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Apologies, I must have half a brain then . I too thought that "raw sex" meant bareback sex. Maybe its an American thing? A cursory google search of "raw sex" yields the urban dictionary definition and a slew of bareback porn. Thank you for the clarification Moses, it makes so much sense now . Regardless... Fascinating stuff Moses! Looks like you are both very patient and generous with your "projects". I guess I had similar smaller-scale "projects" in the past. Nothing like a challenge right? I can think of one major project, when I dated this 22-year old stripper in Las Vegas. I thought I could "save" him by taking him out of the business, putting a roof over his head, teach him a few things, help him with his resume and set him on a more traditional path to life. I was 27 at that time, so we weren't that far in age, but I had a great 4-year career by then, could afford a mortgage and had a fair amount of disposable income. So I thought this gorgeous boy who seemed to love me would be a good project to take on and hopefully would blossom into a long-term relationship. It seemed to work for a few weeks. I taught him how to drive and helped him get his drivers license (he was kicked out of his home at 16 for being gay, so he did not have the chance to get a license), I helped him get a decent retail job. Signed him up for a few community college courses and thought he was well on his way to a legit lifestyle. But he got bored with his retail job, dropped out of all his classes, and eventually just bummed around the house. He probably was not ready to go this path, and I probably did not have enough patience to be more stern with his laziness, so the relationship had to end. I learned a lot from that relationship.

OK so I did the fake GPS thing to Phnom Penh (location set at the city center) and turned on both Grindr and PlanetRomeo. I did not get a lot of hits in PlanetRomeo, but with Grindr, wow my app lit up like a Christmas tree. Most of the hits were from Khmers 20-30, and most of them are cute, and none felt like they were money boys from the conversation. Most were looking for friends and sex as well, and conversations were very friendly and the english very good. Too bad I am not there yet as most wanted to meet soon after the conversation got serious. Had some ask me for my Line and the conversations continued there. Some offered to go with me to the bars. This might be one avenue I'll discover more maybe in December. This September trip is all about sight seeing, and I wouldn't want to troll online too much.

Short answer: NO, I am not worried. Long answer: rimming is a calculated risk I choose to take when in Thailand, or in any other hookup I get into. Yes there is risk with contracting intestinal parasites, but its a risk I am willing to take because I derive pleasure doing it. For others, its a risk they do not want to take, and thats perfectly fine as we have our own levels of risk we are comfortable with. Some guys think fucking bareback is a risk they can take, and that's their choice. For me its not worth the risk, and its my choice. There is a risk of dying whenever I get behind the wheel of my car when I drive to and from work everyday, but its a calculated risk I am willing to take, even if I am aware of the number of fatalities my state here in the USA gets in vehicle accidents every year. TL;DR: Taking risks can be boiled down to this eternal phrase loved by the Thailand boys: UP TO YOU.

Yes I probably won't be bored in Angkor Wat at all, considering there is just so many cultural wonders out there. If there are boys to be had, its just the icing on the already amazing cake. I booked my stay here at the Rambutan for three nights. Highly recommended by the siamroads tour guides Ya (BKK) and Sareth (Siem Reap). We shall see how I like the property. I am looking forward to staying there. Great photos of Siem Reap! Looks like you had fun. And a lot of stuff about saunas in PP, which I am thinking I won't be able to do (it's just not my thing), but a lot of information there. I am saving your recommendations. I am probably not gonna worry about food costs. I'm guessing this is till way cheaper than what I am used to in the USA. I confirmed with Sareth, the siamroads tour guide for Siem Reap, will be available for my trip as a guide. He is providing all the transportation of I don't have to worry about that. Thanks for the recommendation though . That's a great itinerary! I am letting Sareth do all the planning for us so we will see what he has in store for me and my Khmer friend. I agree, more advice on PP please! And thanks for the tips so far, these are awesome!

This is amazing DivineMadman . Definitely a blueprint for me with my short stay in Siem Reap. Seems like I'll be really busy between Angkor Wat, museums, massage, shops and cabaret. I can't wait . I booked an airport taxi via my hotel in Siem Reap. I am all in on the cultural tourism part of it. My Khmer companion is there for me for the sex part, but obviously I will be open for more if the opportunity arises. The how to get the boys part is what I am curious about. Are there money boys readily available in the bars at Siem Reap? This was a great idea Divinemadman. i already reached out to the siamroads website, and even had Ya, the BKK guide, to contact Sareth, the guide for Siem Reap, to see if he is available at my dates. Hopefully he is free. It's amazing that his rate (and Ya's rate) is so reasonable, that I'm projecting to get him the whole stay. My Khmer friend also recommended packing an umbrella in September. I chose an AirBNB property in the center of Phnom Penh, so not worried about joiners. Not really looking to getting a 3rd (or 4th) this trip, but you never know. Thanks for the tips so far guys! Maybe more tips on Phnom Penh? Where to get Money Boys? What bars are better? Pricing?

ggobkk, so does this mean that Fresh Boys have non-Thais now? How about the other Soi Twilight bars?

I promise to do a report if enough people post tips here lol. And yes I'm pretty sure our paths will cross. Thanks for starting up the tips. Will probably not have a chance to get anyone on the apps but you never know. I may visit the massage place you mentioned just for shits and giggles. Right now its three nights PP, three nights SR, and three nights BKK. Maybe more. But that's the plan as of right now. Thanks. I'll try Blue Hatha for sure just to pick upon boy for some enjoyment for a night. And its good there is a cabaret show. not quite the gogo show but i'll take it. Haha. Funny and sad at the same time. That is why i am importing a Cambodian from Pattaya to accompany me to PP and SR. Argh ok. I understand that Cambodia simply will not have the developed sex tourist infrastructure as Thailand does. I've been checking out a747's trip reports and this is primarily the impetus for me going to Cambodia. It's my first time so the majority of the time will be sightseeing. The boy hunting is secondary, nevertheless important. Good thing boys are cheap. Maybe I'll get 3 or 4 a night. LOL. I'm serious. More tips guys!

So as I have said in a previous thread, I will be in Thailand again in September. I will actually be in Thailand one third of my trip. The other two-thirds will be in Cambodia: a third in Phnom Penh and the other third in Siem Reap. So if there are any great tips anyone has out there for a first-timer to Cambodia, I would greatly appreciate it. Especially: 1. What hot gay establishments should I visit? Are the rules in Thailand similar to the Khmer bars? Any common pitfalls to avoid? 2. What are the general rules for "offing" boys there, including prevailing short-time and long-time fees? 3. Other gay "must-dos" in PP and SR that I should be aware of? I will be with a Khmer boy the whole time so I will have a guide as well, but any tips will be appreciated! So don't hate me for posting this on the "Thailand" part of the forums, but no one seems to be visiting the others parts of this message board. Feel free to move this thread to the appropriate place if this is a problem! Also, if this topic has been visited before ad nauseum, please point me in the right direction. Thanks guys!

