Having a ball in Chiang Rai

Was it because of The Wild Boars story ? Or a recent thread on one of the boards ? I wanted to visit Chiang Rai again and so had planned two days there. Beside a change of atmosphere, I wanted to see how the only gay bar in town was going, and I must say I was nicely surprised.

Only gay bar in Chiang Rai ... but worth it !

Chiang Rai is one of the few small towns in Thailand where there is a gay bar left, and this Regency Bar has not changed a lot since I discovered it many years ago : same furniture, of course well worn now, same old-style bathroom remembering of what we were used to in Sunee fifteen years ago. But also a nice bunch of boys : I saw five of them, and they told me that some evenings more than ten come hanging around. And many of them quite good-looking, entertaining and fun loving local young lads. They are mostly on the masculine side but some would probably accept more if duly rewarded. Off fee is 300 THB and minimum tip 1000 THB short time.

Chiang Rai has many pubs and a great time may be had there with one boy or more. I felt that coming to the bar is for them a way to end the night dancing and drinking in one of them ; the rightly called Sperm Pub is still the most favored. 

Besides this little gem of a bar, I was blessed with the Annual Province festival which sees everyone of its 20 districts featuring in a long parade of traditional outfits and beautifully decorated floats. Useless to say that the local talent was perfectly showcased often in groups of half-naked boys of the same age … an absolute delight for the eyes, sorry the event took place at night time thus preventing to shot suggestive pictures.

Back now to more traditional activities in Bangkok and Pattaya.

 

In the sticks (2)

From Phrae onwards, the route took us into the remotest parts of Thailand, following the lao border until we reach Chiang Rai.

The first day ended in Pua district, Nan Province. We visited some more wats in Nan town at first and then the Bua Thong wat in the countryside. Although not being crazy about visiting temples, I must say that I loved to visit them ; in this area, they are built in the thai-lue style : rather small compared to others but many offer beautiful murals, and they are also remarkably shaped, the model being Wat Phumin in Nan town.

We visited another waterfall but I can say that there is some deceit to label this Silaphet Waterfall in Pua District as a waterfall. It was more a resting place with many selling stands and some running water. I guess the locals have found the right idea to bring some tourists to their place, hiring another cute male guide to promote it on Youtube, see at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAbAp23I-fY

Bathroom at Huanam Homestay, Pua district, Nan province

Our resort for the next two nights was very close, and it would have to be the highlight of our trip. Tam being mad at eating mushrooms, had found this Mushroom Farm homestay, and I decently could not refused him to go there. A nice although rustic place in the middle of nature, overlooking rice fields at the foot of the mountains, and of course mushrooms on the menu for two days. And two gorgeous local boys as waiters, which I would not complain about. (google "Huanam homestay" for reference).

The next day was a trip to the Doi Phuka National Parks, where we did not see a lot of people as the roads here are rather challenging and there are very few facilities. We made our way to Bor Klua, along a spectacular route with some viewpoints unfortunately obscured by a persistent fog. After a never-ending 72 km in the middle of nowhere, our next stop was the Huay Kone border point where there is nothing to see unless you come here on the day when there is the thai-lao market.

Phu Sang Waterfall, Phayao province

We left the Nan Province along another scenic route, this one in a much better condition running across Phu Langka National Park. We reached then the Phayao Province with a very nice stop at Phu Sang waterfall, the only waterfall with hot water which is of course a favorite playing ground for the local kids. The aim of the day was one of the numerous resorts on the Phu Chi Fah mountain ; we could not help going to the Phu Chi Fah summit as soon as possible, only to find another very foggy landscape.

With a bright sky on the following day, we got up at 5 am like every one … at least like the few tourists being there on that weekday. We were lucky enough to see the top of the mountain in a clear sky and also to see the sea of clouds of which the thais are very fond of. Unfortunately the fog rose up again suddenly hiding the rising sun, so everyone was a little bit disappointed about their trip. No great views either at the neighboring Pha Tang viewpoint, where you walk along the lao border (or inside lao territory, who knows ?) near a village inhabited by chinese people.

