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I know - it all happened ten years ago and is probably forgotten by most. I only bring it up as last night I watched a Netflix mini-series "Room 2806: The Accusation". I am very late in watching it as it was produced in 2020. But I found it fascinating, with the memories I have of that scandal jogged by the four episodes featuring most of the people who actually participated in the events. To recap. Dominique Strauss Kahn (referred to by all as DSK) was the brilliant Chairman of the International Monetary Fund who had helped steer the world through the 2008 financial crisis. An economist turned Socialist politician, he was the leading candidate to win the 2012 French Presidential election by beating the hugely unpopular incumbent Nicholas Sarkosy who is now serving a second term in jail over financial irregularities re that 2012 campaign. It was known that Sarkosy's party was up to dirty tricks against DSK. Although based in Washington, DSK had spent a night in New York prior to having lunch with one of his daughters and then a flight to Paris. The following day he would be meeting the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In New York he stayed at the French-owned Sofitel. As a VVIP he was upgraded to the Presidential Suite on floor 28. Although the facts remain somewhat unclear and many internet sources are behind pay walls, there is enough information there to re-piece together much of the story. It is known that soon after arrival at the Sofitel he went out and spent several hours with a young lady. The following morning he made and received some calls on his 6 mobile phones. One was from a party worker in France to warn him about another dirty tricks campaign being mounted against him by Sarkosy's party. He then called his wife in Paris asking her to call for their house in the luxury Place des Voges area to be electronically surveilled for bugs the following morning. He then started to pack his small trolley bag. Before leaving his room, he took a shower, dressed and was at check out by 12:30. Floor map showing the Presidential Suite #2806 and another room #2820: from the New York Times The scandal that quickly erupted concerns a room service maid on the 28th floor that morning. The Sofitel's security logged every time a key card was used to enter, but not when a door opened without a card - e.g. on exit. The maid, Ms. Diallo claims she entered the room to clean it just after midday. She claims she saw the occupant's luggage in the hallway. But she did not leave. She continued into the large suite. Once in the bedroom she saw a naked DSK coming through the corridor from the bathroom. She then alleges that he assaulted her sexually, forcing her to the floor and then giving him oral sex. The deed done, he left the suite with his bags, checked out and had lunch with his daughter. He then took a taxi to JFK where he waited for the 4:10pm overnight flight to Paris. But he had forgotten one of his phones and assumed it was at the hotel. He called the hotel and they agreed to send it over to the Air France lounge in time for his flight. The maid took about an hour before reporting the incident. Hotel security called the police. No one had a clue where DSK might be, and had he seriously assaulted the maid, some assumed he had simply fled. As we know, he did not flee. He continued with his planned schedule and was taking the flight his assistant had booked for him some days earlier. Had he committed a crime it is surely unlikely he would have called the hotel to give it his location. The police proceeded to the airport, boarded the 747 and asked him to step off the plane. He was arrested and taken to a holding cell in Manhattan. After being held for a few days, he was remanded to the notorious Ryker's Island jail for two days before being given house arrest in a residence his rich wife had rented in Tribeca. So the man expected to be the next President of France had been utterly humiliated. But what soon became known was that DSK was not merely a brilliant economist and politician. He was a serial womaniser who would probably put Don Juan to shame. He gladly paid €1,500 a night for hookers here, there and everywhere, provided they were pretty and around their early 20s. (He was no Epstein with a thing for underage girls). He had taken part in naked sex orgies in France and the USA, and probably other countries as well. He seems to have sampled even more female flesh than Harvey Weinstein. Until then, though, he was not known for any form of violence. But no sooner had the news spread around France than two women claimed he had threatened them in their early 20s in the same manner. After a long drawn out "he did", "she said" case, it finally got to court. Remarkably the prosecution told the judge it was withdrawing its case because the evidence from the maid was not trustworthy. It turned out that some time after arrival in the USA, she had claimed she had been raped about 9 years earlier by multiple soldiers, her tears helping to convince those who heard the story. It was proved to be fake. She was found to have $60,000 in her bank account. She claimed to have a businessman boyfriend who had asked to use her account whilst he opened one in a new city in the mid-West(!!) The boyfriend turned out to be a drug pusher in jail. When being interrogated she said her English was not good enough and asked for an interpreter. Yet when the interpreter translated one sentence, the maid said in English "No, that's not what I said!" In a phone call with the man from his prison, she said words to the effect, "Don't worry. He has money. I know what I am doing." The maid claimed she entered the suite to clean in in preparation for the next guest. Yet I know of no luxury hotel where a maid is permitted to undertake a major cleaning of a Presidential suite until informed by the Head Housekeeper that the guest has checked out and the suite is free. As can be seen on the plan, this suite was very large. A guest in the bathroom would be extremely unlikely to hear a doorbell. When the maid saw DSK, why did she not rush out of the room? Almost certainly she could have done so before he reached her. Some sort of sexual encounter no doubt did take place. But was it consensual? Did money change hands? The floor plan above also highlights another strange fact (and this is not in the Netflix series). As far as I recall, Room #2820 had no guest the night before. Why therefore did the maid enter that room no less than three times between 10:30 and 11:30 am? Even more curious, why did she return to that room at 12:26 pm for less than a minute? I can fully understand that if she was indeed traumatised by what happened with DSK, she might have waited before reporting it. She was an immigrant and she had a good job that paid well. She did not want lose it. But what had she been doing in #2820? Had she left something there for later collection? We do not know and I do not believe this ever came up in the court proceedings. Whatever actually happened - a sexual assault by a known serial womaniser, an extortion attempt by a maid who knew exactly who was occupying that suite and exactly what she was doing, a combination of the two - we will now never know. Did anyone in France instigate what happened for political purposes? We do know that in a civil suit, the maid received a very generous settlement generally agreed to be $1.5 million. She now runs a restaurant. We do know that the scandal humiliated DSK, wrecked his Presidential hopes and any future political career. It also wrecked his marriage, but it was his third and he soon remarried. He has always stated he made a mistake, that the sex was consensual and he remains the aggrieved party. There were clearly faults on both sides. On the basis of everything I read 10 years ago and what I saw in the Netflix series, I do think DSK was set up in some way. Why and by whom, again I have no idea. I just do not trust the maid and I believe DSK was so arrogant he could - and still can - only believe he had been massively wronged. Sorry for the length. I am stuck at home again today and writing relieves the boredom!!

