YEE HAW!!! I'M GOING TO THAILAND!

[marc11864-old]

I can't believe it's finally happening! I'm actually going to make not only my first trip to Thailand, but my first trip to Asia and even more, my first int'l flight!

This is something that I feel I've gravitated toward, my entire life. I know I'll be having so many wonderful new experiences and I'll also be meeting the most wonderful man in the world. My partner Vit, whom I've only known via the web and Ma Bell since April of 2005. I know, I know. I must be crazy to believe that this token investment of time could result in anything of substance but I know in my heart that it has. What a joy for me to experience something like this with someone whom I know loves me as much as I love him.

I hope to meet some of you while I am there and if you happen to see me out in Bangkok, Pataya, Phuket or whereever, please don't hesitate to come say hi! :hello2:

Marc

I remember my first trip to SE Asia after wanting to do it for 20 years. Singapore was the first stop (Singapore Airlines) then a tour of Saigon, then Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. It was just another interesting trip until I got to Angkor Wat and saw the Bayon at Angkor Thom. I was transformed and hooked forever.

From one nut to another... WELCOME TO THE CLUB! :cheers:

Your first, your first, Eeeeeek you are going to have a wonderous experience I am sure :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :cheers:

You will love it marc! Just keep a tight control on your wallet - money seems to dissolve here even everythings so cheap.

Hope you get lucky with the weather!

Marc good for you. Hope you have a good holiday. Let us all know how things went after you return home please.

What a wonderful post Marc, your enthusiasm and joy is infectious. Have a great time.

Have a great time, Marc. But, can you do all of us old farts a BIG favor and please report your observations and experiences. It's always refreshing to "see Thailand for the first time" through a neophyte's eyes.

It would be nice if you could post while you're here, but you are totally forgiven if you are too overwhelmed to be able to do that. Just post when you get a chance, even if it's after you get home. Pretty please? :-)

[marc11864-old]

(bkk gwm) I know exactly what you mean when you say that, "It's always refreshing to "see Thailand for the first time" through a neophyte's eyes."

Again, thank you all for the well-wishing. And fear not, I am going to to my best to actually blog a little about my trip and to take a few photos as well.

:icon_smile:

[marc11864-old]

Well, I'm here!

Yes I finally made it to the land of smiles. So sorry that it has taken some time to share with you all, but as I am sure you are aware, the internet with all it's sporadic connections can be a fickle place. :)

For those interested in a brief rundown of this neophyte's exploits, just head on over to my blog here on SGT at, marc11864's blog (http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/weblog_entry.php?e=317) or for more details and pix go to my primary blog at Marc's Maniac House (http://www.marc11864.multiply.com)

Cheers!

Super news to know that you have at last made it Marc.....As a HIV+ guy I know too well some of the fears that you have, and also remember your previous post giving support to Khun Jon.
Good also to hear that the Bush office has at last started to bow to pressure and lift the blanket ban on HIV+ people traveling to the States, even if its only a 60 day waver at least it's a start. For a country with one of the best education systems in the world the ban has always struck me as a very naive and prejudiced ruling.
Good luck with your boyfriend and enjoy falling into some of the delightful (and not so delightful) traps that seem to catch us all lol.

[jinks]

Yet another avatar hehehehttp://www.jinks.clara.net/forum/05.gif

But I only have 10 days left myself
Is the weather going to be cool like last year or hot
Thanks

Is the weather going to be cool like last year or hotWhy don't you just look it up on weather.com?

[marc11864-old]

Is the weather going to be cool like last year or hot?

Who cares? It's THAILAND! :)

Actually, the weather here has been much more difficult for Vit who is a native here than it has been for me. Of course I live in Phoenix, Arizona so what do I know? :laughing6:

Per one other thread which I started regarding the need of an apartment for rent during my 3 week stay. We booked for one month at Thanatawee Place http://www.thanatawee.com/ and I definitely recommend it as an option for anyone who is not too bonded to luxury locations within the city. 9,000 baht + for the extras like TV, internet and fridge. Not bad if you ask me! :hello1:


Your posting contained a lot of warning bells. (1) An Internet romance (2) Your first trip to Thailand (3) Your first trip to any foreign country... [jaafarabutarab, Dick, ad infinitum... esp. paul 2257]

Now what I do find interesting is that there are so many тАЬnay sayersтАЭ of the internet romance scene. That so many people mistake a "fairy-tale" romance with one that has depth all because of growth through an electronic medium and more importantly that there is some belief that I must have just fallen off of the turnip truck and have literally no experience with any of this whatsoever. I've had more than a few relationships in my life; acquaintances, friends, lovers, partners. These have included conventional and unconventional, online and offline, face-to-face and internet begun. I've seen relationships where one side is financially stronger than the other and where they had equal accounts. I've seen model beauty and ugly duckling. I've even now been in a sero-discordant relationship (HIV+/HIV-)! And you know something about all of this? When two people enter into any relationship with unwavering trust and honesty, equal parts respect and compassion and a very pragmatic image of the self throughout their time together, there can only be love. How the relationship ends is not what should be focused on. How it begins is entirely up to each individual. But what will foster growth in each of us is a full commitment to the present no matter the geographic separateness or not.

Vit (to some of you Wit), and I began our "online romance" back in April of 2005 soon after I was diagnosed positive with HIV. He was finishing his education here in Thailand at Assumption where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Vit returned here to Thailand after attending high school in Singapore though he does not come from anything more than a typical, middle class, Thai/Chinese family.