This has been my rule of thumb not only in Thailand but anywhere else: if a guy wants you to fuck him bare he's probably infected already. I've been taking PrEP for about a couple of years now and even though this gives me some significant protection, to me this does not give me license to fuck bare. Condoms is still a must, not only for my own well-being but to protect my BF as well. But this works for me. To others the pleasure derived from fucking bare is worth the risk of getting infected. I was definitely more prone to riskier behavior in my early 20s and was glad I got out of that phase without anything bad happen to me. Since you are going through your "gay adolescent" phase, everything is still new and fresh and there is the temptation to go overboard. You still have decades upon decades of gay fun to come so establishing good sex habits now will pay dividends in the long run and ensure you a happy and long sexual history.

I have hung out with Thais both paid and free. The free ones usually are office workers who have other office worker friends who can hang out and I just tag along, sometimes even get my drinks paid. But usually I offer to pay more because I want to. Never had the experience of hanging out with a mix of free and paid boys. Maybe never the twain shall meet? Not sure about the politics or societal stigma non-sex workers have with their sex worker brethren. I'm guessing there is some stigma? Or maybe not. Its funny this thread I started as prep for my April trip I may need for my September trip. I have a chance to do this again (the no-sex off).

Haha. I'm one of those people who don't go for Asians at home but all about them in Thailand. Maybe because there are more white guys where I live. This thread has inspired me to go to Rio. I'm checking out the boytoy forums right now and looks like its doable. Maybe the crime situation gets better at some point. I am guessing the sex tourist infrastructure is not as welcoming in Brazil as it is in Thailand, but I guess I'll have to find this out.

After a very busy weekend, some replies to some of the last comments here. I appreciate the praise guys! It all makes this hard work worth it! I had my reservations before about putting my feelings into these reports, but it is obvious now that I made the right choice. I do hope that this does not dissuade other posters to put their trip reports on here, with or without emotions, just because I did. I enjoy what others post here, and base my future trips on their experiences. Thanks! Its funny how, for some folks out there in LOS, just because you pay people for companionship, it precludes them for having any feelings of their own, just because they are servicing your own. It actually makes it even worth it to get them to express their own feelings to me, because sometimes they expect to not feel anything when they are with us. I am actually doing the easy part: giving them 1500-3000 baht. It's harder for them to express their feelings. I feel I am getting the better end of the bargain every time. Its the beauty of their experiences and what they share with me that makes it worth it. Its definitely a good start of summer for me . This trip kicked it off and now I'm having the best American Summer I've ever had. And I'm up for more, because I am closing the summer with another trip to Thailand. The 20000 hits in a month is just the icing on the cake. Haha. I've often dreamt of having a harem of boys, in a house, living with me. Alas I do not have the means nor the courage to do this, I would just have to settle for these short trips once in a while. Thank you so much. I am glad I get long time (non-member) lurkers to sign up to this site and finally contribute. This website is nothing without thorough participation of you guys out there, so I am flattered that my words have inspired you to participate and be more adventurous in your trips. I'll help in any way I can in the way of tips. I hope a lot of you will do the same. Thanks for thinking I am nice! I think I am too nice actually, and not sure sometimes if I am being taken for a ride. And I can't believe its only three weeks till my next trip! It has come so fast. I feel that I haven't gotten over the previous trip, and here I am preparing for another one. I better get to it and get all my AirBNB bookings, side trips, and boys in a row!

Jasper questions: If you can find DTG, sure by all means take him shopping. You might have better luck than me for him to say "yes please". It was all "too expensive" for me . I just have one heart: one big heart with space for many . I try to keep it full whenever I am in Thailand.

As you saw in my trip report, I was with a "boyfriend" in Boyzboyzboyz and we were both treated and entertained by the bar. Toy Boys was also a success for us, a pair. Xboys I was with a boy in the past as well and didn't matter if we were a couple. I think you will be fine with any of the bars in Pattaya.

