santosh108

On Google maps it shows "Permanently Closed"??

That  enormous understatement, like saying Antarctic is quite snowy continent

Day 12
 Today  we repeated yesterday’s morning routine, breakfast was quite pleasant affair as I noticed few other patrons including few young girls were following S when he was picking his food and drinks and I swear  I was object of their jealousy having landed such handsome guy in jeans showing quite a nice bulge.  Doubt anybody was thinking ‘ oh that’s is guy with his grandson” . I did not mind S sending some smiles toward those girls fully knowing who winner is, let them have it.
Today’s destination is Sambor Prey Kuk, temple complex predating Angkor with most temples made not of stone but of bricks  from 7th century on,  located near Khompong Thom , half way to Phnom Penh. It took us 3 hours to get there.
 Entry is 10$ , they suggested hiring guide for the same amount and I agreed . She even dragged with her another girl- guide in training. Having guide there is good idea as objects are dispersed in the forest , trails  are well marked but still  on you own one may miss this or that.
 







 
 
It took us about 3 hours to visit every corner, I tipped that trainee 5$ then we went to local restaurant for a meal , 16.50 $ for three, not  a bad deal .
 Again long trip home , fortunately today Saturday  traffic was quite light and it was driver suggestion we go there on Saturday as he was afraid Sunday traffic will be heavier.
At home S suggested artistic part – dinner with Apsara traditional dance show on Pub Street so we went there. I like when my travel companions have own ideas not only asking “what we are doing now ? ”. At the table beside us young farang couple was sitting and I noticed both of them were paying an attention to S presence . Bit later when we had chance meeting on the street they even said  " Hi " to him ignoring me entirely. You can't imagine how my fragile ego was hurt at that moment
I meantime S got message from his bar friend , Siem Reap native,  who came  to see his folks at home and when he show me his picture it turned out I also know him from 2 long time offs, one threesome included. So we went to see him , he was dining with another boy and somebody suggested ‘lets go check Barcode “.
I offered to finance that escapade but at the door we were sent away- today bar closed for some private function. Other two boys said they are going to bed and that was idea S and I borrowed from them so we parted ways every couple marching to different bed. I had another senior moment – why I did not suggest  “ lets go all to our room”. Knowing that friend there was chance idea would be approved. Oh well. S and me still managed to had some fun including feasting on some pistachios and fruit while sitting naked on balcony right above hotel’s pool closed at that hour.

The division of labor can be a cruel master. 🤔
 

what the hell you need legitimate massage for ?☺️

A great less expensive way of seeing the Norwegian coast and fjords is the daily Hurtigruten ferries. Take the amazing train ride from Oslo to Bergen and then stay on the ferry right up past the Arctic Circle to basically the top of the civilised world if you wish. The only problem is that the cabins are very small. But I thoroughly enjoyed my four days November trip some years ago.

Yes, "lists" is correct. Not content with just a list of the ten best places to visit, Lonely Planey outdoes its competitors with five separate lists. The Best Travel 2024 list has no less than five different categories - Countries, Regions, Cities, Sustainable Travel and Best Value. Results are in many cases surprising.
Best Country is Mongolia. Now I wonder if that country is even included in any other list!
Best Region is Western Balkans Trans Dinarica Cycling Route. Well, and what if I don't fancy cycling? You'll probably prefer #5, Southern Thailand.
Best City is Nairobi. Huh? Not for gay travellers. it ain't. Homosexuality can be punished by between 5 and 21 years in jail. Stick to #2 which is Paris - as long as you can avoid the bedbugs LOL
Best Sustainable Destination is Spain. This is largely because of the country's efforts to expand renewable energy and bring tourism to hitherto emerging areas. I totaly agree with £2 on the list - Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia. Sorry if this is repeating photos, but I utterly adored my trip there way back in 2010.
Torres del Paine National Park with great views from the mega-expensive Explora Hotel


Guanocos are watching you!

Perito Moreno Glacier

Best Value is the USA's Mid West. Well I suppose if you take a gun with you, maybe so. The blurb stresses the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit. Huh? Chicago is cheap? Not when I have been there!
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/lonely-planets-top-places-to-go-in-2024/index.html

Post trip reflections.
Highlights
- S'sense is a big winner and a pleasant discovery for this trip. I always tend to go to a no hanky panky spa for a decent massage and then visit another place in search of the fun extras. I am delighted that from experience, both elements are present in S'sense. 
I always make it a point to avoid  recommending a specific guy as experiences and individual connection can vary. However, I would recommend Knott just for his massage skills alone.
 
