Londoner

Carpe diem.

There is of course the Trumpian approach; if judges provide unwelcome decisions, appoint different ones.

I think that's "invasive" rather than "intensive" interrogation.

Eminently sensible demands, in my opinion and consequently doomed to be ignored. Poor Thailand. Still, good to see that the young are still struggling for justice.

This is how military juntas behave. It is just that- a junta- not a government. In fact, in some ways it has benefitted from Covid in so far as it put a lid on the street protests. And we all know that if, through an act of God, Covid disappeared tomorrow, the restrictions on dissent would remain. I sometimes wonder if the junta (like Bolsonaro and Duterte) may not be bothered too much about the epidemic. It's a perverted version of Rome's "blood and circuses"....it keeps the populations' collective mind off such minor issues as poverty.

To be blunt, the gay scene in Patong wasn't much cop on my first visit in 1997. Pre-app , of course. In the far-off days of a vibrant Boyztown, it offered a preview (on reflection) of what the future held for our beloved Pattaya.

I remember my first gay guide ("Thai Scene" circa 1996) suggesting that "well-dressed" joiners at The Oriental should have no problem. Isn't there at "jacket only " policy at their famous La Normandie restaurant? It'd be fun to take a money-boy there and see the result.

Apologies in advance for yet another reminiscence of doubtful relevance....but does anyone recall Blue Star in Soi Twilight, circa 1996? Two separate troupes, one macho , the other twinks, both of which appeared au naturel a busy periods? I particularly remember a couple of the twinks who were not proud of their parts so that they'd appear with their hands strategically placed. A bi like in a "Carry on" film. Those were the days.

Sansuk did when it opened. I don't know why it stopped......thirty guys paying 100bht each is better than ten paying 270. As z909 says, London saunas are depressing places for us. I'm not sure that I'll ever return, particularly to the one he mentions.... which I recognise.

I'm prepared to pay a higher price if it subsidises younger guys, the majority of whom cannot afford Babylon or Sansuk prices. I never understand why saunas (and this includes those in London) don't try to increase the number of customers by allowing younger guys in at rock-bottom prices. They'd increase revenue from older guys too, I suspect. No wonder so many have closed here over the past few years. As far as Babylon is concerned, they offered half-price entry a few years ago when the pool was out of action; the numbers of younger guys ( and I expect older ones, too) this attracted was astonishing. They must have made more money at those prices than when the pool was open. It reminded me of the Golden Years at the old location.

All is revealed! So that's where the young Thais and Asians went, leaving Babylon for the likes of me.

"When we are together it is clear that I am to be looked after." Yes; my experience is the same, even to the extent of my arm being held when we cross a road, even though my experience as a Londoner makes me far more aware of the dangers of traffic than a farmer from Kamphaeng Phaet, where two tractors are considered a traffic jam!

One of the other gay forums rarely includes any threads that aren't Covid-based. I know the issue is vitally important-it is for me- but for heaven's sake, let's talk about other things too.

Thanks; I love this post, not only because it's Covid-free but because so much of it resonates profoundly with those of us who in LTRs and are consequently struggling to ensure that our loved-ones are coping. I understand your decisions to help BG. I expect you have heard the warnings- silent or otherwise- not to be taken-in, exploited, abused and so on. We give, sometimes generously, but the amount of happiness and relief that our money provides is worth it. I've never gone hungry because of P; I've never said, "No, that new shirt is beyond me at the moment..." and so on. I tell him- and it is true- that giving money to him gives me happiness. And as a Buddhist, he appreciates this fully, perhaps beyond my understanding. The money I have I saved by missing four trips has certainly helped P..... a new smart TV, a new motor cy, the re-seeding of his small-holding and a spirit house the size of a Bangkok temple ....well almost.... not to mention the other day-to day expenses, none of which I have missed. He has done well out of lockdown!

Thanks for reminding me....I loved those books. I read the first two in the series but I see that there are more which I've now ordered, thanks to you!

Others on this site are far more knowledgeable about Japan and its culture than I am - I've not even been there- but may I make a couple of points? Is it possible that the communal bath-culture so loved in the country affected the acceptance and popularity of Japanese saunas? And I have been a London sauna- frequenter for twenty years and have the impression that Japanese guests are represented at a higher level than I'd expect from their numbers in London.

If Babylon is to close permanently- perhaps it has already- it will undoubtedly be the result of the property values of its surrounding area. However, anyone who remembers its old premises and the huge numbers it attracted twenty or so years ago will recognise that social media has affected the popularity of saunas, perhaps as much as that of gay go go bars. Obelisk and Colony went long ago. And others, whose names I cannot recall.

