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Besides fellow forum member, I also got reacquainted with a Vietnamese guy that I knew from the days of Soi Twilight. He decided to go back to Ha Tinh in Vietnam about one year before Covid and I had been sending him money and supporting him. I call him "cha nuoi" (godson) while he calls me "kon nuoi" (godpa). He was doing ok for a while with the money I sent him but Covid hit and things really went bad in Ha Tinh. He struggled to find full time job after Covid and had to take on odd jobs to survive. Finally, he decided to come to Bangkok to work. He didn't want to work at gogo bar so he is working in packing and delivery in day. But it only pays 600 baht per day so at night, he turns up at Dreamboys and gets 200 baht for going on stage. He says he rarely gets customers because there are so many guys on stage and he is older than the rest (he's only 27!) I told him that there's guys older than him at Dreamboys! He also theorises that it's because he's so dark due to working in the sun. He meets me at Hotmale Beer Bar downstairs. He had texted me in advance: "You no go my bar. Today I no go work so you no need buy drink and pay bar money take me hotel". Once in hotel, I had a shock. There were elaborate tattoos on his back. He didn't have them before. "Why you no tell me?" I asked. He admitted sheepishly that he thought I might not like them. But I think he's indirectly admitting that he felt guilty for spending the money I sent to him in Vietnam on such tattoos. "It's ok. You are my cha nuoi." And with that, we spent the night 5 years after we last saw each other.

I had wanted to meet two guys from Moonlight and Tawan after reading positive reports about them from fellow forum members but I was kept occupied by the good company at Hotmale Beer Bar downstairs. In a first for me, on my last night, I bought a round of drinks for the staff and even included a small tip. Very friendly welcoming staff and excellent service.

This happened one month ago in 1st week of October. I was in Bangkok for a weekend. Took evening flight from Singapore. Once I checked into room at Le Meridien, off I went at 9.30pm to Hotmale Beer Bar downstairs to meet with forum member whom I haven't met for two years ever since Covid. New bar Sol directly opposite had some yummy shirtless guys hanging around once their rotation on stage ended. Was very tempted by blonde guy in photo but surprisingly, I didn't step into any gogo bar during my 3 nights. I shall explain why later. Sorry @vinapu for not being able to report on the show or the guys in Sol.

My nights were spent chatting with fellow forum member at Hotmale Beer Bar downstairs. During the day, I went for massages including a visit to Arena. "I'm Jack from Chiang Mai. Nice to meet you," says the guy I picked from the lineup. His strokes were a bit rough for my taste but he was eager to earn his tip. He was naked from the start and allowed me to feel his firm abs throughout. "Massage finish. I fuck you now?" he asked. I said no fuck because I had discovered he had mooks in his dick. "I suck you?" he then asked. I said yes and he gave a really good blowjob. I asked him to cum together with me and he obliged by shooting three waves of thick creamy load onto me. After that, he helped to shower me in ensuite toilet.

I was only with my "cha nuoi" for one night. My second night was spent with a new and very charming Myanmar waiter. 22 years only. He speaks good English. In the hotel room, I noticed the counterfeit Calvin Klein briefs he wears. I offered to buy him the original CK briefs when I go to Bangkok again in December. "Size M. Only white colour please, thank you so much," he replied. We had an enjoyable night followed by round two in morning before breakfast. I enjoyed his company so much that I took him off again on my third and final night during this short visit to Bangkok.

is sad but quite often people who went through extreme situations are reluctant to talk about them . I guess it their way of going forward without raising demons of the past. My grandfather , WW I veteran when asked one by us granchildren why he doesn't want to tell us about the war cut us shortly " every guy with gun during war killed many people" and then we never asked again.

