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This is the last segment of my 25 wonderful days in Thailand. 09 January – 14 January 2014 Trip Report to Pattaya Thursday 09 January – Arrive in Pattaya - went to BoyzTown Flew to UTP - Pattaya – Utapao from USM - Koh Samui with Bangkok Airways departing at 11:10am and arriving at 12:25pm, costing 5,210 bahts – not bad for a 1hour 15 minute flight. Arriving at the U-Tapao-Pattaya International Airport was a strange feeling as it has the look and feel of a military airport. In fact, it is a joint civil-military airport housing the Royal Thai Navy Airfield. Interestingly, U-Tapao was an ex-military base for the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War years. The airport is about 45 minutes away from BoyzTown in downtown Pattaya. Taxis were scarce so I had to share a van with 8 other single guys that looked like they were from Russia and/or some Arab countries. As they were very heterosexual, it was good that I was the last stop, as I would not have been able to imagine the look on their faces had we entered BoyzTown as the first stop. Hehehehe. Checked into The Ambiance hotel (at the recommendation of Anonone and many others from this forum). It was recommended for me since I am a “first timer” in Pattaya and the hotel is right in the middle of BoyzTown right next to Boyz, Boyz, Boyz. Well after unpacking and then going to the nearby Family Mart to stock up the room fridge, I headed out to check the BoyzTown street and right away I was swooped up by the sexy Alex barman from Boyz, Boyz, Boyz. He asked me to sit for a drink outside the go-go boy bar and then he asked me if I wanted to off him. Of course I said yes and within 20 minutes from exiting the hotel to hitting the street, we were back in the hotel having great sex. Simply amazing, as this is an all-time record for me – in quickness in getting someone in my bed. Alex left after given the white envelope and then I took a shower and dressed for the night out and ate at the Boat Bakery just around the corner on Pattaya Second Road, for some quick, cheap and fairly good Thai food, where I watched all of the Russians on the busy street – quite entertaining. I had never seen such a huge concentration of Russians before. Went back to Boyz, Boyz, Boyz and I was again greeted by Alex who then took me inside the go-go bar to get a good close seat to see the show. The show was very good and I was impressed. The best scene was when the breakdance group of young Thai college students performed some amazing feats on the stage. They had an incredible amount of talent and were very sexy to watch. I asked my designated bar man if any were off-able and he said no. The rest of the show was similar to the ones that I saw in the BKK go-go boy bars. Show ended and I decided to call it a night. Friday 10 January – Went to Jomtien Dongtan beach, Boyz Gym massage, and Vassa Bar. I wanted to check out the famous Dongtan beach so I took the 15 minute trip there by mocy. Being the first time I did not know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised because I liked the proximity to Boyztown and the fact that it is much less urban in Jomtien. You really feel that you have left the congested Pattaya as you are surrounded by a nice beach on the waterfront with lounge chairs and umbrellas and behind them are giant palm and coconut trees which create a big refuge where people are laying down on blankets getting massages or just relaxing in the shade. In the shaded area are bars that offer refreshments and lunch. In addition, there are vendors selling their wares as well as massage guys circulating around offering massages and guys offering pedicures/manicures. All of the conveniences are brought to you. The bar guys at the gay beach are very sexy and competitive (in the sense that they would say, “stay here with us” or “come here”) – which made it difficult to know where to stay. Obviously the gay rainbow flag helped – but they were already soliciting way before I reached the gay flag. There were pockets of Russian families around interspersed with small groups of gays – some Russian, some European and some Asian. Also, later in the afternoon, some Thai guys started milling around trying to find company – but always more in the shaded area. I took a swim and I can say that the water was mostly clean and definitely cleaner then the Roman beach where I go in the summer back in Italy. The hardest dilemma is to decide to keep the umbrella open or closed – as the sun would be too intense and then it would be time to open the umbrella again. I was making the bar guys crazy with my constant requests to open and close. In Koh Samui, since there was so much free space you could always keep your umbrella open and sit in the lounge chair underneath protected from the sun or put your beach towel out on the free space in the sand to get the sun when you wanted without having to disturb the bar guys. Dongtan is too crowded – as there is NO free space to do this so instead you need to constantly open and close the umbrella. I met a great guy from Israel (who formerly lived in Russia) who was sitting near me who was quite sexy and very talkative. Several sexy massage guys would stop by and sit on his lounge chair and try to convince him to