I'm becoming something of a boor on this subject but I must allude again to the highly-successful campaign to encourage the use of condoms, with a corresponding drop in birth rate in the 90s. I suspect that perhaps the improvements in living -standards under Thaksin twenty plus years ago played their part.

One thing that I found surprising is that P's school (this was in late 90s) held ladyboy competitions, not unlike those that used to be held in Pattaya. I suppose this merely goes to show (as I suggested earlier) that a clearly defined Third Sex was more acceptable than what we think of as gay sexuality.

I wonder how much gay sex is practised in rural areas? Is it to be assumed that a gay man, wishing to express his sexuality, has to travel to Chiang Mai or Bangkok? I ask this question because of a friend of my boyfriend, in Kamphaeng Phaet, was recently diagnosed with hiv+. I was astonished. P blamed the guy's infection on his interest in cruising toilets- specifically those attached to petrol stations. He says that there are very, very few local guys (that is, within thirty kms ) on Romeo or Hornet. And so, presumably, other avenues are explored. It sounds rather like 1950s Britain. I should add that P told me that his first experience was with a schoolfriend when he was eighteen and that his nephew, who is also eighteen, has just "come out" without, as far as he knows, facing opposition in his family. I suppose it helps having a gay uncle!

Fascinating. I knew that my boyfriend was very close to his parents and he claimed that they were fully aware of his sexuality but that the subject was never discussed. We'd been together for four years or more before I received the invitation to visit in Kamphaeng Phaet. I had felt rather hurt by his reluctance, particularly in view of the falangs I knew who'd been "taken home" at an early stage in their relationships. I wondered whether the poverty in which they lived was an issue, and without explaining why, I talked to him about my experiences in West Africa, where the poverty in some rural villages and compounds I'd visited (and ate in, from communal bowls) was way beyond that of rural Thailand. But no. I had to tease out the reasons why my invitation was relatively late in arriving; nothing to do with poverty, parent or family; everything to do with the close-knit village in which his family lived and its collective view of homosexuality. A gay man, he told me, was considered to be effeminate. P is straight-looking and acting. He didn't want to be considered a ladyboy, or anything like it. About a year earlier, I'd paid for a house to be built next to his parents to provide a better environment for him....it even had an indoor toilet and bathroom! However, he was there for only six years when the opportunity arose for him to move about ten kms away, to a secluded (relatively speaking) but older house with its own plot of land. I have to admit to being upset. That house near his parents had cost me dear; I'd been involved in every stage of its planning and construction. I must confess to a feeling of pride for what I'd done for him. And of hurt by his decision. But again, the desire for privacy and separation from the village trumped everything else, including being willing to swap the smart concrete house I'd paid for an old and traditional one. I stress that P , who's now thirty-eight, is straight-looking and acting. And exclusively and assertively gay. But the hold the community still had on him was immense. He visits his parents everyday; but his sexuality ensures that he will no longer live there. In an odd way, bearing the mind the part I played in his two houses, including the fitting-up and refurbishment of his new one, I am something of a victim too!

I understood that private hospitals are (or will be) offering both doses at 2500-3000 bht. Like others, I was pleased to hear the announcement about re-opening. I checked EVA's flights from London, and yes, they are available in October. I also contacted Agate Hotel (Jomtien) but they are still closed, waiting and hoping. Perhaps I'm grasping at straws, but it was good to speak to P this morning and agree with him that we may be together in four months.

Ting-tong and ching-chong.

Some members of the the Thai hi-so community acts as if they have a divine right to do exactly as they please, whether it is killing traffic policemen and escaping (sic), paying thugs to attack Red Shirts or (so it seems) acting as if there is no national health emergency. These spoilt brats are untouchable, while the Thai population sweats and labours in fields, or works long , underpaid hours in 7 11s...or for that matter, keeps the tourist business alive in Patpong. Unsuccessfully, for now. I won't say here what I believe is the root cause of the chasm between the very rich and the rest of the country but note (with a degree of optimism, though not much), that middle -class students , as well as Red Shirts, are challenging the status quo. About time too.

Please, please, not vests! I was having a beer in Panorama. A couple of tables away was an elderly gentleman in a white vest with his Thai companion....heaven knows what my mother would have said. I thought it absolutely appropriate that he was drinking beer (the large Singha or Leo, whatever) while the Thai had a glass of water. But that's my prejudice showing. Apologies; my Britishness is showing again. A km away, in Soi Bukheaw (sp), he could have bought a T-shirt for less than 100 bht. Less than the cost of his beer. This was over a decade ago. It's probably not to my credit that it has stayed in my memory.