGE restaurant on the 15th floor at the Hilton Hotel to trade stories![/QUOTE]Count me in on that.

[QUOTE=Sushilover808;1254873]It was almost like a private theatre. These was nobody else in the entire theatre but it was a late show on Saturday night. Tickets for the First Class theatre are 700 baht per person compared to the standard seat theatre of 150 baht per person. Of course that's the whole idea of First Class to charge several times the price to get more room & better service, right?[/QUOTE]To Sushi

I don't know how cinema stay in business in Thailand local don't go the movie much, most of the time the theatre is only 25 % full and that go for most country in Asia you can buy DVD so cheap even before it hit the theatre, did you try any BJ bar yet I cannot believe you waste time going to the movie instead of some live actions.

Fast Eddie 48

[QUOTE=Sushilover808;1254873]It was almost like a private theatre. These was nobody else in the entire theatre but it was a late show on Saturday night. Tickets for the First Class theatre are 700 baht per person compared to the standard seat theatre of 150 baht per person. Of course that's the whole idea of First Class to charge several times the price to get more room & better service, right?[/QUOTE]I love the theater at Central Festival. I have been to all 3 types there and love them all. The 1st Class, The Porch, and the regularones.

The porch has nice Beds you get to lie on and watch a movie with your date. 1 drink included and nice huge bed.

I love 1st class too with their reclining seats and blankets.

Can't go wrong and the price is reasonable compard to American theater's with TOP NOTCH service.

Headd back for 1 month in April / may during Songkran and will see many movi again.

A piece on Sex Workers today in one of the papers.

[quote]BANGKOK:. Being a sex worker these days isn't what it used to be, at least for those whose rights are backed up by the Empower Foundation. Much has improved. No more pimps or mamasans, and fewer punches thrown their way. Being "rescued", though, causes them all sorts of problems.

Most people remain unaware of the dramatic new context in the flesh trade, Empower director Chantawipa Apisuk said at the recent release of a report,"Hit & Run: Sex Workers' Research on Anti-trafficking in Thailand".

"We have now reached a point in history where there are more women in the Thai sex industry being abused by anti-trafficking practices than there are women exploited by traffickers," she said.

The government and the agencies that abet its efforts to "help" prostitutes have, in many ways, gone too far in enforcing the Prevention and Suppression of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url] Act.

The modern sex worker has work tools apart from makeup and condoms, said Chantawipa, who founded Empower in 1985 to safeguard their rights. They have cell phones and the Internet. Rather than greedy pimps, their support network is centred on a trusted tuk-tuk driver or the local motorcycle-taxi guy who takes them around and protects them.

These people have designated workplaces. Restaurants, massage parlours, go-go bars, beer bars or karaoke clubs. Their work might also entail dancing for or drinking beer with the customers.

More than 20, 000 sex workers make use of Empower's contact points in 11 provinces in the North, Northeast and Central region, including several on the Burmese border.

Empower has seen the industry develop continuously through three decades and 10 governments. Sex work is now widely regarded as a quasi-legitimate profession, with its own form of employers and self-employed workers.

Inevitably, though, prostitution remains a crime in the eyes of many, and those plying the trade are treated accordingly.

But the kindlier view, that they are victims of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url], isn't a great deal of help either, Chantawipa said. Legislation aimed at stopping the trafficking of people has had a serious adverse effect.

The "Hit & Run" report is an effort to assess the state of the profession. More than 200 sex workers helped the foundation conduct a survey over the course of 12 months, in bars, restaurants and brothels across the county and even into Burma and Laos.

"We trained them in legal rights," Chantawipa said, although some were already university graduates and several even had law degrees."We call them our 'high-heeled human-rights defenders'."

It's a play on the term "barefoot lawyer". A solicitor who cares about justice rather than fees. Explains Liz Hilton. She's worked with the foundation for nearly 20 years and helped coordinated the project and the associated Rapid Action Training for Sex Workers.

"The first round of training was done in 12-month blocks in 2008 and 2009. There were 23 sex workers. Men, women and transgender people."

The survey determined that more than 50,000 sex workers have been involved with Empower since it started, including migrants mainly from Laos, Burma, China and Cambodia.

Migration, it was noted, is part of the "culture" of sex work, and the brokers involved in transporting people are generally seen as helpful. Most don't charge exorbitant rates for their service.

One of the "high-heeled rights defenders", Sasumi from Mae Sai in Chiang Rai, said she often helps fellow sex workers with legal matters when they're arrested. She's been in the business since she was 20. She's now 27. "I've seen a lot of improvement in the workplaces," she said.

"We're better off there than taking a risk waiting around on the street. If better choices are available, then naturally we choose them."

Nang from Mukdahan, who also helped with the survey, said few women arrested under the anti-trafficking legislation know what it is."They're just going to work, they think, so why are they being arrested?"

Mala moved to Mae Sot because she couldn't earn enough money there for her family. Muay moved across the border to Mae Sai, convinced that whatever Thailand offered had to be better than what she left. Picked up under the anti-trafficking law, they both got sent back.

