John Galt Presents: My First Time In Bangkok

I think anyone's first trip to Thailand is a story to be told. Thailand is not like the west in many ways and being completely immersed for the first time in Asian society can be a bit of shock.

I'd like to share with you my first 2 days/nights in Thailand in this article. Both of these were in Bangkok. Next week or the week after I'll follow up with the remaining 6 days that were spent in Pattaya.

The account that you read here is completely true. I have no need to fabricate any part of this story.

First, let's remember the last article that I wrote call No More --- In Thailand. If you haven't read that article please do so before you read further here. Although that article has as it basic premise a joke about "No More ---", we will be applying that rule to this column so this reads a bit more politically correct. (we don't want to upset those soccer mom's back home).

NOTE: All of the tour pictures below in this article are clickable for larger views.

Back in San Diego some of my co-workers and I were engaged in some racy banter at the office. I'm not sure how that all began. One of these guys was the young stud at the office in his prime and he recounting his recent hot weekend or something to that affect. I, on the other hand, was probably lamenting my situation of not really having my way with girls like I once had when I was his age. That was a semi-frequent topic and it was all spoken in good fun. One day, he mentioned that he had heard an interview on the radio of a guy who ran "Fun" tours. He said I should check out his web site. So, we all took a peek at it and had a few laughs. I don't think I took it very seriously at first. The whole concept of traveling for "Fun" seemed foreign to me. A "Fun" tour, in Asian? Hum, my wheels were turning. As several days passed, I began to be more curious about the whole concept. Was this true? What it just that simple? I had been down to Tijuana and also to Cabo San Lucas Mexico I had seen the night life down there. I had also been to Vegas, but the Thailand version read completely differently to me. I reasoned to myself that I'm not very happy in the "Fun" and romance department in general and if I'm going to be happy, I need to take the bulls by the horns and check this out. Besides I had never been aro

und the world before. It's seemed like an exciting prospect. I called the tour operator directly. I am not one for bullshit and so I wanted to hear the basic run down from him directly. He adequately answered all my questions and this guy seemed very genuine. There wasn't one conflict in his story and we talked (or should I say, I drilled him) for no less than 45 minutes. I had some vacation time coming, so within a couple of days I made the decision and booked myself on the next tour was approaching in 5 or 6 weeks in June of 2001.

Side note: On my trip to Cabo San Lucas the year before, I went alone. I did ok, but I realized that I would have done much better if I had gone with someone who knew the ropes and the language. So, my decision to join a tour to Thailand in my mind, was a good one. This picture is from Cabo San Lucas. I was enjoying a day of scuba diving. Does anyone know the name of this rock formation behind me?

The tour consists of a number of guys (and sometime gals) coming from a number of places. In this case they all originated from US. Some flew in from the East coast out of LaGuardia. I was flying out of Los Angles on Thai Airways. This was an afternoon flight and I do believe a couple of the guys on the tour were on the same flight and we met up at the waiting area. It was nice to find out who some of the other were and get their stories. Seemed like these guy were a mix; some lead very basic lives and others were adventure hunters on holiday. Most on that tour had not been before we those of us "newbies" were hanging on the words of those returning for another tour. We were all pretty excited about the prospect of the journey.

The flight takes about 14 hours out of LAX. The craft is always a wide bodied long range jet like the 747. If you manage to get a seat in the middle or front of the craft, the ride is very smooth and stable. At the rear however, you can get a tiny little bit of shaking from very minor turbulence. So, my recommendation is to try to avoid rear seating. The trip is quiet and the cabin crew play a lot of movies. You sleep quite a bit. It's a great ride. And its easy. The 14 hours pass pretty quickly.

These pictures are of course from the Don Muang old airport. The view today would be of the new air port. The tour guides were waiting for us at the arrival gate of International flights. With a few signs we easily spotted them. Small vans of guests are shuttled off from this point to a Bangkok hotel with rooms and accommodations all set up and ready to go. It's takes about a day to get everyone together from all parts of the US as not all flights are arriving at the same time. But, we spend the first couple of days of the tour in Bangkok to make it possible for everyone to arrive and join the group.

