Better to be retired than retarded - Thailand and Cambodia in January 2024. Trip report, brief but long.

[Olddaddy]

6 hours ago, vinapu said:

slavery was abolished more than 150 years ago.

On serious note decision to retire  will come naturally based on my experience . I was not planning although I'm well  past retirement age,  then it dawned on me that time is running out  like somebody commented on another forum - longer you save for the future , shorter that future becomes.  

Well said 😄

I guess if your working past 65 you can still save Moree $$$ for trips ,..more money for the guys 😜

[srvhakko]

I saw Mr. Y during my visit last month, but I still couldn't figure out who Mr. A was.🤭

[vinapu]

11 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

Well said 😄

I guess if your working past 65 you can still save Moree $$$ for trips ,..more money for the guys 😜

sure but also less time and energy to  see them. Again , longer you wait for future , shorter she become 

I know because indeed I was working well past 65. Older we are those long flights and resulting jet lags are serving us less and less.

Retirement decision is very personal depending on circumstances and can't be copied from others . we need carefully consider where we are. But once decision is made my advice will be - stick to whatever you resolved and don't look back.

[Olddaddy]

3 hours ago, vinapu said:

sure but also less time and energy to  see them. Again , longer you wait for future , shorter she become 

I know because indeed I was working well past 65. Older we are those long flights and resulting jet lags are serving us less and less.

Retirement decision is very personal depending on circumstances and can't be copied from others . we need carefully consider where we are. But once decision is made my advice will be - stick to whatever you resolved and don't look back.

Now your retired Vinapu , you have the time to move to to Thailand now 

What else you going to do when not in Thailand?

 

[vinapu]

14 hours ago, srvhakko said:

I saw Mr. Y during my visit last month, but I still couldn't figure out who Mr. A was.🤭

A recently removed himself from the scene and may be available only for those who have his contact.

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

Now your retired Vinapu , you have the time to move to to Thailand now 

What else you going to do when not in Thailand?

 

Thailand is too hot and too far from my folks to move there permanently.

I'm not worried about boredom in retirement , apart from Thai boys I have another costly and time consuming hobby.

[jason1975]

6 hours ago, vinapu said:

 

I'm not worried about boredom in retirement , apart from Thai boys I have another costly and time consuming hobby.

Stamp collecting? Lol

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, jason1975 said:

Stamp collecting? Lol

not quite but close

[floridarob]

22 hours ago, vinapu said:

Thailand is too hot and too far from my folks to move there permanently.

I quote you frequently when asked this.... if you live in Thailand, you can't visit Thailand.

[vinapu]

27 minutes ago, floridarob said:

I quote you frequently when asked this.... if you live in Thailand, you can't visit Thailand.

indeed, I have my moments of enlightenment from time to time

[Keithambrose]

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

indeed, I have my moments of enlightenment from time to time

Indeed, you started a whole movement  a few hundred years ago!

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Indeed, you started a whole movement  a few hundred years ago!

oh, stop it, tell me something I don't know, lol

[vinapu]

one and half more days in Cambodia and we return here

[18past19]

I am waiting for you here in BKK. 

[vinapu]

Cambodia's part of the trip is here:

  https://www.gayguides.com/forums/topic/41671-phnom-penh-angkor-koh-ker-and-sambor-prey-kuk-trip-to-cambodia-in-jan-2024/page/2/

Day 14 -back in Thailand

Air Asia flight to Don Muang departed on time and flight was uneventful but seats were very cramped. I guess that’s the price for cheap flight. I paid 2/3 of price of ½ hr flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.

 Immigration was breeze although approaching it I saw mob unloading from another plane so I guess it was lucky timing. SRT to Bang Sue and from there MRT to Sam Yan from where short walk to Siam Heritage on Suriwong.

 Since I’m only 1 night in Bangkok I decided to check it. Never stay there as hotel had reputation for being guest unfriendly and I’m happy to report it must be thing  of the past. No problem at all, actually now  if you have card you bypass reception are and go to the elevators directly.

Room was quite big and comfortable and furnished nicely . I liked having real desk there.

