Phuket Thailand

tomaspernas · #1 19-06-2005, 21:12

I'm planning to come to LOS for the first time and I am curious about the quality of the condoms available. I have heard that it is best to bring your own. Is this true? Sorry if this sounds paranoid. Thanks for the help!

gregor200 · #2 19-06-2005, 21:14

Depends on your size.

tomaspernas · #3 19-06-2005, 21:23

That's my plan for now....hopefully I don't run out!
Better yet...hopefully I do!

sishow · #4 19-06-2005, 22:10

If push comes to shove!

You can always buy 'safe' western condoms, in the proper size

, from Boots in Patong. Though of course, condoms from the other chemists, will be cheaper!

andy50 · #5 20-06-2005, 00:22

best to bring your own condoms, the chemists in los stock little ones and bigger ones but the quality is suspect (the little ones sure are small!)

Dodger · #6 20-06-2005, 03:21

but as sishow sayes if you run out you can always buy western condoms from boots in patong, never noticed if they are dearer or not than uk, just bought 'em cos to go without could cost me more in the long run.

Nicke · #7 20-06-2005, 03:41

In my past experience even the brand names (That we have in Europe) was of a lower quality in Thailand compared to what I can buy in Sweden.

One problem I can remember is that part of the condom was glued to another part and it could easily make a hole at that part when you wrapped it up. On the other hand, maybe that is the case for the brand label in Europe too. I used to use Swedish condoms that is not available here.

aussie dollar · #8 20-06-2005, 04:01

the condoms we buy in australia are MADE IN THAILAND

sishow · #9 20-06-2005, 05:49

A few years ago I worked for a shiping company that imported lots of different products from Thailand! One of our biggest imports from los was condoms! In fact the British NHS was the one of the biggest buyers of these, so when you get your free johnnys from your nurse to take to Thailand, your just taking them back on the return trip!

That said too, I did for a time work for Boots in Nottingham (There head office). And i can say that the condoms in there shops in los (or anywhere around the world to an extent) are the same ones sold in England!

bigsquat · #10 22-06-2005, 04:26

I brought a big 'ol 50 pack or whatever sized box of Trojans last time. After a day of walking around with em in my back pack in the hot sun, they got ruined (stuck together, hard to unroll, easy to break). Unfortunately it took me a couple sessions to realize that they were all ruined and prone to breakage. So keep em in a cool place

seafox · #11 22-06-2005, 08:25

just take a few out at a time. You are going to be taking the BG's back to your hotel room so why are you walking around with a lot of condoms.

Buy and Take more than you think you will use during the trip. Easy to pack, don't weigh much, and if you buy in bulk they are cheaper anyway.

if you have some left over you can always give them to a BG, she will appreciate the fact that she will not have to buy some for a while and also makes you look good in her eyes as you want her to be safe. I always give my extra ones away. Just save a few for the flight home. You never know!

void · #12 22-06-2005, 12:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by seafox

Buy and Take more than you think you will use during the trip. Easy to pack, don't weigh much, and if you buy in bulk they are cheaper anyway.

if you have some left over you can always give them to a BG, she will appreciate the fact that she will not have to buy some for a while and also makes you look good in her eyes as you want her to be safe. I always give my extra ones away. Just save a few for the flight home. You never know!

Good advice, but I would recommend making an effort to take very very few condoms back. Find a good excuse to use them all !

Why? Well if one gets stopped and searched by North American (Canada or US) customs on the way back, having a s**t load of condoms can be rather embarassing, especially when the custom officials pulls them out and puts them on the table, for all and sundry to see, and then askes in the classic irritating customs manner ... "What are these for?" ..

As you can tell, there is no love lost between me and North American customs.

sishow · #13 22-06-2005, 14:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by void

Good advice, but I would recommend making an effort to take very very few condoms back. Find a good excuse to use them all !

Why? Well if one gets stopped and searched by North American (Canada or US) customs on the way back, having a s**t load of condoms can be rather embarassing, especially when the custom officials pulls them out and puts them on the table, for all and sundry to see, and then askes in the classic irritating customs manner ... "What are these for?" ..

