PeterRS

Hopefully you are not mistaken, but I have serious doubts. I have lost track of the number of empty taxis driving past when people try to flag them down. Drivers do not want to get bogged down in traffic, even though the meter still runs, and they much prefer long distances. If they see shopping bags, it seems they just assume you only want to go 2 or 3 kms and will not stop. I see this regularly after I have been to a supermarket very near my condo. I often have to wait for the 5th or 6th empty taxi before it stops. And no, the ones which sailed by did not have "Busy" on their signs - the relatively new indication that they are on they way to pick someone up. The other much more understandable problem is end of shifts. If the driver does not own his cab, he has to deliver it back at a certain time so that another driver can take his place. Clearly he does not want to go to Don Mueang if the next driver is waiting by Saphan Thaksin! But surely the Transport Dept. could give each owner a sign to place over the meter stating "End of Shift" or some such wording. But that's far too obvious for Thailand, clearly!

What many people fail to understand that for many years contracting HIV was a death sentence. Get it from sex, blood transfusions or another exchange of bodily fluids and AIDS was bound to follow, then an extremely unpleasant long, lingering death. I had one friend who was so utterly and passionately devoted to his younger South American lover, after his death from AIDS in 1991 he simply could not consider another relationship. He himself did not pass away until 2017.

It's been reported more than a few times in this Board in recent years that younger Thais increasingly favour BB sex. It seems to be common in the Thai-for-Thai saunas dotted around the outskirts of Bangkok. Given the reduced amount of sex education in schools, in particular relating to HIV and how to avoid catching it, it is sadly not surprising.

Love to see some of those young snooker players in tight short pants - preferably white so you can see the bulge. But there would have to be an age limit. Who would want to see Ronnie O'Sullivan or John Higgins other than covered head to toe in black?

i arrived back last night on a Cathay Pacific flight. No checks in HKG other than that I had a visa, no checks at BKK. Only requirement was the wearing of masks in flight except at meal time. Not sure why the visa was an issue at check-in as I have an annual visa and a flight out on 10 February. But the CX staffer would not check me in until he saw the visa in my passport!

I'll make another bet. Anutin's measures will be revised sooner rather than later!

I happen to be a fan of snooker and am glued to the tv when the main tournaments are being played. One feature of recent years has been the arrival of many young Chinese players. Two in particular have won major events. First was 22 year-old Yang Bing-tao who won the 2021 Masters title. Even more talented is 25 year-old Zhao Xin-tong from X'ian who won the 2021 UK and German Masters titles. His qualities as a player have been praised extremely highly by such greats as Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry. Most of these Chinese players moved to Sheffield in England when they were much younger where there are excellent facillities for their development. Now a huge cloud hangs over not just these two players but 8 others ranging in age from 19 to 35. All have been banned by the snooker authorities pending the outcome of investigations for match fixing. Fixing the outcome of matches is not confined to Chinese players. In 2013 the British player Stephen Lee was banned for 10 years. The integrity unit of the World Professional Billiard and Snooker Association monitors the betting industry very closely. It receives alerts when unusual betting activity is discovered. The detail of the bans presently imposed have not been made public. Given the massive increase in interest of the sport in China in particular, I can only assume that it came as a result of bets made in Asia. Given that most of these young Chinese are a result of the country's one-child policy, I can see the possibility of triad activity here. These gangsters would be unlikely to go after the players since they are based in England. But I can see them going after their families if the sons did not go along with their illegal activities. But that's a pure guess. We have to wait a few more weeks before the details are made public. Should illegal match fixing be proved, it will be good for the sport. It will also be sad to see so much talent banned for many years when they should be at their peak. Zhao Xin-tong, the world No. 9, is especially cute (!) and I will miss his participation on the international snooker tour! https://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/64174244

Will we now see a resurgence of the Russian mafia which used to control part of Pattaya's life as it did more openly in Phuket? And will Chinese triad activity follow as it has done very effectively in Sihanoukville in Cambodia?

