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still possible Christmas Travel 2020.mp4

and this is question answer to many workers world over are pondering during pandemic not restricted to sex workers. I see people settling in new jobs, deciding to retire, going back to school and making all kinds of decision forced by the situation they found themselves in during pandemic so situation of sex workers in by no means unique although it may be much harsh because , as you noted above, their limited shelf life. As for what happens to the scene anybody's guess is as good as next person. All scenarios are possible from most of venues closing permanently for lack of funds or /and personnel all the way to rebound happening much faster than anybody expects since bringing bar back to life requires dusting of spider webs, mopping floor and making several phone calls to former staff. We can only speculate but in fact nobody knows , even people in the business. My guess is that it will be mix of those extremities, some venues will go back to life very fast and many of others breathed their last already without even knowing it. So for first several months we will have less choices in more crowded places. The same will probably happen to us - some will return as soon as it will be possible, others will take 'wait and see" approach resulting in coming later on or abandoning idea of travel to Thailand at all because they find other interesting places or even that life without travel is quite bearable.

I’m just paying it forward. An expat in the DR from the USA recently opened up a very nice gay hustler bar in Colonial Zone, Santo Domingo. It’s named after him and it’s called Marlowe’s. He owns it and works there along with his regular staff of Dominicanos. His goal is to make it a higher-end version of the old Bar Friends hustler bar. He even has space in the back for clients to play with the “bugarrones”. It’s actually a nice set up, a very modern bar, and hopefully, it will survive the pandemic and more crowds (clients AND hustlers) will start frequenting. It has a ways to go to be the frequented hustler bar with the variety of bugarrones and sankies that would show up to the old Bar Friends and Jay Dee’s. But it’s a start, and with regular patrons and a regular flow of visitors, it should get there. IG page: marlowesbar FB page: Marlowe’s Bar Google Maps: Marlowe’s Address: Calle Arzobispo Nouel 53, Santo Domingo 10210, Dominican Republic

