Pattaya, Bangkok via Beijing

[ggobkk]

Friday!  Last day in Bangkok!  I’m returning to Beijing tomorrow, meet up with friends there, and back to the US Monday morning. 

 

Waking up sometime after 8am, which is late for me but way too early for T, I adjourn to the other room to read the iPad newspapers, make some tea, chill out with the air conditioning, clean myself up and shave, go out and hit the ATM.

 

Back, T emerges naked looking tousled and rubbing his eyes.  Hot.  We talk and Google translate back and forth.  Go down to the lobby dining area and have a breakfast, he has the cook put something together that has extra shrimp and rice.  Me…and omelet…boring.

 

I remind T that I’ll be gone this time tomorrow.  He says he know that…this leads to a lot of conversation between us.  We’ve known each other for a bit more than a year and a half.  As one might read in the subtext to these reports, the initial excitement of our first time together is no longer there.  Clearly we care about one another and there is some trust between us.  Numazu mentions in his reports that he doesn’t worry about his valuables with companions he knows.  This is the case here.  T can access my iPad and phone without my help, I leave my wallet out.  Etc.

 

So we talk, it’s mostly about the choices he has to make.  He’d prefer not to / doesn’t want to go back to being a go-go boy.  Even if that was the only choice, where he worked, Hot Male, has a ban on non-Thai’s.  He can go back to Vietnam as his former co-worker J will be doing tomorrow.  But work there is seasonal and physical (my brain goes to: “being a go-go boy is physical”), and work at home is constricted to the village and the fields.

 

We talk a bit about his only having finished 2^nd year of what would be high school in the US.  He tells me that he doesn’t know how to use a computer so doesn’t know how to use email.  This sidetracks us as I talk about his phone is a computer and he knows how to use his phone (and mine). 

 

I learn about his parents and brother.  T’s father is almost 40 years older than T and he has the Asian sensibility about family.  I tell him I understand, that I was working and enjoying my work on the east coast of the US, when my parents had strokes within a few months of one another, and I picked-up and moved west.  I note that it turned out ok for me and would for him (perpetual optimist that I am).

 

The conversation winds down, with no specific decisions made. Other than I committed to paying for his travel from Vietnam to Bangkok and to give him enough to go back if that’s what he decided.  He said he didn’t know but would stay in Bangkok until at least Monday to see if he could find work.

 

Looking at the clock, I saw that my thought of yesterday to go to Prince for a massage was looking to be a non-starter.  I asked T what he wanted to do and instead of getting the usual Up To You, he said he wanted to give me a bath, shave my hairy back (he’s never cared for that), and then give me a massage and take me to bed.  This was way more direct that he has ever been and I let him take over.

 

I wrote the summary in the paragraph above.  No condensed version here and no expanded version here.  Suffice it to say, two hours later I was in a good space.  We both slept a bit before taking a shower to clean up.

 

It was now early evening and we’d agreed to meet up with S at the Hot Male bar to wish J well and give him a top notch sendoff.  I asked T to Line P and let him know that I’d off him to he could join the sendoff.

 

We went out looking for a place to have a good/great meal before meeting up at Hot Male bar.  We headed out without a dining destination in mind, went toward Mango Tree and saw Cola which is on the corner across from Mango Tree.  It’s Chinese and elaborately designed and decorated with a general dining room on the ground floor and private party rooms on the 2^nd.  We looked at the picture menu and decided to give it a try.

 

What wasn’t clear from the picture menu is that Cola is a hot pot restaurant where guests mainly cook the food at the tables.  The center of the table has a heating element that warms the broth.  We each ordered what appealed to use and heaping mounds of food kept appearing needing to be warmed and semi-boiled.  We got carry out for about 60%of what we ordered, which T later told me got him through the weekend after I left.

 

After dropping the carry out off in the room, we walked around, checked out the nigh market, and got to Hot Male bar just before 9.  I gave T baht to go and off P from Fresh Boys.  I had discussed this earlier and said, it would be less expensive if he did the ”offing” than if I went in to the club and bought a mamasan drink.  He thought this new experience of being the “off-er” would be a charge. 

 

As he left to do his duty, S arrived and he and I talked about departures.  He being the king of the hill in HM bar, our conversation was interrupted multiple times by his fan club.  One can easily comprehend his popularity as his personality is warm and he is gregarious.  T rejoined with P and another friend from Vietnam known to P and T.  I bought drinks for them, P thanked me for the off, J arrived and conversation, laughter, and lots of toasts to departures took place.

 

S had been kind enough to introduce me to other forum members who stopped by.  He told me that after T and I left for Jupiter last night, that N had come by with a beautiful boy in tow and might be back tonight.  Sure enough he was, N (and I promise this is the last letter of the alphabet that I will use this trip report) is a Hemingway-esque figure to me.  His reports have helped my travel better and intrigue me and help me expand my horizons.  His boy was/is gorgeous and very comfortable with introducing himself and being publicly affectionate with N.

 

So much going on, a gaggle of Vietnam guys sharing go-go way stories and memories with J, S being the pater familias,  N asking how I liked Jupiter’s show, true guys’ night out.  Then N and friend left for show time, P gave me a big hug and kiss and said he had to go back to Fresh Boys for his show (S told me P gets paid more when he dances and appears in the show), I give P 1,000 baht as a going away thanks (sort of an “off without benefits” tip).  T and I had discussed earlier before we got to HM bar that we wanted to make sure J and S had time together.  So around 11 we headed out to the hotel.  I had to be up by 4am to catch my plane so I packed, T made sure I was showered (I have never had so many showers in a 4-day span as I did this week).  He cleaned up in the bathroom and “re-joined” me in bed. 

 

And, other than the per-dawn getting to the airport rushing around, and the good-byes, which I’m leaving out of the narrative, that was my 5 days in Bangkok.

 

My next trip will be to Laos in early October.  If anything there in interesting, I’ll report (maybe).

[vinapu]

 

 I’ll report (maybe).

make it (for sure )

[numazu]

S had been kind enough to introduce me to other forum members who stopped by.  He told me that after T and I left for Jupiter last night, that N had come by with a beautiful boy in tow and might be back tonight.  Sure enough he was, N (and I promise this is the last letter of the alphabet that I will use this trip report) is a Hemingway-esque figure to me.  His reports have helped my travel better and intrigue me and help me expand my horizons.  His boy was/is gorgeous and very comfortable with introducing himself and being publicly affectionate with N.

 

So much going on, a gaggle of Vietnam guys sharing go-go way stories and memories with J, S being the pater familias,  N asking how I liked Jupiter’s show, true guys’ night out.  Then N and friend left for show time, P gave me a big hug and kiss and said he had to go back to Fresh Boys for his show (S told me P gets paid more when he dances and appears in the show), I give P 1,000 baht as a going away thanks (sort of an “off without benefits” tip).  

 

 1. I am N, and again it was nice to meet you that night. Its always awesome to meet other forum members in the center of the action  . 

 

2. Glad you thought that my boy was gorgeous, because he totally is. FYI that is BurBoy. Its actually interesting that you noticed that he is very publicly affectionate with me. He loves the PDA.

 

3. I finally made it in others' trip reports lol.

 

4. Please do a trip report on Laos. That will be one of the my next destinations.

 

Safe travels!