Hide and seek - Aug 2025 trip to Thailand with niece

[vinapu]

Part 1.

I can sense everybody reading  the tittle of report must be thinking ‘ poor vinapu travelling with some  rebellious teenager, did he lost his mind?”

In fact , not so. My niece is approaching 40, is well established professional working for multinational and most important- we like each other. So even if that trip would be  without chance to see any boy up close ., most likely I would like it anyways.

Before we set off we reminded ourselves old rule I learned in my university years when I was travelling with friends : “ we are travelling together but each one of us is on his/ hers own vacations”.

First signal that she intends to apply that principle was her choice of hotels. Knowing Bangkok has very good value on those she opted for some luxurious digs there, clearly knowing they are beyond my pay range. I got the message as meaning of that was clear – we need our own personal space and I liked it so I opted for cheaper options nearby.

My hopes for some fun went up when she told me she knows some people in Bangkok through her work and they promised her to show sights.

When she  chose Conrad, I found much , much cheaper Quart Ruamrudee in soi Ruam Rudee nearby. After she moved to Centre Point  by Saphan Taksin I found new hotel named Hotei Park Silom-Suriwong and then , bravely to Raya. More about new hotel later , I may even create devoted thread as it’s very new and unknown to most of us.

We were supposed to meet in Bangkok as she lives in different country than me, after few days go to Cambodia for a week and then return to Bangkok for few days in my case and even few more in hers.

That plan was ruined just before departure as my Wednesday flight was cancelled and they couldn’t place me on another flight until Sunday, Quite a delay. So when I landed in Bangkok on Monday evening she was already in Phnom Penh since morning sticking to original schedule. No harm done.

Good thing about travelling in low season is that it’s very easy to find accommodation , even on very short notice

I managed easily to re-book my Monday morning flight to day later and that way my 40^Th trip to Thailand become shortest one ever. Landing at 22.00 and leaving country for Cambodia at 11.30 am next morning , total 13.50 hrs on Thai soil.

Arrival was very pleasant affair as senior lane was empty so I was stamped in perhaps 40 seconds.

Because of nature of this trip -having girl companion  meant I couldn’t plan any boy meetings and decided to play by ear from thee start and see what can be done. It turned out perfectly well as my girl turned out not to be too nosy and also inclined to retire to her room reasonably early so usually around 9-9.30 pm I was free to pursue my own goals.

In June as some may recall from my report I met Dreamboy boy who turned out to be one I was stalking on Grindr for some time. We hit it on then and since I had his Line on the train from airport I took chance and messaged him “if you in Bangkok can I see you tonight? “. Response was immediate and enthusiastic ‘yes’. He asked me to pick him up from the bar, easy task as when my flight was cancelled and I realized I will be free man on my first and only night I cancelled original booking in Quart and booked one night in Raya.

So about two hours after landing I went to pick up  my guy and fun started, We hit it on in Jun and this time we hit it in even more so I made silent decision that I will settle on only one – THAT ! boy this trip. Wisely I kept it to myself as another opportunity opened later.

At 7.30 am he asked to go home which considering I had flight to catch in  4 hrs worked well. This was our modus operandi this trip – meet at midnight and part ways at 7.30. My boy is very disciplined and sticks to dietary and exercise regime  and this worked well considering nature of this trip.

 

[vinapu]

Part 2

Flying to Phnom Penh I was praying that I get room on different floor than my niece as we were staying in the same, Okay Boutique Hotel. I couldn’t imagine not visiting Space bar when there and since I got lucky there in the past I thought it’s better to be prepared just in case.

There’s that saying  that girls have special kind of intuition and before we made Phnom Penh bookings she suggested instead of booking 6 nights we should book 3 and 3. Why ? In case of cancellation . WTF thought I but went along and glad I did.  

 When we finally met in hotel she told me she made  mistake of starting Cambodia sightseeing  with trip to Killing Fields  and it moved her a lot. I was not surprised as I recalled my own reaction when I was there first time back in 2001.

 Truth emerged that while for me Cambodia is one of my most favorite countries, for her is not much fun to be there  and can we please go to Thailand  after tomorrow instead  of at end of week. Now 3+3 instead of 6 made sense as we could cancel reservation for second batch of ‘3’. Isn’t is fun to travel with niece ?

Then another revelation came  - her friends invited her for weekend in Sattahip and Guardian Angel passing by enlightened me to suggest her they will pick her up from Pattaya so she may have unplanned chance of seeing that world class , family friendly resort.

Surprisingly she liked an idea so we made flight rebooking  and reserved rooms in Zing hotel which is not only my favorite there recently but also has very safe location half way between Jomtien and Boyztown. On top of it has two wings, south and north and uncle i. e. me skilfully steered her to book her room in different wing then me, just in case.

As for security in Phnom Penh, hotel did good job giving  me room few floors lower then hers and facing opposite side of center so sneaking to Space bar all  the sudden become viable option .

Rest of day we spent sightseeing, went to Royal Palace and National Museum  , next day Central and Russian markets , few temples as well as evening cruise on Mekong which finished exactly when deluge started so we had excellent introduction to rainy season coming to hotel completely wet.

Sneaking to Space Bar proved easy as by 10 pm. she was  in her room if not in her bed and uncle could easily make a short tuk-tuk trip there. As it was mid week bar was not that busy so I could get attention  of resident  hunks, drinks aplenty on me and working diligently to land somebody to give me a ride to my hotel but I haste to say, it did not work as intended. But I had tons of fun as boys are playful but not obnoxious and requests for more drinks or God forbid , tips,  are not existent there . In short , fun, no pressure.

As for companionship I think I get how they operate, guys are playful and skilfully creating some hope so one stays and buys more drinks, they when is time to close , all of the sudden some excuse is invented, catching early bus to provinces on 1st night, starting shift at work at 6 am on 2^nd night .

But it’s all done in funny way without any hint of  sleaze or malice and I must say I liked it even if I did not score.

[mauRICE]

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? 😏