order their services and when he would say no, they would try to caress his ever growing package in his swimsuit. It was very erotic and he was slightly embarrassed (because I was there) but at the same time I believe that he liked all of the attention and I think that he wanted to show off his tool in a discrete way. He helped me to understand how things work at Dongtan – as it is quite discreet and you need to figure out their subtleties. The Israeli guy left for the Sansuk Sauna – http://www.sansukpattaya.com/ - as he told me that he was now horny and wanted some Russian cock. He said that Sansuk was a great place to meet and fuck with horny Russians. I wished him luck and told him that I had Thai meat on my menu instead of Russian meat. On leaving the Dongtan beach I decided to take a walk away from Jomtien and instead towards Pattaya on the sidewalk that is between the coconut tree shade and the beautiful View Talay Condo complex. It was beautiful, as the sun was starting to set. As you might remember from my prior Trip Reports, one of the scopes of this trip was to see where I would want to live in Thailand when I will eventually retire and I can say that I believe that it will perhaps be here. I liked the access to the gay beach, which is surrounded by other gay establishments, the proximity to both the nearby Jomtien complex with many more gay businesses, the proximity to South Pattaya (Boyz Town and Sunee). But most important to me was the feeling of nature and the greenness of the surrounding area. Too much concrete and urban congestion gets on my nerves – so, Dongtan seems to be a nice compromise. è It you live here in Jomtien – please comment on what it’s like to live here as opposed to living in Pattaya, or Bangkok or anywhere else in Thailand. It will help me to plan for the future. <-- At the end of the sidewalk, I took a mocy back to BoyzTown for an after beach nap in my hotel room. Woke up somewhat horny and looked on Jack’d and I saw one of the massage boys (Krit – 27 years old) who was sitting outside from The Boyz Sauna Gym http://www.boyzgym.com/ which is connected to The Alliance massage shop was writing to me to see if I wanted a massage. I said yes and within 5 minutes he was up in my hotel room. How convenient. He gave me a great 1.5 hour massage – ok, that part was only 45 minutes and the rest was hot sexual pleasure. We both came and appeared to be satisfied. I was. Paid the 1,000 baht tip to him and the rest went on the hotel bill – another convenience. Showered, off to dinner, and after dinner, off to The Vassa Bar to see their famous towel night (since so many from this forum have written about Vassa I had to check it out). It was 10pm when I arrived and it was packed – which isn’t saying much, as the bar is tiny and there are only 2 rows of seats for the customers, where the first row is perhaps only 1 meter from the stage. The only seat available was right in the front row and I took it. I was immediately uncomfortable as the boys were so young and right in my face. Now being in my 21st day of my 25 day trip in Thailand I had never seen such young and emaciated boys in the other go-go bars. I never had this kind of reaction. I tried to calm myself down with a stiff drink and watched the boys in their towels. There was only one boy I liked and I took an immediate liking to him – he was shy and dancing in the back row on the stage. He also had the longest towel on and was the oldest boy there and least emaciated – he had some meat on his bones. I asked the mamasaan if he could sit with me and he was SO happy to get off the stage. The mamasaan told me that his name is Khong and he is from Laos. Unfortunately he could not speak English so the lovely mamasaan was kind enough to sit with me when she could to help me to have a conversation with Khong. After a while the bar emptied out and I noticed an immediate transformation in the bar. The mamasaan asked me to move in the back row to be more comfortable with Khong and immediately I was much more relaxed. At this point it was only me with the boys. So, still being a little uncomfortable, I decided to have my second Anonone moment and I ordered drinks and a bottle of whiskey for everyone, including the mamasaan, the barker guy outside and even the person working in the back who was fully dressed but perhaps doing some bookkeeping. Most of the boys came off the stage (as I was the only customer) and they surrounded me and we drank together and they began to play a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” Thai style, where the loser had to drink a shot of whiskey. The guy with the name, “Boy” was losing the most and kept saying to me, “please drink for me” and I said NO – I need to perform tonight for Khong. Every once and a while a customer would come in and the boys had to stop partying with me and run back up on the stage until they were either offed or the customer left. These transformational moments were like scenes from “The Simpsons” – I truly had a blast once I got over my adverse reaction when I first arrived. Reflecting on why I had that reaction – I think it was because I had reached my limit on the youth thing in a go-go boy bar and I felt like I was in an orphanage and I wanted to save all of the boys from their fate. Alcohol, Khong, and