Love nest on Phu Chi Fah

We finally found clearer skies when going back to the Maekhong valley, an area I cannot get tired of seeing. And we took the time to visit again the famous White Temple south of Chiang Rai town as well as the spectacular Khun Korn Waterfall, where Tam showed unusual qualities as a hiker ; the three kilometers we had to walk along a convenient footpath were worth the effort, as the water was in full swing after the rainy season.



And then it was back to reality in the hot and bustling Chiang Rai town. The local Tesco Lotus was a mandatory visit after so many days in the country, and a huge pizza a well-deserved reward. The beer we had in the only remaining boy bar in Chiang Rai (Regency Bar facing Wangcome hotel, half a dozen of decent guys on duty) was like a transition to the new part of my stay : Bangkok, Pattaya, and its famous dens of iniquity...

Up to Phu Chi Fah, VERY early in the morning

Following the Emerald Buddha's footsteps

Would you believe it ? The theme of my trip to the north was following the Emerald Buddha's footsteps ... this highly revered figure was discovered in Chiang Rai in 1434 ; it then stayed in Lampang and Chiang Mai until 1552 when it was taken to Luang Prabang. It is now in Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok where it was brought in 1784.

North Hotel gay-friendly hotel in Chiang Rai

So my stay began in Chiang Rai and I visited of course the local Wat Phra Kaew as well as the countryside on a rented bicycle (the Merinda shop where Phahonyothin Road turns left to the south is a good place).

My hotel was the North Hotel in the Night Bazaar area ; 15 rooms and a guesthouse atmosphere, with really very small rooms but OK for two nights. This hotel has also a more or less advertised massage service with boys ; about 3 to 5 of them come at dusk and are available to offer their skills and more if needed.

This could provide a nice alternative should you not be able to find anyone to your taste in one of the two bars in town : Lobo Boys and Regency. Both are located in the immediate vicinity of the Wangcome Hotel and are very quiet, Lobo Boys also having a "for sale" sign in front. However the quality offered is quite decent in my opinion ; I took a guy in Lobo on the first night and he proposed a very satisfying massage in my room (for which you will have to pay the massage fee to the hotel) and could as well have taken another on the following night - but I had already used the in-home service.

I spent then one night in Lampang, a wide and green town also known for its horse carriages. Despite its not convenient location in the countryside, a visit to the Phra That Lampang Luang is a must : you should not miss an opportunity to visit this wooden wat which is said to be the oldest construction in northern Thailand. Besides this, the place (amphoe Ko Kha) where it is located is pleasant and the local population very welcoming. By the way the Emerald Buddha was not kept in this wat but in another Wat Phra Kaew in downtown Lampang.

I had very accurate information from a thai website about a house with boys. I could find the house - close to the Clock Tower in a small soi leading to the School number 4, and sure this was the place as it matched all the details except one : the house had been done up a little, whereas the information I had (dated July 2009) told about a rather old place. No boy was to be seen except the normal life of a thai family, so I guess I had arrived too late : the house had probably been sold and the owner (described as an already old man) had retired from the business.

Lampang taxis

To tell the truth I do not know if I would have dared to enter the place ; the website told about 4 or 5 boys, all of them aged 16 except one aged 19, and no room on the premises.... sounds a little bit hazardous for a lonely farang doesn't it ? Anyway this shows that Thailand has a scene that we do not know, with thai rules and thai prices (100 THB for the owner, 500 THB for the boy), and access to this information seems to be very sparse.

My hotel was the Kim City Hotel where for 600 THB you get a huge room - simple but clean. As a premium you gain the privilege to look at the waiter in the restaurant downstairs, who is probably the most charming guy in town : a dark-skinned well-built boy - about 19 y/o - with the innocent smile of someone who has still to realise how cute he is.

Next stop in Chiang Mai which seems to have a lot to offer these times... beginning with the Loy Krathong festival.

Chiang Rai

From Chiang Khong it is another nice trip towards Chiang Rai : the roads here are quiet and well-marked and it is a real pleasure to drive among the mountains and the paddies.

We stopped at the Golden Triangle and then made the mandatory trip to the burmese side of the boarder in Tachilek. Tam and me bought a lot of CDs, he also bought some kind of sex medicine (apparently used to help convince women (or men ?) to have sex ...) but he was searched by the thai customs on the way back and the drug was seized ... I should have accepted to take it with me because I was not searched and no farang seemed to have been as well. 

