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From the Thai Enquirer Thailand will reopen its borders by October, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha said in a nationally televised address on Wednesday. Prayut said that it was a “calculated risk” that the government must take to protect livelihoods and the economy. Thailand is in the middle of the third wave of Covid-19 with daily infection rates hovering 2,000 cases and 30 deaths per day. Over 1,400 people have died since April 1. Prayut, whose government has been blamed for incorrect decisions that have exacerbated the current wave, said that his government has been prioritizing saving lives but now reopen the country to help the economy. ”The time has now come for us to look ahead and set a date for when we can fully open our country and start receiving visitors because re-opening the country is one of the important ways to start reducing the enormous suffering of people who have lost their ability to earn an income,” he said. “I know this decision comes with some risk because when we open the country there will be an increase in infections, no matter how good our precautions. But, I think, when we take into consideration the economic needs of people, the time has now come for us to take that calculated risk.“ The premier alluded to the July reopening of Phuket as well, saying that other tourist areas that were ready would be allowed to reopen even sooner. Thailand plans to adopt the Phuket reopening for other resort islands including Koh Samui and Koh Tao. Vaccines program Prayut said that he expected the country to vaccinate 50 million people with at least one dose of the vaccine by October. Due to delays to the local production of AstraZeneca vaccines, Prayut said his government has signed deals with Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna to deliver doses to the country. By the end of the year, the country should have had 100 million vaccines distributed or ready for distribution. The prime minister did not address why his government chose to rely on local production in the first half of the year to meet the needs of the population – a decision that has spectacularly backfired. It is also unclear if vaccinating 50 million people with one dose of vaccine will be enough for the country to reopen given the severity and rapidity with which the new Delta variant of Covid-19 is transmitted. A new study from the UK suggests that two doses are necessary to fight off the effect of the new variant. https://www.thaienquirer.com/28635/prayut-sets-october-reopening-target-for-thailand/

not only them. We in this forum throughout 2020 were full of praise how well Thailand is handling covid situation.

For a brief moment I thought "What the heck is this?" How does a handsome porn star of gay movies make such a confession? Then it clicked. You were not writing about Adam Archuleta!!!

I do not know you, so I do not know from what culture you are looking at Brazil. It is not just an open minded culture, most people coming from a Puritan influenced cultures do not get that. They do not relate sex with brothels necessarily, although they have nothing against them. When I was in Rio last November, Rhyheim was hosting his invited stars in Ipanema hotels. The staff and the management recognized him and them and they were delighted to offer their installations to shoot porn for no extra charge. The cleaning lady at his home told Rhyheim that her son was a fan, and asked to take a picture with him to send to her son. Most of the Brazilian pon stars I know not only are in full disclosure with their families, but they love what they do. It is just anecdotal evidence, but it does allows you to infer that it is not just an issue of open-mindness, but instead a radically different mindset towards sex and sexuality.

I can't agree more. The live interaction ("chemistry") is indispensable, which is why renting from ads or online has been about 50% disappointing to me. In the saunas, I've been shocked by several guys who were not my type but somehow hooked me. I still remember one guy in Brasilia who got me with his seductive eyebrows - I kid you not.

I was so grateful and full of praise for Thailand in it's handling of the pandemic for over a year, so few deaths and infections. Now? The arrogance and incompetence of the junta has now come to bite us. If I could afford it I would be on a plane, any plane, back to the UK to access the vaccine. Instead I face isolating myself, not meeting with my friends, until we eventually get access to the vaccine in Thailand, which will be October/November at best for the first dose, at no doubt a hugely inflated cost for farang. I don't care that I will have to pay for it. I do care, very much, that I will be isolated for the next four to five months if I want to stay alive.

