Trip report April / September 2025 – Da Nang & beyond – Research if an elderly gay retiree can live comfortably in Da Nang, Vietnam

[PeterRS]

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

Didn't bkkmfj just prove above that  it's not a case ?. Looks that software operating forum is smarter than we thought.

The answer as I understand it is 'no'. The moderator rejects nude photos once he finds them. If there is any software that prevents a dick pic in all its various forms from appearing, I certainly do not know of it. But in this case, only the moderator can inform us how @bkkmfj2648's dick pic was barred for non members. If the rules have changed, perhaps he can advise us. Until then, the rules state they can only be posted in the Photos Forum.

There's an easy way to prove this. insert a dick pic in another forum and then see if it is almost instantly erased. I believe the moderator now lives in Thailand. If a pic is posted overnight in Thai time, your software would erase it within minutes. If the moderator erases it, that would take quite a few hours.

[PeterRS]

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

It's the same case with other two gay Thai forums which I read daily but I'm not member of- I never am able to see pics posters are inserting there

Sorry it's not the same. In this forum all pics are available for all readers, members and non-members, to see. Only dick pics are to be placed in the Photos forum which is barred to non-members.

At least one of the other forums which I also visit from time to time - sawatdee - there is a policy that non-members can see no pics at all. At least I believe that is correct.

[vinapu]

59 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

 In this forum all pics are available for all readers, members and non-members, to see.

didn't bkkmfj  just prove on previous page that is not a case. After you finish your morning coffee  just try to log out and visit forum as visitor to see if you see that cock or not. I'm talking about one BKKMFJ posted on previous page , not your own.

Out of curiosity  I just did what I advised you to do above and got the same answer " to see this pics you must sing in" so I confirm, software seems to be smarter than we think.

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

 I believe the moderator now lives in Thailand.

with 3 boyfriends , girlfriend and a cleaning lady he is busy man so it may take  awhile before he will notice that dick

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

didn't bkkmfj  just prove on previous page that is not a case

So you are wrong. My photgraph is still on the page and this is five minutes after I posted it. And I did do as you suggested - logged out and then in again. If there was an app or whatever automatically deleting nude posts, it would have been taken down minutes ago!

[PeterRS]

17 minutes ago, floridarob said:

If you're going to break the rules on purpose....go big or go home 🍆😝

I am merely testing what @bkkmfj2648 and @vinapu have stated. I have now - finally, I hope - proved that their comments about my posts and nudity are wrong. The Board rules are correct. Now 10 minutes have passed and the very obviously nude photo remains in place!  

PS: Now it has been 20 minutes since the photo was posted. There is clearly no system or algorhythm which automatically turns nude pics into an apology that the pic has had to be deleted! Case proved, and surely @bkkmfj2648 and @vinapu now have to agree.

Besides, where is the message that @vinapu claims was automatically inserted in place of the nude pic he posted. I cannot see that notice anywhere. But as he posted a pic, it must have appeared. Please inform us @vinapu. Thank you.

Finally, If @floridarob wishes me to go home, fine. Just confirm that and I will do so.

[spoon]

13 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

Besides, where is the message that @vinapu claims was automatically inserted in place of the nude pic he posted. I cannot see that notice anywhere. But as he posted a pic, it must have appeared. Please inform us @vinapu. Thank you.

What you purposedly did was not what OP did.... 

OP posted the picture in the members only thread and post the link to that post in this thread. The website decided to show a preview of that post he linked here, which again, can only be viewed by members who logged in. Both OP and Vinapue has showned proof that if you are not logged in, you wont be able to even see the preview... And ive yet seen you show any proof that anyone who didnt logged in can see what OP's linked preview shown.... 

Instead, you created exactly what you claim OP was doing, even if he didnt, and claim you are right.....

What you did, is posted the nude photo directly in OP thread, and claimed moderator hasnt done anything to the photo.... But your naked photo can be seen by anyone, even if you didnt logged in, because you posted in this thread that is public. 

 

[spoon]

And in case you need another proof, i wasted my time to sign off and take this screenshot for you ... 

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, spoon said:

What you purposedly did was not what OP did.... 

OP posted the picture in the members only thread and post the link to that post in this thread. The website decided to show a preview of that post he linked here, which again, can only be viewed by members who logged in.

