Help, I’ve been kidnapped by an upper middle class Cambodian family and they won’t let me go.

[monsoon]

16 hours ago, AndyUK said:

Great reports monsoon. It’s as if I was there in PP again. What was your view of the Novotel? I’ve booked for four days in January x

I enjoyed the Novotel, had a deluxe king room and it looked exactly like the accor website. Large corner room with floor to ceiling windows and big bed. Great service in the breakfast room. Only downside I could see is you're having to take any guest through the main lobby to get to the elevators, however in the evening you can enter and walk through the ground floor restaurant without having to walk past the front desk.  

[monsoon]

On 8/5/2025 at 12:39 PM, FunFifties said:

Thanks for great reporting, I especially enjoyed the Cambodian family perspective.

I am not looking to retire permanently in SE Asia, but both Thailand and Cambodia are strong candidates for places where I would like to spend 2-3 months a year in a not too distant future. I love Bangkok, but other parts of Thailand that I have visited so far, have not made the same impact. In Cambodia, I loved all the places I visited, except perhaps for Sihuanukville, but I was just there for one night.  

I can't say that I found my permanent retirement home on this trip. I spent 3 weeks in Thailand after my adventures in Cambodia and was surprised to find that what I had always thought would be my number 1 pick, Pattaya, I didn't fall in love with. I did enjoy Bangkok but at this point I'm thinking of taking an apartment in Phnom Penh for a year and exploring other parts of SE Asia from there, including more Bangkok and other parts of Thailand.

[floridarob]

15 hours ago, monsoon said:

I can't say that I found my permanent retirement home on this trip. I spent 3 weeks in Thailand after my adventures in Cambodia and was surprised to find that what I had always thought would be my number 1 pick, Pattaya, I didn't fall in love with. I did enjoy Bangkok but at this point I'm thinking of taking an apartment in Phnom Penh for a year and exploring other parts of SE Asia from there, including more Bangkok and other parts of Thailand.

What are you looking for....

Too bad the reports from Da Nang stopped coming ...

My favorite place on that side of the world currently is Indonesia, seems like the Covid price jump wasn't as high as so many other places and lots of my type there.

[ToTheCore]

9 minutes ago, floridarob said:

Too bad the reports from Da Nang stopped coming ...

Why did those wonderful, insightful posts stop coming?  

[floridarob]

1 hour ago, ToTheCore said:

Why did those wonderful, insightful posts stop coming?  

Drama 🤷‍♂️

[Keithambrose]

2 hours ago, ToTheCore said:

Why did those wonderful, insightful posts stop coming?  

Blame a prominent poster on here. 

[Latbear4blk]

4 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Blame a prominent poster on here. 

[monsoon]

8 hours ago, floridarob said:

What are you looking for....

Too bad the reports from Da Nang stopped coming ...

My favorite place on that side of the world currently is Indonesia, seems like the Covid price jump wasn't as high as so many other places and lots of my type there.

I am ultimately looking for a beach city with a gay community. I wasn’t in a very good headspace while I was in Pattaya so that may have colored my feelings towards it. I was really enjoying bkkmjf’s reports on DaNang and Cebu. 

[floridarob]

1 minute ago, monsoon said:

I am ultimately looking for a beach city with a gay community

Ever been to Bali?

Pattaya, a couple of weeks is enough, more than that would be depressing , lol

Northeast Brasil is also nice 😉

[PeterRS]

8 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Blame a prominent poster on here. 

@Keithambrose and other other poster tried that trick in other posts which the moderator promptly threw out. Seems that will be the destination of this one.

Danang and the entire area from Hoi An in the south to Hue in the north is perfectly beautiful.

Sadly my Vietnam friends tell me you are not going to find any beach resort in Vietnam with the sort of beach gay community like Pattaya. Besides you have the Vietnam visa issue to consider.

[monsoon]

11 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 

Danang and the entire area from Hoi An in the south to Hue in the north is perfectly beautiful.

Sadly my Vietnam friends tell me you are not going to find any beach resort in Vietnam with the sort of beach gay community like Pattaya. Besides you have the Vietnam visa issue to consider.

I’ve watched many videos of DaNang and it looks very nice. But from research I drew the same conclusion as your friends, that there wasn’t much of a gay community. But if I liked it enough maybe it’s up to me to organize something. I think Pattaya is probably pretty unique, in that regard.

 

14 hours ago, floridarob said:

Ever been to Bali?

Pattaya, a couple of weeks is enough, more than that would be depressing , lol

Northeast Brasil is also nice 😉

Bali is definitely on my list for a visit. Brazil always looks wonderful, but I’m trying to escape US style gun and violence culture in my retirement.

[khaolakguy]

17 hours ago, PeterRS said:

@Keithambrose and other other poster tried that trick in other posts which the moderator promptly threw out. Seems that will be the destination of this one.

If the cap fits........

[PeterRS]

11 hours ago, monsoon said:

I think Pattaya is probably pretty unique, in that regard.

From my travels around Asia, I reckon that is a very accurate assessment.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

From my travels around Asia, I reckon that is a very accurate assessment.

+1

 

[captainmick]

On 8/11/2025 at 9:51 PM, Keithambrose said:

Blame a prominent poster on here. 

Would that be the one who appears thinner skinned than a gossamer condom?

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, captainmick said:

Would that be the one who appears thinner skinned than a gossamer condom?

That rather aptly describes half a dozen or more posters here, many of them writing gossamer thin one liners with just a handful of words! And some posters just like to criticise other much more regular posters on a variety of topics even though they themselves may have made less than 150 posts over 14 years of membership!

[Keithambrose]

7 hours ago, captainmick said:

Would that be the one who appears thinner skinned than a gossamer condom?

I couldn't possibly comment, but he has already complained!

[khaolakguy]

6 hours ago, PeterRS said:

That rather aptly describes half a dozen or more posters here, many of them writing gossamer thin one liners with just a handful of words! And some posters just like to criticise other much more regular posters on a variety of topics even though they themselves may have made less than 150 posts over 14 years of membership!

I suppose if you wrote in a smaller text you could fit more words into a one liner.

[Riobard]

On 8/14/2025 at 5:36 AM, PeterRS said:

That rather aptly describes half a dozen or more posters here, many of them writing gossamer thin one liners with just a handful of words! And some posters just like to criticise other much more regular posters on a variety of topics even though they themselves may have made less than 150 posts over 14 years of membership!

For every cumulative 1,000 suffocated less frequent posters there’s an overregular poster whose ruling the roost obsession never peters out.

[spoon]

On 8/16/2025 at 5:57 PM, Riobard said:

never peters out

Lol

[floridarob]

On 8/16/2025 at 3:57 AM, Riobard said:

For every cumulative 1,000 suffocated less frequent posters there’s an overregular poster whose ruling the roost obsession never peters out.

Obsessive one minute, vanished the next—your posting habits are performance art in frustration and relief, yet relief ..... still pending!