It’s been so cold the last few days, I’ve spent a lot of time indoors futzing on the computer. Yesterday, I learned the difference between files and libraries in Windows 7! And between sorting and grouping. This has major implications on my massive digital photo archive.
Dreary Me
While distracting myself from sorting and grouping, I also learned a few new tricks in Picasa, the free photo editing and organizing program from Google. Just for the fun of it, I transformed an otherwise dreary photo into an eye catching masterpiece of color, expression, and mood. It’s of myself, btw.
This particular piece de resistance was created using the duotone feature, and the comic book feature in editing tools. It’s titled “Self Portrait In Winter Blues”.
More Warmth Coming
Please stay tuned for warmer and more sunshiny postings from my recent visit to Thailand. Why not subscribe by adding your e mail address below, and be the first to see my latest photo, food, travel, and man adventures.
I’m delighted to be resuming duties for EdgeSanFranciso.com tonight with a photo adventure to Pan Dulce at The Cafe. It happens in the Castro every Thursday, here’s my top 20 outtakes from their August 29th event:
Click For Mas
Click through on any of these delicious pieces of eye candy to see mas, mucho mas, in my gallery of 339 outtakes from that evening.
More Of PhotojimSF’s Photo Adventures
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See The Original
Here’s the original assignment as it appears in the nightlife section of EdgeSanFrancisco.com, the leading gay news and entertainment web portal!
Pan Dulce @ The Cafe :: August 29, 2013
by photojimsf | Nightlife | Miami’s Vinna Rouge brought heat to the stage with tequila shot pours and a stunning Selena impersonation. More hotness came from the Hunk Guys from Guadalajara, kicking off a four day tour of Club Papi events across northern California.
Underwear Fashion Show on Amazon!
Do you enjoy looking at gorgeous men in skimpy little nothings as much as I do? I’ve curated a scandalous selection, you’ll be surprised at what’s shown on Amazon.com these days. Why not gift yourself, your man, (or your favorite private dancer!) with a sexy pair of underwear? Since I’m an affiliate, I get a small boner, umm, I mean bonus, for every purchase made, whether on this list or not, within 48 hours of your click through. Thanks again for stopping by and supporting my photo adventures.
In December of 2008, a fine young gentleman, Chai, was riding with me on the songtaew (aka baht bus) back to Pattaya, Thailand. He had just spent the day showing me around the infamous Dongtan Gay Beach.
Passengers on this songtaew get drenched at Songkran, the Thai water fight festival. Songtaew means two rows, they’re the blue pick up trucks with two rows of seats in the back with an open air roof covering. They cost ten or twenty baht and follow fixed routes on the main roads. They tend to have at least half a dozen passengers, often crammed at rush hour when a dozen or more squeeze on.
No Touching Please
Public displays of affection are considered impolite, gay or straight, in the Kingdom of Thailand. Yet I noticed in Pattaya, Phuket, and other high tourist areas, PDA’s are quite common between farangs (white foreigners) and locals. So I was tickled, flattered, and embarrassed at the same time when Chai placed his hand on my knee during the ride. What a sweet man, I thought.
I found out later, the hand on the knee thing was about something else. Especially in Pattaya, the world capital of sex tourism. There’s more hookers and moneyboys here than noodles in China! On the surface it appears to be an endearing, charming gesture of affection. It’s really about marking territory, warning potential rivals to keep their fangs off of this mealticket!
Spoon Feeding is OK
I was only crushed for a minute or two. Chai was such a delightful gentleman anyway, showing me around, opening doors, carrying heavy packages for me. He introduced me to new exotic foods, spoon feeding me with delicious mystery chicken and shrimp dishes he’d bring from his favorite street vendors.
That happens to me a lot here, the spoon feeding thing. An editor and travel buddy still talks about the dinner at the famous Babylon bath house in Bangkok. There we were, three of us newspaper muckety mucks, and a gorgeous bombshell on the half shell I had met in the “Garden of Secret Delights”. Live jazz tickled our ears. The waiters, fully decked out in formalwear waited on us hand and foot, the four of us just barely covered with bath towels. My geisha of the moment didn’t speak English, or even decent Thai. But he compensated by peeling and spoon feeding me succulent prawns. It was quite the performance.