I thank you for trying to solve what seems to have become something of a mystery. But I am sorry to say I do not see how it works.

Just now I just did as you suggested. I posted one nude photo in the members only Photo forum. I then clicked and pasted that url on to this post. And this is what I got -

https://www.gayguides.com/topic/13298-photos/page/100/

i.e. no photo as such appears. The problem is that if you post a url you get the entire page which includes other photos. Is there a means of linking just one photo? I was inaccurate in that I should have stated a written link - not a url. But  presumably @bkkmfj2648's photo should also be on that Photo Forum. But I can not see it there. If I have been wrong, then of course, i apologise to all. But I remain confused how that single photo can be isolated from other photos on a url link.  

The point I have made from the outset is that the rules are obviously the rules and this one is clear -

This website is geared toward an adult audience. However, we are not an adult pornographic website. NO posting of nudity in any form is allowed. Any such posts will be immediately deleted. 

The only nudity permitted is in the Photo Forum. @bkkmfj2648's first post was in a general thread. There it could there be seen by any casual reader - even non-members - and that is why it was barred. Who barred it and why is the recent subject of the discussion with some members suggesting there is an algorthm that does this automatically. That cannot be true because the original post was up for quite some time before the bar notice was placed.

In my post made well over an hour ago, i did what I believe is eactly the same process adopted originally by @bkkmfj2648. I added a nude pic into my post. Now if there is some sort of algorithm, my post would have disappeared within minutes if not seconds. Yet mine is still up more than an hour later. So I fail to understand why a barring notice goes up on one nude pic in one post unless the moderator has done it - and yet the nude pic I put up as a test still has no bar notice. The only possibility is that the moderator takes this role. There cannot be an algorithm,

Any other thoughts?

[floridarob]

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

Finally, If @floridarob wishes me to go home, fine. Just confirm that and I will do so.

My comment was in reference to the dick size in the pic... the rest of this thread is like "who's on first"

[PeterRS]

2 minutes ago, floridarob said:

My comment was in reference to the dick size in the pic... the rest of this thread is like "who's on first"

Apologies for misinterpreting. I will try to fulfill your desire in the next day or so!

[PeterRS]

My sincere apologies to one and all. I am so used to posting almost daily on just one Photos thread, i had totallly forgotten that there are in fact many of them. All that @bkkmfj2648 did was take my actual advice which i had not realised would mean one separate photo thread. Big istake on my part and again apologies. Sorry also to @spoon for wasting your time!

I have asked the moderator to take down the nude photo i posted earlier.

[bkkmfj2648]

Day 31 in Da Nang – 24 May 2025

 

Breakfast at home – usual perusal of emails, internet, Twitter feed, LinkedIn, etc.

Post my 23 May trip report updates.

Wow time flies – it is already 1:30pm and I head back to  for my lunch. 

The cute Vietnamese barista guy is there, and I try to chat him up – but he was not into it – he was professional and nice – but he made it clear by his body language that he was not into my approach.

Oh well – better to have tried then to have never have tried at all.  At least I got a lot of masturbation material when I used to fantasize about him.

I enjoy my meal nonetheless and afterwards I decide to walk southbound (only like 1km), as I never venture into this part of Da Nang.  I discover a very large walled in complex, where towards the sea facing exterior portion, I see a beautiful religious area:

Shrine of Our Lady Star of the sea

https://g.co/kgs/ukrgnzR

Behind the closed off walls, resides the convent of St. Paul de Chartres, where the nuns are the ones who maintain the external religious park area – that is free for all of us to visit.

 

There is not much information available about this magical place – but I was able to find the below article that discusses the nuns struggle with the Vietnamese government to keep and maintain this religious place – as its birth was prior to the 1975 reunification of North and South Vietnam.

It was thanks to typhoon Xangsane in 2006 that the Vietnamese government decided to cease the confiscation of this lovely religious place.  If you want to know why, then read the below illuminating article:

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/ministry/nuns-struggle-protect-seaside-religious-site-pilgrims-26751

After this religious discovery, I access the beach promenade, where it begins, and I head north towards my favorite coffee place that is located on the beach:

https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/109739121673546/caribou-food-truck

 

I sit and sip my 2^nd salt coffee of the day and I take in all of the beauty of the beach, sea, and the interesting eclectic set of people out on the beach sand.  It is a great way to pass the day.

