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From Bangkok Post A recreation of a wetland habitat at the expanded Benjakitti Park in Bangkok. Varuth Hirunyatheb The extension of Benjakitti Forest Park in Klong Toey district will open to the public in February next year, according to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. The expansion from its original area near Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Klong Toey will make it the first forest park to cover more than 300 rai in the capital. The area was formerly occupied by the Thai Tobacco Monopoly, before it donated the 453-rai plot in 1994 to serve as "the lungs of the city". One of the highlights of the park is the forest area which will become a source of study and way for students and the public to learn about nature and the ecosystems which support a biodiverse array of plant and animal species. Once fully open, there will be four ponds -- able to hold 128 million cubic metres of water -- and 7,155 trees, including freshwater swamp, evergreen and mangrove trees and Thai flowers. The park's route map will comprise natural footpaths of up to 5.8 km as well as a 2.8 km stretch designed for joggers and a 3.4 km for bicycle run. s well as a full museum, and accompanying buildings for indoor activities, there will be a recreation area and outdoor stage that can accommodate up to 15,000 people. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2223043/benjakitti-park-expansion-set-for-feb

Paint With Love started yesterday

If i were to go to thailand for a week or less, i wont waste my time on the app. I would casually check it once in a while in case there is someone worth the trouble, but would not depend on it. The apps while convenient and cut the middleman, is littered with customers and boys alike, as well as those who are just looking for a free hookup, free dinner, free transport, or just free money without committing to anything. And if they dont deliver, they can just create a diff profile, or block u, and u cant really do anything about it. While boys at bars are not 100% perform as you wish, most of the boys on offer are available for hire, so no guessing games, no fake picture, no lenghty conversation getting nowhere. And we can always complaint to mamasan, or just review here and bitch about the bars hehe. If there is a choice, like the case in thailand, id choose bars, then massage, then only app.

Hospitals and GPs across Southern Africa are increasingly reporting that the symptoms of the aggressive new Covid strain Omicron are “unusual but very mild,” according to various media in South Africa this weekend. Around 90 per cent of all new infections in the Johannesburg region are now caused by the Omicron strain but, so far, the Covid death rate and even hospital admissions appear not to be increasing significantly, local media report. Some experts are therefore cautiously optimistic that – if Omicron turns out to be less lethal but more contagious and dominant than the Delta variant – the new mutation may actually be a blessing in the sky. Hundreds of infected people across Southern Africa reportedly complain of nausea, headaches, fatigue and a high pulse rate, but none seem to suffer from a loss of taste or smell, which has been the case with most other Covid mutations. Moreover, more and more medics across Southern Africa are confirming that most Omicron-infected patients merely have a severe headache, nausea or dizziness. Dr Angelique Coetzee told various newspapers in South Africa: “Symptoms are so different and so mild from [non-Omicron] Covid patients I have treated before.” A GP for over three decades, and chair of the South African Medical Association, she was the first African doctor to suggest to local authorities Covid had mutated into a new strain. Coetzee reportedly said the symptoms “did not make immediate sense”, with patients including young people of different backgrounds and ethnicities with fatigue and a young child with a high pulse rate. Looking at the first data coming out of Southern Africa, virologist Marc van Ranst said this weekend that “if the omicron variant is less pathogenic but with greater infectivity, allowing Omicron to replace Delta, this would be very positive.” The WHO warned that preliminary evidence suggests the variant has an increased risk of reinfection and may spread more rapidly than other strains, including Delta. They said there is early evidence to suggest Omicron has an “increased risk of reinfection” and its rapid spread in South Africa suggests it has a “growth advantage”. “It is extremely important we need to closely monitor the clinical data of Omicron patients in South Africa and worldwide,” Van Ranst stressed. The variant has more than 30 mutations – around twice as many as the Delta variant – which make it more transmissible and evade the protection given by prior infection or vaccination. https://www.cityam.com/coronavirus-blessing-in-the-sky-omicron-may-be-very-positive-news-for-the-world-if-new-covid-mutation-kills-off-more-lethal-delta-variant/ So i guess its actually a blessing in diguise?

Yesterday afternoon the cream of Broadway performers paid their own tribute to Stephen Sondheim in Times Square. I wonder if this ever happened before.

