Gay Boy Thailand

I am in Sabah again. I gave the fish monger and his “boy girlfriend” prints of their pictures. It made them happy. In one photo the fish monger is behind his boy, with his arms around him. I gave them two copies of that one. In another photo the fish monger is alone, posing proudly in front of fishing boats.

Independence Day in Malaysia. I wasn’t aware of this holiday weekend and barely found a room before all the hotels were full. This was the 50th anniversay so they made extra fuss. The Prime Minister thanked the British Empire for running this place for 200 years. No, he didn’t actually do that. Then he thanked the British for bringing in the Chinese to do the business and the Indians to do the hard work. No, he didn’t actually do that either.

Many cars had Malaysian flags. But I didn’t see a single Chinese driving around with a Malaysian flag. At night, when locals had fireworks and shouts of “merdeka” (independence) on the streets the Chinese also stayed away. But the stateless Philippino migrants took part louder than anyone else. Maybe they hope that if they do this eagerly Malaysia will give them citizenship.

—

I met some old friends. The boy who wanted free beer last month greeted me on the street. It seemed he had forgiven me for my lack of generosity.

I also met the Philippino who barged into my hotel room at night with two other boys. I had a non-verbal conversation with this Philippino boy. I formed a circle with my fingers and put another finger in it. This meant “I was supposed to bonk you”. The boy lifted his arms, turned his hands so the palms were up, and shugged. This meant “See if I care”. When I saw his swaggering way of walking I had to wonder how I could think he was gay. A pretty face does not a gay boy make.

—

I met one attractive candidate by the waterfront. He said a lot in a mix of Malay and English. I didn’t understand any of it. But I understood that he remembered seeing me before and that he liked me, but that he didn’t like me enough to become the love of my life.

—

Then I met a Philippino tourist. I met him twice. First in a market, where he said hello. I said hello back and thought “what an obvious gay person”. An hour later I met him on a walkway. He told me about where he was from and what his job was. He smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

- I should have been in Manila now, I said.
- Why are you not? asked the Philippino.
- People told me it is too dangerous in Manila.
- They are right. You are better off here.

The guy kept talking about himself. I wasn’t interested in his life story. I would rather go boy watching. I spoke to him for a couple of minutes for the sake of politeness, and then I said goodbye.

—

Two teenage fashion boys walked past as I sat in an Internet cafe. They held hands. The sight of this made me smile. The boys smiled back and we exchanged thumbs up.

—

A Malay boy was hanging around, posing and possibly soliciting by the road. I talked to him. He smiled. He smiled so bright and was so agreeable that I thought he was available. But then he went over to a van to talk to someone inside who appeared to be his father. The van was full of people and they were all watching me. I had chatted up the boy in front of three generations of his family clan. This was just too much for a shy guy like me. I retreated.

This Asian group thing is getting on my nerves. Are these guys never alone? Must I be introduced to twenty other people before I can even start flirting with them?

—

I speak to Chalerm on the phone every day. He has learned Korean, Mandarin and Japanese at school. This goes to show how talented Thai teachers are. In other countries it takes years to learn just one of these languages. But at Rajapat University they spend a few hours on each and then they are done.

Having learned all these languages Chalerm likes to greet me in, say, Korean. He also pretends he is a switchboard machine. “Press one for English, press two for Japanese, press three for Chinese”, Chalerm says when he answers the phone.

Chalerm is busy doing reports for school. He claims he is never in The Mansion now since I am not home anyway. He says the maid keep the fish alive. But this morning he was home when I called. “Never” is a flexible word in Thailand.