Good Moments

One of the best, yet simple, things I love to do is lounge around in Mama Inés Café, calle Hortaleza, while chatting with my friends, especially Takeshi, which helps me forget all the burdens and occasional loneliness in my heart and lifts my spirit up.

A couple of weeks ago, Takeshi, Shin (a hunk japanese teacher with very nice personality) and I met at Chueca, the nightlife centre of Madrid, to spend a gayly night together in some cafes around there. Shin always stood out because of his physical appearance :) While Takeshi and I would ocasionally shine if chances allowed. And since we shared various characteristics in common, sometimes I even wondered if the Europeans could really tell one from another.

From Diurno Café to a Chinese restaurant in Fuencarral, we ended the night in the sanctuary of all gay men in Madrid, Mama Inés. We talked and simultaneously enjoyed men-watching as usual. The topics ranged from interesting anecdotes in our daily life to the success of asian twinks over Spanish men.

That night a couple of sissy gay men, a madrileño and a parisien, decided to join us. They were so passionate about Asian cultures, especially Japanese one. So the conversation went on, all about Japan. Questions about Thailand were at times asked, so I wouldn't feel left out. Observing Takeshi's reaction, I realised it took him some efforts to continue the conversation since the topics, on his part, weren't of his interests.

We continued our endless analysis on Spanish guys and other trivia, like a gay episode of Sex and the City or a milder version of Queer as Folk, in that dark cosy café until midnight. I was specially in good mood, mixed with a bit of longing for the past.

The Xmas illuminations on the streets, the hapiness, smiles and warm feeling from people around me were conspicuously perceptible, which made me think of my gay friends in Bangkok, of the time we spent chatting restlessly at nights, of my conversations with my Filipino friend Evans in "Africa" and, more than anything, of my boyfriend Pat whom I hadn't seen for years. It was a mix of emotions; optimistic, positive, yet sadly nostalgic.

Maybe I had spent too much time away from Bangkok and my Pat. Madrid, good as it was, couldn't always hold all my solitude accumulated during the past two years. Maybe it was time to return to my roots, even temporarily.