PeterRS

Just one more vdo. Last night in Thailand True Visions showed the Finals of the World Skating Grand Prix in Nagoya earlier this month. The 21-year old American Ilya Malinin skated what is by far the best Free Skate in history with a programme including no less than seven quad jumps, one of which was the first time in international performance of the most fiendishly difficult of them all - the quadruple Axel. It was truly a jaw-droppong performance which massively outscored all the other competitors. If he skates like that in the Olympics, the Gold is definitely his. Sorry the commentary is in German. You can see the description of each jump after it takes place by looking in the middle of the box at the top left. The quad Axel is the second jump. As the German commentator says "unglaublich" - "unbelievable!"

Although I have watched great skaters for years, I have never been able to marry the names of jumps with what actually happens on the ice. Nor with the speed at which they skate can I tell if I have just watched a triple or a quadruple jump! I had no idea how commentators tell a Lutz from an Axel from a Salchow or a Toe Loop and so on. All I knew was the Axel jump is the only one where the skaters take off facing forward. In all the others they start the rotation going backwards. Going through various videos last night I finally found the answer. Even with the detailed descriptions, it's still not easy but slowly I am finding out. For those interested, this is the vdo clip -

I never used to take much interest in the Winter Olympics until those held in Nagano in 1998. Even then, what sparked my interest was less the various events but the Japanese cross country skiers. I thought they looked quite wonderful! In 2026 the Games take place in Milan and Cortina in the amazing Dolomite mountains throughout February which will have me in front of the television most days. My favourite is now the men's ice skating. What sparked that interest was another Japanese, the amazing 19-year old Yuzuru Hanyu who took the Gold Medal in the Men's Figure Skating Competition in Sochi in 2014, the first Asian to win Gold. Like many, I began to follow his career. Like quite a few other Asian skaters - and those of Asian descent who skate for other countries - he was not merely a superb skater, he is extremely good looking! And then he did what no other men's skater had done for decades, he took the Gold Medal again in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. His short programme (men's skating has a short and a long programme) in 2018 was stunning, skated to the music of Chopin, broke the world record for points. These programmes are now increasingly packed with triple and quadruple jumps - feats that not so many decades ago were considered impossible. A day or so after the winners have been announced, the skaters perform an Exhibition programme. Rather than include that 2018 short programme video, this is from that Exhibition. Apart from one single and one triple jump, the rest is pure artistry, an extraordinary tribute not only to that artistry and how he interprets the music, but on this occasion it was dedicated specifically to those hundreds of thousands who had been so badly affected by the horrendous 2011 tsunami off Japan's East Coast. Hanyu comes from Sendai which was very seriously affected by the tsunami. During his amateur career he went on to skate in many events to raise funds for those who had lost almost everything. Since turning professional in 2022, he has personally donated US$3 million and continues raising money through guest appearances. He is massively popular in Japan. Each year he produces his own ice show, again specifically to raise funds. It has often been suggested that he is gay. All we know is that he announced on social media in early August 2023 that he had got married. And then the shock. In mid-November he announced he had got divorced! He never gave any information about his partner. The "maybe gay" label will inevitably stick with him, partly because in 2014 he had moved to train in Toronto with coach Brian Orser. A former Olympic skater, Orser was openly gay with a partner. Rumours also flew around that he had formed a relationship with the Mexican skater also in Orser's training camp, Javier Fernandez. Whatever the gossip, his artistry has been universally praised worldwde. In 2022, the New York Times said, "we may never see another skater like Yuzuru Hanyu." In 2024 ESPN listed the 25 greatest Olympic sportmen of the 21st century. Hanyu placed #10. He has now reached the status of legend. Even though we will no longer see him skate at the Olympics, there are many others close to his skill and artistry, many of them Asian. Will another Asian win Gold this time?

Tokyo has so many delights to offer. In over four decades of visiting the city and two years living there, I never found any place as complicated as Re:Born. Finding an escort in one of the more regular escort services is really so easy. On the other hand, the city is so big and public transport so incredibly easy as long as you aim to be home before it closes just before midnight, there are obviously so many out of the way gay places that most foreigners know nothing about. Inevitably finding these can be more difficult and as @joizy's post mentions there can be difficulties to overcome. But for those prepared to give it a try, occasionally little gems can be found. I never used rooms in the venues. Always had boys come back to my hotel - and they always arrived exactly on time.

Agreed that the driving distance makes it seem considerably further than it actually is. As the crow flies, it is quite a thin strip of land. And I agree on the concensus re the weather on east and west coasts. But it's been some years since global warming has been changing weather patterns. I experienced daily rainfall four times visiting Phuket in mid-December spread over a number of years starting around 1995. I am glad you were luckier.

You do realise I assume that the distance between the east and the west in the south of Thailand is very small. Monsoon rains that quite regularly hit the west coast at the end of the year do sometimes affect the east, although the amount of rainfall may differ considerably. Your experience differs from mine.