I don't think that is quite accurate. China has been battling covid ever since it first appeared in Wuhan more than 3 years ago. Led by Xi Jinping's mad policy it assumed it could triumph over an invisible virus. Three years of massive city lockdowns and huge disruption to its once thriving economy. Now instead of being sensible about it, it has just unlocked the stable door and thrown away the key. No doubt this has something to do with Chinese New Year in a couple of weeks and the massive unrest that he would have faced had he forced the population to abandon the lunar New Year family gatherings for yet another year. For China this is not a new battle. It is the continuation of a huge failure which threatens to lead to an even bigger failure, one that will see covid spread massively within China. Some of those infected are now spreading to other parts of the world and/or putting the world's healthcare facilities at considerable risk. Classic buck passing. The allied issue arising from this is: can Xi hang on to power? The lockdown policy was his. The deaths that are now following are on him. The leadership in Beijing is not a unified body. It is rife with factions as we recently saw at the National People's Congress a couple of months ago. Will he be dethroned? We shall see.

I'll bet they'll be wearing masks and using hand sanitiser. i think I should have a little bet on how many of these tourists are found to have covid on arrival!

That seems to be American thinking. These two young people were seasoned British actors and they worked in Europe. Nudity in movies was not such a big thing. Parental consent was required for Hussey showing a flash of her tits and it was given in writing. With the age of consent being 16, Whiting did not require any parental consent for showing his ass. After seeing the movie, the producers of "True Grit" offered Hussey the lead role of Mattie. She turned it down, saying "John Wayne doesn't do anything for me." In 1968 she was also offered the title role in Hal Wallis' movie "Anne of a Thousand Days" a movie that was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Actress. She turned it down. The role went to Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold who won a Golden Globe for her performance. So much for Ms. Hussey's career having suffered! She inflicted those wounds on herself! "Romeo and Juliet" was regulated by the British Board of Film Censors for showing in the UK. It gave it an A classification as being acceptable for minors in the presence of an adult. The BBFC was more concerned about the violence and suicides than it was with the nudity! In the USA it was given a G rating meaning all ages could see it. Only in 1973 was this rating changed to PG, meaning it MIGHT be inappropriate for children under 13. Children of 14 and 15 were still able to watch the movie without a guardian. This idiotic law suit is no doubt a ploy by an unscrupulous lawyer out to make a quick buck through a hefty percentage of any winnings. It such cases, often the accused (Paramount) will make a small out of court payment simply to avoid the cost of hiring lawyers and fighting the case in court. Hopefully Paramount will counter-sue. At least they stand to make perhaps a lot more cash with reruns of the movie on TV.

This diotic saga continues. Franco Zeffirelli's son has hit out against the two actors for basically lying. He reminds us that Olivia Hussey went on to work on Zeffirelli's mini-series Jesus of Nazareth and Whiting attended Zeffirelli's funeral in 2019. Hardly the actions of actors who believe they were violated. Pippo Zeffirelli adds - "In all these years, they have always maintained a relationship of deep gratitude towards Zeffirelli, releasing hundreds of interviews about the happy memory of their very fortunate experience." I hope Parmount counter sues!

I doubt if changing planes changes anything. Immigration authorities want information about yout primary departure city. If the authorities don't believe you, all they need do is put you to one side and then check your baggage tag. You can only fool them if you deplane at the intermediate stop, reclaim your baggage and then re check in.

