Reluctant mop man

‘I might have to clean the floor today...I can’t bear it any more,’ said Maiyuu.

Just yesterday, he had told me that the floors would have to wait until the middle of the week, but now even he is starting to notice that the floor feels sticky underfoot.

I sweep every few days, usually when he has stepped outdoors. But it is not enough...those underfoot surfaces also need a regular scrub and polish.

Maiyuu appears to have missed last week's appointment with the mop, rag, or whatever he uses.

During the past week, my floor cleaner has done little but sleep, while I have done little but work, including two 12-hour days (double-shifts) at the office.

I want some extra money over Christmas and New Year, to make up for the end-of-year bonus which my company this year says it cannot afford to pay.

I decided to work overtime to make what the company would otherwise pay me as a bonus, so I can buy myself a new pair of prescription glasses.

‘How much can we afford to spend on my glasses?’ I asked.

‘That will depend on how much you make,’ said ever-practical Maiyuu.

The first of my overtime payments comes out tomorrow.

Ice-cream inventions, bunny suits, prancing eunuchs

Chef Maiyuu’s strawberry/cream ice-cream...the strawberry number was made mainly with milk and cream, with a few strawberries thrown in. 

Next up, he will turn his hand to making lavender icecream - with real lavender!

‘I’ve figured out how to do it,’ he says.

We will have to wait until pay day early next week before attempting it.

Today, however, he will have a go at creating yellow watermelon ice-cream, which he can make without adding cream or other complicated things. Pictures to come.

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Maiyuu has bought himself several cotton body suits. They button up at the front, rise to the neck, and stretch down to the ankle. They look like the full-length underwear outfits which in wintry climes some men wear to bed.

There’s another name for them, but because I have lived in hot places for so long I can’t remember it.

I’d like to add, ‘Pictures to come’, but we might have to wait for Maiyuu to go out first, as he is a reluctant model.

I call them his ‘bunny suits’, because Maiyuu looks like a baby rabbit when he wears them - minus the fluffy tail and twitching ears, of course.

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They are chaste and harmless, but that’s the way Thais like their gay couples portrayed.

Fans rave over the gay Kong-Phiwit coupling in the Channel 5 series, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

On webboards, enthusiasts have started mini-novels depicting the romance between Kong and Phiwit as they would like to see it end. Others call for sitcoms starring the pair.

In one recent episode, Kong and Phiwit looked as if they might share their first kiss.

Women fans were beside themselves, according to one guy writing at the Pantip webboard, who says his office came to a stand-still.

Yet what we have seen so far is tame - and not just because the pair have yet to go to bed.

Phiwit and Kong show each other puppy love. They bait and tease each other, which is romantic and cute.

Yet it is hardly real. Once they pass the initial courting stage, what next?

Asked what they want from the relationship, most fans at Pantip agree they are happy for the pair to hold hands, hug, and give each other moral support.

Few want to see it go any further, however, as that would take their relationship beyond the realm of ‘innocent love’, into a scary real-life zone.

Like...bad breath in the morning? A lover who sits around all day while his partner goes out to work?

When talking about their roles, the actors playing Kong and Phiwit are careful to say the characters are merely close friends. The dreaded 'G' word never gets a mention, and not just because they want to spare their own feelings as actors.

They want to keep the fantasy alive for mainstream viewers, many of whom are teenage women. The producers have told them that too much real stuff turns people off.

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As the series enters its final stretch, thinking types are opining on its virtues.

Gay blogger/broadcaster Vitaya S says critics of the series are not so much ‘old-fashioned’ as merely homophobic.

The series gets a brief mention at the start and again at the end of his article, but otherwise it’s just a vehicle for Vitaya the aspiring gay activist to hop on his soapbox. Knock yourself out!

More inspiring is ‘The unbearable lightness of chastity’, a think piece in the Nation newspaper.

Author Paisarn Likhitpreechakul says the relationship between Phiwit and Kong emulates a Thai-style courtship (just Thai?) where the guy goes to great lengths to gain the trust of the woman who has taken his interest.

