PeterRS

I have noticed the same for a much longer time in advance. Qatar's biz fare to one of the UK cities for March next year has dropped to slightly less than I paid for March this year. An earlier query a few weeks ago had showed a 25% increase.

I have a condo on the top floor of an 8 storey building in a residential area of the city. Until I started making life difficult for the management company - which otherwise is actually very good - no one paid any attention to fire. Every time I raised the issue at the owners AGMs, I would be told that all the apartments have smoke detectors (but no sprinklers) and there are fire hoses, extinguishers and emergency lighting on every floor. But the main staircase is completely open all the way up the building. There are stairs at the back, but everyone just left those doors open, especially the cleaning staff. It took me 3 years not only to persuade everyone, management and some tenants, that these had to be kept closed and there had to be Fire Exit notices in red on each. Only after I said I would pay for the latter myself were they finally put up. Then there is the issue of fire drills. Again it took about 3 years but the management did organise an excellent demonstration by the fire department of what to do in case of a fire and how to use the fire equipment. 9 out of 50 owners/tenants turned up. But the twice a year fire drills I have consistently sought have never happened. Nor do we know where the evacuation assembly area is. A majority of the residents here are Thai. It is perfectly obvious they have not the faintest concern about fire. And I expect this is true of much of Thai society, alas. I have always had my own extinguisher from HomePro in my apartment and I expect it should not be difficult for fires in individual apartments to be contained within the units at least to enable everyone else to get out of the building - assuming the fire alarms continue to work!

This has been discussed in other threads over the years. The possibility of an evening fire in DJ Station or anywhere else in that soi with its extremely narrow entrance is a disaster just waiting to happen. Why the fire department is not more strict re emergency exits etc. beats me. Remember the Santika nightclub fire in 2009? Emergency exits again closed or blocked. 67 died in that fire.

I'm happy that I seem to be wrong in my earlier assessment, although my concerns about the conservativeness of Thai society in general and the unspoken ' harassment' of the majority of young professional gay guys continues unabated. Although stating the obvious, Bangkok is not New York in the 1980s or Sydney in the 2000s if only because the three societies are vastly different and at different stages in social development. Hopefully it will get there. Nothing that I have seen mentions numbers who attended. Anyone able to hazard a guess?

I don't want to put too much of a damper on what happened yesterday. At least it was a larger March than last year's - and that had been the first for more than around 15 years. I did not go but a Thai friend of my partner went. He said he found it rather depressing. Apparently there was some kind of marching band which did nothing when marching and only played very occasionally when it stopped. He reckoned about 50% of the participants were sex workers. Watchers enjoyed the drag guys but he said there were very few ordinary Thai guys in the Parade, unlike in Taipei where the vast majority of the 200,000 or so who now turn up each year are just ordinary guys, girls and some families dressed casually. Of course, many are dressing up in hugely colourful costumes and there are floats from some of the gay bars. When I was last there in 2018 there was even one from Destination, Beijing's gayest night club. But they are very much in a tiny minority. As has been discussed before, even in this day and age in much of Thailand and especially amongst the middle class the stigma of being a gay can have quite serious consequences at work. Consequently far too many are stuck in the closet and would never consider coming out to take part in any Pride parade. We may not like this - indeed, we may condemn it - but it is fact and there is nothing we are able to do about it. Sadly, a Parade like yesterday's with many in colourful drag outfits, lipstick and all the other drag trappings only reinforces the views of the majority.

Re Japan and the host boy bars, it might be useful to new members for me to repost information about them. This is one chain that can be found in many of Japan's cities, including Kyoto. There are two in Tokyo. As you can see, there is a lot of detail about the boys, what they will do (the icons tell you if he will top or bottom or both), whether he will accept a drink (alcohol) and if he has been in a gay porno movie. Another part of the site will say precisely when they are available. All can be booked in advance even before your arrival in Japan. The price list shows that the service is not cheap. On the other hand with the Japanese Yen now low against the US$, a one hour session in your hotel room is around US$100. I am told most customers have the boys go to their hotel rooms rather than use a room on the premises. This is fractionally cheaper. With Tokyo's horrendous traffic, don't worry about his being late. He will arrive exactly at the appointed time, if not a little beforehand. And the session will last exactly for the time you pay for. From most reports I have seen on line and heard from individuals, almost all the boys deliver exactly what you want and give you the feeling they are enjoying their time with you. Absolutely no tipping! http://lang.dgdgdg.com/top.php It's unlikely anyone will be visiting Japan in the near future as it has just opened its borders to group tour visitors. No one knows yet when solo tourists will be permitted entry or under what conditions. Hopefully by some time in the autumn (which is when I want to return!) As for saunas, as mentioned '24' in Shinjuku ni-chome is a great sauna. Usually there will be quite a wide age range with a largish number of students from nearby universities. The '24' in Ueno is about a 15 minute walk from Ueno station and really quite easy to find. Slightly more working class lads there but still worth a visit. In both you just have to get used to having sex more or less in the open spaces (very dark) unless you pay extra for a private room. From my own occasional observations, I have not noticed any particular reluctance for Japanese there to bottom. Indeed, one of the most amazing experiences I had in 24 Shinjuku was on a Saturday afternoon with a guy who was married with 2 kids. He was insatiable! He said he went every Saturday afternoon and the whole point was to get f---ed to the point of exhaustion!

