Gay Boy Thailand

Poipet Cambodia: The stinkiest Internet café award 2005

…goes to a place on the Thai-Cambodian border. When I entered it I noticed a strong smell of urine. I wondered if someone had the habit of peeing right inside the door. But it wasn’t quite urine either… what was it?

The Internet place had the usual collection of kids playing games, some foreigners using email and Thai guys surfing p*rn. The owner sitting watching TV behind a desk, a couple of dogs in a corner.

The smell persisted. I tried moving to other parts of the room but it was everywhere. I was glad I only was in town for a couple of days or I feared all of me would begin to stink too.

When I came back the next morning the stench was there again. The source revealed itself: One of the dogs got up, stepped out into the middle of the floor and with obvious pleasure left a yellow circle of pee.

I pointed at the offending part of the floor just before the owner of the Internet, who had not seen what his doggie was up to, stepped in it. The owner gave me annoyed looks. Did I mean to criticise his dog?

He cleaned up with a mop. That didn’t help much. The mop was soaked with dog pee.

Perhaps to mollify me, the customer, he got his brother to clean the floor. This put an odour of washing perfume on top of the dog pee stench, but it didn’t remove it. Both dogs were longhaired imported breeds and both had their fur infected with the smell, which they carried everywhere in the Internet café, making the whole interior stink.

How can an Internet shop stay in business with a smell like this? The answer is monopoly. This Internet shop is the only one in town and either you go there, check your email and enjoy the air, or you don’t.

Posted in Travel reports, Cambodia | 2 Comments »

Poipet Cambodia: A visa run

Day 1

11pm Chalerm and I were speaking in bed.
- I have to go to Cambodia tomorrow.
- Because passport?
- Yes.
- How long you stay?
- Two days.
- Oh. Too short. Better two week.
- Or two months?
- Two year!
- Really.
- If you stay two year, you think I wait you?
- Yes.
- Not wait!
- You will not miss me?
- Not miss! I run away.

Day 2

9am. In the morning Chalerm was up before I was. He was ironing his university uniform.
- Ahem. I am leaving now.
- Yes?
- Kiss me goodbye, I said, pointing to my cheek.
- Pai si pai si! said Chalerm and waved me away.
At the door he caught up with me from behind. Smooch!

8pm On the phone in the evening from a hotel on the Thai-Cambodian border:
- Where are you? I asked.
- Beach.
- The beach?
- Yes.
- So you ran away?
- Yes. Now stay bus.
- Bus? Is there a bus on the beach?
- Not beach. Breach.
- Oh you are on the bridge. Thaksin brigde?
- Yes. I go home. When you come home?
- Tomorrow.
- Oh too soon. You can stay. Two week better.

Day 3

4pm Chalerm was calling me on the mobile phone.
- Where are you? he asked.
- On the bus going to Bangkok.
- I miss you.
- I miss you too.

6pm was calling me again.
- When bus come Bangkok?
- 7pm.
- I waiting you. I wan go eat with you.
- It is raining. Traffic is bad. Go eat. Don’t wait for me.

9pm I was home. When I locked myself in Chalerm had put the chain on the inside of the door. He sat right inside doing his homework and pretended not to see me.
- Tee rak! Open the door please.
He again pretended not to hear me.
Then he closed the door and removed the chain. When I came in he had dissapeared. I expected him to hide behind the door but not so. He was behind the drawer our new aquarium stands on and managed to surprise me.
It was good to be back.

Posted in Diary, Travel reports, Cambodia | 4 Comments »

Diary: Animal kingdom

Someone was selling puppies and small rabbits on the street in Silom this week. They are outside California Fitness. If you hurry you can buy some.

Chalerm fell for the rabbits. Once the seller gave him one to hold he wanted to take it home. I said no. Who will look after it, I asked. It will pee and poop all over the place and I don’t want to clean up after it.

Last year it was aquarium he wanted. Having thought about it I said yes provided he cleaned it himself every week, but Chalerm forgot about it and it wasn’t mentioned again. But when he wanted the rabbit I reminded him that the only approved pre-approved pets were fish.

This morning Chalerm bought a small aquarium. He is setting it up as I write this.

I understand his desire to have animals. I used to have a large aquarium for some years, until I got tired of the cleaning and of replacing the dying fish and fish that “disappeared” in the presence of bigger fish. Then I sold it. I also had rodents for a while. Cleaning up is the bane of pet ownership but we’ll see how it goes. At least the fish won’t run around on the floor leaving stuff in the corners.

PS. Now Chalerm sat down on the glass top of the fish tank and broke it. He had put the top on a chair and forgotten about it when he took a break to watch TV. It made a scary sound. The maid is picking pieces of broken glass from the chair. Oh well…

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Diary: Chalerm the landowner?

My boyfriend “Chalerm” says his grandmother has asked him if he wants to take over the farm in Anyburi.

