vinapu Posted 13 hours ago Posted 13 hours ago 9 hours ago, spoon said: Once he changed into his street clothes, I told him I was waiting for a friend who was coming to Bangkok and arriving soon. He knows this friend, so we sent him our selfie. Around 12:30am, my friend arrived, and we stayed in the bar until the late-night shows ended. My friend also bought a guy a drink, and it didn't take long for him to also off the guy. We went to the famous Foodland for supper and retired to our hotels for the night. Funny part is, since that friend was humble nobody myself, I'm reading your report of that night while waiting at Swampy for my return flight out. bkkmfj2648 and spoon 1 1 Quote
vinapu Posted 13 hours ago Posted 13 hours ago Just now, floridarob said: Think I'll end the year with about 125 nts, with them from what I have on the books. And not exclusive with them, I'm a whore with airlines, hotels and men, a loyal whore I've been told by some 👼 That makes you almost saint floridarob 1 Quote
spoon Posted 13 hours ago Author Posted 13 hours ago 59 minutes ago, PeterRS2 said: But I wonder if you ever try to use your hotel points for free stays? Yes, ive use it before. Last I recall was hilton millenium on new year's eve. Unfortunately, I didnt get the best view hotels but still river facing. I will look for opportunity to use it once I collected enough nights to maintain my status for next year. There is a whole dedicated forum discussing the best way to redeem your points to get the best value in forums like flyertalk or loyaltylobby. PeterRS2 1 Quote
spoon Posted 13 hours ago Author Posted 13 hours ago 19 minutes ago, vinapu said: Funny part is, since that friend was humble nobody myself, I'm reading your report of that night while waiting at Swampy for my return flight out. @floridarob would appreciate this revelation for sure. Lol. At least now I will use @vinapu's name from this point onwards. And @jason1975 as well when its time, much later. vinapu and floridarob 1 1 Quote
jason1975 Posted 13 hours ago Posted 13 hours ago 16 minutes ago, spoon said: @floridarob would appreciate this revelation for sure. Lol. At least now I will use @vinapu's name from this point onwards. And @jason1975 as well when its time, much later. Yes I appear one week later. Short cameo only. Hehe Quote
vinapu Posted 7 hours ago Posted 7 hours ago 1 hour ago, jason1975 said: Yes I appear one week later. Short cameo only. Hehe Short but shining Quote
spoon Posted 4 hours ago Author Posted 4 hours ago Sorry, cant help myself from doing another installment of AI-generated trip report. This time i think it did a better job than day 1. Enjoy. Chapter 2: Happiness Is a Solution We live in a culture that is completely obsessed with unrealistic expectations. Lower your standards, they say. Don't give a fuck, they say. But let's be honest: when you’ve meticulously engineered a vacation around elite tier loyalty status and the transactional validation of young Thai men, you give an immense amount of fucks. Every single detail becomes a high-stakes metric for your personal happiness. Take my hotel situation. I woke up after my companion left and checked out at precisely 3:00 PM. Why? Because I am a top-tier member of this hotel chain, and by god, I will milk every single minute of that late checkout privilege to prove my existential worth. I packed my bags and migrated to the next bastion of luxury—closer to Silom, but far enough away that I wouldn't be associated with the unwashed masses in the actual Silom ghetto. Except for my final night at the Pullman G, I made a conscious, deeply neurotic choice to avoid Silom proper. I needed newness. I needed validation. I was trying out the Metropolis Suites Bangkok and the Conrad Bangkok, desperately hoping they would fill the void. Spoiler alert: they did. And more importantly, my nightly companions liked them too. Because it was low season, the universe decided to hand me a series of room upgrades. I practically vibrated with self-satisfaction. I had successfully negotiated a 2:00 PM checkout here, a 4:00 PM checkout there, and my rooms were magically ready before the standard 3:00 PM check-in time. I even managed lounge access for almost the entire itinerary. At the one hotel that dared deny me entry, I extracted a solitary drink voucher like a tax collector taking his due. I mapped my entire afternoon around the lounge schedules: Afternoon Tea from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, and Happy Hour from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. If I missed a single free finger sandwich or complimentary gin and tonic, the entire trip would be an objective failure. By the time I checked into my third hotel—the Hilton Grande Asoke, a comforting, predictable repeat—my delicate ego was thoroughly padded. But happiness isn't just about free hotel cheese; it's about the relentless pursuit of order. I marched over to