Or just buy a tent and air mattress. :)
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Unless the tent and matress are like this I think I'd pass on the village camping trip thanks !
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NIrish you're such a Queen sometimes (well, most times)
If that means sleeping in the above bed whilst Matt is lying outside in his wee tent, getting eaten my small animals and lying on his deflated air bed then all I can say is anyone who disagrees with my above and prefers Matt's camping trip can "arise and kiss my ring !" as I certainly know where I"D rather sleep any day of the week ! :)
To be honest, if I could afford it I'd prefer your option.
You guys just think it's a crazy idea, because I'm the one who came up with it. If Smiles, Dodger, or bob posted about it you'd probably all say, "oh yeah, that is actually a good idea". I'm Canadian so have been camping tons in my life, and will ensure I'm setup comfortably.
And it is a good idea, because just look. Salewood is currently nervous, uncertain and worried thinking, "oh geez, a trip of the village? ummm, I don't know, not sure.... give me some time to think it over".
Whereas I'm thinking, "fuck yeah, camping trip, can't wait!" :)
Anyway, yo help get back to the OP. Personally, I wouldn't sleep in the village (excluding my camping idea). If they're farmers as you say, they're probably not going to be one of the rich families in the village. You'll most likely be sleeping on the equivalent of cement. You know those really thing straw Issam mats? Your bed will probably be that on a cement floor. You might get a blanket, but probably won't need or want it. You'll get some of those rectangular pillows I'm sure.
At best you will get a mosquito net, and maybe not even that. However, that net still doesn't keep out the cockroaches, ants, spiders, scorpions, mice, millipedes, etc.
I'd stay in a hotel, if I were you.
my memories of camping is that a dome type tent becomes unbearably hot as soon as the sun comes up... and that's during a miserable Irish summer!
So I can only imagine how hot it would be in Thailand? Surely the tent would be like a POW sweatbox?
There's tarps to provide shade, there's portable battery powered fans, there's rechargable coolers with built-in fans that utilize the ice packs to blow cold air, and more. Or just simply positioning your temp properly makes a huge difference.
There's lots of ways. :)
Oh so can we take from your above that you've decided that this is the way you're going to go and that this camping trip is actually happening then ? If so, when is that all set up, before the big move I take it as the whole point is to see how you're received by the inlaws etc I presume yes ? So, if so that would be before the 5th of what is it February then sometime ??
I am probably wrong...but...out of all the posters in this forum...I would guess maybe 10, have long term BF's and love going to see papa and moma in the country side..I find it odd that someone who visits TH one time or two times...FALL IN LOVE.....meeting the parents, etc...I think it takes much time.....first or second time visitors are just thinking they are in love.....
Perhaps this Forum's membership is unusual but of the friends I have in Bangkok with long-term boyfriends, about 80% view with horror the notion that they would discommode themselves to the extent of spending a night in their boyfriend's village. Several stay in a hotel in the nearest large town and may go to the village for a few hours during the day (and see that as a sacrifice of their personal comfort). I've overnighted in Thai villages from time to time and can't recommend it but then I don't bunk in with the peasants in my home country just because I'm fucking one of their sons
My preference:
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I have no doubt that the use of that scurrilous word on this Board will get you banned within hours.Quote:
" ... discommode ... "
PS ... just FYI , I am in the heart of Isaan as I write, the rice fields of of Surin and sleeping there as well ... OMG!!
Mama does not care whom I'm fucking , but I do.
How apposite,Joe
It didn't take long to get Dalewood's post derailed, as usual.
francois, I offered my experience on the first page . I'm still searching for your contribution to Dalewood's question.
In effort to not derail Dalewood's thread anymore than it already has been, I'll just add this reply here to my own thread:
No, camping will happen after we're settled into Vientiane. Why would I be worried about what Leo's family thinks of me? He's already chosen me over them, as I've done with my own family. That's why I'm still in Thailand instead of Canada, and why Leo is still with me instead of living in the village taking care of his elderly father. Besides, I already know... more than likely the father will dislike me because I'm a farang and not a rice farmer so I just "don't understand", and the rest of the family will at the very least thing I'm a good hearted, respectful individual.
I know, I know, I'm just a lair, and none of this is true, It's kind of ironic that aside from Smiles and maybe one or two others, I'm the only one to provide photographic evidence that both myself and my BF are real and together.
Matt, I'm confused (not for the first time, sez you). You say you don't care what Leo's family think of you, but you're going to pitch a tent in his father's back yard, and stay there while you get to know the 2 young kids you're going to adopt?
I have photos of my trip to Si Saket, but don't have a scanner.
Well, yeah. If I'm growing old with Leo, then I have to accept that his village, his childhood home where his parents live, will become an integral part of my life. I'd be a pretty shitty husband if I tried to ignore that fact, don't you think?