I believe the group that arrived on that first day were all back at the hotel and checked late afternoon. We stayed at the Royal Benja Hotel on Soi 5 at Sukhumvit road. I believe we were all on a high level floor and our view was excellent. This is an ideal location as it's close to most of the popular night spots in that area. It's a short walking distance to Nana Plaza, a number of the local discos and a BTS railway station. For a Bangkok location it's nearly ideal for English speaking foreigners.

The plan was to all meet for dinner and receive some direction from the guides about where to go and our options were. We received information on how to where to exchange moneys and how to get ourselves around the area. Of course the tours guides were making rounds to the go-go clubs later that night and the group was welcome to come along or we had the freedom to do our own thing that evening.

That night, the guides took us to Nana plaza. I was quite over-whelmed with the go-go scene. I had seen a little of this in Mexico but the Thailand version was a brave new world. The girls were nicer to me. They were more interesting I thought. And the money that they were asking was comparatively much less than what I had seen in Mexico.

In Nana, one of guys on the tour saw 3 girls in a shower routine on stage and immediately he wanted to take all three together. One of the guides quickly contacted the mamassan of that club and help facilitate this. My fellow explorer was gone with three girls in hand. Others in turn, took their picks. I would say by 2 or 3 am most guys have found something to keep them occupied. I have flirted with a few girls myself but I was still

unsure of myself.

Shock in the Bathrooms: One of the things that will really catch you off guard are the unisex bathrooms. First off, sometimes the bathroom aren't really well marked, and you'll likely just see the urinals and make the assumption that you are in the men's bathroom. And in most cases this is correct, but some clubs only have one main bathroom you'll get this funny feeling when a girl walks in behind you and jumps into the stall next to you. Or you'll feel strange if a girl comes into to fix her face or rearranges her bust in her skimpy little outfit in front of the mirror and she is only a arm's length away. And all the while, you may be standing there feeling vulnerable holding your "willy" trying to maintain your composure. Today, now that I'm used to it, I rather like a unisex bathroom with scantily clad dancers prancing nearby.

I struck up a conversation with one of the Thailand tour guide's "mia noi" (minor wife - secondary girlfriend outside of his normal marriage). She was cute and had the "sexy thing" going for her. She was very cool. She was helping me out a little bit in talking with the girls at the clubs. This is typical for the tour. The tour leaders will always have Thai girl available on the tour who speaks English and can facilitate a little conversation between the guys and Thai girls that they see in public. This can help out quite a bit when there is a language barrier. And of course, the tour operators tend to choose girls that are easy on the eye (after all, Thailand if full of them).

Well, as it turned out, I just hadn't seen what I was looking for. When the rest of the group decided to call it a night, I decided to taxi out to Pang Pong alone. I ended up on the narrow street that doesn't contain any market booths out front. There were only beer bars and go-go bars there. I half heartedly stuck my head in a few bars. I girl snagged me on the way down the street and hauled me for a coke and a few photos. She and a Katoey were working the floor. I didn't really fancy her. Now the girl in the orange would have been more interesting but I was still not comfortable yet with the whole Bangkok scene, so dawn drawing near, I was on the way back to the hotel. I flagged down my first tuk tuk ride and here is a picture of sun up over Bangkok. As you can see there is still a lot of traffic on the road even at this late hour. The first night came to an end, and The Galt did not hook up on the first night.

Remember, I had just flown in that day and my body's time clock was off by 12 hours. I'm was probably doing pretty good considering the irregular sleep the on the plane. It's tough the first day coming into Asia. I was looking forward to some long sleep to get my body turned around and ready for the next day.

I'm going to run through the day activities really fast so you don't get board. The day activities are nice but I know that most are more interested in the night life, so hang on.