Day 19 to present: Epilogue I wanted to wrap up the trip report by thanking everyone for the kind words left here as replies, or left as private messages in my inbox. I apologize if I cannot answer every message, but if you want to try to ask me again, I’ll try to answer your question. It is amazing that this thread has reached 20,000+ views as I write this. Has this thread really been clicked on that many times? While I did not write this for you (I wrote this for myself), it’s always nice to know someone out there is reading my crap. From the PMs I’ve received. I know some of you want to meet DTG or CB or even Xboy Guy. All I can say is I respect their privacy and don’t want them harassed. Possibly my main reticence is that I have been very personal with my experiences with the boys, and the last thing I want to happen is for a customer to expect the same treatment from the boys, the way they treated me, and then get harassed if they do something else. Maybe I am overly paranoid, but like I said numerous times that I am very protective of the boys, and vinapu is probably right when saying that me exposing them here may give them a lot of customer traffic, but they are popular boys anyway so maybe I am not too worried about that for now. A handful of you even told me they have met these boys. I am glad you were treated with as much respect and fun by them as I was. So I endured the 15+ hours to get from Bangkok to California, with a layover in Hong Kong. Flying Business Class meant I had the comfort to relax more in a bigger space and take stock of what happened. I had my laptop with me in my backpack so I was able to knock out a few chapters of the trip report. With thoughts still brimming in my head I was able to complete the last day, Day 18, as a first one completed in the 2+ hour flight to Hong Kong. With the experience fresh and just hours behind me, I was visibly crying while I typed it. I didn’t care. I had to take out a few items that didn’t make sense to the whole piece, but the overall feelings are there. And putting my thoughts into paper actually made my feelings for CB more real. On and on in my head I thought, why was I leaving him? Can I really chart a future with him? What about my BF? I then write a chapter about DTG. Memories of how awesome he was come rushing in my head. I write how handsome he is, how smart he is, and how considerate he is. I slowly calm down from my CB haze. OK, this is just how its gonna be. I will fall in love with as many boys as I can that I develop deep connections with. Maybe I will not leave my BF. Maybe this is just a Thailand thing. Maybe when I see my BF’s familiar towering frame, smiling from ear-to-ear, and an expression that says “You’re home!”, I know where I truly belong. Hong Kong Aiport, as I wrote earlier, is like a shopping mall, so my layovers in this giant airport is like going window shopping. I love the business class lounge of Cathay Pacific. I especially love the noodle bar. I have my fill of alcoholic drinks and food, and my thoughts filled with boys and sex, so I sit back and continue on writing the trip reports. Pretty soon it was time to board my long haul flight. Business Class is always fun, and the 13 or so hours in the air is not as bad if you have a full reclining seat. I type some chapters of the trip report for a while before it felt like work. I take a break and get fed a very elaborate meal. After that I decide to enjoy the amenities my seat had, and just watch a movie. I pop in some sleeping pills, put on the available ear plugs and eye mask, recline my seat fully, and get a peaceful slumber. I dream about boys the whole way home. As with my first trip report, I will attempt to summarize my haul: Primary Goal: Be a butterfly – partially met. I was able to meet a lot of boys, but got distracted by two excellent boys, thus offing them multiple nights. B+ Secondary Goal: Have a threesome – success. Although the first one was a success, succeeding attempts were failures. A- Tertiary Goal: Get some tailored suits and shirts – success. I have had the chance to wear the tailored items at work for a month now and they just show the quality and craftsmanship of the tailors at AMAA Tailors in Pattaya. A+ New guys met: 6 - Boy, DTG (3 times), Tong (twice), Toy Boy Thai Guy, KB, TBoy Previous guys met: 2 - Xboy Guy, CB (6 times) Bonus item – If I was butterfly, I could’ve met: 12 (so sad, I could’ve had at least 12 boys if I were a butterfly everyday) Best app hookup: that Filipino guy but this was in Hong Kong Worst app hookup: N/A Best bar experience: Jomtien bar Worst bar experience: Hot Male (because the non-Thais were gone, the bar is actually nice, please go!) Most visited bar: Tawan Bar I wish I visited more: Xboys Pattaya, I did not have the chance to go at all Bar I need to visit again: Jupiter, and I need to off someone in particular (this is for that member who PM’ed me, thank you sir for the tip) Best hotel: that Soi 3 condo Worst hotel: that Pattaya condo, but really, both were excellent. Just had no choice but to put something here Fell in love: 3 times (Xboy Guy, DTG, CB) Hated the Guy: Soda from Tawan, did not off him, but my friend did. Biggest surprise: CB giving me that wooden figurine that sits proudly on my office desk, CB more confident, CB more lovable, Xboy Guy breaking my heart, Jomtien fun… OK a lot of surprises. But the figurine wins. Same same: Airports suck Best sex: CB, that last night Best boyfriend experience: DTG, that first night Best conversation: DTG, about everything This were my awards last February, for comparison: I had plenty of fun writing these reports. As paulsf has told me, this is a form of therapy for me. And its true. It has allowed me to gain the gift of perspective about what happened to me those two magical weeks. It has made me realize what I want out of Thailand. And it makes me want to go for more. Since now I have had many requests to write about my next trip, maybe I will. As a starter rule, I thought I would write about every other trip. Every trip I have in Thailand has an element of sex in it, but not every trip has anything to do with the sex industry. Last April was a sightseeing trip, and hung out with BF and then Myanmar Boy the whole time, so it would not be as exciting to write about as this trip. My next trip is in September, for about 9 nights, and again it is more a sightseeing trip as well, with just one guy the whole time. Maybe I’ll write about it. We will just have to see. Maybe there will be more than guy. Maybe I just cancelled my one-bedroom AirBNB condo to get a three-bedroom AirBNB condo. It may be a bigger condo to house more than one boy. We shall see. I get to LAX, and as expected, the real love of my life is waiting for me. He hugs me and kisses me in the cheek; he takes my luggage cart, and asks me if I had a good flight. I tell him Business Class is awesome. And then he tells me what was going on at work and with our friends. And that was it. No questions about Thailand, how many boys I got, how much money I spent. He doesn’t ask. I think he doesn’t want to know. He just loves that I am back, and we can go about our lives like Thailand never happened. That Xboy Guy did not break my heart. That DTG fixed it back up and lifted me up. That CB made me whole and dared me to dream about a forever with him. This is why I write about it. I can’t tell my BF, my friends, or my family. They won’t understand why I do the things I do in Bangkok. But you do, right? Thank you for understanding. You’ve been great. I get home and start the tedious task of unpacking from an international flight. As I get settled in the house, and start unpacking my suitcase, I take out the contents of my pocket. I have these items in one of the big pockets in my cargo shorts: A condom wrapper, an unused premium lane ticket, the G’s German-Thai Restaurant owner’s business card, some leftover baht, and a flyer from Tawan - Think of happiness, think of Thailand.

When CB tells me these stories, it's not couched as "Thai people are bad" or "Thai people only do this." Its more in the general concern of wanting me to be careful with other strangers. He is full of tips when I am with him. From bargaining at the shops, taking cabs and mocys and Baht buses, and even seeing money boys. The number one thing he tells me is "Please do not die." when I tell him in Line I am offing someone else or taking a plane ride. He knows I am a butterfly, and does not stop me getting other boys. Getting him to be in a threesome with said boys is another matter. CB is unnecessarily protective of me sometimes. CB has a panoply of things he tells me when he shares about some insider money boy stuff. I always tell him I am fascinated by knowing some of the things boys do, the stuff boys say, to get as much money from us. I encourage him to tell me this stories. I am sure he talks shop sometimes with his cohorts, and while I know that the boys he knows are not scammers, some of them have been around the block many times enough to see some of these in action. YMMV. Very true. Another fascinating thing to observe whenever I have intermingling between Thai boys and other SE asian boys. DTG is shocked (surprised with facial expressions) whenever I tell him about the boys I have had good relations with. I tell him about Xboy Guy, and then about Myanmar guy, and then he met CB. He is shocked that I liked a Burmese guy a lot, and when he met CB he then again made the mention of him being Khmer. With CB being prejudiced against Thais and Myanmar boy and CB hating being mistaken as Thai (to the point of tears sometimes), there is obvious inter-country tension between the three nations. I just want all of them to get along. Maybe not in threesomes haha. Although that would be great as well.

