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…dancing with the devil in the city of angels…

~ Ramblings, Rumblings and Travel Tales: Bangkok and Beyond

…dancing with the devil in the city of angels…

Monthly Archives: March 2012

End Of The Week #32

31 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by Bangkokbois in End of the Week, It's A Gay World, Smells Like Science

≈ 2 Comments

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Nude Dudes

nude dude

You’d think that should make your grin spread just as widely.

Does this hot hunk’s picture bring a smile to your face?

Yup. Me too. Amongst other physical reactions. But the smiling part, if it did induce one to spread across your face, probably means your political views tend to land on the liberal side. You’d think any guy looking at a picture of another guy’s naked ass might be a liberal anyway, but there are gay conservatives too. They’re just usually extremely closeted and don’t smile much. Then again if you stumbled upon this blog, just realized it’s intended for ‘the gays’ and that photo pisses you off, there’s no doubt that you are a conservative. But it’s nice that you decided to read my blog – just for the articles – anyway.

Smiling brightly or a face turned red in anger, those two images reflect the members of our country’s two political parties these days even better than the elephant and donkey. Democrats have a lot to smile about. Hell, democrats have a lot to laugh about these days. Republicans, not so much. But is it that the democrats have a sitting president who seems destined for a second term that makes them so happy? Is it that the best candidate the republicans can come up with doesn’t even please them that makes them so quick to anger? And how in the hell do you describe Ron Paul’s supporters then? How do you even begin to explain Ron Paul?

Yup. Smells like science to me.

According to a recent study done at the University of Nebraska, and published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, liberals are more likely to respond to positive things, and negative things are what get conservatives all excited. Further, the findings showed that it is not just your imagination that the talking heads on Fox News all seem to be blathering idiots, so full of anger that they foam at the mouth when a photo of President Obama comes on screen. Participants in the study who were conservative displayed more distaste than liberals for politicians they disliked. Conversely, liberals felt more positive than conservatives about politicians they liked. So our current presidential election, from the right side, really is all about hate. Mitt for Brains doesn’t make them happy, but then that doesn’t matter because they are wired to be more geared to hating Obama than liking whoever their party decides to put up to lose to him.

A view to thrill: round 2 of this beautiful hunk . . . but it’s only for liberals to enjoy.

Though previous research had already shown that, compared to liberals, conservatives display heightened responses to threatening images, the University’s researchers wanted to delve more fully into this phenomenon. They showed participants, who were either right or left leaning, a series of images that were alternately disgusting – such as photos of spiders on faces and open wounds – and appealing images such as pictures of smiling children and cute bunnies. The results were that conservative participants reacted most strongly to negative images, and liberal participants most strongly to positive photographs.

Then they showed the group pictures of well-known politicians, like Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George Bush The Sequel. And again, the conservatives reacted with the highest degree of emotion when the picture was of a politician they disapproved of. And liberals were more happy about those they liked than they were negative about the Bush. Responses were determined by monitoring electrical conductance of the skin, a popular method of measuring psychological and physiological arousal.

The second half of the study looked at preferences among the participants for visual stimuli, measured by determining where a participant cast his gaze when presented with a collage of various images. The researchers found that participants who self-identified as liberal tended to focus more quickly on positive images, while subjects who identified as conservative tended to fixate more quickly on negative images. The good news then is that Rick Santorum’s recent television ad that portrays a devastated country thanks to the re-election of President Obama is not negative campaigning. He’s just giving his supporters what they want to see: extremely disturbing and negative images of a post-apocalyptic America.

The researches concluded their paper with a non-scientific statement suggesting tolerance needs to be shown by both sides:

“Rather than believing those with political views opposing ours are lazily uninformed or wilfully obtuse, political tolerance could be enhanced and cultural conflict diminished if it is widely recognized that at least part of our political differences spring from subconscious physiological and cognitive variations that lead people to experience the world in fundamentally different ways and therefore to believe that fundamentally different political policies are appropriate.”