The following interview is with a former female sex worker in Pattaya who is now living and working in Isaan. But I think what she has to say could have just as well been said by her male contemporaries. From National Public Radio (US) By Suchada Phoisaat and Aurora Almendra In February, NPR published a story on the tolls of the pandemic on Thailand's sex workers. Before COVID-19 hit, international tourism made up 20% of the country's gross domestic product — and fueled a thriving sex industry. That collapsed in March 2020 when the country shut its borders to keep the coronavirus at bay. Sex workers in the cities of Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket struggled to cope with the lack of sex tourists. Most were barely scraping by, and many returned to their home provinces in the rural countryside. We check in with M., one of the sex workers whom we interviewed and who has asked for anonymity because individuals have been disowned by their families or ostracized by their communities for association with a stigmatized, illegal industry. When we interviewed sex workers in Thailand back in September 2020, many were holding out hope that the coronavirus pandemic would end soon. But the country's coronavirus crisis has only gotten worse, with the average number of daily new infections reaching its peak on Aug. 13 at 23,418 cases. While some resort islands, like Phuket, have reopened to vaccinated foreign tourists, tourism is far from having rebounded. We caught up with M., 33, whom we met in the Thai tourist hub of Pattaya. Before the pandemic, she was earning good money as a topless dancer at a go-go bar and as a sex worker. But when we spoke to her amid the crisis last year, she said she was struggling to send money to her mother, who was caring for her two sons, and was sharing a studio apartment with two other women who worked at the same bar. In January, she returned to her rural hometown in the northeast region of Isaan and started a job in accounting at a local hospital. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. A year ago, you were worried that if tourism didn't improve in Pattaya, you'd have to move back to Isaan. What led to your decision to leave the city? The COVID situation became more severe. There were no tourists or foreigners staying in Pattaya, and I was very worried about COVID. I started to think about going home because there were almost no customers. My roommates went back home around November last year. It was sad. Our room was quiet, and I still had to pay rent for the room [on my own]. Luckily, over New Year's Eve, I made some money from a customer from Bangkok who came to Pattaya for an island holiday, and I saved it. In early January, the bar owner decided to close the business. I wasn't sure what else to do in Pattaya. I called my mother and told her I was coming home. But I didn't leave for another [few weeks] because I was trying to find a job in a [government-designated quarantine] hotel in Pattaya, but no luck. What was the city like on the day you left? I was speechless. I lived in Pattaya for [six years] and never thought that Pattaya would become a deserted city. Pubs and bars that were always lit up at night are now shut down. The beach is lonely without tourists. At night, the beach has become a place for people [who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19] to sleep, and others go there to donate food to the homeless. When I think about it, my heart aches. I'm happy I survived. Before the pandemic, you had dreams of saving enough money in Pattaya to buy more farmland for your family and starting your own rubber tree plantation in Isaan. How much of a dent did the pandemic put in your savings? I only had a small amount of money left. I had about 10,000 baht [$300] saved and used it to pay off my rent in Pattaya. I sent some money [in advance] to my mother for the expenses of my two sons, about 3,000 baht [$100]. What was it like when you first got home to your province? When I returned to my hometown, I still couldn't stay at our home. I had to report to the village leader and was required to quarantine for 14 days. My mother sent me to live on our [small] rubber plantation. She sent me some food and drinking water. After the quarantine period was over, I was able to go home. I didn't have much to do apart from [helping my mom with her] rubber plantation. I was frustrated because I didn't know what to do next with my life. I began to look for work, starting with applying for a job as a Grab rider [a motorcycle-delivery and ride-hailing app]. There are not many restaurants for food-delivery service in my hometown, so most of my job was picking up passengers or parcels. It did not earn much money but was better than staying home and earning nothing. I was also picking up a few shifts at the 7-Eleven and working as a life insurance agent. Your mom and sons depended on your income as a sex worker to supplement their living expenses. How did they survive when you returned to Isaan and did not have a steady job? Living at home without any money [in Isaan] is not as difficult as living in Pattaya. In the countryside, we own a house so we don't need to pay rent. My mother grows vegetables for herself. Sometimes we buy meat from the market, and the price of fresh food is not expensive like in Pattaya. Last year, my mother leased half of her rubber plantation to some farmers, so she made enough cash to live on. What are you doing now? I [started] working as an accounting officer at a hospital [in early July]. My friend told me that the hospital was looking for staff. I had to take an accounting exam to be able to apply. I wanted this job because I intended to [make enough money to] continue improving our house. Before the pandemic, you said your job in Pattaya's red-light district earned you more money than from your previous office job. Are you making enough money in your office position now? I'm a full-time employee with a monthly income. The salary may not be much, but there are health care, child's education and pension benefits. How does COVID continue to affect you? I'm afraid I will be infected with COVID because there are infected patients who come to the hospital. I protect myself by wearing a double mask. What is life like for you now? My routine has changed. On the weekends, I have time to be with my family. I'm making new friends. [Instead of going to bed late because of my evening shift at the bar], I get up early and go to a daytime job. It's funny — I used to complain that someday I would have to sleep like a normal person! Do you miss anything about Pattaya? Party life, handsome men, drinking with friends. I hardly drink now because of my new profession, but I miss it so much. Suchada Phoisaat is a Thai producer based in Bangkok. Aurora Almendral is an American journalist based in Southeast Asia. https://www.wbur.org/npr/1033267519/whatever-happened-to-the-thai-sex-worker-trying-to-rebuild-her-life-in-a-pandemi

That man is in real trouble - no mask and no seat belt . . .

No, not domestically. But, they got together for a collaboration and I loved the outfits. Both truly icons. https://www.complex.com/music/lil-nas-x-links-up-with-elton-john-for-uber-eats-campaign-ahead-of-montero-collab?

I have a huge crush on that boy.

