Back in Bangkok

[paulsf]

It's been raining in Ft.Lauderdale for about 2 weeks, so I'm off to Bangkok in the morning. My 5th trip this year. High season and nothing but hot sun and hot boys predicted for the next couple of weeks over there. I'll try to find some fun times to write about.

Just a quick 10 day trip this time. I have a few friends that are around, so figured, why not pay a visit.

[TotallyOz]

It's been raining in Ft.Lauderdale for about 2 weeks, so I'm off to Bangkok in the morning. My 5th trip this year. High season and nothing but hot sun and hot boys predicted for the next couple of weeks over there. I'll try to find some fun times to write about.

Just a quick 10 day trip this time. I have a few friends that are around, so figured, why not pay a visit.

Nice. Have fun. I'll miss you by 2 days. Perhaps you can find some cuties for me and leave their number when you leave? LOL

[paulsf]

Sorry I'll miss you, it's been awhile. I'll have my Vietnamese Posse keep an eye out for you. You know where my favorite bar stool is.

Have a great time.

[paulsf]

I just got back from a 2 week trip to Bangkok. I needed a few more miles to qualify for my airline status and the weather here in Ft.Lauderdale was awful for a couple of weeks. So started checking fares and got a $750.00 to Hong Kong on American and then used miles for Hong Kong - Bangkok. One of the better flights I have had. On-time, good service, smooth flight. I arrived in Bangkok at 10pm, so that gave me time to head over to Soi Twilight to see what was going on. A couple of the bars stay open till about 3am.

I didn't stay at the apartment I usually use. A last minute trip and when I called the owner about using it, he said he was staying there a couple of weeks doing a little upkeep. He was willing to let me have it for 1 week, but I found a great senior rate at the Courtyard by Marriott.

$65.00 all in a night. With my gold status, I got free buffet breakfast and lounge access which had enough food to make a decent dinner. I didn't spent a dime on food this trip.

I've spent about 5 months in Bangkok this year. I hang out mostly at Hot Male and am friends with a lot of the boys there. I sent a text when I got to airport I was in town and would stop by in a couple of hours. Word got around. I arrived and everybody came by to say hi. My usual drink was waiting for me by the time I got to my favorite bar stool. But in the end, it's still about making money for the boys. Several were trying to get me to take them to my hotel. Not going to happen tonight. It's just after midnight and I've been up for 30 hours.

I stayed till 2:30 or so, then back to hotel.

The weather is good this time of the year over there. But they were still having a bit of a heat wave. 95 days upper 70's nights, but humidity was way down. Because I go so often, I'm sort of over sightseeing. So I spend most days by the pool. Then late afternoon nap to get me thru the night.

I wasn't craving sex the first couple of days, so just hung out with my friends at Hot Male. I went to a couple of shows during my stay.

Even though it's not sex just hanging out. The boys are very touchy, freely . At my age, that works.

I saw the show at Hot Male first. I have some close Vietnamese friends that work there, that sit with me during the shows. Getting into the high season, bigger crowds and a little more nudity than I have seen this past year. I remember when they did the big cock contest several years ago, there would be 4 or 5 boys. Now in all the clubs there are 20 or so boys showing off some good size. I don't know what these Asian boys are eating, but the myth of small Asian boys is quickly disappearing. You can still find plenty of small twinks, but the amount of boy next door, 6 pack is becoming the norm.

I went to shows at Fresh Boys and X-boys. Both were hour long shows with lots of nudity, hot boys, and a few lady boys.

Fresh Boys did a 2 boy shower show that was pretty hot. I still think X-Boys does the best overall show . I had a couple of friends that had gone to the shows at Boys Bangkok and were dissapointed, so I decided not to try it out. It's very expensive, so if your not going to enjoy it, save your money.