We gathered for lunch were promptly on the move. Not much time is wasted during the day as the tour is designed to get the very most out of the trip. Our first stop was to make some exchanges for baht. That that time the dollar was buying 45 baht. We had about on people on this trip in total and about 1/2 of them where there on the first day (the second half arrived that evening). There were a number of interesting people. In this second photo you see a stock broker and a model from NY. The other 2 were accomplished business men. I have blurred out their faces to protect their identities. You may be asking yourself, "Why is successful model here in Thailand?" She came with a friend and the two were here to look around and see Asia but also to enjoy the night life together. So, the cross section of tourists on these trips can be quite interesting.

Today's adventure was a canal boat tour through the water ways of Bangkok. This also included a stop over at the royal barge museum (and storage facility). The tour started out on the Chao Phraya river and makes its way into the water controlled canals. I remember very distinctly that seeing people back at their homes on the canal reminded me of a Disney experience because most of them were smiling at us and waving. It struck me very strange, like they were actors waiting to greet us, but this is not the case. These people are just friendly and it will surprise you when you see this. These back water canals was the setting for one of the chase scenes in the James Bond title "The Man with a Golden Gun" starring Roger Moore. And believe it or not, it look today much as it did back in the 70's when that movie was originally shoot here in Thailand. I don't have any pictures from that original trip back inside the canals. These three shots I have here were taken a few years later and look exactly as it did back in 2001. Notice the housing in the background. Some of the housing on these canals are now quite upscale, but there are still old style wooden traditional housing still around.

Once the canal ride is over, we make it back to the main River. We pass a few historic sites along the way. One of those is Wat Prasriratana Sasadaram. This is the large temple you see just off the river. Sometimes this tour stops there for pictures, on this day we did not. However, something that you may find interesting is that you can't fish near these temples. And it is consider kind of you to feed the fish it may even bring you good luck because you're giving sustenance to the local creatures. Consequently, there are very large schools of fish always swimming in these areas near the temples and the fish nearly jump out of the water at you when you feed them.

On the Chao Phraya river; we are headed to the Royal Barge Museum. This is the places where the traditional handcrafted ceremonial boats are stored. Most of these boats are several hundred years old. Once a year these boats are taken out and paddled up the river in an elaborate royal ceremony.

The first boat on the left here is special. This boat is called Supanahong. The front end of this boat has the head of a bird. This boat is mainly for taking the King and Queen down the river at the annual ceremonies.

The second boat here I believe was used for protection and warfare. On this boat's front are snakes and these are called Nagas. You'll always see these arranged in odd numbers. Nagas are also seen at temples around the country, again, they are form of protection in the spirit realm.

You'll even see a boat in there at the back of the museum that was damaged with a bomb during WWII.

Look at this "photo pass" below. This is what you have to "rent" for 100 baht to take pictures of the royal barges. I think the price has gone up in recent years. Later that afternoon we regrouped back to our hotel, some of us made a quick run out to a local mall and look over some very expensive sculpturing. I think one of the guys in the tour was a dealer of antiquities and wanted to compare what he saw in Bangkok to what was available in the states. Again, the tour leaders knew right where to go in Bangkok to uncover this type of merchandise. I believe this art below was craved out of jade and it was very expensive piece but, it was very beautiful, and for those with deep pockets, perhaps a rare and equitable find.

By the way, just in case you are wondering, all these photos were numbered in order from my camera, so this made it a much easier to remember back 5 years and recall what we did and in what order.

This is my second night but for about half of the guys and gals, this is their first. At this point, all the guest have arrived from both side of the US. I don't believe any other foreigners from other countries were with us on this trip. We gather for dinner as normal (seen on the left at the oriental) and shortly after we group up for a stroll around the night life. We stopped off at Patpong first. We hit the market street (there are 2 street there). I had not seen this street the night before. We hit a few go-go bars. I don't think we spent much time there actually. When the night spots areas not up to expectations, the tour leaders make take alternative actions pretty quickly. One of the keys factors is that clients want to see skin. On that night we shifted gears and headed Clinton Plaza.