the “Rock, Paper, Scissors” game with the boys got my mind off those bad thoughts that I had. Around 1am, I took Khong back to The Ambiance for a short off. I think that I paid, 800 to the mamasaan? Back at the hotel 27 year old Khong was great. I found out that he had only started at Vassa 2 days prior and that I was the first customer to off him. When we weren’t kissing and cuddling, we were using my iPad to communicate from Thai/Laos to English once we found the right digital keyboard. We had great sex and after a great shower together, I asked him to leave, as I don’t sleep well with someone that I do not know well. I gave him a 1,500 tip – as he was so much my type physically and sexually. Saturday 11 January – Went to Tukcom IT Center, Magnolia Spa, Walking Street and Sunee Plaza Tukcom is located at 8 Moo 10, Pattaya Tai (South Road) – which is a smaller version of the big electronics mall MBK in Bangkok. It is about a 15 to 20 minute leisurely walk from BoyzTown. As you may have remembered from my Koh Samui trip report, my smartphone fell in the salt water and I was desperate to buy a new Samsung Galaxy to replace the old one. I saw on the www.thaivisa.com forum that the Ice Mobile phone stall in TukCom came highly recommended. So I went right there and the guy was great as he took apart my old smart phone and showed me how the salt water had short circuited my old phone and corroded everything. We then decided on the Samsung Galaxy S4 (the old one was an S3) and the price was reasonable, 18,300 baht (407 euro) because back in Italy the same phone costs 499 euros. He installed everything and even cut to size the old Italian SIM from large to small and gave me a shell frame so that I can use the SIM on old model phones as well as the new small SIM models. He must have spent 2 hours with me – an excellent guy and service. It was too late to go to the beach at Jomtien, so I instead took a taxi to the Magnolia Spa. The manager sat with me in the lobby and I looked at a picture book and he indicated to me who was available and from the selection I chose Mo for a 90 minute 2 hand massage in their VIP room. Mo is a sexy masculine Cambodian masseur who is 25 years old. Mo gave me a nice strong and sensual massage for the first 55 minutes. Then for the remaining time he tried to get me off fast, but I slowed him down telling him that we had plenty of time and that there was no rush. I found out that he was rushing because he did not want me to fondle with him much and he made it clear that he did not want to get off. So, I made him edge me a couple of times and when the moment was right I let him bring me over the edge. He disappeared downstairs and I took a shower and cleaned myself up and headed back downstairs and paid the 850 to Magnolia and I gave Mo 1,000. He would have gotten more if he had not been so cold about letting me play with him. Perhaps he was straight or I was not his type ?? The Magnolia Spa is in a big 2 floor villa and the rooms are very big and nice and clean. I would definitely go back – but I would most likely avoid Mo – as I prefer my massage guys to be more into playing around once the serious part of the massage is finished. Took a taxi back to the hotel for a nap. Then later on I headed out to see the famous Pattaya “Walking Street” – the most intense and explicit Walking street that I have seen in ALL of my Thailand journey. Most of the many touri towns in Thailand have a Walking street. Pattaya’s is unique in that sex is thrown into your face. It is very exciting to walk around to see with your own eyes what women can do for entertainment. There is even Muay Thai boxing matches in public display. I found myself staring in too much amazement that one of the Muay boxers was yelling at me to come near the boxing ring from off the street – I was too shy – he was SO hot. I do not know what he wanted but it sure does make for some great mental fantasies when home alone in bed. I did not see any gay bars or go-go bars for us – as this would have sure been nice to be mixed in the middle of this intense sexual hotbed of activity. Took some photos of the famous illuminated Pattaya neon sign that reminds me of the Hollywood one in California. I tried to walk to Sunee Plaza from the Walking Street – but in my typical fashion I got lost – even with my smartphone GPS as I found myself in front of a big highway in front of a big hill. A mocy driver came to my rescue and took me there within 10 minutes. Sunee Plaza was SO different then BoyzTown – BoyzTown is loud and lively and full of lights – where I found Sunee quiet and sedate with not that many lights. It had the look of something fun and exciting left over from the 1970s – with that style of architecture. I was starving so I ate in a small Thai eatery where I was the only customer – but the husband and wife cooked for me a great PadThai meal. This place was interesting as it had a bed mattress with a tv in front of it and my table to eat was across from it. I imagined that this husband and wife most likely slept there once they shut down serving food and closed the place. Afterwards I walked around Sunee which is MUCH bigger than BoyzTown with many more places – except it was not so busy. I ended up in the “Nice Boys” go-go boy bar. The guys in