Leaderboard

I sometimes wonder who is to blame in such situations. If I as an individual post information about myself on Grindr or some other app, especially if there are photos or other information that could pinpoint me as the poster, I do not expect that to be kept a secret in this day and age. We have all seen plenty of examples where so called private information is revealed to others. There was one very similar situation 2 or 3 years back. Now 54, David Daniels was one of the finest opera singers in the world, having appeared in virtually all the major opera houses. He was a counter tenor with that high mostly developed falsetto range that has been coming back into fashion over the last 40 or so years, particularly in performance of barque operas. The US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had officiated when he married his partner. A tenured Professor of Vocal Studies at the University of Michigan, he was caught on one of the apps like Grindr where he had met up with several students who had each been asked to give him blow jobs for which they'd be paid something like $200. Sexual hook-ups with students is a no-no at almost all Universities. He was placed on Administrative leave. Soon he was being accused of drugging and raping of a young man whilst he was in Houston for a performance. That case is going to Court. Last year the University fired him. For anyone who does not know the counter tenor voice or David Daniels this is a short clip from a recording session about 10 years ago. A huge talent now all but destroyed, almost certainly through no one's fault but his own.

The "beginning" of the negotiation?? This third wave started in early April and was becoming serious in May. Why has the government sat on its collective ass and done nothing for more than two months? Oh, I forgot. "We have tried our hardest." When this government finally gets is comeuppance, I suspect that will be written on its gravestone.

If you ever saw what he used to travel with....the amount of HUGE luggages,

I wonder why? I doubt if any expat male could get into that dress. Maybe he likes the boys to dress up occasionally!

Enjoy

From National Public Radio Anthony Bourdain, in Roadrunner, the new documentary about his life. CNN/Focus Features Anthony Bourdain was in his 40s when he got famous. A lot of people don't realize that. He'd lived a cook's life — hot, sweaty, messy, sometimes ugly — and wrote a book about it. He was still on the line when that book, Kitchen Confidential, hit the bestseller list. He found out about it by phone. He stepped away from his post, the rush, his knives and pans, to take the call, laugh, splash water on his face. There was a camera there to capture it, and the footage ended up in Roadrunner, the new documentary by Oscar winner Morgan Neville, about Bourdain's life, fame, stardom and death. It covers 20 years, this film. More or less. It largely ignores early Bourdain, young Bourdain, pre-fame Bourdain, focusing instead on those years when the entire world knew his name. It isn't about the rise so much as the apex — stretched out across almost two decades. Here's this guy, it says. He's dead now, but you probably knew him. Or thought you did. Or believed you did. This is who he really was. I thought I knew him a little. I was wrong. I read the books, watched the shows, saw him speak, same as you. I met him, talked with him, spent a night on the loading dock behind a restaurant in New Mexico drinking beers and passing a bowl with him and the rest of the kitchen crew after a book signing, caught a ride home with his driver while he fell asleep in the back seat, but there are a thousand people out there who can likely claim the same. The man shook a lot of hands in his time. He bent a lot of elbows. He talked and talked and talked. One of the most remarkable things about him (and this I know is true) is that none of it was an act. The person he was on your TV? That was the person he was when he went home at night (or, more likely, back to his hotel). He was curious, funny, angry, goofy and weird. He'd read a lot of books and seen a lot of movies, and all of them lived forever in his head. Roadrunner gathers the people who knew him best — most of them, anyway (there are a couple of very notable exceptions, like Bourdain's last girlfriend, Asia Argento, and his first wife, Nancy Putkoski). Friends, partners, chefs, members of his team, his second wife, his brother. They're all there to tell their stories, to explain him — and then admit that they never could. To laud him and say how much they loved him, and then dissolve into fury at his end. Bourdain was honest and that anger is honest, and the film doesn't look away from it. It doesn't look away from much of anything. It honors its subject by presenting him as flawed when he was flawed, exhausted when he was exhausted, cruel when he was cruel, and like any of us, he was those things sometimes. It's just that he lived his life on television. Continues at https://www.npr.org/2021/07/16/1016533992/anthony-bourdain-roadrunner-documentary-review Editors' note: This review was written and posted before the revelations about the Roadrunner documentary's use of artificial intelligence to reconstruct Anthony Bourdain's voice. To read more — and see reactions from critics including Jason Sheehan — click here.

