Thailand
Bangkok is not calling. Chalerm is miffed and he doesn’t call me while I am in Malaysia.
His sulk is of the mild type, i.e. he answers the phone when I call but he doesn’t call me. He answers my questions but doesn’t say more than he has to.
I have tried not calling Chalerm, waiting to see when he will call, but after a couple of days of silence I give up.
This began after Chalerm’s failed Malaysia trip. Maybe he expected I would add to his 2,000 baht budget so he could actually come down here?
Chalerm has been lobbying for a trip abroad for months now. When the gay boys in the office go to America and Australia and France and all over, Chalerm feels left behind.
I have a different view. I gave him 15,000 baht for his studies before I left in late February. I pay for his allowance, his family, his dentist, The Mansion and everything else. Now I have to go to Bangkok a few days early because Chalerm has another expense coming up. It is a field trip to Phuket with his class. I am going home to give him money for it.
Chalerm thinks it is unfair that I go abroad while he has to sit in Bangkok. In Bangkok he is downloading smut movies on the 24in uber-Mac all night, and in the day he works as an intern in a hotel. I think Chalerm is costing me enough as it is, in particular this semester when his teachers send him on all these field trips.
Some of the students protested the expense of the trips, but the teachers said: “If you don’t want to travel you should not have chosen to study tourism”. Soon they are going to Hong Kong. Who pays for Chalerm? I do.
When I was Chalerm’s age I graduated, got a job and waited several years before going on any trips abroad. I tell Chalerm this but he says that was in the old days. Things are different now, he says.
Malaysia is nice but not that glamorous, actually. If it wasn’t for Thai Immigation I would not come here so often. But to Chalerm a trip abroad is a trip abroad and he feels I owe him.
I am getting annoyed. If he maintains this attitude when I come home to Bangkok there might be a confrontation.
Tags: Bangkok, gay Thailand, Thai boys
March 9th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Charlerm needs to wake up & smell the coffee.
March 9th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Just who wakes up and does the smelling might should be reversed.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:05 am
I didn’t know about Thailand or get to travel to it until I was “over the hill”…I am sorry that when
I was just out of college I didn’t make a new life
in Thailand, instead of the one I made for myself
in Farangland. Now it is rather too late to enjoy
all that for me. Chalerm should take advantage
of all these opportunities. I’m sure in a few years
you’ll be glad you helped him, and yes, even
his trips abroad. I hope you can work out your VISA problem and live w/Chalerm as long as you both want to be together. Soon he will graduate and can be “on his own”. This adventure will take
a new turn for your both. Time alone will tell what this all means for each of you. Try not to give in to
these dark thoughts. I know it is not easy. You are lucky, you can enjoy this time of your life with some ease.
ralfyboy
March 10th, 2008 at 9:09 am
ypo have been more than generous to charlerm ,he is old enough now to understand your position with the visas,u must have it out with him 4 your own peace of mind
March 10th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I think I can understand how this kind of ‘misunderstanding’ arises.
I call it the ‘baby-bird’ syndrome.
When we have a young bf who has not yet graduated, they are like a baby-bird sitting there with it’s mouth open, waiting for it’s parent to bring home the worm and feed it to them.
They are physically grown up, but they don’t yet understand budgeting, where the money comes from or how much there is left. They havent had to do that yet. They just think their ‘parent’ will provide.
Of course we know that it does run out. We are constantly trying to manage the books, setting priorities, spending wisely (mostly), and occasionally frittering away some of it on them.
There are two sides to this coin and the only way of seeing both sides is to explain it.
Try not to make it a confrontation please Silom.