PeterRS

I do not dispute what is in the post. Just curious especially about the Mecca part. I realise that travel in and out of the country is probably easy if the paperwork for visas is in order and you do not add Israel on one of your trips. But getting into Mecca for a non Muslim is strictly forbidden and there are passport/permit control points on every access road requiring all to show proof being a muslim before entering. I was told that before getting the visa to enter Saudi Arabia a declaration of religion is required. If a Muslim enters from a non Islam country proof of religion and the sect the applicant belongs to has to be provided in letter form with the stamp and signature of an Imam. This info is then included on the visa and is checked everywhere. I am sure guys with the right connection can probably do anything in that country. But even non-muslim ambassadors cant get access to Mecca. It must be an amazing place to visit.

I find it very difficult to believe that Michael did not err in his post about living in Saudi Arabia. Since 2014 he has been a regular contributor here talking about his exploits on visits to Thailand. Was the post perhaps by someone else? I agree with Londoner. Saudi Arabia is an extremist Islamic country and not typical. Why anyone would chose to live there without doing a great deal of research beats me. All of what is in that post must have been available from various sources. As for Islam and gays I have read that there is no specific mention of gay relationships or gay sex in the Quran. There is however one verse about martyrs being attended to by boys in Paradise as well as virgins. Seems the antigay orders came later from scholars interpreting what they reckoned to be in the Quran. Bit like Christian so called scholars deciding what went into the Bible 300 years after Christ died. As for evidence required by sharia law in some countries four witnesses have to confirm they saw two guys having sex. Not sure what punishment is handed out f two guys are seen kissing but it has to be unlikly any guys in Saudi would have sex with four other men standing around.

Beware of the fridae site! I have had technical issues with it for over a year - wrong message page coming up, wrong hearts page coming up. So don't expect to see your pages. Goodness knows who is in fact seeing them. I have written so many times to the webmaster and lately the Technical Director. This lying prick said they could not find any bugs in their system despite endless screen shots I have mailed him proving they exist. Three months ago he said he would refund the latest year in advance I paid. Since them, zilch! The guy replies to nothing and the money hasn't been paid. The site has newish owners. They very obviously have serious problems as they have had many special offers over the last 7 or 8 months. The latest is 50% off. They are struggling. Pity because it used to be a good site. No more.

How nice to dream, for surely dream it was! Cathay's short Bangkok service rarely has the old jumbos any more, although there could be an exception. Now its all A333s or B777s. But lamb on Bangkok is rare coz some dont like it and it tends to leave a smell in the cabin. Afternoon tea disappeared years ago in favour of a cooked snack. Dessert into BKK is universally Haagen Dazs now. Cheeses are never served in biz class on short regional flights. They even gave up handing out those free chocolates some time ago. But its nice to dream.

They are indeed! I voted for #2. Moses, please note that you have a wrong spelling in all of them - the spelling is GENUINE.

Re your comment above, I do believe that quite a number of the investment bankers involved in the toxic asset scandal knew perfectly well that they were taking wildly excessive risks with their bank's money, risks that went beyond the guidelines. Somewhat like the rogue traders Nick Leeson, who doomed Baring's Bank, Jerome Kerviel, the futures index trader at Societe Generale, and others, my view is they deserve to go to jail. As voldemar rightly pointed out, some of these crooks used even more of their banks money to bet against the products they were peddling to the public. And that was not just a normal hedging operation. They knew perfectly well that the market crash was coming and they were trying both to save their own skins and increase their own profits/bonuses. To hell with the clients. If there was deliberate misrepresentation and/or criminal negligence, I would certainly seek to sue and have him thrown in jail. And I hasten to add that deliberate misrepresentation in my view (and I believe in the view of courts in most jurisdictions) would include an inadequate or false evaluation of the risk I'd be taking if I accepted his advice. We're pretty far apart in our assessment and I think debating the issue here is not likely to reach much resolution. So having made these comments, I'll leave the floor to you and thereafter just agree to differ.

Interesting. I had no idea about the Crown Property Bureau having any kind of shareholding in the Kempinski Hotel Group. According to the Bangkok Post, the Bangkok Property - http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/34604/siam-kempinski-ready-for-june-opening I also thought Natural Park had gone bust! At one stage it was planning to build a major theatre behind Paragon and announced the engagement of heavyweight London producer Cameron Mackintosh (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera etc.) as consultant. That project certainly died. Presumably the company found a way to stay in business. The Crown Property Bureau website lists it investments, including Siam Cement in which it has a controlling interest. But surprisingly there seems nothing there about a shareholding in either the Bangkok hotel or the Kempinski group as a whole. According to its Mission statement - http://www.crownproperty.or.th/en/about/obligation.html If it owns investments outside Thailand, I guess it must be similar to a sovereign wealth fund.