Clinton Plaza is not in Bangkok today. It was closed entirely up about a year or so after that tour. I liked Clinton Plaza. The clubs were nice and new and they had a good feel. I felt more comfortable there than in other places. Here are just a couple of pictures of two of the clubs. We visited the Dollhouse and Hollywood East. There was probably a dozen clubs in that area on Sukhumvit road. This place was also close to our hotel. Ok, so you probably want to know, when am I go

ing to get is on with

one of the girls. Ok, I'm coming to that part. Tonight, I get a little action but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. But, it was interesting none the less. But first, we make a visit out to Clinton Plaza with the whole gang.

I was hanging around the tour guide's mia noi. I had met her the previous night, she was helpful to talk to. But, my attention with still towards the dancers and I was still indecisive in figuring out how I was going to get my "big toe" in the water. After having a 2 year dry spell in California, I was a little off balance. I was looking for something just a little bit special. So I was circulating the room a little bit and chatting with the guys. I leaned in on a couple of waitresses and took a whiff, hum... nothing like the scent of a beautiful girl. Looking up to the stage, the girls were dancing in their birthday suits and quite a few were very attractive. It's a wonderful site.

During the course of the evening, one tour guides came up to me. This was the guy who's mia noi I had been flirting with that night and the previous night. And he wanted to talk to me. That caught me off guard a little bit and I took a moment and spoke with him. He said to me, "Keith, my girl has taken a little liking to you." And I thought, Oh shit, am I in trouble? I think I said back to him, "Well, she is cute girl". He continued in a slow and calculating way, "So, I want to explain something to you. She has been kind of curious about trying something new. And I want to accommodate her request because we get a long really well, and I like to take care of my girl, and well the truth is that one of the things that she is interested in, is being with two guys at one time. She has never done that before and she said she likes you, and if you're up for this, we'd like to invite you back to the hotel with us." I was startled. This caught me by surprise. I told him that I would need a few minutes to think about it. I looked back at her, and she was smiling at me. Evidently she knew that I was receiving the request from her guy. This tour guide was from the US and he was a couple years younger than me. I didn't know him very well as I had just met him, but he was clean cut and he had class. I certainly didn't feel that I would have a problem with him. I took a few minutes to mull this over. Here I'm trying to get my big toe in the water and I have been invited to jump into the deep end of the pool! I thought, well she is attractive and she has a "sexy thing" going for her. She speaks some English, he is fluent in Thai, there were be no problem with the language. Considering I was a bit intimidated by the go-go dances, so I decided to accept their offer and give this a try. After all, I was here to experience new things and this was an opportunity that I had not been offered to me before.

I passed on my answer to him and conveyed it over to her. She seemed rather pleased with the arrangement as if there were a certain anticipation to the event. He wasn't done with the tour until late. The guides stay and work with the clients until closing time and beyond sometimes. I think he was free to leave around 3 am that night (keep in mind that closing times were much later at the clubs 5 years ago).

We were walking back to their hotel. The three of us made a pass through a 7/11 for some refreshments (I remember this because I purchased an orange can of soda with a green circle on it - the soda was called "Green Spot" and I had never seen that before).

As we neared the lobby he explained to me that we needed to give a appearance of "business" as we made our way to the elevators. I believe this had something to do with the fact this hotel was a bit more strict about guest policies. After all, we were coming in at 4 in the morning. As the lobby elevator doors came to a close, the atmosphere became more relaxed. We were on our way.

June is a warm month, in Bangkok, its a consider a hot month and with all of our gallivanting around, showers for all were warranted. So, shortly after arriving, the guide slipped away and showered first leaving me to chat with his girl. I hardly noticed us alone. I was a little on edge and fixated a bit on this young hot girl that I would soon be frolicking with. At this point I'm seeing here in better light. She is attractive and has a rocking little body on her. She did speak quite a bit of English and I felt very comfortable around her. This would have been the type of girl that I would have selected out at the bars if I knew which ones were like her in spirit. But, how does one know? It's pretty tough without some language skills.

