vinapu

In Namche Bazar , Nepal , I stay in the same hotel Jimmy Carter did, post-presidency. Yes THAT Jimmy Carter. It was 10$ hotel, another proof President Carter was modest man , not like one who is sitting in the White House now

Siem Reap – ruin seekers and boy hunters friendly city I wanted to visit both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh on this trip in any order but since there was direct flight to Siem Reap on my planned day I went there first. I mentioned it may times that Angkor ruins is my ultimate travel destination and in my heart Siem Reap is one of world’s greatest cities , not provincial backwater which in fact it really is. On second thought I may take it back though since city supports no less than 4 gay bars . Anyways after one hour I landed in the new airport which turned super efficient. It took exactly 23 minutes from moment I stepped out of plane to moment airport bus started rolling. Enough time to clear immigration and buy SIM card. Few day later out former poster Z909 achieved the same in 21 minutes. Sim card 5 $ for 7 days, airport bus 8$. It took about 50 minutes to get to the city and that trip was graced by beautiful sunset. In the bus terminal I got tuk-tuk or remork to my hotel for 1$ and driver sensibly suggested we exchange WhatsApp in case I need his services in the coming days. My hotel, Chaetata was short walk to Pub street, but location was quiet. By time I settled it was evening already so I took tour of the center with intention to check at least 2 of the said 4 bars. BBall is in quiet street close to old Market, there were few boys sitting outside and one of them turned to be one I’m watching on Grindr for a while so obviously I parked myself beside even if he was drinking with some local girl. Sensibly , he suggested we exchange WhatsApp as well just in case. I was discreet enough not to mention anything that I know him from Grindr but sensible enough to mention I’m not averse to get closer to boys I like. During my 1.5 hrs in bar there were 3 or 4 other customers stopping for a drink. Next stop was GOD (Guys On Display ) in small alley north of Pub Street. I was hoping to see there another guy I’m watching on Grindr , lets call him XC for this narrative . From his profile I knew he frequents both of those bars, but he was not there. Few customers inside and they actually had a show , ladyboys lip synching but songs were excellently selected , for which I rewarded DJ with 10000 (2.5$). Two gin and tonic later I noticed it’s midnight so decided to call it a night but little I know. Walking to hotel I checked my messages and there was one from BBall guy asking if I have any stamp collection he can see. Being bit under influence I confirmed, gave him name of my hotel and by time I got there I noticed remork stopping at the door and it was him already . Benefits of being in small city I guess. Session was quite pleasant but he was also bit under influence and made impression he is in rush , not sensing that’s something I don’t rally like. So when he asked about repeat tomorrow I was very vague in my response. In the morning I messaged my remork driver if he can be at 8 a. at my hotel, response was positive and immediate. My goal today was to crown my Angkor exploration over years with last temple of size I never visited – Phnom Bok. She is atop of quite steep hill , some distance from main complex , well past Banteai Samre temple , one of my most favorite, chiefly because is never crowded. First we went to buy a ticket. I opted for 3 day ticket , now it can be used in any three days in consecutive 7, improvement over previous 3 days in row. It cost 37 $ for 1 day , 62 for three days and 78$ for seven days within month. It was quite long a steep climb to the temple with little shade but, aided with two cans of beer I bought in the parking lot , I made it , rewarded with having 1000 years old structure all to myself. Only when coming down other tourists showed up , both half of my age , so when that asked how hard walk up is , I answered ’ If I could make it, so will you” Since Banteai Samre was on our way I explored that temple as well. From there quite long drive to all there temples in Rolous group. Getting to Bakheng temple I was bit frozen as it looked very crowded but luck was on my side. There were three buses parked and their content was already coming back so I got that bit temple to myself or at least I thought so until in some nook I noticed two 20-something guys who obviously were exploring that solitude by getting quite close to each other but still within limit of decency i.e. clothed. “Don’t worry” said I and “danke shoen” was the answer so my guess is they weren’t Greeks or Spaniards. In the evening I wanted to check other two bars I did not visit yesterday. “Rendezvous” was first. Few twinky hosts inside , two occupied with customers, others weren’t my type and obviously neither I was their as I was largely ignored other than taking my beer order. Next one was Barcode, quite packed with very mixed crowd . I got my gin and tonic, watched a bit of show and noticed that one of their waiters is giving me quite long looks. Stupidly I did not explore that option but decided to check GOD gain, hoping XC will be there. He was, bit changed since I saw him just post-covid but change was for good i.e. l face become more manly. He did not remember me , not surprising given it was 4 years ago. I bought him drink, then another for old times sake but it become clear nothing materialize today or perhaps ever. He mentioned he wants to go to some club but there was no offer “ you want go too?” and I got a hint. Bar was very crowded and among patrons I noticed familiar faces. Two French guys who used to run short lived coffee shop by Tawan bar in soi 6. I went to re-introduce myself. They did not recall me by my look but when I told them I’m vinapu they smiled broadly. And explained why – I posted something they liked so much that tat quoted me that post from memory. So XC can feel vindicated , he forgot me , I forgot my own post. It was great time at GOD, even if I went home empty handed. Which kind of worked for me as I had good night sleep. More from Siem Reap to come