Border crossing from Burma to Mae Sai

On the burmese side, we had a tour with a (nice) tuk-tuk driver who brought us to the few tourist places in Tachilek. We were lucky to find that he spoke thai perfectly, being a burmese national from a thai origin (Thai Yai). He told us it was possible to find girls as youg as 13 in a local brothel at night, but he had never heard of anything like this for boys

In Chiang Rai we stopped at the Wangcome Hotel which has overpriced rooms at 1700 THB/night but is conveniently located close to the two boys bars in town. Of course we visited both to find very cute boys in each of them. In these bars, only one boy dances in his underbriefs at the same time while others are dressed and sit in the bar waiting for their turn. They dance for four or five songs so that you have to wait a long time to see all the boys.

Regency is located immediately on the north of Wang Come Hotel while Lobo Bar is located 200 meters further in a small alley on the right when you go towards the clock tower, in the middle of many girlie bars. We finally "offed" one boy from each bar who led us to a disco called Par Pub where we had really a great time (with the help of some Red Labelled stuff).

It is now Thursday morning in Chiang Rai ; we have been visiting Wat Khao (Wat Rong Khun) which is an absolute wonder. This wat is a lifetime project of a thai artist and it is entirely white, making it completely different from any other temple in Thailand. It is still not finished yet and has yet to appear in any tourist guide, but seeing this twinkling temple under the sun is really magic (and they say it is still more impressive in the moonlight).

Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Rai

It is time now to return the rent car, wait for the Air Asia flight to Bangkok and go back to more familiar areas ... One thing which makes me wonder is that Tam has already lost the threads that his mother tied around his wrists. He tells me that they tore already but I cannot believe this. Tam speaks more and more about one of his friends who took good care of him when he was injured, he even speaks about him as a geek (thai slang word for a second-ranked lover). Would Tam be in love (which I would not mind at all ) ? This would explain a lot about his now more distant attitude ...

Clouds

Saturday, 28th October :

Bus transfer to Phitsanuloke that it would not be fair to call uneventful : in most of the central plain, and especially around Nakhon Sawan, the fields are under the water and local people seem to have a very hard time.

In Phitsanuloke, I wanted to visit the Wat Yai which is well-known for its most-revered Buddha but HR the Princess was visiting the place and relieving the people for their difficulties, so it will be for another time. I staid there until the arrival of the official suite and just had a short glance at the princess. I had to leave quickly because I had reserved a car for hire and had to get it in the airport.

The evening was spent in the local disco (Picasso in Toplands Plaza building) where Tam saw a lot of gay people ... I only saw cute guys in huge quantity ... 

Sunday 29th, Monday 30th October

We both drove the car until Tam's house in Phrae province, but of course Tam was the driver for the last part of the journey so that he could be seen by everyone. Tam drives quite well and I am completely relaxed when he takes the wheel. We arrived at his house with beer in due quantity for the evening.
Alas the party was not up to my expectations ... Tam properly forgot me for the whole evening, leaving me with nice people that I did not know (except for his mother) while he had a birthday party outside with his own friends.

I have to say I did not sleep very well in his bedroom, where I waited him until early in the morning .. in fact he had come back in the night but was so drunken he slept in another room. He told me later that he could not sleep with me because his bedroom had just been built and had still not been blessed by the monks ; having sex in it would have been a great sin and he was afraid he could not control himself because of his drunkenness... Well that makes sense, doesn't it ?

Nevertheless I felt very noijay (hurt, feel neglected by) as thai say, when trying to sleep. To tell the truth, I promised myself this night to break with Tam at the end of my stay or even as soon as the rent car would be returned.

On the following day, we used the car to make some sight seeing with Nuy, a young nephew ; she comes from a very poor family and is a brilliant pupil at school, I just hope she will able to go as far as possible in her studies. I brought her some gifts including an english dictionnary. 