From Vietnam News HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is about to launch the largest-ever vaccination campaign with around 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to be injected, Health Minister Nguyễn Thành Long has said. Addressing a conference on the implementation of the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Tuesday, Long said that eight storage facilities will be installed, with one in the High Command of Hà Nội, and seven in military regions across the nation. All vaccine storage facilities must meet Good Storage Practices (GSP) standards to ensure vaccine quality, he said. About 15,000 vaccination stations have assigned sufficient human resources and accounts to update and publicise the vaccination process, the number of used doses and the number of people vaccinated, he added. During the campaign, all vaccination stations will be strictly supervised by an online control system, with information on the numbers of people getting injections as well as vaccine doses inoculated to be publicised. “Each person will receive a message informing them about the vaccination and inviting them to get vaccinated. After they register for the vaccination, they will receive another message about vaccination time and place,” Long said. https://vietnamnews.vn/society/976011/viet-nam-to-conduct-largest-ever-vaccination-campaign-with-all-data-to-go-online.html

it's certainly a good lesson. I recall going to a massage place in BKK several years ago in the late afternoon. I was leaving early the next day. The guys on offer weren't my usual type but I picked an older, compact but muscly guy. Turned out to be one of the best experiences I've had at a massage place. His technique was a bit different but very relaxing and erotic. The happy ending was great too.

As is clear from reading this thread and those on other forums, Thailand's vaccine policy has been a disaster from the get-go. I realise this post gets close to what is within the rules, but without naming names, the decision of the Health Ministry last year to place the contract to manufacture the locally produced version of the Astra Zeneca vaccine with a company that had never before produced any vaccine of any type whatsoever was a farce. This was especially true given that the Government lab which has produced many different vaccines, some under contract to the WHO, bid for the contract and lost. The delays in getting that vaccine out shows the lackadaisical attitude of the government. Charitably they were probably lulled into a false sense of security by the very small number of cases last year. Then they dropped the ball and through mismanagement and corruption allowed the present third wave to roll over the country big time. The Prime Minister overruling the advice of his medical experts by permitting travel during Songkran this year was madness given that the wave had in fact started before then. The excuse he is quoted in the media as saying is that the public would not have stood for a second cancellation of Songkran! More madness! Now they have been forced to purchase tens of millions of doses from overseas at goodness knows what price. Oh, and the fact that the Minister of Health has ambitions to become Prime Minister may or may not have something to do with the debacle!

To be fair, I had to take Northwest a lot and found their breakfasts pretty good (although that was in business class). Not being American, I particularly loved their pancakes with fruit and lashings of maple syrup. Most of my flights were trans Pacific and I could never understand why it had earned the name "Northworst". But then I rarely had to take a flight in coach within the USA! One of my most amusing flights was on British Airways flying from London to Singapore. I was travelling with the Asian Regional Director of the company and since he was in First Class he arranged for me to sit next to him. In the BA Lounge, he asked if BA served caviar on the flight. I'm certain they must, I suggested, but said i would check. The British Airways lounge personnel usually seemed to believe they were members of some snooty aristocratic class. Having asked my question, the young lady brushed me off with, "Oh, of course they will. But I will check and page you" Back at the desk five minutes later, that stupid lady had to crawl and admit she had been wrong. Caviar was not on the menu for our flight. When I told my colleague, he literally screamed, "F-U-C-K" and the entire lounge went silent. He then stormed out with "I'll see you on the plane." 15 minutes later I got to our double seat in the centre at the back of the cabin. My colleague arrived clearly happier than when I had last seen him. I assumed he'd been to the caviar bar in the main departure area and snacked there. But no. "Guess what I got?" He then held up a brown paper bag. Inside was a £250 tin of caviar and a bag of Melba toast. £250 then is probably closer to £500 now. As soon as the flight attendants started to come round, he summoned one. "Please bring us two side plates, two knives, two tea spoons and two patties of butter - fast!" When she eventually realised that it was to serve ourselves caviar, she exclaimed, "Goodness! You are lucky. You have caviar," to which my colleague said in a loud voice, "Thats because this fucking airline is so mean it won't serve it for first class passengers!" We were not very popular with the others in the cabin!