As you can tell, there is no love lost between me and North American customs.

Very true!

I always bring far too many with me! What i just do is give them to the girl im with on the last night who is usually the one i liked most from the whole trip! That way at least you are giving her something she will deffinatly come to use! + You know she will be safe with them!

When i went last year, the girl was v embaressed about all the condoms. She had to stuff newspaper down the side of the plastic bag so it was impossible to see what was in it!

void · #14 23-06-2005, 00:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizbusta

Being a regular traveller, I am no longer intimidated by Customs officials. Don't feel embarrassed, that's exactly what they want, face up to them and try to turn the tables around, so if they ask

"...and what are these then ?" - "Well, they are for sex, what do you use them for ?"

"...so why do you need so many ?" - "So many ? This amount will normally last me a week and my mates say the same, don't you use as many as this in one week ? Perhaps you have a low sex drive ?"

Make sure your replies are said with a straight face and quite loudly, then I'm sure the conversation will be over very quickly

Glad the approach works for you. My experience indicates the custom officials take joy in boosting their ego, at the expense of the person they are searching.

In reply to a comment on their sex drive, I believe they could, in return, use that as a pretext, to pull one's laptop aside (if one has one) and subject it to a detailed search, looking for every inappropriate image or other material they can find. The same goes of the Compact Flash/SD/Memory Stick's, etc ... that one has. If they find what they assess to be inappropriate images (and they probably have a different definition than what you or I might have), they may then start asking for signed releases forms for the photo's of the lady in-question, etc ...

Each to their own, in terms of the approach that works with customs. But for me, the best thing is to say nothing that could "egg" them on (such as asking about their sex drive), and instead offer them nothing for them to sink their teeth into (so that they have nothing to justify themselves to their boss, if ever questioned why they are being so excessively detailed in their search).

LivinLOS · #15 23-06-2005, 10:52

My buddy was recently pulled going into UK with too many fags and a batch of indian copy pfizer viagra...

The girl who pulled him ios already embarassed (he aint) and blushing away and he is complaining.. The cigs fair nuff but the viagra ??

So she goes "Sorry sir but Pfizer have a patent on them" and his reply was, "What they have a patent on hard ons do they" She got even more embarrased and gave him his cigs back as compensation..

void · #16 23-06-2005, 13:00

The stories of how a "clever" remark helped in customs are entertaining reads, but I think I will still risk a word of caution (at the risk of being "red tagged" for repeating myself). Western immigrations (and customs) now keep a database, that they transfer to various border crossings, and indeed some of the information is transmitted to other countries.

One only needs to rub a customs and/or an immigration official the wrong way once, and a derogatory comment will be put in the database, under one's name/database entry. Each time one subsequently goes through customs and/or immigration, that comment is presented to the official. And they can use that as an excuse for further inconvenient searches.

The clever comment made in response to the customs official's over-intrusive and somewhat silly line of questioning, may seem humourous and entertaining to us (as the customs official may have indeed been over-intrusive), but the customs official may see it differently, and make a database entry as a result.

Anyway, 'nuff said on my part. Best wishes to all in a smooth and convenient transfer through customs and immigration, when returning to their home countries.

void · #17 24-06-2005, 02:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizbusta

I understand what you are saying, but where do they get your name from ??

It depends on the country you are going to. In the case of Canada, the USA, customs and Immigration get your name from either your customs card (that you must fill in to enter the country) or from your passport. In the case of the EU (Germany, for example), they ask for your passport.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizbusta

I must admit I find your comments about them keeping a database very hard to believe, first because it is an invasion of civil rights to keep such a database

Well, I won't dispute your concern about an invasion of rights, but the truth is the "invasion is here". I know many people who worked for the company that produced the machine readers for the machine readable passports, and also produced the database software that went along with it. It was a Canadian company, called AIT Corporation. Ticker simple used to be AIV on the Toronto stock exchange. Around 4 years ago AIT was bought out by American 3M corporation. The machine readable passports, and the blank database, were purchased, and put in use, by dozens of countries. The USA commonly exchanges some (not all) of its information with other western countries. Its been like this since the early 1990s, but the database information flow between countries was not as good in the early 1990s, as it is today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizbusta

including 2 trips to USA.

