Together forever

My partner has found two new places for us to look at - another unit in the condo occupied by farang C, and a house on Pra Ram II.

Pra Ram 2 is a long way from here, and probably a long way from work, which almost defeats the purpose of us moving, as I am tired of my 45-minute commute to the office every day.

Farang C's condo is a 10-minute walk away from my office. The place in Pra Ram 2 - a two-storey home in a housing village, with its own pool and garden - would require a bus ride.

Still, we shall give the owner a call, and take a look at bus routes on the internet. I am not a fan of condo living. I would love to live in a house again, just as I did overseas.

Maiyuu was good yesterday. He called all the numbers on the list I gave him, of home and condo owners close to farang C's place who advertised their places for rent.

Most were agents, who said they would check their books, but did not call back. I suspect they are used to dealing with short-stay tenants who are prepared to pay much more than us for the right to live close to town.

Farang C inspected a room for rent at a condo close to his place, just in case I was interested. A US-based company executive who is moving here on temporary transfer has rented it for B60,000 a month, which is more than five times what we are prepared to pay.

A moment ago, I poked my head out the ninth-floor window of our present place, to smell the breeze and look at the view. Someone on the floor above was occupying her window space at the same time.

She dropped something - hopefully just water - which landed on my head. Do you mind? There are people lower down the food chain, you know.

Today the BF will call the owner of the house in Pra Ram 2, and the unit in farang C's condo, both of which he found on the internet. He has not yet given up hope on moving, even if it seems a more distant prospect now than it did.

One night, many years ago, a house along the railway line which runs next to our condo caught fire.

The blaze spread, and engulfed several houses. The security guard knocked on tenants' doors to warn us that a fire was heading our way.

Maiyuu and I staggered bleary-eyed to the rooftop to find traders from the market had joined about 20 tenants from our building to watch the spectacle unfold. Some did not live in the building, but I recognised their faces. They had come up for a look.

In early morning, we stood there amid rising smoke from the house fire, watching as the blaze took over one wooden slum house, followed by another.

The condo we are in is made of concrete, so was in no danger of going up in flames, despite the ferocity of the blaze. Fire engines struggled to reach the area, as they had to pass down narrow streets.

They made it there in the end, and after about four hours brought the blaze under control. About a dozen homes were destroyed. Some home-owners rebuilt on the same patch. Other plots are still vacant, even after all these years.

As my boyfriend watched the flames lick at the houses below, he grabbed my arm. He was worried the fire would reach us, too. The air was hot, and we could feel the heat from the fire even where we were standing, 10 floors up.

'Promise me we will still be together - even if we lose our home?' he asked, looking at me earnestly.

I have never forgotten those plaintive words.

Yes, I promise we will still be together - home, no home, we won't be forced to separate.

Low-rise expectations

Maiyuu was out last night when I returned from work.

Has he gone to inspect a condo? I thought excitedly.

I took a look around the place where he spends most of his days - on his mattress, chatting on the computer, and watching TV.

I found no signs that he had made any progress. He had made a few squiggles on a piece of paper which I gave him - that was it.

I reprimanded myself: Don't be silly! Maiyuu is Thai, so he can leave the worrying about moving home to someone else.

Yesterday I gave him a list of phone numbers belonging to condo and home owners, who have places to rent in the area close to town where we would like to move.

Before I left for work, he called one of the numbers. It belonged to an agent, who said he would check his books. As far as I know, we have not heard back from him since.

'Why don't you call them all today? That way, when you pay a visit to the area, you can drop in to several places at once.'

Maiyuu has yet to bother visiting the suburb where he says he would like to live. I have been two times since last Saturday.

'I don't want to cause myself headaches. I will call them one at a time,' he said.

This morning I sent absent-Maiyuu a text message, asking if he intended to call anyone else on the list.

'Of course I will call them. I am at work now, but will come home soon,' replied the boyfriend.

At the time of writing it is almost midday. If I do not see more progress today, I will take over the task myself.

This must be why I started learning Thai, when I moved here eight years ago. It's so I can help myself, when he hopeless Thais in my life will not.

Postscript: The boyfriend has returned. He is wearing a pair of low-rise jeans, so low they expose most of his backside, below a sleeveless vest.

Combined with the new ultra-short hair-do, he looks great.

I am also given a generous view of a pair of coffee-coloured underpants with a white band.

Mind you, everyone in the bus would have seen them too, so perhaps I should not feel so lucky.

Back into the tourist zone

Farang C lives in a wealthy residential area close to town. 

I made a time to see him, so I could take a look at his place.

I headed down a leafy street, passing condos, apartment complexes, villas, and large private homes hidden behind large walls.

