thaiophilus

Don't hold your breath. When I reported an error, it took several months for them to move Na Kluea from the Big Buddha to its true location. And looking just now I see the Big Buddha is currently "Gran Buda".

Do they normalize by the number of aircraft the airline owns, number of passengers carried, passenger miles travelled? If not, those figures may be facts but what you can infer from them is very limited. Even if normalized, they are still not very useful. Fatal crashes are rare events (at least for airlines visiting first-world destinations, or the regulators would ban them pretty quickly :-) so statistically they are outlying near-random noise on the tail of the distribution. Serious accidents usually only happen when more than one thing goes wrong at the same time, and often procedures are changed as a result of the accident investigation, so the same combination of events won't happen next time. On the other hand, some lessons learned are then forgotten, so a "safe" airline may become less safe through complacency. Also, 20 years is a long time in corporate terms, and the management of today's airline may have nothing in common with what it was 20 years ago. Simple example: airline A makes two daily long-haul flights per day and has had one fatal crash in the last 20 years, airline B has 500 regional flights a day and has had two fatal crashes. Does that make airline A twice as safe as B? Then consider Airline C which has had none at all. Are they "infinitely" more safe than A or B? Or are we just looking at events that are so unlikely the statistics have no predictive value?

I agree with the sentiment, but there's another reason you might need (not want) to receive some calls: two-factor authentication... If my bank spots "unusual" activity on my credit card, quite likely when I'm abroad with different spending patterns, they send a text message to my home number. If I don't respond they are likely to block the card.

Theravada Buddhism doesn't do excluded middles, so also it will be neither there nor not there, and both there and not there. All at once.

If you're travelling during the day between Pattaya and Suvarnabhumi, don't overlook the Bell bus. It's twice the price of the regular buses at 240B and must be pre-booked online (go to https://ticket.belltravelservice.com/customer/Webhome and select "shared transfer"), but that fare includes a minibus transfer between the Pattaya North bus terminal and your hotel. Unfortunately there's nothing similar from other parts of BKK.

"My sister was tested and has the delta 32 gene, which I assume means I have it." Sorry, that doesn't follow. On average, you only share half your sister's genes. (If you had all of them, you'd be a girl ;-) Your sister has the delta 32 *mutation* in one or both of her CCR5 *genes*. We all have two copies of that gene, one from each of our parents, who also have two copies... At conception we get a random 50-50 choice of one of our father's two CCR5 genes and one of our mother's. The fact that your sister has the mutation means that one or both parents has the mutation on one or both genes. So there are four possibilities, with rapidly decreasing probability: (1) one parent has the mutation on one gene, the other hasn't - 1% (2) each parent has the mutation on one gene - 0.01% (3) one parent has the mutation on both genes, the other hasn't - 0.01% (4) one parent has the mutation on both genes, the other has it on one - 0.0001% (5) both parents have it on both genes - 0.000001% (assuming the allele frequency of the mutation is 1%, and your parents aren't closely related, e.g. some sort of cousins) The probability that you have the mutation in each case is: (1) 50% - one throw out of two you get the mutation from the one parent who has it (2) 75% - one throw out of four, you get two unmutated copies (3, 4) 100% - one parent has the mutation on both genes, so you are guaranteed one of them. But to be protected you need the mutation on both genes, and the probabilities of that are (1, 3) 0% - one parent has two unmutated genes, so you are bound to get one of them (2) 25% - one time in four you get the mutated gene from both parents (4) 50% - one parent has both mutated and unmutated genes, so fifty-fifty whether you get an unmutated one (5) 100% - neither parent has the unmutated gene. [E&OE]

