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Well, no new tourists can get in. And those of us stranded here are likely either not in the mood or are conserving money since the situation is so uncertain. So that limits the audience available to the bars. I agree also that the prices are high. I thought about going to Solid last night but just couldn't rouse myself to go out. And that appears to be the case again tonight...

I haven't found out yet how this Bt2000/day per stranded person payment is working, but it seems like that would help these guys a lot. Not sure who if making the payments or anything like that but it sounds like maybe it is processed through the hotel operator? A cheap hotel room for two should leave plenty of cash left over for meals and other expenses.

I'm not sure it would be much news in the USA until people start dying. But Mumbai certainly knocked Thailand off of BBC World and CNN International. I would take this 1 million number with a grain of salt considering the source is a deputy PM. However, I think there is a lot of damage being done that will last a very long time.

In general I think most taxi drivers here are great. I don't know how they survive, frankly. But then you have the guys who troll Suriwong telling you Bt100 or 200 for a ride that should cost less than 50 on the meter. Does anyone really fall for that? Are people so drunk coming out of the bars that they just agree? I always just laugh at them and close the door. And then walk a few hundred meters and flag down an honest driver who just turns on the meter. The first driver could have made an easy fare for a relatively short drive and been back on the road quickly, but decided to try and rip me off instead so he gets no money and keeps on driving his empty cab.

One the one hand it is hard to say. But on the other it is easy to say that all digital cameras these days (especially from the well-known brands) are generally very good. What sort of photography do you plan to do? How portable does the camera need to be? What will you be doing with the photos? I have been shooting DSLRs for a few years. I just got a Nikon D90 recently which I am loving. I have shot a ton of photos on this trip that I am currently editing and narrowing down to make a photobook once I get home. Of course it is very expensive and then there is the cost of lenses. I also have a little pocket-sized Canon SD600 which I like very much for snapshots in good light. It doesn't perform as well in low light. But I think these little Canon's are great cameras that you don't mind carrying because they are so small. But you can also get tiny cameras from Nikon, Casio, Sony, etc as well. There are lots of features out there, some more important than others. Most point and shoot cameras these days also shoot decent quality video for short clips if you are interested in that. You will probably want to make sure the "shutter lag" is as short as possible. That's the time between when you push the shutter release button and when the camera actually takes the picture. Don't get caught up too much in the "megapixel" wars. Unless you plan to make lots of big (poster sized) prints or are planning to do lots of cropping in software you don't need more than 6 MP. I have some gorgeous 13" x 19" prints from photos I took with a 6 MP camera.

It's just a regular bar, not a gogo bar or host bar in the Thailand sense. The staff I was referring to are the bartenders. They are all tiny, petite and a little bit girly but very friendly. They play a lot of diva music which the staff sing along to and dance while they are working. It sounds a little silly and it is but I was charmed. Lots of warm smiles and most of them speak English well enough. There is one guy who looked like me must be the manager or something who is stunningly handsome. He looks just like a Buddha statue. As for the freelancers I am afraid I can't tell you much as I didn't take anyone home with me. One guy told me he was a masseur and basically offered to massage me but I didn't ask for details. He looked like he might have been part caucasian. A handsome guy, but the cigarette smoking is a total redlight for me and I wasn't in the mood anyway. Drink prices seemed reasonable but I don't drink alcohol so I can't comment on those prices for mixed drinks. I just had a ginger ale which was something like $1 I suppose. Prices there are in US $. Mainly I just found it to be a lively, relaxing place to hang out.

I was just there. Blue Chili is very nice. Friendly, cute staff. They apparently put on some sort of drag show on Fridays and Saturdays. Several handsome freelancers hanging out there too. The Sticky Rice website has a good collection of info http://www.stickyrice.ws/?view=directory&country=kh Also check out this gay Cambodia blog for info http://queercambodia.blogspot.com/ I stayed at the Quay Hotel which is a very high design concept hotel right on the riverfront. Rooms on the front of the building have balconies overlooking the river but they are very noisy in the AM. The horn honking starts early. I read that rooms at the rear of the building have no windows. That doesn't seem safe in the event of a fire and you would never get away with that in a western country. I enjoyed my one night stay there. It is run by the FCC (Foreign Correspondents' Club) which also has another hotel and restaurant.

