Driving around Chiang Mai

[Jarhyn]

@Swammerdami I would visit, but sadly Thailand is a... Let's just say that as an adult with a penis who is involved in kink communities, my reputation would not survive the visit.

If you're alluding to sex tourism, I'm afraid that aspect of Thailand is greatly exaggerated. Especially regarding "normal" cities like Chiang Mai in contrast to the infamous Pattaya.

I'm rather certain that the size of the "adult entertainment industry" is MUCH huger in the U.S. than in Thailand.

I'm sure. But honestly, the reputation of Thailand is just too much to live down.

Worse, I'm active in the age-play community. It's just a terrible look visiting Thailand for me.

If you ever find yourself in the Netherlands, though....

 

[Swammerdami]

Lest I be accused of "false advertising" in encouraging people to visit or even move to Chiang Mai, let me remind that

April is the cruelest month . . .

No, Mr. Eliot was not alluding to IRS deadlines; he was referring to Thailand's high temperatures.

I enjoy walking through some of Chiang Mai's intriguing neighborhoods with their varieties of book stores, coffee shops, smoothie bars, wacky foreigners, etc. But that is not an option in April, the cruelest month.

The NOAA website reports historical weather information from all around the world, including weather reports from the Chiang Mai International Airport beginning in 1973. There have been only seven days in those 50+ years where the mercury here went above 107°F but two of those seven days happened this year, just now on April 22 and 24. The hottest year was 2016; it also had two days above 107°F -- both of those were in May, and we haven't even gotten to May 2024 yet! (2019 and 2023 were also unusually hot, but neither ever got above 107°F.)

Many of those who can leave the city for the seashore in April do so, but I'm lazy to travel so just brave it out here, spending about 23 hours per day in air conditioning. I suppose it's cooler here than my old home in rural central Thailand where it reached 108°F two days ago, and had 42 days above 106°F in 2016.

Once upon a time most Americans would find these numbers frightful. Not any more though, with Phoenix, Arizona having Fifty-seven days above 111°F in 2023!

March and April are also the height of smoke season here, but most days have been much less smoky than we had last year.

 

[EricH]

@Swammerdami I would visit, but sadly Thailand is a... Let's just say that as an adult with a penis who is involved in kink communities, my reputation would not survive the visit.

What is a kink community?

 

[Jarhyn]

@Swammerdami I would visit, but sadly Thailand is a... Let's just say that as an adult with a penis who is involved in kink communities, my reputation would not survive the visit.

What is a kink community?

Spoiler: Risky click

BDSM play, age play, rape play, diaper lovers, pup play, pegging, swinging, piss play, scat, vore, foot play, crush...

Kink communities are communities revolving around some sexual kink.

In most kink communities (and especially the ones that abut on the age play community), trips to Thailand by an adult with a penis are going to be interpreted, usually accurately, as "for the purposes of raping a child".

See also:

Should I assume a man is a pedophile if they are older and travel to Thailand?

Answer (1 of 4): That just makes you a sexist and an ageist. A pedo can be any age. It doesn't mean that an older gentleman who wants to travel to sunny South East Asia = instant paedophile. Many pedos are English teachers in their 20s preying on children in rural villages, BTW. And also, that...

www.quora.com

It is such a common trope that this is one of the first Google results about older (esp. single) men visiting Thailand.

 

[Swammerdami]

It is such a common trope that this is one of the first Google results about older (esp. single) men visiting Thailand.

FWIW, I think Cambodia is a much better match these days to that meme. My own life-style is so tame that lots of "wild" stuff passes by me unnoticed, but on my visit to the Sihanoukville beach in Cambodia I heard comments so blatant that even I could understand, and which horrified me.

But even in a place like Sihanoukville, a very large majority of tourists are NOT into pedophilia.

 

[Swammerdami]

I've been remiss about posting interesting and/or amusing anecdotes in this thread. If we include my decades spent in Thailand outside Chiang Mai I have 6 or 7 anecdotes to mention (or at least thrice that number if I include anecdotes involving criminality or wickedness).

I was just reminded of this minor event, which will let you laugh at my naïveté.

Not long after moving into our house in rural Thailand, whose construction I had sort-of supervised, we were visited by my wife's 2nd cousin^*, her husband, and their "toddler." Although we had plenty of chairs, we all sat on the floor -- not unusual. I am uncomfortable sitting on the floor, especially since the cross-leg posture that Buddhist monks adopt is often considered rude when used by a non-monk. Instead the legs fold the same direction, more-or-less parallel, and for me very uncomfortable. Still, it might also have been slightly rude for me to sit in a chair.

The three adults chatted about something while us three kids played catch-throw-roll with a small rubber ball. (Although the oldest by far of all six I count myself as a child. I wasn't going through my 2nd or 3rd childhood -- I've just been a child all my life.)

I wrote "toddler" in quotes because their kid didn't toddle. When he wanted to move he left his legs bent and used his hands to scoot along the floor. He was much better at catching and throwing the ball than my own kid, and I felt sorry his legs were crippled. I even thought of trying to -- though didn't! -- express words of sympathy. After a while, the toddler's father, a perfectly healthy young man, wanted to get a toy from the toy cabinet. He scooted his way to the cabinet just as his son had!

* - Because of low mobility and a sibling village effect, 2nd cousins were very common in that rural region, and often aren't even recognized as relatives. But this visitor was close since her father and ours were 1st cousins and close friends. By "sister village" I mean that it's not unusual for a specific village 50 kilometers away to provide several husbands for the women in a specific other village.