Here are excerpts, with tiny editing changes (link to the original article follows):

"There's no sex involved. Just caring for the other and his family, staring into each other's eyes, occasional hand-holding and brief consoling embraces.

"Despite the crazy tumult of heterosexual lust, jealousy and rage around them [in the series], or perhaps because of it, Phiwit and Kong's relationship somehow emerges as the moral underpinning of the whole show. And that's what has put the conservatives up in arms.

"One newspaper columnist wrote that the show's portrayal of gay relationships may 'normalise such relationships and mislead Thai youths into believing that they are acceptable'.

"Most fans are average members of the audience who overlook the gender of the protagonists and see the relationship for what it is - an insufferable tenderness for each other that is love.

"However, there's another side to this enthusiasm. Although it is doubtful that we'll see so much as a peck on the cheek between Phiwit and Kong, I wonder how many of these fans would remain faithful if the star-crossed lovers were to be shown spending a night together in bed - something freely allowed to onscreen heterosexual couples.

"It seems the only same-gender relationships palatable to Thai audiences and the public at large will remain - for the time being - hopelessly idealistic relationships between eunuchs."

Vitaya’s turgid blog piece is here (Thai only). The Nation piece is here (link harvested - it died).

Kong, Phiwit: When being hit by a car is not so bad

Go on, scoop him up!

The tumultuous road accident scene in Tomorrow, I'll Still Love You (พรุ่งนี้ก็รักเธอ) has finally arrived.

Phiwit is still being persecuted by his straight elder brother Phiphat.

Dastardly Phiphat turns up at his place, where Phiwit is giving shelter to his boyfriend Kong.

Phiphat can’t accept that his brother is gay – or, as he puts it, a sexual abnormality.

Kong hides upstairs, the encounter passes without incident. However, when they venture outside, Kong and Phiwit find Phiphat waiting for them in his car.

A fight ensures, and Kong and Phiwit run away. Phiphat chases them in his car.
The pair tries to make it across the road, but a car is coming.

Kong sees it, tries to get his lover Phiwit out the way, but ends up getting hit himself.

He bounces off the car onto the road, where after a brief body-roll towards the gutter comes into contact with broken shards of glass. His eyes are bleeding. Phiwit cradles his gay lover in his arms, distraught.

Kong is taken to hospital, where he undergoes surgery.

Phiwit calls Kaew, Kong’s sister, to tell her the news.

Kaew knows they are a couple, and has previously tried to force them apart.

She turns up at the hospital with her boss/lover Por.

Por and Kaew

They are the male/female leads in the show. It is good to see Por/Kaew, and supporting leads Kong/ Phiwit, connect.

Kaew blames Phiwit for the accident which has befallen her brother. An angry exchange follows.

‘This is why I don’t want you to be together!’

Phiwit begs her forgiveness, while Por tries to restrain her. In his eyes, she’s gone too far.

Teary hospital scenes follow...Phiwit holds his lover's hand as Kong, his eyes bandaged, recovers in his hospital bed.

Kong may have lost his eyesight, as the glass shards penetrated deeply into his eyes, says the doctor.

As they wait for news at hospital, Por and Por talk about the problems they share in common, in what was one of the best moments of last night’s show.

Por loves Kaew, but circumstances are always getting in the way. It’s love one moment, animosity the next.

Phiwit’s dilemma is the same. He loves Kong, but because they are gay, family members are trying to force them apart.

‘Kong has someone who loves him,’ says Phiwit, referring to Kaew, who does not want the gay relationship to continue.

‘But I will never give in... I will never consent to losing him.’

Por commends Phiwit’s strength.

‘To be forced apart when you love someone...just how far can you go?’

He says if he had shown the same courage earlier, he and Kaew could love each other now without problem.

‘Still, it’s never too late,’ says Phiwit, encouraging Por to press on.

It is a sweet scene. I liked seeing Por talking reassuringly to Phiwit, who is worried about his gay lover.

Por is straight, but does not judge him. Phiwit can see Por’s problems in the same dispassionate light.

Cut to the hospital bed, and it’s time for the big unveiling. The doctor peels away Kong’s eye gauze. How is his eyesight?

