Weekend in Chachoengsao 31.08.-01.09.2013

[ChristianPFC]

Weekend in Chachoengsao 31.08.-01.09.2013

 

Spoiler: no sex, no drama, no drugs, no trannies, everything runs roughly according to my plans.

 

Tourism (Wat Saman Rattanaram (Ganesha statue) (วัดสมานรัตนาราม), Wat Chin Pracha Samoson (Wat Leng Hok Yi) (วัดจีนประชาสโมสร วัดเล่งฮกยี่), Wat Sothon Wararam Woraviharn (Wat Hong) (วัดโสธรวรารามวรวิหาร), World Sand Sculpture exhibition), Nightlife, ChristianPFC tries so change according to advice given in “Almost there (getting laid locally)”

 

There are some popular markets in Chachoengsao province, one was covered recently, but they are of little interest to me.

 

Chachoengsao (ฉะเชิงเทรา also known as Paet Rio (Paed Riu, 8rio (paed=) แปดริ้ว, province east of Bangkok). I will abbreviate it as CCS. On my trip I saw less than 10 Farang in two days.

 

I have an acquaintance from Camfrog in Chachoengsao, whom I wanted to meet on Sunday, his day off. We did not meet, but after four years of dating Thai boys I know that they have problems with space-time coordination and planed accordingly. This is the tipping point: now I can go to any province for weekend trips without needing to know anyone there (so far, I always needed a peg to go somewhere).

 

Preparation for this trip was just a few hours reading on the internet and saving webpages downloaded there on my mobile phone, and taking pictures of the relevant pages in tourist guides with my mobile phone for reference (so I don’t have to carry the whole book). Everything else by asking locals.

 

My reputation as a cheapskate whoremonger has not yet reached Chachoengsao, so I could make a fresh start there. (But a friend who comes from CCS messaged me just hours after I posted a picture on facebook.)

 

Friday, 30.08.2013

 

Take van from Ekkamai bus station (no big buses, but there seem to be big buses from Mor Chit). Slow traffic along On Nut, and the van stops at the bus center at the airport! If I had known before, I could have gotten directly to the airport, faster and cheaper than via Ekkamai.

 

My friend cannot have guests, so I need a hotel. I didn’t make any plans, just asked a tuk-tuk driver at the bus station if he knows a hotel in walking distance to the railway station. I ended in Yenjit Bungalow. I later found out that they are listed in agoda: http://www.agoda.com/asia/thailand/chachoengsao/yenjit_bungalow_and_resort.html The price on agoda is cheaper, but after taxes it’s the same as the walk-in rate (600 Baht per night). It’s located at the end of an alley, over 100 m from the main road, and the sign at the main road is only in Thai. Most Thais I talked with in CCS have heard of it.

 

 

 

If you come by car, they have bungalows for drive-in as well:

 

 

The owner (?) speaks good English and helped me to find public transport. Wifi is free, fast (tested with videos on youtube, no problem) and straightforward (password is on the key tag; I just tried with the strongest network and it worked).

 

I call my friend, he cannot meet me on Friday or Saturday evening after work, only on Sunday. It’s too early to go to bed. I go to Suan Somdet Phra Sri Nagarindra Park (สวนสมเด็จพระศรีนครินทร์). Unlike most parks in Bangkok, it is open all time. There are groups of boys and girls out drinking and listening to music and driving around on their motorbikes. Boys who drive past on a motorbike smile at me or say hello. It’s ghetto style: screeching tyres, incomplete combustion (dark exhaust fumes), exhaust modified to make it louder, cars that are a driving discotheque. Quite different from Bangkok!

 

Making contact is easy, you just have to walk past and there is a 50% chance someone will say hello, smile or even invite you for a drink. And if there is a cute boy who doesn’t notice me, I just ask for the way and see where this leads. On the trip I spoke to more than 50 Thais, several of them my type. After about 1 hour in the park, I proceed to the river shore. Again groups of boys and girls.