From Pattaya Mail By Barry Kenyon Myanmar’s military regime, which came to power in a February 2021 coup, is in serious trouble. The military leader senior general Min Aung Hlaing has admitted that the country could split if his forces are unable to stop an insurrection in the huge and lawless Shan state which borders China, the junta’s largest trading partner. Military spokesman Zaw Min Tun has separately conceded that several northern towns have fallen to the Three Brotherhood Alliance which has overrun dozens of military posts, forced the surrender of hundreds of soldiers and cut off the junta’s access to the 2,000 kilometers of the Chinese border. Jason Tower, Myanmar program director for a US-funded think tank, said about half the entire countryside was in the hands of insurgent groups which have, for example, cut oil and gas pipelines from the Bay of Bengal to the China border. The junta still controls the main cities, at any rate from the barracks, and has firm control of the capital Naypyitaw and the commercial hub of Yangon. The problem is that the fighting is getting closer to urban centers and even garrisoned towns are under threat. There is speculation that senior general Myint will be forced to resign, although it is not clear who is successor would be and whether he could be any more effective in countering a civil war. In the south of the country, the Karen National Liberation Army has attacked towns which link Yangon with the Thai border. There are rumors that members of the State Administration Council (as the junta calls itself) have already bought properties in Thailand, to flee to if necessary. Some generals are believed to be in favour of a less incompetent leader who would enter negotiations with the disparate resistance groups. It would be no easy task. The consequences of Myanmar’s internal chaos are far-reaching for its relations with other countries. Russia and China have both supplied arms to the junta, but China’s support has waned the Myanmar authorities have failed to check the growing number of cyberscam gangs operating in the border regions. Thailand has followed an ambivalent policy towards post-coup Myanmar and the Thai army maintains good relationships with its senior colleagues over the border. The deteriorating security situation means that foreign tourism, which had shown some small signs of picking up in the last 12 months, is again dead on its feet. Unless there is very soon international intervention to steady the political chaos, Myanmar could be on a course for total collapse or ad hoc division into separatist regions.

Was it 10 years ago? Longer? There was certainly a time when the internet had a considerable number of gay websites focusing primarily on Thailand. Many were informative, some more political in content, some just bitch boards - some providing both interest and amusement. This Board now has a much wider geographical range, but still with quite a number of separate threads on Thailand and others on Asia. To my knowledge there are only two left concentrating on Thailand - sawatdee network and gaybuttonthai. Sawatdee has gone through several incarnations over the years but now seems also to be slipping out of most readers' daily posting. In the last 14 days, it has had no posts for 8 of them. During October there were 16 days with no posts. Yet it is certainly read for, as I write at 11:00 am on Sunday, there are 35 members online and 218 guests. That's considerably more than this site which has 8 members and 200 guests at the same time! Gaybuttonthai is much more concentrated on Pattaya and has far fewer registered members. Now there are 2 online, yet still 121 guests. 11:00 am on a Sunday morning may not be the idea time for checking websites, but there is clearly a readership for all three sites. The key question, I guess, is how likely is it they will all last? Some years ago on his own website, the poster @ChristianPFC compiled a list of 'dead' sites. Among these were gaylilfeinthailand, gaytingtong, gaysexthailand, cruisinggaythailand, gaytouri, baht-stop and bahtstop. Many were very short-lived. Others did not last after their owners died. Since then, yet others seem to continue as websites but often with very little new content. cruisingforsex-asia has been around for many years but its last post was made in May this year. That was a response to a question about Nature Boys raised on 6 November 2009! After 3 years with no activity during covid, activity has slowly picked up - but slow is the operative word! Only a handful of posts in 2023. I raise this merely to ask for how long this and the other two sites can keep operating, the more so with advertising revenues minimal or even non-existent? I wonder if the same is true to a certain extent of gay internet sites, especially those related to gay travel. In theory they should be mushrooming. Are they? Rather like the maps on the free gay magazines that were common in most gay venues in Thailand 10-20 years ago, I guess the problem is how you keep information up to date. Quite a few years ago I remember virtually trashing one such site which clearly had just made-up its supposed travel information about Thailand. The site died soon after. A couple of years or so ago I wrote to the owner of utopia-asia to ask why he did not include arguably the two most popular saunas in Asia in his listings - Hutong in Hong Kong and Soi13in in Taipei. He wrote back that neither had replied to questions he had sent! They are still excluded! Frankly, that is ridiculous! Every other website lists these saunas. It really makes me question what other gay venues utopia-asia deliberately omits because they pissed off the owner. gaytravel.com has been running for more than 20 years. Yet of its travel destinations, the only one in Asia is Phuket! Click on Phuket and it's just one long advertisement for the Sri Panwa luxury hotel! Total waste of time! At least nomadicboys.com has both Thailand and Taiwan as its Asian destinations. The suggestions for both cities are pretty much up to date with a few notable omissions. Worst in both are its hotel recomendations. The top two in Bangkok are the W Hotel and the Mandarin-Oriental! Soon after come the So-Sofitel, the Banyan Tree, Le Meridien, the Peninsula and the St. Regis. To be fair, it also lists the Tarntawan. But why such a cluster of just expensive hotels? I In Taipei it places the Chinese-styled Grand Hotel at the top of its list. Why, considering it is so far from the gay areas and not close to public transport? Beats me. Advertising cash, I expect! thegaypassport.com seems to have upped its game since I last looked 2 or 3 years ago. It at least has better information on a few saunas, but yet again its hotels are almost all top of the range. Since it offers diferent prices from agoda, expedia and hotels.com, I doubt if they get a commission, but could be wrong. Why such expensive hotels are listed when there are plenty of middle and lower priced hotels as members here have noted, again beats me! I expect servers here in Thailand only get a few of the total number of travel sites. Does anyone actually use them, I sometimes wonder? Are there better ones?