 

After setting in I went to XOne and at 4 pm on Monday I had shock , I was long line up outside , when I pulled number I realized there are 10 numbers ahead of me to be taken. But look at exchange rates cheered me and fast at that. From there to Foodland to eat something.

 At 19.30 I was supposed to meet forrestreid , that’s our first meet but we already had Line contact so it was easy. Over beer in Balcony we decided to check Banana so off we went. It was early but there were 4 guys on the stage including very handsome but never seen #31. Mamasan seeing our interest explained that he is new so as welcome treat I performed world acclaimed Vinapu Tuck on him with red note and soon after forrestreid called him over to offer him  a drink.

We know that boys and mamasans have good memory but this time even I was shocked. At one point another boy entered and mamas an told me pointing at him said “ you had him before”. I looked and recognized Vu Thy immediately but still it was at end of Jan of 2023, one year and three trips ago. And it was just only one off, short time at that and I’m not that frequent visitor to Banana as I’m at Tawan , Moonlight or Hot Male. But truth is he remembered that unless he mixed me with somebody else.

Anyways another red note changed ownership for old times sake.

In meantime , after a while forrestreid send his companion back to the stage and we walked to Tawan as planned before. Crowd there was  sparse, probably more boys than customers but shortly it started to fill up and one of newcomers was K, my friend from Taiwan who decided to accompany to for 3 days  trip to Sukhotai tomorrow . He managed to get seat on the same flight but couldn’t get room in my hotel , got place  one across the street he told me .

 Of course boys there as always  tried to extract some deserved and undeserved tips but today I decided to hold the purse’s strings prompting comment from one of the boys ‘ you always had good heart, what happened ? “ but seeing my stern face expression he rushed to exclaim ‘ you still have good heart” , what a relief !

After the show we parted ways and I went to S’s bar to see if he arrived but they told me he is not working today. Good news so I promptly fired message “are we sleeping together ?” , Confirmation came within seconds, I sent him location and told him I will be waiting in front of hotel.

While waiting some disheveled passerby stopped  asking for some money for food. I was surprised because his English was quite good . It looked he came to Bangkok looking for good luck but not necessarily got it. Gave him 100 , he was more then happy as ass soon as he said his  thank yous and left taxi stopped with S emerging all in smiles .

It was plain that he is very grateful for vacations and now for an off. Surely he expected kind of payday too as we agreed he will be paid when we return. Four nights is Siem Reap plus tonight , it was a bit, but well deserved.

Like one of my forum friend says ‘it’s good to stick to our winners”

[Olddaddy]

I stayed at the Siam Heritage a few years back and loved it 

It's a "old fashioned" service type hotel ,I found the staff friendly.

[vinapu]

31 minutes ago, Olddaddy said:

I stayed at the Siam Heritage a few years back and loved it 

It's a "old fashioned" service type hotel ,I found the staff friendly.

did you try to bring somebody in ?

Location in one of the best one can ask for

[vinapu]

 

Day 15 , off to Sukhotai

No rush morning , we went for breakfast quite late, again  no problem with guest as my reservation was for two as always.

My flight to Sukhotai was at 15.30 from Swampy so no rush checking out , in fact I did it exactly at 12. 00 , by the  book. Since it was domestic flight I had plenty of time at the airport where K joined me in the waiting area..

Bangkok Airways is only airline flying there with 2 flights a day I either direction   , one in the morning and another one in the afternoon. Ticket was roughly 100$ return and flight was by turboprop , it took about 70 minutes to get there but Bangkok Airways being ‘Asia’s boutique airline” as they put in their commercials  treated us with full meal.

This is  what I saw from my window seat 

 

Sukhotai is cute small airport as one can imagine with just 2 landings and take offs a day but has all necessary amenities traveler may need including restaurant , gift shop, public toilets and for those bored waiting for their flight mini Zoo right beside and exhibition of live size dinosaurs in front of the airport complex.