Huh. And here I thought the right wing nutters were just plain batshit crazy. My bad. But in the interest of science, I’m willing to set our differences aside and take another look from a different viewpoint.

The non-judgemental, bipartisanship view.

Don’t know about you, but that still makes me smile.

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Four Kings and A Queen: The Game of Thrones

31 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by Bangkokbois in It's A Gay World

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Movies & Television, That's Gay

Game of Thrones

Unusual for me, I spent last Thanksgiving with my biological family instead of the one I’ve made. Good food, but an uneventful day. It’s sad when you can not rely on your dysfunctional family for entertainment. But one of my brothers whom I don’t see often passed along a copy of The Game of Thrones to me, suggesting it as a good read. I’m not a big fan of the fantasy genre. Usually, when dragons appear unicorns soon follow. You lose me at that point so it’s just better to never crack the cover

Several weeks later I decided I should at least give it a try. HBO’s version of the tale has been scheduled for a second season and I’d seen a few episodes of the first season. More importantly, I was bored. The introductory book to the proposed seven book series of A Song of Fire and Ice, The Game of Thrones hooked me with its first chapter. I’ve quickly polished off the five published novels of the series, and even took the time to read an excerpt of the sixth yet to be published book.

Some of you who are fans of the show may be getting a bit nervous right about now, knowing that any opportunity I have for posting a spoiler I jump on. But this time you’re safe. I think. I didn’t watch the entire first season, have no idea where they left off, and thusly can not ruin whatever cliff-hanger they went with to lead into the next season. Plus I’m feeling benevolent because I got to use the word ‘thusly.’ Oh, but there is a good reason they cast such an ugly young man to play the part of Theon Greyjoy. And neither you nor he should get too attached to his bulge. As impressive as it is. For now.

Ooops!

Queen Renely, HBO’s nod to its gay fanbase.

Generally, I like HBO’s series. And The Game of Thrones was beautifully filmed. The setting and attention to detail easily draws you into the world they’ve created. Until a few hundred main characters all show up at once. It’s not just that there are so many of them, or that there are so many entangled relationships to try and sort out, but that being unfamiliar with their worlds – which there are seven of – means you are asked to devote far too much time to trying to figure out who these people are and why they are all acting so strangely. I liked the look of the show, but I watch television to be entertained not to be forced to think. Part of the joy of being a couch potato is being able to put your brain on cruise control.

This seems to be a new trend with HBO. The old paradigm was the show’s premiere set up the plot and methodically introduced the characters, the storyline was left for future episodes. Now you have to watch an entire first season just to figure out what is going on. I just finished watching Luck, and unlike with The Game of Thrones, stuck with it. Luck was entertaining but it wasn’t until the last two episodes before anything started to gel. But ya know, Dustin Hoffman staring in a television series . . . you gotta hang in there for the payoff. Okay, and because I used to have a big crush on Jason Gedrick and was hoping to see some skin too.

Luck though has none, or more correctly has only the bad kind. They’d started filming the second season when they accidently killed a horse during filming. Since it was the third one, PETA got in a huff and now HBO has dropped the series. Since it is only dire wolves that get killed in The Game of Thrones, that show was allowed to continue.

Oh damn, Did I do it again?

Jason Momoa’s ass has grown into a massive thing of beauty.

You’d think that any show that features Jason Momoa’s gorgeous ass in all its glory would be one I’d be glued to. And I was lucky enough to catch that episode. But since the whole thing was just too confusing, not to mention that all of the leads are in serious need of a good shampooing, I gave up. Now that I’ve read the books, the characters all make sense. And I’m impressed with how well HBO has done in bringing that world to life.