Having stayed 3x at Ambiance including a just-concluded stop there last weekend I would say, stay somewhere else. In my opinion the physical plant of the hotel, while never great, is really going downhill. The staff are wonderful, but I suspect that is the case in most hotels in this country. My room had no or limited hot water in the shower during my stay. They are installing an elevator but there is no indication when that work will be done. Construction is limited to 10:00-17:00. But if you have any concern climbing steep stairs you will want to consider that. The rooms are also generally very dark. And while it may not be a concern for you, the TV options are limited to a measly 7 or 8 channels. At this point I don't plan to come back to Thailand but if I ever do and I ever go back to pattaya I would stay somewhere else.

It's not just the Thais of course. I am in Cambodia at the moment. And even the "professional" drivers employed by my tour company are rather reckless. The roads here are pretty bad and they are full of motorcycles and bikes. The car driver's response to this is to blow the horn at every opportunity so those poor sods (and kids) will move as far out of the way as possible. It's a wonder there aren't more deaths. We saw two dead bodies laying on the road covered up on the way down to Kep from Phnom Penh. Apparently it was two girls who had been on a moto struck by a car the night before. I don't know how he knew the details. And I don't know why it took so long for the police to show up and remove them from the highway.

The bar is just a bar as noted above. I'd say probably more "gay friendly" than strictly gay. It is located on the road along the Nam Khan river sort of northeast of Phousi. They show movies there frequently I gather. Last night was The Bourne Ultimatum. People lounging inside the bar were watching the movie. Folks at a couple of tables outside were chatting. The bar is owned by an American and his Lao boyfriend. They also own the Lao Lao Gardens restaurant across the street. Very cute wait staff, but that is the case at pretty much every restaurant in town. The young men here are adorable. I don't believe that any of the waiters were "offable" in the traditional sense. As noted the gay scene here is very lowkey. But we pass a lot of "sisters" on the street who know my guide. I saw a ladyboy working at the main Wat yesterday. For a town this small there seem to be a lot of gay folks, but I suppose all of the western tourists may be part of the reason. I get the feeling people are much freer here than they would be in a small traditional village that has little or no contact with outsiders. I think Luang Prabang is definitely worth a visit, but not for the gay life. As for what I am paying at 3 Nagas, I can't really give you an answer to that. I am booked through Purple Dragon so it is part of their tour module. I think rates are at least $140/night though. One other drawback of being here is that it is right on the main street so it is very noisy with motos and tuktuks. The earplugs are necessary. Another thing I would note is that much is made of the monks' procession each morning to collect food from the people. I have seen it described as a very sacred and spiritual experience. But I have to say that yesterday morning at least it was very much like an assembly line. They send out the young novice boys to collect the food. There is no chanting or praying. They just move as quickly as they can. Of course it has been quite chilly, the start of cold season apparently, so those poor kids are probably trying to get back home to the monastery as quickly as they can to warm up. Walking barefoot in nothing but a little monk's robe must be tough.

I am in LP at the moment. It is really beautiful here and the weather is just gorgeous. Warm during the day but not too hot and chilly at night. I am staying at the 3 Nagas which is very nice, but there are a million little hotels and guests houses all over the city which also look very nice on the outside at least. Frankly I think 3 Nagas is overpriced for what it is, but the staff are nice. Breakfast is very good but there isn't enough of it. Sorry I can't be of much more help. There are tons of gay men here in Luang Prabang. Either that or they are just really friendly. My gay guide seems to know a lot of them though. We are going out to the gay bar tonight.

well, he still has his place in Hong Kong, right? I assume he will end up there for a while.

I haven't really shopped for clothes in Thailand so I am not sure if they would be any cheaper. For sure if you are in the giant malls the prices are probably comparable to what you pay at home. You will find cheaper stuff in the local markets. But depending on your size you might have a hard time finding "farang sized" clothes. I bought a "large" t-shirt last year that would be somewhere between a small and medium in USA sizes.

