Most of you probably know who Barry Kenyon is. He is the former British Consul for the Pattaya area and he is still very active in farang affairs and visa issues. His office is very close to the Pattaya immigration office.
Barry is always very helpful to farang, even individual farang, when issues come up.
____________________________________
Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16
By Barry Kenyon
April 17, 2020
As news continues to pour in – not always accurate – about the local impact of the Corona virus outbreak, here’s a summary of the latest developments affecting Pattaya and Chonburi-based foreigners. The topics are sometimes a mixture of national and local authority edicts.
Visas and extensions of stay
Those with short visas – 90 days and under – whose permission expired on or after March 26 are automatically extended until April 30. Most of the people currently visiting the very quiet immigration offices are holders of a 12 months’ extension of stay who need to renew their permits. They are not covered for visa renewal by the amnesty described above, although they do not need to report for the 90 days address check-in if the due date falls between March 26 and April 30. An announcement for the month of May is expected soon from national immigration headquarters. The likelihood is that the broad amnesty will continue to avoid unhealthy long queues and chaos. Nothing has been heard of the earlier suggestion to introduce remote visa extension applications by the internet.
No routine extensions to November 30
Some nationals of Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia working in Thailand, often in the construction industry, under the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding between governments) are now permitted to stay here without extension of their labour permit until the end of November 2020. But this provision is specifically for authorized and documented workers from these three countries bordering Thailand and does not apply to anyone with a passport from another country.
No free Corona treatment
Earlier reports that hospital checks and treatment for Corona-related illnesses among foreigners being free are untrue. The only farang able to claim free treatment are those with authorized work permits since they pay directly into the social security system and are linked to individual hospitals. All other foreigners must pay for any medical treatment, Corona virus-related or otherwise, at clinics and private or public hospitals or use applicable medical insurance.
The booze ban
The Chonburi governor has announced a ban on buying or transporting all alcohol until the end of the month. Unless he extends the ban, it would then be permitted to buy booze only during the hours 11.00 – 14.00 hours and 17.00-18.00 hours – a specifically Chonburi–announced regulation. There is separately a national ban on overnight alcohol sales from 18.00 to 06.00 but the tighter Chonburi time schedule would remain in force, unless cancelled by the provincial governor. The booze situation is a good example of how national and local orders can overlap.
Pattaya traffic blocks
There are eight roadblocks at intersections, all on Sukhumvit, to check vehicles coming into and leaving Pattaya City and to carry out temperature checks. In practical terms, residents of Nongprue municipality (known variously as the Dark Side or Nongprue or Banglamung) will not automatically be able to pass into Pattaya City by crossing Sukhumvit. The same will be true vice-versa. There have been reports of spot checks at other locations too. It is best for farang drivers to carry face masks for all passengers, have a bottle of hands’ sanitizer and keep original and blown-up A4 copies of relevant documents, including passport, driving licence and proof of residence. If travelling outside the permitted area by driving on Sukhumvit, you should also have documentation showing the purpose of travel, e.g., hospital appointment letter. Foreigners with work permits will have been separately advised by their employer. The road blocks are temporary until the end of April, unless decreed otherwise, and are in operation daily outside curfew hours.
Curfew hours
The Pattaya lockdown above is a provincial decision and quite separate from the national curfew which lasts nightly from 22.00 – 04.00 hours until April 30 or until changed. Everyone must be at home during these hours. The exceptions are very tight and largely restricted to government personnel, Thai overnight workers with dispensation and deliverers of food and essential items. However, foreigners will be permitted to go to airports with a relevant ticket. Ambulances or transfer to hospital of obviously injured people are allowed.
https://www.pattayamail.com/news/farang ... -16-295762
See also: Pattaya Mail's "Corona Virus Central" for additional information - https://www.pattayamail.com/coronavirus ... ral-292004
Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16 • By Barry Kenyon
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Gaybutton
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Re: Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16 • By Barry Kenyon
Great Summary of Events.
Barry is a great guy...extremely knowledgeable...and explains things factually and concisely which is greatly appreciated.
Barry is a great guy...extremely knowledgeable...and explains things factually and concisely which is greatly appreciated.