Local landowners had posted signs written in English and Thai on fences and lamp-posts, advertising homes in the area for rent or sale. I took down their names and numbers.

This was an exclusive neighbourhood. I could walk around here all day, I thought, and meet only Burmese labourers and cleaning staff.

The night before, I had asked Maiyuu if he would like to accompany me on my journey into this wealthy part of town.

'No, you go...I am going to get my hair cut,' he said.

As I entered farang C's street, a middle-aged Thai wearing a suit walked out, just as a black Mercedes pulled up by his side.

A uniformed chauffeur was at the wheel. He greeted the man in the suit.

'Hello, sir!'

'Where are you going?' the man barked. He was presumably the vehicle's owner, and the man driving it his hired help.

'I am on an errand, sir,' replied the driver nervously.

The man sniffed, and walked away.

Welcome to life on the moneyed side of town.

-
At farang C's condo, I inspected the one unit which is available for rent.

A woman from the condo office escorted me.

She had the key, though the owner, a Thai woman, had also left her contact number on the door.

The place was freshly painted, and fully furnished. It has two bedrooms, and a bath.

It also has plenty of food preparation space, which is useful for aspiring chef Maiyuu...but unfortunately, no sink.

'How could the owner go to all the trouble of buying this place, and decorating it, but forget to put in a sink?' I asked, exasperated.

The woman from the office could not answer. 'Perhaps the owner does not cook much...she just buys food in,' she suggested.

I thanked her for showing me around.

-
Out of luck on the condo hunting front, farang C took me for a drink at a gay bar close to his home.

'Now, isn't this a fun place? asked farang C. 'Wouldn't you rather live here than in the sticks where you are now?'

When I first arrived in Bangkok, I lived in nearby Sathorn, part of the tourist district.

I had lived there just a few months when I met boyfriend Maiyuu.

Within weeks, he had whisked me away to our present place in the wilds of Thon Buri, on the other side of the Chao Phraya river.

I traded my status as a single man, gay and fancy-free, for married bliss in a part of town where rarely a foreigner or moneyboy ventures.

Now, eight years later, I am contemplating a return to the same tourist zone. How will it go?

-
Heading for home after leaving farang C, I realised I was in unfamiliar territory.

I had asked farang C for directions to the main road, but forgotten them.

Darkness was gathering around as a man from the local motorcycle queue appeared.

'You - where you going?' he asked.

'I want to find the main road,' I said.

'Oh, that's far,' he said, taking my hands in his own, and giving me a smile.

I hopped on the back. The journey took five minutes.

As we rode, I put my arms around his body. With every bump in the road - Bangkok streets have many - my hands moved closer to his crotch.

At the bus stop, I climbed off his bike. We looked into each other's eyes a long time. I asked him if he was single.

'Why you want to know? I am shy,' he said, hiding his face behind a thin poncho.

I gave him my phone number. 'We can go drinking some time,' I said.

'Why not give me your phone instead? I do not have one,' he replied.

I declined. He had no change, so I gave him B80, twice the fare he wanted.

He smiled again, and looked as if he wanted to kiss me - but then realised we were standing in a public place.

'I go back to work now,' he said, as he rode away.

Second thoughts

Does anyone remember the Joni Mitchell song, Big Yellow Taxi?

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don't know what you’ve got
‘Til it's gone
-
'You live in a lively place. You are lucky,' said farang C, who visited me at my condo on the Thon Buri side of town for the first time yesterday, after he showed me his place in the inner city last week.

Boyfriend Maiyuu and I have set our hearts on renting a place at farang C's condo, or perhaps one close by.

After seeing farang C's place, I invited him to visit us at our condo, so he would get an idea about how we lived, out in the sticks as it were. It is the first time I have invited a farang friend here since loyal reader Ian came for a meal in April.

I took farang C to my condo, where he met Maiyuu.

He took a look out our ninth-floor window. Below is a slum sitting next to a railway line. Still, I guess the skyline looks good.

From our place, we can see a large stupa, which belongs to a temple; a private university, and a large private hospital.

Maiyuu greeted farang C, but otherwise said little and tried to stay out of sight. Maybe he was not in the mood for socialising.

Outside, it was raining.

'Here, let me help,' offered Maiyuu.

'Stand still,' he said, as he squeezed a bright orange poncho over farang C's head. He also gave us an umbrella.

'There!' he said, laughing.

'Thank you,' said farang C, impressed with Maiyuu's hospitality.

I took farang C to an eatery on the banks of the local canal.

We walked past youngsters playing basketball, and another playing area where local women were stretching and working out.