I have thoroughly enjoyed Kung Fu. It is a new series on the CW. I loved the character development, the gay brother, the family connections, and the fight scenes were excellent. It was renewed for 2nd season.

I'll watch on your recommendation. Thanks Grasshopper.

Last Month The Judy Garland Wizard of Oz Dress Was Found at Catholic University: Details, Reactions, Roundup It was given to Rev. Gilbert Hartke, illustrious head of the drama programme, by actress Mercedes McCambridge. A dress worn by Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ has finally been located. The legendary blue and white garment worn by the actress’ character Dorothy in the iconic 1939 film vanished just a year after it was gifted to the Catholic University of America (CUA) in 1972 but it was recently found by Matt Ripa, a lecturer at the university. He shared in a Catholic University press release: “I had looked in our archives, storage closets etc. to no avail. I assumed it was a tall tale. “I was curious what was inside and opened the trash bag and inside was a shoebox and inside the shoebox was the dress. I couldn’t believe it. “Needless to say, I have found my interesting things in the Hartke during my time at CUA, but I think this one takes the cake.” The university has confirmed that the dress will now be properly preserved. They added: “It can now be preserved in proper storage in a temperature – and humidity – controlled environment so that hopefully, for many more years, it can be a source of ‘hope, strength and courage’ for Catholic University students.” The university also wrote on Instagram: “In 1973, Catholic University’s @cuatower newspaper wrote about a gift to Catholic University meant to be a source of “hope, strength, and courage” to students. The gift was a dress that is believed to have been worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz. “It was given to Rev. Gilbert Hartke, illustrious head of the drama programme, by actress Mercedes McCambridge, who served as artist-in-residence at CatholicU in 1972. “For many years, it was rumoured that the dress was still located in Hartke, the building named after the priest, but no one knew exactly where. While preparing for some renovations last month, Matt Ripa, M.F.A. 2008, lecturer and operations coordinator for the @cua_drama in @cuamusicdramaart, rediscovered Dorothy’s Dress.”

That's why I think news about death of bars , saunas and even street trade may be a bit premature

I have a short vacation planned in Thailand with this sexy African goddess. Well, not goddess, but a hot guy from Madagascar. I think I can do it with 5 suitcases or less. I do love the Wizard of Oz and would love to have that dress!

https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pillar-investigates-usccb-gen-sec In case anyone is like me, dont have the subscription to washington post.

nothing fascinating , rather very sad. Big Brother working overtime, a bit past 1984 but catching up very fast. What's next? somebody will be brought down because it will be revealed he is contributing to Gayguides forum ?

from what I know it'll be only 3 episodes but I may be wrong. Good news, Kong is yours , I settle gladly for other one, lips more kissable, LOL Yes , scene with hands gently touching is extremely cute

Sputnik is still not approved by WHO although they expect approval by october. I wonder why it took too long to get approval when the trial efficicay is very high.

I did a search and the first figure is up to may, but the second figure is for the whole 2020.

I always thought that TotallyOz had it in one of his trunks he travels with

An update to this, we are now 4.6mil second doses completed (14.3%) and are doing 400k doses daily now. The gov shift the vaccine doses to two most affected states, and aim to vaccinate all adult at least 1 dose by august 1st, after which walk in is allowed for people in these two states. 63% of adult have received their first dose in these two states.

don't waste your time, for most of those people only way to bring them to their senses will be to get somebody very close to them infected and landing under ventilator if not in the morgue. Since we don't wish that to anybody it's better to leave them alone