The guide comes out in a towel and his girl and I were still dressed at this point and I think we were waiting for his lead. He suggested that we take a shower together to get to know each other a little bit. I'm thinking to myself, "Wow, this guy is very cool". She and I grab towels and make our way to the bathroom. The undressing part came pretty easily and we got the water rolling. Nothing like a little water foreplay. Most Thai girls don't know how to kiss and don't to either. It's not natively part of their culture. But, this girl did and she was very good at it. And we got a little bit acquainted. She did have an excellent firm and beautiful body. And she was very sensual. I can't tell you everything that happened in there, but I will say that it was an excellent warm up for the main event. It was a great 10 to 15 minutes but we also didn't want to keep our host waiting. Water was everywhere, I think there was more on the floor than in the tub. Ok, we were clean and ready to go. We dried off and toting the towels we reentered the room. There were two queen size beds in that room. The guide has turned down the bed closest to the bath and was laying out on it face up, with elbows propping him up as we approached. He was really only a few steps from the bath. She and I were standing there in front of the bed, he was right there. I think at this point she and I dropped our towels and I walked over to grab a condom off the dresser. So, here we were. None of us with any direct experience in this situation. She and I looked toward her boyfriend (the guide) for the leading direction. A few seconds passed, and then a few more, and then I detected what seemed like a tremor in the unspoken motions. Even before she and I had even gotten on the bed, the guide was a bit uncomfortable. He said to us, "Hey guys, I don't think that I'm going to be able to do this with you tonight. I'm really sorry." I smiled, shook my head yes, and without much delay I took his lead very quickly and slipped my clothes back on. He continued to apologize to me and told him not to worry about it. I threw my clothes on and quickly grabbed my unopened can of "Green Spot" out of the small frig and just before I slipped out I said to him, "Hey, as soon as that door closes behind me you'll be right back to your normal self so, have a great time tonight." I gently closed the door behind me.

So, we didn't do the threesome but I did enjoyed myself and I got to play with his girl a little bit and that was cool with me. I was in no hurry. This was only day 2 of a 10 day trip. I was well entertained up to this point. And besides that, I felt very much like I had made 2 friends in Thailand.

Again, I'm out almost until dawn when I make my way back to my room. Alone the second night - but I'm not disappointed.

A Side Note: To this day, I still have some contact with both of these people. They are no longer seeing each other. I have visited with this girl in Bangkok a few other times over the years, and still to this day, I've never had full sex with her. We are just friends. The guide is still here in Thailand as well and we cross paths on occasion.

The following day was a transition day. This is the day the tour packs up and takes the client to the Royal Palace before moving the tour entirely down to Pattaya. I have a lot of pictures of this day and much to say, so we'll continue with this expose of the "Fun" tour in the next naughty night life article next week.

Remember, these numbers are for visitors. Bangkok number are down. I expected this, however, we are starting to see larger numbers around the world. The two largest numbers of visitors are from Honolulu, Hawaii and Auckland, New Zealand. What gives? These are 2 tiny little places yet they show an average of about 50 visitors a day. In Europe were see tighter clusters of separate totals, so Europe may in fact have the largest readership density (over Bangkok). My largest day of course is my Thursday publishing day, but I also get a small spikes on Sundays which is a traditional publishing day for Stickman.

I also saw a larger number in Houston, Texas with 41 visits. Again, I believe Google shows these as an average over a several day period.

In total visits, the US had the greatest percentage at 25.7%, Thailand in second with 22.6%, and the United Kingdom in third with 14.3%.

This is the trend that I want. I really don't care if the Thailand crowd comes here (for the naughty night life articles) because they should know all this stuff already. If you're outside Thailand, well, then all of this might be very interesting to you.

This expose on my 2001 "Fun" tour is not finished yet. It's taking much longer than I expected. Seems like I remember more of it as I write it all out. Well try to get through another few days of it next week as we see the Royal Palace and take "the show" down to Pattaya.

Well, you know what I normally say at this point -- don't believe what you read. Well, I think in this article you're pretty safe -- you know why? I'm NOT putting my hand out for money! I'm here just to share my experiences with you.