hank75

Quite randomly I read the explanation for this on another forum just yesterday. Apparently if you have low blood pressure, the exertion of going to the toilet can cause “defecation syncope” or fainting in the toilet, due to overstimulation of the nervous system. If you live with low blood pressure (hypotension) your system adapts to your daily routine but if you have a sudden drop of pressure or there’s anything that causes extra straining in the toilet such as activated charcoal triggering bowel congestion, it’s a medical emergency. Or perhaps the simplest explanation is that it makes old people constipated which is undesirable no matter how you look at it. On a side note @a-447 I read up about the shark attack you mentioned. Terrifying since it appears the shark was actually out hunting for prey that close to shore. And the ongoing uproar over the kill order issued by the government. I too will stop derailing the thread now! It’s hard because @aaroninatl’s lively reports open up all kinds of interesting topics.

If Cam is the only way to contact Jimmie my humble suggestion would be to enquire about a boy who has returned to build his house and not mention any personal details. Starting with the boys from Battambang is best as they all know each other. And while they may not discuss boyfriends or foreign sponsors, if one person is building a house, buying a truck or starting a business there’s quite alot of chat about it and accompanying Facebook posts. Some boys are reluctant to mention they have a farang boyfriend or sponsor as if word gets back to the bosses or mamasans they equate this with “windfall” I do think Jimmie would be very happy to meet a forum member in Siem Reap.

While appreciating that this thought came from a good place, yes I do think it is inappropriate and intrusive given that @jimmie50 has only been on Cambodian soil barely a week. Based on his reported travel timings, he left America Friday night/wee hours of Saturday Asia time. With a long layover he would have arrived Saturday evening, meaning his first proper day was last Sunday, a week ago. By his own words he planned to be offline and focus on real life for a bit. Give the man a chance to reunite with Cam, settle in and grasp the lay of the land. There may be some unforeseen delays such as perhaps changing of accommodation, or tech issues. Although I believe Jimmie has met with forum members before, he’s been careful about not doxxing Cam and protecting his privacy. Boys do not always share everything with their bars and “bar friends”, it may not be commonly known Cam has returned to live with a foreign boyfriend. You may be doing him a real disservice by spreading the word and getting everyone at the bar curious. If he does indeed not reappear over the next few days, this can be considered much later on. I add my good wishes to everyone else’s and hope @jimmie50 is doing well, enjoying Cambodia and accumulating stories for us ‘back home’

I’ve heard that one before….not in regard to motorbikes

The other useful items in my kit are Gaviscon for indigestion, acidity and other mild upsets (the individual sachets are very convenient) and Air-X which is also for indigestion, trapped gas, bloating. Given my liking for spicy food and drinking black coffee on an empty stomach, I always keep them to hand. They’re easily obtained at our Old Faithful, 7-11. I go to these before charcoal pills which I keep for more extreme cases such as suspected food poisoning or having eaten something truly bad. As you’ve noted they block medication absorption and have other unwanted gastro-intestinal side effects such as bowel irritation or even blockages if taken too often. Would steer away from getting too comfortable in reaching for them.

Living proof that not all encounters need to be transactional. I have to say I’m pretty impressed he’s flying all that way on his own dime. You must be a king in the sack. If you mean Nimmanhaemin save a meal slot as there are excellent restaurants and local food around there. Also Grindr is always popping off, at least that was my experience in high season. Like going fishing in a tuna farm. I will be looking forward to that!

Role play? Oh you tease! Good to hear your weekend has shaped up nicely and thanks for letting us live vicariously.

You are absolutely justified. I followed the recent story of the horrific shark attack at Coogee beach where a young mother lost an arm fighting off a great white. When I discussed this with Australian friends, they said “but there are shark nets and lifeguards constantly watching the shoreline”. 🤷‍♂️ Correct. Experienced this first hand. The increasingly chaotic weather patterns in nearby countries such as Vietnam pushes marine activity inland especially on the Gulf side and causes unexpected jellyfish blooms. Sure, the warning signs go up but only after there have been multiple reports for a few days. The good news is that many of these are non-venomous species and easily treated with vinegar. There have been sightings of box jellyfish around Pattaya though, so I’d still avoid during monsoon season or at least wear a stinger suit.