Day 18: Me No Like Airports I hate airports. There is nothing about airports that makes me want to go spend any time in them. Maybe it’s the bad fluorescent lighting. Maybe it’s the zillions of people carrying god-knows-what from the smorgasbord of countries they come from. Maybe it’s the tedious security checkpoints that are full of overzealous security agents, invading your privacy, or make you late for your flight. Maybe it’s the overpriced food, overpriced souvenirs, overpriced water. Maybe it’s the clusterfuck that is the boarding procedure before getting on your flight. It could be a lot of things. It’s actually none of these things. I hate airports because it is a place for goodbyes. And the one thing I hate the most is saying goodbye. I always hated leaving home to go to college and having to say goodbye to my mom at our home airport. The first time I said goodbye at an airport to go to college, my mom could not even speak. She just could not believe that her baby boy is all grown up, now moved out of the house, living in a city hundreds of miles away, and charting his own life and destiny without her. It broke my heart seeing her like this for the first time. But I had to be strong for the both of us. This was the start of my hatred of airports. It’s the place where you say goodbye. I was saying goodbye to Cambodia Boy (CB) today. I have grown close to CB these past few days. I’ve said goodbye to him before, 3 times before to be exact, but this particular goodbye is the hardest. As I have said in a previous post, before this trip, he had the unenviable pressure of providing for his family and paying down their debt. Now he is free of this familial obligation, and is beginning to chart a course for his future. As a result, he is now more confident, more engaged, and free to love and cry and just be a boy with me. I like this latest iteration of CB, and excited in meeting the man he is starting to become because of this newfound freedom. I have grown accustomed to his body, his smells, his attitude, his voice and his laughter. I am used to waking up to him, to cuddling with him, to looking at him, to hugging him, and to kissing him. I have looked forward to eating with him, walking with him, holding hands with him, laughing with him, and crying with him. I have become used to seeing the world with him, talking about the world with him, and experiencing the world with him. Simply, I have grown to love him. And now, it is time to say goodbye. Last night, after our love making, I did my best to pack all my stuff in my suitcases. He did the same, carefully folding his clothes in his duffle bag. When we were done he takes out a figurine from his bag. It is a small wooden carving of an animal (not gonna say what). I recognized where it came from. It was from one of the street vendors in Pattaya, in the courtyard near the Aya Hotel. I bought him a wooden figurine for from that vendor before. I forgot what it was I bought him, but I did mention to him that time that the craftsmanship from this vendor was pretty good. He says it was a gift for me. I take the figurine and hug it, tearing up a bit, and the smiling at him. I’m not only accepting a token of appreciation from him, it’s also evidence of how much our past experiences has meant to him. He was thoughtful enough to give me a gift as thanks, but more than that, he was considerate enough to remember a moment in time between us, a moment we shared in our brief time together. He has just raised the stakes. It has just become that much more difficult to say goodbye. So the alarm wakes us up at 8 AM. I hug him tightly and kiss his back. He is still sound asleep. I go to the bathroom and clean up. I quickly dress and wake him up. He can barely open his eyes right now. Creatures of the night are not used to seeing the morning. I remind him that we have to go to the airport in a few hours. He smiles and purses his lips, asking for a kiss. I kiss him in the lips, the cheek, the neck. He sits up, then stands up to go to the bathroom. I hear peeing, then water, then the shower. I try to tidy up the condo. He emerges from the bathroom in a towel. He takes off the towel and starts putting clothes on. He then takes all his bathroom stuff and puts them in his bag. I do the same for my own bathroom stuff. Once we have finished packing, I tell him we have some time to have breakfast. We head to the familiar Foodland Patpong to get our cheap and quick breakfast. On the walk over there, we were quiet. I was too distracted to think about anything to say. I had a 15+ hour flight ahead of me. I was leaving Bangkok. I was leaving him. We get to the restaurant and I get the usual sacrilegious American breakfast. He gets the same thing and orders fried rice for the both of us to share. The order gets in quick (always in this place), and we devour the food. He breaks the ice, saying that he was not sure how he can get from Suvarnabhumi back to Pattaya. I ask him he has not flown to Bangkok from Phnom Penh? He says he only has taken the bus. I google “airport to Pattaya” and find that there is a bus service at the ground floor of the airport. I tell CB that he can take this. I tell him after I check in my luggage I will take him to the bus counter to buy the ticket. He says he can do this by himself and I do not have to go with him. I tell him I want to know he is safe. He says I care for him a lot. I pay up (450 baht) and we get back to the condo. Everything is packed except for the wooden figurine he gave me. I put it in my backpack as part of my carry-on. Cargo this precious cannot be trusted in check-in luggage. I intend to cherish this forever. I text the owner of the condo telling him I am checking out and will be leaving the key in the mailbox near the lobby downstairs. I do a last check of all the rooms in the condo. No worries about a little bit of trash on the floor, but wanted the condo to not look like a disaster area before I left. I leave the unused water bottles in the refrigerator, as I am sure the next tenant will have some use for this. I turn off both aircon units and turn off all the lights. As I farewell gesture, and still in the privacy of the condo, I walk over to the standing CB and hug him deeply. I take his face and give him a deep kiss. I know I will be saying my final goodbyes in the airport, but I thought I’d give him a more thoughtful one in the privacy of the condo. I look at him in the eyes and tell him that I had a wonderful time, and I thank him for everything. I wished him to be always safe and keep in touch. I ask him when he would want his tip. He said it doesn’t matter, I can give it to him in the airport. I kiss him deeply one last time. I then take my backpack and a duffel bag, CB takes my roller bag and his duffel bag, and we are on our way out. At the lobby I drop off the keys, take a pic of the mailbox, send it to the condo owner, and let him know that I am leaving. We then try to get a taxi in front of the condo. We hail one, he does not want to go the airport. Another one, again, he did not want to go to the airport. Third one, I let CB hail the taxi, this one accepts, and quotes 400 baht to the airport without the meter, and we pay the highway tolls. I accept. I’ve been quoted 500 baht before leaving the Crowne Plaza, inclusive of toll fees, so this taxi was a little bit cheaper. We get our big bags put in the trunk and we settle in the back. The taxi driver is middle-aged, and was fairly quiet during the ride. CB and I were quiet as well, lost in our own thoughts, probably thinking about the moments after saying goodbye at the airport, going about our own journeys home, and our own lives away from each other. There wasn’t a lot of traffic today, at 11 AM on a Monday morning. The taxi cruelly gets to the airport in record time. My hatred of airports intensifies getting to the curb. We get up from the car and collect our things. I fish out 400 baht from my dwindling baht collection in my wallet. We get a luggage cart that was at the curb and CB takes the cart and wheels it in the airport. We find the counters of my airline and my flight and see a line at the economy section. Thankfully I got upgraded to Business Class two days before my flight, so we just slide in the premium line. I hand over my passport, load up my two big bags on the scale, get my passport and boarding pass back, plus the fast track ticket to be able to line up at the premium lanes, and I am on my way. It is still 2.5 hours before my flight, so it was plenty of time to take CB to the ground level to help him get a ticket back to Pattaya. We get to Level 1 and we see a counter that has a bus going to Pattaya with a stop close to the Jomtien area for 120 baht (or 150 baht, I don’t remember). I happily pay and ask the person in the counter what time was the next bus. He said there was a bus leaving in 30 minutes but it was full. We have to wait for the next bus, which is leaving an hour after this first bus. I ask CB if this was OK, he said yes, it’s cheaper than taking a taxi. We sit down in the seats close to the counter. I finally give him his tip. As a Jomtien boy, we have come up with an appropriate fee of long time with him of about 2000 baht a night. I have seen him for about 6 days so I give him 12,000 baht. But I was not done. Since he is Cambodian and have dual currency in his country, I give him an additional $200 in 2 hundred dollar bills (the new ones). I usually use the ATM to get my Baht, but have a reservoir of ($100) dollar bills with me in case my ATM (and my backup ATM) does not work. You cannot be too careful. So this ups his tip a bit to about 3000+ baht a night, more like a Bangkok long time tip. This is the most I have given him ever, but I felt that he deserved it. I wanted him to enjoy his newfound freedom and start fresh and new. Its kind of strange that I would pay CB one prevailing rate appropriate for Pattaya boys, and DTG another prevailing rate appropriate for Bangkok boys, but they both have given me the same kind of service, the same intensity, the same results, and definitely the same quality, albeit in different ways. So I felt good about paying them the same. I feel it was only fair, even if for CB, it won’t matter to him as much about how fair this is. To him, it is more money and that is more important. When I give him the $200 I tell him this is because of what he did. I tell him he has taken care of me more this time, and I felt that he deserved this. I tell him I won’t always give him this much money, but right now, I think it is appropriate. He takes it and tears up a bit. He thanks me and hugs me, and says he will miss me. I take his hand and tell him to take care of himself. I tell him to message me everyday, even to just say hi, so I know he is safe. He promises and pockets his bounty in one of his front pockets. I sit with him for about 30 minutes, just keeping him company, and not saying much except to look at each other and ask if the other was OK. I think we have said what we needed to say last night, and what’s left is just the horrible task of saying goodbye. When it was time, I get up, hug him chastely, and say goodbye. While I walk away I look back one last time and I see him looking at me as I walk away. I then continue walking to the elevator as it takes me away from him. I try not to look at him one more time. I speed through the fast lane lines for immigration, get that familiar stamp in my passport, and pretty soon I am in the main hall of the airport. When I see this wonderfully impressive display of Thai culture, I know I am leaving this wonderful country: Did I tell you I hate airports? It takes me away from the ones I love, the ones I cannot stay with permanently, because I have chosen to live a life separate from them. I love them with all my heart, but circumstances and choices find me saying goodbye to them anyway. They know the reason why I have to say goodbye, even though they may hate it. I definitely know the reason why I have to say goodbye, and I definitely hate it.