When the whole point of a family holiday is sun, sand and swimming, rain is inevitably a considerable disappointment. People do nor fly thousands of kms for rain!

I wrote in an earlier thread that I stopped going to Phuket in December many years ago because the last time it rained every day. GIven what seems like the increasing possibility of monsoon rains at this time of year, I fail to understand why people fly in from places like Europe for family holidays.

My one concern is having photos taken as I have no idea where or in what format they might appear. Personally I think photography in or near bars and restaurants should be banned. Sadly, with most Asians desperate to tske photos of every single dish they eat, that just won't happen.

Quite agree. But if a spa only has four boys on the premises - and I have both experienced this some years ago at Senso and read about it more recently in this forum - fitting the specification surely does not always work.

Certainly tips are not expected. I recall my first-ever visit to Tokyo decades ago. I stayed at the huge Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku and had to have a lovely young porter bring the bag to my room. Stupidly i tried to tip him. He recoiled as if in horror and would not accept it. As for the boy bars, I expect most will not accept a tip, but a few will - and be embarrassed doing to. Personally I do not tip.

Am I not right in thinking based on reports here that Senso frequently has very few masseurs available?

Since starting to work, I have always been much more of a late person. On working days (when I still worked full time) I'd rarely be in bed before 1:00am and ready to start sometime late morning. Now I am slightly less late getting to bed, but the habits of a lifetime are difficult to change.

I don't know why but several of the pics are still just blank!

Totally agree. The "forgot password" on Sawatdee is a disaster. You never get a response.

Ditto

The Ruen Urai restaurant in the Rose Hotel off Suriwong (close to its new building and at the end of the swimming pool) has been a favourite of many readers for years. Last night, Friday, as I have done every time he has visited Bangkok for over a dozen years I took a friend there for dinner. For the first time the restaurant was totally empty apart from the owner at one table and the two of us at another. It is in the medium expensive category. Our bill for drinks and three courses came to Bt. 1,943. It is a lovely venue for dinner, but I fear if it gets no customers on a Friday evening, the end may be nigh. I sincerely hope not.

Again you misquote me to fit your own narrative. I have never once stated the parents were responsible - and it is totally incorrect of you to even suggest that. How many times must I state taht what I wrote was this? "Perhaps – although this is only being hinted at and may not be fact - a misunderstanding on the part of the boy’s parents on how to deal with such very substantial on-going substance abuse, and a steady build-up of anger." You say you "imply"! Please realise once and for all you implied wrongly and only do so to fit your version. You are wrong! If you imply, then you should state that when you make your first post - and not leave it so you can cover up your earlier inaccurate comments.

Error posting apologies

And the point is . . .?

Excellent guide, thank you.

No I think it is a stupid idea! As others have written, we all age and we age in different ways. Some have had plastic surgery and may not look as old as they are. Others have had the same surgery and look worse! Ageing is an issue for families, friends and neighbours - not cheap pot shots taken on internet sites.

We were already advised some time ago that visitors to Europe from non-Shenghen countries will have to start paying a visitors' fee of around €20 from the end of 2026. And that includes UK visitors. Venice started the movement last year in an effort to cut down on the number of day trippers who pay no accommodation tax and often bring in their own food. For many days in the year, they have to pay a €5 tax. Now Rome is jumping on the bandwagon. One of it smost popular sites, the Trevi Fountain, will charge €2 to get close to it from February 1 next year. Personally I think it's a good idea. There are now so many tourists around it it is often impossible to see the fountain, only the sculpture at the back. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp89p41gr06o.amp

And you were about the only one to so misinterpret what was perfectly obvious. Where was the ambiguity you mention?

But that really isn't true, is it? In theory it should be. But when a President has a majority in Congress, has the power to sign Executive Orders and has a Supreme Court that is weighted massively on political grounds, this is a good deal worse than the UK monarchy system. Trump has redefined what the American political system is capable of - and it's not very pretty. At least under a monarchy in the UK, the monarch has no say in the political system. Naturally some monarchs have in the past have wielded an excess of power. (Perhaps it's a wonder that under King James VI and 1, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, more in the nation did not become gay ) But that was the system then. Now the monarch can influence but it is the two Houses of Parliament that decide policy. My American friends tell me that Trump is an anomaly. That may well be. On the other hand, as countries move politically further from the centre and become more and more allied to right and left wings, it may not be. To my way of thinking it is a key problem with a two-party system. It splits the country more or less down the middle politically. Surely it can never have entered the minds of the founding fathers that the system of government they devised would throw up a King Donald. But it did and it has. And it is a perfect illustration of a country sticking blindly to a Constitution written centuries ago - even with the possiblity of amendments - when the founding fathers had no clue about the internet, the atomic bomb, the developments in flight and so on. The world changes, and countries have to adapt to that changing world. As for an elected President in the UK, I loathe the idea. That would have extended Margaret Thatcher's reign and thrown up an electorate bent on voting for past-it politicians or merry comic figures from the entertainment industry. I'll take my chance on a monarchy as the symbol of the Head of State.