mauRICE

More protein and fructose for supper and breakfast? 😏

That's a sensible way of approaching travel with a relative but you would have missed a golden opportunity to share one of those hot Jupiter guys and do what I believe in Pattaya is called an Indian "off". 😏

I think you've answered your own question; it's a hardship story, not a hardship case. A young, goodlooking, able-bodied Thai man, not new to the scene, can't make the minimum wage of 400 Baht a day? 😏 Myanmar and Lao nationals are making 400-500 Baht a day working in construction, factories, farms, restaurants or doing domestic work and they have to fork out visa and work permit fees biennially to work legally in Thailand.

Yup, and I think some people may not take well to being asked by strangers on their participation on what is essentially prostitution and simply reply in a way to cut that line of conversation off. I'd personally find it an invasion of privacy. Also, they could be in relationships or simply don't want their friends to know what they've been up to in their private time.

A fun read, vinapu. Out of curiosity, why the hide-and-seek? You never thought that your niece might want to sample some of the delights that you've been enjoying all these years? Or did you want to keep the, ahem, chicken and cashew nuts all to yourself? 😏

I'm shocked by some of the racial sentiments expressed in this thread. Here's a quick lesson on racial tolerance and understanding: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMNuf30tg2h/?igsh=MXhmN2sxenhtODVqaQ==

Perhaps the moderators could split this thread into two: Bangkok/public transportation and Chiang Mai? I was going to write a short review of the Chiang Mai gay venues I visited last February but I find the back-and-forth on Bangkok transportation muddies the thread a little.

I hope the accident wasn't drink related. There's been so much of that happening.

The weather should be nice and cool by early November. I just hope for the sake of the small business owners that there won't be a repeat of last year's catastrophic floods. Many of them lost everything and had to re-start from scratch if they had the means. Those without had to close permanently.

It's a good hotel. Located on the quieter, southern part of Changklan Road, which is the same road where the night bazaar is located about 1 km north. The furniture is a bit old-fashioned but the rooms are quite spacious. Huge, buffet-style breakfast. It's a Crown property, similar to the more upmarket Royal Princess further north on the same drag, so service should be alright. When are you going? That area, which runs parallel to the Ping River, is prone to flooding. The floods in early October last year were terrible causing a tremendous amount of damage. It took some businesses at least two months to re-open and for the stench of sewage to go away. Personally, I wouldn't gush over the night bazaar; it's just another sprawling night market with perhaps more offerings of northern handicraft (although I've found the seasonal markets in the suburbs and Chiang Rai better in this regard).

Perhaps not having a plan was the plan. Oh, the farang could well have loved his Thai partner but he might have been resentful too. Perhaps the sex was great, perhaps he had become too dependent on his Thai partner and was too deep into the relationship to extract himself out of it - a very common occurrence in Thailand. First the boyfriend - that was fun. Then came his wife. Then child number one, number two, number three...none of which were part of the original plan. Presumably there were other women too as the Thai partner was straight, all supported and paid for by the farang. I don't know how wealthy this farang was but supporting a young family of four or five would be a huge financial burden on most retirees. All the love and warm feelings shared by the farang and his Thai partner described in the original post may have well been true but one could enjoy and resent something at the same time. The farang may have liked being part of a Thai family but simultaneously felt trapped by the responsibility and expense in his old age and that there was no way out of it while he was alive. Bear in mind the farang is always a guest and the Thai is playing on his own turf. Maybe the farang felt that he had done enough and decided to do something else with his money upon his death. Another thing: people lie and sometimes the entire village lies with them. And unless one lived with the farang and his Thai partner over the course of twenty years, one is unlikely to know their entire story or the truth.

I'm sure the book had its uses when it was published twenty years ago! A lot has changed in a generation, some for the better, some not. Cultures are organic beings and they change with time. I've noticed significant changes in the language, diet, education system, religious practices, reverence (or lack thereof) towards certain institutions and how I've changed too as I get older in my responses to these changes. Many of the kids don't even know how to wai properly anymore. And don't get me started on how they dress to the temple. But one good thing I've noticed is the decline of barter Buddhism which I anticipate will decline even further with the recent sex and money scandal involving monks. Another observation is the more subdued or even muted reaction of younger Thais over the Thai-Khmer dispute, as opposed to the chest-thumping and saber-rattling of the older ones.

I haven't both in my interactions with Thais and from what I've seen in popular culture, at least not in 2025. Plenty of French kissing scenes either explicit or intimated in gay and straight Thai films, TV series, porn, literature and comics. Safer sex campaigns address the issue of French kissing which means it is something that people do. Some sex workers, on the other hand, may be reluctant to French kiss for various reasons, for example, it's a deeply intimate act reserved for partners, hygiene, perceived fear of contracting certain diseases, etc. Bear in mind that sex workers see multiple customers of unknown backgrounds in a month and while the risk of contracting an STI through kissing may be low, it is much higher for them and they don't want to pass it on to their wives, boyfriends or other customers.

No, not all degree programmes at AU are taught in English. Many are taught in Thai.

It is crass and demeaning and I've seen Thais do it at Thai-type establishments, usually by the nouveau riche.