'Mature' in this case means 70 and over! There are various other groups who qualify such as business/first class passengers on most airlines (but not all and you'll probably need a card given out on board to qualify,) APEC Business Travel card holders etc.

This is one issue that the airlines have brought on themselves. First by encouraging passengers to take carry-on baggage rather than pay for luggage in the cargo hold, and second by not policing passengers to ensure that the number of carry-on bags is not more than permitted by the conditions of the ticket. When I was working full time in the Asian regional offices of three international companies, I had to travel each year to several company offices. The least expensive way to do this was usually with a round-the-world ticket. Not only did these have the perk of several more flight sectors than I needed (up to 16 until around 2004 when it was reduced to 14 on OneWorld) - thereby permitting several short vacation side-trips at almost no cost, as I was allowed biz class travel the tickets were automatically upgraded to first class within the USA if, as was usually the case, there was no biz class on the plane. Not that first class was anything like a first class in most other areas of the world - in fact, space-wise not even on a par with premium economy nowadays. But it did permit much faster check-in, lounge access and free drinks on board. What always annoyed me was that some passengers who boarded the aircraft first would plonk their bags in the overhead bin at the front before moving down to their seats at the back. So first class bins were often full by the time premium passengers boarded. Only very occasionally would flight attendants stop this. Since these days, I have found that only Easyjet in Europe has been very strict on carry-on bags and bag dimensions (haven't flown Ryanair and so have no comparison). In Asia, though, despite often stringent regulations on carry ons, I have never once seen any airline staff stop passengers who take on board more bags then permitted. And like @Olddaddy's experience, it is frequently Indian passengers who bring a very large number of shopping bags on board. I don't really blame the passengers. If an airline has rules and 99 times out of 100 fails to enforce them, then its staff are to blame. Last point on air rage. I have written several times to the so-called legacy carriers in Asia requesting that boarding passengers who have large backpacks be forced to hand carry them on to the plane. Twice I have been hit on the head when in an aisle seat and a late boarding passenger has suddenly turned around resulting in my getting hit on the head by the backpack. Fortunately I wear spectacles. If I did not, on one occasion the loose end of a thick strap that hit the spectacles could have badly damaged my eye. But writing is clearly a waste of time for I still see flight attendants happily accepting passengers wearing large backpacks.

Emirates has finally started to introduce a new Premium Economy Cabin on its A380 fleet. Dubai to/from London, Paris and Sydney will be the first cities served. From the website, it looks like it is located at the front of the lower deck. First row should therefore offer extra space. https://www.emirates.com/th/english/experience/cabin-features/premium-economy-class/

Continuing on this slight side-track, surely the airlines and the airports are primarily responsible for the much longer delays, with immigration authorities not far behind? To a certain extent it is understandable. When covid really started to hit, passenger traffic collapsed almost completely. A huge number of staff were laid off to avoid bankruptcies - although quite a few airlines did go under. The major resurgence in travel has taken most in the travel industry by surprise. We can complain that they should have had better planning in place for all eventualities and getting staff quickly back to work, but that's not going to help with the existing long queues, delays, over-bookings and cancellations. I guess those of us in Asia are in a slightly better situation. In the meantime, those in the west have little choice but grin and bear it.

I last chatted with him about 4 months ago. Sadly for him, he's still single, although he now has a group of close Chinese friends. He always tells me there is a dearth of foreigners in Taiwan and he is now at an age when any who might be available will be looking for someone younger. So I am certain he's just given up. It's a real pity since he is such a nice guy and could make someone really happy.