 

 

There were taxis , public bus to New Sukhotai for 18 baht and well as door r to door van, option we opted for at 300 baht  per person.  Since its about 30 km to Old Sukhotai where ruins are it took about 1 hr to get there and it was getting dark already when we arrived. My hotel of choice was Thai Thai, highly recommended place of bungalows in the garden at 1200 a night. My friend decided on going bit to late  but his hotel turned out to be immediately across the street or rather small side alley  we were delivered to.

 

 

Nice touch on check in was that I got all information I possibly could look for in print. Where are stops for local busses and their prices, cost of renting bicycles or cars for sightseeing, price list for private tours  to nearby attractions of Kamphaeng Phet and Si Satchanalai-Chaliang historical parks. Location of the pool and local restaurants it was all there and also information about option how to get back to the airport. I even commented – you answered all my questions before I managed to ask them which was exactly what happened. To top it up I got also very handy map of local attractions

attached here ( keep in mind is not up to scale ).

 

After settling in , K and I went to the center for a dinner and ice cream from 7/11, walked along local night market , localized entry to central complex and returned to our room for well deserved rest before tomorrow’s expected  sightseeing  onslaught.

 

[18past19]

I was waiting for you here. and you already left again?

[Marc in Calif]

3 hours ago, vinapu said:

Day 15 , off to Sukhotai

My hotel of choice was Thai Thai, highly recommended place of bungalows in the garden at 1200 a night.

I hope you wrote a nice review of the hotel for your favorite travel sites. It looks beautiful inside and out. And it's practically on the doorstep for visiting the monument sites.

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, 18past19 said:

I was waiting for you here. and you already left again?

as you can see, I'm on the move constantly. Don't you know me already? 

[vinapu]

29 minutes ago, Marc in Calif said:

I hope you wrote a nice review of the hotel for your favorite travel sites. It looks beautiful inside and out. And it's practically on the doorstep for visiting the monument sites.

Old Sukhotai is rather small place and most hotels there are rather close , at least to central zone.

[vinapu]

 

Day 16 Sukhotai ruins

 K and I decided to start early to avoid much of heat , at least in some monuments although it needs to be said that weather was extremely co-operative during out time in Sukhotai and it did not feel lie Thailand at all. Balmy 24 – 25 , that’s all.

On another hand place is quite vast and if one needs to avoid heat is to come back to hotel and take airconditioned nap. Fortunately not necessary for us.

 There are basically three zones of sites, Central , Northern and Western, each requiring separate 100 baht ticket as well as 10 baht bicycle ticket as well. They did not charge us for bicycles at western zone.

 We had our breakfasts at 7 am and then I rented bicycle in my hotel, K opted for rental place nearby and we moved to central zone with Wat Mahatat first, son after site was opened. It needs to be said that while not overwhelmed if was quite populated by tourists , both individual and on tours.

Temples on all three zones are quite close to each other but still not adjacent so walking would be  way too demanding and cycling is ideal, Hence abundance of bicycle rental places. Some sophisticated tourists may opt for electric cart , with or without guide.

There is some shade but  a lot of ruins are in the open , there are places o the way where one can buy some drinks  but as for temple sites themselves only most popular Si Chum has proper facilities  with stores and toilets. Good news is while spread out   sites are still quite close to the city so if one feels tired , returning to hotel is fairly easy.

Some temples in the western zone require a bit of climb, definitely worth it in any case we went up.

 All in, that is very pleasant , interesting and easy ‘to do’ site and easily few days can be spend there exploring  what’s available. Some smallish temples are not even on the map I attached for day 15.

I.e. next day  we noticed that there are ruins of  temple in close vicinity to our hotels not even shown on the said map . When I went there , another ruins appeared in the trees across the road, also not on the map

I estimate we visited today about 20 and on our way to them passed by another 15 without stopping there . Around 16.00 ( remember we started at about 7.30 ) I felt dehydrated and suggested we call today’s part off to which K agreed so we pedaled back to the city where we stopped for a meal, mine of course was chicken with cashew nuts, bit spicy there and costing twice as much as in restaurant we were dining lest evening. Tourist zone , tourist prices.

 Eariler , while on the way we discussed about plan for tomorrow as we had either Kamphean Phet or Si Satchanalai. Not feasible to do both as they are in opposite directions and by the way Si Satchanalai is relatively  close to  the Sukhotai airport. We settled  on Kampheang Phet and stopped at the travel office on our way to see what price may be.