I want to wrap up my trip report, and I think I have a couple of posts left. But I kind of want to see where this argument goes to. It might be more interesting than my posts.

Answering some Day 17.4 stuff: LOL. Was that alluding to something nefarious that goes on at Thai colleges? Please do tell. I have often convoluted conversations with CB and DTG about what extra things we can do other than just staying at the condo or eating at a restaurant. We get into conversations about doing some travel outside Bangkok, and then we think about going to Chiang Mai or Phuket, and then it turns into going to Singapore or Japan, and then we think about Universal Studios or Disneyland. And then they stop and think what they are going to say next and they stop. And then tell me (1) forget about it, (2) its a lot of money and (3) they'd rather have the money. It's obvious that they want to all these awesome things, and I would love to give it to them, but they become practical about it and we just don't do it. CB can spot a fake a mile away. Don't ask me how. Yes, this is the point for me. I am ultimately spending money on myself, and it makes me feel good spending money on him. It makes me feel good that my boys are well-fed and looking good. I always give them the receipt with the purchase. I want them to have the choice of exchanging the clothing item if they feel they need something else. Not sure if you can get cash for a purchase made by my credit card. But if they can and they return the item and get cash for it, I don't care. It's their gift. If they keep it forever, return it for cash, sell it to a friend, or give it away to a family member, it doesn't matter to me. They got some use for it, and it made me feel good in the moment. They've already paid me back through companionship and amazing sex, so I shouldn't complain about what they do. Holy fuck this is a lot of money. Its like offing 5-7 Pattaya boys.

I can delve into it deeper later when I am off work, but I am a little bit surprised by some of the reaction to the post. Here I thought the post was a (final) love letter to the three great boys I came across that day (two Thais and a Khmer), a 24-paragraph ode to how amazing this place is, and how fortunate I am to get to come here. Instead the one paragraph I have about something that didn't even happen to me got the attention. It even spawned a spin off post. What have I wrought? Scams happen all over, including here back home, the supposed richest country in the world. Being aware of it and sharing it to a willing audience does not mean a blanket judgement on the whole people. I don't tell my friends that all French people are scam artists just because my BF got scammed on the Champs-Elysees in broad daylight, but that anecdote I do tell them so they can make informed decisions when they find themselves in Paris. I always choose to focus on the goodness in all people, because the alternative just sucks. Apologies if you think me sharing one anecdote showed that Thai people are bad. I think my diary and experiences have proven just the exact opposite. I fucking love this place!