I can recommend An Phu hotel where quite palatial room with breakfast cost me 35 $ ....... Capella ? even Quarter Silom is out of my league

I'd replace ' rather' with ' definitely disrespectful "

I get it too several times recently and usually refreshing page does the trick . I think it's side effect of Trump's State of the Union speech

I placed SE Asia trip report in Gay Thailand section and if you are interested in Vietnam part , admittedly not very heavy of boy hunting , you can find in on page 2 here : Third floor - trip to SE Asia in Jan/Feb 2026 - Page 2 - Gay Thailand - Gay Guides Forum

Time waster !!! But I admit , it sounds you have a hell of excuse. Congratulations on getting new Gold medal winner

you may consider novel idea of paying for the room

it's ok as long as you don't have me in mind

few pictures: pearl farm gift shop as you see money can be made from making wine on Phu Quoc - owner's house getting burned fake Italy and cable car station monster rollercoaster

Phu Quoc island – no boy business at all, other them meeting friend (not gay ) from my hometown. It’s only 90 minutes flight from Da Nang to Phu Quoc but practically it felt I spent whole day travelling . First, my flight was in early afternoon so morning was lazy, just wandering on the streets close to hotel and along Da Nang beach. At noon I checked out from the room , left may bag on reception and did more aimless , yet pleasant walking along the seashore. Car arrived on the dot and for 120000 ( 4.60 $ ) took me to the airport. Then it turned out that flight will depart at 5.30 p.m. instead of scheduled 4p.m.. We landed at 7.p. and knowing my friend will fly in at 8.00 p.m. I decided to wait for him to scare him off. Why ? because he did not have idea I will be in Phu Quoc at all. It worked well, I was greeted with cheerful ‘ what the fuck you are doing here ?” which was met with my response “ none of your fucking business “ . It great to have friends, no ? Why Phu Quoc, specially that I’m not and never was sun and sand kind of person ? And I was there last year ? I think my sister has best explanation – senility sets in, this is what she said after I told her last year I was there and liked it. Truth is , I like beaches there and like sea, warm , calm and very clean, specially on the west , Cambodia facing side, It’s probably only place in the world where I enjoy lazing on the beach whole day. (Ok , lets not exaggerate, half of first day only ). My friend stay in different hotel than me and this was by design as being friend not necessarily means 24 hrs friend , island is quite small so logistics of meeting were easy. I took free bus to my hotel and immediately learned that it’s not free anymore, from Jan 1st it costs 20000 to 50000 depending on distance but as senior I was eligible for reduced rate of 10000. Yes , almost always they checked ID to see if I qualify. First day we went to the beach , it was so pleasant and breezy that I did not notice that consuming 3 bottles of Saigon beer while sunbathing cost me getting burned by the sun . I noticed some color when we were leaving but only in the evening , when it started itching I realized it was quite nasty burn. Second day was devoted to famous cable car, longest in the world over sea ending in amusement park. Admission was 850 000 and this includes cable round trip ride and unlimited use of park facilities, all those tubes , slides and everything self respecting water park should have . Taxi from the city was 240 000 each way. What we noticed was that , compared to year ago it was much more crowded. In fact I did not take ride on their large wooden monster rollercoaster because line was well over what I was prepared to stand in. Day three was tour of the island on organized trip. Very well organized, pick up from hotel was on the dot and it was neatly divided between commercial, sightseeing and relax parts. Commercial part was typical- visiting pearl far, fish sauce factory, pepper plantation and yes, winery where they make wine from some local fruit. Quite drinkable. in all those places there was shop where we could buy whatever we wanted to waste our money on. In fact in pearl farm I bought very nice shirt for 10$.Then quite interesting temple and finally 2 hours on the beach so I could work on getting burned even more. Forth day was day of my departure in the afternoon but we managed to wander through island only city and visited colorful local market. My friend stays another week but I took Air Asia Cambodia flight to Siem Reap.

I will be working hard to make another trip for sure, specially in view of very rewarding recent trip. Only constrains at the moment are financial. Orange Overlord with removal of ' de minimis " exemption effectively ruined my carefully designed financial plan for 2025-2027.

