PeterRS

Returning to old Noah, I've always though that if there was any truth in the tale it concerned the Bosphorous suddenly opening up resulting in massive floods into what is now the Back Sea.

Flight cancellations or major delays are one of the bugbears of regular travel. Thankfully, apart from those affected by weather, we do not see too many. Other factors can also come into play, though. I once missed a flight from Tokyo's Narita to Hong Kong because of increased security as a result of some bomb scare. All traffic into Narita was always closely inspected with passengers having passports and tickets checked. This happened to me when the security checks ahead of my bus were taking around 100 minutes instead of the usual 10. I missed my flight merely by minutes and then had to pay for overnight accommodation at an airport hotel. The worst though was on a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to London in the days of the old Kai Tak airport. Scheduled to depart at 11:30pm, push back from the gate was delayed when an air conditioning problem had to be fixed. We finally taxied to the end of the runway, reaching there are 11:45. After a seemingly interminable wait, the captain advised we could not take off and would have to return to the gate. The problem was that HKG then had a curfew with no flights in or out permitted after 11:45. The captain said they had been negotiating with the authorities to permit a one minute delay, and were denied. So we had to go back through security and immigration, either go home or spend the night in a hotel paid for by the airline. We took off at 08:30 the next morning. The only benefit was that I was able to see the pyramids below in the late afternoon sun! Curfews are not uncommon at airports like Heathrow, Sydney, Frankfurt, Zurich, Paris Orly, Toronto and Schippol affected. But the possibility of fuel shortages is somewhat scary for those with travel plans over the next few months. I've suffered from that too. A flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne was cancelled at 2 days notice due to a jet fuel tanker drivers strike meaning the aicraft could not fuel up for the return. And again many years ago I was on the then longest flight in the world, Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to Seoul. After dinner and a sleep, I asked the purser if we were close to Seoul. She pointed out that there had been very strong headwinds and the captain was not sure if there would be enough fuel to get to Seoul (gulp!) But added that a contingency refueling stop at Narita was being considered. Fortunately it was not necessary and the plane did not fall out of the sky!!

And how many stories in the Old Testament are likely to be true? When tales are a result of many centuries of being told verbally from one to another, the end result is usually vastly different from the original.

Qatar has just sent an email offering considerably reduced price tickets ex-Bangkok (about 20%-25% off from what I recall) to various destinations including London and New York. No idea if they work in the opposite direction.

There have been several cases just like this one where the authorities have finally withdrawn the airline's operating llicence. I used to travel regularly to Taipei on V Air which was a very pleasant low cost carrier. After two crashes, one just after take-off in Taipei by a Trans Asia aircraft (V Air was a subsidiary of Trans Air), the licence was withdrawn and the carrier ceased operations. In the Taipei incident, one engine was playing up on take off. The first officer then shut off the wrong engine leaving the aircraft with no power.

Let's note that it is not all one-way traffic - at least not yet. Yes, China is expanding its influence not only in Thailand but in most parts of the world. According to an article in The Nation in September 2024, though, from January to June that year Chinese nationals purchased 39.5% of all condo units transferred to foreigners in Bangkok. This represented 40.1% of the value of condo units sold. It did represent a downturn since in 2020 when the percentage of units transferred to Chinese owners was 61% according to the Bangkok Post. But then 2024 was when covid was slowly winding down. Bangkok developers made a considerable amount after building very small condo units of around 25-35 sq.m. This enabled Chinese to use the funds they could export annually from China by parking it in what was regarded as a safer country. The less good news for Thailand is that the Chinese are becoming fed up of Thailand as their preferred foreign tourist destination. It is now being overtaken by countries like Vietnam and South Korea. But the bureaucracy and paperwork make purchasing condos in those countries more complicated. So Thai developers with their tiny apartments may well find continuuing sales to Chinese. Let's also not forget that China is now one of the biggest investors in Thailand along with Japan. This graph from CEIC illustrates the level of Chinese investment in the country in the last reported 12 years - https://www.nationthailand.com/business/property/40041666 https://www.bangkokpost.com/property/2997234/chinese-condo-purchases-likely-depressed-this-year

Trust built up over a long period of time and communication. Many relationships are open ones at the outset or become open ones after a period of years. I realise that. But the suggestion throughout this thread that all Thai men are unfaithful pretty regularly is not always the truth. (My partner is not Thai!)