The shifting sands of Pattaya's fate The news today regarding Pattaya's near-term future is mixed at best. The good news--well, as good as it gets for the moment--is that it opens under a Phuket-like sandbox scheme with all the accompanying testing and restrictions and entry requirements that will put off most punters. But at least it's a first step toward some semblance of normalcy. There's also news that foreign investor are keenly snooping about for distressed hotels they hope to scoop up on the cheap. Not that there's anything wrong with that but many here would be disappointed if the like of Poseidon and others, which have long served the gay community with good food and accommodations, fall into the hands of opportunists. But I suppose that's the price we have to expect to pay for survival. For those who can tolerate the inconvenience and bureaucratic madness in exchange for an early return, your time may soon be at hand. But for the rest of us it looks like early 2022 before arriving in Thailand is anything like we recall from 2019. ================================= From Pattaya Mail Pattaya open to fully vaccinated foreign tourists in October The Thai government has reiterated health and safety measures as it prepares for the second phase of its tourism reigniting plan and many look forward to the annual high season. Proceeding along its path to again welcome foreign travelers after having notable success with its Sandbox programs over the past two months, producing 1.634 billion baht in revenue, the government is poised to continue the effort to support economic recovery. In October, the administration is to implement its Universal Prevention measures while entering the second phase of its reopening timeline, which will see Bangkok, Chonburi (Pattaya), Petchaburi, Prachuapkirikan and Chiang Mai will be allowed to receive foreign guests once again, on the condition they meet vaccination targets. The Bangkok Sandbox and Hua Hin Recharge campaigns have already been outlined in anticipation of the transition. Phase three of the plan is to begin in the middle of October and see 21 more provinces reopen under strict COVID-19 prevention measures. The fourth phase begins in January of next year and will focus on 13 border provinces and the use of travel bubbles. One province slated to reopen on October 1st is Chonburi with its Pattaya Moves On program covering Pattaya, Banglamung and Sattahip. Various committees have been established in anticipation of the date, and they will oversee matters such as meeting a 70 percent vaccination target in the local population. Visitors to Chonburi will have to be fully vaccinated or have RT-PCR test results from their country of origin and a health certificate. They will have to submit to another RT-PCR test upon arrival in Chonburi and undergo a total of three checks during their stay, the second being during the first six to seven days of their stay and the third on the fourteenth day. https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/pattaya-open-to-fully-vaccinated-foreign-tourists-in-october-371282 ================================ From The Thaiger / BP Foreign investors keep a close eye on struggling Pattaya hotels With Pattaya hotel operators in dire financial straits brought on by the lack of tourists during the pandemic, foreign investors are apparently keeping a close eye on the situation. The hotel operators in the tourist city are being warned that if they do not get assistance for their outstanding loans, then their businesses could be taken over by foreign investors. Pattaya is one of the areas in Thailand that has been hit the hardest by Covid-19. The city’s famous “Walking Street” has been compared to the zombie apocalypse series, the “Walking Dead.” Many businesses have been struggling to stay afloat. The president of the hotel association of the eastern region warned hotel operators to take care of their outstanding loans and called on the government to support the hotel sector, such as by suspending loan payments to financial institutions and cutting interest rates. He says that if hotels do not get help, and if the tight travel restrictions remain in 2022, then many will have no other option than to sell the business and many groups of foreign investors, mostly Chinese, are interested in buying hotels in Pattaya. https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/foreign-investors-keep-a-close-eye-on-struggling-pattaya-hotels ================================ From Channel News Asia ASEAN-China travel bubble ? KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob proposed that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China could consider a cross-border travel bubble, adding that it would be “vital for recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recorded video message during the 18th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) on Friday (Sep 10), he said both sides could explore common initiatives such as travel bubbles and quarantine arrangements. “By doing this, we will be in a much better position to revive not only the tourism industry, but also our people-to-people connectivity,” Mr Ismail Sabri said. Mutual recognition of vaccination certification is also a fertile area for collaboration, the prime minister noted. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-ismail-sabri-asean-china-travel-bubble-covid-19-2168991

Insh'allah, as my friend in Palestine always says to me. "By the will of God." Yes, at Christmas we may well be thinking that soon we shall be escaping a cold, miserable home and finding warmth in the embrace of a lithe Thai guy, with smooth skin, opal eyes....etc. And then, we shall be able to say the next favourite of my friend; "Humd'allah. "Thanks be to God." It really is possible. Isn't it?

I think it is important to realise that the Chinese have very long memories. Most families will still have older members who recall the supreme disaster of the Cultural Revolution which destroyed so much of the country and it culture with its education and judicial systems wiped out. China was till then an agrarian society with most of its population desperately poor. I can recall my first visit to Shanghai in 1986 barely ten years after that disastrous period in Chinese history when lamplighters still lit the streetlamps in the French quarter! These grandparents still cannot believe how the country has changed out of all recognition. I know I have said it before but how many countries have ever in world history dragged 400 million or more out of poverty in the span of just one generation? How many countries have enjoyed massively increased and increasing incomes since then? How many could have possibly considered that Shanghai would become an even more cosmopolitan city than pre-coved Hong Kong? From my Chinese and western friends who live in China, I know well that there are costs to such rapid growth. Those of us brought up in the west would probably find it difficult to live in any country where our freedom to think and say (within reason) what we want is curtailed. But we look at this country of 1.4 billion people from our own western experiences. The vast majority of those who live in the country have a different mindset borne of their history and society when for the entire millennia of their existence they have lived under a similar system. The average Chinese today puts up with its unelected government because they can compare what it has achieved in little over 40 years. My friends are perfectly happy living in China and none, not even the Americans with Chinese boyfriends, some wealthy in their own right, want to live anywhere else. The inevitable question then becomes: how long can any people live under a virtual dictatorship? My only answer is as long as the compact between government and people that people's lives continue to improve.