Anyone who visits Pattaya more than once can never leave... On a dark desert highway Cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas Rising up through the air Up ahead in the distance I saw a shimmering light My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim I had to stop for the night. There she stood in the doorway. I heard the mission bell And I was thinking to myself "This could be Heaven or this could be Hell" Then she lit up a candle And she showed me the way There were voices down the corridor I thought I heard them say "Welcome to the Hotel Pattayaland Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place) Such a lovely face Plenty of room at the Hotel Pattayaland Any time of year (Any time of year) You can find it here" Her mind is Tiffany-twisted She got the Mercedes Bends She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys She calls friends How they dance in the gogos Sweet summer sweat Some dance to remember Some dance to forget So I called up the Captain "Please bring me my wine" He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969" And still those voices are calling from far away Wake you up in the middle of the night Just to hear them say "Welcome to the Hotel Pattayaland Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place) Such a lovely face They living it up at the Hotel Pattayaland What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise) Bring your alibis" Mirrors on the ceiling The pink champagne on ice And she said: "We are all just prisoners here Of our own device" And in the master's chambers They gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives But they just can't kill the beast Last thing I remember, I was running for the door I had to find the passage back To the place I was before "Relax," said the night man "We are programmed to receive You can check out any time you like But you can never leave!" [with apologies to Don Henley]

Closed when I passed by tonight :-(

Back to the topic ... I walked past tonight and it was definitely closed, in darkness, chain and padlock on the door. Whether temporary or permanent I have no idea.

Today the Malaysia Hotel celebrates its 50th anniversary. I think any business that has been successfully delivering the same services at much the same prices for half a century must have a pretty good USP (even if it's nothing more than nostalgia) and deserves congratulations. Here's to the next 50 years! Anyone here who remembers checking in on 3 January 1968?

Any suggestions on what are the best gogo shows in BKK right now? I'm not greatly interested in lip-synching ladyboys (their backing boy dancers maybe) or non-stop big cocks ( nothing against them but seen one, seen all) What would be good is variety: a bit of humour, lots of naked flesh, a bit of art, a bit of sleaze, the sort of mix I first saw 20 years ago. Barbiery, or the old Jupiter? Can't remember. (Apologies for asking a question that's already been answered in other places, but searching this one topic among all the other valuable information is near impossible on a tiny not-very-smart phone.)

Any chance you could remember which establishment? I expect a number of readers would be interested in a visit ;-)

Agreed, that kind of ranking is useless GIGO, but some of those cities probably score higher than Bangkok on at least one axis. Random statistic, proving nothing: when I was in Reykjavik a few years ago, estimated turnout for the Pride parade (led by the mayor in drag), 90,000 people (and judging by my observations that figure is plausible.) That's more than a quarter of the population of Iceland.

Yes, Nicky retired, closed the site and put the domains up for sale about the same time as he published his book. The site was still there (if not actively updated) in late 2016 as I downloaded some pages from it then. A shame it's gone, as it was frequently updated and most places of interest were listed. Still I suppose a clean break is better than leaving a fossil to decay and become more and more misleading as time goes on. The Japanese massage site is here For the sake of completeness there are also these sites I bookmarked at various times, but they may be seriously out of date or too selective to be useful: Utopia-Asia (very selective/censored coverage, e.g. no mention of gogo bars at all!) Sticky Rice (last "latest stories" 2014) GayThailand "city guides" (no comment) ...and many others that are now totally defunct. And once upon a time there was no Internet and the only source of information was The Men Of Thailand and word of mouth..

That's a shame. I was told back in January that Narcissus had been sold as a going concern (ie running as before but under new management) and that the former owner intended to use the money to buy a bar (not massage) in Jomtien. TiT.

It's 100% security theatre. They have no idea what they are looking for, or what they would do if they found it.

If I'm reading it right, the bather made the video and the sarcastic comments himself, to make a point about someone's failure to repair the broken pipe. Not an opportunistic bath but a political statement.

Whether true or not, both statements miss the point because they confuse identity and behaviour. People decide to do certain things based on their sense of their own gender/orientation/identity/whatever, not merely because it "seem[ed] like a good idea". Don't you think it's ironic that a posting on a gay forum should be so dismissively 'splanatory about a different kind of otherness?

