Chaing Rai, Mae Sai & Tachilek Trip Report..or not

[Guest Stewart]

In order to fortify myself for this precarious journey I did a very small amount of searches on various forums but I found nothing much of any use. I am sure there is info out there somewhere but I just didn’t go looking too far. There might have been very good reason for this because I found “nowt” because there is really nothing to write home about at any of the 3 destinations. I am sure any of these places are as gay as any other part of Thailand its just it is not on the surface. From travel forums there is plenty of tourist info about CR and MS but very little on Tachilek so I had not planned on going there. As far as Apple Maps is concerned it does not exist, apart from the airport.

 

The reason why I found myself becoming a geriatric backpacker was that my new squeeze was having difficulty in getting his visa to return to Pattaya. This largely as a result of a kerfuffle between the Thai & Myanmar Govts, due to recent court verdict on a couple of nationals convicted of killing a couple of brits. I had booked to be in Pattaya for 2 weeks with a weeks work related break up in the Emirates before coming back for the last week in Jan to finish off the hols. Doing all of this without the one I love would be too unbearable. Not to mention that I find sleeping alone in Pattaya pointless with all the available talent around. I took a boy for the first and subsequent nights while I waited for him to arrive.

 

My Father once told me when I was a kid “Don’t shit on your own doorstep” winking at me in the process, not knowing that my Mother was standing right behind him. The ensuing fight, which my mother won in the first round, made me keep this advice close. But for some reason I forgot it when the boy I took back to my hotel came from the same bar in Jomtein that my beloved worked at. The Jungle drums were beating at a pace and soon enough my phone’s simultaneous rings from Line, Facebook, Facetime; you name it was going off.

 

With the guilt and the shame of what I had done plus seeing the crocodile tears streaming from my boys eyes made my mind up that I would go and see him. These are my personal experiences.

 

Chaing Rai

 

£25 was the fare with Air Asia, absolutely amazing seeing as I booked the flight the night before. In UK you try that and you need to add a big fat zero to it. So amazed was I about this fare I even splashed out on an upgrade (£20) for all the usual extras incl a hot meal and free drink. The flight lasted an hour and soon after landing I was in the arms of Sai desperately trying to move him away from the dreaded conversation about my infidelity.

 

Agoda did all my hotel bookings and for the first 2 nights we stayed in Chaing Rai in a brand new hotel the Grand Vista. It was quite exceptional and the rooms impressive for the cost (3,800 Bht incl Breakfast) for the 2 nights. It was certainly nice to be there with the lad and I could not have imagined a more charming welcome from the beautiful reception girls and the big smiles from the boys in the restaurant and security. Checking in with m’boy seemed like an every day thing for them. Didn’t bat an eyelid.

 

Opposite was an equally new shopping mall where the food court on the top floor had every imaginable dish you could want, all cooked before your very eyes. The issue I had is that you have to buy a card from the cash desk and use that credit to pay for your food and drink. Even now I probably still have 50 Bht unused. Still the food was great and as it was getting late we decided to adjourn for an early night, plus the fact I was running out of excuses every time certain topics were raised.

 

Next day we went shopping in the same mall, as I had seem some shoes that I fancied. Going up the escalator I had to seriously rub my eyes as I was having difficulty in believing what I was seeing. There were two schoolboys holding hands & I mean schoolboys, not that I had any reason to be surprised but for the fact that the chubbier of the two was wearing bright red lipstick. Clearly they were in love. I am not often surprised by what I see in Thailand but this was going too far. Personally I put it down to these soppy thai teen boy love videos that seem to appearing on social media and has certainly inspired a new generation. In fact the more I looked around the more I realized that every boy I looked at gave off this incredible feeling of that they might be available. Not just some of them, all of them.

 

As we walked past the Opticians, bingo, there he was the boy of my dreams. He immediately asked if I would like to have my eyes tested. I was still in speechless stare mode when I got an elbow in my ribs. My loved one asked me to get him some contact lenses but seeing as he didn’t wear glasses I didn’t see the point. However any excuse to get inside the shop. It appears that m’boy can’t see too well so he sat down for the eye test. This was my chance to goose this delightful lad and admire his formidable figure.

As Sai was getting some serious attention to his eyes that by all appearances aren’t that good and in fact the poor little shaver as it turns out is as blind as a bat. It made me chuckle for a while at the thought of when he was an apprentice dancer last summer at Toy Boyz that the vision before him of assembled farang must have been one big blob. Some farang that I have seen are as wide as they are tall and bless him probably could not tell if they were sitting up or lying down. It even occurred to me that maybe I might not be that attractive to him once he sees me in near perfect vision!!