I haven’t interfered in this. For sentimental reasons I would like to see him keep it, but this is up to the family.

The farm consists of a house in the village on a small plot of land (1 rai approx) with a garden. The fields they own are scattered around quite a distance from the house, this is not the sort of farm where the house is in the middle of farmland.

The land is rented out to other farmers. The family tried to sell the house last year for 50 000 B but didn’t find any buyers.

Chalerm should be honoured the grandmother thinks of putting the farm in his name. He is 21 and this shows she trusts his ability to handle money. Not all of the family members have that ability I am afraid, even if they are considerably older. The other candidate for taking over the farm is Chalerm’s uncle, who is a farmer in another village.

Chalerm is not interested in owning the farm, he says.

I haven’t been to the village for more than a year now. I keep thinking about going with Chalerm but I am afraid that if I show my face in the village neighbours and relatives will start to pressure him for money again. I am half forgotten but if they see Chalerm and a foreigner in a car with Bangkok license plates they will be inspired to beg more.

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Diary: Testing my gaydar

Today I went to a shopping mall in Thonburi. Thonburi is on the other side of the river and out of the downtown area of Bangkok where I live and spend most of my time. Traffic was light this Sunday afternoon, and I wanted to go to some other part of the city for a change while “Chalerm” was busy cooking at home.

I wonder if I will see any gay boys here, I thought. Now I was out of the Silom road gay zone and the moneyboy territory. But all of Bangkok is a gay zone, right?

I first saw a boy who sold clothes near the entrance. He was cute but I wasn’t sure if he was gay or not. Rule of thumb: If you are uncertain this means he is gay, or at least that he should be. I tried to watch his hand movements as he put the display in order. But Thais have feminine hand movements even if they are straight, and I could not tell for sure.

I bought socks. One can never have too many socks. I bought fruit too. One can never eat too much fruit.

Candidate 1 was pushing a chart downstairs in the Tops supermarket. He was in his late teens, tall and slim and had a pretty unisex face. He wore only a white t-shirt and white shorts. Candidate 1 pretended not to see me, but he must have been watching me in the reflections as he did pose and show off. I placed him as a ladyboy in waiting.
Was he available? Ask his mother. She came just as I wondered if I should say hello to the lad.

Candidate 2 was also with his mother. He saw me before I saw him and smiled brightly. This chap was in his late 30ies or perhaps he was 40. I watched him walk around with his mum in a most daughter-motherly way.
Was he available? Very.

Candidate 3 was in his early 20ies. He worked in the store, selling clothes. His clothes were colour matching and his hairstyle was fashionable. When he had no customers he went over to a small mirror to groom himself. He did this twice during the short time I was on his floor.
Available? He is the type who wants attention. You could end up on his list of celibate admirers.

Candidate 4 was standing browsing a magazine at the B2S store. He was a 20something and the best looking of them all. I liked the way he had loosened his tie to unbutton his shirt a bit. I could tell from his uniform that he was from an expensive university. This was an upper class kid. Candidate 4 looked up and his eyes had all the self-confidence of the rich and none of the innocence of the young. I wondered if I should speak to him but felt intimidated. His body language was not too inviting. He would have thought I tried to pick him up and probably brushed me off.
Available? My guess is he had a boyfriend already.

Candidate 5 was on the upper floor. He was in one of the photo booths, the place where people can have their picture taken and printed on the spot. I wasn’t sure if he worked there or was a customer. He was around 19-20 and wore jeans (tight) and a jeans jacket. This was the only candidate to speak to me, and I said hello as I walked past him. Available? I guess so. He certainly was friendly.

I spent half an hour in this shopping mall and I saw no other farangs there. Five gay boys spotted means one every six minutes. This had been a successful gaydar test.

Posted in Diary | 4 Comments »

Diary: Chalerm is on TV (continued)

My boyfriend went to the meeting at the Ministry of Defence but nobody could come up with a good idea for what to write in the military service book when young men are dismissed due to gender confusion. They keep thinking about it.

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Diary: Chalerm is on TV (again!)

“Chalerm” has been on television twice more. He did not know about it beforehand. Channel 3 seems to have made a mini-series out of him and the military issue.

Surprise: The TV station is paying him 1000 B to be interviewed.

Tomorrow Chalerm will go to the Ministry of Defence again. This time subject is what to put in their military books once “permanent mental illness” is dropped. The big shots will there again of course. I expect the happy ending to be on TV too.

Chalerm says the reason his name didn’t appear in the Bangkok Post report was that the reporter thought Chalerm was shy and wanted remain anonymous. Bugger that, says Chalerm, who has been out of the closet since he was five.

Yes, I am proud of him. Chalerm is almost 22 now. He has changed from the barefoot village kid I first met to a Bangkok lobbyist in just three years. He is growing up to become the great person I knew he could be.

Posted in Diary | 1 Comment »