I cannot find the fascination some people have for this "sport" - if that it can be called. It ranks for me alongside the American Rodeo horse bareback jumping, as inane a "sport" as I can imagine. But then I suppose Spanish and Americans find croquet and cricket both boring and baffling/

As the Japan tourism industry continues to suffer from the ill-advised remarks by the right-wing Prime Minister on the Taiwan issue, an issue avoided publicly by all previous heads of government, the country's right wing militarists are delighted at the possibility that the Constitution might be changed. Written, it must be remembered, by the Americans and now part of Trump's ever-changing international interference as he wants this Constitution changed, Clause 9 states - “Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes” But many Japanese are totally against such change, especially the nation's young people. Public spaces across Japan are being filled with demonstrations by peope born more than half a century after the end of the war in the Pacific. 22-year old student Gohta Hashimoto is now participating in the anti-change demonstrations which have been getting bigger and bigger. "Until now, I had never thought of the Constitution as something young people needed to fight for," he said. Another student, Yuki Hioki, said at a rally in Tokyo - “The Constitution enables us to stay out of America’s wars, including in this region . . . The thought that might change makes me really angry” With the country's economy suffering from the large drop in Chinese tourism and the ¥ sinking even further, the Prime Minister seemingly knows that she still has Japan's ageing militarists on her side. But if she now loses the confidence of the nation's young people, she will be in for a fight. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/22/japan-youth-pacifist-constitution-trump-iran

For anyone interested, TrueVisions in Thailand is showing a sub-titled version of Close at 8:00 pm on Tuesday 28 April Channel 223.

Those who claim there is no such thing as cultural differences are regrettably wrong. Having lived in Asia for 46 years and had relationships, some longish but some relatively short, with Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Taiwanese and Singaporean guys during that time, I can tell you that even with a Singaporean who was fluent in English there were cultural problems. Partly my fault, I admit. But they certainly do exist. I suspect @floridarob must be referring to guys who work in the commerical sex business. I know of several older farang who have enjoyed long and meaningful monogamous relationships in Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand with much younger men who had never worked in the sex trade in any capacity - and who do not go out of the relationship to have sex. Not many, perhaps, but they certainly exist. On the other hand, I do agree with the sentiment that long distance relationships are not viable - or at least most are not. Certainly I fell into this category too often. Perhaps the most sensible advice in this forum. Not sure about Grindr but if you take a sampling of the apps in general, there are plenty of non-money boys. In my 3-4 annual visits to Taipei I have met many guys from apps and not one has ever asked for money. Same in Tokyo.

You will surely know of the hundreds of books written about JFK and in particular the assassination. @Keithambrose post was somewhat unnecessary. Lee Harvey Oswald it is generally (although not by everyone) assumed to have killed JFK and therefore Jackie Kennedy no longer had to put up with his infidelities. JFK had allegedly told the British Prime Minister Harold McMillan "If I don't have a woman for three days, I get terrible headaches." That must have been a challenge for McMillan who knew his wife was having a long-time affair with Lord Boothby! But Onassis only married Jackie - he for her position in society and she to guard her children whom she feared would also be on an assassin's list. One author Peter Evens did link Onassis to the assassination of Robert Kennedy (not JFK) in his book Nemesis (allegedly the "true" story of Onassis life) - but it is tenuous at best and has never been proved beyond being a doubtful conspiracy theory. And everyone knew that the Jackie/Onassis marriage was a sham with the relationship lasting little more than a couple of months.