On my trips in the past, I have seen this boy that works at Bonney Massage, just a couple doors down from my bar stool. He is very hot and I figured very straight. I just wanted to see him naked, the massage would be a plus. Well one night we both arrived on the street at the same time and bumped into each other. Exchanging smiles, it gave me an opening. Said I have seen him where he works and would like to stop by for a massage some time. He said, slow night stop by. I did. Did I mention, he is hot. Get to room and start getting undressed for ritual shower. I am going really slow as I want to watch him strip. He caught on quick and did a great strip show. Only wearing shorts and t-shirt, didn't take long. Showers with massage guys are fun. By the time I finish playing in the shower I really don't need the massage.

We did an hour. Average massage, but fun play time. Strong hands, lots of stroking. He stayed positioned so I got plenty of hand action in on him to. Both got off. Another playfull shower. The massages on Soi Twilight are about the cheapest in the city. 600 baht massage and minimum 600 tip for boy. I gave him 1200. When I told him I would be back in Feb for 3 months, his customer service sure picked up.

I made a trip over to Hero, my favorite, for a massage afternoon. The had a lot of boys working. But I have been seeing this one boy there for the past year. He is a lot of fun. A gay boy that has no limits. We do 90 minutes. I'm not into intercourse anymore, but he covers all the other bases. Stroking, sucking, kissing, hands and fingers everywhere. I would probably go to Hero more often, but it is hard to get a taxi out of there. End of dead end street. I have some mobility issues so uncomfortable walk to a taxi. But..I have given Uber a try. Has worked 3 times perfectly. So more trips to Hero on the horizon.

My BF has been in Vietnam for the last few months. His family lost a good portion of their house in a monsoon late summer. He has been back helping his father rebuild before winter. He knew I was in Bangkok and called me and said he was coming back and would be there 4 days before I left. He made it. He moved into the hotel with me for the last few nights. He spent most of the day's catching up with his friends and getting reinstated at work. We had playful fun each night. As I mentioned, I love playing in showers. The one at the hotel is good size and has a bench in it. That bench sure makes playtime a lot of fun.

It's Christmas time in Bangkok. I've been there a few times at this time of the year. Even though it's a Buddist country, they have really discovered the commercial side of the holidays. The western tourist spend a lot of money. The shopping centers and especially the larger hotels, have really gotten into the decorations. It is 10 times more decorated than I have seen in the past.

This is the first pic I have posted. I've seen many people do the sideway pic but the figure it out. Not me.

Had a great trip. Short but met up with some new and old friends. I head back in Feb. will have the apartment back and will be staying a few months. Have been doing 30 day trips, so will be interesting.

[axiom2001]

It's Christmas time in Bangkok. I've been there a few times at this time of the year. Even though it's a Buddist country, they have really discovered the commercial side of the holidays. The western tourist spend a lot of money. The shopping centers and especially the larger hotels, have really gotten into the decorations. It is 10 times more decorated than I have seen in the past.image.jpeg

This is the first pic I have posted. I've seen many people do the sideway pic but the figure it out. Not me.

Had a great trip. Short but met up with some new and old friends. I head back in Feb. will have the apartment back and will be staying a few months. Have been doing 30 day trips, so will be interesting.

I can identify with the preceding comment about Christmas. In 2008 when I went to Bangkok for the third time, the place was all aglow and ablaze with Christmas decorations. At my lovely Hotel Montein-- the staff really went all out to make this place as festive as possible. All enhanced our week's tour there before we went onward to Chaing Mai.

Thanks for your report; I enjoyed reading it very much and thought about when I'll venture back to "THE LAND of Smiles!"

[firecat691614502759]

Glad to hear you had a good time . Thanks for the report . XBoys was my favorite for 4 years but never liked their show. So glad to hear it has improved.

Great price at the Courtyard . Never even looked for a Senior rate, so good info. Be interesting to hear what you think after 3 months,

Except for when I lived there , when I went for 2 months I was ready to leave after 6 weeks.

[paulsf]

If I was staying in a hotel, I wouldn't stay for 3 months. Having the apartment is just like living at home. Ive made a lot of friends and have a boy that stays with me when I'm there. Here in Ft.Lauderdale I'm quietly retired. In Bangkok I'm busy retired.