They also did well with casting. Often the problem with reading a book after seeing the characters on screen is you are then stuck with those actors playing the roles in your head as you read. That can be dangerous. It’s like with Tom Clancy’s novels. Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan is a natural and his craggy features work well with the part when you are reading any one of the numerous books he appears in. Hollywood also tried Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck in that role, neither fit, both suck. And the latest word is that in the reboot Chris Pine will tackle the role which is like casting Pee Wee Herman to play the Terminator. But I’ll suspend judgement on that one on the off chance there will be lots of male nudity involved. Uh, Chris Pine’s, not Herman’s pee wee. In any case, HBO hit the bull’s eye and even cast a real dwarf in their series. I mean in The Game of Thrones. Not Dustin Hoffman.

The other episode I managed to catch had a brief but titillating gay scene with a Castro clone and an obvious bottom indulging in a bit of manscaping and a suggested blow job. Gay sex is always a good move, but then since the Castro clone looked like a bottom too, that was just as confusing as the rest of the series. I appreciate that HBO takes good care of its gay audience, but now that I’m a fan of the books I just have to ask, “Who let the gays out?”

The Knight of Flowers pays hommage to the Queen of Westeros.

The queen in this case, Renly Baratheon, does not come across as gay in the books. Or at best, obliquely so. And though the other bottom is known as the Knight of Flowers, there is nothing really gay about him either. At best you could claim they are both bisexual. But then what straight man isn’t? Not that I’m complaining that HBO decided to drape their characters in pink. Though if HBO really felt the need to get their gay on they could have at least gone with Momoa’s character and had long naked love scenes in every episode. But then he does wear a lot of mascara, so . . .

True gay fans of the books – the kind of people who save up to attend sci-fi conventions and can repeat the dialogue from any and all Star Trek movies of television series word for word – argue both characters were gay in the books. And then go on to repeat lines from several other characters as proof. Word for word. Now even author George R.R. Martin says both Queen Renely and the flower girl were gay in his books. Though imperceptibly so. “I like to handle things subtly. I couldn’t ever actually say, ‘such-and-such is gay,’ because, as I’m sure you know, the word wasn’t invented until the ‘60s. And I’m talking medieval times, and I’m not going to say, ‘so-and-so is gay.’ But I thought it was pretty clear in context,” he says.

Huh. I’m pretty good at sniffing out gayness, even when it is subtle. And you don’t have to use the word gay. A throw away line about hard penises pressed up against each other would do it. Besides George, you threw in dragons. If your defense is realism, gays have got to come in before the dragons do.

Not that Martin fails completely in interjecting a bit of gayness in his stories. The Red Viper of Dorne gets outed as a bisexual character (and since you won’t remember the character anyway that spoiler doesn’t count) and Brienne, the Blue Knight, smells suspiciously like a lesbian. There’s more fish on fish involving Daenerys, but then that’s forgivable because after you’ve had Jason Momoa riding your ass what other man could ever compare?

Theon Greyjoy’s penis is not long for this world. Though it does look to be quite long.

Being on HBO, you know there’s gonna be lots of nudity and The Game of Thrones does not disappoint. Nor does it satisfy much either. The penis/mammary ratio is a bit off, and the penis that is shown is anonymous. Sure gay guys appreciate having a gay character or two in any television series; we like to be represented too. But when push comes to shove, we’ll always choose cock over character. And it’s always better if that cock has a name. Other than Theon Greyjoy’s because we’ve already established it is not long for the world. No matter how long it appears to be.

Richard Madden, who plays Robb Stark, also appears on British television in the series Sirens, portraying a gay paramedic and has been more than willing to strip down for that role. It’s only fair the American audience gets to see his best feature too. But that will depend on which fans Martin listens too. But we are on record. “I’ve got a few letters from gay fans who, while they were pleased by the naked male sexuality, were upset that the penises were not actually erect,” says Martin.

And you’ll notice none of those fans mentioned dragons, George.