It took all of an hour for the lenses to be ready and in an expensive pair of Gucci frames plus 50% off a pair of Ray Bans we were all set. I wasn’t gong to haggle with the sexy sales boy as he was clearly looking at some decent commission from all of this.  Off we went to get my shoes.

 

Dinner that evening in the plaza was just superb. Open air dining with local musicians playing a variety of music. Everything dirt cheap. I did notice however that the evenings were getting on the chilly side so take a jacket or a jumper. Guess being so far North and up in the hills a bit. Again plenty of eye candy.

 

 

Mae Sai

 

After two days we moved up to Mae Sai. Enroute we took in the White Temple and that was quite stunning. Plenty of tourists about.

I had booked the Golden Pool Hotel (because it had a swimming pool)on Agoda for 3 nights 900 Bht per night. Now I wished I hadn’t as there is sod all to do here. It is just a border town and the activity, which is quite frantic, takes place only when the border is open. The street after 6pm become one big market of clothes and food and stay open for about 1 hour after the border closes (9pm).

Sai had some friends here so they took us off to an out of town restaurant where we had had a big feast.

The border crosses a small fast flowing river and there are plenty of restaurants on either side.

I didn’t want to stay here much longer so decided to have a go and cross the other side.

 

 

Tachelik (Myanmar)

 

This was the surprise of the trip. Had I know what this place was like I would have gone straight there. Crossing the border was simple. No visa required as they give you in exchange for your passport a 14 days travel permit. There is not much info on how far you can go with this travel permit but I guess it is just the local area. Cost of the permit is 500 Bht. It was very clearly marked on the Thai side that visa runs were now forbidden which I am sure was a major source of revenue for someone.  I had to stand in the middle of the bridge for a few minutes and witness the chaos as the cars trucks scooter food carts and people cross from one side of the road to the other. This being that they drive on the right in Myanmar (despite the fact that all the road signs are still set for driving on the left) and they all have to cross over at some point on the bridge. It all seems to work out but amusing to watch.

 

I found the town very charming and as it not necessarily geared towards tourists make it even more appealing. Take plenty of Bht with you as that is the currency they use. They have the local crungies that get spit out of cash machines but its not used very much. Even the hotel (Nic Hotel) charges in Bht. I made a mistake here of not changing before crossing and I found only 1 moneychanger that didn’t accept euros but took USD that thankfully I had.

 

It was Sai’s birthday and a party was arranged for him by his friends at a night club. This was in the basement of the most sumptuous hotel I had seen on my travels. More than 5 stars I would say. The boys and girls all dressed in local costumes and they are really very good looking. No wonder most of the flesh destined for the bars and clubs in Pattaya and other places come from here. Some of the boys spoke good English as it is taught in the schools as a second language. Some of which had already been to Pattaya and now retired from the scene. They all seem fairly well adjusted from their experiences and were generally very charming towards me. One of the boys told me he left Pattaya last year when he met a Farange that pays him 60,000 Bht per month. Yes you heard it Sixty Thousand. That’s a kings ransom up here. Even if he has factored 50% increase to impress and help the cause of my beloved that still is an absurb amount. The kid does nothing other than a few days at college to get a certificate in English. The Farang must be seriously in love. What a nightmare for him. The party was OK but the music far too loud but that’s how they like it. We went through 3 bottles of the local “moonshine” AKA Jonnie Walker Blue Label. It was a fun night and a chance to get close up to the boys. If it wasn’t that I prefer to be by the sea I would happily live here.

 

There must be some money about in this area for them to have built this hotel. It reminded me of the oil towns in Siberia where BP and other built the infrastructure to western standards to get the expats to come and help out. Lots of 4x4’s

 

Sorry but did not find a single gay massage or bar in the entire journey. I wasn’t really looking that hard as I had all I needed with me. A Tuk Tuk driver offered to take to a place out of town in a nearby village where I could find boys and girls. I declined his offer.

 

All in all the entire trip I spent less than £400 incl the airfares (except for the glasses). As for the boy we got the visa after some assurances of closer ties between our governments and foreign aid etc.

