Farewell Land of Smiles

Day four, my final hours in Bangkok. We left Bangkok on an afternoon flight back to KL. That leaves us with some time in the morning for more shopping. Even I could not help but buy a pair of undies from Hom and a manbag but enough of the Bangkok shopping post. There's something more to blog about Bangkok which were not written in the previous posts.

As everyone knows, Bangkok is infamous for their sex industry. Straight or gay, they have it. Just know which "dark" alley to go to and you'll find whatever that tickles your fancy. I personally have been to the gogo boys show and male-to-male massage in this trip.

I must admit, I've never seen so many engorged (not erected but super engorged!) penises in ONE night! Everyone of them were naked performing on stage as well as walking around to be hired by patrons. There was one act where five or so guys were standing on stage wanking and there will be a guy walking around with an empty bottle to collect "donations". Once any one of the guy on stage ejaculated, he gets whatever amount of money that had been collected.

Another eye opening experience was the male-to-male massage. Despite popular belief, not all of the masseurs are gay. It's just a form of another income to them. The whole thing started with choosing the package. There are two, the normal (ends with masturbation) and the extra (ends with sex). The massage itself is RM 60 while the tips to the masseur is RM 50 (masturbation) minimum or RM 100 (sex) minimum.

Once the package has been chosen, then it's on to choosing the masseur. They lined up on the other side of the room with a glass wall in between us. There they'll show off their assets and it's up to me to choose which. After that, it's up into the massage room. Before the massage, the masseur and I are required to shower first. He joined me in the showers, we lathered each other with soap and got to know each other a little.

The massage was a whole body massage. Started with me lying face down on the bed and ends with me lying on my back. He was alright with his hands but really excellent with his teasing. At any position that he's massaging me, he'll sure to tease me with his erected penis, making sure I know that he's erected. There even were moments that he was nearly in me. He finished the massage with me achieving climax.

Now with all those experience above, you'd think I must have been satisfied and thrilled. Quite the opposite really. After the massage, I was actually depressed. Depressed because the sex industry is really sad. Men parading around and selling themselves to earn a living. I'm not the sort to treat another person as just a sex object. I never can and never will. They're humans too.

When I got to know my masseur, he mentioned to me that a night he could get no clients at all or maybe one or two on a good day. Further more, the whole glass wall thing is like going to RSPCA and picking the right dog to adopt a pet. I felt really uncomfortable and unsettling. It was just down right inhumane.

Though I'm glad to have experienced it. At least now I know what the situation is like and most importantly don't judge but respect and treat them like any other human. They're just doing their work to earn money to survive. Just because they're servicing your sexual needs doesn't make them any less of a human than you.

With that, I bid Bangkok farewell.

Through the evening sky.

Till the next trip to Land of Smiles.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Shopping Spree

Disappointed with my shopping in Chatuchak, I was determine to get my outfits for a product launch opening that I'm attending the day after I land in KL. So where to shop now that it's the weekday and Chatuchak is only open on weekends? Mahboonkrong! Bangkok's equivalent of Sungai Wang but with better varieties of things and no "ah beng" or "ah lian" stuff.

Can you believe that this building is as old as I am? 23 years and it still looks good. Hooray to well planned maintenance.

I got the stuff that I wanted from here. A lovely green Mr Happy tee, a pair of jeans and white jacket! Perfect for the event. Oh and I got a pair of thongs. Always wanted this kind but now I need a pair of trousers to pair it with... Dem it...

Fabulous in green and white.

Lovely new pair of jeans.

Check out them thongs~~~

I heart MBK~~~

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Chatuchak

When the gang said Chatuchak has everything, they literally meant everything under the freaking sun! I was not prepared for the immensity of the place! It's freaking huge with so many shops everywhere. Turn a corner here and another turn there is enough for others to lose track of you.

1000++ shops!

Lemme try and give a sense of how huge the place is. I've only managed to explore the middle section of the market and it took about five hours. Loads of printed tee shirts, caps, trousers and other commercialised clothes. Loads of souvenirs as well from woodcrafts to metalworks. Everything here is just so CHEAP!

Cheap cheap!

The thing about this place was it's packed with people and things on sale. Not to mention the air was rather still, hot and humid. It was giving me headache and I couldn't make up my mind on what to get. Just too many things packed into a relatively small area.

More cheap cheap!