I'm sure the family will accept me just fine, so not worried about it. Decent chance myself and the gather won't have anything in common, so we'll just respectfully ignore each other, and I expect that as well. But we're going to be spending a good amount of time in that village, and that's especially true if we take his nephews in. They're going to need to go home and spend time with their mother and freinds quite often.
Again, I'm not thinking in terms of just a one-off trip and a meet & greet. I'm thinking of terms of a second home, so yeah, I'll make myself comfortable. I'm not building a house out there, but I'll put in say $2000 USD into building myself a comfortable little campsite.
And Leo agrees with me, so that's what we're doing, I'm sure. :)
PS. Factor in the fact that I'm now blind. I need a comfortable environment where I feel safe now. It's not like I can be left up to my own devices, and go wandering, and find my own way around. Get me setup with my little environment (camp site) where I know where everything is, and Leo can take off and do his own thing without having to worry about me.
Bob says: I assure everyone that my last camping experience, never to be repeated, was in 1960. I don’t know how eager Smiles or Dodger might be to get very close to nature right now.
Before the Matt/Leo photo, I did not hesitate to post comments or criticisms about the rationale of someone we assumed to be a fictional character. Now that we see he actually exists, I find I am even more concerned about Matt’s plans for his life in Laos, since he intends to care for three citizens of the country. I still feel that he would have benefited from regular face-to-face interaction with other native speakers of English, rather than leading his life on a very self-assured, but possibly flawed path in this SE Asia experience.
But I now realize I must accept the fact that Matt and I are on two very different, never-to-be-reconciled pages in this book of Life. So, no more comments from me about the KK and Lao Tales. Just a wish that things will work out as well as Matt assures us they will.
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Sleeping in village: I've made numerous trips to the villages in Issan and the north of Thailand. The boys and their families always assumed I would be staying in a hotel/resort rather than in their homes. Of course, if the BF insists, I suppose you would have to give serious thought to sleeping en famille. Good luck.
Having posted a photo Matt has made himself real. Therefore members, especially the older senior and supposedly wiser ones should think twice before posting comments they would have done before. And Matt, you should stop attracting so much rancour now.
Bob, can I ask you something then? Maybe it'll help me get a better insight into what my family is thinking.
What am I supposed to do? Leave my husband who's saved my life, make my dogs homeless giving them a death sentence, then jet off to somewhere like Silicon Valley, grab a job at Google or Apple, and work my way up the corporate ladder? Do you have any idea of how dismal and depressing of a life that would be for me?
Or should I get rid of everything as mentioned above, move to say Vancouver, Canada, get a job with some IT start up, hang out in my condo lonely and depressed always, just so I can see my family 2 or 3 times each year during the holidays?
No offense or disrespect Joe, and no judgements here. However, notice how Joe is somewhat lonely and depressed in life right now? It's pretty obvious if you watch his posts. That would be me if I went back out West, and probably far moreso, considering I'm blind right now.
Instead, I'm happy, comfortable, mentally and emotionally strong, ambition, and can't wait to see what the future provides.
Also, please realize, when it comes to personal relationships, I only care what's inside their heart. Granted, Leo isn't going to become an aeronautical engineer anytime soon, and got that. However, he does happen to be one of the most down to earth, realistic, loving, compassionate, and empathetic individuals you'll ever meet. I've been through this life and world enough to know finding someone of his moral character and quality is next to impossible. Oh, we speak 90% English together, and he's near fluent. I guess I have to get him to spell out words sometimes due to his accent, but he knows English extremely well.
As for the kids, that wasn't my decision, and not like I went looking for them. Leo's the one who came into my room one day, and asked if I wanted a couple "servants". He wanted to help them, plus thought it'd be good to have them around due to me being blind, as they can run to the store for me, etc. I had to explain to him that there's no way either of us has the heart to treat a couple kids like servants, so if we take them, we're going to end up loving them, and they're going to become our adopted children. Don't worry about the language barrier, as they've been watching Thai TV programs since they were born and speak Thai like Laos folks, and it will be about all of 3 months before they know enough English for them to communicate in English.
So I'm asking, what's so crazy about this? Again, in your mind, what should I do? I don't have a home to go back to in Canada, as since 2005 I've only lived there for one year in 2008/9. So what do I do? I'm honestly curious, because my family has the same thoughts as you. They just can't understand why I'm not back in Canada, to the point they think I'm mentally ill. I'd love to understand better, because I have yet to hear any logical and rational arguments against my decision to stay.
Matt, it's entirely, absolutely up to you. You can only do what you think you should do. Only follow the path that you choose. Now that I see you are real, I do not recommend anything. It's your life, not mine.
For myself no rancour at all. Just tedium now: photos or not this Matt dude has entered a maudlin Drama Queen territory and will be happy to know I'm exiting stage left. There ain't no more here, there must be better.Quote:
And Matt, you should stop attracting so much rancour now.