- Hotmale is another surprise. I am pleased that I gave this place a second chance after a lack lustre experience from my first visit. 
- My meetups through apps have been consistently pleasant during this trip. While this mode takes heaps of time and effort to weed out time wasters and dodgy characters, it can be worth it. My meetups with non Thailand based MBs thru the app is a new Bangkok experience  for me.
- Tawan is always a highlight. The unpretentious ,relaxed and friendly atmosphere is something other boy bars are not able to duplicate.
- Kman Spa. Another notable discovery this trip. Worth the effort getting there. Looking forward to explore the other establishments in the Saphan Kwai area next time.
- LTs: maybe because of the lean season, securing LTs are not as difficult compared to previous experience pre pandemic. Most guys are also not in a hurry to go home the next morning. Maybe it's just my luck this time.

Lowlights 
- Banana bar just didn't tick any of my boxes this time. I'm not sure if its unusual but they only had four performers rotating the whole time I was there. People will take a peek by the door and will instantly walk off.
- Fresh boys is always a lowlight for me but I always end up visiting at least once every trip. The lack of subtlety on the part of waiters and Mamasans when asking for tips and drinks can be  irritating. I mean asking for tips/drinks within the first minute of conversation?
- AirBnB: given its legal status in Thailand, I always second guess and brace myself everytime I bring a boy back. The apartment I rented have posted notices and banners saying that the building is strictly for residential use and not for short rental like air bnb. The notices were written in a way that the renters can get into trouble if they don't report this to building management. But again, this is Thailand. While I didn't have any issues during my previous stay, I'll stick to the usual tried and tested Silom hotels next time.
- Jupiter: as advised,  I will try to ignore the ice cold standoffish behaviour of the guys next time. I might be in for a surprise.
- Dreamboys is a mixed bag for me. While their new place is a definite improvement, both my visits didn't result to an off. Not crossing this off my list and will give it a try next time.

Compared from my visit last year, things are really looking very positive. There seems to be no remnants of the pandemic and Silom / Surawong area is bustling with most establishments back to operating till late night / early morning. Overall, this 12 day experience have been pleasant with no major dramatics with any of my off. Fingers crossed it will be like this next time.
Thank you for reading my reports and hopefully this will be of help to you guys for your next trip. I am looking forward reading your future reports too!
 

don't worry. For me flying to Brazil would be cheaper than Thailand and still is Brazil 0: Thailand 30. Why ?
I think Boy69 summarized it very neatly in his post :
for me advantages listed above offsets disadvantage of boys being more expensive and also flight time being twice as much. I gnash my teeth , suffer badly and still prefer Bangkok and vicinity.
I'm not particularly chickeny and vast travel experience taught me that places supposedly dangerous  aren't as bad as word says but still I'm not big fun of having my vacation time spoiled by worries ' other side of railway station is considered unsafe" ,  "  area between park   and river bank is said to be off limits for tourists " , " when in taxi make sure windows are closed" and most important ' bringing unknown  boy to your hotel may not be safe" . All quotations from various trip reports on this site. 
So  up to now I'm content to pay 3000 baht  ( 100 $) rather than 200 reais (40$) secured in knowing that if I need to walk from bar to hotel at say 2 am I don't need to call taxi nor constantly look over my shoulder. 
 

Now we know Alcaraz won a fantastic match. Amazing for a 20 year old against arguably the greatest tennis player of all time! So now he has another £2.3 million in winnings less a large chunk in tax and in payments to his manager, coach and all others in his team. That makes his total tournament earnings as a professional up to more than US$20 million. But it is the winning clauses in his sponsorship and endorsement contracts that will bring him even more than the Wimbledon prize money. Plus the list of hopeful sponsors lining up outside his manager's door will become very long. A lucky hugely talented young man.