"We came to build new lives for our families, not to be sent home empty-handed and ashamed," explained Dang Moo, another Burmese sex worker in Mae Sot.

Kiaw from Laos pleaded for understanding among the Thai public and authorities that sex workers prefer not to break any laws."We aren't criminals. We're just honest people trying to build better lives." The women might build a house for their parents or put a kid brother through school.

But the anti-trafficking law regards sex workers as victims, so those who enforce it believe they are "rescuing" the prostitutes. That just makes things worse, say the sex workers.

"Before I was arrested I was working happily, had no debt, and was free to move around the city," said Nok, a Burmese."Now I'm in debt, I'm scared most of the time, and it's not safe to move around. How can they call this 'help'?"

Once "rescued" and after a period of detainment, the foreign workers are deported (only to return at the first chance) and the Thais usually have to undergo vocational training.

"Thai society still looks at sex workers in the old context," Chantawipa said, and even the government's "modern" view of sex workers as victims is outdated. The aim now is to get the government and other concerned parties to stop using the word "victim", to stop putting trafficking and sex work in the same category.

Riddled with loopholes, the anti-trafficking law meanwhile is undercutting women's efforts in other areas, Chantawipa said. It confuses the organisations opposed to trafficking about sex workers' true status. Are they criminals or the victims of criminals?

NEW CONTEXT.

Empower's survey has determined that:

- Today's sex worker provides enough income to take good care of the family.

- Their workplace. Usually an evening entertainment venue. Has regulations, covering work schedule and monthly salary paid according to skill level. Thus, sex workers are employees.

- Gone, for the most part, are the days of random arrest, regular violence, pimps, the prostitution mafia and the "green harvest", when girls are recruited upcountry. In their place are helpful "older brothers". The motorcycle-taxi or tuk-tuk driver, the bar manager.

- Sex workers now have Hi-tech tools like smart phones and the Internet, and they're also skilled at using them.

Nighlife's tapestry.

Empower launched its research project last month with a one-day exhibition at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, displaying the "Mida Tapestry", sewn by migrant sex workers as a way to document and show the impact police raids have on their lives. It carries a second message in that the detained sex workers are regularly forced or offered sewing lessons as a cure-all for social ills.[/quote]

Thailand's sex workers are off the streets, in safe workplaces. They don't want to be 'rescued'

BANGKOK:. Being a sex worker these days isn't what it used to be, at least for those whose rights are backed up by the Empower Foundation. Much has improved. No more pimps or mamasans, and fewer punches thrown their way. Being "rescued", though, causes them all sorts of problems.

Most people remain unaware of the dramatic new context in the flesh trade, Empower director Chantawipa Apisuk said at the recent release of a report,"Hit & Run: Sex Workers' Research on Anti-trafficking in Thailand".

"We have now reached a point in history where there are more women in the Thai sex industry being abused by anti-trafficking practices than there are women exploited by traffickers," she said.

The government and the agencies that abet its efforts to "help" prostitutes have, in many ways, gone too far in enforcing the Prevention and Suppression of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url] Act.

The modern sex worker has work tools apart from makeup and condoms, said Chantawipa, who founded Empower in 1985 to safeguard their rights. They have cell phones and the Internet. Rather than greedy pimps, their support network is centred on a trusted tuk-tuk driver or the local motorcycle-taxi guy who takes them around and protects them.

These people have designated workplaces. Restaurants, massage parlours, go-go bars, beer bars or karaoke clubs. Their work might also entail dancing for or drinking beer with the customers.

More than 20, 000 sex workers make use of Empower's contact points in 11 provinces in the North, Northeast and Central region, including several on the Burmese border.

Empower has seen the industry develop continuously through three decades and 10 governments. Sex work is now widely regarded as a quasi-legitimate profession, with its own form of employers and self-employed workers.

Inevitably, though, prostitution remains a crime in the eyes of many, and those plying the trade are treated accordingly.

But the kindlier view, that they are victims of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord908][CodeWord908][/url], isn't a great deal of help either, Chantawipa said. Legislation aimed at stopping the trafficking of people has had a serious adverse effect.

The "Hit & Run" report is an effort to assess the state of the profession. More than 200 sex workers helped the foundation conduct a survey over the course of 12 months, in bars, restaurants and brothels across the county and even into Burma and Laos.

"We trained them in legal rights," Chantawipa said, although some were already university graduates and several even had law degrees."We call them our 'high-heeled human-rights defenders'."

It's a play on the term "barefoot lawyer". A solicitor who cares about justice rather than fees. Explains Liz Hilton. She's worked with the foundation for nearly 20 years and helped coordinated the project and the associated Rapid Action Training for Sex Workers.

"The first round of training was done in 12-month blocks in 2008 and 2009. There were 23 sex workers. Men, women and transgender people."

The survey determined that more than 50, 000 sex workers have been involved with Empower since it started, including migrants mainly from Laos, Burma, China and Cambodia.

Migration, it was noted, is part of the "culture" of sex work, and the brokers involved in transporting people are generally seen as helpful. Most don't charge exorbitant rates for their service.