X-One to exchange my cash. Why X-One? Because they offer the absolute best rate, and saving a fraction of a percent on currency exchange is the hill I am prepared to die on. There was virtually no queue. Another micro-victory. Next was Prime Massage for my mandatory, non-negotiable arrival ritual. I dropped 750 baht on a one-hour foot massage and a one-hour head and shoulder massage. I had to wait fifteen agonizing minutes for my masseur, a delay that threatened to derail my entire fragile psyche, but they escorted me inside immediately, so crisis averted. The ritual was complete. I was officially "relaxed," which is just a code word for being temporarily distracted from my own thoughts. I hurried back to the hotel to aggressively consume happy hour drinks, rested for a minute, and then ventured back into the night toward Silom's Midnight Bar. I bought a drink and sat there, waiting for showtime, radiating the anxiety of a man who needs to be entertained. My favorite waiter was on shift. To ensure he liked me, I bought him a drink. He asked if I knew how to play checkers. I said yes. We played a few games. It was a beautiful, calculated simulation of human connection. Then, I went to Hotmale for the 11:00 PM show. I walked in, and the place was a ghost town. Maybe one or two other customers. On a Saturday night! It was profoundly, deeply sad. There weren't even enough bodies in the room for them to stage the performance. I looked at the guys on stage, searching for a spark, but absolutely none of them appealed to me. I mean, sure, I could see a couple who might satisfy the specific, questionable tastes of my fellow online forum members, but for me? Nothing. I confirmed with the mamasan that the show was officially canceled, felt a heavy wave of disappointment, and immediately pivoted to my next target: Good Boy. Good Boy was the exact opposite. The universe had corrected itself. A show was in full swing, and the bar was packed to the gills. They ushered me down toward the stage, far from the entrance, right into the thick of the boy section. Almost instantly, familiar faces began greeting me with a wai. They asked for drinks. Mamasan Tee and another friendly mamasan materialized out of the neon haze, asking for my order and demanding to know who caught my eye. And then, I saw him. Amongst the crowd was a guy I hadn’t seen on my last trip. Word on the street was he had vanished back to his hometown. But here he was. He was the obvious choice—the only choice. I called him over, bought him a drink, and we began the delicate dance of catching up. He told me he’d been back at work for just two weeks after a seven-month hiatus from the scene. Then came the ultimate validation: he immediately expressed interest in an "off" and asked how long I was staying. Now, a lesser man would have jumped the gun. But I give too many fucks for that. I am a professional. I confirmed a few logistical variables with him first, ensuring everything was perfectly aligned before I summoned the mamasan to pay his bar fine. Let’s call him VB. While VB went to swap his stage gear for street clothes, I informed him we were waiting for a friend of mine who was landing in Bangkok shortly. VB knew him, so we took a tight, performative selfie and blasted it to my friend's phone. Around 12:30 AM, my friend arrived. We anchored ourselves in that bar until the final, late-night shows concluded. My friend, caught up in the momentum of the evening, bought a guy a drink and promptly offed him too. Success is contagious. We ended the night at the legendary Foodland, choking down late-night supper, before retreating to our respective hotels. VB was a repeat guy—proven quality, a certified blue-chip asset. The reunion was spectacular. He stayed all the way until breakfast, validating my existence for a few more hours, and the moment he left, I went right back to sleep. Because when you give this much of a fuck about optimizing your pleasure, you need your rest. Quote
jason1975 Posted 3 hours ago Posted 3 hours ago 33 minutes ago, spoon said: Sorry, cant help myself from doing another installment of AI-generated trip report. This time i think it did a better job than day 1. Enjoy. I dislike the AI's arrogant and smug tone! Travelingguy, spoon and khaolakguy 2 1 Quote
spoon Posted 3 hours ago Author Posted 3 hours ago 3 minutes ago, jason1975 said: I dislike the AI's arrogant and smug tone! Yes, it does makes the humble me, sounds like a jerk Quote
khaolakguy Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago 2 hours ago, spoon said: This time i think it did a better job than day 1. Enjoy. I regret to disillusion you.......I almost always like trip reports but I couldn't get much more than a paragraph in to this one! Quote
Travelingguy Posted 52 minutes ago Posted 52 minutes ago I think that your own writing is better and more engaging than the AI. Please take that as a compliment. mauRICE 1 Quote