As time passes and events threaten to overwhelm us, I believe the last best hope is for manufacturers of the most effective vaccines to greatly broaden the practice of granting licenses to local entities to produce the newest versions of the jab. It's understood that this would likewise require providing on-site expertise to enable many other nations to actually execute the necessary means of production and quality control. It would seem to be a task tailor made for the WHO. That, however, would require a remake of WHO's sense of mission. Instead of just casting a critical eye on what it views as obstacles to getting vaccines to poor and developing countries, it would need to refocus efforts on actually making it happen. In other words, it would need to pull together the logistical capacity of the world's industries and research centers and fuse them into a solution that knows no borders. ========================================= From Thai Enquirer Wave of online misinformation leads to vaccine hesitancy in Thailand’s refugee camps As Thailand struggles to control lingering cases of COVID in the north, many refugees along the Thai-Myanmar border are reluctant to be vaccinated. Misinformation is seeping into the camps. And now, local groups are rushing to spread the truth. Oo Reh has no intention of getting vaccinated. The 34-year-old Karreni refugee lives in ‘Camp 1,’ a refugee settlement a two hour drive from Mae Hong Son through dirt roads and rough terrain. It’s a place where tens of thousands have found themselves living after fleeing decades of conflict in neighboring Myanmar. At one end of Oo Reh’s sprawling camp, the sound of a loudspeaker system echoes in the distance. The voice announces basic instructions on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But for refugees like Oo Reh, the messaging is not convincing. Instead, he believes that vaccines are ineffective and dangerous. “More people say now that after you get the Covid-19 vaccine some people will die or become disabled,” Ooh Reh said. “So I do not feel comfortable receiving [the vaccine] and I worry for myself what will be the impact in the future if I do.” He added that Chinese made vaccines like Sinovac are particularly suspect, claiming that some in the camps are not interested in taking them anymore. Although vaccines are beginning to become available in the nine camps on the Thai side of the border where over 100,000 refugees currently live, Ooh Reh said he’s not alone in his skepticism. It’s unclear how widespread the vaccine hesitancy is in the camps, but health workers are working to combat the anti-vax disinformation that seems to have trickled in. Refugees in informal settlements are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 as the camps lack access to full medical facilities and services. General education is low, compounding the vaccine hesitancy. But health workers and organizations working in the camps are rushing to combat bad information with safe messaging. “There are different perceptions among the refugee community, some of them receive information from outside through their network or social media about the type of vaccines,” said Preeyalak Sataranon with International Rescue Committee (IRC), a humanitarian aid organization working in the nine camps. “The information they receive varies, for example, some believe one type of vaccine is better than another, or some receive myths about the vaccine’s side effects.” When the pandemic first hit in early 2020, refugees started to experience a range of vulnerabilities. She said that refugees saw restrictions of movement inside their own camps and that lockdown conditions led to limited supplies of basic amenities and food, creating negative impacts on their physical and mental health. “Some camps faced ongoing outbreaks and significant numbers of confirmed positive cases have been reported,” said Preeyalak. “Some of the refugees are not keen to cooperate in the surveillance and case detection because they are afraid of being quarantined and isolated.” Continues at https://www.thaienquirer.com/35383/wave-of-online-misinformation-leads-to-vaccine-hesitancy-in-thailands-refugee-camps/

and this brings another question; will their populaces will be patient enough to go through another rounds of lockdowns and closures ?

Covid: South Africa 'punished' for detecting new Omicron variant South Africa has complained it is being punished - instead of applauded - for discovering Omicron, a concerning new variant of Covid-19. The foreign ministry made the statement as countries around the world restricted travel from southern Africa as details of the spread emerged. A statement by the South African foreign ministry on Saturday strongly criticised the travel bans. "Excellent science should be applauded and not punished," it said. The bans were "akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker". The statement added that the reaction had been completely different when new variants were discovered elsewhere in the world. An African Union official told the BBC developed countries were to blame for the emergence of the variant. "What is going on right now is inevitable, it's a result of the world's failure to vaccinate in an equitable, urgent and speedy manner. It is as a result of hoarding [of vaccines] by high-income countries of the world, and quite frankly it is unacceptable," said AU vaccine delivery alliance co-chair Ayoade Alakija. "These travel bans are based in politics, and not in science. It is wrong... Why are we locking away Africa when this virus is already on three continents?" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59442129

Might as well add a picture of them which are rare:

Richard Barrow is dedicating his weekend to riding trains out of Hua Lamphong and Bang Sue. His posts are filled with great photos of the views and travel information. From Richard Barrow Twitter site "This afternoon I rode the new Red Line commuter train in #Bangkok. There are two lines so far that operate out of Bang Sue Grand Station. One to Taling Chan and the other to Rangsit. Most of the line is elevated as it leaves the city and so some great views."

how you take it? raw or well done ? Photo may be of poor quality but certainly guys there are not. From what you say and show it looks I may start liking soi 4, who would think? World is really changing, LOL

Have to watch "Paint with Love. And "Bad Buddy" is finally heating up. Watch Episode 5!!