I’m looking forward toward the new season, Winter is Coming, which starts on April 1st. Now that I known who the characters are, I’ll be able to pay more attention to the plot. And keep an eye peeled for penis. Just in case. Not that my hopes are high. Or fully erect. I mean it’s not like we’re talking Spartacus: Vengeance.

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I Fell In Love With A Bar Boy: Hunger Games

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by Bangkokbois in Dancing With the Devil, I Fell In Love With A Bar Boy

≈ 35 Comments

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Bangkok, Gay GoGo Bars, Markets & Shopping

“I hungry!”

“Where do you wanna eat?”

“Up to you.”

“Good, let’s go to Sizzler.”

“Nooooooooooooo!”

That’s all it takes to set Noom – my bar boy friend and current love of my life – off and running, leading us to wherever it is he’s then decided we should eat. I know when he says he is hungry he already has a place picked out. Sometimes, because of where we are, the ‘where’ is obvious. Noom is a creature of habit. But he’s also Thai and would never presume to make the decision on where we will eat. Until he’s given me the opportunity to do so. But a bad call is a bad call. And it can be ignored even when you are Thai.

Me not being the one to ultimately decide where we eat is part of our routine now. He knows I’m not fussy about where we dine. With some exceptions. My dining habits are different in Thailand than they are at home, I tend to go with the flow. There are still a few rules to live by, such as no fish, but for the most part wherever he decides we should chow down is fine with me. But it took him a while to figure out how to make that selection, trying to make sense of the farang mind is not an easy task.

Noom assumed because I nixed the idea of eating at a set of street carts for dinner one night that I didn’t like Thai food. And then looked at me in bafflement when we went to the Mango Tree, a Thai restaurant, instead. Pondering that choice, he assumed I didn’t like to eat from street carts. And then was further perplexed when that’s where we had lunch the next day. I could have explained the difference to him, but keeping the boy off his pace is a good thing. They say familiarity breeds contempt. Of that I’m not worried. My motivation is more about keeping him confused. And off his feed.

For a while Noom always suggested restaurants that offered farang food. Even Thais know a steak dinner is a winner in most Westerner’s minds. At least until they’ve tried steak in Thailand. Thais don’t really get beef. But then if you’ve ever seen a Thai cow you’d understand why their attempts at steak fail so miserably. I was glad when that little fake Parisian steak place in Patpong closed shop. It was Noom’s dinner choice, in deference to my assumed taste buds, far too often. Knowing he selected that restaurant with me in mind made it difficult to turn down. The meat they served as steak there was equally difficult in getting down.

Noom has his own preferences and rules about dining. Well, rule. Unless you count anywhere, anytime, anything as a rule. As a convert to Hinduism Noom no longer eats beef. It’s one of that faith’s rules that he can understand and he follows it quite religiously. I admire his devotion, but then removing beef from your diet for a Thai isn’t quite the same sacrifice it would be for someone from the west. Like me. Noom prefers that I too observe the no beef rule. As with so many areas of my daily life in Thailand in which he considers it is his duty to take care of me, at dinner time he wants to take care of my soul too. But his no beef rule gets a bit tiring at times. And I long for the days of dining at that fake little Parisian restaurant in Patpong.

Noom likes nice restaurants. I don’t know that he appreciates the quality of food so much as that he enjoys the status of dining there. That he also gets to treat the wait staff in an imperious manner is a dessert in its own right. He usually snickers about the price of various dishes, quietly, slyly, comparing how much cheaper the same dish can be had elsewhere. To him it’s a joke. To him it is a perfect example of how foolish people can be with their money. To him it’s yet another chance to laugh at the oddities of farang. He never quite finishes that equation, that we are dining there and paying the exorbitant prices, but that’s the type of thing about him that makes him so endearing to me. The massive quantity of food and variety of dishes he orders at 5 star restaurants, not so much. The boy is not a cheap date.

