I’ve just added a page that will hopefully assist those trying to find the new location of Bangkok Immigration. Happy Halloween!

KAOS Bangkok will be celebrating their 1st birthday with loads of prizes, surprises and of course, the most twisted, tuffest teKno in town.

ExpeKt a mixed crowd of queer Bangkok boys, deviant divas and teKno party people of all shapes & sizes.  100 baht or FREE ENTRY + beer for those who dress up.

Those that are in BKK may have noticed these little shelters popping up all over the place.  They are for a police officer to sit in, so he or she is sheltered from the sun and rain.  I asked Leo why they are adding these all over town, and he didn’t know anything about it.

A week later Leo said he now knows what they are for.  He told me the police have begun enforcing the no littering law, and officers have been positioned all over town to monitor for this.  I assume he got this from Thai news.

The only reason I’m posting this is to let everyone know what the public “spin” is on this.  RQD is not a political blog, so I am NOT inviting comment that would speak negatively about the Thai government, so please bite your tongues.:-)

To be sure, Thailand is world famous for its cat houses.  But imagine my surprise when I came across a vacant city lot with several small houses built for cats.

I love Thailand.

I’ve added a new page that talks about all the dogs in Thailand, and my unprofessional assessment of the situation.  It was originally part of the photography page, but got so long I decided to break it out as a separate piece.

READ DOGS IN THAILAND

I’ve just added a new page that talks about my experiences taking photos in Thailand.  Its focus is on things you should aware of if you want to avoid problems or offending people.

I try not to get annoyed by things that are different here, but one that I’ll never come to terms with is the consistent lack of concern for safety.

Yesterday I was out taking photos, as I often do.  This day I decided to wander from the Emporium to the Asoke area of Bangkok.  As it turns out, a long stretch of side walk, between the Phrom Phong and Asoke BTS stations is being renovated.  In most cases they do half at a time, leaving space for people to walk.

Making my way toward the Asoke BTS station I encountered a section of the side walk that was being worked on at that time.  In this case, the entire area was blocked off, forcing pedestrians out onto the busy street.  After traversing the dangerous detour, oncoming traffic to my back, I turned and took a picture.  One of the workers, probably the supervisor, did not seem pleased I was capturing the moment…ask me if I care.

Back when Leo was in high school, he helped his English instructor make a short film.  I don’t know the specifics, but apparently “Deep Inside” went on to win several awards, including one that is quite prestigious.

Tanwarin Sukkhapisit (Golf)

That was 2001, and nine years later the two remain good friends.  Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, known by his friends as Golf, is now an up and coming film maker and actor (actress).  Known mostly for his work as an indie film maker, Golf has recently moved into feature films, both in front and behind the cameras.

His latest work to hit the silver screen is the katoey oriented ghost comedy, now showing in Thai cinemas.  Golf wrote the script and also takes credits as Second Director for the new block buster film.  His latest work is a new indie film.  “Insects in the Back Yard” is a story about gay youth, which is currently in editing and will initially be released outside of Thailand.

Insects in the Back Yard

Golf’s newest project, which begins filming next week, is another feature film.  It’s actually a compilation of three short films, each based on true accounts involving ghost encounters.  Golf is the writer and director for one of the three shorts.  Also on the production crew is Leo, as Second Director.

At Golf’s encouragement, Leo will soon be making his own short film.  He has offered to provide all the resources necessary, including talent.  All Leo needs to do is come up with a story idea and write the script.  Leo is very excited about this opportunity and has already decided on a story that both Golf and I think is quite original.

With a full time job, Second Director duties on a feature film and an active social life, Leo stays quite busy these days.  Many a night I go to sleep alone, as Leo is either out at the disco with friends or busy working with Golf on the new movie.  Even so, he manages to make time for me, and that’s all that counts.

I do enjoy watching his life dream finally start to come true.  My passion is still photography, but I’ve been in and around the film, TV and radio industry quite a bit during my life.   So it’s very interesting watching this young man make his way into a very competitive field.

Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, the katoey filmmaker

Tanwarin Sukkhapisit Films

Many of you have already encountered this.  For those that haven’t yet, it’s not difficult to figure out when you do. Still, I thought I’d share it, so those hearing it for the first time from a boy will immediately understand what it is he’s trying to say.

Photo Courtesy of Private Boy Movie

In situations where we might say “I’m stressed” or “this is stressing me out” or “my brain is in overload”, the boys with limited English skills will most likely say something like “give me headache.”  Their pronunciation of the word “headache” will sound more like “headaesh”.

In my experiences this typically happens when the boy is telling you about a problem he’s having with a friend, family, or something work related.  As you try to sort through the problem with him he may reach a stress point where he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, particularly when there doesn’t seem to be any good or quick solution.  You’ll know this has happened when the boy says it gives him a headache, quickly followed by an announcement that he’s finished talking about it.  At that point, any attempts to further the conversation will be futile.

The other situation where this often comes up is when you are trying to sort through an issue you’re having with the boy.  Again, he might say it is giving him a headache and doesn’t want to discuss the matter any further.  If you ignore this and try to continue the conversation it will be about as productive as talking to a brick wall.

In the past I’ve talked about how boys, in a relationship with a farang, typically see other boys for sex, and some even maintain a separate Thai/Thai relationship on the side.  I’ve also discussed my feelings on the subject of monogamy, when in a relationship with a Thai.  In short, I don’t see any point.  I’m sure I’ve said more than once that boys in a “kept” relationship are often very protective of it and do everything they can to prevent their farang from seeing other boys.  The conclusion being they don’t want to get replaced by someone the farang has been playing with on the side.  For the most part, everything I’ve written about so far has looked at Thai/farang relationships, often with a focus on money boys.

Photo Courtesy of Private Boy Movie

Well, in the past year I’ve had an opportunity to observe the social activities of gay boys that do not work in the sex trade.  These are your typical young guys that frequent the gay Thai 4 Thai clubs, some in a relationship with another Thai and others just playing the field.  That, and the experiences I’ve had living with Leo have opened up a totally new perspective on things.

With respect to the single guys, there’s no difference between them and boys their same age any place else in the world.  They are young and horny and doing what boys will do.  But when it comes to those in a relationship, I’ve noticed something very interesting.  They all cheat on each other.  While my observations on this are from a limited subset of the population, and I’m sure there are exceptions, I’ve yet to see one single monogamous relationship in the lot. But it doesn’t end there.

Not only do they all play around on each other, but without exception every one of them gets angry with his partner for doing so.  There is nothing wrong with that, except he too is fooling around on his mate and thinks nothing of it.  I’ve also notice in Thai/farang relationships the same often happens.  Even if it was the boy’s idea to have an open relationship, he too gets upset when his farang exercises the option.

I don’t pretend to understand why the boys behave like this.  What’s good for the goose is good for the gander…right?  Now I look back at my earlier conclusions about “kept” boys trying to protect their turf and wonder if this is what they are all doing, or could there be a totally different explanation for their “have your cake and eat it too” mindset.