since when one need to attend party to get drunk? Can't just 4 or 7 friends get together and empty some bottles ?

thank God no loss of life is reported and good news to all those roadside fishermen catching awesome fish specimens as shown in quoted article and also on YouTube clip somebody posted yesterday

Typical of most governments who all normally seem unwilling to break-up any part of their bureaucracy and instead replace/rename it with something even bigger 🤣 But also any unpopular government, facing street protests, will also seek all means to extend state control. So nothing surprising in any of this; disappointing yes, but surprising no!

So awful!

Move along....nothing to see here After announcing on Monday that The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will cease to exist when the state of emergency decree was lifted, the government today said something akin to "yes, we have no bananas". From Bangkok Post The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will continue its role in leading the country's fight to contain the Covid-19 outbreak, although it may later be transformed into a new body under a new disease control law that will replace the state of emergency, the government said on Wednesday. According to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, because the CCSA was established under the Emergency Decree, when the state of emergency is lifted, then the CCSA will technically no longer exist. "However, in practice, the CCSA will continue to function while the government deliberates the new disease control law, although it may have to be transformed into something else after the state of emergency is lifted," he said. Mr Wissanu was responding to questions about the possibility of dissolving the CCSA when the government revokes the state of emergency, which it is said would usher in the next steps of containing the coronavirus outbreak. The government is waiting for a new law that will allow it to declare a state of public health emergency without having to invoke the Emergency Decree, which generally covers all other emergencies, including terrorism and mass unrest, he said. "When the new law is in place, a body even larger than the CCSA may be established if needed, so it doesn't really matter if the CCSA is dissolved or not," he said. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2178567/ccsa-shake-up-looms File under: (a) TIT (b) You can't make this stuff up (c) Th-th-th, that's all folks" (d) All of the above Mr Wissanu was responding to questions about the possibility of dissolving the CCSA when the government revokes the state of emergency, which it is said would usher in the next steps of containing the coronavirus outbreak.

Sex workers in places like Pattaya have a shelf-life, and 33 is on the older side anyway. Past 30 and it becomes harder to compete with the pretty 18 and 19 year olds arriving in Pattaya 'off the bus'. It becomes harder to get the same flow of customers; instead they have to rely more on their 'regulars' and hopes of, at least a level of, sponsorship. Some will find other work in Pattaya, others will return home. The sensible ones will have built up savings; and/or maybe already invested in land or a house back in the village while others, living more hand to mouth, go back home with very little. The other observation that I would make is that many of the boys already had other part-time day jobs. For example, one lad from Cupidol I know, worked daytime shifts as a (junior) chef in a local hotel kitchen, but would be at his bar by 8pm, scrubbed-up and down to his tighty-whiteys. Others at Sunnee had regular daytime jobs in factories and construction, and their bar work had always been essentially freelance, but potentially offering welcome supplements to their income. Low season, also saw many others getting part-time jobs, etc etc. Only the most successful were ever only full time stage performers and/or sex workers. Many boys have also always regularly returned home for protracted periods during low season. So I think the 'case-study' presented above risks painting a very simplistic picture of the complexity of a sex-workers life in Pattaya for example. They are already pretty resilient to the vagaries of their 'working lives', although the pandemic closures and restrictions will have hit them far harder than they had perhaps hitherto experienced. The question for me is how many will eventually decide to return to the bright lights of their bars and partying, and how many see the pandemic as the catalyst to move on with their lives.

sun rises and sets the same like everywhere, if Thai people eat so wayward tourist will find something to eat. Unobstructed view toward Wat Arun and lack of crowds in Grand Palace may be an attraction itself. For me only deterrent are entry requirements , not what's may be on the ground there. But world is slowly coming to senses , so will Thailand one day