Noom has finally figured out that it is not the food I’m opposed to at the street carts he likes eating at come three o’clock in the morning, but that I’m not hungry at that hour. He knows I will nibble on a piece of barbecued meat on a stick in the early hours, more to be good company than out of desire, and typically buys one for me before leading us to whichever full Thai meal cart he’s selected as the winner that morning. And I’ve finally figured out the boy needs sustenance around 3:00 am even if we’ve been in bed sleeping for a few hours.

In the past, he was always quiet, making sure not to disturb my slumber when he’d get up to try to find a snack to satisfy his hunger. When his need finally dawned on me, I started stocking up on frozen microwavable meals from 7/11. They’re really bad. But Noom loves them. I didn’t mention them the first time I bought a stack, but he found the stash late the first night. And then came back over to the bed to wake me up so I could show him how to work the microwave. Politeness will always lose to a hungry Thai boy’s chance at a hot meal.

“I hungry!”

Big surprise. Imagine that. Couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that we are at MBK now could it? Noom is a big fan of the food court there. Normally, in life he is always quite decisive. At MBK’s food court, he can take an hour to decide on what he wants to eat. He is the proverbial kid in a candy store. The ‘what’ changes often. That his tray will be overloaded with food is a fact I can rely on.

Initially when we visited MBK around meal time Noom would lead me to any one of the numerous farang restaurants. When he finally realized I enjoy Thai food, he headed off down the long aisles to the backmost area of the 6th floor and I had my introduction to the Thai food court. It’s become one of our favorite spots to grab a quick meal in Bangkok. And when I mention the need to drop in at MBK, like Pavlov’s dog, Noom’s stomach starts rumbling.

You’d think as much as he likes MBK’s food court that he’d be able to make a beeline for the place when we’ve decided to drop in for a bite. Left to his uncanny sense of misdirection, I’d starve to death before we’d hit the right floor. But it is important to him to lead the way so I follow along behind him, up the escalator to each floor where he stops, checks to see if I give him the ‘this floor’ look, and if not heads over to the next set of escalators. The fifth floor, where they opened an international food court (bad food, bad selection, high prices) always gives him trouble. He knows that’s not the right floor, that it is not the right food court, and that I’m not going to lead him astray, but he sees the signs and his psyche wants to follow the arrows. Or maybe it’s just that his stomach senses the nearness of food. The song of the sirens is hard to resist.

Food courts can be found all over the city. Every large shopping mall or large department store has at least one. Most are inexpensive, most offer enough variety that anyone can find something they’ll like. I’m not a big fan of the one at the Big C across from Central World, but they have a water fountain where you can get free water so it ranks as Bangkok’s #2 food court in Noom’s opinion. He’s not too happy with the food selection there either, but that free water is hard to pass up.

Regardless of their location, food courts all operate the same way. Entering, you exchange baht for coupons. And then peruse the large number of individual ‘restaurants’ than line the court’s perimeter. After ordering, paying for, and getting your plate of food at one or more of the places (and drinks are usually offered at their own specific place) you grab an empty table out in the middle of the court. Repeat as necessary. Any left over coupons can be converted back to baht when you are through with you meal.

I’d always thought a food court was a great place for a quick bite; the variety of food on offer should please any palate. But then I took a group of travel friends to the one at MBK one afternoon. Noom made his usual circumnavigation of the place, stopping at every other place to order yet another dish. I headed to the stall I like best, a place that has a pork dish loaded with garlic. Or maybe that’s a garlic dish sprinkled with pork. We grabbed a table, waited for a while, and then I went in search of my friends who’d failed to show up at the table. Turned out the girls weren’t so much lost as at a loss about what they wanted to eat.

The variety to choose from wasn’t a plus in their minds. There were too many options, too many unknowns, too much to consider. I never considered that a food court could be an overwhelming experience. They ended up handing their stack of coupons back to me and headed to a small Japanese place just outside of the food court’s environs where a manageable menu awaited. And ordered a meal they could have had at half the price if they’d braved the food court.

