PeterRS

When you watch readers vdo it really is amazing there was no serious crash at Kai Tak. One time a China Airlines 747 skidded off the end and landed in the sea. Nobody was injured but the plane was a write off. I heard that the reason the airport was regarded as dangerous was not so much that tricky landing but the fact that the taxiway was too close to the runway. Ironically the new airport was not so lucky. This crash also involving a China Airlines aircraft happened only a year after opening. It was trying to land in a mild typhoon and a wing tip hit the runway. The plane ended up upside down in a fireball. How only 3 of the 300 or so on board died or were seriously injured is some sort of miracle.

I wonder what happened to the physical examinations that were common before the PSA became routine. I twice had a cute doctor at Bumrungrad doing the exam at the end of a check up. One did seem to leave his finger there rather longer than propriety dictated!

If yes then you'll have to act fast. This week-end an Irish auction house has a unique article just for you. This Chinese made exquisitely carved dildo is described as "an ivory ladies companion"! Thought to have been picked up by an Irishman living in India in the 1840s. Apparently he shot the elephant himself. The article says he also took part in the Boxer Rebellion in China where he had the ivory carved "into something more useful". We all know the Victorians were randy buggers but usually behind closed doors or in dimly lit alleyways. Seems toys did not escape the interest of those who travelled in the exotic orient. The dildo will likely set you back €500 and €800. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/22/victorian-era-ivory-vibrator-generates-excitement-at-irish-auction

A friend in Switzerland was told he had the same high PSA. His biopsy came back positive for cancer cells. After a lot of discussion he decided the important thing was to be cancer free. So he had the operation. After recovery he found it was impossible to get an erection. He tried virtually everything but with no luck. Having been a top all his life, he simply decided if he wanted a sex life he had to become a bottom. He took to it quite easily and believes it was worth it to be free of cancer. He was 61 when he had the operation. If you are a bit older the adage always used to be that you will die of natural causes before slow developing prostate cancer does the deed. I suspect 61 is a bit young to depend on the former.

Good Lord! Not the second. No, I was referring to the English ranks of chivalry above the title Sir. The five degrees of enoblement starting with Baron and ending up with Duke. These men are entitled to the prefix Lord. Decades ago someone in England legally changed his first name to Lord. So instead of being plain John Doe he became Lord Doe. That went on to his passport, driving license and all official papers relating to him. When flying with British Airways someone would pick this up between check in and boarding. Being a class conscious society he quite frequently was upgraded for free!

Oh please no sirs. Makes me feel like a lecturer again. But maybe Lord would be quite nice As for eating me you would need to starve for a few days first as I am far from trim!

Sorry if my post was not clear. I was referring to your comments and how they related to the posters comments in post 27 which followed. Your comments were very clear but seemed not to have been taken on board.

There seem to be quite a few more Vietnamese boys on the apps than before. Most will start a chat and then lead into an offer of massage. Anyone know why just the Vietnamese are targeted rand not the Cambodians and Lao boys?

That landing and take off are quite amazing! I believe where the camera is positioned is a sheer cliff!

I see Michael's welcome comments havent made much of an impression! Best just to look to the future and not let whatever happened in the past spoil your initial impact here. The comments on another thread about gay bars in Chiang Mai are useful. Thanks.

Id love to go there to see Everest. Not sure Id like to be stuck overnight if all the hotels or hostels were full! The landing must have been something very special.

Whoa! With sglad getting worked up I have no intention of writing more except to note theres a Sugargrandpa member here. Is that odd? Everything I wrote is based exclusively on written posts I found on Sawadee. Theyre quire easy to find. I will post them if members want or anyone can pm me for the links and judge for themselvse. If what was written was wrong in any way it is only right that sglad responds. But Im sure this forum does not like pissing contests particularly when they relate to another forum. Much better he takes these issues up with the Sawadee owner.

