“The 3rd annual Miss International Queen pageant is scheduled to be held in the beautiful city of Pattaya, Thailand on October 23-28, 2006.”

“Striving to advance and support today's transvestites/transgender, Miss International Queen offers great opportunities for transvestites/transgender from all over the world to present their individual beauty and intelligence in a friendly atmosphere."Sounds… interesting. Right? I’ve quoted that from the official Miss International Queen website. Normally I wouldn’t be that excited by the upcoming ladyboy beauty pageant, but the difference this time is that I have been asked to be one of the judges.

I’ve kind of clumsily got myself into this situation. At first I thought I was going to watch a small ladyboy show somewhere in Pattaya. I didn’t realise it was actually going to be on international TV. In terms of ladyboy events, this one is up there with the most important in the calendar.

Myself and my girlfriend are heading to Pattaya straight from work tomorrow evening. It’s all a bit hectic. I’ve been told to dress smart for television. I can’t dress smart. I have to clean my trousers, wash my only white shirt, try and polish my shoes (without any polish) and find a jacket. My girlfriend just told me she has a jacket that belongs to her cousin who is “not as tall” as me, and also a “bit bigger.” I may well end up looking like a fool.

There is some sort of show that we are going to tomorrow, and my understanding is that I will get to meet the contestants as well.

Take a look at Valerie De Cruz.

That is a man, albeit a very feminine looking one. It defies belief. The pictures I’m displaying in this post have been sent to me by the PR company. Miss International Queen stands to win $8000. That’s pretty impressive. The coverage will be on ITV between 11pm and 1am on Saturday night into Sunday morning.I don’t think I will have much of a role on television, but you may well see me looking nervous and slightly uncomfortable. I’m not sure who they think I am. I suspect they believe they are getting an established journalist from Bangkok Post. What they are getting is The Lost Boy. I’m not even sure what The Lost Boy is.

Again, taken from the Miss International Queen website: “Judging of the contestants is by professionals. Judges will include professionals in fashion design, makeup, plastic surgery, international business and celebrities.”

How do I fit into this? Expect full reports and lots of pictures soon.

Techno’ tags: Nightlife, Ladyboy, Bangkok, Thailand, Tiffany, Pattaya

This is an interview conducted by Bangkok Recorder with myself and the guys I run Club Professionals at Cafe De Moc with:

For Bangkok’s party people, Tuesday nights are traditionally consumed by a re-tread of random drinks promotions, magazine launches and the occasional early night. However, this is beginning to change as Tuesdays become synonymous with what is becoming a MySpace-powered institution at Café Democ.

With our 60 baht door charge in hand, we went to “Club Professionals” to ask its organisers – Matt, Will, Patrice and Leigh – to explain the rules of the evening, and the role of their mysterious Uncle.

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It’s been a month since I set this blog up. That means that my 30 day money back guarantee from the web hosting company has expired. Whilst I haven’t quite achieved the 100,000 unique hits that Mango Sauce can boast, things have been picking up. Link swaps are still appreciated. I have submitted the blog to every directory I can find and am trying to put up content as often as I can. I’m not sure where this blog is going, but for now it seems OK. Perhaps a few snazzy colours here and there might help, but I like the simplicity of it at the moment.

I have also just decided to turn the comments feature on. I hope this will actually generate some comments. If it doesn’t then I may turn it back off again as there is nothing sadder than a blog without comments.

It’s been around 56 hours since I last had a cigarette, an LM Menthol. This is the start of my latest drive to quit smoking. Previous attempts have failed dismally. The problems are many: The nicotine cravings are quite real, the psychological habit is difficult to break and social situations are all very cigarette orientated. There have been two major tests so far. The first was at Café De Moc last night, a place at which I would usually smoke excessively. Although I got drunk, even more so than usual, I resisted all temptation. It was hard, but ultimately rather rewarding.

The downside was that I had to drink instead of smoke to keep myself occupied. I drank a lot. So much so that on the way home I told the taxi to take me down the wrong road and without wanting to lose face and look foolish I casually instructed him to stop and assured him I lived at a BTS Station a fifteen minute walk from my apartment. My girlfriend was a little miffed as she was waiting at home to let me in as I didn’t have a key.

I assured her it was the driver’s fault and then fell asleep.

Another test came today when I went downstairs with my boss to discuss some work related things. We had gone down for a ‘cigarette break,’ but I was prepared to watch her smoke and see how I got on. She offered me a cigarette and I declined. So far so good. My chest hurts and I am asthmatic. I used to play a lot of sports and run regularly. I even competed up until a couple of years back. Those days are sadly missed and I often dream of them at night.

My girlfriend pledged to quit smoking at the same time as I did. She lasted less than four hours.

The rural poor are an entity of free thinking individuals. They should be treated as such instead of simply being pacified. There is no short term method for doing so, however. The elites in Thailand view the poor as fools who do not know any better. This is very ‘1984.’

“A survey of the entire inmate population of Thai prisons is to be conducted in an attempt to identify prisoners who might have been wrongly imprisoned, following a call by Justice Minister Charnchai Likhitjittha for prison reforms,” read a report from The Nation on Tuesday.

It would appear that some of those detained in Thai prisons are, heaven forbid, not guilty of the crimes they are being punished for. The logistics of interviewing every single inmate in a Thai prison must seem quite daunting to the justice minister.

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