Earlier this year Hungary passed its anti LGBTQ education bill that bans the depiction or promotion of homosexuality and gender change among under-18s. Many have lambasted the President who promoted the bill and the European Parliament has condemned it. Surely no protest was more symbolic and seen by so many around the world than a short appearance by the 4-time Formula 1 world champion driver, Sebastian Vettel. F1 - along with its more junior ranks of F2 and F3 - directly and indirectly employs many tens of thousands of people and is one of the world's most watched sports seen in almost every country. It has never been associated with the LGBTQ movement. Even as stars in other sports have started to come out, only one has come out it this most macho of sports even though there are a few remaining in the closet - and that happened 30 years ago! Present and former F! drivers are seemingly a totally heterosexual bunch. Sebastian Vettel certainly fits that profile as a happily married straight man with kids. But at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix held ten days ago, Vettel singled himself out as a champion of gay rights. During the pre-race national anthem line-up, he sported a simple Pride shirt with the message "Same Love". During the race, his shoes and helmet were adorned with the rainbow colours. No other driver joined him, although to be fair that is almost certainly because he did tell them beforehand and did not want to make a fuss. He knew the TV cameras would pick up on his shoes, shirt and helmet and linger long over them. As indeed they did. And the world saw it. The race stewards were not happy, though, and he received a warning for not removing the short when asked to. Photo: Rex/The Sun "It doesn't matter your skin colour, it doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter who you fall in love with. In the end, you just want equal treatment for everybody . . . "I was surprised it was so much of a big deal," Vettel admits. "Ideally, there wouldn't be any reaction because it's just normal. "There are countries still arguing about whether gay marriage should be legal or not legal. I think there's enough marriage for all of us, you know. It makes no difference to straight people whether gay people are allowed to get married or not, but it makes a huge difference to gay people to be able to get married like everyone else. "So yeah, I was surprised - but it shows that there's still so much that needs to be done." https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/58453220

I certainly salute Bryan Ruby. But I do think there is a difference between a gay man deciding to come out and a very straight man identifying with and bringing to world attention his support for the LGBTQ community, even though he himself is not gay. Yet both advance the LGBTQ cause since both are role models.

The problem is not what you or I imagine. The problem is what Thailand's powers-that-be imagine. Considering how so much has been knee-jerk reactions imposed by people who really are not my idea of competent to do so, hardly anything they come up with surprises me anymore. And to me, the more absurd the restrictions, the less I'm surprised.

This is also an opportunity to celebrate Bryan Ruby who becomes the only active pro baseball player to be out as gay. From USA Today Bryan Ruby first started to realize he was different at 14 years old. That's when the hiding began. Along with the darkness. He found emotional refuge in two different parts of his identity. He's a professional baseball player, a member of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, which makes him much closer to a journeyman than a major-leaguer. And he's a country music songwriter, having written two songs that reached the charts, plus countless ballads in his notebook. Yet it's Ruby's hidden part of his identity that he now believes can have the biggest impact, partially because it's so foreign to the worlds of baseball and country music. Ruby is a gay man, the only active professional baseball player at any level to be publicly out. "I kept thinking about the little 14-year-old me, who was scared because I'm a baseball player who loved country music," Ruby, 25, told USA TODAY Sports. "Those are worlds where people like me are told they can't belong. I'm not a hot-shot prospect. But today, you can't find a single active baseball player who is out publicly. I want to help create a world where future generations of baseball players don't have to sacrifice authenticity or who they really are to play the game they love." His coming out follows a summer in which Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib and Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop also came out as gay. After years of no actively out players in men's professional sports, now there are three. Playing the guitar in his bedroom in recent months, with posters of Dierks Bentley and Cal Ripken Jr. hanging in the background, Ruby sang a song he's co-written that seems especially relevant given his purpose behind coming out. "If that white line ever gets lonely, if the nights get a little too cold, if it don't work out, if you have your doubts, you've got a place to go." Ruby's goal is clear: to help others who are forced to hide their identity, too. "Being closeted for basically 10 years, it was a struggle the whole time," he said. "I used to hate myself. Hate how I felt. I'd ask why am I feeling this way?" "I kept having people tell me, 'Be very cautious of who you tell' or 'They don't need to know your personal life.' The best way to describe the hiding as an athlete is like you're running with a weighted vest on," he said. "It's on all day and you can't take it off. I've been gradually taking that weight off." Continues with photos and video https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2021/09/02/bryan-ruby-only-active-professional-baseball-player-out-gay/8244571002/