I think we all have our own "type" and think that's the best looking and everyone else's is ugly, lol Tonight, I didn't even feel like going out. Monday night can be hit or miss in the saunas..... I had seen this young Will Smith looking guy in here the last few nights and wondered what he was like. I started a conversation with him about his haircut and it went on from there. We talked a bit and he agreed to come back to my apt. He was sooo interesting to talk to and very intelligent.....ended up being a great night and great sex. Glad I went out and tried something outside of my normal types......now will sleep like a baby

Great memories! Palermo Viejo is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the world, vaguely recalling Greenwich Village (or the East Village) before they wealthied up. Palermo Chico I recall as a tiny enclave, practically a gated community, where I got some hostile "can I help you?" looks when I wandered through there as a rag-tag backpacker. However, the big modern area surrounding it - basically the park and everything north of Av. Santa Fe - was what I called Palermo Nuevo. PV is definitely better. Rodriguez Pena - This is in Barrio Norte, right (if they still call it that)? Was there a gay club called Contramano on that street? This was where I picked up my first rent man (or "taxi," in the delightful Argentine slang) in my life. Contramano was a "historic" moment in my life - good or bad is still up for debate decades letter. I'm glad you post menus and prices. I like to ask people how much a cup of coffee is where they traveled to. It's surprising how many tourists, especially cruise ship people, wouldn't know. The Argentine economy swings from feast to famine. It looks like right now, it's decently priced at the official rate and a bargain at the black/blue market rate. Are credit cards accepted and how much do they mess around with the rates and fees? Is the blue rate completely legal, semi-legal, or illegal but nobody cares? I assume cash (USD) is king now with the parallel exchange.

This is for UK citizens living overseas. In Canada, a Commonwealth country, UK pensioners do not receive indexation of their NI pension, yet in the USA they do. I chose the locations simply to illustrate the absurdity of the situation.

I usually take Qatar back to the UK but only because I'm quite happy to book far ahead to take advantage of various special deals. In 2018 I got a biz return for 63,00 baht - roughly half the list price - during a 48-hour sale. On my last trip in October 2019 the aircraft was changed to one with the Q Suites and I was in 1K which is backward facing. Does not concern me in the slightest. The rows alternate backwards/forwards facing. The window seats have more privacy and tons of space - more than on the Emirates A380s. I reckon 1A and 1K are the quietest and best seats in the entire cabin. I do think Qatar beats Emirates hands down when it comes to meals and wines.

Anyone seen a vaccination programme in Pattaya that actually accepts farang? Over 60's with underlying conditions are still being denied access the the very small supply of vaccines in Thailand. Utterly disgraceful. But then the "Health Minister" will be delighted to see the bodies of dead "smelly farang" piling high.

Absolutely correct. For now, at least.

Well done to the people of Vietnam. Maybe they could send a couple of people with functioning brain cells to Thailand and teach the General how to run a vaccine programme. I should be terribly grateful.

Isn't it one of the many beauties of GP saunas? When you are cruising online, in hook up apps or in a paid sex site, you go for the pictures and whatever you already know you prefer. Instead, the saunas pushed you into countless social interactions that foster finding something attractive in any one. You may even miraculously find something attractive in a Brazilian young Will Smith!

From Reuters / BP Novavax vaccine more than 90% effective in US trial Novavax Inc on Monday reported late-stage data from its US-based clinical trial showing its vaccine is more than 90% effective against Covid-19 across a variety of variants of the virus. The study of nearly 30,000 volunteers in the United States and Mexico puts Novavax on track to file for emergency authorisation in the United States and elsewhere in the third quarter of 2021, the company said. Novavax's protein-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate was more than 93% effective against the predominant variants that have been of concern among scientists and public health officials, Novavax said. Protein-based vaccines are a conventional approach that use purified pieces of the virus to spur an immune response and vaccines again whooping cough and shingles employ this approach. During the trial, the B.1.1.7 variant first discovered in the United Kingdom became the most common variant in the United States, it said. Novavax also detected variants of Covid-19 first found in Brazil, South Africa and India among its trial participants, Novavax's head of research and development, Gregory Glenn, told Reuters. https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2132215/novavax-vaccine-more-than-90-effective-in-us-trial

and rightly so , even on economy one will not hear that kind of language more than once per 127.3 flight hour

I enjoy airplane food. My favorite story of food was about 20 years ago I took my two elderly aunts to Thailand from USA. First time on a plane. I flew them Northwest Business Class as they were in their 70's. We took off and they were eating lobster when one of them said, "I see why you fly so much. This isn't hard at all. I could get use to this." I told them to go back and look in the other section of the plane. They did, and they were so grateful to me for flying them in business. My Aunt died a few years back, but her best memories were from that trip. My BF back then showed them a great time. There were tons of photos as we spent 3 weeks in Thailand and every major city. When they were on the plane home, my aunt said to her sister, "what are we going to tell people about the Thai guy in all our pictures" and she said, "I'll tell them this is my nephew's boyfriend and he was good to us." The defrost started with the lobster and ended with them always asking about the BF.