I don't doubt your reasoning re Eastern European countries. But if I recall correctly, we KNEW and the WHO KNEW what was happening in those countries. Do you know what is actually happening in China re covid? Not even the WHO knows! All we hear from a large variety of sources is that covid is now rampant in that country and about to get a great deal worse. Hospitals are already overrun. The Chinese authorities reported 5 deaths on January 5 and 3 on January 6. No one in China believes these firgres. CNN had an interview with one Chinese national who had four deaths in his family in recent days. He believes the official firgures are nonsense. Well over 200 million Chinese are about to roam freely around the country returning to their ancestral home towns and villages in the countryside - where a huge number have not been vaccinated - to celebrate Chinese New Year for several days around January 22 for the first time since 2019. As already mentioned, at least 1 million deaths are expected and a vast number of new infections. Because of the lockdown policy over the last 3 years, there is no herd immunity in China. Who knows how many will become infected by the end of this month? And who knows how many will get round the regulations and be desperate to get out of the country in the hope of avoiding infection? We know that money talks in China. No doubt it will help getting some on aircraft flying out of China. Like you I know several who died of covid including one a close friend. I don't want to see any more. Do you know anyone with long covid? That is a hideous long term health problem. I am all for freedoms - but as I have written several times before, freedom rightly demands responsibility. In terms of covid that means those who might be infected with the disease have a responsibilty to do all possible to avoid infecting others. At the same time governments have a duty to protect those who might become infected with it. In medical terms, I firmly believe caution is the best policy. Anutin is a total self-serving idiot whose sole aim is to become Prime Minister for believing that he knows how better to handle the massive China outbreak compared to the health authorities in a large and increasing number of other major countries.

The more I read about this law suit the more I confused I get. The movie was filmed entirely in Italy. Nudity in many European movies was far from uncommon at that time, unlike the much more prudish American fim industry. The two actors are both British, not American. Conveniently the lawsuit states they were all but forced to be nude by Zeffirelli, but he is dead and his estate is not named in the suit. The actors' lawyer has stated his clients "were very young children who had no iunderstanding aobut what was to hit them. All of sudden they were famous at a level they never expected, and in addition they were violated in a way they didn't know how to deal with." What a load of utter rubbish!

I wonder why you think this is fine? Two years ago, the world was in virtual panic as millions were dying of covid and many forms of measures against the virus were adopted in most of the world. This included lockdowns and the inability of most of us to travel. We were all afraid of getting the virus. Thanks to China's stupidity, first in trying to control the spread of the virus through extensive lockdowns rather than vaccinations and now in opening the stable door long after the horses have bolted, covid infections are not merely rife, they are spreading with great rapidity around China with the likelihood - according to many in the medical profession - of a million deaths in the relatively near future. The country's health system is overrun and unable to cope. We know that more than half the Chinese passengers on a flight to Italy tested positive. We know that 28% of Chinese passengers on a flight to Taipei tested positive. If these represent even a fraction of those about to flood the world, how are the world's health services going to cope? Yet you seem happy to accept the possibility of many thousands (tens of thousands?) of Chinese ariving in Thailand bringing covid with them. Yes, Thailand is much better prepared and many Thais are fully vaccinated. But vaccination does not mean you can not be reinfected. Three members of my own family and two friends in Taipei became reinfected even after three vaccinations. I am not prepared to treat anyone from China as an adult making his/her own choice - yet! I am not prepared to let the Chinese government use its economic leverage to pressure worldwide governments to accept its own citizens when it has done precious little to protect those citizens over the last 3 years. Thailand should do as other countries are doing - ban travellers from China until that country has covid under control.

And how many had health insurance, I wonder? Probably a stupid question. Then one wonders how many of those testing positive end up in a hospital, thereby reducing hospital beds and facilities for Taiwanese and for other proerly vaccinated tourists who fall ill for other reasons.

The growing number of Chinese public figures whose deaths are being made public is prompting people to question the official Covid death toll. The death of Chu Lanlan, a 40-year-old opera singer, last month came as a shock to many, given how young she was. Her family said they were saddened by her "abrupt departure", but did not give details of the cause of her death. China scrapped its strict zero-Covid policy in December and has seen a rapid surge of infections and deaths. There are reports of hospitals and crematoria becoming overwhelmed . . . According to a tally by Chinese media, 16 scientists from the country's top science and engineering academies died between 21 and 26 December. None of these deaths were linked to Covid in their obituaries, but that hasn't prevented speculation online. "Did he also die of 'bad flu'?" one of the top-rated comments under news of Mr Ni's death said. "Even if you trawl through the whole internet you can't find any reference to his cause of death," said another internet user. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64173824