Of recently, the city municipality has placed several big billboards that announce the arrival of the annual Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF), which will commence on Saturday 31 May 2025:

 

 

https://diff.vn/en/

 

I am excited about this firework event, because last year’s 2024 event I shared with my BF back in Pattaya up on the hills of Phra Tamnak – at the Mountain Viewpoint, and it was great.

I had hoped that this DIFF event would be out on the sea (where we could just sit on the sand) – but the sea is too rough – so it will instead take place over on the embankments of the Han River – which I am not much of an expert on – but I know that it has a very wide walking promenade.  So, I will have to figure out where will be the best place for us to go to see the fireworks based on the below official map:

Return to my room after a nice beach walk and I take a nap.  When I wake up it is already 8:00pm and most of the restaurants here won’t serve you after 9:30pm, so I rush and take a quick shower and I head back to that amazing Japanese ramen restaurant:

https://www.facebook.com/yoshinoshotendanang/

Tonight’s meal was outstanding – same as my first visit a couple of nights prior.  However, tonight, Doug, the Japanese-American founder was eating at the ramen bar with a cute Japanese guy – not sure if this was his son or his special friend.  The waitress asked me to be seated at the ramen bar – but I was intimidated – as my ability to hold chopsticks properly and to pick up the noodles and/or gyoza is very awkward – and at times embarrassing.  So, I refrain from sitting at the prestigious ramen bar – in front of the many sexy chefs and I eat over at one of the tables – hoping that no one notices my struggles with the chopsticks.

The ramen chef team giving their attention to Doug the owner – as he snaps their photo.

Afterwards, I walk over to my favorite ice cream place and I order a chocolate chip with coconut shreds served in a coconut shell.  It is truly a great way to end the day.

I head back to my room and my BF is already closing the store early because the rain clouds are again raising their ugly heads and the nigh market where his shop is has already been deserted by any prospective customers.

I look in the apps – but again – nothing jumps out as “I need you now” so I watch some porn and I finish the deed myself.

 

End of day 31 in Da Nang – 24 May 2025

 

[KeepItReal]

9 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Day 31 in Da Nang – 24 May 2025

 

The cute Vietnamese barista guy is there, and I try to chat him up – but he was not into it – he was professional and nice – but he made it clear by his body language that he was not into my approach.

Oh well – better to have tried then to have never have tried at all.  At least I got a lot of masturbation material when I used to fantasize about him. 

 

Are you going to give up that easily? 😉

Try this old hunters trick: from now on, ignore him.  Never rude, but just uninterested.  Find another hottie within his view, to shower your attention on.  Buy the hottie a funny, cute, novelty gift and thank him for being such a great, friendly guy after a few days. Flirt and joke. Keep ignoring Mr hard-to-get. Your patience may be rewarded.  😁

[vinapu]

14 hours ago, PeterRS said:

I am merely testing what @bkkmfj2648 and @vinapu have stated. I have now - finally, I hope - proved that their comments about my posts and nudity are wrong. The Board rules are correct. Now 10 minutes have passed and the very obviously nude photo remains in place!  

PS: Now it has been 20 minutes since the photo was posted. There is clearly no system or algorhythm which automatically turns nude pics into an apology that the pic has had to be deleted! Case proved, and surely @bkkmfj2648 and @vinapu now have to agree.

Besides, where is the message that @vinapu claims was automatically inserted in place of the nude pic he posted. I cannot see that notice anywhere. But as he posted a pic, it must have appeared. Please inform us @vinapu. Thank you.

Finally, If @floridarob wishes me to go home, fine. Just confirm that and I will do so.

being mentioned  4 times in one post it must be new forum record and I'm extremely proud I beat to dust both bkkmfj  ( 2) and floridarob (only one). 

Very thank you for boost to my fragile ego

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

 hoping that no one notices my struggles with the chopsticks.

 

I'm the same but i don't pretend to be that classy , I simply ask them to give me  a fork. Once in soi Pluk Chiut market

( where Sabaidee spa is) lady went to other place to borrow it from them for me). Other idea is to buy cheap one and carry with you in you day pack. Eliminate all unnecessary suffering spoiling your vacations 

[vinapu]

12 hours ago, PeterRS said:

My sincere apologies to one and all. I am so used to posting almost daily on just one Photos thread, i had totallly forgotten that there are in fact many of them. All that @bkkmfj2648 did was take my actual advice which i had not realised would mean one separate photo thread. Big istake on my part and again apologies. Sorry also to @spoon for wasting your time!