 

I want to go home to sleep, by chance my way leads past the biggest nightclub, Dome. What I see outside is promising. I go in (23:55, purchase of one drink – in my case Beer Singha for 100 Baht – is compulsory). It is large, about thrice the size of DJ station or NAB. About half full, which allows easy roaming, as I like it. I spot a table with cute boys and while I still think how to find an excuse how to join the, one of them raises his glass to me. I join them and will stay there the rest of the night. The cutest boy is opposite. Again no need to look for a way to get next to him, it happens after some shifts. It is too loud to exchange more than a few sentences. I have my earplugs in. Later, they ask me if I could pay for another bucket of ice (80 Baht), which I do (and order a bowl of crisps for 50 Baht as well). I even okayed the purchase of another bottle of whisky (220 Baht?), but the order was never placed. How do I get the cute boy into my room? By the time (2:30 am) I have come up with an idea (ask him if he has a motorcycle and can drive me back), they are leaving. I stay till closing time (3am), some customers are so drunk, they have to be carried out. Plenty of broken glass and spoiled drinks on the floor.

 

I go home alone. Nonetheless, an interesting new experience, and no lack of cute boys and social interaction. It seems there is no age restriction in the disco. About 5% of the customers are under 18 years old (my estimation, I asked just one and he is 17). Unfortunately, smoking is allowed. Clothes smell of smoke when you come back home, and I got a burn on my finger from someone else’s cigarette. No burn holes in my clothes so far. Aircon is insufficient, I think it was well above 25 C inside.

 

Summary: there are many cute boys in the park, along the river and in the disco. Getting into contact is easy. Now I just need a way to take them to my room, be it for free or for pay. One constraint is that they come by motorbike, with two or three on each motorbike. How can I separate the cute one to go to my place on motorbike? Do these boys lend their motorbike to friends?

 

Saturday 31.08.2013

 

The Ganesha temple (the world’s largest Ganesha in happy reclining posture) is out of town, about 10 km to the east on an island in the Bang Pakong river. I walk to the bus station (with stop at the railway station, due to rain). There are a song thaew from the bus station, it takes 30 minutes and costs 30 Baht. (I had to ask where the song thaew leave, there are no signs.) I would estimate the size similar to that in Nakhon Nayok, but Nakhon Nayok has two statues. In CCS it’s a whole complex: Ganesha, Guan Im, another statue under construction, market, restaurants, it was much busier than in Nakhon Nayok. Boat rides around the island are available for 300 Baht per boat (6 people). Website (in Thai): http://www.watsaman.org/

 

A large market and many restaurants are in the temple complex.

 

 

Betel nut sold at the market:

 

 

The largest Rahu statue in Thailand:

 

 

Guan Im statue:

 

 

 

 

The major difference from the Ganesha in Nakhon Nayok (I confused the two on pictures, before I learnt that there are two of them) is the 32 postitions around the base:

 

 

You can walk inside the base, there is a shop. Same for the Guan Im statue.

 

Ganesha with 108 hands (I didn’t count, the sign says so)(พระพิฆเนศ ปางปาฏิหารย์ ๑๐๘กร):

 

 

I did not remember where exactly I got off the song thaew, and can’t see any signs of public transport back to Chachoengsao. So I ask a police officer about transport back. He calls a colleague who takes me back for free on his motorbnike. Not exactly back to CCS, but to the Chinese temple with a tall tower (I noticed the tower on the way to the Ganesha temple and took a picture to ask for details). Wat Chin Pracha Samoson (Wat Leng Hok Yi) (วัดจีนประชาสโมสร วัดเล่งฮกยี่)

 

 

The tower is still under construction:

 

 

The temple is about 200 m south of the tower.

 

 

 

 

 

About 200 m north of the tower is the Tewasatharn Riew Yiang Tai, maintained by the Sawang Satthatammasatharn Foundation (เทวสถานวิหาร ริ้วเยี้ยงไท้ มูลนิธิสว่างศรัทธาธรรมสถาน):

 

 

I call my Camfrog acquaintance (after waiting an hour for a reply to my sms) to make a date for Sunday. He said he will be in Bkk on Sunday and we can meet at Victory monument. I will show the messages (in Thai) we exchanged on facebook and elsewhere to Thai friends and ask them if it’s not crystal clear that I was coming to CCS to meet him there. I learnt the hard way that there can be misunderstandings and changes and in a Thai boy’s plan at any moment, and plan accordingly, so I can just shrug this off. Evil forces in the universe.