Another in the occasional series of articles from a website I occasionally wrote for a few years ago. The others in the series are Plus ça change . . . Thoughts on the March of Time in this forum and Experiences of Asia (Gay-Related) to While Away These Difficult Times under Gay Asia. This one was sparked by an interview I saw on CNN. I always wonder: who will be next? CNN anchors coming out, I mean. Anderson Cooper had been the subject of rumours for years. Even then, it took some time before he came out on air. Now we know – too well, because it is far too often mentioned that he is a father, even though he is no longer partnered with the man with whom he had the baby. Don Lemon’s engagement to his fiancé is talked about quite a lot in the little dialogues – bromances – he has each time his weekday show abuts that of the non-gay Chris Cuomo. Then there is the channel’s travel/business guru, the goofy Richard Quest, a refugee from the more staid world of the BBC seemingly decades ago, and no doubt surprising to some a barrister who was called to the English bar (the legal one) in 1983. Quest’s coming out followed an interview he had with Lord John Browne, then the CEO of the oil giant BP. Browne, in the closet for 50 years, had been forced to come out after his much younger boyfriend spilled the beans. Browne then wrote a book about his secret life titled The Glass Closet. This tells the story of Browne’s brief double life and his 3-year relationship with a Brazilian he had met on an escort site, his first and only gay affair, even though he had known he was gay since leaving his boarding school. Threatened with exposure by a tabloid newspaper, he tried to get the story quashed. It did not work. Six months short of his 60th birthday he came out as a publicly gay man and has since become a gay activist. The evening following their interview, Quest admitted he had felt guilty discussing homosexuality with Browne. He then told the world that was because he himself is gay. Did anyone really think he could not be? A man who takes his teddy bear with him on all his overnight freebie flights around the world for his Travel Show? Quest had also been a naughty boy. In 2008 he was stopped going through Central Park after closing time. He was found with a stash of crystal meth, a rope around his neck tied to his genitals and a sex toy in the trunk of his car. The media had a field day but CNN supported him even though he has never explained why he was there and what he was doing. After six months they even gave him a new show. I mention all this because I think one of CNN’s great assets is now being underused. Christiane Amanpour is an excellent journalist and interviewer. She has been with the channel for over 25 years. She did leave for a short time in 2010 to join ABC News. This was not a marriage made in heaven. Her programme tanked big time and after little more than a year she left ABC and returned to CNN’s embrace. Her interviews are usually deep and interesting, bringing out a lot about the interviewee. I still recall an interview with actor Andrew Garfield about his appearance as the lead in the Broadway revival of the 2017 London National Theatre’s production of Tony Kushner’s stunning 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the AIDS crisis Angels in America.Kushner also took part in that interview. The point of this post is more about the importance of friendships no matter what’s one’s partnership state. Which brings me back to Ms. Amanpour. Only occasionally I feel she does go a bit overboard and gush too enthusiastically. Back in 2013 she interviewed two celebrated actor knights, Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewart. Both were in London to appear in Harold Pinter’s play “No Man’s Land” receiving stellar reviews. Four years earlier they had appeared on stage together in Berthold Brecht’s Waiting for Godot. It had taken those four years for them each to be free to appear together on stage again. Which is perhaps a little surprising given that these two acting greats are the best and closest of friends. Yet one is gay and proudly out. The other is totally heterosexual having married his third wife in 2013. The actors first met back in the 1970s when working at England’s Royal Shakespeare Company. McKellan by then was well known as one of the UK’s finest up-and-coming actors, almost certainly known to Stewart but not to the public as being gay. Stewart was little more than a jobbing actor with a wife and two young children. Before then it so happened I had seen McKellan during my student years. On a visit to Scotland, I was fortunate to catch a couple of plays being performed at the celebrated Edinburgh Festival, Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II – the one where Edward is gay and ends his days with a red hot poker up his bum. Playing the title role in each was a young English actor about whom there was a considerable buzz in theatrical circles. The friend who accompanied me was then at drama school and madly in love with him. Unfortunately, he told me, the actor already had a boyfriend. That was the first time I knew Ian McKellan was gay. For both actors Hollywood eventually beckoned, first for Stewart when he was cast in the hugely successful “Star Trek: The Next Generation” television Series in 1987. McKellan continued mostly as a superb stage actor until he found himself in Hollywood in 1998 cast as the ageing real-life gay movie director James Whale, a role that won him a nomination for Best Actor at the 1999 Oscars. By then McKellan had come out as gay and was increasingly in demand in the movie world. It was when he was cast in the first of the “X-Men” series in 2000 that he renewed his friendship with Stewart, also cast in the film. As Stewart said in an interview with The Mirror online – “On movies like that you spend more time sitting in your trailer waiting to work as opposed to being in front of the camera, I’d known Ian back in the 70s but never well - and to be honest I was always a little intimidated by him. But we hung out a lot and found out that we had huge amounts of things in common.” That friendship was to grow into what the tabloids have called the most famous “bromance” in Hollywood. For Stewart’s latest marriage in 2013, McKellan became an ordained minister in some obscure Church, flew to America and officiated at the ceremony. And when McKellan’s movie “Holmes” opened in London in 2015 the pair even enjoyed a lips-on-lips kiss. Watching the interview was fascinating. Seeing these two great actors in the twilights of their lives and careers, they reminded me how important are the bonds of close friendship. In the gay world, it’s all too easy to lose ourselves in the affections of our partner or the latest boyfriend whilst giving less attention to friendships, especially those developed over decades. As I have grown older, I have realised that close non-gay friendships are very important in my life. Gay men do not need to live in their own gay ghetto or to mix mostly with their gay friends. We live in a diverse world, as McKellan and Stewart know well. You can watch their fascinating short interview here (unfortunately you have to copy and paste the link and then it takes a little time to load). https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/10/17/intv-amanpour-ian-mckellen-patrick-stewart.cnn PS: It was only while revising this article that I learned Christiane Amanpour had announced three weeks ago that she had been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. She underwent a successful operation and is now undergoing several months of chemotherapy. Hopefully her cancer was discovered early and I wish her a full recovery.