This year 2021 marks 20 years of going to Brazil, usually 4 times a year, sometimes 5. I wanted to write about some of the friends i have made. this is about “boys” i have met that are now men in successful careers! i have stayed in touch with them . 1) A.F. was a guy who at 19 ended up in Rio from the small town a 100 miles from São Paulo. He is gay and became the boyfriend of one of the sauna owners and a year after that ended, worked in the sauna as a “boy” for about a year and then moved to Paris to be a gogo boy with 2 other sauna guys. about a year after arriving in Paris he could speak conversational French and enrolled in college and 1 year ago graduated with a accounting degree, and looks physically like a beautiful muscle god! 2) in 2013 the manager of Mezziniu sauna in Porto Alegre approached me and asked if i would be interested in a friend of his that was Not a sauna guy but needed to make some extra money that weekend? i told him no that usually guys doing it the first tine are not that good or that much fun! then he said why don’t you just talk to him? He is sitting at the bar in street clothes! He was handsome 21 and attending law school the following year! i saw him every trip i made to Porto Alegre! He became a lawyer 2 years ago, i saw him last a year ago, i remember it well because we were drinking and we had sex 4 times that night, the most ever with one guy in one night! 3) 12 years ago i was in Rio and met who i thought was one of the most handsome guys i had met, he was in his early 20’s and told me he was in college and going to go to med school. It turns out he didn’t go to med school but Dental school and is now a dentist in Rio! Dentists are allowed to give Botox in Brazil and when i was there 3 weeks ago he did a session on me and i have to say he did a great job! I met what was and still is one f the nicest guys ever! a year later he joined the French Foreign legion. At the time he was already a black belt in Brazilian JuJitsu and has been living in the FFL base in Corsica and traveling the world with them! he messaged me yesterday messages me that he has put his 4 years in and is getting out finishing his degree in 1-1/2 years and opening a Brazilian JuJitsu school in France! He is going to a international competition in Mexico next year! there are more stories but these mare my top 4 who i have kept in contact with! here are non face photos of the 4

