PeterRS

Would that most of us had been so brave. This young man deserves more than just enough cash to replace his mobile phone.

If ever there was a case for US Presidents not having the right to appoint judges, what has been happening over the last few months is surely it. The political and judicial system in the USA is pretty much fucked - as one or both is also in quite a number of other countries. With so many investigations going on against this liar, cheat and con man who follows that awful sleazebag Roy Cohn's playbook almost to the letter totally beats me. Some have been going on for several years. Who is paying whom to keep this idiot out of jail?

Sorry, no idea. Difficult to use Ignore if you want to spot holes in the spammer/troll comments/accusations.

Not always. The late extremely unlamented Beachlover who got close to ruining at least two Thai chat rooms never claimed he was a victim nor that he was ignorant of how Boards worked.. He just continued to spew lie after lie after bigger lie and trashing other posters when he made mistakes that identified his lies.

So said the poster Beachlover. And we know that he was a spammer and a troll. Clearly you don't bother to read others' posts. What you write about your alleged visits has been spelled out in detail over many posts.

So says somene who claims to have lived in Thailand for more than 2 decades yet is so naive he writes in one of his early posts about wrong information being posted here by other posters! @RobinHood claims he was actually "TRICKED" into going to Sunee Plaza and knew nothing about it? What a joke! 🤣🤣🤣

That is pure and utter b------t! Clearly a poster who has never been to Vietnam and seen what an amazing country it is and what wonderful people the Vietnamese are. I have not been to Cambodia since 2004 but the same was true there. He has obviously forgotten (seems like he never knew) that the Vietnamese had been fighting for the right to run their own country after 69 years of murderous French colonialism before America took what is now agreed as the diastrous decision to go to war to prop up the equally disastrous corrupt, reviled government in Saigon that few Vietnamese wanted. What Vietnam has achieved since peace and full independence after the departuire of the Americans is a near miracle. Perhaps @RobinHoodalso think the Vietnam War with America was still going on when those bar boys he so dislikes were young? 🤣 As for Thailand @RobinHood says No fighting in Thailand? That's another piece of pure b------t! You have lived in Bangkok and never heard of the violence that results in killing and maiming of students at rival vocational colleges? Seems you cannot live in Bangkok. This vdo is part of a much longer documentary which starts with one student from one college being shot dead whilst helping his mother at her roadside stall by a student from a rival college. Click on youtube to watch and then read this article - https://thethaiger.com/news/bangkok/bangkok-police-try-unsuccessfully-to-stop-fight-between-rival-schools

I was never an Elvis fan but then he never toured outside the US and so there were no concerts I could attend. I am curious if the movie goes into the various shenanigans of his manager, Col. Tom Parker. We know that from his deal with RCA Victor which helped establish Elvis, Parker took an extraordinary commission that borders on the criminal of 50%! He ruled Elvis' life in an almost draconian way and forbade him to give concerts overseas - alleged by some because it might result in his being discovered as an illegal immgrant in the USA. He also sold the rights to Elvis' early recordings to RCA (and we know how valuable the recording rights are to the musicians as long term increasing income) and soon persuaded him to stop giving concerts for several years in preference to a slew of movies that became increasingly third rate as Parker insisted the studios' costs be slashed to the minimum to protect his profits. Thanks to Parker's mismanagement, Elvis did not join ASCAP - the organisation which collects and distributes royalties to musicians. As a result both Elvis and Parker lost out on millions of future income. And then the IRS came calling suing the Elvis Estate for close to $15 million. in 1980 after his death a judge found that his management of Elvis had been unethical and basically bad. The 50% commission was abnormal with the indiustry average being 15-20%. He was also not a very good manager in looking after himself after Elvis died. Even though he had persuaded Elvis' father at the funeral to sign over all future rights to Elvis recordings, movies and merchandise, Parker ended up virtually bankrupt. I wonder if Luhrmann's film recreates the real Parker, or glosses over too much of his negative influence. Tom Hanks is a great actor. Somehow I just don't see him conveying the real Parker, especially his darker side. But I'll withhold further comment till I can see the movie.

An inappropriate comment. You should have noted I was specifically not referring to Vietnamese boys in Bangkok or in Thailand. I only mentioned Vietnamese living in Vietnam.

I was not referring to those who had forgotten or remembered the wars I mentioned. I wrote about those commenting here in this thread about those wars and the war in Ukraine. I also demonstrated against some other wars at the time but that is not material to the debate here.