Damn it! I knew his name began with 'B'

Like this scene? I want such a cap too!

The gay scene has not left Thailand. While the physical manifestations of it have temporarily retreated, the gay scene certainly continues to exist in the consciousness of Thais and foreigners alike. Gays certainly do not suddenly become non-gay because their favorite venues are not available at the moment. Their inclinations and desires persist. Our identities exist in our minds, and for a while longer we'll have to be content to live off those memories. And for those still in the country, the gay scene--as mentioned above--is accessible electronically. Even if the hi-so proponents may wish to sweep "sex capital of the world" from the narrative of guide books, the gay scene will continue because it's an irrepressible force of nature: the nature of men who have sex with men. One of the pleasures of international travel is that gay men still understand how to find like-minded individuals, even if there's a lack of venues. And beyond looking on line, there's always the eyes. Isn't that how we spotted other gays before any of the electronics existed? If you walk down Silom, or just about any crowded road, and can't find a local guy who may be interested in sex--or at least getting to know you, you're probably not paying attention. Despite the naysayers' claims, Thailand is not suddenly about to reverse form. Bangkok is not going to become London; Pattaya not St. Kitts. Even the Tourism Authority (TAT) acknowledged Thursday that getting tourists back to Bangkok is job one: "The worsening Covid-19 situation in Thailand has led the Tourism and Sports Ministry to reconsider the country's reopening strategy, admitting some target destinations are still marred by soaring infections. However, the ministry insists on reopening Bangkok by this year as the capital is the heart of the tourism industry in Thailand." There are gloomy days ahead. Opening plans will be delayed. But the government is all too well aware that it must get the doors reopened. The transportation infrastructure and hospitality sector haven't gone away. More important, tourists from across the globe have not forgotten why they want to return. When the great cities of the world get back into the tourism business, they, too, know that what made them so damn successful in the first place is something that should not be tampered with. Whether it's Rio, Paris, New York, London, Tokyo or Bangkok, tourists will want more of the same. Count on it.

Apologies in advance for yet another reminiscence of doubtful relevance....but does anyone recall Blue Star in Soi Twilight, circa 1996? Two separate troupes, one macho , the other twinks, both of which appeared au naturel a busy periods? I particularly remember a couple of the twinks who were not proud of their parts so that they'd appear with their hands strategically placed. A bi like in a "Carry on" film. Those were the days.