From Bangkok Post Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha says Thailand will open the country to visitors from 46 countries instead of only 10 Covid-19 low-risk countries announced earlier, starting from Nov 1. He did not name the countries in the post on his Facebook page on Thursday evening, but wrote it was now necessary to speed up the opening. "If we wait until everything is fully ready, we'll be too late. Besides, tourists may choose to go elsewhere," read the post. He added that he was aware the acceleration brought with it the risk of more local infections. "But this is a risk we must accept. I think, like other countries, Thailand is now better equipped to deal with the risk. And we need to learn to live with it." Visitors from the 46 countries, described as the first low-risk group, may enter Thailand by air without quarantine, provided they have been fully vaccinated and have evidence of negative test results before taking flights. They must also agree to take another test upon arrival. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2201875/thailand-welcomes-visitors-from-46-countries-from-nov-1 =============================== I read last night that the Aviation Authority of Thailand is planning exercises at international airports, simulating arrival of international tourists under the seven conditions previously released. The exercises are scheduled for Oct. 25. Those will presumably determine fine tuning of how tourists will be received andprocessed.

HUM so the Curfew will end but the Bars cannot open... Typical Thai thinking!

I had never heard of Phú Quốc until late 2018 when I was planning a trip to Vietnam for February 2019. I wanted the trip to end somewhere on a beach. Fortunately I had loads of points in the Marriott Hotel programme and I noticed that the island has a Bili Bensley designed Marriott Resort which had opened the previous year. So I got rid of many of them for a 5-night stay. I absolutely loved the hotel and the beach. It's certainly not cheap but the facilities were wonderful and the mostly young staff fantastic. I thoroughly recommend it for anyone wishing to splurge. I would prefer to return to a good hotel on Phú Quốc before Phuket now. Bangkok Airways used to have a daily flight from BKK. Once tourism is up and running again, the authorities may also restart the hydrofoil from Ho Chi Minh. The Marriott is close to the south east end of the island. Further up the same beach are a couple of other hotels which might be worth checking. There are also loads of other hotels on other beaches.

The farang is always able to ask more and more as the poor Thai can answer or has thought about. Strange that f.e. LUxemburg is not on the list-enclosed between Belgium/Germany/France. All firm EU-memberstates. Too small to care about, I guess. But ny now covid infection rates are again going way up, even though 70/80% or so of people have been vaccinated It is also not clear If one has to stay INside that booked hotel or can explore asap untill result of thai test. BTW: they seem to have learnt-many people booked HTL and then cancelled after all the burocrazy paperwrok for sandbox-you now have to show HTL is paid. Other minor prob: state insurance for medical cost here never shows amounts or MAX-as there is effectively no MAX. So there have been since Thailand opened endless quizzles with Thai embassy as they stick to the rules of an insurance that shows amounts. Twice vaccinated and never had any test since covid entered this world, I still hesitate much about going or booking on these conditions.