If a poster is banned from one forum I do not believe that is reason to ban him from another, unless he breaks rules. Its probably some sort of badge of honour to be banned from a board like Sawatdee! As one of its regular posters recently wrote, theres a nest of vipers over there. But its always interesting to know why someone might be banned. In the case of sglad this is not so easy to find out because he is no longer a member. But his supposed alter ego Sugargrandpa is. A quick check on his posts leads to one thread which leads to another. From these its pretty sure sglad has spouted a bunch of at best untruths in post #6 of this thread. The poster he says was stalking him goes by the name of Fountainhall. I know he has posted quite a bit for many years. If anyone knows him personally they can verify the facts at first hand if they want. He does appear to have long experience of Asia and knowledge of the region. What Im not sure is why he and sglad got into a pissing contest. There are some posts from Fountainhall welcoming him. But one thing becomes clear. Sglad soon blasted his comments about Chinese attitudes and customs with very rude, snide references to his being just a colonial type who knew little about the Chinese. There is more but thats irrelevant here. Then Fountainhall wrote he was surprised a young gay Singaporean would be interested in a Thai chat room inhabited by posters way older than him. The more so when there is a Singapore based gay chat room with many more much younger members as well as threads including extensive information about Thailand. He then said he felt sglad was just blowing wind. Sglad failed to respond. Busy with his studies? Fountainhall repeated the post. No response. Eventually sglad’s hydra Sugargrandpa made one of his rare posts. So Sugargrandpa for one cannot be Asian and cannot be Singaporean. Therefore sglad cannot be Singaporean Chinese. The trick Fountainhall played and later revealed was that “Blowing Wind” is the name of that Singapore chat forum. Every young gay university student there at least knows about it even if not a member. That much is easily checked. So sglad, welcome to this more friendly and gentlemanly forum. But as a447a has said above, best to forget the lies about being a 24 yr old Singapore exchange student and about being stalked. Anyone can go to Sawadee to check. If you want to be believed, just start over with a new identity.

I thought thats what the airlines already have! They estimate over booking on specific flights on specific routes based I assume on historical precedence. But then everyone gets screwed when bad weather, computer glitches or technical problems ground flights. I cannot see any possibility of a perfect solution. So the obvious course of action is as Steve suggests. Each airline has an overbooking reserve in its budget and when seats are required its used to hold an auction. Having a maximum limit per passenger bumped seems somewhat crazy especially on the first or last flights of the day when most passengers will probably want to take the flight whatever. So if $1,350 won't do it, probably $2000 will. Another issue with the feeder airlines as Dalewood mentions is connecting international flights. If you fly from Bangkok to Taipei to Chicago and then your connection on to Louisville is overbooked, the chances are youll not give up your booked seat unless the cash + local transport + hotel + meals offer is a good deal higher than for someone who could pick up a hire car with some of his compensation and just drive there.

There was a time when Vassa was recommended by quite a number of posters. Is this just another example of the the slow downward spiral of gogo bars?

I wonder why anyone would want to know. How two guys develop and maintain their relationship is surely their own affair. We all know that many gay relationships have a tendency to develop into open relationships over a period of time. But thats not the business of anyone else.

A lot of other guys have heard that story before. What is so surprising is that he is using the same "name" and the gist of much of what he writes is the same. He sure is no student and it was proved he doesnt come from anywhere remotely near Singapore. The owner of SGT Surfcrest banned him on February 20 advising members

I have no doubt its a question that has been asked since gogo bars first opened and it will continue to be asked until the last one finally shuts up shop. Tourists with oodles of cash have a tendency to spend it. So if they decide they want a suite in a 5 star hotel and a good time with a bar boy they take a fancy to the last thing they are likely to do is think about is how much to tip. Chances are it will be a lot more than any of us here might pay. Thats just life. Happens everywhere. Moaning about it wont change it. Trying to come up with a formula which brings tips in line with wage rates in any economy is a total waste of mental energy in my view. Far more important is that the boys are treated with respect and a greater degree of dignity than some who off them seem to exhibit. They are not a commodity purchased at a 7 11. They are human beings like the rest of us and they do a job which for much of the time must feel pretty loathsome. But it pays their bills. Supply and demand. Lots more girlie bars, Lots more customers. Gay bars are a tiny niche market and I suspect they operate more on the fringe of the law. Its also a declining market. This gives the owners carte blanche to charge whatever customer will pay.