You may not have explored the cheaper, local areas of Bangkok yet. If you’ve only experienced Silom, that is a business and tourist district so everything is inflated. Venturing a bit further out you may be surprised at how much prices tumble which could close the gap with Chiang Mai somewhat. Likewise it is possible to build your own slower paced routine when not smack in the center. Serious question, why is Pattaya not under consideration? I don’t rate it as a city when I only go to Thailand for just for vacation….it is unattractive, touristy, messy. But the greater Pattaya area/Chonburi would be a serious contender for retirement. It is large enough to have all urban comforts, but also has the lower prices, slower pace, great access to medical and dental care. And of course bars and nightlife should one wish. A quick ninety minute drive to Bangkok for any embassy affairs. I’m also drawn to staying near a beach though you’ve mentioned that isn’t a big factor for you. Pattaya isn’t just the end of road for old mongers, apparently there are new upcoming residential developments further along the coast and is expected to get more cleaned up in the next 10 years. I was told by a 40-something expat couple with young children (who are on the well heeled side of things) that they are building a family house slightly outside of Pattaya with a view to it being for the weekends and later on, their retirement home.

Here’s a tip, it really helps if the lead male is eye candy lol 🤣 Mario Maurer was cute as a button several years ago

You are making me miss 7-11. I need to get my hands on those Dewberry cookies soon. I love jam sandwich cookies and also a good Victoria sponge cake. And yes I omitted all the “processed food” recommendations this time 😅

The difficulty is that depending on exactly where they grew up, their native language could be Burmese, Thai, or some hill tribe dialect that isn’t available on Google translate. And similarly not all can read Burmese either, especially the standard Burmese used on Google when they likely speak a regional variant.

Yes you are absolutely right. I’ve met guys who are effectively trilingual (the English is a bit of a miss but hey their English is far better than my Thai) yet their reading literacy is borderline. For a long time I was puzzled by why a regular guy refused to go to the cinema with me since he spent most of his time watching movies on his phone. There were some good ones like the latest Avengers or similar which I thought he would enjoy. Finally it dawned on me that subtitles was the issue, as he couldn’t read fast enough. On a side note I have actually sat through a non-subtitled Thai movie with zero idea about what was going on. It was a rainy day in Pattaya, we were at a loose end on how to pass time, and the boy was anxious to see some newly released blockbuster that all his friends had seen. Just looked it up, it was Khun Paen Begins with Mario Maurer. A Thai historical film which also contained fantasy and slapstick comedy. I’m sure I would have enjoyed it very much if I could understand any of it.

Here are a few more for you. Royal-D electrolytes. I missed this in my first list, but they are great to rehydrate after a long day of sightseeing or too much sun Ener-G Walke-Up for an energy boost at the start of the day Protein drinks, the range is huge but Hooray and Meiji are popular or Tofusan for plant protein Boss canned coffee. Popular with Thai locals, a Japanese brand. I find it weaker than Nespresso but buy it occasionally since I don’t need to be too wired on holiday

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. The flyers certainly seemed promising. Out of curiosity I looked up the location, it’s in Chang Phueak which is still within Chiang Mai though outside the Old City. I also checked the address of the other venue I was recommended - likewise, in Chang Phueak which is supposedly a more local, residential area. It sounds like the equivalent of Saphan Kwai. Both are classified as restaurants. Google Maps had some reviews for both places with actual photographs that weren’t photoshopped for promotional purposes. Hobuphachat looks a hair more presentable than the other venue so I would be interested to hear what went wrong, if you can bring yourself to recap for us.