Turns out on this forum, it is better to be a zombie than to be verbose. 🤔 Count your blessings @Kostik. At least people read what you post before they laugh at it. 😉

It's hard to believe that in a matter of hours in Europe the armistice following World War 1 will be officially marked. It's a time for remembrance - and yet sometimes I wonder remembering what? Unquestionably, the number of deaths and the tragedy of those who died in utterly horrible circumstances in the muddy trenches in Flanders, Ypres, Paschendale, the Somme and elsewhere in northeast France as competing armies fought for years over meters of ground. It was a war that wiped out almost a generation of young men, certainly from the UK. With many being first sons, it was to be one of the nails in the coffin of the entrenchant aristocracy. Do we mourn today at the demise of the 19th century Age of Empire? The German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire all collapsed. The British Empire was so weakened it too died after a second World War. There was a new world order with two immediate effects. That order was to see the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, a result partly of the crippling sanctions placed on Germany by the Versailles Peace Treaty - a result never considered back in 1919. Then there was the rise of Communism which was to consume politics in Europe and the USA for nearly three-quarters of a century. But then that war in 1914 caught so many unawares. The hotchpotch of allliances formed earlier in the century was encourged by a Britain determined to maintain the balance of power thought to make Europe stronger. Yet within many countries there were simmering tensions that required resolution. The waning Austro-Hungary hated the Serbs; an ascendant Russia was determined to support them. Above all, everyone feared the rise of Germany under the Kaiser - the eldest grandchild of Britain's Queen Victoria. Austro-Hungary was a total mess. The last vestige of the 1,000 year-old Holy Roman Empire, its one-time alliance between hundreds of individual cities and small states had been reduced to one betwen Austria and Hungary. Like many Empires it was rotting from within. Its parliament operated in 12 languages without the aid of official interpreters. Its Imperial family was totally dysfunctional. Emperor Franz Joseph (1848-1916) was a determined reactionary who treated his children very strictly. In 1853 he had survived an assassination attempt on his own life. His wife Elizabeth was introverted, increasingly emotionally distant from her husband and travelled away from Vienna as often as possible to get away from the Emperor and their children. In this far-from-loving home, the couple's surviving son the Crown Prince Rudolf was a psychological mess. In 1889 in what has become known as the Mayerling incident, 30-year old Rudolf and his 17-year old mistress fled to the family's hunting lodge where it seems (but historians are divided on this) they committed suicide. This all but destoyed Elizabeth who then increased her travels and determination to get away from the Court. She was assassinated in Geneva in 1898. With their other son dying in 1896, Franz Ferdinand's nephew immediately became heir presumptive and Archduke. He was next in line for assassination - in Sarajevo in 1914. Then the dominos fell into place as the alliances screamed accusations at each other before war quickly broke out. By the end, the new Europe was never the same. As we remember the scale of carnage and destruction, I guess we should also remember the words of Graham Allison, the famed international relations scholar most renowned for his analysis of the Cuban missle Crisis. He made clear that for him, World War I’s most important lesson is that “despite the fact that there’s many reasons for believing that something . . . would make no sense, and therefore would be incredible, and therefore maybe even impossible, shit happens.” What a dreadful epitaph for four years of misery on an unbelievable acale!