Kong is a gay boy at heart. In his first remark, he compliments his mother on her choice of dress.

Obviously, he can still see. However, his eyesight keeps going fuzzy...maybe he is not so right after all.

The series continues next Monday.

Watch the action here, here, and here (links harvested - they died).

In the first clip, Kong and Phiwit share a cute scene over a cup of tea. Phipat arrives, drama ensues. They leave the condo, only to find him lying in wait outside. Phiphat gives chase. Kong gets hit by a car.

In the second clip, Phiwit calls Kaew to tell her about the accident. At the hospital, they argue.

The doctor warns Kong’s family that the patient may not see again. Por and Phiwit talk about the problems they have in common, and Phiwit comforts his lover by his hospital bed.

In the third clip, the doctor removes Kong’s eye gauze. He can see, and his eye wounds have miraculously healed. However, Kong's eyesight still blurs out every few minutes. Is it a permanent condition? Will he tell anyone, or suffer heroically in silence?

Extra: Here's a background video of Kong/Phiwit's road accident scene (link harvested - it died). Fluke Pachara Thammon (ฟลุค พชร ธรรมมล) plays Kong, and Oh Anuchyd Sapanphong, Phiwit.

Your internet resource of choice for all things Kong/Phiwit must be Bee Boa, who has faithfully provided snapshots and videoclips of all the key scenes since the series began. Visit her Bloggang site here.

Kong-Phiwit hugging special, Boy the cleaner, James Ruangsak shines

Kong, Phiwit

My God – not another hug!

I could barely watch gay lovers Kong and Phiwit last night. After a promising start, their one-on-one encounters are now predictable and tedious.

I lost count of how many times Kong rushed into Phiwit’s arms, one rib-crunching embrace after another. Kong’s family have discovered he is gay and that he and Phiwit like each other.

That probably wouldn’t matter so much, except that Phiwit is also brother-in-law to a woman who, six years before, killed Kong’s elder sister.

Kong’s surviving sister, Kaew, is appalled that he has knowingly struck up a relationship with Phiwit, given the family history.

The knowledge must be kept from their mother at all costs, she says, or Mum could take another dramatic star turn (encounter with hospital bed) for the worse.

Improbable secrets fuel this family drama. They keep us watching, though as the secrets unfold one by one, there’s precious little of interest to watch.

Kong and Phiwit are supporting players in the channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I'll Still Love You, though were given a generous amount of screen time last night.

The highlight of silliness was a scene in the middle of a street where Phiwit has clasped Kong’s hand in a stand of gay unity. ‘He’s with me!’ he’s saying, as family members try to drag them apart.

We end up with a push-me-pull-you style tug-of-war, with Phiwit at one end being pulled by his family, and Kong at the other end being pulled in the opposite direction by his. Come on, people – this is embarrassing to watch!

Kong and Phiwit are separated. Kong sheds tears, as he does often these days. Phiwit turns up at his place to meet him. Kaew tries to force them apart again, and slaps Kong’s face. 

Tired of family squabbles getting in the way of true love, Kong leaves in Phiwit’s car. Having spurned their families, they are now gay lovers on the run. Back at Phiwit’s place, Kong collapses into his arms for yet another man hug.

In danger of being overlooked in all this Kong/Phiwit drama is the role played by excellent James Ruangsak.

He plays Phipat, the ratbag husband of the woman who killed Kong’s sister, and elder brother to the hapless Phiwit.

When Phiwit grabs Kong’s hand, Phipat looks askance at this appalling display of gay affection between Kong and his brother, as if he can’t believe his straight blinkered eyes. It was a classic moment, one of the best in the series so far.

The boys hold hands, Kaew, Phit look askance

For more of James, see below.
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Boy

If the Kong/Phiwit gay scenes look sterile, it’s because they are ‘cleaned’ first by Exact Entertainment head 'Boy' Takonkiat Weerawan, who directs the drama.

They are mere plot devices, designed to draw attention to the female lead.

They are not allowed to show gay body language, or draw too close, as director Boy won't allow it.