The air quality in Chiang Mai has always suffered in the run up to Songkran due to farmers setting fire to the stubble left by their crops to clear the land. It's nothing new and it has always had some affect on the tourism business. Now it seems to be getting worse. When tourists look at the countryside from Doi Suthep, in most parts of the year they have a glorious view of the surrounding countryside. Recently all they have seen is haze and tourist numbers are falling. Photo: Rebecca Ratcliffe/The Guardian The business of burning fields has been illegal for quite a number of years, but no-one does anything to stop it. It is, say experts, an issue of funding - or the lack of it. Lighting a match is quick and easy and does the job fast. It would need expensive equipment to achieve the same result without causing haze. The situation has got worse with high temperatures also leading to the outbreak of wildfires like this recent one. Photo: The Guardian The dust created by the haze affects everyone. An article in today's Guardian also points out that the popssibility of cancer from the haze has recently shaken the Province. Krittai Tanasombatkul, a 29-year-old doctor and clean-air campaigner, died in 2023. He had never smoked and lived a healthy lifestyle, exercising, sleeping and eating well, media reported at the time. His death was attributed to the particles in the haze. Young children have been suffering from frequent nose bleeds, a common symptom for those living with air pollution. Some families send their children away to avoid the haze. Atikun Limsukon, a doctor specialising in chest and lung care, who runs a private clinic, says his patient caseload has more than doubled over recent weeks . . . Limsukon says there is more and more evidence linking pollution not only to cancer, but also strokes, metabolic problems like diabetes and even neurocognitive problems and dementia. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/15/thailand-chiang-mai-tourism-air-pollution-war-price-spikes

Also my view. Domestic US politics will end Trump's idiotic war, not his war machine.

In what sense?

Multi-national talks with Iran had been going on for years until Trump killed them in his first term. Now he reckoned a deal could be done with a country which loathes him in just 24 hours. What planet does he think he now commands? With J D Vance having failed miserably in both the objectives set for his recent trip - the reelection of the vile Orban in Hungary and getting a deal with Iran - I hope he realises that he is unikely to last long in Trump's orbit.

Thai banks - and I believe WU - will require a formal valid ID.

But as with Trump and some others, the real problem for any electorate is it does not know that when you first give them power! I see that following has spat with the Pope, Trump posted an illustration on his media platform of him as Jesus. After a torrent of anger from his Christian supporters it was taken down. But it is all over the media now. Interesting that a warplane features in the image!

Ah but the crows have finally disappeared. The anti-crow devices you get cheaply from several stores are remarkably effective. So he'd have to bring his own alarm clock 🤪 Seeing how hotel prices are going up, I now have to charge for the balcony, although as a member he'd get a very substantial discount on $908 per night LOL

A fascinating article with a new hotel for @Olddaddy - the US$908 per night Siri Sala Private Thai Villa! 🤪 Curious, though, that there is no mention of Bangkok still sinking. Already the city sits an average of only 0.5-1.5 meters above sea level. Largely due to the soil on which the city is built and the idiocy of the post WWII period when many of the khlongs were filled in with concrete to create wide roads, Bangkok is now sinking at the rate of 1cm - 2cm per year. Much less than during the 1970s but added to the effects of sea rise as a result of global warming, some experts suggest parts of the city will be under water within 30 years. As Professor Seree Supratid, the director of climate change and disaster centre at Rangsit Centre, stated in an aticle almost two years ago - "We cannot avoid such catastrophic flooding. This is not fortune telling, this is science." He added it was difficult to find politicians willing to fund construction projects that could take up to 20 years to complete. Normally they are not interested because they say, "I am elected for four years, I will not think for more than four years," so this is a big problem for us. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-11/bangkok-is-sinking-residents-warn-rising-seas-will-swallow-city/102559364 This Buddhust Temple in Khun Samut Chin Village is surrounded by water and only stands firm because the temple's monks arranged to have walls built around it more than 20 years ago.

I doubt the cost of living has much to do with it. The much weaker ¥ accounts for the present difference in prices. Japan used to be considerably more expensive than Hong Kong.