Regardless of how many dishes are sitting on front of Noom – and it is always a lot because the boy can eat his weight in food – whatever is sitting in front of me is too tempting for him to let pass. I understand the Thai style of dining. You order a variety of dishes and then everyone eats a bit off each dish. But one small plate against a tray overloaded with dishes should be a heads up that Thai style dinning rules have been suspended for that meal. Unless you are Noom. If I’m hungry, I’ve learned to order two dishes of whatever it is I’m planning as a meal so there is enough to satisfy us both. And I’ve learned then to eat my portion quickly before it too disappears into the bottomless pit known as Noom.

Noom likes the garlic pork dish I usually order too. Once, when I ordered something else, he looked at my plate in disgust and then got up and ordered the garlic/pork serving he was missing. He knows, however, even though I may screw up what I order as a main dish, at the MBK food court I always pick up a plate of mango sticky rice. It’s a great local dessert, perfect for finishing off any meal. Or yet another part of your main meal if you are Noom. I’m more than willing to share my pork/garlic dish with him. But keep your damn hands off my mango sticky rice.

As with whatever else I’ve ordered, with mango sticky rice I’ve learned the best move when dining with Noom is to order two servings. One for him, one for me. The first time I wisely did so, he noted that we both had our own dessert. And then promptly set about eating mine. Bastard. Fine, two can play that game. With an empty plate in front of me off of which I‘d only had two bites, I reached across the table to start eating his. Noom pulled it away, out of my reach, shook his head, and laughed. Even when you are hungry, playing games with farang can make for an enjoyable meal.

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iPhone Friday #13

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by Bangkokbois in iPhone Fridays, It's A Gay World

≈ 2 Comments

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Nude Dudes

This week we’ve got Asians with iPhones posing with their buddies . . .

nude dude

Bonus Shots: Wat Benchamabophit Details

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by Bangkokbois in Bangkok, Travel Photography

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Bangkok, Photography, Wats

All the red to be found at The Marble Temple was cool in its own right. A sucker for taking pictures of doors and windows, I found the wat to be fascinating, especially the residences for the monks.

Wat Benchamabophit: Bangkok’s Marble Temple

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by Bangkokbois in Thailand Travel Tips and Tales, Wats of Thailand

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bangkok, Scams, Wats

Bangkok’s Marble Temple

Before there was Ubiquitous Plastic Stool Shots! there were . . . hell, too many trip specific photographic themes to remember. One that stands out though was ‘red’. Simple, not too specific, a good general guide to focus my eye on those things that generally are too commonplace to excite photographic interest. That particular theme was thanks to the red shirts having taken over the streets of Bangkok, an event I missed but decided to commemorate by usurping their color of choice for my photographic theme on my next trip. You may not consider red as a color you’d run across much in a major metropolis, but in Bangkok it creeps up all over the place. And nowhere as much as at a local temple.

I’m slowly making my way through the wats of Bangkok. There is no hurry. I plan on visiting Thailand for years to come and always find time on each tip to sneak in a few dozen visits to wats. There are still some major temples, wats suggested as a must-see activity in most guidebooks, that I have yet to visit. On my ‘red’ trip I decided to cross one of those, Wat Suthat, off my list.

Small ferns in large snail shells at the Thewet Pier flower market.

Thanks to nabbing a free map of the city, I also decided to take a riverboat to the closest pier, and then make my way inland to the wat. Here’s a tip about visiting Wat Suthat by boat: don’t. The Thewet Pier, the pier shown as the closest on my map, is worth a quick visit on its own. Submerged pens of fish surround the pier and locals stop by to feed them as a merit-making activity. At the foot of the pier is a secondary flower market, a line of flora filled open-air shops stretching toward the main road that makes for a pleasant walk, a quick journey past vividly colored orchids, palm trees to suggest you are in the tropics, and sweet smelling blossoms doing battle against the ripe odors of the city.