I ended up getting a few printed tee shirts, some wood carvings and a very lovely nice pink Thai silk scarf! I heart. Though I was rather disappointed not getting what I wanted from there. Shorts, casual jackets and shirts. Apparently they were on the west side which I didn't go. That's where all the designer clothes are!

The art section was breath taking. So many beautiful art pieces that I really like. I was so occupied in admiring them, I forgotten to take photos. If only I had more money with me, I'd get a few pieces to decorate my space with. The art scene there is way more out there compared to our. All sorts can be found here and they're all for sale!

Remember to bring loads of cash and shop till you drop here.

Stay tune for Day Three.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Banging Cocks In Bangkok

December 2007, that's when 15 or so of us bloggers and friends decided after one day of talking about Bangkok, we bought the tickets. A truly impulsive and hurried decision but it's one of the best move for us all. So seven months later, here we are flying to Bangkok!

An illegal stowaway.

The flight was rather unpleasant. Seats are just too straight and can't be inclined much... At least there wasn't turbulent to toss us around like a bow of salad. Just a very uncomfortable flight. For a RM 300 flight return ticket, it is expected I guess.

We wasted no time after landing in Suvarnabhumi airport, took a van for the 10 of us to our hotel. Take A Nap, how cute is that name eh? The other five stayed in Baan Saladaeng. They wanted something little more posh.

This is our hotel/hostel.

I'm happy about my room. RM 30++ a night and shared with another four guys. I'm not really fussed about it seeing that I'll spend 3/4 or more of the time out of the room anyways. So it's really worth it for a budget traveller like me.

This is our six beds room.

After a short break, we headed out to explore the malls of Bangkok. I am awed by their shopping malls. They're so freaking huge and beautiful architectures and interior decorations. Kinda put ours to shame.

But the shopping malls weren't the highlight of Day One in Bangkok. It's DJ Station. Yes you've guessed it, clubbing! It was just fabulous. Loads of hawt, lean and toned Thai guys and they were all on the stage dancing topless! Hello boys! I was as happy as a school girl on Christmas morning.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to hook up with any of them hawt boys dancing on the stage. Instead, a Thai boy named Art suddenly appeared on the dance floor and started dancing with me. The dance became steamy and naughty and started talking about going to my place or his place. Unfortunately, there's no way I'm bringing him to our hotel nor am I going to go to his place. So we settled it in the club and I got this as souvenir.

Kiss of Thai.

A huge ass hickie... He's quite a nibbler left my hickie and nipple sore throughout the trip. That sure was a first for me. Get hitched in a Bangkok, check. I'm starting to like Bangkok already.

Stay tune for Day Two.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Red Cliff

When I hear Red Cliff, I see Takeshi Kaneshiro! As some of you know from my previous post, I'm a huge fan of Takeshi Kaneshiro. He is hawt! I'd like to thank Nuffnang (again) for giving me the opportunity to watch Red Cliff. I heart press screenings~~~


Initially, I felt very dissatisfied about this movie right after watching it. But after some time (a very long time indeed seeing that I'm only blogging it now) of digesting, the movie is actually quite impressive. Real historical battle of The Red Cliff between Liu Bei, Sun Quan and Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period in China.

The reason why I felt dissatisfied was because the movie was a little draggy in some parts, especially the battle scenes. The battle scenes itself is very impressive. Tactical strategies and military ingenuity are just mind blowing. But bringing out the generals one by one to combat the enemy soldiers are just silly... Just to display the might and strength of the generals. That's just pushing it...

But the character developments and the actors themselves were good. Takeshi delivered top notch performance as expected and Tony Leung was pretty good too. Storyline was engaging and martial art stunts were superb.

I am amazed with the sheer quantity of actors that was needed in this movie. With so many actors, they needed a lot of costumes to go with it. Logistics nightmare!

I've always love movies like these. The era of ancient China. It's fantastic to have a glimpse of the time (albeit a little exaggerated). This movie is definitely worth the watch and I think there hasn't been a movie which is quite like this or in the scale like this.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Hellboy II

The adventures of Red and Blue continues with Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Again, the world as we know it is faced with an unstoppable army made from the ancient time during a war between humans and mythical creatures.

So who you gonna call?

Hellboy of course. Spawn of Satan, the bringer of doom and raised by a human Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, is called once more to save human race from the brink of destruction. Pretty heavy job for a person that's not like by either humans nor the other mythical creatures but someone has gotta do it.