 

At night, a stroll through the park and along the river. Some boys remember me from Friday. Now there are only 73 provinces left where I can go for a fresh start (hook up with boys). A group of boys stand around a car, one of them is cute. I join them for a chat. They ask me if I like girls, I reveal that I like boys, everyone takes a step back, like “don’t touch me”, and there is a gap in the conversation, until one of them continues: “do you like him?”. From this and from previous similar encounters, I conclude that revealing my sexual orientation is a roadblock to getting laid (I will elaborate on this in another post). I ask the cute boy for his name and use this occasion to shake his hand and tickle his palm with my finger (meaning: I want sex with you). Is this a good idea and generally understood? Our ways cross later in Dome, but nothing ensues.

 

I enter Dome at 23:35 it is full, difficult to get around. There is a table with three cute twinks, I join their table, but they don’t show interest in me. Is this common practice, as a single customer, to simply join a table that has space left to put your glass or bottle on it? Staff sometimes splits tables, i.e. move all bottles from two tables onto one to allow a new group of customers to use the now empty table.

 

I wish I had a way to spend more time in the bathroom. Good light and you can get a glimpse of skin and underwear.

 

A fight breaks out elsewhere. Lights go on in that part and staff has problems to get through to separate the parties and throw them out. On passing my table, someone tries to grab my empty bottle (probably for use as a weapon), I am quick and hold it, but I get an angry look.

 

No further incidents, go home alone.

 

To be continued.

 

(full album of pictures here: http://s1084.photobucket.com/user/christianpfc/library/Chachoengsao%20Aug%202013)

[Rogie]

Weekend in Chachoengsao 31.08.-01.09.2013

 

 

1. Now there are only 73 provinces left where I can go for a fresh start (hook up with boys).

 

2. From this and from previous similar encounters, I conclude that revealing my sexual orientation is a roadblock to getting laid (I will elaborate on this in another post). 

 

 

1. I like your irony.

 

2. You're an intriguing chap Christian. You're also quite a tease.

[vinapu]

Thank you und danke schoen for very interesting travel post.

 

As for night confession in the park I don't think revealing that you a gay prevents you from getting laid but fact that is cone in front of quite of crowd. Even if somebody is interested in you may be hesitant to make further step in company of his likely straight friends.

 

Waiting impatiently for more pictures and travel prose.

[splinter1949]

Thanks for a great reading article ,loved it!

[vinapu]

Christian, you finished your post with 'to be continued ' so can we count on you posting  second part?

[ChristianPFC]

Patience, patience. I am busy and it might take a week or even two until I can write the story to the end.

[ChristianPFC]

That took longer than expected, but the story continues here:

 

http://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2014/01/weekend-in-chachoengsao-part-2a-general.html

[vinapu]

I spied this already and read all parts there, nice blog you have there but it looks is at expense of your contributions on various gay Thailand forums, just an observation

[Guest trailrider]

Good job Christian.  I enjoyed your report.

[ChristianPFC]

I spied this already and read all parts there, nice blog you have there but it looks is at expense of your contributions on various gay Thailand forums, just an observation

 

Yes, posting on my blog instead of up to three forums saves me time as I have only one place to update. Anyway, if I posted all that on the forums, it would dominate them.

[vinapu]

But when you post something new I suggest you leave brief post on forums with that  information and a link.

[baobao]

Anyway, if I posted all that on the forums, it would dominate them.

 

Occasionally there's an original report or informative post from a member that doesn't seem out of place when copied/pasted onto multiple sites, but - as a friend gently pointed out to me some years back - as a regular habit it can be a bit much.  

 

Different forums and sites often have a different crowd, tone and slant, so one post doesn't fit all, so to speak.  Christian's stories have been entertaining (I tend to read them more often than not) and it's nice he's gathered them into one spot where he can stretch them out as much as he wants.

[vinapu]

 

  Christian's stories have been entertaining (I tend to read them more often than not) and it's nice he's gathered them into one spot where he can stretch them out as much as he wants.

...... and has better control on unwanted comments. One of reasons I joined this forum, not others was an avalanche of nasty sounding comments after one of Christian's  spreadsheet posts. Some people can't resist to pee in somebody's tea just for sake of it.