Flew Bangkok Airways from BKK to CNG Chiang Mai. Flight was delayed 30 minutes due to late arrival of aircraft. Flight is short and pleasant, about 55 minutes. Fun began at the Chiang Mai airport - luggage quickly arrived but there were NO taxis and there was a huge number of people waiting for the limited number of taxis. After about a 50 minute wait, I was in a taxi and within 15 minutes I was at my hotel, Club One Seven - C17.

http://www.clubonesevenchiangmai.com/

Hotel check-in was quick and easy - they only have 11 rooms. The guy brought me to my room but this being an antique 130 year old Lana Teak House you need to remove your shoes and I leaned on the side railing of the stairs to leverage myself and I immediately broke one of the wooden teak slats with my fat ass. How embarassing and what an awful way to begin my 6 day stay. I guess I need to continue dieting - the last time that I checked I was down to 78kg. But in typical great Thai "save face" style the manager said to me, "mister, it ok, house is very old".

I have a nice room that overlooks the Ping river with a small outdoor terrace. The room has a large 4 poster bed. You feel as if you are staying in the country side. Breakfast is served outside in the terrace alongside the river. Prior to 5pm you feel that you are in an antique gay hotel but after 5pm the place starts to transform as the sauna activities start to pick up and all of a sudden we have many new cute Thai "guests". I have not yet tried the sauna yet - sorry guys - there hasn't been any free time yet with all there is to do in Chiang Mai.

Unpacked my luggage and headed off to the "old walled city with a moat" which was about an hours walk away as the C17 is pretty far away from both the historic centre and popular Chang Phuak gay zone. I arrived on Sunday so that I could take advantage of the 1 time per week Sunday Walking Market. I think that this is the biggest open air market that I have seen in my life. It was packed with people just walking around enjoying the many concerts, handcraft shopping, art, performers, religious ceremonies, and incredible "food courts" that were set up in each of the grounds of the 3 or 4 Wats (Buddhist Temples) that I visited. I ate wonderful things that I have never eaten before. It was truly delightful to have seen this event for the several hours that I was able to. If you do visit Chiang Mai try to make sure that your visit includes a Sunday evening on the "Walking Street". I was so exhausted afterwards that I took the first tuk-tuk that I could find and payed the asking price of 200 bahts back to the hotel. Sauna already closed so I did not encounter any action (I would have been too tired anyway).

Next day after the wonderful breakfast I headed off by foot to discover the Nimmanhaeminda and Chang Phuak gay zone. It took about a 2 hour leisurely walk to get there and it was nice to see the contrasts in the various Chiang Mai neighborhoods. The gay zone is in a nice newer part of Chiang Mai with nice shops, bars, and stores, with many new condo buidings being constructed. I had hoped to have lunch in one of the gay restaurants but it being both a monday and also a government holiday (making it a 5 day weekend) the ones I had hoped to go to were closed for lunch. So walking back towards the centre I ate lunch in the big mall (Kad Suan) on the Huay Kaew Road - it was full of falangs which I found interesting.

Again exhausted, I took the first tuk-tuk from the mall to the "2 Brothers" massage place which is in the cool hippy backpacking hangout area of Chiang Mai which is near the main gate to the old city. To no surprise I chose the 4 hand 2 hour massage from 26 year old O (р╣Вр╕н) and 24 year old Aok (р╣Вр╕нр╣Кр╕Д). Showered alone and awaited their arrival in the small room with a low futon bed. Their massage was an excellent intense deep tissue massage for over 1.5 hours which is what I needed after all of the 2 days of walking. The "happy ending" was in the remaining 30 minutes and was less intense but ok. Then we showered together which was a lot of fun.

Afterwards, I told them that I wanted to buy them a drink in the downstairs bar and we hung out for about an hour together before they were taken by new arriving customers. It was great because I got to see how the other massage guys are chosen by the other customers. I realized that my choosing style is very polite and shy like while I saw other customers reject and then re-select the same guys that they already chose. Maybe it was a power thing. I tried to get the various massage boys to help me find a gay tour guide as I want to go out of Chiang Mai to see the mountains, jungle, elephants, and possibly the famous white Wat in Chiang Rai. With their limited English we did not get very far - but it looks like we are close to finding a gay guide who can drive and speak English.

http://www.2bmassage.com/

Wanted to take a short nap and either try out the sauna or head over to the Adams Apple go-go bar but my body slept until 23 - so I could not try either - so I wrote this trip update. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and they are having a party here - so I will check it out...

hopefully my report was not too boring. This portion of my trip will be more cultural as Chiang Mai does not have a Twilight zone like in Bangkok.

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