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travelgayasia.com includes India but doesn't have a huge amount of info Utopia also has some info https://www.utopia-asia.com/tipsindi.htm And the Nomadic Boys have been there https://nomadicboys.com/category/gay-travel-destinations/south-asia/india/

I was recently in Taiwan for Taipei Pride. While I was in town I visited MuDan Spa (www.muddan.com). Their website is very good and it shows photos of their "team". All totally handsome. I think I would basically have been happy with any of them. I contacted them via Line and asked who was available that day. They work by appointment only. They included photos of who was available and we worked out a mutually agreeable time. I chose Ricky a cute, compact 24 yo. They provided directions to their place which ended up being an upscale condo building near-ish the Longshan Temple MRT. They ask you to wait outside and message when you arrive and the masseur goes down to get you. The condo was beautiful. I don't know exactly how many units they have or if they are just careful about how they schedule. I did see one other guy who I am pretty certain was one of their masseurs in the lobby of the building. It looked like someone actually lives in the apartment. The sofa and some furniture were piled up off to the side and there was a nice massage table in the room. I showered and then we got going. I scheduled a 90 minute massage which ended up being perfectly timed. Ricky spoke only a little English, but was very sweet. His technique was a bit unusual with lots of elbow and forearm action on pressure points. He used a reasonable amount of oil. Eventually things moved on to a body-to-body massage so of course we were both naked at that point. Then he had me flip over. It was quite sensual in the end and I was quite happy. He has a great little body and was quite interactive. After we finished we showered together. He used Google translate on his phone to basically tell me I should leave the building on my own. I spent pretty much exactly US$100 - NT$2400 for the massage (I don't know how much goes to the spa and how much goes to the masseur). I tipped 600 on top of that and he seemed very happy with that. The only negative was that he was sniffling quite a lot. And I ended up with a cold a few days later. I don't know if I caught it from him or elsewhere as lots of people were sniffling around town. But it pretty much made the last week of my trip a lot less fun. I had planned to go back and try out a couple of other guys before I left town, but since I was sick I couldn't. But in the end this was head and shoulders above the other spas I have visited in Taipei over the years. The apartment is very nice and their selection of masseurs is definitely top of the line. Casper seems to have the most reviews on TravelGayAsia and no doubt he's a hunk.

I always arrange for a car service. It's more expensive, but it's a nice sedan and even if there's traffic you're not really stressing over the meter or anything. I use S&P Limousine. But I think most of them charge about the same. www.splimousine.com I get a slightly cheaper rate as a return customer. You meet their rep at the pre-arranged door at the arrivals level and she will handle liasing with the driver and walk you out the curb.

it was a big event for sure. The parade took 3 hours to pass my location from start to finish. One of the interesting parts for someone used to more organized Western Pride events where you have groups marching that represent various groups, teams, businesses, etc is that Taipei Pride's parade is much less organized. It seems to be lots more couples and groups of friends. Despite the weather (quite warm) there seemed to be many fewer guys in their underwear (or less). Maybe it's growing up? :-) But it was still fun. It seemed like every gay in Asia was there

I think there's an issue of safety...generally speaking I think it's safe for tourists if you pay attention and avoid the protest areas, tear gas, water cannons... But there's also the issue of inconvenience with the MTR being shutdown frequently to control the protesters, road blocks, vandalism, etc. While I agree the issues are bigger on weekends, there have been plenty of things going on throughout the week. I've been following the situation fairly closely. I had been planning to spend next weekend in HK. But decided before leaving on my trip (I was in S. Korea for 10 days or so and am in Taiwan now) that the disruption at this time in HK meant I would have been stressed out and not really able to enjoy my time. So I am spending a few extra days in Taiwan instead. I think almost every gay in Asia is here for Pride. Today's parade route is almost ridiculously long. But it's warm so I'm sure there will be plenty of scantily clad guys out and about.

I think the recommendation is still to have a colonoscopy at 50 in the US. The gastro doctor who did mine said come back in 5 years. My primary care doctor says 10 years. So I presume the gastro has an incentive to see you more frequently. My primary care doctor teaches at one of the local medical schools and thinks our health care system is a screwed up mess. He has very strong opinions.

