Along the Mekong from Laos to Cambodia 4: �Alas, again at the Mekong!�

A splendid trip, but the perfect gay Asian male was not found

By Suzy Size

Phnom Penh has two gay bars nowadays, Salt Lounge and Blue Chilli (for details or clickable entries as always go to Pink Pages of Sticky Rice Gay Asia Guide World). They are both located near Sisowath Boulevard right at the Tonle Sap which is the strangest river of the world. Half a year the waters flow upstream when the mighty Mekong brings all that water during rainy season. (And, yes, this is the very last time during that trip that we can say it again: �Alas, again at the Mekong!� even though it is technically the Tonle Sap.) The other half of the year the Tonle Sap flows downstream and delivers precious water into the Mekong delta in Vietnam thus preventing that fertile land and rice basket of that country to become too salty. Right now the Tonle Sap was flowing downstream.

I had a beer at Salt Lounge and talked to some of the friendly local guys there. Some spoke English very well, others had more problems, but all tried hard. Later I moved on to Blue Chilli. It was quite busy there too. They have now opened a branch in Siem Reap as well. A guy approached me. I had met him last time I was in Phnom Penh. He had then been together with a Cambodian friend who was even better looking than him. So I had naturally opted for the better looking. But this time he was alone so I gave him a try for the offered massage back at my hotel. They charge you 20 $ and it was all right. Contrary to my last visit my friend now had a brand new motorcycle. He had bought it for 800 $ which equals getting laid 40 times. Signs of newly found affluence in Cambodia.

I said good by to my travel companion Chris and went to the bus terminal. The bus ride to Sihanoukville takes four hours and costs 6 $. My comfortable air conditioned bus was very empty, it had only eight passengers on board. Sihanoukville is a sleepy little town. The bus terminal is in town centre and from there you take a Tuk Tuk or motorcycle driver to one of the five beaches. I opted for the main beach called Ochateal. Jomtien must have looked like this about 30 years ago. No signs of gay life except a friendly Katoey fruit vendor called Sarah. Wonderful fresh seafood available in the friendly beaches of Sihanoukville. But a bit boring at nights. Buy a bottle of wine (the prices are about half of those in Thailand) and read a book or two at night.

As always when being away from Pattaya longer I start missing the seedy place eventually. So it was high time to say good by to the Mekong, Cambodia and Sihanoukville. Once again I did not find the ideal gay Asian guy on this trip, but I did not really expect this in the first place. I took a speed boat to Koh Kong (25 $) a small island near the Thai border. Millions of ugly View Talays could still be built on those pristine beaches between Sihanoukville and Koh Kong but it is not likely in the foreseeable future. I took a motorcycle to the Thai border.

In no time I was on the Thai side from where a mini bus would bring us to Trat. The driver was extremely rude to his farang (not the Thai) passengers. He waited till he had nine passengers before he would start the journey to Trat. Two Thai guys around 40 obviously were gay. One was calling his boss explaining why he would return a day late from his vacation: “Pi� he said, explaining the unexplainable, “Pi� and then another strange explanation why it was completely inevitable that he was late. Back in Thailand!

In Trat I was quite lucky. The last bus to Pattaya had left already but a taxi driver from Pattaya had brought some passengers to Trat and did not want to drive back empty. So he agreed to take me and another guy there for only 500 Baht per person. This other passenger was very strange. He did not say a single word during the whole drive. Very unlike that Australian chatterbox I met back on Jomtien beach next day. He told me where he lived, how little he paid, how clever he was in general and he told me about half his life in 20 minutes. He even mentioned being bitten by a Pattaya money boy just recently when they had an argument about payment.

Now it was obvious: I was back home.