I can't predict what the future will hold -- will the bars even return??? -- but buttholes there definitely were in the past, even the recent past. Many members on this board might remember the act where a usually-effeminate dancer would go prancing around the stage pulling a string out of her lower orifice. The string bore plastic flowers (fluorescent pink, as I remember) at quite close intervals, about 10 - 15 cm apart. Dancing or jerking to the beat of the music, she would weave her way between the gogo poles so that the string, eventually some 8 to 10 metres long, would stretch across the poles like some sort of Do-not-cross police cordon. I think it was the old Dreamboys on Soi Twilight that had this show quite regularly. i can't help a touch a nostalgia as I type this, even though it was no titillation for me when it was performed. Cringe might be a better description of my reaction. That having been said, I don't suppose, from your question, you were hoping to see a reprise of something like this, were you?

I have written here before about my last visit to Bangkok and Tawan. I’m not exaggerating but the place was tragic. Fat, out of shape heavily tattooed “boys” (sic). Without exception they would have had to pay me. There was no comparison to what it once was with beautiful in shape muscle guys.

like all bars closed. Last time I was there was during my last trip , 21 month ago. Nothing tragic as I took guy from there on night 5 or 6. As with every bar , tragic for one is gate of paradise for another. Depend of what one is looking for, no steak will be tasty for a vegetarian and every soya cutlet will be laughable for a carnivore.

This company is working on a functional cure

Naturally other countries have similar research facilities to the US CDC. I mentioned the USA only because HIV first appeared in clusters of men in the New York and the Southern California areas. As numbers increased, it was inevitable that the CDC should have become heavily involved. Even so, it was the Pasteur Institute in Paris that first isolated the virus. Another difference between HIV and covid19 is that HIV has - or certainly had at that time - a very long incubation period that could be up to well over two years before symptoms of AIDS became apparent. It therefore took around 2 years before the first cases started appearing in other western countries. Although the first cases had appeared in 1981, by the end of 1984 there were ten times more cases diagnosed in the USA than in Europe. It was the denial of the Reagan Administration to persistent appeals from the CDC and many dedicated members of the medical profession in general for urgent funding to determine the cause of HIV and then to analyse the make up of the virus. Had funding been thrown at research in those first two years, it is hard to find experts today who do not agree that the anti-viral medications would have been discovered much earlier. Perhaps there would also be a vaccine now, although that is much more debatable. Another crucial difference between HIV and covid19 is that after HIV had been discovered it was soon known to be a death sentence. There was therefore a massive amount of fear within first the gay community and soon thereafter the population at large. Tracking and tracing became hugely difficult as many who might have caught it were terrified about knowing their HIV status and would not be tested. I remember. I lived through those years. The doctors and researchers who worked on the early HIV cases and their desperate race to find Patient Zero are magnificently chronicled in Randy Shilts' book "And The Band Played On." Although Patient Zero was first thought to be a Canadian airline steward, this was subsequently disproved. Even for those who have seen the much less effective TV programme based on the book, I think everyone - and especially every gay man - should read it. It is available in a kindle edition. "The most thorough, comprehensive exploration of the AIDS epidemic to date . . . It is fascinating, frightening, and essential reading." -San Francisco Sentinel https://www.amazon.com/Band-Played-Politics-Epidemic-20th-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B000V761ZA