So guys been here in a Pattaya a few days so as I'm staying over a month this time haven't exactly rushed to do things .
Well the first day I didn't do anything but get a few massages and sleep.
Last night I took my first boy off Grindr, yes I actually waited my second night to get a boy !
😅this guy was tattooed "man"  looking slim build from Cambodia just his English wasnt crash hot unfortunately,21yo construction worker earning money on the side using his translation app to communicate.
Anyway once I established he was a pure top he ended upcoming to my hotel room.
I wanted him to call me a "fucking whore " as he was fucking me , in reality it sounds ok but when it came to him actually saying it ,it was far different.
I was on my knees ,ass up in the air🍑 as he was sliding his cock in,🥒 I already instructed him what to say , call me a.... .  "Whore ".... fucking whore ! You understand?
"Yes yes Sir I understand 
Then he started to fuck me hard here I am waiting for his words 
,"  you are hole "  hole !!
"No no no .... I said ,losing my horniness , "it's whore ! Not hole ! Whore !
Yes yes he says starting to fuck me then getting into the rythm slamming his balls against my fat ass cheeks 
"You fucking hair ! Hair ! Ah sorry sorry sir ,I forget word !
"It's fucking whore not hair ! I shouted losing my libido 
 Whore !!! I shouted ...the word is fucking whore !!!
1500 B , Grindr, about 30 minutes, good big cock ,tattooed , english not good though 
 
 

When you guys start talking about Sketchers....then we'll be in business 😆

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2596658/wild-boars-governor-narongsak-dies-of-cancer

day, night , bridge inside and view from the almost top floor
 




 
 

Many thanks to @macaroni21 for his very interesting posts on 5 massage venues in Saigon/HCMC!  I also see that christianpfc has a recent post on his blog about his activities in Viet Nam.  Both definitely worth a look!

Regarding the tips, I didn't wanna start a long discussion because we will never reach a consensus here. The reason is that our benchmark is very different for every person and the market is always changing. Also many people who paid less will not reveal what they paid because they get called cheap2charlie. So the information on this forum can be very tilted in terms of the actual pay. That's why I kept the tip part short in my review.
If you ask me, compared to well established places in Bangkok, I felt like Pattaya was expensive. The min tip used to be 700 to 1500 in Bangkok before pandemic. I still found it expensive because my type is hard to find in Thailand. But I never hired after the pandemic in Bangkok so I wouldn't know the market. As far as I see from one place that has its min tip public, it is still 700 in Bangkok...so Pattaya should be lower because the cost of living in Pattaya is lower for the boys. 
But when I hired this time in Pattaya, it was a busy touristy season (Jan after opening from pandemic) so I don't know how the market was. If there are so many tourists who are willing to pay 1500 for extra ( full service) then yes the market is different and the boys won't accept lower amounts because another customer can give them that amount. But I doubt that amount would last after February. I know 1500 as a tip is high because the top boys offer the same thing on the app for 1500 or even lower. Much better experience because you do it at your home instead of the massage place and you agree on what you would do in advance etc but you can't control much in the massage place. I had one guy who offered me 1000 massage and full service and he wanted to come to me every night, even by missing his work shift. When I asked for threesome he easily found another guy for 1000 to join. I didn't like that guy because he had hard time getting hard so I didn't hire them again but they still wanted to meet again for the same amount. I asked a few more guys on the app, most will offer 1500 but they will immediately lower it when you say not interested. I never like this sort of negotiation so even if they offer a lower price I never hire them. I only hire boys who offer the right price initially and stick to it. They are the smart one and easy to deal with. Boys who negotiate prices are tricky and difficult to deal with but that's just me. Overall in Pattaya I had many offers for 1000 to 1200 on the app for full service but none of them were attractive enough to devote my time and money. I asked their price just to know the market. So in my opinion if you are tipping 1500 at a massage place in Pattaya and think the others who pay less are cheap2charlie, you might be just overpaying and inflating the market...
finally I compare the rates to different places in the world. In Vietnam and Cambodia you pay far less than Thailand. But the guys are hotter... Those places are hard to find because not much information is available online. Now if I compare the rates in Pattaya to Colombia and Brazil, Thai boys are really overpriced but that might be just my type problem so I kept my comment on tips short...