A joke! Another Thai joke from one of the principal jokers! My sister-in-law has just been diagnosed with cancer. I was to be staying with her and my brother in a few weeks' time. But her treatment means she has to keep clear of other possible infections for a minimum of 12 weeks. Even if I take daily covid tests, I can not guarantee that if I stayed with them I would be virus free. But for me that is a relatively minor inconvenience. For a great many Thais, it could mean infection and then more time away from work in a hospital. The measures being taken by India, the USA, Canada, the EU and others is sensible prevention. Anutin is in some dreamworld if he believes that planeloads of Chinese will have health insurance. Even if they do, how overwhelmed will Thai hospitals become if flights arrive - as they have in Europe in the last few days - with bewteen 25% and 50% of passengers infected with covid? Madness!

With the Thai government seeming ready to open its borders to waves of Chinese tourists, I am pretty certain many individuals fro other countries will reconsider Thailand for a vacation because of the possibility of a new outbreak of covid here. The government cannot have it both ways.

It surely has to be the most frivolous case for a law suit! in 1967 the great director Franco Zeffirelli auditioned 300 young actors to play Romeo and Juliet in the new movie version he was making to be released the following year. He wanted more realism than possible for a stage version and actors for the lead roles who were roughly the ages Shakespeare's play intended. He selected two who already had not only aspirations to become actors but considerable experience. Leonard Whiting had been spotted by a theatrical agent at the age of 12. For 15 months he was a regular member of the cast of Lional Bart's musical "Oliver" in London's West End. He then spent 15 months with Britain's new National Theatre Company performing in a production of the classic William Congreve play "Love for Love" with Sir Lawrence Olivier in London, Moscow and Berlin. Olivia Hussey was also an apiring actor. In 1966 she had appeared along with Vanessa Redgrave in the London West End production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". Both Whiting and Hussey would have been perfectly well aware that if they got the parts in the Zeffirelli movie, it would almost certainly do wonders for their careers. In the movie, their frivolous law suit suggests they were told by the studio and Zeffirelli that there would be no nudity in the movie. During shooting they allege they were then told there had to be mild nudity in the scene covering the morning after their wedding. In it, the upper part of Whiting's bare back is shown with the camera lingering for a moment on his buttocks. Hussey is shown with a sheet covering her front. For one brief moment it slips and reveals her breasts. Now, 56 years after filming, these two actors are alleging viollation of California and Federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children! No doubt there is also something about emotional distress and long term mental damage in there! Is there anything more stupid? Why wait 56 years? Is it perhaps because Whiting's career never took off? Nor indeed did he have much success in his personal life. The child by his second wife, Charlotte, claims he never saw her until she was 12 years old. Hussey has had a much more successful acting career, but not in the leading roles she perhaps had thought might come her way. But surely Hussey gave away the fact that the present suit is indeed frivolous. In an interview in the show business publication Variety in 2018, she actually defended that nude scene (well, let's be honest, scene with tiny flashes of partial nudity!). "Nobody my age had done that before," she said, adding that Zeffirelli had shot it tastefully. "It was needed for the film. Everybody thinks they were so young they did not realize what they were doing. But we were very aware. We both came from drama schools and when you work you take your work very seriously." In a Fox News interview the same year, she said, "It wasn't that big of a deal. And Leonard wasn't shy at all! In the middle of shooting, I just completely forgot I didn't have clothes on!" Surely any judge reading that will throw this ridiculus law suit into the trash can where it belongs.