When I did my first 30 day trip, I started thinking I was staying a couple of weeks to long. Then I made a point of getting out and doing a little more exploring and filing my days. There is no problem filling the nights When the month was up, I was ready to stay longer.

I've flown over 5 times this year. That's a lot of wear and tear on the ass. So I'm thinking of 2, 3 month trips.

We will see how that goes. I've been home for 3 days now and I'm already looking at airfares.

[floridarob]

Nice. Have fun. I'll miss you by 2 days. Perhaps you can find some cuties for me and leave their number when you leave? LOL

when will you be in Thailand?

[paulsf]

He is there now.

[scott456]

And, I hear all the time, "I don't like Asian guys." Well, I have take at least 5 of these people to Thailand and they fell in love with the country and the men there. In fact, 2 of the boys I took there from my days at Campus said that and both have Asian boyfriends now.

This is easy to explain.

when your friends were young, they were able to find sex with other young white guys. But now they are older, their options are limited. Free sex with young white guys (or blacks)is not going to happen in the U.S.. Rentboy.Com is expensive, and they are full of attitude unless you are super rich.

So here they are, turning to the young Asian (Thais) boys. I bet your friends Asian boyfriends are all much younger and foreign born.

Planetime, you didn't mention DJ Station. I am curious how you scored at DJ.

[paulsf]

Winter time in the US, Time to go looking for some warm sun.

Even South Florida has been cold. I got a flight Mia-Lax-Hkg-Bkk in First usuing miles.

Great flight over and right on time . For a change I was able to arrive daytime. My flights the last couple of years have been midnight arrivals. This trip arrived 11:30am and was at my apt at 1pm. Unpacked a bit, and hour by the pool and a couple hour nap, decided I might as well head on out to see what's going on.

Went to my favorite hangout. Hot Male on Soi Twilight. It's Tuesday night and a bit quiet. As soon as I turned the corner, my friends at the bar saw me. All hugs and kisses, but you can't fool me, those weren't sparkles in their eyes, they were $$$ signs. It was good to see everybody. A couple new boys, a couple of others have moved on.

The manager is my good friend and he is already trying to get me set up with a boy for this first night. Told him no. Just spent 30 hours traveling, this is going to be a short evening and alone.

I also got quite a bad cold just before I left. Doctor gave me some stuff and I feel good, but I have a cough that just doesn't want to go away.

This has slowed me down a bit. Asians can deal with you being sick, but they don't like coughing ..

Weather the first couple of nights has been great. 85 days and 60 days. Humidity 35%. So comfortable that I ended up my short evenings around 2am. A $3.00 tip gets you a lot of hugging, kissing, fondling and smiles. So makes it hard to go home with such great weather.

Went to the show at Hot Male on Wednesday night. The morals police have lightened up. All boys are back in tight little underware.

Some new routines. More nudity than I saw all last year and a couple of sucking routines.

It was Chinese New Year last weekend and many boys have gone home for a couple of weeks. It made it kind of nice that some of the newer and very cute boys got to do some shows with the experienced boys being away.

Been told boys will start returning in a day or so as the holiday winds down. My BF went to Vietnam and won't be back till next week, so this is my play week. But cold holding me back a bit.

Last night (fri) I met up with a couple of posters from another site. They wanted to go to Hot Male show. This time many more customers and boys. They also added a fuck show. So for now, the bars are back to where they were a couple of years ago. Good shows, lots of nudity and sex on stage and lots of Hot Boys. Oh yeah..drink prices up to 380 baht. To expensive.

Not sure what tonight will bring, but I saw a boy onstage Wed that was A+. Was told he is straight boy, but is versatile. Also told a bit on smaller side down there, but got a glimpse last night during big cock contest. If that's small......???? These boys are eating well. 7-8 is becoming much more common and thickness is everywhere. More and more boys are going to gyms and some bars have some small weights for them to use.

This trip I'm here for 2 months. Will try to post some goings on. Hopefully doing a couple of side trips to Hanoi and Cambodia.

