Sniff me!

On friday evening i and a (female) colleague were invited at my boss' house to say hi to his baby (less than 2 months old)... and...

Incredible: 

• I hold her (the baby not the colleague!), that was a first time for me
  
• She was deeply fascinated by my face
• She cried when it was time for me to go!

Anyway, that's a bit too bloggish for an anonymous blog. The interesting point is that my colleague sniffed several times the baby... If you are a reader of rqd you already know that thay boy sniff often instead of kissing.

Thus i wonder if vietnamese people do that too? From my experiences... never but i have some explanations. First, it could be for babies only. Indeed, when my bf kiss me he often jokes about doing "viet-kiss" (closed lips kiss... or smack i call that). Second, gays might be naughtier and dare to do the frecnh kiss (not all the time ^_^ ). Finally, i may smell really bad even after a shower >.< 

Still... it's so cuuuuuuute!

Final question: i wonder if gay people do that in thailand or is it the norm for every couple?

answer is no :

Wow - what an effect!

Photography

Usually i am very scathing with vietnam but i'm the type who criticizes what/who i like (and just don't bother with the rest).

Today is different because i found a vietnamese photographer whom i really like: Vamp. I don't think he's professionnal yet but he is definitely close to have the skills already.

An example, i really appreciate:

which is my desktop picture at the moment. The only problem of vamps is his habit to over-photoshop them or he has crazy skills taking photographies! :p

He has a lot of different styles of photographies: touristic photos like this one, the one i'm jealous of, one not shirtless boy (and not cute >.<) and an improbable gay couple... Just go check his collections.

In the future you may get some more images like this one (which is not from vamp):

(naaaaaaah this blog will not turn into shirtless boyz blog style 0:) )

(and yes this guy is vinameat :p)

Hook up online?

To meet guys there are a few places in Hanoi (bars, park, etc) as i previously wrote. The other alternative is on the web.

I found one main website to hook up online: gaydar  though gay.com (i tried...not so many guys) or gayromeo (never tried) but also vietsingle. I'm quite surprised by the last one as it is a "local only" dating site and it's operated locally. 

In contrary to what i know from field (bar) there are some lesbians too! Although after a quick check there is none from Ha Noi and most of them are from Saigon... what a shame for Ha noi! :p

Anyway, this post is just a little introduction for another one coming much later... :p

Comments ... FREE!

Woohoo!

I just had a few (2 actually) comments on this blog and i'm really happy to know that i may have readears, thanks!

I just realize  that comments were not opened to every one (blogger/openID only) so that was a bit  like:

Now it's opened to anyone !!! I hope i won't have to use my super moderator:

If you have any simple way to deal with spammed comment i would be happy to know and install it before it comes here.

ps: yes i'm another stupid fan of lolcats... "Sorry, me no has shirtless boyz collection".

Rainbow flag

Did you know ...

what symbolyze the rainbow flag apart the "gay community"?

At  first i thought it was many "sexualities" exist and are equals (and so say wikipedia).

That's untrue, each color has a different meaning:

• pink means sex
• red means life
• orange means health
• yellow means the sun
• turquoise means arts
• indigo means harmony
• purple means spirit

Although, the current flag has only 6 colors (check wikipedia for the story).

A little more about colors

We all know that pink is often associated with being gay, because of the pink triangle for the na..zi, though it's quite incorrect now, especially asia. Indeed, according to gayboythailand (sorry i forget where it is) the asian color for gay "show off" seems to be purple (i'm gonna enquire about it with my bf but i think there is no semi-official gay sign). 

A bit more information about the rainbow flag, here, an abstract:

The first Rainbow Flag was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, who created the flag in response to a local activist's call for the need of a community symbol. (This was before the pink triangle was popularly used as a symbol of pride.) Using the five-striped "Flag of the Race" as his inspiration, Baker designed a flag with eight stripes: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. According to Baker, those colors represented, respectively: sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. Baker dyed and sewed the material for the first flag himself - in the true spirit of Betsy Ross. 