One of my flights for early next year was under the axe. The Tuesday flight to IAD was the one cut to here. They rebooked me on the flight the day before which kind of sucks since I will lose a day of my vacation. Since I'm originating in Colombo and they don't operate their CMB-HKG flight on Mondays it took me a bit of research to find a reasonable connection so I could just feed them the flights I want instead of accepting a connection via LAX and a redeye on an AA 737-800 which would have been no fun at all. Hopefully there aren't more cuts before then

I have plans to spend a few days in HK in the autumn after Taipei Pride. So I'm keeping a close eye on what's going on. The US State Dept just raised their warning level. I might just stay in Taiwan and fly out the morning of my flight from HKG to make the connection

exactly. and of course these rich countries that have low birthrates are also intent on blocking all migration. the entire world is an extremely fucked up place these days

did your driver enjoy the show?

The only time I spent more than a few hours in Japan was about 4 years ago when I had about 3 days there and I am pretty sure I was able to get cash with my ATM card although I believe I did use a credit card for most things.

I've never had an issue using my ATM card as long as I contact the bank in advance of my trip

I agree that these days everyone is naked on the internet so when it's time for them to take over no one will bat an eye.

it's kind of crazy how many guys those clubs advertise. I wonder if they're all really available. Most of the time your luggage will be checked through to your final destination (unless you're on separate tickets and airlines without an interline agreement). So you only have to deal with a carry on bag. When I overnight in HK though I always pick up my main bag there and recheck it the next day. But I get a hotel so it's not a problem.

I kind of refuse to go to mainland China. Hong Kong is a place where I've transited several times. I've also managed a layover of about 24 hours there which is enough time to see a couple of things and/or get a massage. The train from the airport is fast. I like Seoul, but ICN is a long way from the city. Even on the "express" train it takes at least an hour. I don't mind connecting at NRT but I've never had more than a couple of hours there. As noted it's a long way from the airport to Tokyo. Some airlines will allow you a free stopover of a more worthwhile length. I think Korean Airlines has restricted or curtailed the practice but I've used their free stopover a couple of times. First time for a week. And on my trip over this fall it will be 10 days. I'd check to see if Cathay or EVA or China Airlines (Taiwan) allows it. I think Qatar Airways allows a stopover too if you're dying to see Doha.

the only time I stayed there the bed was hard as a rock. And I agree the internet sucked. And the bathroom was a mess. I also found the breakfast time to be very sad...all of those Thai boys and their older friends dining in total silence because they couldn't communicate.

I guess nothing lasts forever. Glad I was able to spend some time there over the last decade or so. Same for Sunnee during its heyday.

yeah, I think the DIY travel market these days was probably the biggest problem for them. Paying for insurance that covers operator bankruptcy is probably a good idea too. The guides were essentially freelancers for the most part rather than employees of PD since it's not like they had enough business to keep them all busy all the time. Especially in some of the less popular locations. I would guess it's likely that the website hosting was paid up for a certain amount of time so it lives on. Douglas probably didn't have much incentive or interest in taking it all down. He's moved to Siem Reap and I think he's still running the Bhutan agency (I believe things work quite a bit differently there - when I went many years ago I was told that the government basically holds the money for your trip in escrow and then pays the tour company at the completion of your trip) and may be helping some old customers organize some trips. He's in a rather large house/compound and plans to rent out the extra bedrooms to long-term guests.

I think I need a body type system refresher course.

welcome back?

this all got a little off topic, but I've never found any gogo bar fuck show to be in any way erotic

Fair enough. I didn't really understand why they had the referendum since the court had already ordered that they had to legalize it. That seemed to be just asking for trouble.

It is great. It's unfortunate the legislature dragged it out until the end of the time limit set by the court. I'm headed over for Taipei Pride again this year. Should be quite a party

cost of everything in Thailand is going up, so why would the boy bars be any different? I know lots of people love the places you're considering going, so enjoy.

It seems the Utopia guys really got railroaded, so I'm not sure I would say that was his fault. The lack of capitalization seems to have been the biggest problem. I doubt many of us traveling with them through the years realized how close to the edge things were. The fact that some one paying for a trip in a few months was paying for the trip of some one traveling this week seems quite risky from a business standpoint and eventually it couldn't be sustained. As I said, most of my trips with them were very good. Since I was traveling solo it was always nice to have a guide and personal driver. While many of the vehicles were rather long in the tooth, on the whole the guides were good for me. As with anything in this sort of realm, personalities and chemistry are important especially on longer trips. I never minded that it was costing a bit more than I could have paid if I'd arranged it all myself. it looks like he's landed on his feet with a nice place in Siem Reap.