Hi you maniacs:

Three months of separation from cyberspace has served me well - as I once again return to my first life and take on the role of a responsible working man with the appearance of actually caring about whatтАЩs going on around me. I just returned home from 3 months in LOS тАУ all of which were spent in Pattaya totally avoiding (as always) nuisances such as newspapers, news broadcasts, the internet and any other form of media or modern gizmo which would invade my valued free- space.

I found Pattaya to be wonderful as always and the drop in tourism suited me fine with fewer farang clogging up the beer bars thus providing more visibility to the pearls of Pattaya (the boys). With the international boat racing competition and international fireworks display Pattaya was really hopping. These events, coupled with the Honorable Kings Birthday, Loy Krathong, Christmas and New YearтАЩs celebrations provided a fun and very vibrant atmosphere.

I wonтАЩt bother giving an update on the bars because I know you maniacs chew this topic apart daily. I will say that I ranked Euro Boy Gogo in Sunee Plaza as the best of the bunch for a newly re-opened bar. Ulla the manager has done a great job recruiting some real hot numbers, many of which were offed before the night even started. The bar is a single-stall and can only staff about a dozen boys, but the quality of the staff is what really impressed me. I didnтАЩt do the gogo scene too much but always enjoyed a stop-in at Euro Boy.

The Corner Bar where I have always hung my hat on previous adventures is now completely fucked. The new owners started by firing the entire staff (6 boys) before finding suitable replacements , which in-turn alienated the regular freelancers (about 6 more boys) who used to frequent Corner to the point that they are now boycotting the place due to the harsh and unjust treatment of the previous staff resulting in an empty bar. The owners then jerked the TV sets off the walls and stuck a female behind the bar to manage the place which was the nail in the coffin. This has set the stage for yet another advertisement readingтАжтАЭCorner Bar For SaleтАЭ, which will probably be posted before Songkran arrives this year. The moral of this storyтАжтАЭNo Boys тАУ No Baht.тАЭ

A boy named Bas who I had befriended during my previous holiday moved out of my room shortly after my arrival in LOS in October. This was the result of a decision I had made shortly after returning home from my last holiday which I felt was the best course of action considering the situation I have with Thep who is still incarcerated. Bas is a wonderful person in all regards and I adore him as a person and still cherish him as a friend. The living together arrangement just wasnтАЩt going to work. I found my apartment to be spotless clean just the way I left it тАУ and Bas had paid the electric bill as he promised without a hitch. I hated to see him go тАУ but this decision I felt was best for both he and I. Bas now has his own apartment and left the working scene to work as a full-time waiter at The Mango Tree Restaurant in Central Festival. He still attends the technical school on Sundays and remains determined to make a good life for himselfтАжa real gem of a person.

Thep became very ill shortly after my return home from my previous holiday back in June of last year which resulted in him being transferred to an outside hospital which is a rare event for an inmate of that hell-hole. After I had received word of his condition from a friend who was visiting the prison I contacted his family in SiSaket, who, at my request, immediately left Si Saket and arrived at Nong Palai a day later only to find Thep in a near death condition still lodged in the prison hospital. They went immediately to the Pattaya court with a lawyer in tow and requested an order to have Thep admitted to a real hospital for treatment. The judge granted the order and Thep was then transferred to Chon Buri Hospital in critical condition. When he arrived at the hospital he had to be put on life support and remained in the ICU for the next 3 weeks. His parents stayed by his side for a total of 5 weeks at the hospital which I believe saved ThepтАЩs life.

He was diagnosed with tuberculosis which is wide-spread in Thai prisons which fortunately is a curable disease, although the recovery period is 6 months requiring heavy doses of a myriad of different antibiotics. He was reduced to a skeleton and falling in-and-out of consciousness during his stay in the prison hospital and they had no intention whatsoever of sending him to a real hospital which, sadly, is the way it works in this wonderful Kingdom of ours. They simply let the prisoners die to avoid the high cost of medication, stamp a few papers, call the immediate family, and cart the remains of the body off to be cremated тАУ at thatтАЩs that. If ThepтАЩs parents hadnтАЩt arrived at Nong Palai when they did Thep would not be alive now.

I had cleared my work schedule and had plans to come to LOS a month early to be at his side тАУ but was convinced by his sister Phot that he was now in good hands and his family would stay by his side until my return. I was able to talk to Thep daily during his stay at Chon Buri and stayed in a position to jump on a plane in a flash if his condition didnтАЩt continue to improve as it was.

Thep survived this near-death situation and was returned to prison hospital just one week before my arrival. Once I arrived theps other family members returned to Si Saket, although his mother stayed behind. I felt his mother was good medicine for him and asked her to remain there with me which she gladly agreed to. I rented her a small room just 5 minutes from Nong Palai and she met me at the prison every morning to visit Thep. Thep had to be transferred to the visitors section each morning via a wheelchair as he was still unable to walk on his own. His strength and overall condition began to improve incrementally which was nothing short of a miracle. By the time the next 3 months passed Thep had been on the TB medication for 5 months and the light at the end of the tunnel was beginning to shine brightly. His smile returned to his face тАУ that sparkle I just love returned to his eyes тАУ and all we talked about was him getting out of that hell-hole so we could begin enjoying life again.

As a result of the Honorable Kings amnesty, Thep will be released sometime in February or March of this year. Unfortunately we canтАЩt zero in on the release date any closer than this due to the fact that they (Nong Palai) simply donтАЩt tell anyone anything until the last minute. If Thep is released prior to my next return in April his parents will take him to a hospital in Ubon Ratchathani for a complete check-up prior to returning to his home in Si Saket which is a short drive from Ubon.