Day 17.8: The Space Between Dream Boy Thai Guy (DTG) and I head over to the elevator. My time with him this trip has ended. I make a promise to him to see him again next trip. He says he will wait for me. He tells me he will try to make as much money as he can till the end of the year, and then possibly look for a day job. Dream Boy will still be an option for him to make some extra money. I lament that I may not see him again if he decides to quit being a money boy. He tells me that he wishes that our relationship is not of customer and money boy, but as friends. He understands that this is what he does, but he wishes that I do not stress this fact too much. I tell him I won’t use those words to describe our relationship ever again. I get back to the room and see Cambodia Boy (CB), the amazingly complex money boy, on my computer playing music videos. I tell CB to relax for a bit before heading out for dinner. I promised him a good last night alone, tonight, together, without any other boys, threesomes, or awkward sleeping situations. I’ve seen CB in past trips, and this is probably the 4th trip I’ve seen him, and all 4 trips I’ve seen him on multiple days. He is a Jomtien boy, so off fees are never an issue. And since he is a Pattaya boy, he is one-third to a half cheaper than Bangkok boys. But this is not why I off him so often. In fact, just typing it now, it’s the first time I think I realized that I am saving some money by offing him instead of BKK boys. Apart from being gorgeous, having an amazing body, a perfect butt, respectable cock, and eyes that will just melt your heart, I like him because he is brutally honest with me. The first time I was with him, we were both shy and unsure and it was just a normal customer-boy transaction. Once I was sure of my affection for him, I wanted to get to know him more, and got way more than what I bargained for. I’ve shared about his tales of soul-crushing poverty, about his family, and about his experiences with other customers. What I haven’t shared is his (slight) disdain for Thai people, even if they account for probably a third of his customer base. He rarely has any white farang customers (his choice), and gets offed often by Chinese, Japanese or Thais (and sometimes the odd Malaysian or Korean). His disdain is normally towards Thai working boys. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But sometimes out of the blue he asks about recent offs I’ve had, and whenever it was a Thai off, he would warn me to be wary of Thai boys. He thinks they will try to milk me of my money through nefarious means. For example he has warned me about a certain "cellphone scam", which is similar to the "jet ski scam" in Pattaya. He said certain “evil Thai boys” will bring with them an already broken phone to an off. At some point during the off, said Thai boy will put his cellphone near the edge of the bed, hoping that the customer will knock it off the bed. Since the cellphone is already broken, it will shatter or break when it hits the ground. Guilty customer will of course offer to replace said phone, thus completing the scam. He has a number of stories like this, to my delight and horror. So maybe his disdain for Thai working boys extended to DTG, probably a mixture of having a prejudice against Thai boys, and my obvious affection for DTG. He goes to me and asks me if I loved DTG. I tell him no but I let him know that I like DTG a lot because he is not like any other money boy I’ve met. This was a mistake telling him this, because he asks me if I don’t like him anymore. He says he was jealous because I am able to talk to DTG about fairly complex things and DTG is able to understand and comprehend whatever I throw at him. He says he is “stupid boy” and can not compete with DTG. So I do what I normally do when CB gets into these self-pitying spirals, like when he shared about how helpless he is when he told me months ago that he needed to come up with a lot of money to pay down his parent’s debt (which he was successful in paying off), or when he shared about his tragic childhood and being left in the street to fend for himself (which he was able to survive and come out of): I lay him down the bed, wiping the tears off his eyes (there is always tears), and look him in the eye. And with my best smile, I tell him how happy he makes me feel. I tell him he is a great guy with a lot to offer. I tell him he is smart and I learn a lot from him. Hugging him always helps. I remind him that he is probably the boy I see most often in Thailand. I tell him I see a lot of boys, and I am a butterfly, but I also want him with me a lot. I tell him I will continue to be a butterfly and see a lot of boys. But I will always try to see him, because I like him. I tell him I cannot be his boyfriend, but I can be the next best thing: a good friend. I hug him deeply, and we cuddle in bed, fully clothed. No pretense of sex. Just another opportunity to connect, to deepen our bond to each other. I know how strong he is and how cunning he can become with his customers. But he lets himself be vulnerable around me. He lets the floodgates often because I want him to. He is my catharsis, and I want him to be mine. Of course the cynic in me, in all of us, would think that this display of pity and vulnerability, and the tears that are free-flowing, is another ploy to get more money. If I pity him, I will give him more money. Maybe it is a ploy, another scheme that the predatory money boy has in their arsenal of weapons to squeeze every dollar out of our wallets. Naive or not, I don’t think this is the case. As that famous quote by Maya Angelou says “If someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” We cuddle like this for a few minutes and then we decide to have dinner. We shower and then start dressing up for the night. I wear my long jeans again, for his benefit, because he has said he liked how I looked in long pants. I wear one of the H&M shirts that I bought. He wears the long sleeve shirt and pants I just bought him. I hug him and tell him he looked beautiful tonight. He gives me this genuine smile that tells me the worst is over. He knows I am only his tonight. I will try to keep it that way. I decide to go to Mango Tree because I had a blast the last time I was there. It was with DTG that last time. It is 8:30 PM when we get there. We order some seafood, and some festive alcoholic drinks. We laugh and talk about our day. I feel a slight twinge of sadness because this is my last night, but I push them away to force myself to live in the moment. I know he is also thinking this, and tonight’s melancholic episode may have something to do with that, so I try to be happy and smiling, because I know he is making an effort as well. I hold his hand most of the meal. We share everything family style, just the way he always likes it. He takes some pictures and posts them on his Facebook. We finish dinner around 10 PM. I ask him where he wants to go next. He, of course, tells me “up to you.” I tell him, NO, this is our night. What would you like for us to do? He again says “up to you.” We go like this a few more times, and then he says “OK, I know you. Lets go gogo bar. I know u like look boy.” I was kind of surprised by this choice and I tell him that this was not necessary. He continues to insist though, telling me that it was my last night and I wont be able to see gogo bars when I go home. I ask him is he was really sure. He said we should go now. We get on Surawong Rd and head over to Soi Twilight. Its starting to rain, so its time to be indoors. I decided against going to Dream Boy in fear of seeing DTG again. I decide on Hot Male. Actually it was forced upon me. They have very very forceful touts outside of Hot Male who literally drag you into their bar. Actually I had some willpower to resist the touts, but CB did not, and was carried away by the touts to Hot Male. I chased them down into the bar. There were probably about 10 people in the bar tonight. Does this bar ever fill up? I’d hate for this bar to close because of poor attendance. Does Dream Boy just suck the oxygen out of every other bar here on the Soi? Anyway, we get seated at the front, and immediately get asked for our drink orders. We both get beers. We survey the boys onstage. Everyone was in briefs. It was a better selection today, though I still miss the Viets. CB tells me that he doesn’t find anyone attractive. I actually see one boy who is very cute. He looks a little bit Viet. The boy catches me looking at him, and he smiles at me. He is very lean, and he has no fat whatsoever in his body. He could be classified as a twink except that he has a little bit more muscle than the average twink, and has a complete set of abs. His pencil-thin mustache makes him look like in his mid-20s, but I am sure if he shaves it off it’ll make him look bordering on barely legal. CB catches me staring at the boy. He asks me if I like him, I say yes, he is cute. He then asks me if I want to off him. I say not really. Maybe just ask him to have drink with me. Is that OK? CB says of course, and raises his hand to call on the boy. I kind of like CB taking matters into his own hands sometimes. The boy sits right next to me and immediately cozies up to me. He smiles and looks very friendly. He tells me his name and then talks to me in Thai. I say what and he says he thought I was Thai. I tell him I get that a lot, and I assure him I was born in the U.S. He then asks what my heritage is. I tell him and he finds it funny. He points to my face and tells me I look like I am from Chiang Mai. I tell him I’ve heard this numerous times before, and tell him usually people think my looks land me somewhere in Northern Thailand/Northern Vietnam/Southern China. I then tell him he also looks like he is from Chiang Mai. He tells me he is from Isaan, but one of his grandmothers is Viet, that is why he looks kind of Viet. Of course I pick the guy in the bar with a hint of Viet. He is animated and looks me in the eye when he talks to me. I look at his physical presence up and down. He is very sexy, very smooth, with just a hint of treasure trail from his belly button to his underwear. His body, very lean, but with just the right amount of muscle to hold my attention. I put a hand on his thigh, and I feel his warm body pressing against my arm. He gives me a kiss in the cheek, and I get a whiff of his pleasant scent. A good mix of perfume and his own pleasing body scent. His smile is very inviting. I feel comfortable with this guy. He is handsome, very friendly, and looks genuinely engaged to talk to me. There was something very down to earth and humble about his demeanor that I felt instantly comfortable with him. If this was any other night, I would have offed him. If my instincts are right about him, he’d be one of those that will be a multiple night off, delving deeper into his background, possibly making a deep connection with him, as I endeavor to do with boys I like. Unfortunately this is not one of those nights. When I make a promise to someone, I keep it. I promised CB it was just us tonight, and it will continue to be so. So I am honest to this guy, telling him I am with CB and will not be offing him, but I hope I will see him in a future trip. He nods, and I detected a hint of disappointment, but he continues to smile despite this setback. I remain close to him while the Hot Male show comes and goes. I fish out 250 baht from my pocket and give it to him, and thank his for his time. He Wais and smiles. I hope I see him in the future. Butterfly status: Dead I simply cannot be sad about not being able to off Hot Male Guy. The butterfly in me might be dead, but maybe it’s not really who I am. I like meeting new boys, and sometimes get a lot of them, but I also like being fiercely loyal to the ones I already know, especially the ones I have made a deep connection with. Not everyone I off multiple times I develop a deep connection. Sometimes great sex is just that, great sex. But the ones I do I hold on to. So I am holding onto CB tonight. I ask him what he wants to do next. I tell him since we did something I wanted, its his turn to pick what he wanted. He thinks for a minute and tells me he just wants to talk and be close to me. I say sure, where do you want to go for that? At the condo, disco or bar? He thinks about it and chooses "bar." I motion to mamasan and pay for three drinks. I hug my Hot Male guy, say goodbye, and off we go to Soi 4. Thank goodness the rain has stopped. It’s cool enough that I don’t regret wearing long pants. We head over to Soi 4 via Patpong, holding hands the whole way. Silom is less busy tonight because of the rain. We get to Telephone Pub and get good seats. We again get beers and have a pleasant conversation about pop culture, not so pleasant conversations about the future, about my inability to commit to him, about how tired he is being a money boy, and reassuring conversations about our love for each other, about being there for each other, even if I have a BF, and him with his revolving door of lovers. This is a relationship that cannot be defined by just mere words. Best friend? Boyfriend? Lover? These words are just too limiting, or go too far. We head to the condo and make the requisite preparations to make love. And make love we did. As two boys with both the sexual appetite and the drive to create fireworks. As two lovers deeply familiar with every contour of each other's bodies and needs. And as two good friends eager to show each other another way to care. We did not make love like it was the last night of the world, but the last night for us, for now. I have pushed this relationship as far as I could without committing to be his boyfriend. We exist in the nexus between great friends and great lovers. I cannot do anything more for him. Part of me wants to. I have the means to make it happen, and I have the love that is needed to sustain it. But I simply cannot. He is not the first boy I’ve met in this magical place in between. And I doubt he will be the last. Not by a longshot.