One disaster that was is the crash of the Yeti Air turbo prop about to land at Pokhara in Nepal on Sunday. The airport was quite new but I cannot believe that was a major contribution to the crash. We'll find out in due course.
I have flown that route twice - in November 1980 and November 2009. Kathmandhu Domestic ariport must be the most inefficient and disgusting in the world. Both flights were due to take off around 1:00 pm. The first did, but it was cloudy all the way. That struck me as odd because Nepalese Airlines have to fly by visiual flight rules. If all the pilots saw was cloud, how did they make it safely to Pokhara?
The 2009 flight almost never took off. The terminal smelled of urine, all flights were delayed and all monitors were broken. Flights were announced verbally by a man with a voice few could hear. My flight was delayed and delayed to the point where we were informed if the incoming plane did not arrive by round 4:30 pm, we would not be able to take off as it would be too dark to land at Pokhara. Eventually just before 4:30 we were asked to board. We were in the air about 15 minutes later. This time it was a bright sunny late afternoon and I was staggered at how close the aircraft flew to the mountains on the right. We landed with some light still guiding the pilot down. I asume the pilot of my 1980 flight had a good idea how close he was to those mountains.
Pokhara when I first visited was a small village with one main pot-holed road lined with guest houses. But getting up at 5:00 am for the hour long trek up the hill to watch dawn break over the Himalayas resulted in one of the greatest sights I have seen anywhere. As dawn broke, the clouds I assumed I had seen in the sky were in fact mountain peaks. The Annapurna range is literally just across a valley and boasts one peak over 8,000 meters, 13 over 7,000 meters and 16 over 6,000 meters. I think that experience was as close as I have ever come to a religious experience. When I returned, Pokhara had become a city of over half a million and packed with tourists. The hour's morning trek was just a 7 minute car ride to the look-out point at Sarangot. This had well over 100 young Japanese and Koreans waiting for dawn to break. Unfortunately, trailing clouds from a cyclone over the Bay of Bengal meant the view was not as crystal clear as it had been 29 years earlier. But still utterly awesome.

Part 3 - Vientiane
After 4 days it was time to take a train although I could easily spend 2-3 more days there. Interesting yet relaxing place.
 Ticket was arranged  by travel agent in the hotel, she also charged me 50000 for a van to railway station so getting there was smooth affair. Luang has distinction of having it’s  airport much closer to the city than railway station.
Train trip is described there:
https://www.gayguides.com/forums/topic/38209-a-ride-on-the-laos-china-railway/
 In Vientiane I noticed public bus with sign “Central Bus Station “ so decided to take it instead of fancy vans. I knew that my hotel is walking distance from station but still tuk tuk driver offered mi ride for 50 000 , when I smiled knowingly  showing him where hotel is he dropped it to 20000 , now we are talking, for that amount I can travel 2 blocks in style. At hotel we both laughed.

 
 I spent 2 day there, Vientiane is not big city and has that provincial feel  but main avenue connecting presidential palace with  Victory Gate quite impressive. There are several wats spread  across the city , at least two of them are a must, oldest in the city Wat Si Saket with thousands of Buddha statues and Wat Phra Kaew , now converted to museum,  original site of Emerald Buddha , now in Grand Palace in Bangkok.
 



 

 
Close there is walled compound of French embassy and big sized Ukrainian flag on one of walls reminded me about nasty war  there . Across the street I found Sacred Heart Catholic cathedral  and friendly nun there told me it’s only Catholic church in whole country.


 
Another landmark ancient stupa That Dam was close to my hotel and not far from there is still one more landmark Nam Phu fountain but at that time was in process of renovation and whole place around her was deserted.

 
 
Central  bus station looks half finished but has quite good information desk where staff speaks some English.

 
Morning market with many stalls is just across the street.
Stroll along Mekong is very pleasant with rural Thailand on other side. Nong Khai is several km downstream.
 
For those who want to cross to Thailand by bridge to Nong Khai or want to visit Buddha Park there’s half hourly , well posted bus from Central Bus Station taking you to both.
 


Of course I visited most venerated landmark in Vientiane, Golden Stupa That Luang , symbol of country featured on coat-of-arms and every banknote (there are no coins in Laos). It’s about 3 km from city center, I just walked there but took tuk-tuk-back.
 
 
I had feeling that those 2 days were just enough to see everything, certainly is wort to stop there on a way to or from Luang Prabang , specially now with train whisking between two in just 2 hours.
 
Airport is almost walking distance from the center , probably 6 km from my hotel but when time came to leave I took tuk -tuk for 200 baht from  my hotel, this was only time in Laos when I was quoted price in 3 currencies : 100000 kip or 200 baht or 6 dollars. I opted for baht since I  wisely run
out of kip that morning. Airport is last place one can exchange kip back to dollar or baht, outside of Laos nobody will exchange it.

 
 
Flight to Don Muang was short and smooth and upon landing I started third and final Thai part  of this trip.