Let me see if I can help. On Nov. 25, I inadvertently posted an article in this (the Gay Thailand forum) that I had intended to post in the Beer Bar forum. When I discovered my error a few minutes later, I had two options: leave it where it was or move the post to the Beer Bar. I chose the latter. So as not to leave readers wondering where the OP had gone, I wrote See Beer Bar CP Cuts flights in hopes that they would interpret this to mean that the post could now be found in the Beer Bar. I also counted on the revised headline "MOVED" would indicate that the OP had been moved. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Sorry for any confusion it may have caused. This happens from time to time. Since once a post it made, it cannot be deleted but only edited within one hour of posting.

we have two choices : to allow ourselves to be scared to death by every news coming from here and there well before their possible severity is confirmed or vaccinate ourselves , wear mask and try to live our lives as close to normal as we can. I opt for a second option if only because none of my enemies got so far seriously sick with covid nevermind died from it, so if they survived barely scratched so must I.

Just for you Vinapu... Thanat Lowkhunsombat, nickname Lee, is a Thai singer, actor and model born in Bangkok, Thailand as Charatpong Lowkhunsombat. Prior to changing his name into Thanat, he initially changed his birth name into Phachon. Lee completed his secondary education at Suankularb Wittayalai Rangsit School. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in innovative management communication from the College of Social Communication Innovation at Srinakharinwirot University and is currently pursing a master's degree in fine arts, major in innovative design from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the same university. He became an artist under GMMTV and started his acting career in 2017 by playing a main role in 'U-Prince Series: Badly Politics' after he was declared as one of the winners in the "Finding U-Prince Project". He also took part in CLEO Thailand's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors of 2017 and won as "The Guy with the Most Alluring Move". In the same year, he got the main role of Play in Secret Seven and went on to take part in several television series such as 'My Dear Loser: Monster Romance', 'Wake Up Ladies: The Series', 'Friend Zone', ' Boy For Rent' and 'Endless Love'. He also can play guitar and sing and he interpreted 'Tee Soot Nai Lohk' (The Best in the World) along Aye Sarunchana as theme for 'Boy For Rent' (2019)

last episode of 7 Project quite funny and I think many of us can relate when we recall our first love, whoever it was, no BL though but two familiar faces from "love by Chance" and " Unill we Meet Again" . Baker Boys finally released and it's very promising after episode 1/4, likely will be fun. Familiar faces too Sample dialogue ;" we can't be breaking up just because Bangkok roads?" Excellent Thai pronunciation by the actor below / temporary forget his name /, finally I started to recognize words, by episode 102/3 I should be good in Thai

Love With Benefits new BL series .

I watched today 6th episode of 7Project and liked it , almost teary but in manly way

This looks fascinating. Free on Gagaoolala Synopsis One day, Mob(Atsuhiro Inukai), a college student, realizes that he lives in the world of a BL manga, where the handsome men are approaching him harshly and the ""BL love flags"" are rising every minute. As a straight guy who likes girls, Mob struggles and fights against the hot attackers desperately. (The original manga has become a hot topic on Twitter and pixiv.) To protect himself, Mob reads lots of BL manga comic books and studies every possible case and its solutions. How to resist and escape… Greeting for every situation, Manners of drinking parties, Behavior at sauna, Boy friend of his younger brother and a destined Valentine’s day… No matter how hard he tries to resist, Mob is about to be dragged into this deep BL world. He is terribly fatigued and almost falls down the stairs on his way home. At that time, someone saved him. Mob just remembers his warm and soften back and a faint scent of citrus. After sniffing out all the handsome men on campus, he finally finds the man he was looking for! https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/2420/a-man-who-defies-the-world-of-bl-2021-e01?utm_source=EDM&utm_medium=英文EDM&utm_campaign=絕對會變成BL的世界VS絕不想變成BL的男人

I took your advice and watched episode 1, not much action yet as It's too early but worth watching already for the sake of yummy and colorful Thai food although they did not cook chicken with cashew nuts yet

I liked it. Did you watch till very end , past payroll ? There's short scene at the very , very end, no more hanging after that I guess with that final wink

For those , like me, who like Max/Tul here's a link to short , a bit propagandist film with them and actress playing Yiwha in the Together With Me series. Not BL, message is uplifting , movie is short and we have a chance to meet those again ( and glimpse at Tul's biceps and knees n few occasions) . by the way there are rumors started by no one less than Tul in one interviews that Max and Tul are starting new project in 2022

Then you should watch the Thai Series "Bite Me"!!! ENJOY

I don't understand why you are saying ...?