Coming out status

I had two purpose with this blog:

1. An outlet: at the very beginning i wanted to make a personnal diary to express all the things i could not.
2. Share my (gay) life in Hanoi: later on, the first purpose was quite left aside and i wanted to talke how it is to be gay in such a city.

Recently, i have talked only about number 2 but today is number 1...mostly.

I am officialy-to-myself gay since around june 2007 while i met my bf in late July (yeah we both forget the exact date -_-). Actually it is thanks to a housemate: she told me "it's weird, usually, i don't get along with boys like these appart gays" and then i told her (and myself) that i may have some questioning on the subject. 

After being with my bf, quickly all the housemates have been told about it. The last one, a boy, could not understand what i said and though for a few days it was joke but then he understood. It was no problem COs as we were young westerners “opened to the world".

A bit later on, a new housemate arrived, a very posh and not very resourceful guy. I knew, it would be a problem but we were not getting along so we didn't met so often. Althoug, once we've  been at the nightclub at the same time, quite drunk, and he told me: 

"i have something to tell you..." (why we don't get along etc) 

so i answered him 

"Nice, me too i have something to tell you, i prefer boyz and i know you can't take it". 

His answer is memorable:

"No, You, you don't take that" (like to take drugs), 5 times in a row!

That is the worse reaction to my CO so far though i had no pressure for this one.

Later on (last winter), i finally decided to tell my best friend about it. I did it using skype late at night, it was not easy to say the words without seeing the person but finally it came out. His reaction was "ah ok" which is quite ok ;) but what suprised me is that he already had a MSM experience and it was his first time but it was not his type... I asked him not to tell our shared friends as i was not ready yet.

A bit before summer, a friend came to Vietnam and i decided to tell him though i knew if i tell him, most of my friends will be informed. After many tries, i finally succeed to say:

 "ok wanna have a drink after dinner" 

- "no i'm tired"

- "you are sure?"

- "yes i'm really exausted"

5min later

- " well i want to take a drink because i have something to tell you"

This time it was difficult because he was in front of me but finally i succeeded and he had the  "ah ok" reaction. After that he met my bf and we chatted a bit. He stayed one more week in Vietnam so i had this time to prepare my friends back home.

As often, i was lazy and i call just 2 before his coming back and the rest after that. All of them were surprised, but had the "ah ok" reaction, but not shocked and wished me"be happy together".

The final CO was eventually to my family. That was the most difficult and still going on...but may evolve toward a good end.

Today, i got the idea that it may be the time for me to start my COs with vietnamese people. Shortly, there are two (maybe 3) categories of vietnamese i know who i may do a CO.

Colleagues

When i say "colleagues" it is only the young ones that may be able not to kick me right away. I tried to do a few jokes like "well i'm not very good at getting a girlfriend so maybe i show go for boyfriend?", their answers were a big minute long silence. Although, i think the women may take it quite ok while i think the men will take it quite bad.

Friends

I don't have so much friends that are not my colleagues but they are more open minded people (in my opinion). Actually, according to my dear friend N., one of them, a girl, may have guessed already...too bad she's one of the few i'd like to try again *** with 0:-)

Why doing a coming out to vietnamese?

The first reason is that there is a lot of gossip about me (like anyone else though especially singles) and one includes a former "affair" (i use to try to date) with a girl. It's some time i don't think about her (Hey i've been with my BF more than 1 year now) but some people still think i'm depsaired about her.

Another reason is that i would like to be free to say "yeah i'm not single anymore" and "sure, i'll come with bf"...sweet but impossible i think.

The last reason is that it would such a great pleasure to make them understand "you liked me but i was sucking dicks...so what do you think now? Will you fuck up your mind thinking i was a just an asshole since the beginning or try to accept it?" ... that would be nice!

It's more likely not to happen anytime soon but stay tuned!