I am only just now returning to school for my first bachelors after upwards of twenty or so years in the workforce doing everything from pumping gas to being a systems analyst for Bank of America. All of my employment was with only just more than a rudimentary high school education. My upbringing was at best not much beyond the poverty level and I had a rather dysfunctional family but there was love to some degree along with a sense of honesty and loyalty.

Relationships are what you make of them. No matter what venue you communicate through nor the geographic boundaries or societal constructs you surround them with. You'll get out what you put into them, pure and simple. They won't be perfect, they never are... but, they will be unique to every couple and that is what you should value most of all.

And yes Virginia, there is a Santy Claus!

So am I. That's double YEE HAW !!

Great Marc.................you get on with life mate and enjoy every min with Vit, he sounds like a real warm guy.
I think most of the advice here is very well intended as unlike your romance with Vit a lot of Internet 'romances' can in some cases be between bar-boys and lovesick guys who can fall into the love trap so easily. Some of these relationships work, but lots more fail.
Take care and keep us posted.

When I am on hoilday the LAST thing I would want to do is sit behind the computer posting updates from my trip. Get out and about and enjoy yourself HON.

We all look forward to a trip report, and your horror stories re: internet romance when you return but in the meantime, Darl, get out and about, and forget the trash here whilst away.

Are you REALLY in LOS Darling???

Your posting contained a lot of warning bells. (1) An Internet romance (2) Your first trip to Thailand (3) Your first trip to any foreign country.

I have seen a lot of Internet romances crash and burn during the first hour of actual meeting. Both partners tend to conceal their less attractive features when they can. So be careful!

If you have never been abroad before, then you will need to get used to the idea of "Culture Shock," and the very real fact that Thai culture is nothing at all like the culture in Farangistan (Europe, America, Australia, etc.)

That is to say: one side of your mind may be thinking , "I am travelling 10,000 miles," while the other side may be thinking, "I am now entering an alternate reality." Pay attention to that "other side!

.

The only culture shock you will have coming from America, is one of "Oh my, ive been living under a fcuking Bushell for far too long"

The only culture shock you will have coming from America, is one of "Oh my, ive been living under a fcuking Bushell for far too long"

When i return to UK - thats when it hits me that i live in a dirty expensive shithole lol. Wonder why so many wanna come here!

[Smiles]

" ... the phenomenon of the Whining Gay Farang (WGF)? This would be the guy who discovered, late in life, that he could get laid in Thailand, as opposed to his solitary and chaste life in Farangistan. So this guy made a sudden decision and moved to Thailand for that reason alone. A few years down the road, and he's pissed off. He was never interested in the Thai language, or Thai culture, or the fascinating surrounding area of SE Asia. So he gets together with his fellow WGFs and they...whine ... "
Discerning analysis Jaafarabutarab.
Not 100% true obviously, ~ hopefully lots of exceptions ~ but a generalisation of reasonable (and observable) power nonetheless.
Such gaggles of Farangs as you've described are precisely the gaggles I hope to avoid at all costs, at all times, when in Thailand.

Cheers ...

" ... the phenomenon of the Whining Gay Farang (WGF)? This would be the guy who discovered, late in life, that he could get laid in Thailand, as opposed to his solitary and chaste life in Farangistan. So this guy made a sudden decision and moved to Thailand for that reason alone. A few years down the road, and he's pissed off. He was never interested in the Thai language, or Thai culture, or the fascinating surrounding area of SE Asia. So he gets together with his fellow WGFs and they...whine ... "
Discerning analysis Jaafarabutarab.
Not 100% true obviously, ~ hopefully lots of exceptions ~ but a generalisation of reasonable (and observable) power nonetheless.
Such gaggles of Farangs as you've described are precisely the gaggles I hope to avoid at all costs, at all times, when in Thailand.

Cheers ...

I guess you won't be visiting Pattaya, then?

[Smiles]

" ... I guess you won't be visiting Pattaya, then? ... "
You guess wrong.
I have a few farang friends in Pattaya who are decidedly not 'of the gaggle', and also have little use for that kind of companionship.

As I'm sure you're aware, jaafarabutarab's observations hold water as generalization only. Falling into the petty and inward-looking world of the 'WGF' is not inevitable if one has the intelligence to know it when one see it ... and avoid it like a plague.

Cheers ...

It's not just Christianity that is homophobic. It's almost all religions with the possible exception of buddhists The Muslim religion is probably the MOST homophobic. Witness the recent hangings of gay teenagers in Iran. The reason there is gay marriage in Canada and probably will never be in the US is the number of Evangelical christians. Estimated at about only 3% in canada.. they don't carry much political clout. But in the USA, the number of people who claim to be Evangelical christians is more like 20 -25% if not higher.
These are the people that believe the bible word for word ("woman created from the rib of a man" type of crap). They are the ones that now use Gays as easy scapegoats to advance their political agenda. And we are unlucky enough to have a num nuts Evangelical President who is against things like stem cell research and wants a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. The sooner King George is gone the better for everyone!

[TrongpaiExpat]

The sooner King George is gone the better for everyone!

Thank God, Jesus, Buddha, Alla and the Sun God for term limits.

Nice! hope you have fun in Thailand. I wanna go back to Bangkok badly to visit my friends and family.

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

I'm permanently confucianism. I miss them all..wine, pigs, homosexuality. Pattaya is so musch fun. :clown: yeehaaaw !!!!!