Tales from the Dragon

[arsenal]

The Freedom is Slavery one is interesting Jellybean and something I've thought about a lot here in China.

Through circumstances I won't go into at about midnight the night before total lockdown I had 20000rmb on me and was unable to get to the atm to deposit it.

I went to a park next to the canal to drink a milk tea and enjoy my last night of freedom for a while. Of all the things I was concerned about that night, being robbed of my money didn't enter my head. In the 'free' West you'd have to be totally insane to even go into a park at midnight let alone with over £2000 in your pocket.

Freedom comes in different shapes.

[christianpfc]

So I have time to think about all the really gorgeous boys who wanted to come with me but I turned down.
A few.

No such regrets (boys in Pattaya) from my side. If I met boy B instead of boy A, there must have been a reason (and even if the decision was wrong in hindsight, I had good reason to decide that way).

Nowadays I value a good sleep higher than sex, that's why I have a rule "no sex after midnight", i.e. after 11 pm I do not go on online dating or chat with the intention to meet. Only exception is disco, once per month when I was in Thailand before Corona.

I should have met the one or other boy in Pattaya more often instead of chasing new boys. But I have all their contact information, and will catch up once I'm back!

[arsenal]

Lockdown is coming to an end here. Just as I was happy to post that life here was great when seemingly the rest of the world was fucked I'm ready to admit it's been truly horrible for so many reasons.

For a start is was an actual locked in with becapped Communist Party gnomes guarding locked gates. 7.00am loudspeakers along every corridor calling everyone down to have a huge swab rammed down your throat. At night an endless tooing and froing of flashing lighted ambulances and police cars everywhere. The city management desperately trying to save themselves from the wrath of the party for their incompetence in the first place.

Food was never an issue, in fact I ate rather well, much better than the two weeks I spent in quarantine in March 2020 when I lived on nothing else but instant noodles and biscuits because someone was bringing it to me and I didn't want to put her to any trouble. But coffee got very low and at one point I thought I might run out of cigarettes when I was down to just one carton.

Plus ask any foreigner and they'll confirm 'the Chinese collective.' This is where the Chinese get together and collectively decide it's the foreigner's fault. Myself and my fellow wide eyes had real worries about bring arbitrarily taken away just so the authorities can tell their ruthless bosses they're dealing with the problem.

This last 21 days has however totally confirmed something I've often wondered about. My sentence involved staying in.my apartment with its view of the city, delicious food whenever I wanted it, cigarettes, coffee, unlimited internet access with an almost unlimited selection of tv shows and movies, hot power showers at will and all the comforts of a well appointed home. And I still found it difficult. So for me it's confirmed my opinion...These people like Harvey Weinstein, Phil Spector, Ghislaine Maxwell etc who are facing insurmountable evidence and odds and with it very very long sentences. I can't understand why they don't simply go into a locked room with a gun and end it because I think that is definitely preferable to incarceration.

[a447]

Posts unrelated to this thread have been moved here :

https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showt...-of-the-Dragon

A447
Moderator

[arsenal]

Out and about as the city comes out of locked in. The guys playing basketball. The canal at night and two boys who came to talk to me, one of whom gave me an Evel Knievel style ride past. Lovely to get out on the bike again and still nice and warm at midnight.

[Nirish guy]

Either ( or both !) of your motorcycle friends would do very nicely - so when they're coming to chat is that a "oh look a white guy lets go chat to him" or more the Pattaya style "I lie you, where you / we go ?" type conversation perhaps ?! :-) I guess if you play your cards right one conversation could well lead on to the other - or would they be horrified at the mere suggestion and run a mile at the merest hint of hopeful impropriety on your part maybe ?

[arsenal]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly..
1. A collection of photos.of the city at night. I didn't take them, a friend of mine did with a much better camera than mine. However I can say they are not enhanced in any way, it really does look like that.
2. One of the prison holding rooms still there around the city. I'm not sure how they were used and a few areas are still being held in isolation.
3. A few fisherman hoping to catch something from the rather polute canal. I don't know how they survive but there are fish a foot or more long in there.

[gerefan2]

God, I can see why you miss Pattaya...

[francois]

Oh, so that is where you are, Arsenal.

[arsenal]

Like any city there are lovely bits and less lovely bits including London and Pattaya. This is a particularly dark time for obvious reasons gerefan2 but yes, mini prison hospitals on the streets do not a pleasant sight make. However it's worth remembering that it's this disregard for niceties that has kept China running pretty much as normal while the rest of the world was at breaking point..