It is certainly not a complete listing, but it's a place to start. I'm not sure you can say it is not up to date. It has quite a number of users comments posted in October, November and December this year. Cruising for Sex has some extensive threads, but it's so long I find it takes a lot more time to obtain the information you might looking for.

Beachlover might have a hard time agreeing with the Switzerland regulations. Oh, those poor bankers. Just because a tiny fraction of the world's population, a bunch of rich, greedy bankers, all but bankrupt governments around the world by sending their economies to the dogs for years through forcing them to pump a gazillion dollars into the banking system to keep it afloat, beachlover believes we should have sympathy with the bankers because they were only doing their jobs. I for one don't agree that those who packaged toxic assets where just doing their jobs. They were driven by greed. They wanted to ensure their fat bonuses kept growing fatter at an exponential rate. They also knew they were gambling, That's fact. They were gambling that house prices would keep rising. After all, ins't that what had always happened? So what if most of these new mortgages were thrown like confetti at people who would not meet their bank's minimum credit worthiness regulations? These crooks were absolutely no different from those who cram the tables in Macao, SIngapore and Las Vegas. Lose your cash at roulette, and you pay the consequences. Lose your firm's cash in a crap shoot, and to hell with the consequences if you bet wrong. The crooks knew they wouldn't be the ones to suffer. To hell with the little town in Norway which was persuaded by suits from one of the world's top banks to move its town's long term savings into toxic assets. Its citizens will now pay for this folly for decades. To hell with the millions thrown out of their homes. To hell with hundreds of millions who now face austerity measures for years. But of course it's not the bankers fault. They were only doing their jobs. Blame the governments! I am not talking about investors, although I think there is not a great gulf between them and Madoff's victims. At least Madoff's victims look as though they will come out a lot better off than many banks stockholders - those who did not kill themselves, that is. Those like that honourable investment banker, Thierry de la Villehuchet, and quite a few others. To say nothing of Madoff's own eldest son. I may not know one of these banker crooks, as perhaps beachlover does. Frankly, I don't want to know any of these "human beings" inbeachlover's description. They and their banks should be prosecuted and many of the individuals thrown into jail for a long time - if only pour encourager les autres. Plain and simple.

Totally agree. The land presently occupied by Paragon and the Kempinski was once part of a royal palace and so is Crown land. Before Paragon was built, it was leased to the company which built the first Intercontinental Hotel in the city. The hotel had wonderfully extensive gardens but was pretty run down by the time its lease was up in 2002. The Paragon and the Kempinski land is leased for 30 years. I assume (but do not know for sure) the Crown Property Bureau has no actual shareholding in the operating companies.

Thank you for your interesting observation.

There are loads of massage places, and so I am sure you will find each person recommending different ones. Have you seen the utopia-asia page? http://www.utopia-asia.com/bangmasa.htm One piece of advice is that some places like Candle Paradise seem not serve happy endings. I have never been but am told that the massages are wonderful. Of the three you mention, I have only been to Senso. For me that was a major disappointment with only 5 boys on duty when I went (late-afternoon), poor massage and poor afters. It was also one of the most expensive i have visited. Posters on other sites have also commented on its costs. In the past, I have been a few time at Aqua and Albury and always emerged refreshed and 'happy'. 20 of the massage places put their staff photos on this site. It also has maps and directions. If you do happen to notice a masseur whom you like, make sure to call ahead to make certain he is working that day. http://www.thaimassageboy.com/home/home.php

Now what made me think your phone would have been made of gold?

The government of Ireland recently accepted a massive US$110 billion bailout package from the EU. Now I note from today's news that it has taken over its fourth bank, and is rapidly pumping money into two more. All this after Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland and many others had to be rescued with countless tens of billions of tax dollars in their respective countries. Has anyone heard of any banker being tried, let alone jailed for causing gvernments to collapse, countries go even more broke than they were, and the savings and investments of hundreds of millions of people come crashing down? So these poor bankers are losing their bonuses! Oh really? From what I've read, there base pay has been jacked up to compensate, so they are still way better off than people they defrauded. Madoff went to jail for 150 years. But thanks to claw backs by the New York bankruptcy trustee, it now looks like his investors will get as much as 50% of their principal back. What about the shareholders in Citi and RBS? If they had to cash out at the bottom of the market, they lost over 95% of their investments. Even today those stocks show losses of around 90%. When, I wonder, will those banker fraudsters be hauled into court and handed multi-year jail terms? I don't care what laws are or are not on the statute books. If there is nothing there, pass a law and make it retroactive. In my view these bastards should not be allowed to walk free.

Delighted to help. I wonder if hotels in the Rajaprasong district are still having a tough time after they had to close during the Red Shirt demonstrations earlier in the year. Only one point to be aware of. Chinese New Year is on February 3. I suspect rates may go up around that time.