From Channel News Asia TOKYO: Tokyo will lift curbs on bar and restaurant opening hours as COVID-19 cases in the Japanese capital hit their lowest level this year, officials said on Thursday (Oct 21). It is the latest softening of coronavirus restrictions in Japan, where cases have been in free fall for weeks, which experts ascribe to a rapid increase in the vaccination rate. Nationwide, new infections have plunged from record highs of more than 25,800 in August to fewer than 400 in recent days. And Tokyo, a city of 14 million people, has reported an average of 47 daily cases over the past week - lows not seen since June 2020. The country has never imposed a blanket lockdown, but for most of this year, a COVID-19 state of emergency was in place in major cities and other areas, targeting alcohol sales and crowd sizes at large events - including the Tokyo Olympics, held mostly behind closed doors. The emergency measures ended three weeks ago, but some restrictions have remained, including Tokyo's restaurants and bars being asked to close by 9pm. From next Monday, establishments in the capital that take sufficient anti-infection measures will be free to open late, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike said, after surrounding regions announced similar steps. Although Japan's vaccine drive started later than in many other developed economies, about 68 per cent of its population is now fully inoculated - more than the United States' 57 per cent. The borders of the world's third-largest economy remain shut to almost all foreign nationals, and mask-wearing is not mandatory but ubiquitous in public places. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/japan-covid-19-tokyo-ditch-nightlife-curbs-2259061

The covidvax website estimates that Taiwan will be 70% vaccinated with 2 doses by November 29. https://covidvax.live/location/twn

With Singaore and the UK experiencing near record numbers of cases, I am surprised they are on the list. Also I heard this morning that there is now a new mutation of the Delta Variant which is accounting for 6% of new cases appearing in the UK. This is thought to be 10% - 15% more transmissible than the original Delta variant. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/21/the-delta-variant-has-a-mutation-what-we-know-so-far.html

I think I saw that South Korea is up to about 70 vaccinated now too. I hope Taiwan gets things ramped up too

From Bangkok Post Thailand will stop using the Covid-19 vaccine of China's Sinovac when its current stock finishes, a senior Public Health Ministry official said on Monday, having used the shot extensively in combination with Western-developed vaccines. Thailand used over 31.5 million Sinovac doses since February, starting with two doses to frontline workers, high-risk groups and residents of Phuket, the holiday island that reopened to tourists in July in a pilot scheme. In July, Thailand started inoculating people with Sinovac as a first dose followed by the Oxford University-developed AstraZeneca. Thailand was the first country to combine a Chinese and Western shots, a strategy its health officials said has proved effective. "We expect to have distributed all Sinovac doses this week," said Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, the Department of Disease Control director-general, adding the programme will switch to combining the AstraZeneca vaccine with that made by Pfizer and BioNTech. Thailand next year plans to buy 120 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in total and has already booked 60 million doses of AstraZeneca, a vaccine it manufactures locally. Thailand has said it will only procure vaccines effective against new variants. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2199827/thailand-to-cease-sinovac-vaccine-use-when-stocks-end-this-month

I have been here so long and not happy with govt treatment of foreigners .

Venerable Bangkok Massage (formerly a fixture on Twilight, opposite another venerable, Maxi's) reportedly has a sign posted on its current Patpong 2 location, looking for staff. Renowned for their talented ASEAN guys in years past, hope they can again manage to gather a similar lineup.

Hard for me to advise given that I have only visited each country twice and for considerably shorter than 2 months. Although I would be happy to visit Brazil and Argentina again several times, as a European I love Spain, its people, its food, its amazing history, its art and architecture etc. Not being into western guys, I did not get much from Spain's gay life - apart from a totally unexpected meeting with a stunning young Asian guy from Singapore and one from Guangzhou in Barcelona! But there were Asians on the apps and so I know I would not starve! I would choose Spain partly because of the huge variety of other amazing countries I could get to in little more than an hour or two. From the little French villages, to the chateaux on the Loire, to the amazing Renaissance hill towns in Italy and the joys of its art in the main cities, Germany's Romantic Road - even the pubs and Cathedrals in England. Extend the flight by another couple of hours and the glories of Russia (forget Putin and his homophobic laws for a few weeks) and then go up beyond the Arctic Circle to see the Northern Lights (a trip when I met up with a young Asian couple travelling around by car!).