Sometimes we are just homebodys and then hit the bars a few nights in a row. So far been happy with the changes I have seen, so will be doing a little exploring the next week or so. it took me a couple of years to be able to post a picture, now will probably take another couple of years to get it right side up. Sorry guys. This is view of my neighborhood from my apt.

[firecat691614502759]

Although I agree 380 baht is too much. Sometimes I have to remind myself that the strength of the Dollar will soon make that about $10.

I have remind myself I have paid that much for an Orange Juice in South Miami on the Beach. I have paid that much or more in many restaurants in Atlanta , NYC, LosAngeles etc. Best of my memory none of those had any cute boys in underwear or less dying to go home with me even if it was for money (small money)

If you are going to Bar Hop those $10 add up at the end of the night especially if you buy boys drinks rather then just giving out some 100 baht bills. But if you have visited more then once , most have a favorite Bar and stick to that one and nurse a drink or in my case a Diet Coke it just does not mean that much in the long run.

[paulsf]

Interestly, the bars push the boys to get drinks from the customers. But if the boys had a choice, they would take the 100 baht . Though in most cases they get both. The outdoor bar is 80 for non alcohol drinks and 120 with. Inside with shows and boys, all drinks 380.

[paulsf]

Been over here in Bangkok for a couple weeks now. Have about 6 more weeks to go. Weather has been great. 90-95 everyday and about 80 overnight. Humidity has been low and not a drop of rain, hardly been a cloud.

Had a couple of massages at Hero last week. Monday my regular boy was off, so met up with a really cute 22 year old boy. Great massage, but a little lacking in the extras dept. Biggest problem he is a big bottom and I'm not a to. But a bit of hand and mouth action saved the day.

This weekend is a holiday weekend. I went back to Hero Friday to see my regular boy. Made the mistake of taking taxi at rush hour on Friday. Took 1-1/2 hours to go the 5 miles by taxi. My boy was waiting for me. As always I was totally drained by the time I left. This boy has no limits. By the time I got back to my apt I was to tired to go out. And it's Friday night...

Saturday night I went to a show at Fresh Boys. They do a very good show. Very upbeat and colorful. Show started with 3 boys doing high energy dance number. One of the boys really got my attention. Really hot boy. All smiles. I'm a sucker for smiles. After the show I got his attention and he came and sat with me. It was 1am so didn't want to take him then but said I would be back in a day or two.

Couldn't wait.. Went back last night and offed him. Prices going up. Drinks now 400 baht, off fee 550, and boy 1500.

The boy is straight so not sure how things will work out. He says I'll have a good time. I did. I'm pretty vanilla at this point in my life, so easy to please. Lots of fun in the shower. Plenty of body contact, hand action, kissing. He wanted to top my. That wasn't going to happen.

I like to watch a boy grow. Started comfortably sucking and all of a sudden I thought I had a beer can in my mouth. Another fun shower after the bedroom. I smiled and said "I thought you were straight"? He said yes, but he had a good time and was happy to make me happy.

This boy has a future in marketing.

Today is Monday, the end of 3 day weekend. Many places closed and no alcohol supposed to be served in the bars and clubs tonight. So if you ask for a drink, you will get a paper cup with tea or coffee. wink,wink......

I was planning on staying in tonight, but I think of this boy standing on stage on a lonely and quiet Sunday night. So was thinking I might do the neighborly thing and invite him over for a bit.

I haven't eaten out much this trip. But have hit the usual, for me, places. Dicks and Maxis on Soi Twlight. They are fun, outdoor dining places. Lots of boy watching and good wait staff. Scozzi's is a place I go for pizza and Italian food. They just moved into new location in lobby of new Red Planet Hotel. Around the corner from me. Soi 4 has been packed. Stopped to eat one time so far but will get there more in the coming weeks.

Overall a good start to this trip. Prices have been going up a little in the gay venues and I think it is starting to show. Thailand by figures and a constantly packed airport seems to be doing well . But I think many people are skipping Bangkok and headed to the beach resorts, and cheaper parts of the country. I still love the city.

