Sawadee Khrap

Last week in the heavy downpour, while taking a monk home from Monk Chat I backed into a tree and really fucked up my back bumper on the car – had to take it into the body shop to fix this and all the other dents  - a week  - what will I ever do ??????

“Pattaya for a week”  or a least 4 days – no photos, went down to visit Jerry and just relax on the beach and catch some shows – nice, nice, nice holiday. 

Went to the “Venue”, a great ‘Broadway’ type show.  

Can you imagine a 2 hour show that cost just 100 Baht a drink – that’s about $3 – and extremely PROFESSIONAL – and they don’t bug you about the drinks.

And of course we had to check out Sunee Plaza – some great shows there – sexy young men, and I mean “SEXY”.  I really liked the chuckwow show at “Good Boys” – definitely plan on coming back.

Back in town, I meet a wonderful young man, had dinner a couple of times and took in some shows.  His birthday is next month and he is planning on coming to Chiang Mai, for his birthday so I can

Sawadee Khrap

I was just checking my blog and noticed that I did not have a link to Ben’s Taxi Service.  

Sorry Ben – fixed it now.

The last couple of times Mohamed visited me from the States he partook of Ben’s services in planning and taking his tours and told me he was extremely happy and will always use Ben's again. 

Check out his web page for all particulars.

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Looking for a place to eat, or trying out special types of food, or seeking friends to enjoy a meal together – then give

Paul’s “The Dining Out Group” a look see.

Sign up for the newsletter and schedule (diningoutcnx@hotmail.com) and make your reservations. Send email with “subscribe” as subject.

Paul also has the “The Sunday Funnies” newsletter, from which, when I find something I think particularly funny – I post it here.  Want to subscribe – send a email to this address (fasgroup1@hotmail.com)  with “subscribe” as the  subject.

Thanks Paul – great job.

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Pad and Bird sent me some shots of the Opening Show on the 17th – I thought you would like to see some of the boys – I think these are the dancers and Lanna fashion show – not sure if they will be there when you visit – but I am sure there will be some great looking young men when you do – I plan on visiting next week sometime and will let you know what I find – anyway here they are:

Sawadee Khrap

Just attended the Grand Opening of Club One Seven Chiang Mai and what a great setup.  Guesthouse and Spa-Gym.  wonderful for relaxing, meeting someone special, or just enjoying the special rooms and facilities.

Located on the banks of the Ping River, 1km from the city center, is one of Chiang Mai's hidden secrets. This 130 year old, Thai Teak Wood Guesthouse, newly refurbished, is off the usual tourist track, and is ideally positioned as a refuge and a base from which to discover the riches of Northern Thailand.

“Bird”  of Bird’s Asian Tours  is the manager – and guess who is working on the front desk – Tasanai.   Haven’t seen him since we split up in 2007  – it was really a surprise to see him there.

Check it out is you get a chance;

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Planning a trip to Cambodia

(OF COURSE YOU’LL VISIT THAILAND FIRST)

in any event check Cambodia Out.

A great site to check up on the happenings of the GLBT community and plan your trip to include all the must visit venues.

Thanks Jim  (webmaster at Cambodia Out) for your nice comments about my blog – glad you enjoy it.   

Jim is also the owner of  @Richard’s Pub  & Restaurant in Bangkok.  Make sure you stop by and say hello here too.

Ciao

WOW, here is a site I just saw and it’s amazing.  MAPJACK .   Check it out – and it needs your support to grow.

Here is a snippet ! 

(made using Vista’s neat program they don’t tell you about “snipping tool” – click Start-Run– type snip <Enter> )

I went to San Francisco, down to Bush & Market and saw the panoramic virtual photo of the front door of Ikon, my old office and ten down Geary Blvd to where I used to live before I moved to Chiang Mai. – Beautiful photos !!!!!!!!   . 

 I also took a walk up Huay Kaew Rd in Chiang Mai past Sithana College (Nu’s old school – but back next year) and up to the front door of Hillside4 (our old condo) – just as exciting – You have to see this to believe it.

Here’s what they say about thier site – “Mapjack.com showcases a new level of mapping technology. What others have done with NASA budgets and Star Wars-like equipment, we've done on a shoestring budget, along with a few trips to Radio Shack. Specifically, we developed an array of proprietary electronics, hardware and software tools that enable us to capture an entire city’s streets with relative ease and excellent image quality. “  

And BOY O Boy they are not kidding.

Please check out their site.

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Here’s a plug for a great guy and driver    Ben’s Taxi Service and Tours.

 Mohammed hired Ben to show him around Chiang Mai and the Northern Area of Thailand – report was – he loved it.  Mohammed said he could not have wished for a more professional, courteous and conscientious driver.  Ben knows the area and made Mohammed’s trip a complete success.

Planning a trip to Chiang Mai – email Ben and set up a package.

(Please don’t refer to him as tour-guide because he is not licensed as such – therefore he goes only as a taxi driver).

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

I just got back from visiting my friend’s new spa location. Wonderful !!!

  Location, Location, Location – “Tree” has opened a new location of Chakka Massage.  Very Very nice, convenient with ample parking

 9 private rooms each complete with their own showers.

 Excellent staff of professional masseurs available and growing. (I think the boys are terrific)

 Rates to make sure you come and come again and again.

 Soon to open a roof-top garden and massage area for the ultimate outdoor, private massage experience.  This is what I’m waiting for.