From Thai Enquirer By Pear Maneechote Two years ago, no one could have anticipated the world in which we live today, struck by one of the deadliest pandemics in history. With cases still soaring and more and more bodies lined up in Thailand, the battle here is far from over. There is no shortage of devastation or despair in our country, felt in hospital corridors, on the front page of the newspaper and on the dinner tables in our homes. But Thailand is not alone in this fight. The devastating third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly surrounding the highly infectious Delta variant, has been ravaging Southeast Asia, leading to a record number of deaths and daily infections linked to the virus. Many have noted that most countries in the region are experiencing their “worst outbreaks since the pandemic began,” due to the emergence of the more aggressive forms of variants, lack of vaccines and spread of misinformation. Here’s the latest update on how other nations are doing in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is the new epicenter Indonesia has become the new epicenter of the pandemic as of this week. The country is ranked the highest in Southeast Asia, third in Asia, and 16th in the world. With a reported 2,911,733 million cases and 74,920 deaths, Indonesia has surpassed India and Brazil to become the country with the world’s highest daily count of new infections. But the exact numbers — including cases with asymptomatic patients, patients who have not been tested or those who have died at home — could be much higher. Much like Thailand, social media in the country is flooded with news of those affected by the outbreak, with netizens pleading for help and grieving the loss of their loved ones. Hospitals are overcrowded, and burial sites are running out. The current situation and economic hardship also make social isolation almost impossible, especially for those living on a daily wage. Many experts have cautioned that the country still hasn’t even reached the peak of the pandemic yet, and it may surpass India’s number of infections in the near future. Aside from the startling rise in infections, Indonesia is also facing a situation that Dr. Pandu Riono, a prominent epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia, calls “herd stupidity” due to widespread and rampant misinformation. According to Dr. Pandu, Indonesian government officials have been sending mixed messages and making poor decisions throughout this outbreak. Many citizens have also refused to follow strict health protocols and social distancing, as well as refusing vaccinations based on religious conspiracy theories. The vaccine rollout in Indonesia has been incredibly low, with only 6 per cent of the population vaccinated out of its 270 million inhabitants. So far, the government has only tested 15,793,858 of its entire population. The World Health Organization, since the onset of the pandemic last year, has already urged the country to perform more tests on its people, especially on suspected patients. Myanmar’s military coup The February coup in Myanmar, followed by the subsequent protests and civil disobedience movement led by citizens and healthcare workers alike, has crumbled the country’s healthcare system and deepened its already ailing economic recession. A nationwide lockdown and additional holidays have been imposed from July 17 – 25, in an attempt to contain the outbreak. But the country’s Covid-19 testing system and vaccination rollout, in fact, have collapsed ever since the military coup took place. In defiance of the military government, many citizens have refused treatment and vaccination. Doctors and patients have fled military-run hospitals because of anger and fear toward the military authorities and their refusal to cooperate with the regime. Families are searching for treatment and oxygen on their own, according to The Asian Times. According to the latest report by CNN, as many as one-third of all people tested in Myanmar have tested positive for the virus, with the UN’s special rapporteur for human rights warning that the junta-run country could become the next “Covid-19 super spreader state.” Myanmar is in a crisis. Hospitals and crematoriums are overwhelmed and are unable to keep up with the surge. Volunteers have been going door-to-door to collect the rising number of victims dying at home. Out of a population of 54 million, the junta-struck country has reported 234,710 cases and 5,281 linked to the coronavirus outbreak. Vietnam’s latest surge Vietnam was previously hailed as one of the world’s Covid-19 success stories, until the latest surge ravaged the country. Its largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, is now on the verge of medical collapse as the virus has spread rampantly into the commercial and supply chain hub since the beginning of June. “Vietnam is now officially entering the pandemic,” noted a prominent Vietnamese doctor, Dr. Tran Van Phuc, while adding that the country is also suffering through a low vaccination rollout. As of July 17, the communist-led nation has administered 4,261,252 vaccine doses across the country out of its 96.46 million inhabitants, accounting for only up to around 4.5 per cent of its total population. However, only 309,791 have got two doses. Over half of the country’s infections occurred during the past month, with 60,180 reported cases and 334 deaths linked to the virus. Health authorities believe that it all started with Ms. Loan, who started experiencing symptoms in April, attending a church service where people were not wearing masks back in Hanoi earlier in April of this year. To control the outbreak, the Vietnamese government advised its citizens in the capital city of Hanoi to stay at home and stopped all non-essential services. There has been a nationwide closure of indoor dining, salons, gyms, as well as a halt to domestic travel via rail and bus. “This outbreak is not the same as the previous ones,” said the country’s health minister Nguyen Thanh Long on Sunday. “We are preparing and standing ready for worse and worse scenarios.” Malaysia’s white flag In Southeast Asia, Malaysia has the third highest number of infections after the Philippines and Indonesia, with 927,533 cases and 7,148 deaths. The country is currently battling its worst pandemic to date, seeing an all-time high in daily infections consecutively last week, with its death toll tripling in the past two months. Due to the staggering rise in cases since May, Malaysia has gone into “full lockdown” nationwide since June 1, 2021, which includes an 8 pm curfew in the capital Kuala Lumpur and the neighboring state Selangor. The spike in cases has caused hospitals in some regions to reach full capacity, running severely low on medical supplies, with the entire healthcare system as a whole on the brink of collapse. Only 8 per cent of its 32 million people are fully inoculated, while 19 per cent have received at least one jab of the Covid-19 vaccine. Besides having severe economic effects on the country, the pandemic has caused major political instability and uproar against the government. Many Malaysians are now struggling for their lives and pleading for help. Statistics indicate that the suicide rate has gone up to alarming levels, with a total of 468 suicides reported during the first five months of 2021, up from 631 during the same period in 2020. With the #benderaputih (“white flag”) campaign, Malaysians, namely those belonging to lower-income households, have been flying white flags outside their homes and posting them on social media as a plea for help. Much like Thailand, celebrities, businesses and other citizens have offered their help by providing food and other necessities. Following the “white flag” campaign, some people have responded to the movement with another one by flying the black flag, a new campaign urging Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to resign. This was led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who tweeted three black flag emojis earlier in July. https://www.thaienquirer.com/30156/southeast-asias-worst-wave/

