bobsaigon2
May 8th, 2015, 19:18
Some have theorized that the Tarntawan owners hope the establishment will one day qualify as a Thai National Tangible Asset and thus they refrain from making any alterations or improvements. The interiors look exactly as they did on my first visit in 1998. Yes, there is some new carpeting but even that now displays stains. E-safes have been added but can only be accessed by kneeling on the floor. The bathroom fittings remain a Tarntawan classic. No updating of fixtures, no increase in the meager water pressure, and the bathtubs still display TarntawanтАЩs signature cigarette burns on the rims and god-knows-what kind of stains on the bottom of the tubs.
And it looks like the original 1998 computer keyboards are still being used in the Business Center. Most of the letters have been worn off. The software performs with agonizing slowness.
But some of us come back here, year after year. I suppose itтАЩs because we feel at home, unchallenged, uncriticized, with at least a few of our contemporaries always in evidence. A bit like growing old at home and not noticing, or putting off, things that should be done in the house. The staff is always welcoming, unquestioning, helpful within their abilities (abilities which unfortunately do not include providing reliable Wifi service), and most of us do prefer to have security hold the ID of sex visitors. (In the past, when I had a boy staying with me for several days, I had him register as a guest, relieving him of the need to be checked upon every entrance).
This morning, one of the white haired guests left the hotel in a Bumrungrad Hospital Mobile ICU. He was able to walk from the hotel to the vehicle, so hopefully his condition was not too serious. This was not a scene which I enjoyed, since the same could happen to me at any moment. I would not want to retire to a 55+ community in America, where you have to witness ambulances arriving every day to remove one or more of your elderly mates. Much better to be in SE Asia, consorting with young people, avoiding mirrors.
So I got to the Tarntawan after my flight from Saigon, opened my checked luggage, and discovered I had been relieved of my MacBook Air, probably by baggage handlers in Vietnam. This visit to Bangkok has been extremely frustrating, needing to purchase and set up a new laptop and exploring strategies of staying connected with the TarntawanтАЩs Wifi routers (tip: Take your laptop downstairs and use it in the Business Center. Another tip, turn on the a/c in the Business Center).
Thank God. Thunder. I have been praying for rain. Suffocatingly hot in Saigon and Bangkok these days. Room 812 at the Tarntawan absorbs heat from the roof and outer wall.
Mantra Massage, opposite the entrance to the Montien. Just a few guys sitting outside, rarely more than one of them good looking. Climb interminable (to me) stairs to the massage room, with a massage table instead of a bed. My guy was from Udorn. Pleasant aura but couldnтАЩt cum because today he тАЬcum already in toiletтАЭ (or had a customer before I got there? or failed to appreciate my elderly charms? He did his best, but alas, only one of us came (cummed?).
On another day, I met a Lao boy at BonnyтАЩs with a superbly slim, smooth body. Had I been much younger, I would have made all sorts of foolish promises to keep him in my life. Wisdom comes with age. But life is probably more fun without the wisdom.
There was a very curious Englishman sitting at a nearby table at breakfast. Over sixty, bald, obese. At first I thought he was talking to himself, but then I overheard him talking with an imaginary companion, someone whom he addressed as a number. Seven? Eight? I couldnтАЩt catch everything he said.
Met an ex-bf who was sitting outside Bangkok Massage. HeтАЩs about 35 yrs old now and says itтАЩs more difficult for him to attract customers, so he makes sure to be available from 3pm till closing every day. He gave me a massage a couple of years ago. Yesterday I told him in all honesty that his massage was very tamada, not in any way exciting. He confessed that these days he doesnтАЩt тАЬfeel very hot down thereтАЭ. He suggested a four hand massage. He thinks that would excite him, and hopefully me. Never tried one before. Maybe tomorrow night.
And it looks like the original 1998 computer keyboards are still being used in the Business Center. Most of the letters have been worn off. The software performs with agonizing slowness.
But some of us come back here, year after year. I suppose itтАЩs because we feel at home, unchallenged, uncriticized, with at least a few of our contemporaries always in evidence. A bit like growing old at home and not noticing, or putting off, things that should be done in the house. The staff is always welcoming, unquestioning, helpful within their abilities (abilities which unfortunately do not include providing reliable Wifi service), and most of us do prefer to have security hold the ID of sex visitors. (In the past, when I had a boy staying with me for several days, I had him register as a guest, relieving him of the need to be checked upon every entrance).
This morning, one of the white haired guests left the hotel in a Bumrungrad Hospital Mobile ICU. He was able to walk from the hotel to the vehicle, so hopefully his condition was not too serious. This was not a scene which I enjoyed, since the same could happen to me at any moment. I would not want to retire to a 55+ community in America, where you have to witness ambulances arriving every day to remove one or more of your elderly mates. Much better to be in SE Asia, consorting with young people, avoiding mirrors.
So I got to the Tarntawan after my flight from Saigon, opened my checked luggage, and discovered I had been relieved of my MacBook Air, probably by baggage handlers in Vietnam. This visit to Bangkok has been extremely frustrating, needing to purchase and set up a new laptop and exploring strategies of staying connected with the TarntawanтАЩs Wifi routers (tip: Take your laptop downstairs and use it in the Business Center. Another tip, turn on the a/c in the Business Center).
Thank God. Thunder. I have been praying for rain. Suffocatingly hot in Saigon and Bangkok these days. Room 812 at the Tarntawan absorbs heat from the roof and outer wall.
Mantra Massage, opposite the entrance to the Montien. Just a few guys sitting outside, rarely more than one of them good looking. Climb interminable (to me) stairs to the massage room, with a massage table instead of a bed. My guy was from Udorn. Pleasant aura but couldnтАЩt cum because today he тАЬcum already in toiletтАЭ (or had a customer before I got there? or failed to appreciate my elderly charms? He did his best, but alas, only one of us came (cummed?).
On another day, I met a Lao boy at BonnyтАЩs with a superbly slim, smooth body. Had I been much younger, I would have made all sorts of foolish promises to keep him in my life. Wisdom comes with age. But life is probably more fun without the wisdom.
There was a very curious Englishman sitting at a nearby table at breakfast. Over sixty, bald, obese. At first I thought he was talking to himself, but then I overheard him talking with an imaginary companion, someone whom he addressed as a number. Seven? Eight? I couldnтАЩt catch everything he said.
Met an ex-bf who was sitting outside Bangkok Massage. HeтАЩs about 35 yrs old now and says itтАЩs more difficult for him to attract customers, so he makes sure to be available from 3pm till closing every day. He gave me a massage a couple of years ago. Yesterday I told him in all honesty that his massage was very tamada, not in any way exciting. He confessed that these days he doesnтАЩt тАЬfeel very hot down thereтАЭ. He suggested a four hand massage. He thinks that would excite him, and hopefully me. Never tried one before. Maybe tomorrow night.