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Daleinpattaya
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Re: Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16 • By Barry Kenyon
Would be great if this could become a Gaybutton regular feature… Thanks for posting
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Gaybutton
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Re: Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16 • By Barry Kenyon
That depends on whether Barry writes more articles. This is his first on this issue. If he writes more articles, rest assured they will be posted.Daleinpattaya wrote: ↑Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:37 am Would be great if this could become a Gaybutton regular feature
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Re: Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16 • By Barry Kenyon
Bangkok sale booze ban extended till end of April.
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Re: Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16 • By Barry Kenyon
Pattaya after the virus
By Barry Kenyon
April 21, 2020
Pundits and online soothsayers have long predicted the end of fun-city Pattaya. As the free-spending American forces departed in the late 1970s, in the wake of the end of the Vietnam war, predictions were made that Pattaya would be killed off before it even got started.
Later bad news such the oil pandemonium of the 1980s, the AIDS and SARS crises and a succession of military coups in Thailand have continued the doom-laden prophecies.
Of course, the Corona pandemic is different. No other international health crisis since the Spanish flu syndrome of 1918, which killed 50 million worldwide, has affected the lives of at least half of the world’s population. Millions have been thrown out of work, international travel has come to a shuddering halt and profit-hungry telecommunications companies – clear beneficiaries of the pandemic – are busier than ever persuading governments round the world how to monitor their populations with innovative surveillance technology most of us can hardly conceive.
Tourist-orientated Pattaya, needless to say, is totally changed. The beaches are deserted, the bars stand empty and the transvestite cabarets – which cater mainly for first-time visitors from China – are shuttered.
Shop units round the city are literally littered with for sale and for rent notices. Nobody will tell you that the property market has collapsed, but there are some amazing bargains to be had, or would be if the local government offices were open for business. So everything is on hold waiting for the rebound to the good old days once the virus is defeated and the Thai state of emergency is stood down.
This optimistic scenario should not immediately be ruled out if only because Pattaya has such a proud tradition of proving pessimists wrong. Many Pattaya businesses are small enterprises with few staff and arguably have a better chance to lie low and re-surface later than the large international businesses with huge payrolls which are unsustainable in a prolonged health crisis such as this.
Moreover, the greater Pattaya area is now much more diversified with a hinterland of industrial estates and an entertainment industry much less reliant on nightlife than was once the case. Indeed, old hands will tell you that if there was once a red light district here, the colour has become distinctly orange with accompanying flashes of green.
But, realistically, the Pattaya of yesteryear was already in decline before the pandemic occurred. European tourists have been numerically declining for years and some of the businesses which supported them had already ceased trading.
Travel agencies, visa agents and the rest are still to be found but in smaller numbers. Many British and German bars, proudly displaying their national flag alongside the Thai one, had gone to the wall long before anyone had heard the expression Covid-19.
Moreover, the policy of the Thai government towards large-scale tourism is unclear and will likely remain so for some time. For the moment, foreigners are virtually banned from entry to the country and anti-farang sentiments suggesting that the virus is essentially a foreign disease are arguably on the rise. There is certainly a possibility that compulsory travel insurance for visitors and full-scale health insurance for all long stay expats will be on the cards once again, even though the detail is much harder to implement than is often assumed.
It is also unclear to what extent the world’s airlines collectively will survive the pandemic even though the price of crude oil has collapsed. At the moment, a few airlines are taking off daily from Bangkok with virtually no passengers just to preserve their grip on prime-time landing slots. They anyway are optimists.
The likelihood is that neither the upbeat prediction of Pattaya’s future, nor its negative counterpart, will come to pass. The future will likely be many-sided with the city increasingly becoming part of the mega- satellite complex of Bangkok, a bigger emphasis on industry and economic production which is already a government priority in its Eastern Seaboard Corridor Development (massively under-reported by the media incidentally) and a holistic approach to tourism rather than relying on summer breaks for bachelors.
Of course, the elephant in the room is China with a mere 10 percent of its mammoth population yet holding a passport and with its political and economic influence in all Asean countries growing apace. Whether post-virus Pattaya will prove attractive to undoubtedly shrewd Chinese investors and wannabe tourists clutching a new passport is one of the many jackpot questions yet to be answered.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... rus-296471
By Barry Kenyon
April 21, 2020
Pundits and online soothsayers have long predicted the end of fun-city Pattaya. As the free-spending American forces departed in the late 1970s, in the wake of the end of the Vietnam war, predictions were made that Pattaya would be killed off before it even got started.