A gay man was perched on a box, leading a class in aerobics. 'He looks like he is in his element,' said C.

The eatery, which has open sides, is beside a pier. When we arrived, local teens were jumping off the pier into the canal.

They promptly asked us for B20 each, which we gave them.

One boy missed out. I told him to ask his friends to divvy up the money we had just given, as I had no more B20 notes to give.

'They won't share with me,' he said, looking dejected.

When long-tailed boats approached, most boys would clear out of the way, though a hardy few tried to grab the sides of the boat to scare the passengers, mainly foreign tourists.

The young man who wanted money popped his head in the window, and asked for money again.

'Do you have any B20 notes?' I asked farang C, as I had run out.

He gave the boy B35 in change, which he passed through the open side of the eatery.

Seeing him with money, the boy's friends swarmed around.

Wisely, the young man refused to split up the money, just as his friends had refused to share with him. He thanked farang C with a big wai .

Inside the eatery, a Thai man in his 50s was eating alone.

'Very good,' he said in English to no one in particular, referring to the dishes he ordered.

'I come to this pier every day, sometimes several times a day, because I grew up by the sea, and love the water,' I told farang C earnestly.

'I am the same...I love the water, and miss it where I live. You are lucky to have this eatery, and the canal,' he replied.

As the rainy skies cleared and the sun began to set, the last few long-tailed boats of the day went by, followed by a large passenger boat.

'I have never been to this eatery with the boyfriend, because he seldom ventures outside. I love this market, but Maiyuu barely makes use of it,' I said.

'One thing I enjoy is being able to show friends around. Almost every little shop here has a piece of history.'

'Is you boyfriend depressed? Why does he keep himself shut away all day?' farang C asked innocently. He is still getting to know us and our strange ways.

After finishing at the eatery, I took farang C on a brief tour of the market, past the local secondary school, and into the 7-11 where Mr Friendly works.

He was on duty, and looked nervous to see two large farang in his shop.

Hustling farang c out of the shop, I took him back to the condo, cutting back along the railway line.

'Would you like to visit Mum's shop in Thon Buri?'I asked.

The hour was late, but we hopped in a taxi. It took us past half a dozen massage joints and seedy nightclubs on a dimly-lit stretch of road.

'I didn't realise you had so many knock shops out here,' said C approvingly.

The market where I live is home to two barn-like massage dens, with gaudy neon signs on top. In the neighbourhood around our place, there are many more.

'I would never have to leave the market, if I had a home here,' said farang C. 'You want to swap condos? You can move into mine, and I'll live here,' he said.

He was joking, of course. But after introducing this market to my friend, I was reminded again about how much I enjoy living in an old Thai market, and how much I will miss it if we move.

Dream-maker slow off the mark

Boyfriend Maiyuu is baking a cake for the man who cuts his hair. Today is pay day, so we have money to do such things.

He sat in my lap for the first time in weeks. 'I am excited about moving to a new condo, but worried about the amount of work involved in moving,' he said.

Today I am expecting a call from the condo where we would like to live. The manager is calling with the names of any owners who have places to rent.

People buy units at the condo, then rent them out.

I have made a list of things I need to ask. I ran them past Maiyuu, as he will need to talk to the owner too.

We have furniture, so do not need a place which is already furnished. We will need to a mattress and a bed for Maiyuu, but we can worry about that later.

Maiyuu sleeps on a padded mat. He has no bed. If he doesn't like it, he has never complained.

However, he is excited about having his own bedroom to sleep in at the new place, should the move go ahead.

'Don't agree on a price right away. We need to talk about the maintenance fee, if there is any. Hopefully, we can split it, as the owner should really pay half,' he said.

'When you have finished talking to the owner, I will talk to him too,' said Maiyuu.

Thais bond more easily with each other than they do with farang. However, Maiyuu is happy for me to undertake initial negotiations, now that I have made contact with the condo.

This being Thailand, I doubt the manager will call with a list of owners' names as promised. I shall have to call myself.

When we had finished talking, I picked up Maiyuu and sat him down in the next room.

I wonder how long he has wanted to move, but never said anything.

At first when I suggested moving, Maiyuu did not seem interested, and I wondered why.

One reader suggests he was merely waiting for me to take a lead. I have now taken first steps. I told Maiyuu that I am keen on moving. I have viewed the place, spoken to the office, and told Maiyuu that I will get the money for a deposit from overseas.

That was all the encouragement he needed. Now that Maiyuu can see signs that our moving dream might come true, he is so excited that he can barely sleep.

I wish he had spoken up sooner, or that I had realised he was unhappy living here. I chastise myself for being a fool.