You can’t miss it, the only bright red building right off Chang Khlan Rd.  (down from the Night Bazaar)

152/4 Rakang Rd.  ChangKhlan  Chiang Mai 50100 (opposite the Lanna Palace Hotel – Chiang Khlan Rd.)   053–818–456  or  086–917–6111

Tree will soon be adding a Tour & Guide service to make your stay in Chiang Mai memorable.  Leave all your worries at home. Professional escorts/masseurs, accommodations and tours arranged, surrender all your worries and see Northern Thailand.  Chakka’s excellent staff at your service.

God – it’s wonderful living in Thailand – especially Chiang Mai.

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

If you plan on visiting Chiang Mai and need a good place to stay -try the

Two Dutchman and Thai boyfriends own the place and several of our friends have stayed there and recommend it. 

Room rates are very reasonable, food is excellent and within walking distance of the Night Bazaar and moat.

gay friendly – run by gays

I’ll try and get down and take some photos – maybe, you know how busy I am – ha ha

But give it a try if you plan a visit.

Ciao

Hi again

Now lets talk about Chiang Rai “Beach”:

The water front area is lined with vendor food stands  – here are some shots ( No names are used  – just candid shots) but aren’t these some beautiful people:

We stopped for lunch here and watched the vendor next door build the bamboo constructed eating area over the water’s edge – both his sons were helping out – and then were treated to a diving show put on by some boys on the other side to us. — what a great lucheon show.

In the next picture you can see where they were building the new sitting area.  Sorry Tasanai was cut out of the image– you can just see his hair in the left of the picture.  Jerry and Art in the foreground.

Tas and Art had “Spicy Dancing Shrimp Salad” – live shrimp in a pot with spices – the spices cook the shrimp but they still jump when you open the bowl lid so they call them “dancing” – ha

Sawadee Khrap

What a great trip to Chiang Rai with Jerry and Art.  We had a HOT time, both figuratively and physically.   Lets start with the trip there:  First as we left Chiang Mai, they were working on the freeway over-pass,

This is a private contractor’s workers finishing a typical over-pass – I thought it looked like Thailand's CalTrans – but here everyone is working

This is just for California residents– LoL.

It costs far less for manual labour than for heavy equipment – so most projects are labour intensive.

I also spotted this soldier apparently going home – in the heat today it’s far more enjoyable using a Doi Saket Yellow-Cab than braving the hot wind alone.  

It was very hot today – near 40C (that’s about 104F)  and the wind can be brutal.  We spotted him on the way to Chiang Rai – looked like the thing to do.

When we got to Chiang Rai, we stopped at the “Chiang Rai Beach”  actually a public park on the Maekok River before it flows into the MaeKhong River.  In the next post I will show more pictures of the park area.   I am going to split this into several posts to keep each post shorter.

In the evening, Jerry and I went to “Little Patpong” – LoBo Bar (Go-Go boys featured) and after the show we went to the Regency

Sawadee Khrap

Just got back yesterday from the “Tao Garden Wellness Retreat” in Doi Saket.  Nei, the Tao expert in “Karsai Nei Tsang” massage (genital area), gave me a marvelous relaxing and therapeutic massage.  We took some great pictures of the retreat but Tasanai has them in his camera and he’s still in Nan – when he gets back I will process them and post again.

As far as the recruiting is going  – Tasanai is searching for models for our new web page celebrating the beauty of the Asian Male Body.  We are setting up the site to show and sell artistic, erotic photos of Thai men (boys as they call them here) prints, posters and image CD’s.  Look for our new site called  gThaiStudio .  As soon as we collect about 7 – 8 models and have a gallery of images we will update the site and go on line.

I’m still looking to get the Postcards function set up for our gallery – but so far no such luck – seems like there is always something that will not work – damn – it’s frustrating.  The only way to find software that will really fit your needs is to write it yourself – but now that’s out of the question – so I just keep testing and sooner or later will find the right one.

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Hey, are you planning a trip, perhaps to Thailand – maybe Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai ???  

Then

Check out our Asian Travel "Bird" tours . He has some really great tours set up just waiting for you.  ‘Bird’ will be your tour guide, and he’s excellent at it.  Choose from one of the many tours offered or design your own – either way make your trip a real vacation, let ‘Bird’ take over the arrangements – relax and enjoy.  Guide excellence

Looking for SPECIAL evening entertainment   – Just let him know what you are looking for  – he has great connections in the Chiang Mai area and I am sure he can make your every desire come true – email him and see for yourself.

Come and see Thailand – we are at the end of the busy season, prices will go down – tourist will less and you can have the place to yourself.

Try it, You’ll like it

Ciao

Frank

Here are some shots we took on our last visit to Nan.  This was a side trip to the “Unseen” village of the Mlabri nomadic tribes people or “Yellow Leaf” .  They are found only in the northern provinces of Nan and Phrae. A total of 145 now live in the village we visited – Ban Huay Yauk. 

Their actual name is  Phi Tong Lueang  – which translates to “spirits of the yellow banana leaf” because they use banana leaves to cover their shelters and when the leaves turn yellow they move to new sites for their hunter-gathering existence.  They don’t like to be called spirits but they do like yellow-leaf, but more important to them is that they like pig meat. We gave the “headsman” money so we could take some pictures and I am sure the whole tribe celebrated with a full-course pig dinner.

Over the years the encroachment by agriculture and logging has destroyed much of the forest that is their natural habitat.  Now they have been forced to work in the fields of other hill-tribes in exchange for daily food and old clothes. Their nomadic life style is over.

Mlabri, meaning “forest people” in the tribe’s language, are a ethnic group of people from early Thailand and Laos.  The men used to wear only loin-cloth as demonstrated by the Headsman in the picture with me – he was very happy