From Pattaya Mail By Warapun Jaikusol Pattaya’s women-of-the-second-category are learning how to stay home and bake cookies. The Sisters Foundation launched its second round of vocational training courses for LGBTQ people who want to be bakers. The project began in April, funded by a 370,000-baht grant from the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations-affiliated group that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. Some of those participating in Sisters’ bakery classes are LGBTQ migrants from neighboring countries. Project coordinator Rawitcha Sakpreechakul said the training is aimed at former transgender entertainers who were put out of work by the coronavirus pandemic. The current class has 13 students who work in groups no larger than five people, in line with Covid-19 restrictions, and use kitchens provided by the foundation, although the instructor teaches remotely. Classes cover easy-to-make items using simple tools suitable for beginners. Coming out of the ovens are butter cookies, brownies, cupcakes, macaroons, cheesecakes and more. The chefs then sell the baked goods to generate income. Continues with photos https://www.pattayamail.com/news/pattayas-ladyboys-staying-home-baking-cookies-370870

My Phuket Sandbox Experience A true horrors story LOL

I don't know if anyone is still reading this thread, but this new piece in the New Yorker is fascinating and explains a lot https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/the-other-afghan-women

From Coconuts Bangkok “The education system is failing 1.8 million students because online learning takes students for granted,” reads a banner hanging from a skywalk at BTS Asok in an image from a Voice TV report. Thousands of students pledged to participate in a strike on virtual learning that started yesterday. School gates have been closed since April and learning moved online. While that hasn’t been a burden on families with resources, thousands of others have struggled to keep their children educated. There are many students for whom just getting online is an epic undertaking. Adding to that, are reports of teachers taking their abusive impulses online, forcing students to obtain permission before drinking water and wear uniforms at home. Fed up with the virtual classroom experience, activist group Bad Student has called on fellow students to ditch online learning altogether and demand a better and more inclusive learning experience. Answering the call of a student-led campaign called ‘I’m fucking done with these online classes,” more than 7,000 students nationwide pledged to boycott lessons this week. The campaign’s hashtag #IAmFuckingDoneWithOnlineClasses had been retweeted more than 1 million times at time of publication. The group has also called for a better vaccine distribution and reduced workloads for both students and teachers, such as fewer lesson hours and assignments, so long as schools remain closed. Continues at https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/thousands-of-thai-students-vow-to-ditch-school-to-oppose-virtual-learning/

that means , like in many other countries locals are being priced out of market

Gosh I'm excited to go back some day and see if I can do more guys in one night than I did last time. That was 6 guys!

2-fer-Thursday:

I never ask. What's important to me is what he will do in bed. As I prefer straight-acting masculine guys I guess most of my offs have not been gay. Some may have been bi. If I were after a long - term partner, he would have to be gay. And versatile in bed.

I answered Travellersdave question in other thread. When talking to a guy I usually ask 3 questions "do you go with me", ' long time? ' and ' do you kiss", Sometimes also compensation question as I like those arrangements made before we open door but often this is matter of fact or initiated by guy himself. When we are already in the room I may ask whether he likes girls or guys out of curiosity and to maintain conversation. Still remember great answer by Jack from Senso "I like girls but I like your hand there too". As with any question of that nature I'd expect answer matching not truth but what boy thinks I'd like to hear. It has nothing to do with honesty, rather with maintaining conversation between after all , strangers. When somebody ask us " how are you ?', rarely we answer with ' shitty, I had diarrhea whole night' even if that would be true.

Such a huge lineup of former and current. I can think of several not included here ...

