PeterRS

Thanks @vinapu for your report and photos. It reminds me of my trip to Angkor 18 years ago, especially those stone steps with no guardrail as you climb up to the top of the main temple at Angkor Wat. Those steps are incredibly steep with big distances beween the steps. I thought i was in pretty good physical condition and had happily spent the previous three days climbing over many other ruined temples. The main temple was to be the highlight of our visit. But on the last set of steps my thighs just gave up! Half way up I found I just could not move even using arms and legs. I decided I'd have to go down, but when I turned around and looked down, I knew my legs would never make it and I'd fall. After pause of a minute or two, I summoned up the courage to clamber up to the top as best I could, all the while fearing I might not make it. I was then delighted to realise that for the way down there were the other wooden steps in @vinapu's photo with the bannister that makes getting down much easier. Later in the evening climbing up the small steps on to the Bangkok Airways plane, my thighs had still not recovered! I must have seemed 30 years older than my age!

About time, too! The disparity between those at the top of the earning ladder and those at the bottom just gets wider and wider. It's time those who earn massive profits in Thailand finally begin to accept that a tiny portion of those obscene profits should be shared with those who help generate them. The elite need to learn that Thailand exists not just for them.

John Thomson's collection of more than 650 negatives were purchased by the American Henry Solomon Wellcome shortly after Thomson's death in 1921. Wellcome had made his fortune in the pharmaceutical business. He had earlier moved to the UK and became a British citizen. Having sold Wellcome to the company now known as GlaxoSmithKline, on his death he left all his wealth to the Wellcome Trust, a charity which he had established. It seems there is no permanent Exhibition of Thomson's work at the Wellcome Trust's headquarters. What better than to make digital reproductions of his work for permanent exhibition in the countries he visited?

Mid-afternoon certainly used to be a ghastly time to arrive. I was once in the west Immigration area when the crowds spilled back as far as the small Duty Free area. It got so bad some a couple of drunk passengers got into a fist fight over queue jumping. But any indication of good and bad times can only be just that - and indication. It just needs an A380 and a 777 to be late arriving at the same time for that indication of a good time to be very wrong. For years I was able to travel on many flights in business class and thereafter had an APEC Business Travel Card. Both give access to the Fast Track lanes. Now if I'm travelling economy I'll just pay for fast track.

I beieve this was the title for an Exhibition of some of Thomson's mid-1800s photos exhibited at the National Gallery in Bangkok for several months a few years ago. Thomson's photos are a true treasure. An adventurous photographer, he left Scotland to visit Singapore. Over something like a decade, his travels took him from India through much of South East Asia and an extensive trip around late Q'ing Dynasty China. It's a pity there cannot be a permanent exhibition in Bnagkok of some of his many Thailand photos.

Look what happened in Indonesia yesterday. It is now illegal to have sex with any one other than your legal wife (which, being a Muslim country, means sex between legally married a man and a woman). The law applies not only to all Indonesians, all non-Indonesians not living in the country but also to all tourists! Even though the religion practised in Bali is based on Hinduism, the law applies there as well. So if any gay couples or pairs have plans to visit Indonesia, stay platonic because these crazies will certainly have their own version of Iran's morality police. Penalties can be up to one year in prison.

Just look what happened in Indonesia yesterday. It is now illegal to have sex with any one other than your legal wife (which, being a Muslim country, means sex between legally married a man and a woman). The law applies not only to all Indonesians, all non-Indonesians not living in the country but also to all tourists! Even though the religion practised in Bali is based on Hinduism, the law applies there as well. So if any gay couples or pairs have plans to visit Indonesia, stay platonic because these crazies will certainly have their own version of Iran's morality police. Penalties can include up to one year in prison. Ironically Idonesia is not a dictatorship and its leadership seems not to be failing. It is, however, onbiously unable to fend of those determined to introduce more forms of sharia law similar to Aceh Province where it is the norm. Since this is of interest to tourists, I am also posting part of this in the Gay Asia forum.

Although I have not used the rent boy services in Japan, I have friends living there and others who visit quite regularly. They give very good reports of this site which i have mentioned before - http://lang.dgdgdg.com/index.php#

As @macaroni21's earier post indicates, we should remember that the Chiang Mai gay scene was dying long before covid delivered a near coup de grace. Well over 50 venues, some very popular, had closed in the years leading up to the advent of covid. With the exception of Adam's Apple and a few others, Chiang Mai's gay venues are primarily for the local population.

I'll also believe it when the present demonstrations have subsided. Let's remember the Revolutionary Guard still exists. They are equally hated and basically do as they wish. My heart goes out to most Iranians who for the most part are a lovely, kind, cultured people with an extraordinary history. I can understand why they loathed the corrupt Shah and his murderous Savak Secret Police killing machine and thus welcomed Khomeini with open arms. But like all dictators, as my Iranian guides told me four years ago the present leader and his cronies pocket vast sums of money and have every incentive to do everything possible to stay in power.

Sorry I cannot help. I don't use the apps in most other countries. I have occasionally used them in Japan but it is 4 years since I was last there. All I can recall is that they were not very active.

So many Thais helped out in so any ways. I always think of the owners of the rice fields close to the cave as they had to be flooded as the cave was drained. They were offered compensation. None accepted it. It was their duty to help, they stated.

Love to be in the middle of that group of Korean guys in their underpants! Hopefully they would be off very quickly - the pants, that is! Photo: BBC Online When I was visiting South Korea regularly in the 1980s and early 1990s, Korean guys were mostly dull and unattractive. The macho look was virtually everywhere. Only in an occasional disco would you find a good looking guy. What a change since then! Walk through Seoul now and it seems to have almost as much gorgeous eye candy as Singapore. For well over a decade, South Korean young guys have spent more on cosmetics and grooming than their counterparts in any other country. One cosmetics retailer states its sales of mens grooming products in May and June 2022 increased 24% compared to the same period last year. Basic skin care products increased by 130%. Total countrywide sales are estimated to be worth close to US$1 billion. According to a 2020 CNN Report, around three quarters of Korean men undertake beauty or grooming treatment at least once a week. "This figure was even higher for Generation Z respondents, with 58% of those born after 2000 saying they pamper themselves with 'lengthy' beauty or grooming treatments at least once per week, compared to 34% of South Korean men overall. " https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220630000659 https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/south-korea-male-beauty-market-chanel/index.html

Thanks for that report. You are quite right to point out that any form of sexual activity or even trying to touch another guy's dick or ass are definite 'no-nos' in virtually all hot springs. This goes for South Korea and Taiwan as well as Japan. In Taiwan there are also notices (but only in Chinese) about no hanky panky in the steam room (although late at night there may be occasional touching in the steam room - if you can stand the heat of the steam!)

Not sure about Only Fans videos, but the bottoms in so many porn videos are very clearly 'acting' a part. All the facial and verbal expressions are there just to keep us interested. In some you can even hear the sound being dubbed over the visuals. It all reminds me of a scene from the early and excellent Jane Fonda movie 'Klute'. She plays a hooker. While in the act with a customer, the camera is on the guy's back. We see her bored face as she raises her arm to check the time on her watch as if to say, "How much longer?"

I don't pay for any subscription on any site which is no doubt why I get so many ads now. I actually found Jack'd as popular as Grindr, Hornet and Blued. I got rather pissed off that quite a few more guys than on previous visits were older than my preferred age. I'll have to get a Chinese profile, although I suspect many guys in Taiwan go only by the photos and don't bother to check much of a profile.

I forgot to add one point. I checked the apps in Taipei quite regularly. On previous visits I have found Blued very active. Sadly that site has changed its format and has many more ads than before. This may have something to do with the original owner of the site having stepped down as Chairman and CEO in August and the influence of Hornet which purchased a stake in Blued in 2016. I found Hornet the worst site for advertising.

Now that is really odd given your post in another thread that you would NOT go to see a doctor to determine if you have anal cancer or not. Which is it and why the change of heart?

But as I thought I had clearly stated, the Turkish Airlines jet was not departing. It was merely being towed to some far off part of BKK as it would not be departing for Istanbul for at least 6 hours. It had picked up no passengers and no luggage. The plane was empty! The only passengers waiting at that bay were China Airlines passengers. So Turkish Airlines was obviously late in arriving and then had merely to offload pasengers and luggage. There were several vacant bays in that part of BKK. Clearly Turkish had been assigned the same bay as China Airlines. But given that Turkish had clearly arrived very late and this would have been known to the air traffic controllers and the ground coordinators many hours beforehand, I fail to understand why Turkish could not have been assigned a nearby empty bay to unload its passengers and cargo. I am sure all the passengers waiting to fly to Taipei on the incoming China Airlines plane wondered the same thing!

I arrived back at BKK around 4:30 pm on Sunday. Despite there being many empty bays, my China Airlines flight had to circle around part of the airport because, we were informed our bay was waiting for a jet to vacate it. 20 minutes later we reached a bay which had just had a Turkish Airlines plane pushed away to be stored at another part of the airport until it departed for Istanbul close to midnight. This struck me as virtual incompetence on the part of the airport authoriites. If a plane is arriving only to deliver passengers but not to pick up any, why can it not be parked on arrival at an ajacent bay - or any bay for that matter. This would leave the China Airlines bay - with a near full plane by the look of the lounge area - free to accept the incoming aircraft without any delay. I was really surprised that fast-track Immigration was more full than I have ever seen it. Immigration did quite quickly open more desks but it still took longer than ever. No idea why!

The Blue Elephant on Sathorn has been open for about 20 years. It is a perfectly lovely up-market Thai restaurant with great food and service. Definitely highly recommended. Rather pricey though.

The only hotel I know above Shinjuku Station is the excellent Century Southern Tower on the top floors of a small slyscraper overlooking the train tracks (although it is not a business hotel). But this only goes to reinforce the fact that to a large extent room price reflects the size of the room. It is not a case of hotels for locals and those for foreigners.

What a load of nonsense! Russians are in a position to determine who leads them - and who leads them into an undeclared war and a vast number of war crimes.

I am certain you are correct. In my view, Taiwan's Gay Pride Parade - indeed its entire gay movement since the end of martial law in 1987 - has been so successful because it is organised by a group of committed individuals prepared to work within the system. The Pride Parade was started basically as an act of faith by this group in 2003. It both worked with the authorities and every Parade has promoted a different social message. Thaland's early attempts at Parades were entirely organised by commercial gay venues partly to promote themselves. Unless and until it can involve many more ordinary Thais to take part in the Parade, it will never be more than some sort of side-show - unfortunately.

I suspect not many will remember Jiang Zemin other than he took over the leadership of China when Deng stepped aside after 1989. As the obituaries have noted, he was a very different type of leader from the present President Xi. He even charmed Bill Clinton after Clinton had earlier virtually trashed him as a "butcher of Beijing"! He certainly seems to have been a man who revelled in life. A recent book about the tenor Luciano Pavarotti has an interesting anecdote which perhaps illustrates this. In 2001 the Olympic Bidding Committee was in Beijing making its final assessment of the bids for the 2008 Games. To coincide with this, the Chinese had organised a concert with the famous Three Tenors inside the Forbidden City. Until then, only Bertolucci had been allowed access to the Forbidden City for his movie The Last Emperor. Although none of the top leadership attended the concert, President Jiang invited the tenors to lunch the following day. After a pleasant lunch with Jiang, who spoke good English, the Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and the Minister of Culture, Jiang thanked the tenors for helping with the Chinese bid for the 2008 Summer Games. He then said there was a western tradition that you "sing for your supper". So he proposed that the tenors sing duets with the senior leaders. After Carreras sang something with the Culture Minister and Domingo with the Prime Minister, it came to Pavarotti's turn. President Jiang apparently loved the Neapolitan songs which Pavarotti had sung many hundreds of times. What he did not know was that Pavarotti not only could not read music, he could never remember words. So when they sang their duet, while Jiang was note and word perfect, Pavarotti could not remember certain words and had to resort to the Italian version of "rhubarb, rhubarb." That gaff aside, Pavarotti - clearly a very intelligent man despite his often appearing less so - claimed that having met many of the world's Kings, Queens, Princes, Prime Minsters and other senior leaders, he found Jiang the most intelligent of them all!