Brummbaer

The whole country is quiet. I spent a week with my BF in LPQ and VTE last christmas. Lao PDR stands for Lao - please don't rush. There is a national nightly curfew (midnight I believe), so from about 11 or 11:30 pm the lights get switched off and it seems they fold up the sidewalks. Sex between a Lao national and a foreigner is forbidden by law unless they are married to each other, hotels and guesthouses are not supposed to let Lao nationals and foreigners stay in the same room. No idea, if that is enforced or checked, proceed AYOR as they would call it in the old Spartacus Guides. You'll have seen the touristy sights of both places inside of two days. In the old royal palace in Luang Prabang there is supposed to be an interesting exhibition of all the royal automobiles used by the king until 1975 - but the palace was unfortunately closed the two days we were in LPQ. Gay bars like in Thailand don't exist except for one bar in VTE which we didn't find. There are some gay owned/operated places. Gay life is much more hidden than in LOS. In Luang Prabang we stayed at 3 Nagas (4* belongs to Accor Group) and in Vientiane at Mercure (Accor too) because I had Accor Points to burn. IBIS in VTE would have been the better choice for Location. Both hotels had no problem with a Thai and a European sharing a bed. 3 Nagas were especially helpful. Cute staff at both places, too. We flew in from Bangkok to Luang Prabang with Lao Air, be prepared that Visa on Arrival takes about 45-60 minutes of queueing at the first counter, then another half hour at actual Immigration. My BF as Thai national just got his entry stamp and already had all our luggage off the belt before I finally was through. LPQ to VTE we used Lao Skyway - they own 2 chinese built 60-seater turboprops, one of which is out of service since it had an accident after landing about a year ago - a couple of 8-12 seaters and a few old russian helicopters. Costs about US$ 40 one way. We left VTE to BKK on Bangkok Air (again, I have about a quarter million miles on a frequent flyer account with german AirBerlin, so I used air miles to pay for that flight). If you want a quiet week or two, Lao is your destination. Lao PDR reminds me of LOS in the 1980/1990ies.

I envy you. I still have 46 days until I fly, but who is counting?

I know grad students and even one post grad supplementing their income in Vienna as "escorts" and I believe having read one of the boys Numazu described in his trip report had a degree. You find all sorts of guys in the sex industry.

BKK/DMK to REP or PNH are at least 4 airlines to choose from, AirAsia, Thai, Bangkok Air, Cambodia Angkor Air. REP to PNH vice versa is only Cambodia Angkor Air and Cambodia Bayon Airlines going non-stop, All other connections you would need to transfer outside of Cambodia and get a new Visa when re-entering.

Did you manage to see the lightshow? One of my friends took this from his apartment and on PACE Development's youtube channel:

You can see it from the executive lounge of Pullman Hotel G Silom. But then you would need to stay there to access the lounge.

If I read the page from SSO right, then everybody not working for a company with 10 or more employees falls through the cracks? How many of the small businesses i.e. in tourism or retail do actually have 10 employees?

Sunset on Tonle Sap lake was brilliant. My friend took a local boy out on the lake, I had my BF to cuddle with. Just us four plus the youngish captain on the boat. And yes, we did get there by remok (colonial influence raising it's head, "remorque" meaning trailer) . Funny how different countries have different kinds of tuk tuks. Cambodia the trailer behind a mocy, Laos two benches like on a songthaew... Coffee and cake at any of the Blue Pumpkin branches were good. Coffee, cocktails and ice cream at the french style Le Grand Café between Old Market and Hospital was good too. That's on 2 Thnou Street between Street 09 and 08. 08 is the one leading to Barcode, if I remember right.

Oh, I did enjoy seeing Angkor Wat, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing and then it's not fun any more.

Only problem in REP I can foresee is "NAFTA" after a couple of days. That's the Not-Another-Fu**ing-Temple-Affliction. After 2-4 days climbing up and down temple ruins you just don't want to see any more broken stones.

I Interpret the question as full time living all year round. I don't now, but would love to. I'm old enough to qualify for the retirement Visa but at present don't have the required monthly income unless I work in Europe. My job is one of those that can not be done over the Internet and requires my body and brain to be in the office of my employer in Europe.

Correct. Up to 90 days without Visa for holders of a Thai passport in Brazil. But then, wouldn't that be like taking coal to Newcastle, bringing owls to Athens or sand into a desert?

When in Thailand, that Card is in the safe unless I carry it on my person when I need it to check accounts balance or the deposit machine. The Kasikorn account has almost no funds (couple of hundred baht) in it, at present I just use it to deposit left over cash before flying out and getting some cash at the airport for taxi when flying in. In the past I used it to give my BF access to emergency money in case of need when he was still at university. He only needed to use it once when he was in hospital with food poisioning and didn't have enough to pay for the infusions he received. There is a 0 Baht overdraft agreed for that account, too, so no money without funds. Eventually I'll use it to deposit the sum government wants me to to give me a retirement visa.

My name on my Kasikorn Card is "Privileged Member" , letters are engraved, and below is the caveat: electronic use only. Not sure how to feel about that. I'm not Austin Powers and how does "Privileged" compare to "Gold" when it comes to Members

You actually had to put in your PIN (and still have to above € 25) at the Supermarket check-out until very recently. They sell this as "advancement" as now you don't have to any longer and save time... Car park automated paystations have been that way for ages, cigarette vending machines only got the age-check by Card a few years ago, before that it was cash only and anybody who was tall enough to reach the slot to insert coins could buy. With restricting underage buying they added the cardreader which now makes it possible to pay by card.