How did you guess? LOL Seriously, though, I don't think the young guys I have been lucky enough to meet up with have been attracted only by photos - although if I had photos which made me look like the face of a camel I might have had a problem. There just seem to be some guys in some of the cities I listed whose only interest is in hooking up with older farang. For them this is certainly not so easy when living in Tokyo, Taipei and Danang, and no doubt quite a few other places. A former bf of 5 years who lives in Taipei and with whom I get together for brunch whenever I visit is always complaining that he is unable to find a suitable older westerner. He's now in his early 40s, is still good looking, very fit and in a good job - plus he has another asset I need not describe here! Just as an aside, he (I'll call him Feng) told me a funny but true story. He thought he had found Mr. Right, an Englishman in his late 50s who worked in Taipei. Unfortunately Feng loved life and really enjoyed going out to concerts, movies, museums, occasionally a disco etc. but his English bf only wanted to crash when he returned from work and watch television or videos. Even so, Feng enjoyed being with him. After about 18 months together, though, Feng decided he should liven up his sex life by finding a friend with benefits. Quite unusually for him as he had only ever been with westerners, he found a slightly younger Taiwanese guy whom he'd meet roughly once a week. This continued for about a year after which Feng decided to break it off. Some weeks later, cuddling at home with the English guy, they heard the doorbell. The English guy answered the door. It turned out to be the Chinese guy who'd come looking for Feng. Very stupidly Feng had at one time given him his address but not told him he already had a bf. All this came out as the three of them were having drinks. Learning of the reality of the situation, the Chinese boy left. The English guy seemed to take it all in his stride and did not make any fuss. A few weeks later Feng returned from work. He went straight to the bedroom to get out of his clothes and take a shower. As he opened the door, there in bed together were the English bf and his Taiwan FWB! He gave up his bf days later.

My days in the bars and with money boys ended quite some time ago. I therefore have no interest in what going rates are. That said, I have nothing whatever against money boys. They provide a service and are making a living. Good on them, especially if the service is great. However, being based in Bangkok I notice that there are so many boys available on the apps who are not money boys and whose only interest is in a good time with some good sex. Bangkok being a large city, most will ask for transport if they are coming from reasonably far away, but few request taxis. Sometimes a nice dinner is accepted, but far from always Having a partner, I don't take them up on offers. But my partner knows that I do meet up with guys when i travel, but again not money boys. In Tokyo, Taipei, KL, Singapore and more recently in Danang there always seem to be plenty of boys looking for an older farang. On my last trip to Singapore I was merely lying on my bed after a rather heavy lunch when a young student clicked on me. Turned out he was virtually passing the front door of the hotel. Well, what was I supposed to do? I had a good time. I fully realise that non commercial guys are not always available when a visiting tourist wants to hook up. Many are students or young guys with jobs. So outside of Thailand I do not expect hook ups till early evening. So far I have rarely been disappointed.

The new "social order" has been promulgated for at least a couple of years. The government no longer wants cheap tourism. It's after the big spenders. So it has made it easier to park your private jet in Phuket! 🤣

We can blame the first Thaksin government and his homophobic Interior Minister Purachai for early closing times. Before their Social Order campaigns in the early 2000s, bars and clubs stayed open virtually as long as there were customers. Purachai imposed mostly 1:00 am closing times. Even the hugely respected GM of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kurt Wachtveitl, told the New York Times this would be a major setback for Thai tourism.

Unquestionably. And it was not Nixon or US administrations that created that change. It was the twice rehabilitated Deng Xiao-ping and his vision for a new China. Sadly Tiananmen Square in June 1989 remains one blot on his record. But even a detailed analysis of that disaster illustrates how he was increasingly hemmed in by the old guard which felt his reforms were not in accord with Mao's revolution and which had got rid of the reformers Deng had earlier placed in top positions. Thereafter, Deng's power was significantly reduced. The real question for Thailand and the huge investments it made in recent years to cope with the huge - and largely surprising - uptick in Chinese tourism is will the Chinese return in the same numbers. Tourism in this country seems to go in cycles. First the westerners, then the Russians. If the Chinese cannot be attracted back in the same numbers as in 2019, who will take their place? Indians?

Yes it's a totalitarian and authoritarian state, although it is far less draconian in most of the country than we often think, - at least that is what my friends living there tell me. Of course those in Xinjiang and Tibet will not agree, for what China is doing there is ghastly and seems underneath everything like some form of genocide. And yes, China may have grown big largely on the back of the greed of western consumers desperate for cheaper goods. But it has to be more than that for Bangladesh is known worldwide for its textile exports, yet it remains mired in poverty. I think it's important to remember that the USA became a friend of China with Nixon's visit in 1971 which turned the USA's previous policy on its head. The USA actively helped China grow as a natural buffer to the Soviet Union. At that time, China had lost about 30 million of its peoples to Mao's mad campaigns and was not yet over the Cultural Revolution. Thereafter with the rise of Deng Xiao-ping, it was not the west he turned to but the mega zillionaire Chinese in Hong Kong and other parts of the world. They funded his initial economic reforms and helped drag 400 million out of poverty. Of course, once the west learned of the cheap goods and the cheap labour market, they flooded in. Soon after the start of this century, many Japanese high-end goods like digital cameras were actually made in China. Greed had indeed become a factor in the equation and China grew fast as a result. I don't know enough about theft of intellectual property but no doubt that helped too. However it was achieved, though, China pre-covid was the world's second largest economy - up from almost zero in just 40 years. I think I am correct in saying only Japan holds a similar record - and again it was a demand first for cheap goods and then quality which was the cause.