I haven't encountered Vietnamese bar boys and perhaps should not comment. But from my experience visiting Vietnam, I would - and will - return quite often. Guys in Vietnam are different from what I read in this thread - and many are not interested in money.

As a relatively regular visitor to the upmarket Central Chidlom shopping mall in Bangkok, I can say there are far more Indians now than i have ever seen before. Judging by the number of shopping bags they carry, these Indians are certainly not short of money.

Air ticket prices to Thailand have traditionally increaased for the high season when families and individuals in many countries have longish holiday breaks. But airlines are also trying to find any way possible to recoup the massive losses sustained during covid.

I've written this before a few years ago. One reason I could not end it all by jumping from a high floor. I know from an experience I had around 25 years ago that there are times when time itself seems to move much more slowly. Having arrived at Shanghai's Hongqiao airport one evening I had stepped on to what I thought was terra firma. In fact someone had moved a small section of a grille at the side of the parking lot right where I was to get into a hotel car. My right foot went into the hole and I had quite a bad fall when I was certain I would break my leg. I didn't, but I remember so well how that fleeting 2 seconds or so seemed much more like 10 or more. So my fear would be that as I fell from a height, maybe time would again slow down. And what if I suddently realised half way down that I had forgotten to do something very important?

Why is it not fair? Recently two British politicians were forced to resign. One had been seen watching porn in parliament. The other had groped men in the toilet of a major London political club.

My personal view. This thread has become far too personal and overly political to the point where it might continue for months filled with personal attacks - that get nowhere! I think enough as been said. I wrote in another thread recently that two blacks don't make etc. I loathe and detest with great intensity what Russia is doing in Ukraine and I applaud the USA, the UK, NATO and others for helping Ukraine fight the invasion. But some making similar comments conveniently forget, as Moses has rightly pointed out, Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and other US invasions, several on totally wrong political assumptions and some totally illegal. Children are still being killed each year as a result of the USA dropping over Laos a planeload of bombs, most of the cluster variety, on average every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day for a period of nine whole years in the 1960s/70s! Some 30% of those bombs failed to explode on impact. 80 million bombs remained in the ground. By last year, only 300,000 had been cleared. Since 'peace' in 1973, these bombs have killed an additional 20,000 Lao people. Of this number nearly half were young children. The USA has provided $190 million to clear the bombs. Laos estimates it will take until 2030 before all the unexploded bombs can be cleared - but that goal will depend on a lot more money becoming avaiable. Others have estimated that at the present rate it will take 200 years. Has any US citizen ever been indicted and jailed for this terror and continuing murder? None of which I am aware. An indication of the problem is the 750lb bomb dropped 20 meters from the remote village Nonsomboun housing 1,000 people. This is the amount of time and effort it took before it could be destroyed. "After 53 days of careful planning and team-work between HALO [Hazardous Area Life-supprt Organisation] staff and the local community, the bomb was safely destroyed with no damage to the village. It took 100 HALO staff, the assistance of 150 villagers, 4,000 tonnes of sand and 200,000 sandbags to safely destroy the bomb." https://www.halotrust.org/where-we-work/south-asia/laos/ [Note: HALO has been working in Ukraine since 2014.] That was ONE BOMB! Seriously think about that and reflect on it for a few moments. Like Cambodia, this was all a covert secret operation by the CIA. And the bombing was undetaken AFTER the Treaty signed in Geneva in 1962 in which the USA was one of 14 countries (including the Soviet Union and China) which were forbidden from invasion of and etablishment of military bases in Laos. It was also illegal under the US system where only Congress can declare war. As a result of illegal US military activities, 10% of the population of Laos were murdered. A further 20% were wounded. 750,000 Lao people became refugeees. Those speaking out so forcefully about Ukraine should remember these facts. They should also watch this documetary about the US clandestine war in Laos with its details about the CIA's secret airport in the Lao jungle at Long Cheng. Three journalists who stumbled on it by chance witnessed one US plane landing or taking off every minute. https://www.history.com/news/laos-most-bombed-country-vietnam-war https://reliefweb.int/report/lao-peoples-democratic-republic/mag-removes-300000th-unexploded-bomb-laos

Same with Qatar and I expect most airlines.

My understanding from previous posts is that @abidismaili is based in The Netherlands.