You’re just chock full of bigoted nonsense, DOA.

unfortunately that regret is almost universal, we all have it and heard from our parents and grandparents have the same regrets and it is always too late to ask

Whjy? Are they in need of 51th state or something? Main beneficiary is Russia because it drew attention from their aggression of Ukraine to the Middle East.

I , for one , visit, daily this, Sawatdee & Gaybutton sites as well as ChristianPFC and ShamelessMac blogs. Contribute only here and occasionally on Christian's site. For my travel needs, Kayak for flights and Agoda for hotels seem to be sufficient. I pay very little attention to reviews, be it airlines , hotels, restaurants or indeed boys , spas and bars posted on various sites unless I know reviewer either in person or from contributing here. Sometimes for fun I read reviews of hotels I'm familiar with , either in Thailand or somewhere else and find them all over the place. Food reviews are even less useful as our tastes vary and too sweet for some may be bordering on bitter or sour for others and even if your chicken with cashew nuts may seem too salty, one I order 1 hour later may be just perfect in the same place

It may have become more legally friendly and accepting, but as far as bars and other gay venues it has faded significantly. Those experiences can still be had in Thailand.

And that concludes my trip report. To be honest, I didn't know whether to write and post it since it's so short. Some update after my trip - my "cha nuoi" lost his gig at Dreamboys after the bar let go of all non-Thai guys. He tried to go to Freshboys or Banana Bar but they are full at moment.

correct, spread money between many pockets and do not use wallet. That way even if you are robbed , highly unlikely thief will clan you of everything as most of theft is opportunistic. Why don't use wallet ? two reasons- first it's bulky and tends to bring attention to wrong bulge, second , if used most likely all documents and money will be in one place, hand for you but also handy for thief

Japan has 2 seasons -summer and winter - when cash bonuses are handed out to employees. The better the company is performing profit-wise, the higher your bonus. Some companies can pay up to a year's wage or more if it is doing well. Needless to say, politicians grant themselves huge bonuses. These are cash bonuses, handed over in bulging envelopes and stuffed into your pocket. I worked for a very large Japanese company and was the happy recipient of rather large envelopes. We all headed off to the bars and restaurants and spent up big. The thought of being mugged just never crossed anyone's mind. Afterall, this was Japan. And BTW, wages are paid monthly and are paid in cash, not into your bank account - although things might have changed, although I doubt it. The envelope would be handed unopened to your wife, who would then give you your monthly allowance to pay for food, transport, entertainment, etc. Unfortunately, Japanese think that the whole world is like back home and so are prime targets when they travel.

So far as I can tell, the museum owner's alleged religion, ethnicity and nationality are irrelevant to a cooperative discussion of "Patpong comings and goings", but they are exactly the kind of thing often used as dog-whistle codewords by people not debating in good faith.

I think many of us have similar regrets, although both my grandfathers had died before I was born. My father, a doctor, enlisted at the start of WWII. He was sent with the 340,000 or so to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939. He was doubly unfortunate in that he had just got married and was soon to learn that my older sister was on the way. Then, as the Germans advanced in 1940 and Churchill realised he had to evacuate the British troops from Dunkirk, a small detachment was sent west to the port city of St. Valery-en-Caux where it was believed they could be more quickly evacuated. But so much attention was placed on Dunkirk that more than 10,000 at St. Valery had to surrender. They were all captured. My father then spent the next four years in prisoner-of-war camps, ending in one near Gdansk where he was liberated by the advancing Russians. Following his reunion with his wife and daughter, my brother and I eventually came along. But apart from a week-end reunion which he aways attended, we learned precious little about those four years. It was almost as though he did not want to talk about them. After his death in the 1970s, we assumed his memories died with him. But after my brother retired, he became much more interested in family history. Over the years, he has talked with a handful of fellow prisoners-of-war and others associated with that war. He has now amassed a very large collection, part of which he has privately published and which will all eventually become part of a book. As a doctor, my father was duty bound not to escape, He had to look after his fellow prisoners. But he did help quite a number escape by, for example, placing cuts on tongues and telling his captors that the man suffered from epilepsy. He even helped those who had been circumcised appear uncircumcised! It is a fascinating story. The sad thing is that like @traveller123's father and grandfather most such often heroic tales have gone untold.