this place are a bit rough and masculine. They reminded me of the guys from the Uniman Spa in Bangkok. They were doing their 2 feet lame shuffle but they were also doing that macho “I am a man” thing with each other trying to push each other down into the sheep position. It was entertaining. I asked the mamasaan to ask Tom (22 from Isaan) to come and sit with me. We had a drink and spoke for a while and I told him that I wanted to go back to the hotel with 2 guys. At first he got weird and said, “I man” and I replied that “I am also man”. He gave me a strange look and I said, chuck-wow – then he smiled – ok. So, I said help me find another man so we can make a chuck-wow party. He chose Boap – 21 from Chiang Mai. I bought Boap a drink and then the “boss” of the Nice Boys place walked in with some food and my two boys went crazy for some of it. Then I remembered what some of you said from this board – so I told the 2 guys – we go and get food before returning to my hotel. They became real happy. So, they put on their street clothes and we left after I paid the off-fees (400 each ?) and for the drinks. We walked back from Sunee Plaza to BoyzTown – it was not that far – once you know where you are going and they stopped in 7-Eleven – I offered something better – but they wanted 7-Eleven and they picked out all kinds of fast food and had them nuked in the microwave and put some toppings on them and started their eating frenzy. Back at the hotel, I ate 1 little hot dog with them to make them happy – I was not hungry but it was a good bonding experience before we started the chuck-wow party. They were shy to jerk off in front of each other so I put myself in-between them and I let them jerk me off – alternating of course as it was “too gay” for them to touch my cock at the same time – how hetero of them and I jerked them off. Tom came first then me and then Boap who had to finish himself off as he needed some straight porn in order for him to reach orgasm. Everyone satisfied, we took separate showers and then they left after I gave them 1,500 each – I know I spoiled them – but they were SO much fun – as I love to make hetero guys do gay things – it is a big turn on for me. Sunday 12 January – Went back to the Jotmein – Dongtan beach Every morning breakfast in the great Ambiance hotel restaurant out on the terrace watching the movement of boys leaving the various hotels from their long time offs and watching the massage boys from the Boyz Gym massage place. Being another nice day in paradise, I decided to go back to Dongtan beach. This time instead of taking the mocy for 100 baht, I took the Baht bus (‘ rot song taew ') to the beach – just a 5 minute walk to the nearest station on Pattaya Second Road from BoyzTown. The fare is very reasonable, just 10 baht. Went to the gay beach again and picked a seat in the front row closest to the water. At first, no open umbrella as the sun was not yet scorching. Took a nice iced coffee and relaxed and watched the nearby scenery. Like the other day, many Russian families interspersed with the gays. Many farang – Thai couples and some singles like me. Did some swimming and socialized with some of the nearby ex-pat farangs with my incessant questions about what it is like to live in LOS. Got lots of great ideas and met some people who live in the nearby View Talay Condo complex as they shared with me the interesting hurdles that us farangs must go through to “own” property in Thailand (basically you lease it until you die). They all seemed happy and did not have many regrets. Then there was a debate on whether to live the full 12 months in Thailand or to do the back-and-forth trip home (USA or Europe). Many of them could not stand the hot wet months (March through July) and evacuated Thailand. Something for me to think about as I had imagined to abandon Europe all together when I would retire to cut expenses. There is always mom back in New York, but 5 months with mom may make me crazy. So, I concluded that in the first year(s) I could rent to see where in Thailand I would want to call home. Perhaps it could be both Pattaya and Chiang Mai – going to Chiang Mai in the more intolerable Pattaya months?? Around 16:30 I called it quits and I went to explore the Jomtein Complex hoping to try the Derby massage place that Vinapu wrote about in his trip report. Unfortunately it was closed and many of the other places were empty. I stopped at Vinegar (www.swimwearthailand.com/catalog.php) to buy a new pair of swim trunks. It is a very nice gay store where they make the products right there in the shop. So, I then walked over to the Bamboo Bar (410/35 Thrappraya Rd at Beach Rd Jomtien), small host bar on main road to the beach, afternoon crowd, older guys on offer. Immediately the owner sent over a “boy” to sit with me and have a drink. I bought him a drink but he was not my type, as he was too feminine. We had a nice conversation about what it is like to work there. I saw some guests going upstairs and he explained to me that short term rooms could be had for some quick fun. I declined his offer and said that I had to go back to Pattaya. There were 1 or 2 guys who were my type but I did not know how to meet them as the owner was putting pressure on my boy to stay with me with his eagle stair on the boy. After