Backlash

I didn't play so much with boyz when i was single though once i met a specific guy. This guy was starving for sex and why especially? Because he's married! Yes, it's pretty common here, notably for more than 30 years old gay (i think).

Actually, i didn't really want to meet him but unfortunately he studied in my home country, speaks my mother tongue and guessed easily from a few hints where i work. Thus i agreed to meet.

He was not the kind of boy i like  (sissy but nasty)  but i was starving too... Plus he was back in Vietnam since 6 months and it seems he had no man since that and.... "oi troi oi".

Finally, i decided not to ever see him again (Hanoi is not full of boyz but there are more than a few :p).

What happend today?

As everyday, i was iddling reading some websites when 2 guests arrived! This guy and a friend!

 My colleague introduced them to me. The guy is a friend of the other one and has no reason to be here beside that (officially... unofficially i guess it's for me or to see some neat westerners :p). I think i blushed a little at first but then i played it cool, even some chit-chat with him.

Actually, since the day i met him i was afraid of him to come to my work but then nothing happened. I just wonder if he'll try to contact me again (IM, dating website, phone, ...)?

Condom in Vietnam

Unlike Thailand, with its 7-11, it's not easy to find (good) condoms in Vietnam (Hanoi).

When i arrived and i started to need some i luckily found some western (durex) quality checked condoms in the Vincom maul as long as lubricant. Unfortunately, the stock was out in a few weeks.

Often supermarkets have some big arrival of western stuff

 then nothing anymore, i guess it's some discarded stuff.

Though, i am a bad foreigner who likes to have some westerner delicacies once in a while (a bit more often indeed), i know some westerner oriented shops and there i found the precious stuff to have safely some local delicacies ;). Thus i advise you to go to so

me westerner oriented shop or grocery they are much likely to have western quality condoms. 

The other place, i  have yet to check, is condomviet which has a website with a bit of english. While searching again for this website in order to do this post, i happen to find this: sexshopviet. Unfortunately it seems to be only in HCMC not in Hanoi... 

By the way i tried Vietnamese condoms called

 "Romantic".... it's a bit rough/thick, that is why i thought this issue deserve a post here.

Konheo

Con Heo means (the) pig in Vietnamese but it's not its sole meaning. In slang it designates also the porn stuff.  Why do i talk about that? because of this : konheo.com. 

It's a vietnamese design t-shirt shop. They make a lot of playwords in vietnamese (that i don't understand)  and they have some cute (straight) couple's t-shirts:

Ok they are not really good to do sexy photo yet but they are working on it ;)

Bangkok dangerous

I am a bit shameful using such a title...though it was that but not where i though!
 Here's the tale of 2 gays and 5 straight (beginners) in a 3 days week-end in Sin city.

Day 1: Table tennis
Bangkok resident and connoisseurs may know what i mean but to say it's straight it's: Ping Pong Show!
I had a quite good idea of what is it before actually see it thus i was not really motivated to go there but my male (straight) teammates were beginners to Bangkok and so wanted to see its dark side. I think a good ol' gogo bar would have been enough for them but they didn't know that.

So, we followed a Bangkok friend (farang) of mine to the (in)famous... Patpong who was following a tout who caught us on our way. A., my friend, went in to check the "quality" (i.e. swindle or not) and said everything was ok.

On stage, there were a few girls hanging between poles and some ladyboyz, the most 'beautiful' (and not only for me). Actually, girls were pretty ugly and quite fat (thai standards) but had some special abilities:

• Ping pong ball cannon

They put lubricated  balls in their pussy and shoot it at you, your job is to kick it back in a bucket using a racket. Side effects: you may get some lubricant (water only i think) or get the ball in your face.

• Bottle opening

You know the classic soda water you can buy in Thailand (to go along your sang som)...these girls can open it (tearable cap) with their pussy. Side effect: you might get wet (some of my friends were).

• Razor blade dispenser

They are able to have chained razors in their pussy... i let you find out how (read 'butterfly' if you cannot find...though it's not really interesting litterature). Side effect: impressive on newbies.