In the old days of the Soviet Union, flying on its home-made aircraft was sometimes a bit dodgy. My first was a Tupolev something on the Polish carrier LOT from LHR to Warsaw. Down by my lower legs there were bolts. During fight you could see the frost on them. Then there was the wide body Ilyshin Il-96 which I took from Athens to Moscow. Entry was by a door from the tarmac after which you climbed stairs to get into the passenger cabin. As I was on a multi-sector trip in business class, I walked up to the front. The flight attendant growled at me "Go back. You do not sit here!" I showed her my ticket whereupon she relented and let me take my seat. Lunch was the economy class meal brought to my seat, opened and sloshed on to a plate! Mind you, at least I made it to my destinations. Those on the supersonic Concordski (not the official name) were not always so lucky. The Tupolev Tu-144 had an unfortunate international debut at the Paris air show in 1973. Looking remarkably like the Anglo-French Concorde, it could not come out of a dive, broke up and spectacularly crashed. As Concorde's Technical Flight Manager Brian Calvert said, "The rush to get Tu-144 airborne exacted a heavy penalty later." That was borne out when of the 102 commercial flights (only between Moscow and Alma-Ata) lasting 181 hours of flying time - just one flight a week, the Tu-144S suffered more than 226 failures, 80 of them in flight. For those who actually did fly on the aircraft, cabin noise was horrendously high at an average of 90-95db. Passengers two seats apart had to scream and shout to be heard! The passenger service was cancelled after 7 months. But even when purchasing A-300s from Airbus in the 1990s, not all went well for the state airline Aeroflot. One flight from Moscow to Hong Kong crashed into a mountain range with the loss of all lives. The subsequent enquiry resulted in the alarming fact that the captain had let his children into the cockpit with his son and daughter sitting at the controls. The 12-year old boy sat in his cockpit seat. The boy then applied enough force on the stick to turn the plane and effectively turn off the autopilot. The plane went into a dive. The boy's body was later found still in the pilot's seat. Now, the airline has a good record, even though sanctions mean that obtaining parts and new aircraft are not possible and the number of usable aircraft is slowly dimishing. So Russia has built its own new 4-engine wide body long haul jet, the IL-96-400 M which has completed its first airborne trials. Designed to compete with the Boeing 777, it can carry up to 370 passengers. It is comparable to the “world’s best models due to the redundancy of the aircraft’s systems and its aerodynamic configuration.”according to the manufacturer. But why it should have adopted a gas guzzling 4-engine design beats me, although Russia presumably has no problem obtaining the fuel at cheap prices. Will I fly on it? Nope! No doubt many others will. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/russia-test-flies-new-homegrown-widebody-passenger-airplane/index.html

that's nonsense for both ethical and practical reasons. If bar introduced en masse "Thailand first ' policy pretty fast their scenes would be emptying and bar tables will follow. They may be customers who prefer Thais only but I doubt it's massive sentiment. As "foolish" member noted above, being cute counts , not passport or even lack of it. And by the way that policy looked may be good on their sign but in reality there were non-Thais working as well. And sadly, recent purge cleared also few Thais. One who alerted me about being let go was actually Thai

Erm, to be frank, nobody care whether they are thai or not as long as they are cute haha.

Why anyone would be carrying that much cash at that time of night frankly puzzles me. Although pickpocket thefts in Pattaya are not uncommon, this stands out as an extraordinary amount. From Pattaya News A Japanese man, who was exploring Pattaya’s night scene with his friend, said he was pickpocketed of over 60,000 baht in cash by two transgender suspects in the late hours of Thursday, November 9th. Mr. Toshiaki Shinohe, the victim, filed a complaint with Pol. Capt. Natchaphon Saengsi, Deputy Inspector of Investigation at the Pattaya Police Station, stating that he was pickpocketed while riding a Songthaew at around 11 PM in Soi Buakhao, Nongprue sub-district, Banglamung district, Chonburi province. Mr. Toshiaki told the police that he is an engineer from Japan and had traveled to Pattaya for a vacation. Before the incident occurred, he and his friend took a Songthaew, a form of transportation in Thailand with two rows of seats in the back, and sat facing each other. Along the way, Mr. Toshiaki recounted that two transgender women joined them and sat next to him. They then struck up a conversation to engage his interest. When the two transgender women disembarked the vehicle, Mr. Toshiaki noticed that his wallet containing 40,000 Thai baht and about 23,000 baht worth of foreign currency (100,000 yen), as well as his ID card and ATM cards, had gone missing. The Japanese tourist suspected that the two transwomen may have reached into his pocket and stolen his wallet while talking with him. He further commented that he was saddened by the incident and promptly came to report the grievance to Pattaya police. Pol. Capt. Natchaphon stated that police were reviewing CCTV footage to identify the culprits.