One of the "high-heeled rights defenders", Sasumi from Mae Sai in Chiang Rai, said she often helps fellow sex workers with legal matters when they're arrested. She's been in the business since she was 20. She's now 27."I've seen a lot of improvement in the workplaces," she said.

"We're better off there than taking a risk waiting around on the street. If better choices are available, then naturally we choose them."

Nang from Mukdahan, who also helped with the survey, said few women arrested under the anti-trafficking legislation know what it is."They're just going to work, they think, so why are they being arrested?"

Mala moved to Mae Sot because she couldn't earn enough money there for her family. Muay moved across the border to Mae Sai, convinced that whatever Thailand offered had to be better than what she left. Picked up under the anti-trafficking law, they both got sent back.

"We came to build new lives for our families, not to be sent home empty-handed and ashamed," explained Dang Moo, another Burmese sex worker in Mae Sot.

Kiaw from Laos pleaded for understanding among the Thai public and authorities that sex workers prefer not to break any laws."We aren't criminals. We're just honest people trying to build better lives." The women might build a house for their parents or put a kid brother through school.

But the anti-trafficking law regards sex workers as victims, so those who enforce it believe they are "rescuing" the prostitutes. That just makes things worse, say the sex workers.

"Before I was arrested I was working happily, had no debt, and was free to move around the city," said Nok, a Burmese."Now I'm in debt, I'm scared most of the time, and it's not safe to move around. How can they call this 'help'?"

Once "rescued" and after a period of detainment, the foreign workers are deported (only to return at the first chance) and the Thais usually have to undergo vocational training.

"Thai society still looks at sex workers in the old context," Chantawipa said, and even the government's "modern" view of sex workers as victims is outdated. The aim now is to get the government and other concerned parties to stop using the word "victim", to stop putting trafficking and sex work in the same category.

Riddled with loopholes, the anti-trafficking law meanwhile is undercutting women's efforts in other areas, Chantawipa said. It confuses the organisations opposed to trafficking about sex workers' true status. Are they criminals or the victims of criminals?

NEW CONTEXT.

Empower's survey has determined that:

- Today's sex worker provides enough income to take good care of the family.

- Their workplace. Usually an evening entertainment venue. Has regulations, covering work schedule and monthly salary paid according to skill level. Thus, sex workers are employees.

- Gone, for the most part, are the days of random arrest, regular violence, pimps, the prostitution mafia and the "green harvest", when girls are recruited upcountry. In their place are helpful "older brothers". The motorcycle-taxi or tuk-tuk driver, the bar manager.

- Sex workers now have Hi-tech tools like smart phones and the Internet, and they're also skilled at using them.

Nighlife's tapestry.

Empower launched its research project last month with a one-day exhibition at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, displaying the "Mida Tapestry", sewn by migrant sex workers as a way to document and show the impact police raids have on their lives. It carries a second message in that the detained sex workers are regularly forced or offered sewing lessons as a cure-all for social ills.

Couple of snapshots taken from my room at Queen Vic.

[QUOTE=Sushilover808; 1254899]Fellow ISG Members,

I'm leaving on Friday so let's all get together for lunch on Thursday, March 8 at 12 noon at the EDGE restaurant on the 15th floor at the Hilton Hotel to trade stories! Newbies are welcome to come & ask questions! There is a great buffet for only 350 baht (including tax & service charge). Drinks are extra. We each pay for our own lunch & drinks as the restaurant will do seperate checks. I went to this restaurant yesterday with a fellow ISG member & it was fantastic. Added benefit. It was great fun watching young Thai girls with foreign boyfriends![/QUOTE]So far, 4 ISG Members are coming to lunch at the Hilton on Thursday (tomorrow, March 8). I will make a reservation today at the Hilton Edge restaurant under Sushilover ISG. Just a reminder that the restaurant is on the 15th floor. You're welcome bring a friend to join us and you can come just for drinks if you're not hungry.

Noddy, Leggy11, Fast Eddie 48, and anyone else, please join us for some good times!

i changed hotel & scenery to soi lk metro today. this new hotel has small, medium, & large rooms for 1000, 1300, & 1500 baht per night. the medium & large rooms have a kitchennette. there is free access to a swimming pool & gym. champagne a gogo & [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord901][CodeWord901][/url]'s are right accross the street. clean large rooms & recommended!

[url]http://keeratihomestay.com/gallery.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Sushilover808; 1255295]So far. 4 ISG Members are coming to lunch at the Hilton on Thursday (tomorrow, March 8). I will make a reservation today at the Hilton Edge restaurant under Sushilover ISG. Just a reminder that the restaurant is on the 15th floor. You're welcome bring a friend to join us and you can come just for drinks if you're not hungry.

Noddy, Leggy11, Fast Eddie 48, and anyone else, please join us for some good times![/QUOTE]Thats a great idea! Pity I won't be in town for a couple of weeks. If your thinking of repeating this I would certainly attend if I'm around!

Have a great lunch!