Later bad news such the oil pandemonium of the 1980s, the AIDS and SARS crises and a succession of military coups in Thailand have continued the doom-laden prophecies.
Of course, the Corona pandemic is different. No other international health crisis since the Spanish flu syndrome of 1918, which killed 50 million worldwide, has affected the lives of at least half of the world’s population. Millions have been thrown out of work, international travel has come to a shuddering halt and profit-hungry telecommunications companies – clear beneficiaries of the pandemic – are busier than ever persuading governments round the world how to monitor their populations with innovative surveillance technology most of us can hardly conceive.
Tourist-orientated Pattaya, needless to say, is totally changed. The beaches are deserted, the bars stand empty and the transvestite cabarets – which cater mainly for first-time visitors from China – are shuttered.
Shop units round the city are literally littered with for sale and for rent notices. Nobody will tell you that the property market has collapsed, but there are some amazing bargains to be had, or would be if the local government offices were open for business. So everything is on hold waiting for the rebound to the good old days once the virus is defeated and the Thai state of emergency is stood down.
This optimistic scenario should not immediately be ruled out if only because Pattaya has such a proud tradition of proving pessimists wrong. Many Pattaya businesses are small enterprises with few staff and arguably have a better chance to lie low and re-surface later than the large international businesses with huge payrolls which are unsustainable in a prolonged health crisis such as this.
Moreover, the greater Pattaya area is now much more diversified with a hinterland of industrial estates and an entertainment industry much less reliant on nightlife than was once the case. Indeed, old hands will tell you that if there was once a red light district here, the colour has become distinctly orange with accompanying flashes of green.
But, realistically, the Pattaya of yesteryear was already in decline before the pandemic occurred. European tourists have been numerically declining for years and some of the businesses which supported them had already ceased trading.
Travel agencies, visa agents and the rest are still to be found but in smaller numbers. Many British and German bars, proudly displaying their national flag alongside the Thai one, had gone to the wall long before anyone had heard the expression Covid-19.
Moreover, the policy of the Thai government towards large-scale tourism is unclear and will likely remain so for some time. For the moment, foreigners are virtually banned from entry to the country and anti-farang sentiments suggesting that the virus is essentially a foreign disease are arguably on the rise. There is certainly a possibility that compulsory travel insurance for visitors and full-scale health insurance for all long stay expats will be on the cards once again, even though the detail is much harder to implement than is often assumed.
It is also unclear to what extent the world’s airlines collectively will survive the pandemic even though the price of crude oil has collapsed. At the moment, a few airlines are taking off daily from Bangkok with virtually no passengers just to preserve their grip on prime-time landing slots. They anyway are optimists.
The likelihood is that neither the upbeat prediction of Pattaya’s future, nor its negative counterpart, will come to pass. The future will likely be many-sided with the city increasingly becoming part of the mega- satellite complex of Bangkok, a bigger emphasis on industry and economic production which is already a government priority in its Eastern Seaboard Corridor Development (massively under-reported by the media incidentally) and a holistic approach to tourism rather than relying on summer breaks for bachelors.
Of course, the elephant in the room is China with a mere 10 percent of its mammoth population yet holding a passport and with its political and economic influence in all Asean countries growing apace. Whether post-virus Pattaya will prove attractive to undoubtedly shrewd Chinese investors and wannabe tourists clutching a new passport is one of the many jackpot questions yet to be answered.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... rus-296471
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Gaybutton
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Re: Farang news round up for Pattaya • By Barry Kenyon
Pattaya and the world’s oldest profession
By Barry Kenyon, tongue firmly in cheek
April 28, 2020
Social distancing might have been fun at first, but it’s likely to have worn off by now. You have done the online birthday greetings to your relatives back home and even joined an internet quiz where strangers argue about who was the most senior Nazi to die in British captivity. The answer to that is Heinrich Himmler by the way.
So your thoughts may have turned to sex. After all you live in Sin City and the internet says there are (or were) 27,000 prostitutes here. Mind you, an unknown number are said to be cross-gender or transvestite so you have to watch your step. The best advice is to look for the Adam’s apple, or so I’m told.