Why just today, Ran, my current on and off again main squeeze for five years now, spoon fed me some delicious tom ka gai. That’s mushroom, chicken, and several other non-edible to farangs tree stumps, grasses, and spices, swimming in a coconut and chicken broth, sweetened with palm sugar. Aloy aloy (yummy).
Let Sleeping Dogs Lay
The boys do tend to hover and wait on you, hoping to keep you “happeee happeee”, and undistracted by all the other moneyboys vying for your attention. Chai was doing a wonderful job keeping me happy until we had an unfortunate misunderstanding about, money. I won’t bore you with the details, it was five years ago and it’s best to let sleeping dogs lay, right?
I’ve seen him in Sunnee Plaza on every trip since then, but it was on this trip that we finally sat down and spoke. I was cruising Sunnee again and saw him lounging in one of the beer gardens. He looked great! I waived and wai’d and then moved on, as I had before.
Honor The Good
Five, ten minutes later and I’m still thinking about Chai. Mostly about all the nice times we had. Wouldn’t it be nice to honor that, and let go of the one unhappiness that ended it all? I turned back, almost racing, to see if he’s still there. He was! I gave him a big smile, and a big hug. And offered him a drink. He graciously accepted, and seemed glad to see me, and that I finally spoke.
Still Looks Great
Did I say he still looks great? There he is in a red Ralph Lauren shirt (probably fake), more manly, a bit more filled out, five years has been kind. He still doesn’t speak much English, and my Thai is even more limited. But he did share that Howard’s Guest House was gone, Replaced by a high rise luxury boutique hotel that caters to Muslims. Howard’s was where I stayed and he worked, and where we met five years ago. Here’s Chai back then:
The Hand On The Knee Thing Again
There’s not much more to talk about after a minute or two of exhausting our miniscule shared vocabulary. But we did sit rather close on the pillowed rattan love seat, looking and smiling at each other a lot. And then the hand on the knee thing, lol.
Mission Accomplished
Five or ten minutes of hands on knees, with a few grabs here, there, and elsewhere, and our drinks are done. I pay the bill, and give him a fat tip. Neither of us brought up the past, nor the future (meaning I didn’t book him for a date, and he didn’t give the sales pitch). A nice long, affectionate embrace, a hand shake, many thank you’s, and I’m out of there. Mission accomplished: I can now think of Chai in a much nicer way. I really enjoyed myself, I hope he did too. All is forgiven (but not forgotten).
More of Jimbo’z Fairy Tales From Afar
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Virtual Pushcart
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Today an elderly Thai man made short work of my face with a straight razor. Don’t worry, its not as bad as it sounds. I say elderly, because he looked about 40, which for a Thai means about 60. I was killing time between appointments at Pattaya International Hospital, a four hour wait between a battery of tests and an eye exam. All part of a “men’s fifty and up tourist annual checkup package”.
British Barfly
I decided to get a haircut and shave at a barber that was recommended by one of the drunk Brit barflies back at the DD Inn. Although his manners were far from it, his grooming was impeccable. He couldn’t remember the name, but gave excellent directions: Find the Mongkol Buddhist Temple in Pattaya. Everyone knows where that is, including google maps.
The Scenic Route
Turns out, his directions were a bit round-a-bout, but the direct route is annoyingly crowded with heavy foot and vehicle traffic. Instead, walk south on 2nd road a block, past the school yard. Turn left on soy 17, the Sikh Temple is a few hundred feet on the right (see funny side note about this from Teakdoor.com).
Continue eastward past the temple, the smelly fish market, and several blocks of dirty, crowded, shops, and Viagra pharmacies, until you come to Pattaya Tai 13 (alley no. 13). You know your there when you see these two incense sellers who’ve lost their heads.
Turn left onto allley 13, now heading north. On the left, a few doors in, there are two barbershops. It’s the first one. Ask for chair number one.