Once you hit Sam Sen Road, it’s a good point to stop, turn around, and go back to the riverboats. While this pier is listed as a disembarkation point for several popular tourist spots including the Vimanmek Palace and Dusit Palace, they are all a long hike away. And whatever map you armed yourself with will have been drafted by a Thai and just about as accurate as a three-year-old’s aim the first time he attempts going potty standing up on his own. Thinking I was smarter than the average bear, I had two maps with me. And I’d hopscotched past a foursome of German tourists walking along the flower market who were armed with a third map. All three maps were slightly different, all three failed to meet their intended purpose.

Canals, bridges, and shady Pagodas dot the grounds at Wat Benchamabophit.

Blessed with a good sense of direction, but sucking somewhat on computing distances, walking along with my new German friends, passing street after street that did not show on any of our maps and not passing any that did, I pointed out the general direction of Vimanmek Palace, their destination, to them and then headed up a wide boulevard toward mine. A half hour later I gave up after spotting a tuk tuk driver laying in wait.

The Giant Swing, one of Bangkok’s supposed iconic landmarks, sits in front of Wat Suthat. The swing is part of the obligatory The-Grand-Palace-Is-Closed tuk tuk tour scam. Evidently you can still participate in this well-known scam even if you are not trying to visit the Grand Palace. No problemo. I’ve enjoyed scamming the scammers for years and so after negotiating how much baht and how many visits to various gem malls and tailors it would cost me, I hoped into the tuk tuk and we sped down the road two blocks to the driver’s destination, the closest wat of size.

The stained glass windows in the ubosot at Wat Benchamabophit are unique and not normally found in a Thai temple.

Upon arrival I didn’t see the swing, but not knowing exactly what to look for I wasn’t concerned. Entering the wat’s compound I did see a sign alerting farang to a 20 baht admission fee. Paying it, I was handed a beautifully rendered receipt with a picture of the wat on it along with the wat’s name. Sweet. The driver assumed, and rightly so in this case, the dumb farang wouldn’t know one wat from the next. In trying to scam a scammer I’d been out-scammed. And got to check off a different wat from my list: Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram, better known as Wat Benchamabophit, or in the farang tongue, The Marble Wat.

I spent several hours at the wat and then left by a different entrance. That tuk tuk driver, parked in the shade out front, may still be waiting for me, ready to hit the gem malls and Indian tailors. I hope he enjoyed being scammed as much as I did.

Rama V’s ashes are buried underneath the main Buddha at Wat Benchamabophit.

Wat Benchamabophit is of the white wall red roof school of Thai temples. So at first glance it looks like thousands of others. At least until you notice the marble. Designed by Prince Naris, a half-brother of King Chulalongkorn, Wat Benchamabophit is built of Italian marble, replete with Carrarra marble pillars, a marble courtyard, and two large marble singhas guarding the entrance to the bot.

It is a beautiful temple, with nicely landscaped grounds that make for a pleasant stroll over small canals filled with fountains that help cool you even in the hot noonday sun. It serves as a seat of learning for Buddhist monks with intellectual interests, and Thailand’s current king spent his days as a monk here before his coronation. Unlike most temple complexes in Bangkok, Wat Benchamabophit does not have either a central wiharn or chedi. Instead, many smaller buildings combining European influences with traditional Thai religious architecture dot its grounds. And red everywhere.

The gallery of 52 Buddha statues at the Marble Temple contain unusual depictions from several other Asian countries as well as from around Thailand.

Small Chinese-shaped pagodas offer shade as you meander through the grounds. Towards the back of the complex, surrounded by a natural brick wall that is part of a small burial shrine, is a magnificent Bodhi tree. This tree was bought from Bodhgaya, where the Buddha found enlightenment while sitting under a tree of the same species, as a gift for Rama V. The wat was built in 1899 at his request and its name literally means the ‘Temple of the fifth King located nearby Dusit Palace’. His ashes are buried under the main Buddha statue in the ubosot.