Tam and Nuy in front of  Huay Rong waterfall in Phrae province

The rest of the day was spent in Tam's house ; relaxing outside, I was more interested by the young neighbour than by my newspaper ... he seems to arouse much interest among the local girls (and I can easily understand them) ; there is always one of them in his house. Sorry for these young people, they will have to go back to school very soon ...

Once again the evening was a great disappointment for me. We went outside for a meal with Nuy, Tam's mother and one of his friend and had a great time. But Tam had invited other friends for a party in the same place, and he quickly made clear that I was not welcome in this party ... so I paid, brought the woman and the girl back home and slept very poorly once again. I was already making plans on how I will get rid of Tam and thought the sooner, the better ... 

Tuesday, October 31st

Before leaving Tam's house, his mother tied white threads around our wrists, and then we left for the north, driving through quiet mountain roads. I drove myself, Tam had probably still a lot of alcool in his blood.

We are now in Chiang Khong, a quiet backpacker place along the Mae Khong. Tam has found an efficient  massage place to relieve his still ailing leg, which makes him quite happy. Just before twilight, we drove along the Mae Khong river facing the spectacular lao territory. And I will not forget the sex session we had in the guesthouse : trying not to make any noise because our neighbours would have heard it was very exciting ...

I love to be with Tam in this kind of place and I think he likes it too ... Breaking with him will not be an easy task ...

Mekong view from Huay Sai viewpoint

Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai

Chiang Rai is definitely a place to add in the gay places list in Thailand. There are only two gay bars in town, very close to each other and with the same format : one guy is dancing in his briefs for about 10 minutes and then another. Most guys are local guys and all complain about the lack of customers so guys if you happen to go in the North please go patronize the local gay places - both are located close to Wang Come Hotel.

Tam gave some advice to one of the boys in Regency Bar, and almost convinced him to go to Pattaya in one of the Sunee Plaza beer bars .. wonder if the boy will follow his advice ... Tam promised to introduce him to the owner of his bar and the boy should phone us on November 3rd so that we go there together from Bangkok.
These Northern boys are really not only cute but also seem to have a better attitude than some of the isaan boys that most of us (including me) cherish so much.

Yesterday we came back from Chiang Rai along a nice road in the mountains. After getting a room in Porn Ping Tower Hotel, we went to San Kampeng hot springs where you can hire a bungalow for one hour and bathe in the hot water. So bad we hired two bungalows, it would have been really "hot" to bathe in the same bath (although the tubs are quite small).

In the evening we went to Adam's Apple to look at the show. Very imaginative and daring as it has always been ...difficult to think that the place has just reopened from a one-month closure ...

To-day was rest time after bringing the car back to North Wheels ... a good adress if you have to rent a car in Chiang Mai.

To-night ? I don't know except that I am really in love with Tam and this keeps on surprising me because I thought I was only a butterfly and I could not get on with a boy for more than two or three weeks ...

So many things to do ...

So many things happen as soon as you are in Thailand that you do not have 5 minute to write about your travel ... How different from Farangland !

On Day 2, I staid in Bangkok with Tam and we just went to Talent (karaoke bar in Saphan Kwai) where the atmosphere was good. Stopped for a drink in Eagle where they do not have a lot of boys but there is always one in this bar to catch your attention.

Day 3 was a bus ride to Chiang Mai where there was no more car for rent at least in the best-known companies. So we staid for one night in Royal Lanna and made the trip to the boys beer bars near Night Bazaar. We staid a long time in Chez Nous Bar near the Climbing Wall - too long as far as the number of beers is concerned.

Driving in Thailand is not easy not because it is Thailand but because they drive on the wrong side of the road ... very difficult to get used to it after more than thirty years in a "normal" country. Anyway got to Tam's village in Phrae province without any problem. First evening was a feast for all the relatives, second day we went with Tam, his mother and a young girl of his family to visit some places in the province, including the local Tesco Lotus.

Yesterday was a short drive to Phayao which is a great place if you like farang free places, beautiful landscape, romantic walking along a lake and great cheap food. Would recommend at least one night there to everyone.

Phayao lake

Now in Chiang Rai getting prepared to visit the local bars at least if my boyfriend is OK. He should be, because we had another great day of touring, with a short trip in Myanmar and a long walk in the Doi Tung gardens.