Misfortunes and second thoughts

There had been this bad fall last year when visiting the Saranrom area ... and this year a pain (which passed quickly) in my foot when staying in Salaya, probably due to too many beers in Hua Hin. At the time, I was beginning mulling over the appropriateness to visit Thailand again, as a trip without beer could be quite boring and not really worth the effort and the money.

And here I was at 4,30 in the morning in my Jomthian hotel room, desperately trying to evacuate all the liquid (Red, soda, Coke, thank you !) I had taken during a long night in Tamnan Chon with three cambodian young men ... The night had been great, but ended in the Pattaya Memorial Hospital emergency service where a very efficient staff took good care of me. Some visits and medication later, everything is OK now but I must confess that my brain has been thinking hard for the three days I had to haul around a not so discreet medical device : should I come back to Thailand again ? Would'not I be better at home skipping the long flight and taking good care of my mother ?

I had scheduled only two days in Jomthian and planned to go back to Bangkok for some days, as well as a short trip to Udon and Nong Bua Lamphu ..; finally I cancelled everything and am now staying in my usual South Pattaya hotel : closer to the Hospital where I have to meet the doctor once again, and to the many facilities that I miss when staying in Jomthian : cheap laundry, eateries of all kinds, markets, commercial centers and so on.

Pattaya seems to be much quieter than usual, although Soi Buakhao is still brimming with girlie bars and massage shops, and the usual bunch of farangs going along with them. I cannot say the same about Sunee Plaza where for the first time in my life I could feel the sad demise of this place where I have had so many great times before. The closing of Sky Bar, the quite ordinary selection of boys in Nice Bar, and these dark and desert sois, were now too hard to bear. As for Jomtian beach, it also seemed very quiet to me, at least in my concession which is a little farther than the most attended ones.

Finally I made up with Pattaya in a dark corner of Day&Night area where I was walking glancing at the boys on offer in front of the massage shops. Win, a 19/y old from Khorat had ventured out of his place to improve his chances of hitting on a customer and accosted me .. bingo ! he was exactly the kind of boy I was looking for : eager, dark-skinned and available. Massage was OK and the boy was not shy and ready for everything. One hour later I was already thinking of my next trip to Thailand !

Unlikely short trip to Salaya and some other places

An enjoyable meal with Christian PFC put a nice end to my first three days in Thailand. On the next morning I was in Bang Sue, facing the huge future railway station, and waiting for the ordinary train bound to Ratchaburi, Petchaburi and Hua Hin. Not that I really like traveling by train which in Thailand are always slow, late and not convenient at all but this had to be better than one of these small minivans and their reckless drivers.

Ratchaburi was my destination, not at all for a date as one could imagine but only to collect another province in my lifetime quest to spend one night in each one of the thai provinces. The train was full, many thais going to their place or to the beaches for their Sunday ; during the first part of this two-hours journey I could not sit except on the floor, slight annoyance that frequent glimpses towards a group of five local teenagers greatly counterbalanced. 

Passing through Photharam station station, I could not help thinking of the resort which specialized in providing young local males to interested travelers ; I had read about it in some thai forum and the news had already made its way to farang forums when the thai police closed the place for good mostly due to drugs problems. This was about fifteen years ago … another era !

Khao Ngu near Ratchaburi town

I do not have a lot of time when visiting new places but did not miss the trip to Khao Ngu (Snake Mountain), 8 km from town ; this park is like an island set in the middle of limestone mountains that rise out of then flat area. One of these low-profile places that I like to discover. Nothing else to tell about Ratchaburi town except that finding a decent eating place at night is difficult if you do not like Japanese food.

On the following day, the same train brought me to Hua Hin where Sirin Hotel has in the same time a fantastic location, low prices and welcoming staff. I had scheduled this short visit just to see how the Hua Hin scene was going, and no one will be surprised that it is very quiet. The historic Red Indian Bar is still open near the beach entrance ; no boy at 20.30 and two hours later still no boy and a sleeping waiter. New Guys is doing better with a nice setting and four or five very welcoming boys, but not a lot of customers.

Coming back to Bangkok, I had planned a stop in Salaya, one of the populous farang-free districts between Nakhon Pathom and Bangkok. In fact, the whole three days program had been scheduled around this visit as I had a date with a lao boy working in the area. I had been friend with him on Facebook for more than one year, and it appeared quickly that he was willing to meet, including when he was still in his town in Lao. I discovered that he had just turned 18 one week before, though he had long claimed to be older. 

Appointment was in the huge Central Plaza where he of course arrived late, but he has some justifications : he gets only one day off a week, with outrageously long working days in an old people’s home. He quickly and smartly made the deed, including kissing on the mouth which is nice from a newbie, and departed with a nice reward and a broad smile ; this did not prevent him to call me on the next day asking for more money …  I guess some older sister had briefed him about it after our meeting.

Now back in Saphan Khwai where I intend to pay more detailed visits to the local bars … the first one yesterday was promising !

33th first day

Just arrived in Thailand to-day for what should be my 33rd stay in the country I love. Speaking frankly, I come this time with mixed feelings mostly because of my mother’s declining health. I have to spend more and more time assisting her for everyday life and I cannot help thinking that she is probably not too happy seeing me leaving for one month – but then I have a younger brother who will be more than able to stand in for me during my leave.

Mixed feelings also because of the worrying increase of the thai baht towards euro, which makes everything more expensive by at least 50 percent when compared to, say, ten years ago. Fortunately I had transferred a good sum of money four years ego securing an acceptable rate but this nest egg is quickly dwindling away.

My pen rai, as they say, better to seize the moment, and here I was arriving in Suwanaphum after an uneventful flight where I was fortunate enough to have two seats for myself for each leg of the journey. Surprising to see that the first leg to Doha was quite full compared to before, and the second one to Bangkok on a smaller plane than before and not even full … just as if people were as keen to go to Asia as before but dropping Thailand for other countries.

My first day was as usual used to explore the area I use to stay to look for changes, and there were a lot of them, beginning with my hotel of twenty years going up for much needed renovation works and the price increase going along with it. Saphan Kwai is gentrifying a lot with new high rise buildings everywhere, but keeps its charm ; street food is still there, as well as small businesses and local people.

As for gay places, Soi 20 remains the main spot for karaoke bars, which seemed once again very quiet at least during weekdays. I still did not enter one of them, owners do not even bother to invite walkers to enter their place. Adam and Heaven are closed, leaving five places open all within a 50 meters range.

On the contrary, massage shops seem to do quite well ; they are mostly located near the BTS station ; two towards the north and four or five in the back sois on the south. There is also a cluster of them further along Suthisan Winichai which advertise heavily on Twitter keeping in the same time a low profile on-site. I must say I went to one of them – which seem to have the same owner, and was very satisfied with the shop - if not by the boy I chose who did not really deliver as promised by advertised description.

The schedule for this trip includes mostly trips to provinces, mostly for meeting new Facebook contacts and older acquaintances. Pattaya will be one of them, some others will be reached by train, a way of transport I have not used since a long time in Thailand – but for short distance only.