Off of the top of my head I know three places here in Vienna where a credit or debit card can be used for payment and nobody checks anything, because basically there is nobody there that could check. Parking at Vienna Airport: get in your car, drive up to the automatic gate, feed the machine your parking ticket and your CC, take back both and the gate will open. Cigarette vending machines in Europe use the chip on the card to check the age of the buyer, authorities assuming nobody below 16 (or other legal smoking age) would own a credit or ATM-Card. Some of those machines will sell you cigarettes and charge your card. No PIN required. Supermarket checkout up to € 25 you just hold the card next to the terminal. If the card is NFC capable, it will be charged.. Admittedly, although cost for parking at the Airport is steep and cigarettes expensive, those are not huge sums of money being charged, but still you don't need a PIN...

My best friend and I were in SR last october. We stayed at the Golden Butterfly Villa. Not a gay place but friendly and reasonably priced. Paid about USD 250 for a week, room with balcony including breakfast. Nice clean place in walking distance to city center and night market, cute staff too. On the way to old town / Pub Street about 100 m from the hotel was "Chillax Lounge". Had lots of fun having cocktails ($2,50 - 3,50 each) and laughs with the german owner there. Station is ok and has a very impressive wine list, as well as a show - the usual drag / Michael-Jackson-impersonator and similar things. You should be able to find it on youtube. Barcode was ok too, bar downstairs, massage upstairs. We were not impressed by Linga Bar at all. No GoGo bars like Thailand. As I was accompanied by my Thai BF I didn't look for hook-ups, but my friend did find several guys on the usual apps, some of them were offended when he offered money, the others were ok with $25 - 40 depending on them staying for breakfast. This october my BF and I will be in PNH and Sihanoukville from 22 until 30 october, Meeting up with my best friend.in Phonm Penh, as he gets more time off work and fly to Cambodia a week earlier. I'm very much looking forward to a trip report by Numazu. Straight friends have been to PNH before and said, the main sights of PNH you can see in one day by just walking from one site to the next.

I'm a "don't shit on your doorstep" type. I don't proposition my 28yo cute co-worker or the cute guys working in the supermarket I buy my food. So I wouldn't do it to the staff of a hotel I'm staying at either.

Kissing, as in spit-swapping tongue in throat kind of kissing, is something few sex workers will do, A kiss on the cheek, like you would give to a good friend, relative or small child would mostly be ok. I remember reading an interview given by a famous female prostitute from Hamburg some 20 or 30 years ago. What stuck in my mind was, that while you sell your body and allow your customer to do many things to you, kissing was kept for husband/boyfriend, to be the last remaining bit of dignity, intimacy, privacy or whatever you may call it, that was not for sale. Ryanasia, I respect you for having done a job not many would be happy doing and being so open about it. When I was in the german army in the mid 1980's (conscription army at the time, you got paid some ridiculously small amount per day, basically go to the disco twice and fuel up your car and you had spent it all) some older men seemed to like young men in uniform and offered me money, which I took and had sex with them. I stopped doing that after a short time and went flipping burgers on the weekend instead. I just couldn't cope with it.

Gratitude not only to parents but grandparents as well. My boyfriend works in a bank. After he has paid for his rent half of what is left gets sent home every month to his grandmother, who will then use a part of that to pay for his sister to be able to go to a good school. To enable his sister to get to the school, he drove his motorbike, which he had just paid off, all the way to a small village near Korat and left it there for his sister to use. His mother operates a streetfood stall and makes more money than him at the bank, so he doesn't have to support her. But apparently the family farm, where father, siblings an grandparents live, does not generate enough income through growing rice, raising cattle, fish and poultry to support the 5 people.living there. Grandmother by the way gets additional support from one of her daughters, who is married in the Netherlands and pays for grandma's medical bills. I on the other hand, have to tell my parents all the time, that no, they don't have to pay for my travel expenses when I visit them, or otherwise send me money, as at 50 years old I do earn my own salary and can pay for myself quite easily.

Cheapest one, Aster, starts at € 3.900,- / that would get you a 400 sq ft condo for a year or pay for a motor scooter. A Signature starts at € 12.500,- / you can rent in Vienna inner districts for around € 10 per sqm per month, so 100 sqm for 12 months with money left over. That's almost 1100 sq ft for those working with imperial measurements.

I'm not sure many could afford to keep you. That phone you had on your wish list earlier... that kind of money pays for a year's rent of a three bedroom appartment in Central Vienna

None of the taxi drivers I've seen in LOS so far have tickled my fanny erm fancy. I've seen a very good looking hotel chauffeur in Laos though, but then I'm very happy with my boyfriend. And I wouldn't touch the staff of a hotel I'm staying at anyway. That can only end up in trouble.

I actually had a collegue at work some 20 years ago who was very pragmatic and calculated: Meet a girl, wine and dine her, go to the movies with her, visit to a disco and after three or four dates you might get to third base. Add up all the money and time you spent, and then go to a "professional", pay less and get what you want without the whole rigmarole of wining and dining. If you just want the sex, that's the way to go.

Barraquda has only been M Gallery for a couple of years. Used to be a Dusit D2. Yes, gay friendly, stayed there a couple of times with my thai BF. No problems at all, but then I'm top tier in their chain's loyalty program. Non-Smoking Hotel, but every room has a tiny balcony where they will put a chair and ashtray upon request.