From Thai Enquirer Thailand moves to join COVAX Thailand will now join the COVAX programme, the National Vaccine Institute (NVI) said on Wednesday, after holding out from joining the international cooperation framework for months. “Even though we have tried our hardest, the vaccines that we have procured so far are still not enough for the current outbreak situation,” said Dr Nakorn Premsri, the director of the NVI, adding that there had been “many agencies and many regulations involved with the procurement.” To supplement current supplies, “we are looking to bring in second-generation vaccines that are effective against the mutation and we are expecting them to arrive by the first quarter of next year,” he said. The institute is at the stage of “beginning of the negotiation and the sending of a letter to Gavi to state the intention to join the COVAX programme.” The COVAX programme aims to provide equitable access to Covid vaccines globally and is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization (WHO). There are currently 172 countries participating as donors, recipients or some combination according to the WHO website. Thailand has so far been one of just a handful of countries not to join, which also includes Turkey and Russia. https://www.thaienquirer.com/30268/thailand-moves-to-join-covax-to-address-vaccine-shortfall/ =============================== From Bangkok Post Ambulance service overstretched, bodies left lying in streets Critics accused the government of allowing public health services to collapse after three people died on the streets of Bangkok and one was left lying in the middle of the road for hours before an ambulance finally arrived. The body that lay on the road for 12 hours was later found to be infected with Covid-19. The most mentioned case on social media was a man who collapsed and later died in the middle of Soi Ban Phan Thom, off Phra Sumeru Road. Chana Songkhram police chief Pol Col Sanong Sanemanee said on Traffic Police radio station that the man died about 5pm despite emergency responders' efforts to keep him alive. An ambulance did not arrive until 10.30pm, and took away the body. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2152531/health-system-in-crisis-critics-tell-government ==================================== Record 13,002 new Covid cases There were a record 13,002 new Covid-19 cases, and 108 more fatalities, over the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported on Wednesday morning. There were 11,953 cases in the general population and 1,049 among prison inmates. Since April 1, around when the third wave of Covid-19 began, there have been 410,614 Covid-19 patients, 277,030 have recovered. Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 439,477 Covid-19 cases, 304,456 of whom recovered. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2152383/record-13-002-new-covid-cases

I don't think us Aussies will be able to travel to Thailand for at least 18 months to 2 years. I've given up on the idea of a trip bring possible in the near future so sadly bar openings and alcohol prices remain irrelevant. Travel to other destinations such as Singapore may be possible, but Thailand? Forget it!