@DOA all you said is speculations or guessings.

Hopefully they dont pull to hard on the wrong bulge then!

I have Jewish relatives, who lost almost all of their family in the Holocaust. They never talked about it. Demons of the past is a good phrase.

Plenty of guys on websites, rates are quite cheap compared to the rest of Europe (100eur/h) and they're Bulgarian which means very well endowed

Agree that it’s become more expensive to get here but so has every place else. As for being attractive, I don’t think there’s a place in Europe or North America to equal it in available guys or safety.

You supported him so long but once you finally saw him spent only one time with him ?

I guess the simple explanation is dramatic decline of Western gays coming to Thailand for sex cruise is the main explanation to the fading gay sites focusing in Thailand alongside the declining of gay zones and venues. There are many reasons for that the main ones I can think of : The Western world became much more gay friendly no need to travel to the other side of the world to fulfill your gay desires. Thailand become much more expensive, it's not so attractive as it used to be, other parts in the world are competitive like South America. Thai immigration policy become much more restricted that makes frequent or longer traveling and living Thailand as expats more difficult. The younger gay generation is different they tend to behave like regular tourists, they don't limiting themselves to gay exclusive zones,venues and hotels and using apps if they are seeking for casual sex .

I’ve come across some Chinese language sites that frequently post about Bangkok. Once translated some of the stuff. Not surprisingly, they seemed to be discussing same stuff we do.

How well your propaganda has educated you. Although what can you expect from zombies? How the whole world laughed when cowardly American troops fled Afghanistan in disgrace 🤣

Fascinating article on a subject that has largely disappeared from the international media and which is far more complex than merely a national junta taking and seeking to keep power. I just wonder about Barry Kenyon's remarks on China. We know that the last thing China wants, barring internal revolution, is trouble on its borders. It needs a degree of stability in Myanmar and that was the reason for its initial considerable support to the army. This is more true because China already had a great deal of activity going on in Myanmar prior to the start of the coup, much of it illegal. A number of US-based websites have suggested that, as Kenyon remarks, support for the military is now waning in favour of supporting both sides in the conflict. One of China's major concerns is the junta's continuing support - deliberately against China's expressed desire - of forced-labour camps near the border, many with Chinese and Chinese-backed so-called rebels. Over the summer, China raised the stakes by giving the Chinese media and film industry a green light to dramatize the chaos in Myanmar with popular films illuminating the fate of Chinese nationals who ended up in one of the thousands of forced-labor scam compounds now lining Myanmar’s borders. The films — “No More Bets,” “Tainted Love” and “Lost in the Stars” — have netted more than $1 billion at the box office, sending the message that Chinese nationals can only be safe in Southeast Asia with China’s help. The reality, of course, is that China deliberately looked the other way while this problem incubated. For over a decade, billions of dollars in illicit Chinese capital fueled the development of gambling enclaves under the pretense of supporting Chinese political and economic aims, while also winning the useful backing of corrupt local elites throughout the region . . . Beijing began acting unilaterally in September, focusing on two border enclaves that enjoy the highest levels of autonomy from central control, the Wa and Mong La areas in Northern Shan State. Both are controlled by powerful local armies and fall well within China’s sphere of influence. They use Chinese currency, electricity, internet and telecommunications, and in the case of the Wa, Chinese-created banking system. The elites of both areas have been trained largely in China, and many have Chinese national ID cards. China acted against the Wa and the Mong in an attempt to crack down on the forced labout camps. Both fell into line. But not the national military government. It still holds between 20,000 and 30,000 Chinese in over 100 forced-labour camps in an area the size of Rhode Island. But as often happens, China's influence can be seen as a two-edged sword. . . . signs of increased Chinese security influence should concern all groups in Myanmar. While the anti-coup movement is united for now in its central aim to remove the military from government, should unity and coordination among the disparate resistance groups break down in the future, it could risk Chinese manipulation, playing one party against another, to assert Chinese national interest over that of Myanmar. This is perhaps one of the strongest incentives for resistance actors to consolidate and expand alliances rapidly, formally adopting agreed political visions. https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/11/myanmars-junta-losing-control-its-border-china