Life is too short. Those are the four words that constantly ring in my head whenever I go on vacation, especially when I go to Thailand. Granted I count myself insanely lucky to be able to afford these vacations, it is kind of exhausting to penny pinch and micro manage every baht when you are having a good time. I have a set budget every time I go to Thailand, and 10 trips later, have yet to go over my set budget, so I've been successful in setting expectations for myself and be able to spend money within these expectations. Not every trip is a big money trip. That's when free boys on Grindr, or calling up on friends to hangout, come in. Been lucky that the boys I shop with have not asked for a big ticket expensive item. I imagine if one boy did this to me, I have no problems saying no. Boys like CB are fairly brand conscious and implicitly believe the brand name ones are superior, in looks, quality and the way they feel. He told me that people might not know the difference between the brand name and generic ones, but to him, he knows, and it gives him more confidence on how he carries himself because he knows he is wearing the real deal. Boys like DTG are more practical, and could care less about brand names, and feel it is a huge waste of money to buy them. He is aware of some quality differences but this is secondary to more pressing issues in his life. Both boys have given me a good time in Thailand, and they are so different in temperament and attitude. Variety is the spice of life. A number of posters have told me that they have met DTG just based on my description, which I admit, is pretty detailed. If I were to do this again, I may pull back some of the details more. While I really don't want the boys to be harassed because of my reports, I did find it validating that most of them more or less had a positive experience with him. If I were to guess, since DTG is a latecomer to the money boy scene, and as an adult has had full life experiences outside of Soi Twilight, including getting a college education, he has a more developed moral compass than most. It's very easy and tempting to be cynical about everything that happens in Thailand. I am probably in the more naive side of things. I have no problem with that.