Similar to my two previous holidays, I was restricted to Pattaya and had a set routine of visiting Thep in the mornings which consumed the first half of each day and spent most afternoons working on a new apartment I had secured in early October. The building where my previous apartment was located in Jomtien was put up for sale and my one year lease expired on December 30 тАУ so apartment hunting I went. This actually turned out to be a blessing as I turned this into a project which kept me busy in the afternoons which are usually the boring periods for me anyway.

My goal was to secure a cheap one room studio due to the fact that after ThepтАЩs release from the monkey house my stays in PTY during future holidays will be shortened drastically. I began looking for a Thai dwelling which I could, with a minimal investment, convert into a farang dwelling. For those who may not be aware of the difference; A Thai rental (priced for Thais) does not include air-con, a hot water shower or farang style toilet. Typically these one room studios rent for 2,500 тАУ 3,500/month. The same unit if converted to farang style (with air-con, hot water shower & toilet) rent for anywhere between 8,000 тАУ 12,000 baht/month depending on the location. Spending the money to convert one of these places only makes sense if you intended of keeping it for a long time. The conversion costs are approximately 30,000 baht (air-con 20,000bt, toilet 5,000 bt, shower 5,000 baht).

I found exactly what I was looking for located on Soi 17 just 100 yards from the Phupaya Resort. Sitting directly across the soi from my building is a new health club/spa & swimming pool (PRS) which was actually what I was in the neighborhood looking at when I spotted the room for rent. The building is Chinese owned and managed by a wonderful Thai woman named Da who is assisted by her farang husband Eddy (retired-England) both of whom couldnтАЩt be friendlier or more outgoing. There is only one other farang living in the building, a women also from England, who confirmed what I was told by Da and Eddy, that the rent will never increase and she has resided there for 7 years and seems very content.

The unit is 28 sqm located on the rear side of the building which is blocked from the soi traffic and quiet in the evenings. It has a comfortable sized hung nam and back porch equipped with a marble counter and sink with running water. I completed the conversion in early December and made the final furniture move in mid-December. I have a one year lease which stipulates that all the furnishings including the air-conditioner are my property and will remain in my possession in the event I ever decide to move out. I paid 42,000 baht (3,500/month) and have free cable TV, high-speed WIFI and secure storage for my motorbike for when IтАЩm away.

I could never live in a one room unit full-time, but this will serve the purpose in which it was intended. There was enough room for my bedroom set, sofa/love seat, refrigerator/microwave, entertainment system and large closets with overhead storage which are permanent fixtures in the unit. I installed a vertical canvass canopy on the porch (similar to the type that all the restaurants and bars have) which helps block the sun in the afternoons and can be lowered all the way to keep the rain out. I then built a cabinet for dishes and cooking utensils out of mango wood (a 2 week project) and purchased a two-burner stovetop for light cookingтАжand wallahтАжa mini kitchen!

IтАЩm now right across the soi from a swimming pool (my second most favorite hobby тАУ my first put on hold until next April) and have a laundry located in the same building. Within walking distance is a 24 hour Family Mart, internet shop, motorbike repair shop, open-air fruit & vegetable market, Thai massage parlor and a half dozen Thai food stalls and restaurantsтАжwhat more does a man need?

Due to the fact that I had a 5:30 AM wake up each morning to make it to Nong Palie before the heavy crowds, I usually went to bed early. My breakfasts upon returning from Nong Palai were always at Two Guys which is my favorite place in general, not only for the great breakfasts and commoradory with other visiting farang, but also to visit John the owner who is a terrific guy and always a pleasure to chat with. I enjoyed playing my guitar in the evenings whilst attempting to scramble a musical recipe together which meshed western pop and/or soft rock with Isaan country music which kept me entertained for hours. IтАЩm not insinuating that I was very productive at this тАУ just entertainedтАж555.

Friday and Saturday nights were mostly spent in Sunee тАУ resting my elbow at either Corner Bar (which slowed mid-way through my holiday) or Forest House which staffs a group of very friendly boys. Yaya Bar is also one of my favorites and staffs a great bunch of boys, although, that being BasтАЩs previous place of employment I elected to avoid interactions with his friends. I made several new friendsтАжgathered a dozen new phone numbers (which IтАЩll burn before April)тАжand drank enough beer on the weekends to still qualify myself as an idiot. Frankly, I believe that if a man reaches his 50тАЩs and still hasnтАЩt grown up тАУ he doesnтАЩt have too.

As far as IтАЩm concerned the gay scenes in Boyztown and Sunee Plaza havenтАЩt changed at all with the exception of new owners buying old business and the names on the signs changing which has always been the true nature of Gay Pattaya. These places always remain in a constant state of flux, and with the exception of fewer tourists due to the current economic conditions, I really see very little change. There are in fact less drug users on the sois as a result of the current campaign against drugs which is a good thing. And, as most of you already know, most of the young kids have been removed from the sois which is also a good thing. Frankly, it was never the kids who bothered me in the least, it was the low-life weirdoтАЩs that they attracted that needed to be cleared out.

All-in-all, I made the best of this holiday considering the situation with Thep and look forward to my return in April more than ever. I will be spending a considerable amount of time with Thep and his family in Si Saket and canтАЩt wait to hit the waterfalls at Khun Han again and my fishing trips with Pam and Ape (ThepтАЩs younger cousins). My visits to Pattaya in the future (including next holiday) will probably be for 5-7 day max durations which should provide the right balance between the bright lights and beer bars and our humble abode in the jungle.

Mai pen rai

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