[firecat691614502759]

I love the city also especially when I lived there for 2 1/2 years .. For me 30 day trips I enjoy 25 days in Pattaya and the last 5 in Bangkok.

Many reasons for that but main one is there are just a lot more boys on the apps that are available in 30 minutes 24 hours a day.

Pattaya is much smaller so no matter where the boy is he is not likely to be more then 20 minutes from my apartment and a 40 baht ride.

Still lots of GoGo Bars and probably the best show Bar in Thailand and at 1/2 the price for drinks in Bangkok. Just today I looked on Planetromeo and 18-24 , there were 240 boys in the last 24 hours. 210 or more of those will be Moneyboys. Much lower % in Bangkok and travel time can be 2 hours which makes hook ups harder.

Once you have seen the tourist sites in Bangkok, there is just nothing in Bangkok that you can't get in Pattaya at 1/2 the price .

I fully admit I am no longer a 2am person so Bars are attractive to me only sporadically. But I am an early riser and in Pattaya at 7am there will be at least 40 boys to choose from that will be in my apartment in 60 minutes or less.

Although not a beach person I do love sitting on my balcony watching the boats and people on the beach. I was able to live on the river in Bangkok and loved the continuos action but although I love that transportation was always a problem especially at night.

Bottom line for me short trips 30 days or less Pattaya wins easily. Long term 6 months or more Bangkok would be in the running.

Whichever one works for you is the one to stay at and if you are a first time visitor then you definitely have to try both.

I forgot to mention if Massages are your thing then Bangkok wins hands down. The best ting is they are only 2 hours apart so very easy to explore both.

[paulsf]

I'll be headed off to Pattay in a week or two. Haven't been in awhile and look forward to a long weekend there. I'm waiting for my friend to get back from Vietnam on Wednesday to put a few travel plans in motion.

I wish I wasn't a 2am bar person, but since I retired, sleeping has been a real issue. Many nights I'm up till 3 or 4 and sleep to maybe 8.

I know your a big advocate of the phone aps, but it's just not me. Part of the fun is sitting next to, seeing and touching in person.

I also live a much different life than a lot travelers. I'm very much a homebody. I love hanging out by my pool, reading a book, watching tv.

I eat in as much as out. But when the sun sets, I enjoy the bright lights and music and sitting with my friends.

I do hit up one or two massage palors a week. They are my real guilty pleasure.

[firecat691614502759]

Choices and variety depending on what you like. I would guess if you had discovered the boy you refer to as your BF in Pattaya then that would have become your favorite destination. Easy to understand . Lots of Vietnamese boys in Jomtien.

When I lived in Bangkok I met a favorite boy from XBoys and saw him a 100 times easily . At that point I felt just like you, Pattaya was a fun 5 days and then back to the Big City.

But at some point , I decided I did not want to fall for anyone and just wanted a variety of boys. I stay in a high rise on the waterfront with all the things you have in Bangkok including pool etc and 100 yards from the best Mall. Complete kitchen and the price is similar to what you pay in Bangkok.

There are plenty of Bars 5 minutes away and as I said at 1/2 the price of Bangkok so for me it just makes more sense at this point in my life .

But I understand how you feel about Bangkok since I lived there for 30 months . A vibrant city and I would guess I would say higher class. I love it but now my stays are limited to 5-7 nights at end of trip.

[young11]

This is my second time to Bangkok and I want to try really good massages. I don't really need the happy ending part but i always get excited by nude guy massaging me with excellent pressure. Do you have any recommendations on where to go? So ideally, I like a muscular guy massage me naked (of course the quality of massage matters). WHere should I go? Do I need to tip if I don't get happy ending? If so, how much is appropriate?

thanks for the info

[paulsf]

Hero, Prince, Arena, Adonis all have good range of guys. If by muscular you mean 6pack you will have no problem. But you will find a few muscular.

If you don't want happy ending, just tell boy. Massage only. Yes, you will have to pay tip. But with little or no sex, you can tip on lower end. Most places have minimum tip requirements from 1000 - 1500.