A very good and pertinent point in this discussion. To add to it: the war in Laos was a covert CIA operation that never had congressional approval. It was a secret war. Almost unbelievably, for an average of 9 entire years the USA dropped one planeload of bombs over Laos every 8 minutes. Think about that for a moment and take it in. This tiny landlocked third world country had more bombs dropped on it than the entire number dropped on Germany AND Japan combined during WWII. And the USA still refuses to pay for the destruction of the roughly one third of these cluster bombs that failed to explode, ordinance that has already killed 20,000 Lao people since the end of the undeclared war - mostly children as @zoomomancs points out. At the present rate it will take 100 more years to clear the country of this horrendous debacle. https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0fjwcjy https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0fjwcjy

Yet at the time he was awarded the top job both legally and constitutionally. I have written above how Iran has had no free and fair elections since the ouster of Mosaddegh in 1953 by the Americans and British. Since you have brought up Hitler, it is perhaps wise to recall that without the punishing reparations that totally crippled Germany at the Versailles Treaty, the groundswell which enabled AH to rise to power in the 1920s might well have shifted against him. Speculation, I agree. But when peoples had to take cash in wheelbarrows to pay for a loaf of bread, any lifeline out of such degradation can seem almost a miracle. And that holds good for Iran. We are told that having got rid of many of the leaders of the old regime, the Israelis and their allies the USA have ended up with an even more hard line lot. True or not, I do not know, but I believe that the more the USA tries to punish Iran, the more the people will hate that country. When will the USA realise that influencing the rest of the world with wars and interfering in other coutries' politics is just not in their best interests? Since 1945 the USA has lost almost every war it entered in a developing country. As former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates states frankly in his 2014 memoir Duty: "the US is good at overthrowing governments but has no idea what to do when it comes to their replacements". Sending J D Vance into Hungary to support the despised Victor Orban was probably the final nail in his coffin as his oppponent won an astonishing two thirds majority. Trump and his merry band of yes-men cohorts should first sort out the sometimes horrible problems in their own country before interfering with others.

And Trump and his acolytes have zero idea of the lessons of history. Had he just looked at the quagmire of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, he would have kept well away from Iran. One look at the several major disasters from Bush 2's war with Iraq would have been another lesson. One reading of Robert McNamara's long mea culpa In Retrospect would have brought home precisely how the disasters and deaths happening in Vietnam were a direct result of the misguided and wrong policies which he and his Washington colleagues were actually advocating. He would have realised that the American Consul in East Pakistan was almost daily begging Washington to take action with West Pakistan to stop its monstrous bloodshed which they described as "selective genocide." Washington did nothing. No one knows how many actually died but historians estimate it could have been as high as 3 million.

You think the Iranian people are fighting for free and fair elections? What planet are you on? Hardly any now know what that means! Ever since the Brits and the CIA mounted the coup that got rid of their last freely elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh in 1953, there have never been free and fair elections. Iranians have only known dictatorships, increasingly repressive, megalomaniacal and murderous ones. Iranians do not forget that it was the USA's weapons and cash that enabled the hated Shah to hold on to power and to continue through his Sawak Secret police his murderous regime. Without all that American aid, the Shah could never have survived - and the result of that would almost certainly have been no Khomeini. Nor do Iranians forget that when Saddam Hussein started the 8-year Iraq/Iran War, it was with Saddam that the USA sided. And what happened to Saddam? The Iranians know well that the USA turned 180º against him. Further, as we now know from CIA documents declassifed in 2013, the USA never once pushed Saddam to stop using chemical weapons against the Iranians. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/08/26/215733981/new-details-on-how-u-s-helped-saddam-as-he-gassed-iran Which country called Iran part of the "Axis of Evil"? Which country has not only frozen vast sums of cash owed to the Iranians, it has persuaded others to do so as well leading to the Iranians being owed around $100 billion of its own cash? Which has led the movement to place sanction after sanction on the country? You clearly forget these were all actions of or started by the USA and pressed on its allies. And if you think Iranians in general might even consider placing any trust in the USA which with its ally Israel has also bombed the hell out of them in recent weeks - starting, let's recall with a US missile which murdered 170+ girls aged 7-12 in their school - you have with respect very little idea about Iranian thinking. FYI this mural still remains on the wall of the old US Embassy building in Teheran! PS: I doubt if the Iranians hold much faith in free and fair elections. They wiill have noted that such a process elected Trump and Netanyahu!