See, as always no answer, same as what I get from my family. They're dismayed that I stayed, but can' come up with a logical reason as to why. They're simply under the assumption that if I throw everything away that's good in my life, and head back to some unknown city in Canada, then everything will be great. I'm sorry, but that's simply not reality.
Matt for the $2000 you are proposing to spend on camping gear... You could probably build an actual home in the village... As long as Leo has the land and it doesn't need filling or piling
It wouldn't be the Ritz, but it would have 4 block walls and a roof!
Matt, I don't mind you mentioning my depression. It's my reality.
Look. (if that's not an inappropiate thing to say to a blind person). If your decision is to move to Laos with Leo, then go ahead, and be happy. It's not a choice I would have made. But "up to you". I genuinely wish you both the best for your future together.
Looking forward to seeing you on 15 January.
Actually for clarity you posted a picture of a farang and an Asian guy sitting beside each other, nothing more.
Now, a pic of "you" and he, sitting at home, perhaps with your two lovely dogs in shot and at your computer with our very own Sawatdee forum open and on the screen and you both giving us the thumbs up ( or the Thai two fingers I guess ) etc, now THAT perhaps would start to narrow things down a little maybe I guess in terms of you being a farang there being with some Asian guy, as to "Matt's" life then existing thereafter is I guess a whole other story thereafter.
Thanks, Bob, and that was my rationale too. MRI scans don't lie, so with 100% certainty I have lesions in my right optic nerve, and no hospital in the world can fix that. Maybe in 10 - 20 years, but not now.
Members of my family have seem to have turned against me for my decision to stay here, and at the moment, there doesn't seem to be much of a way to reconcile that. I'll just have to wait until the coming Spring / Summer, and by then hopefully I can have Leo a VISA secured for VISA, we can make a visit, make our rounds to the family, and calm the tensions.
Especially now that some time has passed, and I'm finally on firm financial footing again, I'm absolutely certain I made the right decision by staying. I just sucks that they simply don't understand. Then again, for a good portion of my family, they've never lived outside of the Alberta, Canada oil patch bubble, so that's the only reality they know, when there's actually millions of different realities out there. I'm sure I'm right, and they're just being closed minded.
To be fair NIrish, how could he prove it was him and Leo - holding their passports with copies of the Bankok Post to confirm the date? Wait 6 weeks or so till I go to KK and we'll all know for sure. He's already agreed to pay for my hotel and provide a young companion for the duration of my visit.
Very nice of him, maybe hell if I knew that was the deal maybe I'd of joined you !
And no, no passports required ( think about that, might perhaps be a bit of a fatal mistake Overstayer Matt posting that no ?) - hence why I said the pic of sawatdee opened in the background just to provide context. And of course when you meet 'Matt" you know of course his name isn't ACTUALLY Matt don't you, just in case you come back screaming "he's a fake, his name is actually Fred ( randomly selected name, dont worry Matt if your name IS Fred that was just coincidence I assure you )!" lol. I think he his most hardened doubters would allow him that one. :)
Mr Arsenal advises Matt against providing personal information to the obsessive compulsive monomaniacs residing here.
I totally agree, hence why I said specifically NOT to be showing his passport etc.
However as IS Matt who is telling us "Hey, I've already posted a pic of me", all by his own choice btw as no one asked him to. And then states "there you go, this is Leo and I" etc, all I'm doing is pointing out that "a pic" of two random people means nothing and so suggesting that if he IS going to the bother of posting pics then if he does so with some measure of SGF etc detail in them ( i.e the forum page open on his computer's window etc - or a big sign saying FUCK YOU N.IRISH GUY :-)) then might help put his next pic in a better context for us all, but that as they say is 'up to him", meanwhile when he posts "I posted my pic" I'll just remind him, no, you posted "A" pic. Seems quite reasonable to me. As to whether he actually DOES or not, I don't care either way.
How many members use their own names here? I do 'cos I was too lazy to think up a moniker. i know the real names of at least half a dozen members - well, they said it was their real name - this is the internet, how do you prove it?
You didn't notice that I posted that photo after Joe decided publicly to meet me, and I decided to meet him?
You guys may think I'm an idiot who doesn't understand what he's doing, but I'm not. Granted, I'm quite sensitive, and do go off on an emotional tangent once in a while. However, the vast majority of things I do are well calculated.
I wanted to make Joe more comfortable about the meet, plus just assumed he's actually going to make the meet, hence will be able to confirm that photo is real and authentic.
Matt, thanks for agreeing to cover my hotel bill, and providing a young companion, when you're busy doing whatever it is you do with your bitcoins and computers.
I'm amazed the thread has now run to 20 pages. Anyone know the record number of pages?