I remember years ago being told by someone in the airline industry that a full 747-400 flying from Asia to Europe will burn off 25% of its fuel just to reach cruising altitude - i.e. in less than first 25 minutes. But the more efficient design of the 787s and A350s and their having 2 engines rather than 4 no doubt make them a good deal more fuel efficient.

Agreed. When I returned to Bangkok at the end of March, I forgot about the Thai Pass until there were only 5 working days left prior to departure. I panicked a bit but managed to get the form in on a Sunday. I was then very surprised that the QR code was returned on the following Wednesday evening. In future I would certainly not leave it anything like so late.

GIven that China accounted for around 30% if not more of all arrivals in 2019, it's hardly surprising that arrivals in 2022 are way below pre-pandemic levels. What will be interesting is when China does permit overseas tourism again, will the Chinese still consider Thailand as a first choice?

During Tsarist times in Russia, being known as gay was tantamount to career-ending, no matter who you were. Arguably Russia's most famous composer and later to become known as one of its most tormented gay men was the composer Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Ironically his brother Modest was also gay - but then he was not nearly as famous. Tchaikovsky was lauded throughout the country partly for his music to three of what have become the most popular ballets in the repertoire - Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, but equally for his seven symphonies, violin concerto, two piano concertos and the opera Eugene Onegin. Even today Tchaikovsky being gay is very much played down in Russia to fit in with Putin's homophobia and the country's harsh laws. In an attempt to throw any suspicion off him, in 1877 aged 37 Tchaikovsky decided to get married. Antonina Miliukova was an aspiring young musician. From the moment she first saw Tchaikovsky, she was enthralled. She determined to marry him despite the fact they were particularly ill-suited to each other. Tchaikovsky stated she was a woman "with whom I am not the least in love." Modest went further, describing her as a "crazed half-wit." In the end she got her way, even though it seems certain she was not aware at that time that he was gay. In many respects this was similar to events a few decades later when an aspiring young ballet student set her sights on marrying arguably the greatest male dancer the world has ever seen, Vaslav Nijinsky. Nijinsy had been the plaything of a homosexual clique in St. Petersburg before being taken under the wing of the very gay impresario, Serge Diaghiev. Probably more bisexual than totally gay, after his marriage Nijinsky's career fell apart and he was to spend decades in and out of psychiatric institutions. Tchaikovsky suffered no similar fate. His marriage was more than a disaster, however. He soon found his wife "absolutely repulsive" and spoke of "unbearable moral torments." It lasted for just 8 weeks before the couple separated. Since divorce was complicated in Russia, they had to remain man and wife until his death. But the rift was total and he saw no more of her. The Hollywood Reporter writing about the new movie shown recently at the Cannes Film Festival "Tchaikovsky's Wife" describes the marriage as "more like a train suddenly hitting a 747, then flying off the rails of a bridge, where it crash lands into a boat causing an explosion that blows up the bridge, too." Both parties were to suffer, Tchaikovsky of a nervous breakdown although he was thereafter able to continue his career. Antonina was devastated and ended up like Nijinsky in losing her mind. The marriage was a tragedy for both parties.

It's interesting how airlines were all but desperate to get rid of their A380s prior to covid but several have now taken some of theirs out of mothballs with the substantial uptick in travel demand. I know SIA, BA and Qatar have done so. I believe Emirates continued to fly them on some routes even during the pandemic.

For whatever reason, I not only did not like Elvis - I actively disliked him! Those ghastly movies! There were other US pop stars of the time that I enjoyed - loved The Beach Boys, Dionne Warwick, Mamas and the Papas, Roy Orbison, Sonny & Cher, Bob Dylan etc. - but Elvis left me cold! Then the British invasion started with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the host of other Merseyside groups which thereafter took most of my interest.

Looks nice from the outside. The location is almost exactly where Barbiery moved after leaving Suriwong. I hope that is not an omen. But then the 'new' Barbiery was a totally different less inviting experience inside its second incarnation and died after a relatively short time. It was also on the 3rd floor of a multi-storey rather than at ground level. No doubt that made it difficult to find for first timers.

The problem with TG's non-stop NYC service was that it had purchased 6 of the long range 4-engine Airbus A340-600s especially to serve its USA routes to NYC and LAX. Apart from its inability to carry much cargo, with a mix of business and economy seats the aircraft had to sell most of the seats to break even. It never did. A bit like the A380, it was the wrong aircraft at the wrong time. Almost as soon as the long distance version was being manufactured, changes in the ETOPS regulations meant that cheaper twin jets like the 777 were thereafter able to fly across the Pacific. The massive increase in fuel price around 2008 then all but killed it. For many years TG tried to sell its A340 fleet without success. They are not listed on its present fleet but it is believed TG still owns them and they are stored at U-tapao airport.