I have asked the moderator to take down the nude photo i posted earlier.

don't worry about anything and force yourself to be happy

[PeterRS]

10 hours ago, vinapu said:

don't worry about anything and force yourself to be happy

Thank you for that thought. Much appreciated.

[PeterRS]

21 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

The waitress asked me to be seated at the ramen bar – but I was intimidated – as my ability to hold chopsticks properly and to pick up the noodles and/or gyoza is very awkward – and at times embarrassing.  So, I refrain from sitting at the prestigious ramen bar – in front of the many sexy chefs and I eat over at one of the tables – hoping that no one notices my struggles with the chopsticks.

Can I suggest that even though you have difficulty with chopsticks, sitting at the bar with all those cuties, they would notice your difficulty and you could ask one to help. I suspect more than one would have come over and become quite friendly.

I am sure you have seen videos of how to use them. This one is quite useful -

Once when I was in Beijing at a dinner with several guests not used to using chopsticks, I tried to show them how easy it can be and proceeded to show off by not only picking up one peanut but two. After three or four minutes, one of the others cut me down to size and outdid me by picking up three!

[Keithambrose]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Can I suggest that even though you have difficulty with chopsticks, sitting at the bar with all those cuties, they would notice your difficulty and you could ask one to help. I suspect more than one would have come over and become quite friendly.

I am sure you have seen videos of how to use them. This one is quite useful -

Once when I was in Beijing at a dinner with several guests not used to using chopsticks, I tried to show them how easy it can be and proceeded to show off by not only picking up one peanut but two. After three or four minutes, one of the others cut me down to size and outdid me by picking up three!

I used to practice by picking up peanuts, but ice cubes are the worst!

[Keithambrose]

26 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

I used to practice by picking up peanuts, but ice cubes are the worst!

Mind you the worst situation  I recall, was in Taipei, with clients, eating duck's feet with chopsticks. The clients watched to see how I would do. I think I passed!

[bkkmfj2648]

Day 32 in Da Nang – 25 May 2025

 

I wake up at 11:15am, which is VERY late for me, as I normally wake up around 7am or 8am.  I am truly well rested.

Eat a quick breakfast and post my 24 May trip report updates – I had to research the back story about the St. Paul de Chartres convent, so that my trip report reflected what it was that I was actually looking at – as there was near zero information available in English and this is a busy religious tourist site.  This was also enlightening for me – as when I am in a new country and culture – I like to understand the mysterious parts that are often hidden in the shadows – as was the case of this convent.

I find E-commerce in each unique country as an interesting experience – especially when due to the difficulties of the local language you need to make the local purchase in English.

In yesterday’s trip report I mentioned that the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF) will commence on Friday 31 May.  So, today I decided to buy 2 tickets and surprise my BF with us going to see this event in official stadium seating without having to stand for hours on end at the Han River promenade to watch the firework event.

So, I go to the official website at:  https://diff.vn/en/

I change the default language to English using the drop down language function. I click on the  hyperlink to purchase 2 tickets and now on the new web page that is presented, there are no options for English.

No fear – as I opened the web page with the Google Chrome browser I right click and select the Translate to English option:

And voilà, I am able to continue with what I believe is the goal of purchasing 2 tickets for the 31 May DIFF event.    You select in which section that you want to sit in: 

And decide on the quantity and then you are sent to the payment page – but you must enter your email address and then the payment page closes and you check your email to find the below weird message:

The problem with the above cryptic email message is that it assumes that you have already pre-installed the Sun Paradise app (but it is never communicated to you a priori) :

So, because of the above requirement – to have the  app already installed on your phone, I had to restart the entire DIFF seat booking process from the beginning – as if the web booking never happened.

Where like in many countries – the payment was paid for and cleared via another entity – Vinpay Sunworld Holdings, where I could eventually insert my Wise card details to buy the 2 DIFF tickets and then another email was sent via email with the 2 QR codes for the 2 seats in a .pdf document.

So, I would say that whoever designed this system never performed the CRITICAL end-to-end user experience test using English as the booking methodology.