So the complex process of transitioning, with all its financial, medical, psychological and social negotiations and consequences, can be reduced to a simple "seem[ed] like a good idea"? I guess that's a bit like deciding to be gay, then

For an inexpensive day out: from Sathorn pier (BTS Saphan Taksin) take the Chao Phraya Express river bus (the ordinary orange-flag boat, NOT the overpriced blue-flag tourist boat) all the way to the terminus at Nonthaburi. Stroll round a provincial town, have lunch at a riverside restaurant, return. Boat fare: 15B each way. From Nonthaburi you can also take a taxi to Pak Kred and the local ferry across to the island of Ko Kred, but that may require some language and negotiation skills. Another laid-back island in the heart of Bangkok: taxi (from MRT Klong Toey or BTS Bang Na) to Wat Khlong Toey Nok at the port entrance, then take the local ferry across to Bang Krachao. Restaurants: If you like the Mango Tree, other farang-friendly restaurants to consider are Ban Chiang (Thanon Surasak off Silom, BTS Surasak) and Tummy Yummy, soi Tonson (nearest BTS Chitlom or Phloenchit) And if you want to pick and mix rather than dining in a formal restaurant, don't overlook the food courts in department stores like Central Chidlom.

"I wonder what will happen if on a connecting flight in Doha" In most countries outside of the USA there is a concept of "transit": If you have connecting flights and stay airside at the airport you have not technically entered the country. Therefore you don't go through customs at all, though you will probably have to undergo the usual security theatre (X-rays ,metal detectors etc.) before boarding.

myskipper: "he asked for more and claim it was the "service charge"". Just to clarify for anyone who doesn't know the system: there really is a service charge for taxis departing the airport. It's 50B on top of the meter charge. Also, passengers are expected to pay the expressway tolls (various sums 20-50B, shown at the gate). Usually the driver asks for the money as you approach the toll station; if he doesn't, he will expect it at the end of the journey. I can understand the driver appearing nervous about raising the question, if the passenger shows no sign of understanding this and has no common language. On the other hand, anything running to hundreds of baht is a scam. While we're here, here's my honest Bkk taxi story. I was in a taxi from the airport, at night, when the driver received a call. He stopped, turned around and found the bag the previous passenger had left (in the dark) on the floor in the back. We made a slight diversion and he passed the bag over to another taxi, I assume to be reunited with its owner. And for balance, the dishonest one. This was a clocked meter, obviously running at way over the correct rate. Maybe half way between the airport and central Bkk it was indicating 40km, when the entire journey is less than 25. Luckily there were two of us and my companion was fluent in Thai, so that "meter" ride suddenly became a (reasonable) fixed fare.

Adding to what others have said: 5. In most hotels the boy will have to leave his ID at the desk. When he leaves, if you are not with him they will phone your room to check all is OK before giving the ID back.

1. No. For those who don't know, Thai immigration is tedious (if you arrive at a busy time, be prepared to wait in line for an hour or so) but mostly painless. Unlike some countries there are no intrusive questions about your reasons for visiting. In 20+ years I don't think I have ever been asked anything more than "please show boarding card". They are not interested in your motives, only your paperwork, so make sure you have filled in all sections of the arrival card, including the address where you will be staying (if in doubt, pick a random Bkk hotel, nobody will check: TiT.)

Been there, seen that, or else something remarkably similar was on the BBC recently. I guess it's one of those international productions where they show the same video sequences but the narrative is voiced by an actor of the target audience's nationality. But that's not to knock it in any way - as such documentaries go, that is one of the better ones. I too was fascinated by the sheer complexity of what goes on. As a private pilot I get glimpses of that world, but the differences of scale are tremendous. It still amazes me that for a few hundred £ I can get to fly on an A380 costing a third of a billion. The mere sound of the flight numbers EK016 - EK376 gets my mouth watering thinking of my next visit to LOS...