[young11]

thanks, is adonis closed? At least google map says so...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Adonis+Massage/@13.7238812,100.5322613,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x30e29f2def95e973:0x9c909ece8dfd6f4a

[paulsf]

They were open last week and I haven't heard that they are closed. If your in Bangkok now, I would just call and ask if they are open.

[young11]

great, that is a good idea, not sure why i didn't think about it...thanks

Any suggestions for phuket massage places?

[paulsf]

Can't help you with Phuket. I spend most of my time in Bangkok.

[paulsf]

I'm down to the last two weeks of my 8 week trip to Bangkok. I've had a great time. Not a lot to post about as I've just been hanging out with friends. I'll probably do a last minute rush to a few massage palors as time winds down.

One thing I wanted to do on this trip was explore outside of Bangkok with the extra time. It didn't really happen as many friends were around and I just stayed busy. But the one trip I really did want to do was to Vietnam. My BF is Vietnamese. He is from Hue in the central part of the country. I wanted to go to Hanoi and he had never been there. So we started planning.

Qatar Airways is part of One World and I have a bunch of American Airlines miles. I was able to get 2 business class seats for the dates we wanted. It's only a 90 minute flight and my friend has never been on a plane before. So it was fun.

I got a hotel recommendation from Firecat. Tuned out to be great. A newer boutique type with great location.

We were able to use the Cathay Pacific lounge at the Bangkok airport. Flight was a bit delayed so great place to hang out.

Time to go. My friend couldn't understand why 250 people boarding and yet only 5 people in business. He couldn't figure out where all those people went. It was kind of funny. They served a snack and then he discovered the seat became a bed. It was lights out for an hour.

Hanoi has a new airport. It was very quiet when we arrived and we were thru immigration in minutes. I got a visa in Bangkok. A little expensive at $65. For 30 days. But better than standing in line for visa on arrival. I don't know how they do it but luggage was waiting for us when we got to baggage claim. Hotel arranged a car. $18. For 40 kilometer ride. Ride to city was interesting. Lots of rice fields and wide open spaces. You keep looking for city skyline, but then realize there really isn't one. It appears that a few new high rise apartment buildings are going up. But just a few, maybe 20 story buildings. Seems like the biggest buildings are western hotels.

They built a new highway from the airport to the city limits. Then it begins. There is no highway system in the city. Not so many cars as in most crowed cities, but the barrage of motor bikes begins, it's amazing. I was told average of 2 bikes per family. There are no traffic rules.

Bikes just come at you from every direction. But these people grow up with this system and it works for them. Very few traffic lights, and they don't mean anything. People just drive and don't stop. We got to the hotel without any incidents. Don't know how.

Arrival at hotel is a team effort. Customer service is huge. 2 guys come and get our bags. Asst Manager greets us at the door.

They take passports then direct us to sitting area. Tea and hot towels. Then asst manager comes with paperwork and keys.

He explains the hotel to us. My friend speaks very little English so I asked if manager would explain in Vietnamese. They got along just swell. My conversation was 5 minutes, his was 15 . Don't know what they talked about, but they were having a good time.

Were introduced to guy at travel desk. I booked a day tour of the city for next day. More about that later.

On a side note... staff we dealt with at check in were really hot guys. I would say all 30 and under

Asst manager took us to our room. I booked a junior suite. It appeared to be just a regular room. Though a very nice room with large bathroom. I found out they call it Jr Suite because of the amenities. We had balcony, a lap top, a mini bar that was free and restocked each day and breakfast buffet was included. $85. Rooms without amenities started at $45. I was very happy with what we got for what I paid.

We arrived at the hotel about 4pm. My friend didn't sleep the night before so asked if he could nap for about 2 hours. No problem. Gave me a little time to explore the hotel a bit. 6:30 he is up and we get ready to head out. I'm not big into Asian foods so I let him pick out the places he wanted to eat. He lives in Bangkok so eats Thai all the time. So it was his time to get all his favorites while in his country.