Day 17.4: Retail Therapy Session Dream Boy Thai Guy (DTG), like Cambodia Boy (CB), and like a lot of money boys scraping by in Thailand, need money, and a lot of it, it seems, beyond what they need for their basic needs like food to survive and a roof over their head. They either have families that expect to get money from them (fathers, mothers, wives, etc), or dreaming of starting businesses that take them out of poverty (taxi service, t-shirt printing, tour business for example), or even saving up for the future (to buy a house back home to call their own, or enough money to go *back* to school, or even to leave BKK or Pattaya and live somewhere cheaper, or buying a mocy). It could be a combination of any or all these things. Some nefarious reasons like supporting a drug habit exist of course, as well as other reasons I can’t even fathom. So here we are, at H&M in hi-so land Siam Paragon, with prices of clothes ranging from 600 to 1000+ baht for shirts, 1000 to 2000+ baht for jeans, and more or less for shoes. Prices that seem run-of-the-mill to two-week millionaire farang, but mean life and death to the boys. DTG is seemingly frozen in time and unable to enter H&M. He looks at the prices of everything, splashed in big font sizes in signs all over the store, and is reminded of how much he needs the actual money for himself, and not to spend on frivolously overpriced hi-so clothing. He takes some steps back and looks unsure what to do next. I ask him if he was OK. He said he was but he said he has forgotten how expensive the items here are. I tell him not to worry about cost for now, let me worry about that. I make it easy on him, pointing to his simple shirt, well-worn jeans and tattered boots: you can buy some things to replace what you are wearing right now. You will probably look better in new clothing, and the better the look, the better farang will feel about being seen with you, and maybe they give you more money. He smiles at my logic. He then asks, almost apologizing, if it was OK if he gets some jeans here. I say it is fine and to ask CB if he needed help. I’ve only been once to an H&M, and this was at my last trip to Amsterdam. I messed up the t-shirt I was wearing trying to juggle coffee and an ice cream cone, while sightseeing with friends. We ducked into the closest H&M and I got myself a simple white shirt, the cheapest one I could find in the whole store. It was on sale for 6 euro. So my second time in an H&M is in Thailand, and a world away. I start my shopping slow at first, but pretty soon I find some items interesting. A t-shirt here or some shorts that look nice, pretty soon I find about 5 or 6 items on my arm, ready to go to the fitting room to try them on. CB spots me, carrying some items himself. He asks me if he could help carrying my items. I tell him I am fine, but he takes my items from me anyway and follows me around the store while I look for more. I make one more circuit around the men’s section and I tell CB I am ready to go to the fitting room. We both head there with our items to try them on. We see DTG heading out of the fitting room seemingly satisfied with the jeans that he has chosen. I tell him if he could wait so we can do some fittings. CB and I both go in adjacent fitting rooms and try our stuff. I go through my items and I hear CB say my name and ask me to come out. I put on a shirt and peek out. He is in his new pants and new shirt, looking so cute. He asks if it looks good on him. I say it is looks great. He looked very GQ. I go back to my things and decide to buy two shirts. I am the last person who needs any new clothing, but what the hell, these look good on me. I get out of my fitting room and return the 4 items I was not going to buy to the attendant. I look for DTG and he is looking at a rack of t-shirts. He sees me and hands me the pants he wants to buy. I look at the price, it is 1200 baht. Not bad I think. I bet he looks amazing in these. CB then finds us and gives me his jeans as well. Same 1200 baht. I ask him if he liked the t-shirt that he was trying on. He said no. So I take the two jeans and my two t-shirts and pay the cashier. It is 3400 baht for the whole thing. I then tell the boys we are going to Uniqlo. I am guaranteed to find something there. DTG checks the mall directory and leads us to the store. I love this store. I could easily bust my budget just getting new cute things here. And since they have Asian sizes, for my Asian body, I almost exclusively just buy my clothes in Asia, and mostly from this store. The small sizes in the US are sometimes too large for me, if not in the chest area, the length is usually too long for me. The first time I was in Hong Kong I went hog wild with the availability of cute clothes in Asian sizes. I am more measured now with the shopping, but still get one thing here and there once in a while. DTG and CB roam around the racks and displays looking for their one thing. I do a loop as well, and pick out three shirts that I like. I also pick out 2 shirts for my BF. He is a medium in America, but a large here. 20 minutes later we convene in the center of the store. CB picks up a nice long sleeved shirt that was 800 baht. DTG is empty-handed. I ask him where is your one thing? He said he is thinking about getting shoes but doesn’t think it would be right to get them. CB asks to see them, so we head over to the shoes part of the store to look at what DTG picked out. He showed us two pairs that he thought would look good on him. CB liked the high tops shoe, and commented it looks similar to what DTG was wearing now but obviously not in tatters. DTG then tells me it is too expensive. I look at the price, it is 1500 baht. I tell him it is not a problem and quite frankly he needs new shoes. DTG then hesitates, and tells me he does not want to get them. I ask him why. He hesitates again, trying to think of what to say next. CB recognizes some tension in DTG and leaves to get us some privacy. DTG and I both sit down on the benches where people sit and try on shoes, and I ask him what is the problem. He tells me that he feels guilty for spending my money. He tells me that he thinks it is a waste to buy these expensive things. He pauses and then tells me the truth: that he would rather get the money than me buying the shoes. He then apologizes for saying this but tells me this is why he rarely has customers buy him anything. It’s like our conversation a fews days ago about me taking him to Japan, and him telling me I rather give him the money I would spend on him on the vacation. I look at him and make my intentions clear. I tell him I am buying him clothes as a token of my appreciation of how good he has taken cared for me these past few weeks. I say “If you don’t want to pick an item, that’s fine. But I hope you give me this chance to thank you some other way other than giving you money. I know you will not buy anything for yourself, and everything you earn goes to someone else. So this is my way of forcing you to buy something for yourself, with my money.” He laughs at this. He then says he understands why I am doing this. I tell him I see his tattered shoes and worn pants. I want to at least do something about it. He tears up a little bit when I said this. He gets up quickly and tries to look for CB. I wait for a minute and DTG and CB get back and look at the shoes again. After a little bit of deliberation, DTG chooses the high tops and says he is done. He takes all my shirts, CB gives him his shirt, and we both go to the cashier carrying all the merchandise. When we get to the cashier there was no line. He puts all the clothes down and talks to the cashier. While the cashier rings us up, DTG chats her up. Pretty soon all the other Thais behind the counter join in the conversation. I obviously can’t follow the conversation, but it seems that they were having a good time. The cashier rings us up and looks at me and tells me the total in Thai. I get my Visa from my wallet and she says a few more things to me in Thai. I just smile. I look Thai today. DTG says something, presumably answering her question. I was not sure how much I paid at the moment, but at the airport the next day, I find the receipt of my purchase in my wallet and realized it was a little over 5000 baht, enough to get a VAT refund. I wasn’t asked by the cashier if I wanted that yellow form, and since I had my passport with me, I would’ve been able to get the refund form, and I could’ve gotten a few hundred baht back for my purchase, but it didn’t occur to me at the time of purchase. DTG takes the bag and we are done with Uniqlo. I tell the boys that we will walk to MBK so I can buy some souvenirs. We peek outside and see that it was raining, so I decided to punt on going to MBK and not walk all that way. We go instead to Exotique Thai on the fourth floor of Siam Paragon. It has the basic Thai souvenirs you can ever need, and the cost is not as bad as you would expect from a store in Siam Paragon. I buy a few things for friends and family, and it cost me half what I spent at Uniqlo. The boys rearrange all the shopping bags between them, and I didn’t even have to carry anything. I offered to take some of the bags but they did not want me to lift a finger. We queue up at the taxi line outside of Siam Paragon. The rain has thankfully stopped and the sidewalk is a little wet. It takes us a while to get to the front of the line, but thankfully we had DTG to talk to the driver and get us back to the condo. When we get to the condo DTG pays for the fare. I tell him he did not have to do that, but DTG said it was just 80 baht. Back at the room, DTG and CB take their new clothes from the bags. CB takes off his top and wears his new long sleeved shirt proudly. DTG takes off the tag from CB’s shirt. DTG then puts his new shoes and pants in one bag. CB goes to the bathroom. DTG and I sit in the couch. At this point it is almost 6 PM and DTG says that he should go so CB and I have our night together. I take 3000 baht from my wallet, as well as 650 baht for the off fee. He takes both and hugs me. DTG then asks about my plans immediately after getting back home. I tell him the truth and elaborate on my next few weeks, which will be very busy working, traveling and other things. He is intrigued by some of what I said and asks more questions about it. CB quietly comes out of the bathroom and sits down on the dining room table. DTG and I continue our conversation about my plans. He tries to understand my job and work and we continue like this for another 15 minutes. I then get up and tell DTG I will call him when I get home to keep in touch. DTG tells me to message him whenever I want and he wants to see me again next time I am in Thailand. I hug him deeply and tell CB I will escort DTG down to the lobby so he can leave. CB smiles at both of us and says goodbye to DTG. Was that smile a little bit forced? To be continued

From what I understood he visits his family for a few days in the week and maybe this is what he meant by having a kitchen. But I didn't ask him in detail. Never had a problem with boys trying out sit down restaurants with me, but then again I only get this far with the boys that get comfortable with me anyway. And about ignorance, for the longest time I never used my spoon to eat traditional Thai/asian food, being the American kid that I am. I quickly figured out its just easier to use it in tandem with a fork, especially with soupy curries and what not. There have been some cases where DTG encountered straight friends while with me, either a neighbor or a former coworker or friend. Maybe because I am younger but he didn't have a problem introducing me sometimes. There was even a time me and CB and DTG were walking on Silom and he encountered a neighbor, a Thai woman with her toddler. No problem there. Maybe its DTG particularly. And he ate a lot at Fuji when he was an office worker. I have encountered a friend (albeit gay) while being with a boy or two. If it was a family member maybe I'll have a problem, but was not at all embarrassed talking to my friends with the boys. This is one of the thing I could do better: limit eating food in more expensive restaurants. But part of me does think that it is a vacation and just like in my other vacations, with friends or family or my BF, I do not even think twice of spending money on local foodie spots. So maybe I should not think about this too much and just enjoy my 400 baht soft shell crab.

I will tell you in a future post what was CB's reasons for wanting to sleep on the couch that night. Two boys in a bed is less of a fantasy for me than having two boys to have sex with at the same time. I am a very light sleeper (and have a slight case of insomnia), and both CB and DTG, having been in the same bed with me before, know my quirks when trying to sleep. I have managed the insomnia thing fairly well in Thailand, but two boys in my bed might affect me. Having said that, I may have to try that at some point in my next trip, the way my planning is shaping up right now... #32 is a looker for sure, and I understand why my friend PNGguyBKK bought him a beer. I would consider offing him next time if given the chance. chancellor, do you have experience with him? Please tell if he is a good off or not if you have . I agree, I live for the street food in Thailand. It's not obvious last trip, as I decided to treat the boys every meal. Apart from the unfortunate choice of McDonalds that one time, I usually eat street food when I am alone, or with certain boys who insist on having it, usually after dancing or drinking. I promise anddy to buy you a $2 treat in December! About the cliff-hanger, I have to chop up these posts somehow, because this one was getting long, so why not at a period of possible conflict?