In Thai TV dramas, gays are usually portrayed as figures of fun. Were they to start looking too gay in the conventional sense, viewers might get turned off. They could also detract from the leads.

In an interview with Matichon newspaper, Boy sheds light on his thinking behind the characters in Tomorrow, I'll Still Love You (พรุ่งนี้ก็รักเธอ). The story is about leads Por and Kaew, a couple who loved each other, but who circumstances forced apart.

When they are reunited years later, one obstacle after another comes in the way of their love.

Kong and Phiwit are the supporting duo. Director Boy says he could have chosen a straight couple as the second leads, but went for a gay coupling, as they are rarely seen on Thai TV.

Kong falls in love with Phiwit, yes, but is really there to cause problems for female lead Kaew. His relationship with Phiwit, brother-in-law to the woman who killed her sister, causes her headaches.

‘Kong is there to draw sympathy to Kaew,’ he says. 'He also poses another obstacle for her to confront.'

Describing the gay relationship between Phiwit and Kong, the director says they start off as friends. In a playful way, Phiwit shows he is interested, while Kong fobs off his advances.

They end up falling for each other, but signs of gay love or affection between the two are kept to a minimum, as is any sign that gay matters might come before family.

Director Boy notes that in the closing episodes the pair end up pulling away from the embrace of their families, when their families indicate that they cannot accept their love.

He says he is not trying to send any messages about the way gays are treated by society, but notes that while straight couples swear and curse, and slap each other about, these two treat each other well.

Society dislikes gays, he reckons, and we will feel sorry for this couple by the end. However, we will also know that their love was the sweetest of the relationships portrayed in the series, he says. The Kong-Phiwit coupling emerges as the ‘cleanest’(seen in the most positive light) of all. The Matichon piece is here [link harvested - it died].
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James Ruangsak

Singer/actor James Ruangsak shines as the bad guy in Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

Next up, he plays a ladyboy-mother in the gay stage show, La Cage Aux Folles, opening next year.

James, in La Cage Aux Foles

He appeared before the cameras yesterday as he performed in rehearsals the gay anthem, I Am What I Am.

I can barely tell it’s James. Later, he talks about his role as a ladyboy with a teenage child.

The director, he says, gives him advice on how to carry himself, and totter about in high-heels. The romantic comedy, in which he plays a stage diva, opens in May.

Tea for two, ice-cream maker rocks, home-baked bread feeler, Kong/Phiwit clock ticking

Maiyuu has bought a new tea set – two cups, saucers, a strainer, and a teapot. Needless to say, we also have the tea – chrysanthemum, and lavender.

‘Unlike other teas, these will help give you a good sleep if you drink them before bed,’ he said.

At night, Mauyuu makes a pot. He adds honey, and serves.

I had hoped to bring you pictures of his piping-hot tea, but they will have to wait, as I keep forgetting to take the pictures at night when he has made a brew.
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We also have a new ice-cream maker. As I write, Maiyuu is whipping up a batch of strawberry sherbet ice-cream. I tried his plain strawberry ice-cream this morning, which he makes with milk and cream. It tastes just like the street-bought stuff, only not as oily or greasy. Pictures coming soon.
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Overseas, my parents have bought a bread-maker on e-Bay. I asked Maiyuu if he would be interested in buying one for us. He has baked his own bread in the past, though we don’t have a machine made for the task.

So far, he is unenthusiastic.

I asked if he had heard of e-Bay; No. I have seen a Thai version of e-Bay on the net, but don’t know anyone who shops on it.

By the looks of it, e-Bay has yet to take off here as it has in the West.
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Kong and Phiwit, your time is running out!

The Channel 5 drama, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You airs again tonight.

Writing at the Pantip webboard, one fan says the series has less than two weeks to go. Gay lovers Kong and Phiwit, who play supporting roles, get a few minutes of airtime in each episode, perhaps half an hour in total.

However, the two are involved in the thick of the drama – Kong’s sister sees the pair holding hands, which is their tender coming-out statement to the world.

One lad gets hits by a car, and I'm told they even share a kiss. Stay tuned.