As for fun available in Siem Reap now I found 3 massage places ( Men’s resort, Gecko and 168 massage ) and one bar , Barcode. And of course Grindr worked there as well ( I don’t use other apps for now , perhaps in future I will ).
 Massage at Men’s was very professional, costly at 26$ for 1.50 hrs session and it was just that , very good massage , no extra’s. May be I was again not brave enough  to signal or masseur was not interested in any of that , anyways this reflected my previous experience there few years ago. Saying that they must be popular as day before I went there around 8 pm and was told all guys are busy and there’s 1 hour wait involved.
 Gecko massage is located on main street leading from Old Market and is of mixed staff but guy there I asked for massage knew his job very well,  ahem, and I had very pleasant time there and with him , massage 15$ for 1.5 hr, tip twice as much , bit high but he caught me in heat of the moment with request. Anyways I’m not one to haggle about 5 $ or even 10$ .
 My headquarters when comes to  guys was 168 Massage, I found it on my first night  when I went to check if Hatha Khmer is still there , it turned out it was replaced by 168. It’s on side street by roundabout past Old market. Massage 10 $ ( 40000 riels) , min tip 20 $ ( 80 000 riels). I went there six evenings in row, my all there with exception of first. Each time had different guy but experience was uniformly great with good massage and ample extras. Guys congregate behind glass and curtain, similar to old Hero experience in BKK, all rather guy next door to hunky types, exactly what I like.
 I tipped each uniformly 100 000 riels (25$ ), well deserved. Funniest was third encounter on Wednesday ( I was there Sunday to Sunday ), mamasan told me they my chosen one just started today and I’m his first customer. Which was no doubt truth as he was so excited that upon entry to the room where I laid already ready for oil massage i.e. naked   he did not bother to close door. He did when I pointed there. After that all went very well, he knew how to massage, who cares about door closing skills. And was not shy at all.
I developed  evening routine there, after massage I had banana pancake  on the corner and then through Pub Street  I went to Barcode bar. There were two days of exception as at that time at least bar was not open every day and was closed I guess Mon and Wed (please confirm if you are there ) . There’s no longer any gay oriented bar on Pub Str, no harm done as street was extremely noisy so all I did every night it was just fast stroll through.
 Other gone venue was Barcode massage and I say it with bleeding hear as my last time there 5 years ago I got great guy from there who accompany me on  trip to Prasat Bakan (most remote from all Angkor temples, called also Preah Khan Kompong Svay )  and was tasked with warning my bed almost nightly.  
 Barcode has continuous show  for good 3 hours , alternating resident dancers with resident ladyboys. Audience is mixed , I saw elderly couples , your girls alone and in company  but everybody behaved, no screaming girls infesting some Pattaya and Bangkok bars. Few very handsome waiters and on my first night at departure I tipped one of them whole 5$ hoping next day he will remember me. Such sophisticated plot worked as indeed next time he greeted me as soon as I showed up and after few complements from me about his handsomeness we arranged for visit in my room after hours. It involved some drama as initially he declined, only to Line me later that he changed his mind. Sweet taste of dollar denominated tip I guess. He was one who forced me to wake up receptionist at Men’s.
 I was hoping for repeat during day next day but it did not work for him for some reason.
 There was another guy encounter earlier, on my first night at Barcode I recognized guy I saw previously on Grindr and he was one who draw my attention there with nice face and built. In flesh face was as nice but he turned out to be more diminutive than I imagined which did not stop me from glancing toward him until he noticed and showed empty chair beside him. He had drink already, we exchanged Line with promise of future contact. Future was closer than I imagined as I got message from him as soon as he left bar.
 Question was ‘ what hotel you are staying ? ” . Only looking stupid I knew what it means so my answer was “ Royal Crown, do you want to see my room ? “ to an answer : “ yes, tonight ? “ and that being me  next question was ‘ How much?”. We met in front of hotel and I  had very good time , I even asked about long time option but he declined as he was supposed to go to work in the morning.
Not only good looking but also smart and good conversationalist. I don’t think he liked me that much though , not only because that declined long time but also when he saw me at bar  o subsequent nights he did not make any effort to approach me which I don’t hold against him as he was obviously popular with younger patrons, he, he.  
 
 