my drink and the boys drink I excused myself and got on a Baht bus back to Pattaya – as the main Jomtien Baht bus stop is outside of the Bamboo Bar in the big plaza. Traffic was a nightmare – so after a while I jumped off the Baht Bus and paid the 10 baht and just walked the rest of the way back to BoyzTown. Took a nap and then walked over to Pattayaland Soi 1 to eat some good Italian food – Firecat had written about it and I was interested. Both the food and service was very good. Went over to check out A-Bomb – but when I opened the door to look inside, there were NO customers. I did the same at X-Boys and Wild West Boys – and there was not much going on to my liking – it must have been my timing. It was already 11;30pm. So, I headed to Boyz, Boyz, Boyz and it was packed and I saw the tail end of the prior show and I waited for the next show to start up. It was pretty much the same as the first night and the break-dance boys performed again – they are my favorite. They are VERY hot. I pushed my assigned bar boy to help me off one and we had to involve the manager for the night and he asked some of them but they ALL said NO. I had the feeling that they could be offed if they could be separated from each other – it’s that macho thing. The manager told me that they were “man” and I said, “no problem” – we could chuck-wow. He suggested that I follow the break-dance gang to Nab and/or Dave where they would make further performances and perhaps at the end of the night they would become offable. I declined his offer to spend my night chasing them – as I was already too tired. So, I asked my bar boy if he could push with the manager if the fire eating performer was offable – I had already been declined on the first night and the manager told me that he had to perform in other clubs and if I wanted him that I would have to follow him for the rest of the night. So I declined and just enjoyed the company around me – there was a girl from Laos sitting with 3 of her girl friends and she wanted to help me choose the guys up on the stage. Even one hot guy very hetero jumped down from the stage because he wanted to perform privately for the Laos girl. When she told him that we were shopping for me and not her – he ran back up on the stage. It was a LOT of fun. The Laos girl asked me to go dancing with them afterwards – but I declined. They left and my bar guy tried to get me to off him. He was very nice but after being rejected by the hip-hop rap dancers and then the fire-eater I was ready to call it a night. So, went back to my room in The Ambiance and checked out Jack’d and a hot guy from Singapore, Jay, text me to see if I wanted to play with him tomorrow. I said yes and then I wanked (fantasizing about the rap dancers and this new guy Jay) and then fell sleep. Monday 13 January – Jack’d visitor Jay, walking around Pattaya and last night at Vassa Ate breakfast and at 11am Jay (age 24) who was staying with a friend at the Baan Souy near Jomtien met me in front of the Boyz, Boyz, Boyz go-go bar and I found him hot and we went back to my room to have sex. We were VERY compatible and we had a great time. I had to slow down to not make him cum too fast as I am older and it took me a while to catch up to him and then we synchronized for a great intense mutual orgasm. Unfortunately, Jay was flying back to Singapore later in the late afternoon. He is ½ Chinese and ½ Malaysian and very sexy. He hunted me and our meeting was not about $money$ - it was great for my ego. In Thailand the majority of my encounters have been for $payment$ as I have been lazy to go through all the necessary motions to try to hunt my desired prey. For me, I like the payment idea because I can order what I want and state before anything happens what I want to do with the guy. It puts me in control and there is much less rejection. Hunting in the more traditional way is much harder because of my age and the fact that this way can deteriorate quickly when you start talking about the menu of activities. Since vacation time is precious, I prefer the payment mode – as it saves time and allows you to get what you want. However, with Jay – he was a surprise out of the blue and I really clicked with him. After we finished sex we took a shower and had a nice long walk on the beach road towards North Pattaya. It was great and very romantic. Then reality struck and he had to run off to go check out of his hotel and to run off to the airport in Bangkok for his flight back to Singapore. What is great about Jay, is that we are still in touch via Line – at least 3 to 4 times a week and it is now the first week of February 2014. Jay is going for his PhD and will soon interview at Yale back in the USA to be accepted into their program. Either way, he is a 6 hours’ time difference from me, whether he is in Singapore or New Haven, Connecticut. I became sad after Jay left, so I made a BIG walk around Pattaya observing all of the many sights. Ate dinner later in the evening and decided that my last night in Pattaya should be at Vassa – I wanted to see how Khong was doing to say good-bye to him. He was there when I walked in and there was a seat in the back of the bar ready for me. Everyone was SO happy to see me – especially Khong – I asked the happy mamasaan to bring Khong down from the stage