• Dart cannon

Same same ping pong balls  plus they aim at balloons, accuracy cas less 30%. Side effect: the most funny one?

Every good moment has an end and it was time to go...'check bill': 5400 bahts for 7 people, including entry fee + drink + girls drink + show. Eventually, when my friend went in for a quick check he asked for this kind of scam, no show or entry fee they said, and when in he paid a few drinks for the girls to be a nice customer...and still they try to scam us. I have to agree we looked like good stupid tourists but unfortunately my friend speaks thai and i know how to behave in this kind of situation: stay calm (while my beginners were getting fed up).

Actually, my sissy beginners were uncomfortable after 15min when girls came to them and started to tease them (how innocent isn't it?) so my friend asked the bill but it took him 15min of thai talking to reduce the bills to less than 2000bahts  (still expensive) while my friends got nervous... like the other customers.

They had the same kind of scam but were real beginners and got nervous....instantaneously big guys came in the room and made them more "relaxed". They got out right after us and were very fed up about the price (though one guy was really into this kind of show...). 

Some advices going there: ask if there is any entry/show fee, pay a drink or two to girls, stay calm and don't hesitate to talk without any nervosity... if you are being scammed for real you may try to call the tourist police (they always have a car near patpong), if you can it will sort things out but big guys may prevent you to do so and ... ;)

Day 2: Issan 'disco'

After a nice dinner on a terrasse next to Chao Praya river, i brought my dear newbies to some real thai live show: Issan cultural center (maybe the name in english). It was also the time to take a tuk tuk... just 5 people. Unfortunately, the driver understood "Issan mansion" so we had to ask our way in the street and a very gentle (but maybe a bit drunk) guy led us there (more than 5min walk, big thanks!).

We were among the first customers and dressed quite too well for that kind of place but i felt ok as i know the place.

It took around 1h for the place to get packed and so we had the traditionnal opening of the big show: national anthem.

After that it was usual stuff (for me). A mix of song and jokes. Usually i don't answer jokes as it is in thai and it's spoken only but this time it was played too. It was a (fake) ladyboy  interpreting the traditional fishing dance. Instead and detting fish in his net he attracted fish with his pussy. Unfortunately it seems he was unlucky...so he finished the job using a cucumber.  it may seems not smart but was very fun and especially while he was teasing the lead singer while he introduced the next show. Afterwards we moved to the hype disco: santhika...live music but very so so for me.

Day 3: Gogo boyz

My first time in the sinfulDuangthawee Plaza.

Quite close to the infamous Patpong there are 2 or 3 gay Soi. I knew the Silom Soi 4 with its Balcony and Telephone pub but i never dare to get a drink there, i just been to the Tapas disco (not gay oriented one). I knew also the Silom soi 2 with the famous DjStation though i never dared to go into the Soi. Finally that was the good day to get in!

I went there with my bf only. We took BTS and walked through thaniya plaza (i think), the japanese version of patpong.Contrary to patpong, the grils are dressed, out of the bars and nobody talked to me. I had a few smiles from the girls when they understood i was with a bf. Although, most of the time people thought my bf is a money boy and thai thus they speak first in thai to him: funny for me.

We had an ok dinner at Dick's cafe (i took a giant hamburger and my mouth was not big enough...) in company of a fewold  farangs some with (much) younger bf. After the dinner, i finally asked the manager where to go for a good show, he told me about the DreamBoy which a show 1h later. 

That left us some times to have a look around and try another first bar. We went to the Siam Angel Boy as they conveniently opened a bit the door for boyz to eye catch while i was having dinner... kinky :p

No entry fee nor show fee here, just expensive drinks (200bahts whatever you drink). Most of the time boyz stay on stage standing in underwear only (though including their mobile phone sometimes), sometimes they move a bit, talk a bit and that's all... so so though they are quite sexy.