English Not Spoken Here
The name of the place is Hollywood Barber. How original. I walk in and no one speaks english, and they are ushering me into a chair towards the back, where it’s a lady barber’s turn. I politely assert that I wanted chair number one, “goot flen lecommen”. An elderly gent turns beet red, not easy for a dark skinned Thai, but seems grateful and flattered. Everyone breaks out hooting and hollering, about what I know not.
Through language difficulty, embarrassment, gesturing, and sheer perseverance, I managed to indicate I wanted a complete haircut and shave. As I said, the cut and shave was so fast I barely noticed it had even started. He could have been a surgeon in another life. It’s the guy seated on the left:
But You’re Treated Like A Queen
For the next hour and a half, I was pampered like a king, or, umm, queen! Hairline shape up, nose hair trim, ear hair trim. Facial massages with 6 or 7 various creams, gels, lotions, astringents. I fell asleep several times it was so relaxing.
A Secret To Looking Young
A layer of some type of rubber cement was applied. While drying, he gave a top notch head, neck, shoulder, arm, and hand massage. When the epoxy was lifted, so was about 15 years of age! Now you know one of the many Thai secrets of looking young. All of this for 560 Thai baht, or just under $21 US, including tip.
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A quick Google search yielded this funny tidbit from “Dirty Dog” on the popular TeakDoor.com’s forums:
“This Gurudwara Sahip Sikh Temple is down Soi 17 in South Pattaya about 400 meters from Walking Street, Now obviously Walking Street has loads of Tailor shops so this is where they go to make merit for their sins, and they do make merit, Soi 17 is the one that runs behind the South Pattaya market and is filled with run down crappy old shophouses that haven’t seen a coat of paint in 15 years, but the Sikh Temple does tend to stand out a bit amongst these run down buildings, so obviously they are raking in the dosh from the sinful Tailors, they must be doing some really nasty stuff to hand over this sort of dosh.
Next door to the Temple is Ravi Indian Supermarket, this is the place to get all that hard to get Indian spices and stuff in Pattaya.
The only trouble with this Soi is that it is way too narrow, if 2 cars park on opposite sides of the road then no cars can get through, and obviously this being Thailand this happens quite often.”
Virtual Pushcart
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I wish all of my friends, including you, my devoted viewers, could join me on my relaxation adventure here on Dongtan Beach, near Pattaya, Thailand. I’m staying at the extremely affordable ($21 a night) DD Inn Guesthouse, just 50 feet off the beach. My typical day consists of waking up around noon, slaving away at my blog, or hanging out at the air conditioned Tuk Com or Central Festival shopping malls where I feast on ice creams and gelatos.
When the heat breaks, around 4 or 5 pm, I take my new Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play unlocked international version for a photo adventure on the beach. The goal is to see how many cute guys I can get to let me take their picture.
The Farangs Have Gone
In this video, I’m Having a cold Singha, the national beer of Thailand, in the lime green chairs section. The weather is extremely pleasant, a balmy 85 Fahrenheit. Most of the ugly farangs have gone already, except me, 555 (Thai slang for hahaha, or lol).
What’s left are mostly the concession workers, gorgeous local boys, packing up the chairs and tables, and raking the sand clean of stray trash. The sound of them joking, laughing, and giggling like little schoolgirls is music to my ears. They’re generally quite friendly and eager to have me sit in their section, and ham and pose for as many pictures as I like. There’s even a stray dog at the end who comes over to say hello.
Sorry You Couldn’t Join Me
Since your not sitting here right next to me, thank you so much for dropping in and letting me share this pleasurable sunset moment. Be sure to subscribe, so you can be the first to see my photo adventures as they unfold right here on my splashy photo blog.
Virtual Pushcart
Please visit my virtual pushcart of Thai books, movies, travel guides, and gifts. I’m an affiliate, so I will receive a small bribe from amazon for any items purchased, even if it’s not on this list, over the next 48 hours from your click-through. Thanks for watching, reading, and supporting my Thailand adventures.
Photojimsf!!! 