I finally had time to read this fascinating yet horrifying and damning article. All the spin we have heard over the last 20 or so years is shown to be just that - spin. As the coalition PR machine kept telling us so frequently, the war was being won. As in Vietnam, in the countryside the exact opposite was true. Clear disagreements between the USA and its NATO allies. An Afghan translator mistakenly arrested and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba with no appeal. US forces raiding the home of a "beloved tribal elder", killing him and leaving his son a paraplegic. A coalition air strike hitting a mosque and killing all inside. At least the Taliban fighters would warn villagers where they had placed IEDs so they could be avoided. Not so, the coalition forces. Several of Shakira's cousins being killed at different times. Seven year old Muhammad mistakenly killed when coalition forces strafed the car he happened to be in. Her 16-year old cousin Amanullah was merely working in the fields when murdered by a sniper of the Afghan army. No reason given and a family too afraid to ask. "Entire branches of Shakira’s family tree, from the uncles who used to tell her stories to the cousins who played with her in the caves, vanished. In all, she lost sixteen family members. I wondered if it was the same for other families in Pan Killay. I sampled a dozen households at random in the village, and made similar inquiries in other villages, to insure that Pan Killay was no outlier. For each family, I documented the names of the dead, cross-checking cases with death certificates and eyewitness testimony. On average, I found, each family lost ten to twelve civilians in what locals call the American War. "This scale of suffering was unknown in a bustling metropolis like Kabul, where citizens enjoyed relative security. But in countryside enclaves like Sangin the ceaseless killings of civilians led many Afghans to gravitate toward the Taliban. By 2010, many households in Ishaqzai villages had sons in the Taliban, most of whom had joined simply to protect themselves or to take revenge; the movement was more thoroughly integrated into Sangin life than it had been in the nineties. Now, when Shakira and her friends discussed the Taliban, they were discussing their own friends, neighbors, and loved ones . . . "Some British officers on the ground grew concerned that the U.S. was killing too many civilians, and unsuccessfully lobbied to have American Special Forces removed from the area. Instead, troops from around the world poured into Helmand, including Australians, Canadians, and Danes. But villagers couldn’t tell the difference—to them, the occupiers were simply “Americans.” Pazaro, the woman from a nearby village, recalled, “There were two types of people—one with black faces and one with pink faces. When we see them, we get terrified.” The coalition portrayed locals as hungering for liberation from the Taliban, but a classified intelligence report from 2011 described community perceptions of coalition forces as “unfavorable,” with villagers warning that, if the coalition “did not leave the area, the local nationals would be forced to evacuate.” By 2019 when the US was holding talks with the Taliban, an optimism returned to the valleys. It did not last long. "Shortly before the Americans left, they dynamited her house, apparently in response to the Taliban’s firing a grenade nearby. With two rooms still standing, the house is half inhabitable, half destroyed, much like Afghanistan itself." ". . . the Afghan government and American forces moved jointly on Sangin one last time. That January, they launched perhaps the most devastating assault that the valley witnessed in the entire war. Shakira and other villagers fled for the desert, but not everyone could escape. Ahmed Noor Mohammad, who owned a pay-phone business, decided to wait to evacuate, because his twin sons were ill. His family went to bed to the sound of distant artillery. That night, an American bomb slammed into the room where the twin boys were sleeping, killing them. A second bomb hit an adjacent room, killing Mohammad’s father and many others, eight of them children. "The next day, at the funeral, another air strike killed six mourners. In a nearby village, a gunship struck down three children. The following day, four more children were shot dead. Elsewhere in Sangin, an air strike hit an Islamic school, killing a child. A week later, twelve guests at a wedding were killed in an air raid. "After the bombing, Mohammad’s brother travelled to Kandahar to report the massacres to the United Nations and to the Afghan government. When no justice was forthcoming, he joined the Taliban." As in all wars, mistakes are made and massacres probably and sadly an inevitable result. Do we remember My Lai in Vietnam, an atrocity where up to 500 Vietnamese villagers - men, women, children and infants - were massacred but not before American troops had first gang raped women as young as 12? When this finally came to light, the platoon leader was sentenced to life in prison, surely a just sentence. But Americans look after their own. All he served was three and a half years under house arrest. How can any reasonable person consider this is justice? As the subject of the New Yorker article, Shakira, says of the future under the new regime - “I have to believe,” she said. “Otherwise, what was it all for?” If we cannot get things right in our own countries, what right do we have to try and sort out problems in others? None!

That very well might happen if that new MU variant makes it into Thailand. So far it hasn't, but I think it is inevitable that sooner or later it will. If that happens, and since what I'm reading says the current vaccines are rather ineffective against it, don't be surprised if all the most difficult of the previous restrictions are right back in place again - possibly including border closings. I hope everyone planning a holiday in Thailand makes damned sure about what is going on in Thailand before packing bags and booking flights and hotels. This is no time to allow wishful thinking and/or your crotch to make your travel plans. You better be very certain about the reality of what to expect.