A cloister at the back of the main building has a interesting collection of Buddhas. Rather than the long rows of matching Buddhas in gold that you normally encounter, such as those at Wat Pho, here each statue is unique, each displays a different mudra. Some are from foreign shores like Japan, China, India, and Tibet, others are local but are cast in various regional styles popular throughout the country’s history. There are 52 statues, which represents the 52 stages toward enlightenment in the Buddhist faith; the one in the Calling the Earth to Listen position is said to be the most beautiful of its kind in Thailand.

Behind the ubosot is an expanse of Italian marble juxtaposed with traditional Thai architectural details.

The inside of the bot is decorated with crossbeams of lacquer and gold; paintings of important chedi from all over the country adorn shallow niches in the walls. The wat’s European influence is evident in the stained glass windows that fill the bot’s interior with pale shades of colored light. The main Buddha statue, a copy of Phra Buddha Chinarat that resides at Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat in Phitsanulok, shimmers in gold, highlighted against an illuminated blue backdrop.

The outlying living quarters for the monks and several buildings serving as classrooms and small meeting halls are some of the more picturesque in Bangkok. There is also a small national museum on the grounds.

The temple also features a Bodhi tree brought from India in honor of Rama V.

The first royal palace built outside the city walls, Wat Benchamabophit it is one of Bangkok’s most beautiful temples and a major tourist attraction. A likeness of the temple is featured on the back side of the 5-baht coin and it plays host to several important festivals during the year including the an Kuai Salak Festival in October. It’s non-religious/non-historical claim to fame is that its grounds served as the final elimination pit-stop in The Amazing Race 9.

Unlike most other temples in Thailand, Wat Benchamabophit’ monks do not make rounds in the neighborhood for alms. Instead they’ve gone with the ‘bring the mountain to Mohammed’ option and accept daily donations at the wat from 6:00 to 7:00 each morning, a highlight for visitors who can also then watch the monks gather in the ubosot to chant.

Small pagodas through the temple’s grounds offer shade from the afternoon’s sun for all visitors.

The Marble Temple is open daily from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, and offers a school on Buddhism on Sundays from 2:00 to 4:30 pm. Admission to the temple is 20 baht. It is, by the way, no where near Wat Suthat.

Absolutely Thursday #13

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by Bangkokbois in Absolutely Thursdays, It's A Gay World

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nude dude

A rather large tat, but his abs make up for it.

Cammies To Be Proud Of

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by Bangkokbois in Dancing With the Devil, Eye Candy

≈ 4 Comments

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Seemed only fitting to honor the mass of young Thai men who will soon join their nation’s military thanks to the draft lottery with an appropriate pictorial post, This is Seahorse Underwear’s Soldier Collection featuring camouflage briefs. Let’s all stand up an salute.

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Sawatdee and welcome to the new and improved Bangkokbois Gay Thailand Blog! Okay, so it’s not necessarily improved, just hosted on a new site. And it’s not just about Thailand, though that still is the main focus. And it’s not all gay either, unless you’re not and then you’ll think it’s pretty damn gay I’m sure. All of the penis might tip you off. Which means if you are not of the required legal age to be looking at penis other than your own, you should leave. And go tell your parental units they suck at their job.

But it is a blog and one out of three ain’t bad. Besides, Bangkokbois Pretty Gay Mostly About Thailand Blog For People Of Legal Age is just too wordy. But so is Dancing With The Devil In The City Of Angels, which is really the title of this blog.

As cool of a title as that is, Google just ain’t sharp enough to figure out that means this blog is mostly about Thailand. And pretty damn gay to boot. The penis part even Google figured out. Which is a good thing. ‘Cuz Bangkokbois Pretty Gay Mostly About Thailand With Lots Of Penis Blog For People Of Legal Age, I think, was taken by someone else.

Move along, there’s nothing to see here folks; pay no attention to that man behind the curtain:

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