 

Now back in Pattaya where tonight we plan the official birthday party for Sai (he goes by the name of Nicky) at Sun Bar Jomtein Complex. Any ballooners and others out there that get to see this before tomorrow are very welcome. I love getting the boys drunk as they love the odd squeeze and attention not too mention a few tips for the privilege. They have this custom of pining money to the birthday boy so hoping for a bit of financial relief for the next few days. You will easily recongnise him for all the gold he is wearing, looking a bit like a thai Tutankhamen.

 

He won’t be wearing his glasses as he tells me he prefers not to wear them when I am with him. enough said !

[bkkmfj2648]

Hi Stewart,

 

Great trip report.

some years back when I was in Mae Sai I tried to cross over into Tachilek but I was with a Shan Myanmar national who had his Thai papers and his Thai boyfriend, who is a Thai national - but they would not give the Thai national a visa (at that time) and his boyfriend was very worried about being able to return into Thailand because he is Shan - so we did not venture into Myanmar - I'm American and they told me that I could have entered like you did with the 14 day visa leaving the passport at the border crossing.  I did not do it because I did not want to abandon my tour guides......

 

In consolodation, my 2 tour guides had their Myanmar friend cross over from Tachilek into Mae Sai so we could all have lunch together and hang out.....

 

I will eventually make a proper trip into Myanmar by flying directly in Yangon and then venturing out from there....

 

Happy birthday to Sai....

[Guest anonone]

Great report.  Interesting to read about some of the less prominent locations.  BF and I had plans to visit CR a year or two ago, but they fell through and we just stayed in Pattaya.

 

 

bottles of the local “moonshine” AKA Jonnie Walker Blue Label

 

Unless the place is far more hi-so then indicated, this must be a typo.  Johnny Walker Blue is like $200 USD a bottle.

JW Red would be the usual in Thailand.  JW Black for the up-scale event or someone trying to impress.

[Dalewood]

Leave your passport behind? :shok:  You must have seen some real knockouts across the bridge. I would not leave my passport with U Thant (may he rest in peace).

[pong]

re these cards/coupons in foodcourts: all work the same-you can get the remianing money back by the same desk as where you buy. Many of the swipe cards last for 30 days. Those from tescoLotus (which foodcourts seem to have gone downhill a lot) are valid in ANY tesco and last for 6 monthes. Oldstyle paper coupons usually only must be used same day-or given back.

[Guest Stewart]

Great report.  Interesting to read about some of the less prominent locations.  BF and I had plans to visit CR a year or two ago, but they fell through and we just stayed in Pattaya.

 

 

Unless the place is far more hi-so then indicated, this must be a typo.  Johnny Walker Blue is like $200 USD a bottle.

JW Red would be the usual in Thailand.  JW Black for the up-scale event or someone trying to impress.

It was the local brew, in a bottle with the name Jonnie Walker and the label was blue...thats is as far as the similarities go to the real McKoy. It was 800 Bht a bottle incl soda and coke. Almost half the price they charge in Jomtein !!

[Guest]

Thanks for the report.

 

If your boy works in Jomtien, I would guess offing someone from any bar in the complex has a high probability of him finding out rapidly & in his own bar, that probability reaches 1.

[gerefan]

Ha, I happened to be drinking opposite the Sun Bar last night when your party was in full swing.

The genuine Italian opera singer was superb midway through the Issan 'concert'!

[a447a]

A very interesting report. Thanks!

[vinapu]

 I would not leave my passport with U Thant (may he rest in peace).

My God, I'm surprised he is still remembered . For younger crowd - U Thant, Burmese,  was UN General Secretary in 60ties

[Guest Stewart]

It was the local brew, in a bottle with the name Jonnie Walker and the label was blue...thats is as far as the similarities go to the real McKoy. It was 800 Bht a bottle incl soda and coke. Almost half the price they charge in Jomtein !!

My apologise I have found the bar receipt and amongst the 3 bottles of the local stuff was a bottle of JW Red...The management were probably so impressed with my new shoes that they felt the local brew wasn't good enough for me...Apologise to anonone and forum members for misleading info.

[Guest Stewart]

Ha, I happened to be drinking opposite the Sun Bar last night when your party was in full swing.

The genuine Italian opera singer was superb midway through the Issan 'concert'!

yes it was excellent, superb voice and quite out of the blue. Could have listened to him all night. Apparently he is back tonight at "at home bar" as they are having a Burns Night Party. The guy that was pretending to play the keyboard, although he sang pretty well with the Elvis numbers, I didn't have the heart to tel him the keyboard would have a better effect if it was plugged in !! 

[Guest Stewart]

Apart from the opera singer it will be worth it just to see the boys in their kilts !