he needs to learn the vinapu many pockets method

In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is rarely referred to by name. He is simply "the Jew", "dog Jew", "a kind of devil", "the very devil incarnate" and other epithets. The play is unquestionably a major work of dramatic art and rightly remains so after over 400 years, yet it contains vile anti-Semitic references. Shakespeare was merely reflecting the prefudices of his times. But these did not cease any time after his death. They continued and grew worse in centuries to come leading to one of the worst crimes in history, the Holocaust. In my view it is one thing to say "a man who I believe was of the Jewish faith"; it is quite another to say "The Jew". The former is acceptable in modern day society. The latter is a reflection of darker times.

Nothing wrong with carrying cash but still carrying almost 2000 $ that late is very odd. What kind of shopping he was planning to do ? Off whole bar of girls?

In this case, it's not the museum owner who is describing himself and his religious identity. If DOA had really wanted to indicate that the owner was publicly "proud of being" Jewish, he would have written something like this: "The owner of the museum, who was publicly proud to identify as Jewish... " But DOA didn't write it that way. This is a forum where very few people know much about the museum owner. DOA simply started his sentence with "The Jew" -- which sounds gratuitous, possibly malicious, and definitely anti-Semitic. So until DoA answers the four questions that I posed above, I'll still have my original suspicions.

No, I would not fly on one as I always use flights that connect to USA and through Delta or AA. I don't see them allowing these planes to be used until the invasion of Ukraine comes to an end. But, that also depends on if Putin's puppet gets elected (big possibility IMHO). In the mean time, I have even had a hard time getting flights through China right now and not sure if that is political or they have not bounced back yet.

One of my regrets in life is that I never took the time to talk to my Grand dad (who I was close to and saw every week) about his war time experiences as a Tommy in WW1. I believe he told the recruiting office he was 18 when in fact he was only 16. It was the same with my Dad who during WW2 was a radio officer in the Merchant Navy sailing in convoys across the Atlantic and sailing to India, Egypt and no doubt many other countries

Depite its advances in technology and payments systems, Japan remains largely a cash society. Carrying around large sums is not unusual. It is also an incredibly safe country where street theft is also extremely unusual. It seems someone should be advertising that such incidents are in fact far from uncommon in many other countries. (But I'll bet this is not something on the TAT's agenda 😵).

From Pattaya Mail By Barry Kenyon Hopes that visa exemptions for countries which provide big numbers of visitors to Thailand will create a further boom have yet to be realized. Currently, Russian tourists are awarded 90 days visa-free, whilst China, India and Taiwan receive 30 days. These discretions are currently timed for a six months limited period, although prime minister Srettha Thavisin would like permanency if no serious security issues loom. Visas on arrival previously cost around US$30. However, the customer savings would be partly wiped out if Thailand goes ahead with its US$9 entry tax to be levied on all international tourists. This proposal has received many starting dates, the most recent September 2023, but nothing has been heard in recent weeks. The difficulty is believed to be collection issues without creating huge queues at Thai airports and border crossings. But other issues are more immediate problems. The Chinese economy has slowed and negative stories about Thailand, including the safety of visitors, have proliferated on mainland media. As regards India, there is currently a shortage of flights whilst many Indians travel in large groups which require lengthy advance notice. Numbers of Chinese and Indian tourists are still 20 percent lower than in the immediate pre-covid era, according to the Tourist Association of Thailand. Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk, chair of marketing at the Thai Hotels Association, said that the benefits of visa exemption might be more obvious in the second quarter of next year as more corporations and individuals opt for Thailand, assuming the visa abolition proves to be permanent. Meanwhile, there are no indications that American and European tourists will receive more than 30 days without a visa. However, they are able to extend a further month at local immigration, or visit the border with Cambodia for extra time.

use some Windex to clean the mirror

Beautifully written!

you too young to complain about the stairs

I made an abortive attempt last December to give them a bit of business. You can read about the car wreck here: https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2022/12/28/bad-omens/ In short, I have no idea what the inside of the shop looks like or what their standards are. Sorry, can't be of more help. IMHO, there is no need whatsoever to make massage bookings two weeks in advance. Most places can accommodate walk-ins. Others may ask you to book in advance, but even so, in my experience, they're not set up to handle bookings more than half a day ahead.