Christian your basic argument is correct. But you forget one thing. Airlines permit those prepared to pay much higher prices to switch to a different flight at no cost and to obtain a full refund if they dont fly. This is especially true of biz class passengers and elite members of many frequent flyer programs. It is also true of some economy fares. I know in my business that some execs are never quite sure when a business meeting in somewhere like the east coast will end. Since they are in biz class they will try and book 2 or even 3 flights to their home on the west coast to ensure they will guaranteed one and be home for dinner. They can then get a refund on the unused tickets. As for overbooking or overselling I think I am right that although the percentage varies from flight to flight in accordance with previous history, the average is much closer to 5%-7% than just 1%. Of course as we now know in this particular incident the flight was neither overbooked or oversold.

I once said you have too many negative thoughts. You denied it. Now you write a post about yet more negative thoughts. I am roughly a couple of decades older than you. I can tell you that age has never concerned me in the slightest- except once. I remember was terrified of being 40. So starting at 37 I slowly became something of a mental wreck as I could not get 40 out of my mind. No idea why I did not have that feeling at either 30 or 50. Then suddenly it was my 40th birthday. All the worry disappeared almost overnight and I reckon my 40s turned out to be the best decade in my life. As someone once said, there are no certainties in life except death and taxes. So better get used to the fact that death will hit you and all of us sometime. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Or maybe well all live to 85 and more. I have had friends die in their 20s (1 had a heart attack, the other a cerebral aneurism), 30s (AIDS), 40s (heart) and 50s (cancer). Any one of them could have been me. So I am thrilled to be around and still enjoying life. I plan to continue doing that for many years more.

jfarmer017 bases his assertion very much on the terms in the Uniteds Conditions of Carriage. Not so according to legal website Dorf on Law. The reason? Those exact same terms of the airlines conditions of carriage. Inexplicably, it seems that nowhere in the COC is there a definition of “boarding”. Consequently the term must therefore be given its ordinarily accepted meaning in the active tense of “get on to the aircraft.” Dr. Dao was clearly already on the aircraft and in his seat. http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2017/04/united-airlines-own-contract-denied-it.htm

Clearly you dont care making wrong statements about other guys posts and then not withdrawing them. This is from the statement by the United Airlines Pilots Association And that was my point all along. Sorry but I was not wrong (twice!)

It really does make a difference. You have twice said I am wrong. But in no way have you explained why I am wrong nor how it is that United would suddenly realise they had to eject 4 passengers AFTER all had boarded and were seated. Yes I understand about weight, especially cabin baggage on these commuter flights. But weight was not the issue in this case. Lack of available seats was. So if they needed the seats, it is impossible to believe they only had a few minutes notice. Otherwise they would have denied boarding and done it before the passengers boarded.

I appreciate your experience firecat69, but you say I am wrong. In what way am I wrong in suggesting that United must have known before all the passengers were seated that they needed four seats for crew? And why did they not stop four at the gate?

In what way am I wrong? If the airline KNEW it needed the seats, why did it fill the plane chock full of passengers and then only minutes before taking off decide it suddenly needed to get four of them off? That makes no sense at all! You say they "knew" they needed the seats. I find that quite impossible to believe. If they did know that, they would have kept 4 seats free and bumped passengers before they were able to check in. Minimum domestic check in at ORD with a checked bag is 45 minutes. Even in the unlikely event that all passengers had checked in using mobile phones, why werent four stopped at the gate? It is unbelievable that United only realised it needed 4 crew seats less than 15 - 30 minutes prior to departure?