PeterRS

Dubai had become the playground of the rich and relatively famous - as well as vastly underpaid sub-continent workers who had built the place. I wonder if those who bought there expecting a life of luxury and safety are now having second thoughts. If so, and they want to sell, the property market must be desperately low at present. And I wonder if the city-state will ever again regain its popularity.

I can think of another part of the anatomy if broken would be far more effective

Much more simple! Pad Thai with a vodka tonic! LOL

I wonder to what authority you refer because I have it on legitimate authority - stress - "legitimate" - that the original attack by @bkkmfj2648 on me was in fact an unwarranted attack. But I accept this drama has run its course and failing further attacks on this subject, I will cease. I hope @bkkmfj2648 contnues posting and it will be without comment from me.

Reference this disgraceful legal event highlighted by @Keithambrose, the events described did in fact occur but in real life settings. There is a chilling book The Abuse of Power by Anthony Daly about a major scandal in London's SoHo in the 1970s when young men were routinely picked up and led into a life of utter degradation. I stress young men and not young boys - although there also seems to have been a lively trade in picking them up from train stations. The author was an Irishman who came to London aged 20 to work in its leading book store Foyles. Yet he still got sucked into a life of extreme and utter debauchery headed almost entirely by aristocrats, MPs, senior police officers, judges and celebrities, some of whom are actually named. It is an excellently written if often painful read.

Written by a poster whose posts are usually just one line agreements or disagreements. Funny he only started bashing me after we had met for a meal a couple of times and then he broke Board rules by publishing details of PMs. Fire away Mr. Lawyer. But you are not the judge!

Excellent perceptive post.

Of course not. It takes two to end a controversy - as you might wish to remind Trump.

You may well be right! 🤪 Mea culpa! Sadly I never made it to Colombia. Fabulous sing fabulously sung.

But I do hope this stupid controversy will now fade after going on for about a year.

Britain has had not just a signature but a photo of a man who admitted to being gay even though it was against the law at the time on the back of its £50 notes for quite a few years.

That's kind. But sorry to say @Enchanted_Elixir is still on some sort of silly crusade, so I have been forced to respond by opening a new thread in the hope that the whole matter is very soon at an end.

SInce @Enchanted_Elixir is determined to continue this argument and since so few readers based in Thailand had obviously read the original posts, let's recall precisely what was written - using what he calls the "shocking" Search Engine, which is anything but. The relevant thread is The Dangers of Columbia which was started on May 25 2025 by @neygar. The basis of the thread was Dangers and related specifically to sexual adventures. On 5/27/2025 at 4:53 AM, @vinapu wrote: where I'm even thinking if I should be concerned about security I consider compromised. On 5/27/25 @bkkmfj2648 wrote this response - Hallelujah!! I thank you for saying this, as this is also my exact philosophy, and is the primary reason as to why I have not yet ventured to some of these South American countries. I truly do not enjoy any experience where the hairs on my neck or arms feel the need to stand up - it is just not worth it, if I cannot relax and enjoy the environment that I am in, - especially as an elderly retiree, with who knows how many years are remaining in my life - why accelerate the eventual end by venturing into a perhaps dangerous situation?? Life is already too short. I responded on the same date - Merely out of curiosity, is sex an essential part of your travelling? I spent a fabulous month travelling around four South American countries and sex was rarely on my mind. It was a fabulous trip and I saw so many natural wonders.The only time sex came into view was on arrival in Cuzco in Peru. With the short 45 minute flight taking you from sea level to almost 3,500 meters up, everyone told me to do virtually nothing for the first 5 hours while the body acclimatized. For a while I lay on the bed reading, then got bored and hit a couple of apps. Ended up chatting to a delighful student who worked in a bar in the centre of the city in the evenings. He was keen to meet, so the next evening I went for a drink. He was lovely, was obviously well known to the other bar staff and so he came back to my room for a short time. Lovely little interlude! In response to a question from @floridarob about my age when I travelled around South America, I replied on 5/27/25 60. I do go on other trips where sexual adventures are part of the agenda. For South America, the only reason was sightseeing. I had never been before, knew no-one and spoke hardly any Portuguese or Spanish. 9 cities/locations and 16 flights over a month (including 4 getting there and back) and each day was packed with activity. No time for anything else - except in Cuzco which was a complete although very pleasant surprise! This was the response made by @bkkmfj2648 a day later on 5/28/2025 - Dear @PeterRS, Your condescending question, framed as a mere curiosity, carries an unmistakable whiff of superiority, as if the pursuit of physical intimacy while traveling is somehow beneath the refined appreciation of culture you so clearly pride yourself on. It’s a tired trope, implying that those who acknowledge sex as part of their human experience are somehow less enlightened or incapable of savoring the world’s deeper offerings. This condescension, cloaked in intellectualism, betrays a rather narrow view—one that dismisses the complexity of human connection in favor of a self-congratulatory asceticism . . . It was your choice when you went on your South American tour to not have sex. For myself, I don't like these types of limitations - as it is often sex with the locals of a country that you are visiting that allow you to have genuine connections and experiences with the local community. I close by asking you to STOP making condescending remarks towards my person in this forum!!! Readers can easily go to the thread in question to check the acuracy of what I have written. I then question readers - 1. How my question condescending? 2. Where is the "whiff of superiority", the more so as I stated I had had sex in Cuzco? 3. Given 2. above, where is the "beneath the refined appreciation of culture"? 4. As i stated, I did have sex in South America. @bkkmfj2648 was wrong in his statement. 4. Where is the "self-congratulatory asceticism"? 5. In my response to @floridarob in this thread as written above, I had very clearly made the point as many readers are aware that "I do go on other trips where sexual adventures are part of the agenda." So what on earth prompted these "condescending remarks" about me from @bkkmfj2648 ? And what reason did @bkkmfj2648 have for posting what was a diatribe against me?

You fail to read posts and then call me pompous? More siliness. Actually if you had been reading as carefully as you claim, you would know I havebeen on this board around 20 years. But clearly members are getting fed up of such arguments which started when you made claims about @ChristianPFC. I have made my points and you have yours. As you suggested some days ago, let's finally agree on this one to disagree.

I have just booked a biz class return to Rome on Royal Jordanian for September. I have fllown it before and it is a very good airline, although seat layout is not great. Better still, the price was a third cheaper than than all the other carriers I checked. I would have been happy with Finnair which I have flown many times and which is also inexpensive, but while London has easy connections, Rome requires overnights in Helsinki both ways.