I dont' want to get into a debate as to who has travelled the most. Your 30 times/year is a lot! Like you, I too have travelled a lot (in my 50+ years). I've lived in many different countries, but I'm not convinced our travel is all that relevant. What is relevant is knowing about the software, and knowing some immigration officers (friends) who use the readers and use the software. As for your belief about the USA, watch a bit more as to what the immigration official does when he gets your passport. He is the "front" person for both immigration AND customs, and what he enters in his PC, will often flag a customs search, or flag a further immigration interogation.

Frankly, I am surprised more people don't know about these databases, as like you, I am truely outraged by them.

Cheers

void · #18 24-06-2005, 05:36

All of what I know about customs and immigration databases, has been due to my acquaintences (immigration officers, or friends who used to build the passport readers, or used to write the software), but I think if you do a determined google search, you will get a hint as to what is out there.

For the first time, I searched google for "customs immigration database" and came up with the links below. (I've never looked for this stuff on the internet before). The trouble with an Internet search like this, is like any intelligence gathering effort, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. These URLs are not always completely on the mark, as to what is really happening. And the same goes to what a person like me hears from friends (in the security business). They have secrecy constraints on them, as to how much they can reveal. ...

Anyway, here are two URLs that may provide a small hint as to what is going on. ...

Words from a Canadian Auditor General report, complaining not all border stations were properly using the database:
http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/repo...30405xe06.html

Database of Doom. A rather biased post (possibly by a bunch of Canuk's who love cannabis), but it does touch on some facts:
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2667.html

Again, its hard to get to the real truth, due to security aspects. But I would be cautious if one thinks this database has only suspected terrorists and suspected drug smugglers in it. They put EVERYONE in it, and then flag everyone as they feel appropriate. If a snarky comment means a customs or immigration official dislikes someone, then they can easily put an unfavourable statement in the database that has nothing to do with drugs nor with terror. The "drug smuggler"/"terrorist" statement, is strictly the "front" justification given by the politicians and by the civil servants to use, to fend off any public criticism of an invasion of civil liberties. In fact the database goes far beyond those two areas.

But I digress, standing most inapproriately on a soap box podium, and I must apologize to all, and step off the podium. Overall, I think your advice is good. Stick within the law (as you point out), and have a great vacation. If I may add be polite crossing the border, and there should be no reason for major trouble. Try not to get too annoyed at the occassional unncessary hastle from a over zealous customs or immigration official.

Anyway, 'nuff said on this. Best wishes to all in their return trip through customs and immigration, after having a truely great holiday in Phuket Thailand.

Social_Norm · #19 24-06-2005, 15:50

Well done to both Diz and Void. Both polite and reasoned and with some humour too.

Gumleaf · #20 26-08-2005, 13:12

So getting back to the threads subject .. Where can I buy "Musical Condoms" in LOS? .. A FL stole my iPod!

Denver · #21 26-08-2005, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumleaf

So getting back to the threads subject .. Where can I buy "Musical Condoms" in LOS? .. A FL stole my iPod!

Let me know what tune you want them to play and I'll bring you some over Gumleaf!

I was stopped and searched two trips ago back into Madchester. $50 worth (40 packets) of 100Mg and 50Mg Kamagra. They started taking it out of my bag and putting it in little stacks of each size next to my bag. Couples complete with huge sombreros and those plastic donkeys that when you lift the tail a cigarette pops out (I want one of those!) walking past (Probably with thousands of cheapo Peter Styvesant and 555's) and nudging each other as I stood there and watched the Kamagra mountains grow! "Where have you travelled from Sir?" "Baghdad" "How long are you in the United Kingdom for Sir" "Three weeks" "And is this for your personal consumption Sir?" "Oh yes, Occifer" They even re-packed it into my holdall. Good lads!

Lightemup · #22 26-08-2005, 23:59

Durex condoms are available in every 7/11 in Patong in 3 condoms per packet....Or so, I have been informed

IRISH JONNY · #23 27-08-2005, 00:02

Condoms !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What Are Them Things?...................5555555555555.........
Ij