I lost two lovers as a result of AIDS. I had been madly in love with the first, a Japanese, and we had talked about living together. But because we were then living almost 1,800 miles apart, even though we were meeting almost every month and took holidays together, I suppose it was inevitable that he would meet someone else. In my early 30s, I could not understand how any young Japanese (he was 25) could possibly leave me for a man more than double his age - he was 52(!) I did learn later he wanted stability and eventually to start a business. His new partner gave him both. He did write to me to say what had happened and how sorry he was that he had hurt me. At the time it was no consolation.
Although it took me many months to get over the anger and to a certain extent the betrayal I felt, I eventually realised it was as much my fault. It was the early 1980s was I still quite new to Asia and certainly to Japan. A few years later he called me and asked if we could meet again. He wanted my help re part of his little business. We had a joyful reunion dinner and became good friends. FIve years after we had split up, when having tea he told me he had been feeling well. He and his bf were leaving for a long summer in London when he would seek treatment if he did not get better. Two months later, I got a call from his partner whom I had never even spoken to before. My first lover had died of AIDS. I flew over for the funeral.
Looking back, it seems odd that I had no worries about being infected. Perhaps I was in denial with HIV/AIDS being a death sentence. We had never used condoms, but then when we were together we knew very little about HIV. Thereafter I always used them.
In the early 1990s I met a tall Thai student in, of all places, Babylon. Having had part of his education in Australia, he spoke fluent English with a slight Ozzie accent. Over the next year or so we were to meet frequently, each time becoming more besotted with each other. I even seriously thought of moving to Bangkok just to be with him. But he wanted to leave Bangkok as he felt too confined here after the freedom he'd enjoyed in Sydney. He was desperate to live with me in Hong Kong. I knew - and told him many times - that he and we would face many obstacles there, far more than in Thailand. He could not continue his studies, without an HK ID card he would be unable to find a decent job - and so on. But he was adamant. Stupidly I gave in.
Although we did lots of things together and I loved having him live with me, it was obvious he was beginning to regret his decision. Just before Christmas we went to Australia for 10 days as I had a couple of days business. With frequent absences from our hotel, I knew he'd been meeting old friends and perhaps returning to some of his old gay haunts. After quite a bitter argument one evening, he told me he would not come back to Hong Kong. He planned to stay with an old flame in Sydney. And that is what he did. This time I realised I had made the wrong decision and for months I regretted it. What I should have been aware of was that the freedom he had enjoyed before I met him in Babylon had included quite a bit of unprotected sex. After he became sick, he returned to his Kanchanaburi home where died of AIDS two years later.
But again i did not get myself tested. Finally on a trip to Phuket with friends, I went to a clinic and after three days learned I was negative. Yet despite all the bad feelings, I was later to put these totally behind me and as @Mavica pointed out earlier, just remember all the wonderful times we had enjoyed. Despite the sorrow at relationships coming to an abrupt end and of young lives being cut far too short, I am surprised that these memories do not fade.

The annual Hindu Navaratri festival and parade will take place tonight on lower Silom rd. Anticipate unusually heavy traffic in the Silom-Sathorn-Surawong area between 6pm and Midnight.
 
Sri Maha Mariamman (also called Wat Prasri Maha Umathewee) is the main Hindu temple in Bangkok. It is located across the street from Silom Soi 20. It is hard to miss since it is a towering Dravidian style temple. It is free to enter and those who have come to sightsee are just as welcome as those Hindus who wish to attend a puja.
The temple was built by Vaithi Padayatchi, a Tamil immigrant to Bangkok in the late Nineteenth Century. The main temple building is dedicated to the worship of the goddess Mariamman. For those interested, the temple was built by a Shakti sect that revers ‘the mother of the God’; somewhat similar to the Catholic obsession to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

I watched Thai BL series

King Bhumibol Adulyadej welcomes Queen Elizabeth to the Kingdom in 1996. Two of the longest serving monarchs in history will be long
remembered for service to country above self.                                                  (Photo from The Nation)

And no doubt the popiticians and their cronies have been buying up the land to sell back to the state at a vastly inflated price!
Kunming will be a great destination, though, from Bangkok. Yunnan has some specatcular sights for tourists whenever tourism opens up again. Five years ago I went to Dali,  the wonderful old town in Lijiang ending with a stay outside Shangri La (Zhongdian) with its stunning Tibetan Ganden Sumsteling monastery, arguably the finest outside Tibet and often called the Little Potala Palace.






 

I feel just as sorry for them as anyone else, especially when I'm certain their story is true.  But I also remember I did not do that to them and I am not responsible for their lives.  I do what I can without causing problems for myself.  For example, one boy who I had gotten to know very well had gone back to the rice farm.  Just last month he needed a sprayer and fertilizer.  I knew - not guessed, but knew - he was telling the truth.  Not particularly expensive for me, but way beyond his means.  I bought the sprayer and fertilizer for him, but made it clear this is all I can do and if he needs anything else, he's on his own.  He respected that and he is doing fine.
He knows me well enough to know that once I set the limit, that's all he is going to get out of me.    He got what he needed and I don't get harassed for more and more money.  I have a life too and I intend to live it - at least what's left of it . . .