The money situation is crazy. $100 US is 2.2 million Vietnam Dong. I just let him hold the money and pay for everything. He would just convert it into Thai Baht for me so I knew what was going on. It was great having him on the trip with me as a person, but the fact he speaks the language made the trip so much more fun.

It's 9pm here now and a friend just called to go out to dinner, so will finish up with the rest when I get back.

[paulsf]

Our hotel was in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. It's about a 35 block area full of restaurants, bars and tourist shops. Narrow streets but great fun to wonder around. We headed out to eat. We didn't get very far when he started talking to the manager of a restaurant. Next thing I know we are seated and he is ordering. He ordered pasta for me because it was the only western option they had. I have no idea what he had, but he was liking it. We wandered around for a few hours. A drink here a drink there. The city doesn't seem to stay awake as late a Bangkok. Seemed by 11 or so, it was quite quiet. Off to bed.

The next day I ordered a full day private tour. It was a bit expensive by Vietnam standards. Got mini-van and driver. English speaking tour guide. Included all admissions and lunch. $175 for 2 people. But because it was private we could dictate time and a couple of other things to see. Saw most of the major sights. Biggest dissapointment was not being able to get into the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Went by it, but the lines were huge and a long walk to get there. My legs were saying, it ain't going to happen. Seems schools were out and thousands of school kids go to see Uncle Ho. I asked tour guide if they were required to go. She said no, but her body language told me otherwise.

We saw a few museums and the prison that held Americans during Vietnam War. John McCain is the highlight of this place. It's said Vietnam holds no grudge against Americans now, but touring the prison would leave you to believe otherwise. His name was dropped at least 10 times.

Lunch was interesting. Tour guide usually takes you to a tourist type restaurant. But I wasn't eating and she wanted to take my friend to a favorite Vietnamese restaurant of hers. So we crossed town, which I liked. I loved driving around the city. Went into a little restaurant where they just ate away. He said it was great.

We started about 9am. We saw about everything I wanted by about 3, .so I told guide, time to wrap it up. Back to hotel.

Driving around Hanoi is not something any of us could do. Basically there are no traffic rules. I found it fastinating . Walking is even a bigger challenge. You just start walking, hold onto each other and hope for the best. They love their horns. It's how they survive.

One the fun things that happened....the hotel staff and tour guide, believed my friend was a vip or wealthy Vietnamese.

He lives and works in Bangkok. (Of course they don't know what he does.) He flew to Hanoi in Business. I let him handle the money, so they always saw him with a pile of cash. He just seemed so International. The hotel staff was honored he was staying in their hotel. They don't get Vietnamese customers. He must have talked to everybody that worked there. He said it was the longest conversations he has had in a year in his language. He is fluent in Thai and uses that here in Bangkok.

Everything went well. We saw a lot in a short trip. They people were very friendly and much less pushy than in Bangkok. You can see it's just on the edge of some good economic things happening. I have seen on tv ads in Bangkok and in Hanoi. Barney Frank is heading up a group of world business leaders next month for the largest business symposium Vietnam has ever had.

Time to go back to Bangkok yesterday. He throws a curve at me. As long as I am here, do you mind if I go spend a couple of days with my family and take bus back to Bangkok. Not really a big deal. Easy for me, I'm still flying. He now has a 24 hour bus trip.

Again hotel is amazing. He asked asst manager how far bus station is. But the time they got done, they had made reservation and printed ticket for him. Then called taxi. Of course they put price of ticket on my bill. It was only $9. I used miles for his plane ticket. Called, cancelled his seat and got my miles back. As I type this at 1:30 am, he is on a bus someplace in Laos. He mentioned I go with him. That wasn't going to happen.

When I left Hanoi, it was about 60 degrees and raining. When I got off the plane in Bangkok, it was 101 degrees. That 60 felt great.

All in all I loved every minute. I've been around a lot of the world and Hanoi is so much different than anywhere I've been.

We will defiantly go back at some point and explore some more. I have an American friend in town. He went to Saigon for a few days. He liked it so much, he extended and then went up to Hanoi. Overall his trip became 2weeks. I weigh I could have stayed long, but have something to look forward to.