If you have spent the last two weeks honestly quarantining with a co-habiting sexual partner whom you can trust, then having sex with him or her won’t pose any additional risk. Many sexologists – the people who write about intercourse but don’t necessarily perform it – claim that everyone has so much extra time on their hands because of the Pattaya lockdown that sheer boredom may lead to intimate coupling.
Mind you, not everyone is in the mood. On Twitter, users are complaining that the general panic and despair of the Coronavirus pandemic has led to the collapse of their urges. So you might find yourself preferring to eat a bag or two of salt and vinegar crisps or take off the covers of the exercise bike instead. There’s a mountain of psychological research to say that a very negative environment can either boost your libido or suppress it entirely.
For those males who still seek sexual adventure and want to throw caution to the winds – that’s called terror management theory by the way – the problem is that all the obvious places are closed. The pubs and clubs are padlocked and walking around the ill-lit streets at night is as likely to result in a mugging during a time of high unemployment rather than a satisfying tryst with a seductive stranger.
One of my neighbors told me that he had risked meeting a girl for hire on one of those contact-culture internet sites. Older readers will recall them as the postal introduction bureaux in the 1970s. He knew he shouldn’t, but terror management theory had struck. They did indeed meet up, but the lady insisted on regaling him with all her financial problems and inability to access the Thai government’s 5,000 baht subsidy scheme. My neighbor felt so sorry for her that he handed her a 1,000 baht note without so much as shaking hands.
The alternative is safe sex which at the moment means you are on your own. The possibilities are endless and might even increase your internet vocabulary. For example, a Covid-19 buddy is someone you can sex-text on the internet but have agreed never to meet physically. Another energizing option is to send “thirst traps” which are sexy or revealing photos of yourself to complete strangers. This option, I have to say, is completely out of bounds for most farang I know on retirement extensions of stay. For the more technologically advanced, there are possibilities created by Zoom, webcam and assorted video calling devices. However, be warned that some of this stuff might be encompassed by the country’s conspiracy to corrupt public morals legislation.
A final possibility might be to purchase sex toys which you must remember to wash thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds after use since the virus can linger therein. The only sex toy display I have ever seen in Thailand was located in the urology department of a famous Pattaya hospital. It was in the form of three bananas of different sizes pointing in various directions. The nurse then asked you to pick out the one most familiar to you. Come back Netflix, all is forgiven.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ion-297394
By Barry Kenyon, tongue firmly in cheek
April 28, 2020
Social distancing might have been fun at first, but it’s likely to have worn off by now. You have done the online birthday greetings to your relatives back home and even joined an internet quiz where strangers argue about who was the most senior Nazi to die in British captivity. The answer to that is Heinrich Himmler by the way.
So your thoughts may have turned to sex. After all you live in Sin City and the internet says there are (or were) 27,000 prostitutes here. Mind you, an unknown number are said to be cross-gender or transvestite so you have to watch your step. The best advice is to look for the Adam’s apple, or so I’m told.
If you have spent the last two weeks honestly quarantining with a co-habiting sexual partner whom you can trust, then having sex with him or her won’t pose any additional risk. Many sexologists – the people who write about intercourse but don’t necessarily perform it – claim that everyone has so much extra time on their hands because of the Pattaya lockdown that sheer boredom may lead to intimate coupling.
Mind you, not everyone is in the mood. On Twitter, users are complaining that the general panic and despair of the Coronavirus pandemic has led to the collapse of their urges. So you might find yourself preferring to eat a bag or two of salt and vinegar crisps or take off the covers of the exercise bike instead. There’s a mountain of psychological research to say that a very negative environment can either boost your libido or suppress it entirely.
For those males who still seek sexual adventure and want to throw caution to the winds – that’s called terror management theory by the way – the problem is that all the obvious places are closed. The pubs and clubs are padlocked and walking around the ill-lit streets at night is as likely to result in a mugging during a time of high unemployment rather than a satisfying tryst with a seductive stranger.
One of my neighbors told me that he had risked meeting a girl for hire on one of those contact-culture internet sites. Older readers will recall them as the postal introduction bureaux in the 1970s. He knew he shouldn’t, but terror management theory had struck. They did indeed meet up, but the lady insisted on regaling him with all her financial problems and inability to access the Thai government’s 5,000 baht subsidy scheme. My neighbor felt so sorry for her that he handed her a 1,000 baht note without so much as shaking hands.