I used miles to book on Qatar biz class to the UK about 2 months ago. Unfortunately it was the time when fuel was its most expensive. Also as Qatar now add in to the surcharges lounge access and seat selection (if you pay for a ticket these are now extra costs), the extra charges were over $1,000. But I had to use up the miles or lose them - so you pay your money and take your choice! I was lucky in buying points when Marriott made its first offer during the pandemic. My purchase of 100,000 points got a bonus of 70% and seemed quite a bargain. The latest offer is around 25%, But I knew that Marrriott would just increase the number of points required for most hotels - especially at the top end. And so it has proved although I'll still come out slightly better.

Nope. The most recent is September 8. But he's been in Germany for at least 3 months. There's a post from 8 August giving details of his Thai adventures in April and early May. https://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2022/08/gay-activities-apr2022.html

Also agree, although I think 90% is more than a bit high. But it's wonderful if you're a top to be in a place where most of the boys you encounter wish to be your bottom. I had a strange but delightful encounter about 6 years ago. A young Chinese from Macao with whom I had been chatting for about 3 years on the now dreadful if not dead fridae site but never actually met suddenly contacted me on one of the more modern apps. He'd noticed in my profile that I liked Taipei. Turned out he'd been studying in Taiwan and decided to stay there. Although he lived in the centre of the island, when I told him I was coming over for the Gay Pride Parade, he said he'd never been to one and could he join me. I thought he might want to stay the night which I was slightly concerned about because I just did not know him. However, he said he had a friend with whom he would stay. We arranged to meet in my hotel about half an hour prior to leaving for the Parade. The previous evening I was having drinks with an old friend in one of the Red House bars. It's a great location for merely enjoying lots of eye candy. Suddenly the most gorgeous boy walked in front of us seemingly looking for someone. He then turned around and came up to me asking if I was the one he'd meet tomorrow. I then wished I'd offered to put him up for the night! He was looking for the friend he was staying with. The next day he duly arrived at the hotel and I had planned to offer him a quick snack lunch. But once in my room, he hugged me close and whispered in my ear. "Fuck me! Please!" I said we don't have much time. "It doesn't matter. Please I want now and we can take longer after the Parade." Well, what is a polite gentleman to do. And the deed was done to the great satisfaction of both!

I agree. christianpfc's blog is not only interesting reading it is packed with facts of use to gay travellers. The only point I'd make (perhaps with a touch of jealousy!) is that christianpfc is a lot younger than many of the posters here and we should bear this in mind.

For 2023 just a simple list. Longer than usual trips to Taiwan, Japan and my more recent discovery Vietnam. All are amazingly beautiful and fascinating countries. In each finding lovely guys whose only desire is to spend some time with a much older gay westerner without any payment is far from difficult. Indeed in Taiwan it seems more difficult finding money boys than guys merely wanting company and sex without even travel money.

I wonder what is the origin of the content in the OP. Some rubbish tabloid no doubt. The fact is that King Charles as he now is is on record as having stated when he was in his early 30s that as a result of his failure to turn his love for many young women into marriage he wondered if he might be gay. Prince Charles considered gay turn before marrying Diana Despite his status, Prince Charles's quest for a wife was in no way a fairy tale adventure. The future king struggled so much in his search for a royal bride he reportedly came close to giving up, and it's been revealed he reconsidered his sexuality along the way. In a new documentary about the Queen's four children, it's claimed Charles joked to a friend, asking "shall I go gay?" as he found himself disappointed with a string of relationships with women. All The Queen's Children is released this week in the UK. In it, British TV presenter Jeremy Paxman is filmed speaking to friends of the four heirs: Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward. According to The Mirror, a close friend of Charles, Broderick Munro-Wilson, shares that before Diana came along, the prince made a comment about "going gay". During Charles's courting days, a hot topic for tabloids was to choose suitable contenders to marry the first in line to the British throne. Broderick Munro-Wilson tells Paxman: "I thought the only possibility was Caroline of Monaco," referring to one of the articles he'd read. However, as the potential matches never seemed to take Charles's fancy and he suggested he "goes gay", Munro-Wilson shares: "We all roared with laughter and moved on … They had a lot of fun." https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/prince-charles-considered-gay-turn-before-marrying-diana/42UNA5X3UDPUQRGRV36H5H4U3Q/

Even with all the respect and regard I have for @TotallyOz who has run this site for so many years, I cannot help recalling that when there was a near revolt by many members against the poster named Beachlover - who it will be recalled had done his best to derail at least one other chat room forum - @TotallyOz actually denfended him. This despite many mistakes found in several of his posts and the posting of photographs with all personal detail blacked out. If I recall correcty, he stuck it out continually claiming he was this 20s Australian businessman when it was perfectly clear he was an ageing expat merely playing his little games. It took quite a time but he was eventually banned.