Is it so hard to imagine Thai guys not wanting to be sex masseurs? Legitimate massage has its place.

I'll not comment on the second line with its vitriolic and quite uncalled for stupidity. As for the first line, this boy was fulfilling his dream. I have no doubt he was deliriously happy to be achieving that. If we all stayed home, what a boring, moronic lot we'd all be!

I wanted to add some comments on Apolo Spa/sauna based on my recent Sunday afternoon visit for the foam party which was great fun. The entrance fees have already been covered above. It is 600 pesos on Sundays (but including a pair of nice trunks (underwear) from the collection for sale). The guy in the reception is indeed very good looking/handsome. I arrived around 4:30PM. Downstairs are the section for changing clothes with lockers and the main room with the bar and the jacuzzi in the corner. A DJ was playing but only a few quests downstairs. Upstairs it was quite busy - 2 saunas (1 wet and 1 dry), dark room, video room and the cubicles with glory holes/cabins (and shower/toilets of course). I was chatting with a local guy in one of the saunas and he gave information about the venue which is apparently the only of its kind in D R. According to him, the best day is Sunday late afternoons as the sauna has theme parties and stripper(s) coming. Later I joined him and his group of friends downstairs which in the meantime had become much busier. Great music from the DJ and the bar was selling quite a few beers (the local Presidente is great, even the light version, 200 pesos) and drinks. A lot of hot local guys there (i.a. young and fit) and hardly no visitors (not that I could spot). So a lot of eye candy. You walk around in your underwear (speedos or trunks) or shorts; I can't recall any with towels only. The stripper came at 6 PM downstairs. Nothing spectacular but he showed off his hard dick and gave the audience a chance to grope (and obviously hoping for a tip). Soon after the foam started pouring down from the ceiling and everyone started dancing and groping in the foam; many guys took off their underwear/speedos/shorts on the dance floor. Certainly not shy; great fun. Guests were going back and forth between the foam downstairs and the cruising upstairs. Some action in the dry sauna as at least on 2 occasions I saw 1 or 2 guys sucking others. The dark room (pitch dark so a bit uncomfortable for me) was also busy with a lot groping going on. It was very busy upstairs and in general guys where coming and leaving the sauna all the time. At 8 PM the foam party had ended and most had left. So did I. A great experience; I wouldn't hesitate going again. Saturday and Sunday late afternoons should busy and good days to go. I didn't observe any hustlers or working guys looking for customers there, but I might be wrong on that. Massage didn't seem to be on offer.

This must be one of the most heart-wrenching stories of the year. Just as we wept when all 13 of those trapped in the cave were miraculously rescued and had witnessed the help given by so many Thais from all walks of life and others from all over the world, now we weep at the death of this young man who had cheated death once only for him to succumb a second time so soon thereafter. I do find it curious, though, that the cause of his sad death is still not known. The BBC website reports the inquest into his death opened and was adjourned yesterday. An expert claimed that the cause of his death was now known but could not be released due to "continuing enquiries." It will finally be revealed at a hearing on 6th July. I wonder what "continuing enquiries" means, the more so when all investigating the case have stated they believe the cause of his death was not suspicious. And surely this is an extraordinarily long time to wait for a result. Apparently he was still conscious when found but ater died in hospital. The abbot of Wat Phra That Doi may well be correct in suggesting he had sustained a head injury. A teenager receiving a blow to the head may not consider it important but older people will know it can set off trouble in the brain which without treatment can result in death. But this of course is mere speculation and it's no doubt best not to speculate further for now. In the meantime I am sure we all extend deepest condolences to the young man's family, his community and all those who were rescued and enabled that rescue to take place. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-64732942