The alternative is safe sex which at the moment means you are on your own. The possibilities are endless and might even increase your internet vocabulary. For example, a Covid-19 buddy is someone you can sex-text on the internet but have agreed never to meet physically. Another energizing option is to send “thirst traps” which are sexy or revealing photos of yourself to complete strangers. This option, I have to say, is completely out of bounds for most farang I know on retirement extensions of stay. For the more technologically advanced, there are possibilities created by Zoom, webcam and assorted video calling devices. However, be warned that some of this stuff might be encompassed by the country’s conspiracy to corrupt public morals legislation.
A final possibility might be to purchase sex toys which you must remember to wash thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds after use since the virus can linger therein. The only sex toy display I have ever seen in Thailand was located in the urology department of a famous Pattaya hospital. It was in the form of three bananas of different sizes pointing in various directions. The nurse then asked you to pick out the one most familiar to you. Come back Netflix, all is forgiven.
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ion-297394
Re: Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16 • By Barry Kenyon
Thanks for posting this GB.
As always, a great read from Barry Kenyon.
I'm not quite sure how to say this without sounding like I'm gloating, because that's certainly not my intent, but having a Thai partner during a crisis like this is a Godsend. I can't imagine what it would be like being isolated with me, myself, and I, for this duration, and living a life without sex would be worse than getting the virus.
I've been getting ribbed by my friends over here for years for hanging up my Butterfly Wings in place of a Little House of the Prairie lifestyle, and it's times like this where I feel extremely fortunate for having made that decision.
Barry hits on an important topic, because most of the retired expats over here came for one reason, and one reason only, and that was to enjoy having sex with much younger Thai partners. I've been repeating this exact sentence for years. But the reality of having to maintain social-distancing, and the possibility of the boy (and girl) bars being closed indefinably presents a whole new set of challenges for the horny expat.
Barry highlights some of the obvious alternatives like using the apps and masturbating, but I think he may have overlooked another option, which to me seems the most logical, and that's to consider finding a boyfriend to share life with.
I see this as a two-way street: The expats have less options to find sex partners - and the boys have less options to find customers. As a good friend mentioned to me in a recent conversation..".the gay boys who never found a good farang boyfriend will be sorry now".
Knowing that Covid-19 is not going away any time soon, practicing safe sex with money boys, regardless of the method you use to find them, will be next to impossible. One of the advantages of having a boyfriend (a good boyfriend) is that you never have to worry about this.
Who know's what the "New Normal" will be.
As always, a great read from Barry Kenyon.
I'm not quite sure how to say this without sounding like I'm gloating, because that's certainly not my intent, but having a Thai partner during a crisis like this is a Godsend. I can't imagine what it would be like being isolated with me, myself, and I, for this duration, and living a life without sex would be worse than getting the virus.
I've been getting ribbed by my friends over here for years for hanging up my Butterfly Wings in place of a Little House of the Prairie lifestyle, and it's times like this where I feel extremely fortunate for having made that decision.
Barry hits on an important topic, because most of the retired expats over here came for one reason, and one reason only, and that was to enjoy having sex with much younger Thai partners. I've been repeating this exact sentence for years. But the reality of having to maintain social-distancing, and the possibility of the boy (and girl) bars being closed indefinably presents a whole new set of challenges for the horny expat.
Barry highlights some of the obvious alternatives like using the apps and masturbating, but I think he may have overlooked another option, which to me seems the most logical, and that's to consider finding a boyfriend to share life with.
I see this as a two-way street: The expats have less options to find sex partners - and the boys have less options to find customers. As a good friend mentioned to me in a recent conversation..".the gay boys who never found a good farang boyfriend will be sorry now".
Knowing that Covid-19 is not going away any time soon, practicing safe sex with money boys, regardless of the method you use to find them, will be next to impossible. One of the advantages of having a boyfriend (a good boyfriend) is that you never have to worry about this.
Who know's what the "New Normal" will be.
-
Gaybutton
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Re: Farang news round up for Pattaya April 16 • By Barry Kenyon
I'm glad you've decided you're an expert and can speak for everybody else's motivations.
And not everybody even wants to live with somebody else. I certainly don't. I much prefer having a "guest" when I want one and saying goodbye when I want to be alone.