Show Time

That was our first show ever... not so bad. Loud music (starwars style) while the stage curtains reveal two boyz. They start "showering" using a water bottle, erotic :p, then one is giving some pleasure to the other one... I was quite surprise because from the beginning of the show they have a hard one (it slips out) and have a condom on (safety first!) but i think they use some trick or drug (viagra?) to do so. The second part of the show was a boy having a shower in a cabin on the opposite wall of us.

After that we went to the second bar: same kind of place but much bigger, sexier boyz and more different boyz style.

In contrary the show was a real one here. It started with many boyz dancing (with some piece of clothes) on a song in the style of the Chicago musicals. They were really good dancers! The second part was: a simili SM action, 2 boyz taking pleasure from a third one, throwing him away (even on a ladder) and use some soft rubber thingy to lash him: definetly not my thing. Eventually the three had the hard on with condom...

Next was a girl (the only one apart from one in the audience) presenting some nice boyz and their thing, she always played with it and even kissed it sometimes... Then a few boyz parade with fur clothes as girls but not even ladyboy style. The bald with a small beard guy had the most applaused, really funny part.

The final was two boyz (one as a girl) imitating Carrabao (most famous thai band) but the man got shot down (bang bang) "HEEEEEELP call the doctor" and here it comes with 2 nurses. By all means they healed the shot guy, electrochoc, wc suction-cup, kiss of life, giant dildo. Everything was just for fun (no the 50x10cm dildo was not actually used!) and it was really really funny especially when nurses disputed to take advantage of the healed guy!

After such a funny show we moved on to DjStation. Nothing much to say apart that we arrived at the end of the life show (with a really fat guy vaguely disguised as a girl and he was so sissy it was funny) though some comment:

Plenty of boyz, some nice, not so many farangs but it was really cruising time, most of the people were not really dancing so we had to start the show ourselves. I was surprized as we were the only actually dancing and touching each other (not it a really kinky way :p). We were next to 2 big hunks and a fat colorful guy with huge 70's sunglasses, at least he was enjoying partying. 

That is all for this Bangkok report. Next time i will check for more places to go and especially more thai oriented one, after coming back home i found some nice listing that i will post here before my come back to Bangkok!

Last comment from my bf: all thais boyz look sissy! :-D

Iron woman

Funny picture though it's never said too often...

Karaoke

I'm back from Bangkok but i don't have enough time to write about it now. Instead just a funny anecdote at the karaoke.

It has been a long time for me and especially for my friend N. thus she decided to organize again (the 2 previous attempt were crashed thanks to rain mostly) a karaoke. We know a very nice karaoke, thanks to L. , which has a lot of english song and you can choose directly the music with the remote control (most of karaoke here need you to find songs in the list then give it to the "DJ"). Actually, this plus the athmosphere let me guess (this time only) that this place is also a whorehouse but who cares really?

Anyway, the funny part is that N., another housemate, went with us for his first karaoke in Vietnam and he sang YMCA which is great as sometimes he has some homophobic talking (and blogging...just when he is drunk). Unfortunately (for me) i didn't take any video of that!

Actually, i am quite surprise because he did that and he tried several times to take a romantic picture of me and my bf but has N. is a bit old school in photography he didn't manage to succeed with brand new all automatic camera...poor us. More surprising he will try again when he receives is good ol' camera bought on ebay... Stay tuned!

Back home

We did it!

I have to say that i ama very good tour guide that sux! All the places i brought my friend were much appreciated though almost everytime i did some mistake. I started by missing the BTS station, took several taxis with just the name of the place and eventualy the taxi say "yes yes i know" and finally they don't. Nevertheless we were quite lucky, especially when going to some 99% thai live show.

We were dropped of near an hotel with a similar name but by asking people in the street, one of them brought us to the correct place. After that they decided to go to a night club recommended by a friend of mine but i didn't know where (except thong lo district). The taxi said "yes yes" when asked if he knew the way. Unfortunately, after speeding and making my friends nervous in the car he told us that he does'nt the way but we asked again to a nice mototaxi the way and here we go... The rest of the adventures later...