It's different in that they are not at the same time. I think Laos' is in October.

I enjoyed a place called Fan Club on my trip last year. It is on a small sub-soi off of Convent Rd near the Silom end. It's on the same little street as the Indigo restaurant. Nice, more upscale place. Good shower in the room. Big bed. Very clean. My masseur did a rather short massage before the "extras" began. He was a nice, sweet guy. But if you want more real massage first you probably want to ask. Adonis always has a big selection. They are at the Sathorn end of Convent. I had a decent massage there from a skinny little guy once I got him to stop using so much hard pressure on my legs. I was in agony briefly. Unfortunately dirty, moldy shower was off-putting.

I am staying at the Settha Palace Hotel in Vientiane. It looks pretty nice and has mostly good reviews at http://www.tripadvisor.com. It's an old French colonial building. It is fairly small by the number of rooms. I will know more in a couple of weeks after I have been there. I read recently that there are lots of new buildings and hotels going up there.

Lao Airlines also flies from BKK to Luang Prabang and Vientiane. But I don't know if they are any cheaper. I think they are basically charging the same as Bangkok Airways.

I am a little bummed that I will miss it this year. I will be in Laos at the time and oddly their Loy Krathong isn't the same as Thailand's for some reason.

I will be in LP in a couple of weeks for the first time. I will be staying at the 3 Nagas. tripadvisor.com is a good source for hotel reviews.

I think my mother and perhaps some of my co-workers would say that I am since I will be returning there for the 3rd time in 3 years next month. Of course I don't tell them about ALL of the things I do there! I'm not sure addicted is the word I would use. I definitely enjoy myself there for the most part and I enjoy going there. And I start planning the next trip as soon as the current one is over. But I don't only go to Thailand. Last year I added Cambodia, this year I will be adding Laos and also going back to Cambodia. So maybe I am addicted to SE Asia. I think I would rather say that I have a great fondness for SE Asia, the people, and the culture. I suspect that with the world economy going the direction it is that it will become very difficult to travel internationally before very long. I will be sad if I can't go back to Asia, but it's not like it will kill me. My trips tend to be pretty short so there isn't really time for me to "fall in love" with any particular boy or boys. And I am just cynical and wary enough so I think that will probably never happen, especially with anyone I might meet in a gogo bar. I also hated and was disgusted by Pattaya on my first visit. But I did go back last year to give it another try and found myself liking it better...at least well-enough that I will be returning again this year for a few days. I don't believe I would ever be able to spend more than a few days there at a time. I am more of a big city type of person.

They ended up having a hard time selling the A345's so I guess instead of having the planes sit idle they must have decided to just go ahead and start flying them again.

my trip for this year was pretty much all paid for months and months ago. I will just have to pay for food and "incidentals" on the ground. Personally I have a very good job and plenty of money in the bank. I figure it makes more sense to enjoy myself now while I am still young and vital. :-) And since no one may be able to go anywhere before long I plan to pack in the fun now. Once the world goes bankrupt traveling most likely won't be as much fun. I am thinking of Bhutan next year maybe. And spend a little time in BKK before and after since Druk Air flies from there to Bhutan and it is the only option. But we'll see...

A problem for the dollar is that all of this bailout money has to come from somewhere. And that "somewhere" is largely thin air. So, putting that much more money in circulation drives down the value of all the rest of it. This latest scheme to have the taxpayers buy all of this worthless debt is probably just prolonging the inevitable. I think the long-term prospects for the dollar are not so good. But then again the whole world economy is going to be slowing down so maybe it is all just relative. I plan to enjoy this year's vacation to SE Asia as much as I can because it could very well be the last one for a while.

yeah, my investment account is really getting killed. Hopefully by time I am ready to retire everything will have rebounded. But as noted above the whole thing is one big house of cards. The worst is yet to come.

the dog in the basket is a fantastic photo! great depth of field. And that fluffy little doggy is just too adorable.