Depending on where they’re from exactly the reason is simple. Many of the Shan or Tai Yai guys can’t read well. Yes they can read basic Thai for road signs, menus, filling out forms. They find it hard to read Google translate, which often translates more formally than conversational Thai. If you’re not showing them something basic like “how much” and your request has two or three parts to it or a more complex question, it’s much faster for them to listen to the audio than read it slowly, alphabet by alphabet.

It seems to be one of these newish concepts where you order drinks and food and the guys come over to keep you company. Kind of like a host bar but no need to buy the guy a personal stack of drinks before they will deign to come over. You just have to keep some drink or food orders on your table. I heard of one recently, a different place to Hobuphachat (yes that’s the English name)

The apps were good for me in Nimman. I was there over high season so there were generous pickings from the young energetic Asian tourists swarming the area. I met a Japanese guy who was great fun in and out of the hotel room, we went to see a couple of sights and a craft beer place together. Did not have any encounters with locals at all. I do this too. I have offed boys to be my wingmen when I want to go to certain places or local joints. It actually works well to select boys with similar taste to myself in men because they know exactly where to go to find them, and enjoy the night as much as I do.

If you book a guide, it’s a good idea to extend this into visiting one of the host bars @musgrave mentioned which are also on my list of places to check out. My mistake the first time was going solo without a local friend. Offs are possible but there are no mamasans and arrangements need to made directly with the boys who speak little English so an intermediary is helpful.

And Singapore this week but neither at its worst compares to Chiang Mai in the burning season, where the fires are within the same province.

Have just fallen down the black hole that is Adam’s Apple social media. The night I was there was a boring regular night. Seems like spider-man is a recurring theme in the bar; there is also the Batman show where a boy in a black cape swings from wall fixtures. Boys dressed as Minions, Angry Birds, giant bananas or farmyard animals hula-hooping. Video below is the “Easter special” v1c025g50000d78crq7og65h81pb2kj0.mp4 v29025g50000d81as3nog65i106la680.mp4

Doesn’t get much better during high season which is why despite going to Chiang Mai several times I’ve never made much of a foray into the bar scene apart from my initial visit. The guys are friendly as @bkkmfj2648 said and have lower expectations but physically none appealed to me. My friend cruised a fine specimen at the public exercise park so they are out there. Just not at AA. Had a look at AA’s social media to see if anything has changed. Last week they held an insane beauty pageant “Miss and Mr Lucky Spider-Man” where drag queens and guys had to dress up in Spider-Man outfits. Maybe the owner just keeps this place going to indulge his own fantasies. There are a number of beer bars and host bars where the boys are fresher, cuter, hunkier but there is a language and cultural barrier. I walked into one of the city’s largest host bars to see what it was like. Similar to Pattaya but without the hospitality to foreigners, and the boys shuffled around awkwardly at the prospect of having to speak anything other than Thai.

And cheesy?

Perhaps you may seen this week the very sad case of the 25 year old Japanese AV star who went into porn work in order to finance her obsession with a Japanese host, and ended up killing herself in his apartment. Prior to this he had damaged her face and jaw by driving away as she was trying to enter his high end car, causing her to be dragged on the road. To round things off, when he found out about her death he did not rush over immediately but said he would come two hours later after his “meeting” I was chatting with an ex Jupiter boy yesterday, trying to explain to him the Japanese host club concept of scoring top earners and how these hosts pushed their female clients into porn or sex work in order to financially boost them to the top spot. He said this was actually not uncommon in Thailand either and in its heyday Jupiter also attracted working girls especially from bars around the Ratchada area. Many of them made money off Chinese or Japanese customers and came straight over to spend it on Thai boys. (I hear this is common in Pattaya too) Many Chinese women bankrupted themselves on boys as well, the main difference is they just went home after running out of money instead of going into sex work.

I personally like this approach better. My first off from any bar was an awful one. Guy was not to my taste at all but I felt obliged because he was right in my face as soon as I walked into the bar, grinning, winking, waving from the stage. I was a self conscious newbie, got pushed around by mamasan and boy both. Now I like the boy to stare straight ahead - not at me - until I decide to engage.