I'm not good at telling stories but I can try recollect a much information as possible. That first night i arrived late. My friend had already spend a week in Havana, so when I arrived I took a taxi straight to the Airbnb. I must have arrived at there between 09.30 PM and 10:30 PM. We stayed a couple of hundred meters from Mixto. After bringing up my suitcases, I took a shower, got dressed and we were on our way. We walked from from the apartment the long way around via the Malecon to the intersection of Infanta (where Las Vegas is) and Avenida 23. This place was crazy. There were literally hundreds guys hanging around there. This was such a shock but at the same time a very pleasant surprise. I mean, all types of boys were present there. Darker skinned, lighter skinned, older, younger, slim, slim fat, muscled and so on. Many groups had their own drinks with them and were just having a good time. It was very easy to make contact and guys often walked up to us to say hello. A heads-up, while there is always gay activity at night around that intersection, I've never seen it as busy as in mid August 2019. We only stayed about 30 minutes and flagged down a taxi to take us to that restaurant bar I was talking about. I will have to ask my friend (if anyone is interested) the name because I really don't remember. What I will never forgot is it's location. It was in the middle of a normal neighborhood. It was a quiet backstreet with villas, or at-least bigger size houses, no flats. The music was booming, and I don't know how that was allowed. Anyway, we went inside and my friend might have paid an entrance fee for us. The doorman let us in and when we walked through the gate we came into a courtyard already full with people. This was the outside section with seating on the left, on the right side of that people were standing. Even more right people could walk up and down and on the most right was a section with a back drop were you could take pictures. it was like you see on those red-carpet events. Just a backdrop with some advertising on it. We actually spend most of our time standing there. Unintentionally, I might ad, but it was a great place because everyone would take their picture there and many people asked us to be in their pictures. Because I've only been there 1 time, I cannot tell you if this was a special event. This night however, which was on a Thursday was busy and fun. Someone approached us when we entered to stick a number on our chest. I'm really doing my best to remember how it worked but COVID-19 really did a number on my brain. I think you could write notes, or maybe even leave notes somewhere, or buy a drink for someone. Honestly, I can't remember. There were two bars if memory serves me right. One of them was in the outside area and the other inside. We met interesting Cuban guys but also a guy from Scotland. Honestly, it was to early for me to feel as comfortable with everything as I did from the second day. Actually, you could say until I was drunk that night. You must know, I lived in Luton, England at that time and it was quit a culture shock, straight out of the plane. We had a good time, did a lot of flirting and many guys flirted with us. Nevertheless, we didn't stay long because we had other places to see. We got into a taxi and were off to mixto. For those of you who like dark skinned muscle boys, you will love the doormen at Mixto. Besides great bodies, some of them were extremely good looking. it is my understanding that these guys are straight, but don't pin me on that. I'm not sure how to explain this, but the entrance to Mixto is very interesting. The doormen our outside. When they let you in, you first have to go up one or two steps. Then you have 2 or 3 meters to the door. That outside space i also a couple of meters wide. You were not allowed to bring glasses there but you could put you drink in a plastic cup, and take it there. Why is this important? It was were we spend a lot of time. People who smoked (not us) could have a sig there and it was a great please for chatting. I noticed that they don't always have plastic cups on subsequent visits. My advice, bring one if you like to hang around outside. Anyone, it was early for Mixto standards when we came in. When you open the door, there is a black curtain that you have to go through. My friend took the lead and I followed. On the right side of the door (inside) was a boy standing alone. He must have been 23. Funny, I never asked him his age. But yeah, he was a bit manly, but other than that he was handsome enough. His hair was dyed blond, something that looked really good on him. My friend kept walking and I followed him. Mixto is not that big and the bar is immidiatly at the left. My friend ordered drinks and it came as no shock that they spoiled mine. I don't like lime in my drink at all. Normally when they put a lime in accidentally, you can just take it out. It will still taste of lime a little but it's drinkable. In Mixto however, they poor lime juice in and that make a Cuba Libre undrinkable for me. Great, I had a reason to contact the boy. he was standing there without a drink so I went over and gave him mine. I just asked him if he wanted it, he said yes, I gave it and walked away again. First contact was made and he seemed to be pleased. This is also they guy I took home later that night, but before that, there were many hours of fun with other guys. Across the street from Mixto is a small park. At a certain moment I went outside to look around. I had just arrived in Cuba and i wanted to see a little more than clubs. There were also many guys sitting in the park and that might have played a roll to for my eagerness to get out there. Making contact was extremely easy especially as I had a little more to drink now. As I understood, most of the boys outside couldn't get into Mixto. It was fun flirting with them and I'm sure I could have taking a couple of them home. At that time, I already knew that I wanted the blond guy. After some good chats I went back inside and met someone who would be my date for the next night. I don't feel comfortable