To put the Kempinski’s rates into context, I ran a check today on the lowest rate offered on its website. I then compared this to basic room rates on the Shangri La and Four Seasons sites, as well as the lowest rates offered on agoda. I selected a 3-day mid-week period from January 11-14 for single occupancy. The results were very surprising and definitely not what I expected. Website basic rates in THB Kempinski: 6,715 - special advance purchase rate Shangri-La: 6.030 – special advance purchase rate Four Seasons: 7,950 - special offer of 2 for price of 3 reduces to 5,300 (this also includes breakfast) So the Kempinski is the most expensive. All rates exclude tax and service (17%). One big black mark against Kempinski. On the Guest Details page – the one before you press “confirm”, the total you pay is still quoted as 20,145 plus service and taxes. To find out how much you will really have to pay, you need to read the small print above and then work it out for yourself. Disgraceful! Total for 3 nights (incl. tax and service) will therefore cost Kempinski: 23,570 Shangri-La: 21,292 Four Seasons: 18,714 (inc. breakfast) The Four Seaons is by far the clear winner for rooms during this period. This is even more true when you consider 3 breakfasts are likely to knock you back a total of around 2,500 in the other hotels. With the Four Seasons just one BTS stop away from Paragon, who would be fool enough to stay at the Kempinski, I wonder? Agoda.com usually has very competitive rates. The real surprise to me is that agoda is MUCH more expensive for 2 of the 3!! Here are the nightly rates (inc. tax and service - but no breakfast) Kempinski: 23,571 Shangri-La: 23,517 Four Seasons: 25,623 So book the Four Seasons on agoda and you will pay an estimated 9,400 Baht more than by booking direct with the hotel (if you also want the buffet breakfast)! The moral is always check hotel websites and the booking agent sites before you book. Unless you are a points junkie, however - (like some we know ) - because agoda bookings rarely qualify for points.

Vergin' on the ridiculous, i'd say

Soft opening? Having erection problems?

The hotel has been accepting guests since the summer. From the reports on tripadviser, looks like they opened well before the staff was up to scratch. Even this month there are reports of rooms not being clean on arrival. A month ago one guest was told they did not have enough housekeeping staff. And one honeymoon couple was promised when they made the reservation "a bouquet of red roses, leaves of roses on the bed and in the bathroom; fresh fruits; chocolate/petit four arrangement (in heart shape box); 1 Bottle of Wine". What happened? "When we arrived, we found there were no roses as promised, no wine as promised, just a small cake and some fresh fruit." That post was made on 23 November. That's disgraceful for a hotel in this brand and price range. I agree the rooms look pretty small compared to those at the nearby Grand Hyatt and Four Seasons. Mind you, most of the Mandarin Oriental's room are also on the small side.

OK, you can have Santa. I want his "little elf"

Very good suggestion. This is the useful agoda page. It includes a detailed location map. I have always found agoda's prices extremely good for Thai hotels. http://www.agoda.com/asia/thailand/bangkok/airport/suvarnabhumi_international_airport_hotels.html?type=1&cid=1419127&url=http://www.agoda.com/asia/thailand/bangkok/airport/suvarnabhumi_international_airport_hotels.html&tag=61061a1e-b9ee-4575-8255-cfa1763d4cb6&gclid=CJ3bl5algqYCFUR76wodm0cQoQ

Alas, his one-time sex kitten wife is now 93 and in very bad health. In hospital over the summer, she was so poorly that the last rights were read. Although still with us, if her husband was reaching for the lube, it would have been either because it was a nurse in bed beside him, or he was about to start some

There is often a fine line between unsubstantiated gossip and other evils. As the late lamented Oscar Wilde famously said, "Gossip is charming! History is mere gossip, but scandal is gossip made tedious by morality." We are wise not to cross the line and start taking moral high grounds lest we become tedious, I am sure you will agree. I had remembered that the quote came, rather appropriately, from the play "A Woman of No Importance". In this case, alas, memory failed me. It is actually from "Lady Windermere's Fan". This latter play, however, contains another somewhat appropriate aphorism. "In this world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. The last is much the worst - the last is the real tragedy." Wise words,. Better, surely, that we all avoid such tragedy.

Lovely description. That must have cost quite a bit. If there is a request for donations, please let me know how I can contribute.

Remember that scene in one of the American Pie movies - the one where the young hero is watching a porn movie, can't take his eyes off the screen and reaches over for the lube to aid his journey to the happy ending - only it's not lube, it's superglue? Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband should have paid more attention. Prince Frederic Von Anhalt was in bed when he leant over to get the eye drops. After one drop, he quickly realised he had a problem. These were no eye drops. He had put his wife's nail glue into his eye! "It was dark and he grabbed his wife's nail glue instead of eye drops," said a spokesman for Von Anhalt. He now wears a patch following successful eye surgery. http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/12/21/gabor.eye.glue/index.html?hpt=C2 MODS: Sorry - posted on wrong Board, Please move, thanks