to sit with me and we immediately got affectionate. There were not many customers so the other boys immediately came and sat with us and right away I had my 3rd Anonone moment and I bought everyone a drink and the famous bottle of whiskey and ice and coke. They started playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors” and dancing and being crazy. It was a LOT of fun and a great way to end my 25 days in Thailand. I was less weird this time in Vassa – however, I noticed that there was one very emaciated boy on the stage who was constantly shaking. I told the mamasaan to get him off the stage and to put a towel on him and to get him some food. They did all of this – of course I paid – and in this way I was more tranquil as I did not see anyone suffering. I could see that it was a VERY slow night so I gave the mamasaan 1,200 baht and told her to separate it into 100 baht each and to make sure that everyone got 100 baht each – even the barker outside and the boy shaking under the towel. I offed Khong for a long-off and promised the mamasaan that Khong would be back freed by me at 19:30 the next evening as that was when the taxi-van would come to bring me on the dreaded trip back to the BKK airport. I was watching the news everyday and for very selfish reasons I was secretly hoping that the protesters would close the airport – but it did not happen – so I had to come back down to reality. Once out of Vassa, I asked Khong if we could take a nice romantic walk on the Beach Road along the seaside. Of course he did not understand me – as he speaks almost 0 English – but I pulled his hand towards the beach and we walked along the water. Unfortunately, I wanted us to sit down – but there were too many rats climbing down from the trees and scurrying along the sand looking for food. So we moved off of the beach, as the rats ruined the romantic moment that I had in my head, and we walked along the Beach Road – but then the Lady Boys started getting aggressive with us and other potential customers nearby. So again, that romantic moment was ruined – so back to the hotel where we made some very passionate sex. This time I was VERY happy to sleep with Khong – because now I knew him and I knew that I would be able to sleep. We cuddled all the night and it was a great sleep. Tuesday 14 January – Last day in Pattaya, Jomtien-Dongtan beach, trip back to the BKK airport Woke up in the morning happy to see Khong next to me. I rumbled for an extra pair of swim trunks and I packed the backpack so after breakfast we could have a nice day at the Jomtien-Dongtan beach. We took 2 different mocys (no Baht Bus as this was my last day and I wanted to maximize it with quality time) and we met back at the beginning of the walkway to Dongtan. We went to the gay beach where the bar guys made a BIG fuss over us – as if we just got married – and put us in the 2nd to front row (Thais/Laos boys don’t like too much sun) with Khong’s umbrella up and mine down. Then we ordered our drinks and had our first swim together. It was great. Soon after Khong feel asleep and I took photos of my sleeping angel and went swimming while my 27 year old baby slept. The Russians were funny when we came out of the water later in the afternoon as we were being quite romantic. Who cares I thought – this is my last day in paradise and this is the gay beach. At the end of the afternoon I took Khong for the walk on the romantic sidewalk towards the end-point towards Pattaya and made him understand that I want to live in one of those lovely condos one day. Not sure if he understood but he was happy. Two mocys back to The Ambiance for our last shower together and last hours together. We made love again, for the last time and we cried knowing the end was near. At 7pm, we transferred the luggage downstairs to The Ambiance bar street-side terrace and for the last 30 minutes we cried like 2 lovers. I think the entire BoyzTown street knew – because when the taxi-van arrived I loaded the luggage and Khong kissed me and ran down the Soi and with a look of horror turned around to make his last look back at me in the taxi-van and I cried from Pattaya all the way to the BKK airport. It was so ugly and I did not want to remember his face like that. Taxi-van time was 1.5 hours from Pattaya back to the Suvarnabhumi Airport. There was NO traffic and no protesters to be seen. So, by 9pm I was in the airport ready for my 0:01 flight back to Rome. The airport was packed but I had plenty of time to check-in, clear security and immigration and to have a dinner and to buy a box of tissues for the 11 hour flight back to Rome. This concludes my wonderful 25 day trip in Thailand. I hope that it was not too boring of a read – but it felt so good to put all of these experiences and thoughts down in this blog. My hope is that some of my great experiences can also become yours – especially those who are new to this blog board. Post-factum – I can say that I am in regular contact via Line (the Asian answer to our Whatsapp) with both Jay and Khong. Khong has mentioned to me that he has left Vassa and is returning to his mother in Laos. But he told me that he will come back to Thailand to find some work in the future. So, maybe you will see him at Vassa one day. Treat him well – as he is a wonderful young man.