By the way, according to my spies ' Wild Cat " sign is gone. I may mean idea of bar there was dead before it really took off. On another hand , it may be in preparation to put new, proper sign "White Cat ", in few days we should be clear

glad you guys have fun at my expense

retired , with no intention to return to the workforce

or having somebody at bottom of the stairs, pointing at the bar and trying to lure customers in. In that case because truly narrow entrance , just a door width , it was/ is a must.

that's in the books already for very long time. How is enforced it's another story but from time to time we hear about raids and hunt for foreigners working in bars and massages.

so it looks I was part of problem and reason I did not really liked it. Lesson learned , next time I will try to spend 1-2 nights there to see it's full glory

what about this year ? it's only February

some may have different ideas but I have habit of fixing expected tip before hand, if boy doesn't quote anything , I ask them outright " how much you want" . If they say ' up to you " , I tell them what I will give them. If they don't like my offer I usually say " I asked you already and you told me , up to me". That settles matter . Others may simply hand over money to boy at end of session , whatever they think is fair and that approach works too.

Marble Mountain, highest point and place of my winning bet one of temples in the caves angry dragon and cooling down city from above, bye, bye Da Nang, I'm on my way to Phu Quoc

few pictures to enliven the thread Da Nang railway station Campa Sculptures Museum My Son ruins beautifull mountain views from Ba Na hills and fake church in fake village ( rain outside was real)

Next few days I did mainly touristy stuff outside of city during days. Ba Na hills was my first destination, 550 000 dong , about 22$ by car , waiting included plus admission 1 000 000 dong. Complex is vast with multiple cable car lines offering I assume great views. There is famous , often photographed bridge supported by gigantic hands. They even have copy of French village complete with church which looks like church not only from outside but inside as well. Unfortunately I had bad luck . It was raining and fog was so dense that I could hardly see fingers on my hand ,forget those views. Still I enjoyed several rides, walked around , if only to get more wet although rain coat purchased for 50 000 was quite a help to stay at least partially dry. Surprise was , all that nasty weather was localized in the hills and city was dry when we arrived. Still about 5 hours spent well, At dusk I went for consolation to Nam Spa. I was told that guy there are more hunky and indeed three present all were. I was given option of choosing guy there. 75 minutes VIP treatment 1 500 000, ( 60$) . Not exactly cheap. This time promised body to body massage materialized with gusto, massage was again very good, clothes were shed in first few minutes. At end of session guy asked , if I have tip for him , to give it right in the room so I did. One thing I did not like was that I was left to shower alone which made bit difficult to get rid of all that oil . This was my second and last massage , or speaking more broadly , boy experience in Vietnam and while massages themselves were very good and professional, additional stuff was under executed to put it mildly and at prices they were charging not as good value for money as Bangkok massages are. But I’m glad I tried and certainly will again if travel to Da Nang again – highly likely as I liked the city vibe and have that Ba Na hills experience to repeat in better weather. Next day I visited or rather re-visited Champa ruins of My Son ( I was there in 2002 ) . I love ruins so it was highlight of my stay in Da Nang , weather cooperated today, heavy rain arrived exactly in the moment when I was getting back into my car. The same feast repeated in the afternoon which I devoted to exploring Marble Mountain in southern outskirts of Da Nang . I liked place a lot, temples , caves , quite a few climbs to get a views and it proven to be big ego booster for me. On top of highest point young Westerner told me he is impressed how well was doing climbing up in just plastic sandals and asked my age. When told he couldn’t believe so we made bet , 1000 dong ( 4 cents) and I prove it with my driving license. I collected banknote gladly. In the evening I went to Dragon Bridge to see Dragon breathing with fire and then splashing people with water. Spectacle is only Fri to Sun at 9p.m. Next morning funny thing at breakfast. I brought a soup to the table, left it there and returned to pick up more food and spoon. Upon return I see couple sitting at my table ( it was big one , sitting 6) and lady is eating my soup already !!!! WTF ? It turned up , she thought her husband was so nice and brought it for her and was even surprised how nice he indeed is. We had good laugh and become instant friends. In the early afternoon I took a car to Hoi An for 250 000 curious how I find it after 24 years since last time. Then it was charming little town, now I found it to be busy and noisy tourist trap . Walked though the old city, had 30 minutes river cruise , then some meal and was happy to go back to Da Nang. I know Ho An has many admirer, one of my friends even calls it “Quintessence of Asia” but, me, no , I’m not sold on it. Perhaps bkkmfj is right that I should spend night there to appreciate place fully. Like in all tourist infested places, I noticed tendence to overcharge. Both boat captain and taxi driver I took to drive me back to Da Nang started quotation at twice of final price I negotiated. All in, I enjoyed Da Nang a lot and can recommend city to everybody, I could stay few days more but my next stop is Phu Quoc island .

not intentional, I started feeling sleepy and decided to cut relation short for that reason

hope chicken with cashew nuts will be on the menu and to standard of Sophia's Kitchen