The movie starts of good with the recount of the ancient war between humans and mythical creatures through comic style drawings. Fast forward, the film is filled with awesome action sequence, cleverly scripted and hilarious scripts (as expected from Hellboy) and funny character developments. Can you imagine Red and Blue drunk and singing to Can't Smile Without You.

Hellboy and "The Big Baby".

As good as the movie was, I have one qualm about the movie. There are some parts that seemed a little draggy. Especially the ending I reckon but I shan't spoil the ending for those who haven't watched it.

Never the less, go watch Hellboy II. It's a good watch and you might just fall off your seat laughing your head off.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D!

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a media pass for press screening of Journey To The Center Of The Earth in 3D (thanks Nuffnang~~~) at GSC in Mid Valley. It's wonderful to go as media. Sure I was whining and whining when I woke up at six in the morning today (luckily I did cause I set the alarm to the wrong day and I might just missed this event).


The movie was superb! How I've missed watching movies so crisp, clear and vibrant quality and best of all, no annoying subtitles that takes a quarter of the screen. The entire experience of watching the movie was amazing. It really did feel like I was there in the action. Imagine the graphic felt so real that I really thought water was really going to splash onto my face.

I heart complimentary stuff!

Everything about this movie was scenic. Breath taking sceneries and add in the 3D effect, very realistic. I've not read the book so I can't really make a comparison of the storyline. I can say that it's straight forward. Nothing fantastic to be honest.

Cute florescence birds.

Imagine this scene 1000x prettier on screen.

After the movie screening, we were brought to a behind the scene tour where the projectors are. It was a first for me and was rather curious how they did it. I was expecting the projectors to be in individual rooms but instead it was projectors in a long corridor and films running along the walls. I never knew how big the projectors were and how much heat it produces!

35mm film projector.

Check out the film reel. It's huge!

Huge ass (about 1.7m in diameter) film reel.

I urge everyone to go for the 3D version of this movie. It's a tad more expensive, RM 17 but it's worth the price and experience the movie in a different way. The graphics are just that amazing. It's only available in KLCC, Mid Valley and Sunway.

Go watch. Seriously.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Hancock

To be honest, I thought I was going to have another bitching session with this movie after Wanted. With bad reviews from La Faghag and other not so good review for it. None the less, I always keep a zero expectation policy so that I can enjoy the movie and have a rather unbiased judgement.

Hancock!

So why the almost bitching session for this movie?

The movie started off looking very cheesy and cartoon-ish with all that childish flinging of the car actions. But that soon turned out to be part of Hancock's character development. Will Smith acted the part of Hancock pretty well. There's a distinct difference from being the childish and attention seeking Hancock to a mature and heroic Hancock.

Free tickets!

One thing for sure, this isn't your typical superhero movie. Hancock gets indicted for public property damages through his reckless heroic behaviours. Sure he rescued people but he just couldn't give a rat's ass to do it with minimal damage. Massive destruction to public properties and heedless theatrical stunts.

Then came along Ray Embrey and things changed for the better. Hancock became the hero that the city of Los Angeles needed. Yep, heart warming fuzzy wazzy.

Overall it was an enjoyable movie. Light and easy watch with funny humours here and there. Not the best movie of the year but just a nice chill out movie to have a relaxing time.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Paycheque!

You've got snail mail! My first snail mail and paycheque ever! Finally I got paid by Nuffnang after a year of snail-like pace collection in advertising money. It's always nice to get paid for doing something I like which in this case is blogging. Along with the perks of being a Nuffnanger makes everything so fun!

I'm rich! Not...

But it got me thinking, how much is my blog worth? After a year of being a Nuffnanger, it seems like it is RM180 per year. Kinda sad really. About 60 cents per day. One thing for sure, I'll definitely won't be able to support myself with my blog.

Well money is still money. So I'm happy I got paid finally!

But no matter. I'll just do what I love doing. Rant in my lovely QueerRant blog.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Can You Hear Me?

Urgh... I surely can't hear myself... It's all the clubbing last night, aggravated my condition and now I can't hear myself. Nope I'm not going deft but I totally lost my voice. I sound like a toad. William Hung sounds like Mariah Carey doing a perfect high octave talking next to me...


Sore throat + Drinking + Clubbing = Disaster Waiting to Happen.

And disaster did happen.

To make things worse, I only had four hours of sleep this morning because I promised B that I'll go to Port Dickson with him for an event. Slept at five and woke up at nine. This is not good for my health and not to mention dark circles and eye bags!