By now I am exhausted, and it is already 4:15pm, I head over to    for a quick bite to eat and my well deserved salt coffee.

I’m itching for a walk but not at the beach, so I walk over to the

https://www.facebook.com/torinobakerydanang/

and I order a yummy strawberry cream tart with an iced Vietnamese standard coffee (they don’t have the salt coffee here). 

An Italian man looks at me a couple of times – and then I realize that coincidentally I am wearing my   shirt, so I introduce myself in Italian and we begin a 1 hour conversation in Italian.  I am so happy, because I left Italy, after 12 years, in 2012, so my ability to speak and write in Italian has been declining – so I was elated to be able to hold a conversation for 1 hour in Italian.  What I discovered that is fascinating about this shop is that one of the owner’s is a Vietnamese lady (who can speak fluent Italian) went to Italy and she learned all about making Italian pastries, and Italian cooking – as this place is also a restaurant in the evening – which I have yet to try.  What is even more amazing is that this Italian guy (I already forgot his name) told me that some of their pastries, instead of following a strict Italian recipe, instead follow a Vietnamese version that takes its influence from the time when Vietnam was a French colony.  This same Italian guy told me that consequently, some of these pastries (brioche) were better than the back in Italy version.  He modestly admitted this – as there is a LOT of cultural rivalry between the French and the Italians.  I was impressed that he could even admit this and share this cultural variation with me.

I go back to my room and I chat with my BF who is VERY excited because FINALLY his FIRST sale via one of the online apps materialized today – via the   app.  I am truly happy for him, and for myself, because this means that the activation of his Grab Food online store is truly operational – it is just lacking marketing exposure to his potential customers – which him and I will work on when he comes here later this week.

He shares with me this photo of today's sales so far for today....

He is also over the moon, as today he had many customers, even though it rained off and on tonight.  After being a money boy (MB) for so many years, I know how much this means to him to try to make it on his own, after all of those years of soul destroying ugliness that is often associated with being a MB.  The psychological damage and low self esteem takes a long time to repair and rebuild – but I see that he is well on his way and this warms my heart.

Now it is kind of late – and I decide to not rush to one of the nearby restaurants to have dinner – it is already almost 10pm and most of the nearby kitchens are already closing – this is one of the annoying things about Da Nang – it is an early to rise city but and early to bed city.  Anyway, this is good news for my belly.

I pass the rest of the night chatting with other friends and watching some updates from my favorite YouTube bloggers.

 

End of day 32 in Da Nang – 25 May 2025

 

[PeterRS]

34 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

Mind you the worst situation  I recall, was in Taipei, with clients, eating duck's feet with chopsticks. The clients watched to see how I would do. I think I passed!

Just realised that after decades in Asia, I have never tried duck's feet! Not that I want to, mind you. Chicken's feet are bad enough, but my Chinese friends all love them.

Also never tried picking up ice cubes with chopsticks. I can understand the ice would be just too slippery. I'd probably just use a spoon!

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I go back to my room and I chat with my BF who is VERY excited because FINALLY his FIRST sale via one of the online apps materialized today – via the   app.  I am truly happy for him, and for myself, because this means that the activation of his Grab Food online store is truly operational – it is just lacking marketing exposure to his potential customers – which him and I will work on when he comes here later this week.

To go off on a bit of a tangent, one piece of marketing advice your bf may want - and another he definitely will not. First from the musical "Gypsy".

And then of course if he runs out of ingredients, there is plenty of advice in Stephen Sondheim's musical "Sweeney Todd". This version was filmed at Sondheim's 80th brthday bash in 2010 and features the one-time Queen of Broadway Patti Lupone, the wonderful George Hearn and the equally fine Michael Cerveris. One beauty of this version is that Sondheim's genius as a lyricist is easily heard. Hearn was also the original and superb Albin in the Broadway production of "La Cage aux Folles" alongside Gene Barry in 1983. And it was in that show that Hearn magnificently originated what became the gay anthem "I Am What I Am."  

[floridarob]

2 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

By now I am exhausted, and it is already 4:15pm,

Sounds like me, I did nothing physical yet I need a nap 👍

 

 

2 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

BF who is VERY excited because FINALLY his FIRST sale via one of the online apps materialized today – via the   app.  I am truly happy for him

Until he realizes how much they keep vs what he gets paid 😳