Good tries @forrestreid and @10tazione. It was a difficult quiz which I had perhaps more fun setting that those even considering answering. 1. Graveyard Street was in Istanbul. The quote comes from the excellent Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern istanbul by Charles King. The Pera Palace was/is the luxury Hotel built to complement the opening of the Orient Express train but the book examines all the many changes in the city as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Allegedly Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express while staying in the hotel. 2. Istanbul again. And again a quote from Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern istanbul. The eunochs guarding the harem in Topkapi Palace were mostly Ethiopian Christian slaves who literally were out on the streets as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. 3. The make of shoe is Moreschi. Alessandro Moreschi sang in the Sistine Chapel Choir from around 1866. His voice was recorded in 1902 and 1904 and one is avaiable on a youtube vdo. He was then in his 40s after a castrato voice had reached its peak. It's a strange thin sound - neither soprano nor countertenor. 4. The Austro-Hungarian Empire which existed only from 1867 until the end of World War I in 1918 and was cobbled together from the breakup of several central Europen states. It was the assassination of its heir that led to World War I. 5. I was really surprised that the quote about Hitler was made by the future US President John F. Kennedy. 6. Another surprise for me. All the possible answers had strong anti-semitic views but the anti-Jewish quote was made by Martin Luther.

I often wonder what travellers are looking for in business class lounges. If I am about to take a shortish flight, I want peace and quiet, a nice drink (meaning a glass of good wine - certainly not a cheap one - or a vodka that is also not the cheapest on the market), perhaps a canapé - and that's it. I was only once able to get into the Concorde Lounge at LHR which was streets ahead of the business and first class lounges. The wines there were fabulous. But that has just been a memory for a couple of decades. If on a plane change mid-way through the total journey, food and drink is not a priority. I fly Qatar quite a lot between Bangkok and the UK and the food and drink on board are always very good to excellent. I don't need more in the lounge at Doha. With another 6-7 hour sector ahead of me, I don't need a shower. Once again it is more peace and quiet where I can read or catch up on mundane things like emails. A no-mobile phone area is wonderful if you can find it. When I used to take BA from Asia and had an onward flight after landing at LHR, a shower is essential for me as well as a decent breakfast (if I have been able to sleep through the service on the aircraft). A newspaper with the latest news and again peace and quiet. For that reason I totally dislike the main CX lounges at HKG. They have slate floors meaning that almost every passenger drags along their on board baggage on it, each one making a very considerable noise! I didlike the TG lounges in BKK because I find the chairs hideously uncomfortable. But those are merely my thoughts.

US politics continues to amaze me. I gave up on UK politics years ago and nothing there amazes me. But the whole fiction spun around George Santos and the people who refuse to condemn him has me - well - staggered! This man - I assume he's actually a male - has made up so much of his persona that he must surely be a work of total fiction. He doesn't exist. He's not just a phoney, he's a kermit-like figure with someone's hand up his ass making his mouth move. (Yes, I know. Kermit was not a glove puppet, but you get my drift.) Every day brings new revelations about this impostor's life and totally fake existence. Yet all but a handful of the Republican Party refuse to condemn him. The awful Kevin McCarthy, the one whose head was up Trumps' ass most of the time (can anyone imagine the utter disaster if he becomes the third in line for the Presidency?) clearly sits around waiting for Santos' vote as Speaker and then hoping he will somehow magically just disappear. His party colleagues sit in waiting to grab the power they believe they are entitled to all ready to set the dogs on Hunter Biden, seemingly perhaps a more difficult task if they condemn one of their own for far more serious crimes/misdemeanours - call them what you will. Politics has become a joke - literally. Ever since John McCain (wasn't he supposed to have more than an ounce of common sense?) annointed the frightful Sarah Palin as his Presidential running mate, an even greater number of frightful ghouls has found Congress the way to promote their idiotic platforms. That good ordinary folk actually believe their lies seems to indicates that someone sooner rather than later will become the next Dr. Strangelove. A real one! And then God help not just the USA but the world.

The only aircraft I would consider this would be those A380 operators which have toilets at the front upstairs. These are always about 3 times the size of the usual plane facility and allow for lots of freedom and positions 😂. Some, like BA, have business class at the front upstairs. Sadly the BA product is very second rate now.