The event was so bla... Despite being a media representative, we were not treated well. It was total disappointment and I shan't elaborate more. I am sick and I shan't stress over this bla event.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Party Animals R Us

Tonight was one of those really great clubbing nights in Market Place. It was La Faghag's first time coming to a queer club and I'm glad she enjoyed herself tremendously. So much so, she's coming back here next week without me~~~ The most important thing is she had a blast and so did everyone else.

The DJs were amazing. Totally out of this world with their brilliant mix of house music which I was having a blast grooving to it. Some of the club mix that I could remember were Mariah Carey - Touch My Body, Jennifer Hudson - Spotlight, Duffy - Mercy and Kylie Minogue - The One. For more tracks, click here. The DJs that were spinning were DJ Fendie and DJ Thomas.

Check out the crowd and spot me! (Photo courtesy of Lovemachines)

The dance floor was entirely filled with guys of all types from muscles to twinks and everything in between. Some don't like Market Place because it's way too crowded. I on the other hand love the crowd. And yes being in that crowd will make you sweat a lot. Everyone will be drenched in sweat hence why some of them are topless (though I think it's more exhibitionist more than anything).

Good music, good crowd, good company and good drinks, what more can I ask for a perfect clubbing night?

See yea there after my Bangkok weekend!

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Efficiency Is The Name Of The Game

With the upcoming Bangkok trip with the gang in eight days, I went to the Immigration Office to renew my passport. It was expiring on November and I didn't want to be left behind in the airport while the rest flies off. There goes RM300 for 32 pages of blank paper... Thank goodness for parental units.

Another reason why I really wanted to change my passport is cause the photo on my old passport is hideous! I looked like I'm The Hunchback of Notre Dame... Funny how I've not been stopped to verify my identity with that photo. At least my new passport has a photo that I'm happy with.

I remember about 5 years ago, going to the Immigration Office was a nightmare. I had to wake up as early as five in the morning to queue in a mile long queue but no such thing now. In fact this time, I was the one rushing to the Immigration Office before they close at five.

Entrance to the Immigration Office.

I was shocked at how friendly and efficient the service was. No, shocked would be an understatement. It was more flabbergasted, dumb struck, astonished or surprised. Whichever but they were friendly and efficient. And here I thought those two words were not in their dictionary when it comes to service.

18 counters to cater for all.

There were ample of counters and most of them were staffed so everything went swimmingly without any bottlenecks anywhere. This Immigration Office is beginning to be my favourite government office I've visited.

My cue number.

Guess how long the whole process took? Only an hour on the dot! That's because there weren't many people at that time but an hour for a new book is really fast. Even if the place was full, it'll take two hours to get it done. Quantum leap for the Malaysian government officers!

The new and the old.

So passport, checked. Now I'll have to pack my clothes. Still don't know what to pack. Shorts, underwear, tshirts, sandal, shoes and bla bla bla. Travel light is the key!

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Hainanese Chicken Rice

It is unquestionable that the best chicken rice is made by Hainanese. It's all in the method of which they prepare the chicken, the rice and the chilly sauce. All these are mandatory to make the perfect gastronomic experience. Tilt this delicate balance and all is ruined.

So when my friend suggested that we have Hainanese Chicken Rice for lunch, I was a little skeptical. My mom makes one mean ass Hainanese Chicken Rice, family pride and joy secret recipe. So this place had better be real good.

Loke Yun Restaurant located deep in Ampang territory (158, Jalan Besar, Ampang). You can Wikimapia search Loke Yun and it'll show you where it is located. This place serves pretty good Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Loke Yun Restaurant and that's the owner on the left.

Here's what we ordered, half a steamed chicken (each bird is 2 kg), baby Romanian lettuce and bean sprout. The chicken serving is huge for even the three of us. Taste wise, everything was just right. Just savoury enough, tender and succulent meat. Then comes the sauces sprinkled all over it.

Steamed Chicken.

Some sort of vegetable dishes is a must when eating chicken rice. Usually I'd order cold bean curd too but we didn't order it this time round. The baby Romanian lettuce and bean sprout that we ordered were just perfect. They were boiled for just the right amount of time for it to cook but maintaining it's crunch. These too were sprinkled with various sauces.

Baby Romanian lettuce (yau mak) in various sauces.

Bean sprout in various sauces.

I like the chilly sauce that they make. Unlike other places where it is diluted with water more than anything. They made it well because of the generous amount of chicken stock and chicken oil blended with the chilly and garlic. The bowl next to the chilly sauce is blended ginger. It's a lovely combination.

