Trip Report (Ex Massage) 2016

[DivineMadman]

Non-massage activities for your amusement.  (Sorry many pictures are sideways.  Can't figure it out. Lazy)

 

For the most part, the story of January has been trying to disentangle myself from the clutches of a bar boy.

 

Got here to BKK just ahead of New Year.  Had a nice meet up and movie with an ex.  

 

Was chatting with bar boys and said I wanted to do some exploring and I wanted a traditional tattoo Sak Yant tattoo.  One of the guys very enthusiastically volunteered and we're off.  Early one morning we went out to a western suburb (Samut Sakhon), first stopping at the room of my guide's sister, who works in a factory.  Always interesting to see how people live here.  Then we went for a ceremony with a woman spiritualist who quickly huffed a bunch of cigarettes and then aided by the nicotine frenzy channeled the spirit of an old hermit wise man.  He told my future, all well and good, but then it veered into the bizarre when the old man (young woman) assured my guide and me that we were destined to be together.  Oh shit.

 

 

After that we went and visited a holy man who gave me the tattoo.  It hurt.  Glad I got it.  'nuf said.

 

 

The next couple weeks doing things with my guide, invariably involving shopping, eating out, all the usual.  I kept on saying "just friends" in Thai, English, semaphore and anything else I could think of.  Each time the boy would assert he understood, followed by the mandatory waterworks, but 12 hours later all was forgotten and we were back to square one.

 

 

 

Went to a morlam with a few bar boys on their night off (so no bar fine) and their friends.  I was the only farang there, and of course the boys wanted to be right up front where there was no place for me to hide my 6'2" gray haired self.  After a few beers I relaxed and later on all sorts of local men and woman would stop by and ask to take their pictures with me.  Ha!  A great time was had by all, at least until the late night deafening karaoke stop for food and more beer, which the boys thought was great.  Me less so.

 

 

 

 

We visited lots of temples, because i wanted to and because the holy man (woman) told us we should.  At every temple we would do the "fortune telling" stick mini-ritual.  At Wat Saket we did this together and the result was "you will be unsuccessful in love."  Well this made me happy and put my boy/guide into a true funk.  Then he figured out that he hadn't lifted up the elephant statue at the proper time in the ritual, so we had to do it again.  This time it was a more favorable result and my guide was now ecstatic and I was in a funk.  Can't make this up.

  

I had wanted to go "up country" for a while, and as part of a "this-is-honest-to-god-the-last-of-it" deal with the guide we went to Isaan together for a few days.  If you search "what to do in Roi Et" you actually end up with several chats of people asking that very question, to get "not much of anything" as a response - and that was quite true.  Roy Et city is a nice small provincial city, with some nice temples to see but not a lot else.  Still for me it was cultural tourism so I had a good time.  Got to see some rural living and hung out with the guide's friends and family.  Christianpfc's blog has helpful info.  Stayed for 4 nights at Petcharat Garden Hotel, breakfast included and a couple of beers each night poolside = about $120.  Flew Nok Air which flies turbo props.  As we were taxiing out to come back to Bangkok the local crew came out to wai and wave good bye, which I thought was a nice touch, until later a friend jested that she thought they were really there to pick up parts from the plane that fell off during take off.  Still - I like Nok Air.  Easy to book and very inexpensive.  Nok Air gives you a 15kg luggage allowance, which I don't think Air Asia does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to BKK for the ongoing daily ritual of explaining (via Line) that no I do not want to [fill in the blank] with the bar boy.  This is why I like massages.

[Aikuchi]

wow, two cuties in blue shirts! 

[Nasherich]

Ha, the fortune telling sticks. I've had exactly the same experience. Really made me laugh.

[vinapu]

 Great and funny report, now we need to wait to see if furtune teller was right, ,longer you tangle , longer it may take to disentangle. Butterflying has own advantages.

[pong]

a NOK; they have mostly the normal B737, got most of Thai (its owned by Thai and does low-budget the domestic routes), but NOK-MINI used the smaller props-planes. These flights usually cost more. They serve the routes with lesser demand. This for the many who do not know more and are scary of such planes.

@ 101=Roi-et: this place has a sizeable muslim population, fairly unique for Isan and is also known for its amny migrants in big cities who drive tuktuks and buses. What you write about its attractions can well be said for about any local Isan or else provincial town. Most however have a yearly festival of some sorts to attract people.

[ChristianPFC]

Roi Et has some spectacular temples, I have been in 2013 on two trips. Judging by your pictures, you covered most of them. (The one in yellow cloth is Na Dun in mearby Maha Sarakham province.)

[DivineMadman]

Getting caught up on Feb-March.

 

The first part of February had a couple of massages (all previously reported), and some Hornet trysts.  Very successful.  

 

The rest of February I visited Vietnam.  As luck would have it one of the guys I met on Hornet was going back home to Ho Chi Minh City right before my trip started so I arranged to meet up with him there and then we did the trip together.  This worked out perfectly for me.  He is a super nice guy, I had a local guide-with-benefits and no need to try to arrange hookups along the way.  

 

We basically worked our way from South to North:  Ho Chi Minh, Dalat, Na Trang, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi.  High points were Hoi An and the old quarter of Hanoi.  Dalat was also nice but very cold in February.  I bet it’s a relief to go there and enjoy the cooler climate when the rest of the country is a sauna.  Hanoi old quarter has a very charming low key gay bar (“GC” or “Golden Cock”).  I think it is reported to be the oldest gay bar in Vietnam. 

 

I didn’t partake, but Hornet reported several money/massage buys in Ho Chi Minh, Danang and Hanoi.

 

I will say the best part of the trip was the 25 year old guy I brought with me.  He was pleasant and enthusiastic, good massages, and very very frugal.  

 

We had agreed to a daily rate, but by the end he said he no longer wanted money.  In a pleasant contrast to some Thai and Laos guys I’ve known, he never ever once said “you buy me this” or “I want…”.  Occasionally out of habit if i saw him eyeing a pair of shoes I would offer to buy them and he would refuse.  Really super guy, who, like most of these guys, sent almost all of his money back home.  (The “relationship” has continued a bit in BKK, with him saying the money boy equivalent of “I love you” — “With you I go for free.”  Unfortunately for a couple of reasons, including my return soon the U.S. and his to Vietnam, it’s not destined to be anything serious, at least on my part.)

 

BTW - Never got a blink or a negative hint from anyone or any hotel when we were traveling together in Vietnam.  A couple of times there would be two biggish beds instead of one huge bed and my guy would sort of half in jest make a loud complaint about it and whoever happened to be showing us to our room would have a good laugh, so, at least where I was staying, no problems with gay travel.

 

I’ve spent the last 5 days in Luang Prabang which is as lovely as everyone says it is.  Hornet has a smattering of guys and Grindr has a couple.  Both apps are  funny because usually there’ll be a 4-5 guys nearby on Grindr, 10-12 on Hornet, including foreigners, and then the nearest guys are 120 miles away.  Again, as everyone says, Luang Prabang does not really have a gay scene.  If I come back I’ll definitely bring a guy with me.  I happen to know several many boys back in Bangkok who grew up and have family here in Luang Prabang and I bet would love a trip back home.

 

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