with sharing names so let call him Camilo. My god, he was a student and lived a couple of hundred km from Havana. Like many other guys he was on a summer holiday. He was short, had a great body and eyes to die for. He looked a younger than that he was. If i remember correctly he was 21, but he looked like he was 18. We agreed to meet the next day in Pico Blanco, a club in the penthouse of a hotel that had gay nights on Friday. Sadly, it's closed a few months after my first visit. Back too Blondie! If you've never been to Cuba, you have to know that boys are very pushy when it comes to asking for drinks. You would almost think they are getting paid a commission. Where I am used to feeling lucky if a boy likes to drink and party in some Asian countries, in Cuba, I had no such worries. Blondie would feel no shame in asking me for drinks. Actually, that first drink I gave him he must have drank under protest. After that, I've never seen him drink anything else but beer. When Blondie would get a beer, he would always offer a sip to his friends when they walked by. Mixto was full of guys who just didn't have drinks. Not weird, if you consider that they were not cheap. Again, i am not sure but I think 4 or 5 CUC. Which is crazy if you think of it. On the other hand, Mixto is so small that cheap drinks might attract too many people. There were also some big spenders who would have a table near the dance-floor or upstairs on the balcony. They would have one or more bottles of hard liqueur in front of them. I already feel like I am writing a book so I'll try to finish the story of my first night. i really cannot say how many boys I've spoken with and who were very willing to go home with me. It was truly insane. It's not that Cuba was my first rodeo. Other than the Thai gogo/ host bars and clubs like DJ station, I've not often seen. maybe Cabaret Tito in Mexico city in the early 2000, but I was at my peak myself what looks and age is considered. So yeah, Havana was something really special and it brought back feelings I hadn't had for many years. Even I wanted to, I couldn't recall all the things that took place that night. There was a lot of flirting, kissing (openly), ass grabbing and hands that disappeared in trousers. Ugh, I wanted to end this but I just realized what else happened when we went home. There is a whole story that leads up to this but I want to keep it short. My friend was talking to a guy (Elian) and I told him I was going home with blondie. He said he would go home too. LOL, so drunk me invited Elian that he was talking too to come with us. Elian agreed and we started walking. Like i said, it was only a few hundred meters to our apartment so a few minutes later the four of us were sitting in our living room. Elian was 27 years old. He looked no day over 21 and maybe even younger. We had some drinks and i asked if they would like some chocolate, and both said yes. I'd bought a lot of treats because I knew about the situation in Cuba. My friend told me to bring toilet paper and treats. When came back with a big Cadburry bar, Elian grabbed it and put it in his pocket. Yeah, he wasn't sharing that bad boy, lol. Blondie had a disgusted look on his face and he wasn't wrong. i told him that I would give him some later in my bedroom. That's basically were we went after that. I already had taken a shower and when blondie was in the shower there was some noise coming from the hallway. Elian was standing their naked and my friend was telling him to leave. This is not the first time this had happened to my friend. in fact, he very often invites boys but then asks them to leave very quickly. I had forgotten that I was the one who invited Elian, but this was something i would be reminded of in the days to come. Anyway, he got kicked out. I just went back to my room where blondie just came out of the shower. Nice body but a little bit bigger (not fat) than what I normally go for. He was top, which i am too, so that didn't fit. Actually, I didn't mind. He had a big tool to play with and he was a passionate kisser. That night, I already decided that I wanted a threesome with him and a bottom. I told him as much and also that he should find the bottom, this gets interesting if there will be a sequel to this post. The same goes for the stories with Elian. Blondie stayed the night, and I normally don't like that. We woke up in the afternoon. I can't remember if there was another session but when he left, I gave him some chocolate and 20 CUC. He thanked me and left. Now, I had no idea what to give him. I didn't want to give too much and not to little. What I understood from what doctors made in Cuba, 20 CUC would be more than enough. After visiting there on multiple occasions, I am still not sure. Boys never complained and never asked for money, other than the ought CUC for phone credit or taxi. Now don't think I'm cheap. it's just that i didn't have the normal John experience when I was in Cuba. For example, my friend doesn't pay for sex and his boys kept coming back because there was actually no money needed. I'd rather pay to be honest. These were just some of my memories of the top of my head. I am not sure what you are specifically interested in. Some might want to hear more about the sex, personally, I think that I shared more than I normally would :-) Lastly, I wrote this and I'm not going to Grammar or spellcheck. People who have a hard time dealing with this kind of writing will have to suck it up, hehe.

Did I misunderstand what this "Latin America destinations" thread means? Many of your suggestions (regardless of how much fun they are) would not qualify geographically. My question did not only consist of a title. Granted, I could have specified even more, but I certainly didn't ask a generic question. The thing is, if you were like-minded, you might have told me one of your favorite options and experiences there. Then, I could have decided for myself if that would be of interest to me. You went with the philosophical approach, which I would put in the same category of correcting someones spelling or grammar on a board like this.