Chilly sauce and blended ginger.

Lastly, the rice is extremely good. Very fragrant with chicken stock and not too lumpy or dry. Came to our table piping hot and gave us good sized serving too.

I like it how that they used pretty painted porcelain plates and bowls. There's just more satisfaction eating from it somehow and pleasing to the eye too.

Now to some, this place may be a tad expensive. Not cutthroat expensive but just a little more pricey than your usual chicken rice. It amounted to RM 40 for the three of us including drinks but it's actually not bad considering the big serving that they gave us and most importantly, it's good food.

I'll definitely come back to this place for more. I recommend that you should go and give it a try too.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

Most "Wanted"

Wanted? Certainly not for this movie. Sure I like Angelina Jolie anytime in any movie but that just won't do for this movie. Even the lovely Angelina Jolie couldn't be this movie's saving grace. The movie was in such dire condition and throughout the entire movie I was gasping, "You have got to be kidding me?!".

Wanted? Not really...

The movie started off alright introducing Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), a below than your average Joe, working class guy. Actually make that a uber pathetic dude. Think about the whole team from Dodgeball combined and you get him. He couldn't even Google himself. I actually feel sorry for him but he's got this really stunning blue eyes and oh so yummy bod.

Perfect combination of girls, guns and cars.

However, the movie practically went downhill when Angelina Jolie came into the picture. She's stunning sure but the stunts this movie pulled were unbelievable in a really bad way. I think Mythbusters need to debunk this soon to be urban legend, a shooter can curve a bullet firing out of his gun by swinging his arm. If that's not illogical enough, imaging intercepting a bullet in mid air with another bullet... I didn't mind the other vehicular stunts they pulled but this bullet thing, I can't down it like a shot of good old strong tequila.

Ain't she a beauty.

Having said that, the general plot is decent with enough twists and suspenses to entice and enthral the audience. Visual effects were stunning and it was no surprise seeing that director is none other than Timur Bekmambetov. He is known for Night Watch and Day Watch.

So the verdict is I disliked the movie. The bullet things were just too whacked for me to accept it. It ruined the movie for me. But there's no harm going for a watch anyways. Movie outings with friends are always lovely.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter

When Life Gives Me A Lemon

Hell, if life gives me a lemon I'm making myself a pitcher of margarita and party all night long! But honestly, it's easier said than done. Everything is easier said than done for that matter. Such is the nature of life eh?

Last week was a hell of an emotional turmoil for me. Employment decision with DC I was driving me crazy. I'm the type of person who prefers to see things in black and white instead of gray. So speculations about if I may or may not get the job is worse than knowing a solid answer "I'm sorry you did not make it through.".

On Saturday morning, I received a sms from the other interviewee saying that he got the offer. I knew immediately at that moment, I didn't get it but at the same time there's one more slot to be filled. I didn't get any calls or emails if I got the job. But that sms was enough to spiral me down into the fringes of depression.

But I didn't get all depressed that day solely because I promised B that we're going to Urbanscapes, KLPAC. No one wants to go anywhere with a depressed friend so I just chucked the feeling aside. We enjoyed Urbanscapes tremendously despite the extreme hot weather and a brief downpour.

After Urbanscapes, we headed back for dinner at a McD around the corner from my place. Sensing that I was worried with my employment and future career, we started to talk about it generally, sharing stories and such. He got to suggesting that I give PR or something along the communication line a try. His arguments were, I like to go for events, comfortable with crowds and getting to know people. Plus, if I can blog, I can write an article to cover events.

I was thinking why not. Maybe I'll freelance to cover events and get myself some media passes at the same time.

But the bigger implication to this discussion was it opened many more unthought-of career paths. All these while I've been thinking I want to do technical job but now I'm not so sure I want to. It's a classic the case of technical (where the money is) vs non technical (less money here). I'm just feeling lost with all these employment concerns.

What do I want to do?

Who do I apply for?

What position do I apply for?

Questions I can't answer still.

On the other hand, I have an interview with a company on Monday. They're offering a position in Thailand! They need someone with engineering background to do management work. The position in Thailand is permanent too but I'll know more when I attend the interview.

Funny thing is, I received this offer from an email sent after I received the SMS from the other interviewee. When one door closes, another open? I'll see what happens with this interview.

You know you love me.
XOXO
Queer Ranter