Offer was 1500 for car with driver, bit cheaper than hotel offered so we agreed right away and even broke rules and paid for it right away asking driver to be at the hotel at 9.00. Finally around 6 pm we landed back in hotels and after bit of rest went back to the city to check night market where I had 2 banana pancakes for 30 baht each. While waiting for first to be prepared  some French tourists took an interest in trying , then somebody else and it looked I made lady very busy all of the sudden. I was victim of that success as was forced to wait for 2^nd one to be prepared  such was a line.

 While day was pleasant , night was even more , hell with mosquitos , geckos , cobras and lions, I decided to sleep with open patio door and as we can see , survived to tell the tale.

[Keithambrose]

1 minute ago, vinapu said:

 

Day 16 Sukhotai ruins

 K and I decided to start early to avoid much of heat , at least in some monuments although it needs to be said that weather was extremely co-operative during out time in Sukhotai and it did not feel lie Thailand at all. Balmy 24 – 25 , that’s all.

On another hand place is quite vast and if one needs to avoid heat is to come back to hotel and take airconditioned nap. Fortunately not necessary for us.

 There are basically three zones of sites, Central , Northern and Western, each requiring separate 100 baht ticket as well as 10 baht bicycle ticket as well. They did not charge us for bicycles at western zone.

 We had our breakfasts at 7 am and then I rented bicycle in my hotel, K opted for rental place nearby and we moved to central zone with Wat Mahatat first, son after site was opened. It needs to be said that while not overwhelmed if was quite populated by tourists , both individual and on tours.

Temples on all three zones are quite close to each other but still not adjacent so walking would be  way too demanding and cycling is ideal, Hence abundance of bicycle rental places. Some sophisticated tourists may opt for electric cart , with or without guide.

There is some shade but  a lot of ruins are in the open , there are places o the way where one can buy some drinks  but as for temple sites themselves only most popular Si Chum has proper facilities  with stores and toilets. Good news is while spread out   sites are still quite close to the city so if one feels tired , returning to hotel is fairly easy.

Some temples in the western zone require a bit of climb, definitely worth it in any case we went up.

 All in, that is very pleasant , interesting and easy ‘to do’ site and easily few days can be spend there exploring  what’s available. Some smallish temples are not even on the map I attached for day 15.

I.e. next day  we noticed that there are ruins of  temple in close vicinity to our hotels not even shown on the said map . When I went there , another ruins appeared in the trees across the road, also not on the map

I estimate we visited today about 20 and on our way to them passed by another 15 without stopping there . Around 16.00 ( remember we started at about 7.30 ) I felt dehydrated and suggested we call today’s part off to which K agreed so we pedaled back to the city where we stopped for a meal, mine of course was chicken with cashew nuts, bit spicy there and costing twice as much as in restaurant we were dining lest evening. Tourist zone , tourist prices.

 Eariler , while on the way we discussed about plan for tomorrow as we had either Kamphean Phet or Si Satchanalai. Not feasible to do both as they are in opposite directions and by the way Si Satchanalai is relatively  close to  the Sukhotai airport. We settled  on Kampheang Phet and stopped at the travel office on our way to see what price may be.

Offer was 1500 for car with driver, bit cheaper than hotel offered so we agreed right away and even broke rules and paid for it right away asking driver to be at the hotel at 9.00. Finally around 6 pm we landed back in hotels and after bit of rest went back to the city to check night market where I had 2 banana pancakes for 30 baht each. While waiting for first to be prepared  some French tourists took an interest in trying , then somebody else and it looked I made lady very busy all of the sudden. I was victim of that success as was forced to wait for 2^nd one to be prepared  such was a line.

 While day was pleasant , night was even more , hell with mosquitos , geckos , cobras and lions, I decided to sleep with open patio door and as we can see , survived to tell the tale.

Geckos to eat the mosquitos?

[vinapu]

In order not to have post too long I decided to post pictures in a separate threads.

Here are temples of Central zone: