PeterRS

I am not mentioning Hong Kong here, even though I lived and/or worked there for all of 38 years. The gay scene has changed so much in recent years and the places I used to visit are virtually all gone now. It suddenly became a very cruisy city after 1991 when the old British Victorian law against homosexuality was finally changed. All manner of bars, clubs and saunas sprang up. The beach at Middle Bay close to Repulse Bay on the south of the Island became very cruisy at the week-ends with action in the changing rooms. The centrally located Propaganda nightclub was hugely popular, later to be renamed Works. I once met another Taiwanese there maybe around 20 years ago. We both got rather drunk and he came back to my apartment. At one point when in bed he told me to stop what I was doing, close my eyes and stay still. He went to the bathroom but quickly returned. He had filled his mouth with warm water into which he then placed my dick. It was a wonderful sensation I had never had before. Also within Asia I have visited and written photo blog posts about my two visits to Nepal and one to Bhutan, both fascinating trips. I know that I have been extremely fortunate in working mostly for international companies based in Hong Kong, for the regular travel to regional and head office meetings not only enabled me to take many side trips - thank you those round-the-world air tickets! - but also resulted in tons of air miles. For a decade I used some for annual business class trips to spend New Year with friends in one of my favourite cities, Sydney. Others resulted in photo blog posts to several countries in South America, including Chilean Patagonia and Machu Picchu; to Petra; to seeing the Northern Lights from a frozen lake near the lodge where I was staying far beyond the Arctic Circle, mercifully on the very last day of a 9-day excursion; and in 2017 an amazing two weeks in Iran. It really is so desperately sad that this absolutely wonderful country and its lovely people are ruled by mullahs they all seem to loathe. I would go back like a shot if it was not now so dangerous. The astonishing ruins at Persepolis; the desert city of Yazd where the world's oldest monotheistic religion, Zoroastrianism, was founded with images of its arms-stretched out all-wise deity Ahura-Mazda everywhere; the utter magnificence of the main square in Isfahan with its two stunning mosques and royal palace; the simple quite lovely beauty of the gardens in Kashan (the Persian word for garden basically meaning Paradise) and the majesty of the religious centre of Qom where I was shown round by a young mullah who could not have been more kind to this unbeliever! With age creeping up and much less desire to travel given that I have already seen so much of our world, my trips are limited mostly to Taipei several times a year to meet up with my good friends there, once a year to Japan and once to Europe, mostly to meet up with similarly ageing family members. Lastly, though let me return to a subject I mentioned in part 1 – history, and specifically a series of gay icons. Before then I will pause. The final part of this overlong blog posting will refer specifically to Gay Guides websites in which I have described travels, many with photos, to some of the countries/cities/events referred to above. Hopefully they will still be of interest to some. Tnank you for reading thus far.

Sometimes I think I made a mistake by choosing Bangkok as a place to work remotely and eventually retire. For I have been intrigued by Taipei since my first visit in 1986. It was then under martial law and gays were more or less confined to wandering in a park behind what was then the Hilton Hotel. Some readers may have read the novel also made into a TV series, Crystal Boys, a depressing tale about those who all but lived in the Park in the 1970s. Yet within not much more than half a dozen years after martial law was abadoned in 1987, much had changed. At least two bars opened and a couple of saunas. One of the bars - only recently closed - was called Funky. On a visit with two friends from Hong Kong we tried to find it. After wandering around for at least 15 minutes, we gave up. I suggested checking with the concierge at the nearby Sheraton Hotel. He was all smiles when I asked my question, checked on his monitor screen, and then with the smiles gone informed he he did not know of such a bar! Not prepared to give up, we kept wandering the area until we finally found the entrance. Unfortunately we also found that young Taiwanese in the mid-1990s tended to keep themselves to themselves. Perched at the bar and looking around many lovely faces, we found no interest whatever. We then hit the sauna instead! The sauna on the 5th and 6th floors of a building near the main station was very large, had an open shower area with mirrors behind which were close to the steam sauna so that there was a constant flow of beautiful naked bodies between the two. Having mandatory military service certainly helped create some stunning bodies. Upstairs were dozens of private rooms and a huge dark room area. My Hong Kong friends were staggered at its size and clientele. I have lost count of the great times I had there. Sadly a major earthquake in 1999 so damaged the structure of that building it had to be torn down. Various other saunas have opened and shut. Most recently I posted about one of the longest established Hans Men’s Sauna having moved 200 meters up the road into much larger far more pleasant surroundings. I occasionally used to visit Rainbow sauna, but that was known for the attitude shown by some guys to foreigners. The owner closed it and then opened what quickly became the most popular sauna, Soi13 in. When the Japanese colonized Taiwan, they developed a whole series of hot springs. The most popular amongst gay guys is Huang Tzu accessible by the subway to Shipai station. Not always very busy during the week, it tends to be very crowded at the weekend. There used to be the possibility of some groping in the steam room, but I noticed at the weekend the owner has kept the steam permanently hot which means it’s really too hot for more than a couple of minutes. NT$250 (US$7.65) gets you access to the hot spring. For an extra NT150, you can get a meal in the attached restaurant. Even after visiting many dozens of times I still love the sight of so many glistening naked bodies, many young and fiercely good-looking! Nine months ago I was visiting the new Hans Mens Sauna when I saw a beautiful early 20s guy come in. Thinking I would be way too old to attract him, I merely sat on a sofa watching the crowd go cruising by. Soon the beautiful youth appeared and smiled at me. I smiled back. He asked if he could sit beside me. What? I was thrilled. He then told me in good English that he had met me before. Surely not! I would certainly have remembered. Then he told me it was at the hot spring when he was with his then boyfriend. Only 18 at the time and unable to speak any English he had not tried to speak to me. But for whatever reason he remembered me! He was keen to go to a room. I felt almost in a daze. We had a nice time and a chat. We kept each other's Line details but never kept in touch. Then just recently at Christmas I was dining with some friends from Shanghai on the top floor of Icon Siam when I suddenly saw a lovely young man smiling in my direction. Certain that he'd be smiling at someone else, I looked around. Nobody. To cut a long story short it was my Taiwan friend. He was with a group of his own friends and so we did not even try to chat. As he was leaving the next day, we said we'd meet again in Taipei. But last weekend he was in Siem Reap. So hopefully we'll meet up on my next trip in May. But I remain really puzzled. How do you remember for 4 entire years someone you only saw for a few minutes in a hot spring at such a young age? It can be a strange gay world! I did post a photo blog of my 5-day 4-night round the island tour in 2016. It really is a superb holiday destination. I will report the link in the final part of this series. PS: I have stupidly forgotten to add in various trips to China over the years. Apart from many to Beijing and Shanghai, the Harbin Snow and Ice Scupture Festival from mid-January to mid-February each year is a spectacle impossible to describe, utterly stunning. As others have written, Chengdu in the centre is a very gay city with something like 20 universities. When i was there I had too many hits on the apps. When I told one lovely young man I had no time to see him as I was leaving the following day, he asked when I'd leave the hotel. He said he would be round to meet me at 10:00! Chengdu is also famous for being close to the famous panda reserve where you can see at least 50 of these lovely creatures. Also either a bus ride or short plane ride away is the absolutely magnificent and huge Jiuzhaigou National Park. Starting 4,000 meters up in two valleys, it is impossible to describe the beauty of the place as you descend. Nearer to Bangkok and easy to get to is the capital of Yunnan Province, Kunming. Here the apps were also busy but I was there principally to visit three towns and cities - Dali with its three pagoda temple, the amazing old town of Lijiang nestled below the Himalayan peaks, and especially the monastery in what is now called Shangri La. The Ganden Sumtseling Monastery is said to be the finest Tibetan monastery outsde Lhasa and is quite stunningly beautiful. I was staying in a lodge right behind it. As I sipped my ginger tea in the afternoon, I could not keep my eyes away from such beauty.

You are much too kind, the more so when I for one loved your Philippines posts. Sometimes I used to think that perhaps I actually thought too much instead of posting what first came in to my head. Your Philippines posts tell readers exactly what you thought, how places compare with every other ones, what the prices were and a host of other useful information. You mention life choices, and I can not agree more. I made a decision to buy a small condo unit in Bangkok after thinking about it for nearly 2 years. Then my choice was going to be between Bangkok and KL - somewhere that had to be near an airport with a relatively easy flight to Hong Kong. Although I had been going to Taipei several times a year over a decade for business and pleasure, it was never on my list of possible cities. Now of course, as anyone who has read my posts will know, I love Taipei and sometimes wish I had thought more about it 25 or so years ago. This perhaps surprisingly is the start of my next Tale. Now it's too late, but I still have the joy of visiting regularly.

Including my early years living in Bangkok, my posts here have tended to concentrate on other Asian countries. I have written about Singapore bars and saunas. My favourite of the latter was always Rairua, billed as the first luxury sauna in the city. It was the first to introduce all nude nights. Slightly more expensive than other saunas, it was also located out of the city centre. That usually meant the clientele were better looking for some reason. Of several bars, Vincents Lounge was the oldest in Lucky Plaza decades ago. I see it is still going but have not been since the Lucky Plaza days. Backstage Bar in Chinatown is always fun. Even if the other customers were in groups, the bar tenders were always happy to chat. Years earlier, one of Singapore’s first regular gay events were the Sunday afternoon ‘tea dances’ at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Always packed, I’m not sure how many hookups were made. I think the police forced the hotel to stop them. But Zouk, a large bar/nightclub which opened around 1990 is still going strong. It always had a gay section and was great fun for late night partying. I am not sure why I have always found Kuala Lumpur cruisy. On my first visit way back in 1981, the only bar was Blue Boy - still going today. On my first night, I met a quite lovely Chinese named Andrew, fell in love straightaway and he spent the next two nights with me in the hotel. Ah! How easy it is to fall in love! Round the corner from Blue Boy I much later discovered a small sauna. It really was tiny and never had many patrons. But there were occasionally some good times. The shopping mall not far away, Sungei Wan, was then one of the best cruising places. But those who went there basically wanted immediate relief in a toilet and that was never my scene. Years later I was staying with friends when the sauna otot2 opened. We thought we’d try it. You needed a membership card. When I returned about 10 years later, the front desk Adonis welcomed me back as one of the original members. He could tell from my number! Seven and eight years ago I was back in KL on business for several days each visit. Frankly I did not need to go out as the apps were buzzing. Apart from those few evenings when I had to attend official functions, I had no problem finding good company each evening. One young Chinese was even with me for three nights. In the 1980s I had visited Tokyo roughly 5 or 6 times a year. Loved the city, the entertainment it offers and the country, got to know a host of young guys, initially from those bars welcoming foreigners and then from their friends. In those days it seemed as though all young Tokyo boys wanted foreigner boyfriends. Being based in Tokyo for 2 years in the 1990’s was then a special blessing. Bars in Japan can often be confusing if only because most just will not accept foreigners unless accompanied by a Japanese. But if you do go with a Japanese you will be surprised how organised they are. I once went with two long-time Tokyo friends to one of their regular haunts. It was tiny. U-shaped with around 10 guys around it and maybe 8 more at tables for 2 around the side. Seeing my friends the mama-San welcomed me warmly. He then whispered in my ear, “Are you top or bottom?” The point of the question was so he could make a seat available for me next to a cute Japanese he knew to be a bottom! In the days before the apps, the bars which did accept foreigners did good business. I fell quickly in love with a bartender in one and for months I flew to Tokyo for long weekends, and my friend came to spend a month with me in Hong Kong. We talked about living together in Hong Kong. Then on one of my absences he met a much richer older westerner who offered him a 2-month trip around the world. When he told me about it, I knew our relationship was over. I could have said 'no don't go' but what could I offer in its place? How many young not well off Japanese could afford even to visit another Asian country? It took me months to get over it. I guess it was then I realised long distance relationships have endless complications which depend so much on local cultures and habits. My first Tokyo sauna experience was at the original and rather run-down 24 Kaikan in the Asakusa district near the popular Sensoji Temple. My second was virtually the most memorable I ever experienced. It was in the upmarket Shibuya district and I assume I found it from Spartacus. Quite small inside, it had the whole open-air roof to itself. Inside I met a lovely Chinese boy. We ended up on the roof where we spent a good half an hour having the greatest time. I did try to find it again, but totally failed! When it later opened, I patronized the much nicer, cleaner 24 near Ueno station which had pretty much a working class clientele. I then tried a Hattenba in the Akasaka district. These are basically apartments converted into simple sex clubs which, with the use of sheets and some thin plywood, create very simple partitions. But there is no privacy and the one I attended only had one shower. I did not enjoy it much and never went back. I am not sure when 24 Kaikan opened its third incarnation in Shinjuku (about 2000?) but it quickly became the place to go. It is usually very active on weekends until about 10 pm when some of the clientele have to leave to get their last trains home. In one post I wrote of meeting an early 30s Japanese at Shinjuku's 24. He was married with 2 kids but always spent Saturday afternoons at 24 where all he wanted was someone to fuck him - endlessly. It was an exhausting 90 minutes even with occasional breaks for breath! But memorable! One of my Japan posts here is a 5-part photo blog on Tokyo. But this was posted more than 10 years ago and inevitably it portrays what the city was like then. There have definitely been changes, especially in the gay elements. I have also posted more recent accounts of the glories of Nikko and Kyoto and Nara at sakura time. For my next trip I want to go in late November when the leaves on the trees should be turning into a palette of the most glorious colours.

Spas! I was never really a massage guy until Albury opened around 1996 or so. I happened to be spending a long weekend with friends who lived at the far end of Sukhumvit Soi 15. They had heard that a new spa named Albury was opening nearby that weekend and suggested we go. I am not sure how the word got out, but it was surprisingly busy. I tend to be more into twinks than the more buffed guys and was slightly disappointed until I saw a fabulous looker who was exactly my type. I will not give his name for I know he now lives with his lover in Chiang Mai. But he gave a surprisingly good massage with great ‘afters’. He then became my regular monthly masseur for about six years. Not that I only patronized Albury. Even before Chakran opened, nearby I was a semi-regular at V Club on Soi Aree. It was popular because it had a few genuine models - mostly from fashion magazines but once or twice someone from the movies. At that time I was living quite near Aqua just off Sathorn near Chongnonsi/Narathiwat. Like Albury, it was in a private house with a bar where you could also have snacks. Of the various times I was there, I cannot recall anything other than a good to excellent massage and . . . need I say more? Living so close to Thailand and then living here from the end of 2001 (albeit with monthly trips to Hong Kong), I had got to know a lot about other parts of the country. En route to Singapore I’d sometimes stop off in Phuket for a couple of days. The end of Nai Harn beach from what has been variously named as the Phuket Yacht Club and a Mandarin Oriental hotel was often quite cruisy in the late afternoons. I found the most enjoyable gay gogo bar for a while to be Young Sharks, not part of the complex around the Paradise Hotel. Chiang Mai has also been a regular since 1987 when I met and spent the night with a lovely young guy I met wandering around the Night Market. Adam’s Apple used to be fun for a few years but I then went off it. I preferred a young lad from Udon Thani who worked at one of the massage spas not far from Le Meridien Hotel and whom I visited regularly. Once when staying at the Dusit D2 hotel I asked a very obviously gay concierge if he could recommend a different spa. He suggested one named I think ‘Him’ - across the river from what is now the Centara Riverside hotel. Although a bit far away, it turned out to be excellent. Of the two saunas in Chiang Mai (I did go to a third named Sanctuary Spa once - it was located south of the city on the river - beautiful setting but a dud as a hookup place, alas), I always went to House of Male. It could sometimes be a bit boring, but they used to have a two-for-the-price-of-one offer for students at the nearby University a couple of days a week. These could be really fun. One time I had met a really nice guy and we’d exchanged details. Then I stupidly left a pair of spectacles in or near my locker. No one could find them which annoyed me for my stupidity. A couple of months later, the boy from Chiang Mai was in Bangkok and I suggested having dinner at Sphinx. He told me to close my eyes as he had a small gift for me. It was my spectacles! How he had got hold of them I have no idea. I thanked him the only way I thought appropriate! Exploring Thailand has been half the fun of living here. I have posted photo essays in this forum of my trip to the Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival, an absolutely fantastic day. Held at the end of Buddhist Lent, every temple in town hires a lorry - usually a long one and then craftsmen spend a month creating in wax the most spectacular scenes from Buddhist history. These are huge sculptures. It seems like all the townspeople take part from the kids, the students - some looked mouth-wateringly gorgeous - to the elderly. Such a fun day and I was almost the only tourist that year! In the evening I even found the town’s one sauna! I have also posted more recently about the Dansai Ghost Festival in Loei Province, another superb day and quite unique as it is larger than most similar festivals. I have done other photo essays on places like Khao Lak north of Phuket which has a fabulous Marriott Hotel and the widest and least populated beach I have ever seen in Thailand. I am not sure how I got a 75% discount from the TravelZoo site, but it was amazing value. That same year 2013 I also got 70% off a 5-star hotel in Tokyo and 60% off yet another 5-star hotel on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg - all from TravelZoo. Sadly TravelZoo Australia which had loads of special offers in Asia closed. When I tried recently to contact them, I was referred to their USA site. For Asia that is utterly hopeless. I see there is a UK site but that requires paying £30 per year for their services. It may be worthwhile, but I want to know more about their deals in Asia before I pay them anything. As used to be the case in gay bars, I like to see what I am getting before I pay up.

My view is that it was the opening of gay saunas that led to a certain sameness in most of the gogo bars. Of course that took a while - 2 or 3 years or more - by which time Soi Twilight was seeing a few more gogo bars open, but being naked and hands on in gay saunas was relatively new in Thailand by the mid-1980s. The first I visited was Volt in a side Soi off Asoke. Fairly basic, its novelty lay in the total nudity, I guess. I recall meeting one guy there in 1986 who was the receptionist at a top hotel. We had a fling for a while and I got tickets for us for the 1987 Royal Barge Procession which celebrated the King’s auspicious 60th birthday - a magnificent almost religious occasion. We also spent that New Year’s Eve there. Obelisks soon opened but was less popular with farang, perhaps because it was a tiny building on 10 floors. It did have one lift but you could wait ages for it to reach your floor! And the 10th floor was worth reaching because it had a jacuzzi and some goings on in the dark. But when Babylon opened at the top of Soi Nanta off Sathorn Soi 1, the game changed. Here was a sauna beautifully decorated and laid out specifically for young Thais in the first instance. At the entrance was a glass case filled with antiques. On the first floor was a restaurant with gentle live music by a guitarist or a flute along with another instrument at the weekends. Western classical music was piped through the building but at a very low level. Elsewhere there were the usual private rooms which were almost always occupied. On the rooftop there were showers at one end, a bar in the middle and many tables and chairs. It was one of the most cruisy spots in the city. On Fridays and Saturdays there were always queues to get in. Almost as part of the restaurant but curtained off was a room with a largish bed to be used for massage. It was manned by a sweet-faced boy named I believe Gun or Goong. Enjoying a massage there before eating was a joy. Eventually an additional part was added with more rooms and a second staircase down to a pleasant coffee shop. But I suppose it was inevitable that the wealthy owner would seek larger premises. And as we all know, around the turn of the century he opened the bigger sauna with many more facilities in the family compound further down the Soi. I’m not sure why I never enjoyed it as much as I had the earlier version. By this time I had come to know Heaven - the sauna, that is - when on my first visit I met Thun who was to become a boyfriend for a couple of years and whom I took to Hong Kong for a week. We remained good friends for the rest of his life, enjoying monthly lunches and going occasionally to movies when he was not tied up in a serious love triangle that despite my advice he just would not abandon. He had a small shop in Terminal 21 with the lovely name ‘Happy Closet’! I was so sad when he died in a house fire about 7 years ago. He was a very dear friend. Soon after Heaven, Chakran opened with its Moroccan theme. It became my new favourite after the Babylon move. To the side of its small pool, there was a bar. I loved sitting with my drink on one of the loungers watching the Thai boys descend down from the floor above on the stairs on the other side of the pool, their towels slung low over their hips. It had the biggest dark room at the time, I believe, which opened out on to a very large square jacuzzi. It was here that Bangkok’s first naked zone was created. The Thais - and initially they were almost all Thai - who patronized it were somewhat shy at first, but soon got used to it, although unlike Japan and Taiwan (and perhaps some other countries) Thais have never been keen to be totally naked as hands will normally be strategically placed. Having just returned from one of my regular Taipei long weekends, it always seems strange that total nudity in the hot springs there is so totally natural whereas in Thailand modesty is more the name of the game! I am even surprised that in the Japanese hot spring on Sathorn Soi 14, Yunomori in its second incarnation, black shorts are actually provided - and worn by quite a few of the younger patrons. These should not be permitted in a hot spring IMHO!

In those pre-internet days, almost the only gay information for those visiting Thailand was to be found in the thick Spartacus Guide, filled with AYOR against many venues it listed. On a one night stopover from Europe in my first year living in Asia, I had stupidly booked a hotel far from Suriwong. In those days the only way to the city was either a taxi or a THAI minibus. The latter were filled on a first-come-first-served basis And they stopped at the nearest hotel first. As luck would have it, I was the last. And the hotel was prepaid! Thankfully there was a tout outside. Normally I do not go near them, but I just had one night and had no clue where I was! For little more than Bt. 400 total I had a long tuktuk ride to the grotty Stockholm bar at the Lumphini Park end of what is now very upscale Langsuan, a drink, the services of 2 boys upstairs and their drinks. I was staggered both at what I was doing and at the cheap price. Before I returned the following Easter, I had discovered Manila. Coco Bananas was the place to be and I met a delightful Filipino, Armando, whom I was to meet again several times. The true sleaze bar then was 690 Retiro Strip, a barn-like place with catwalks and what usually seemed like 150 boys. When getting a taxi, all you needed to say was “690” and the driver knew exactly where to take you. The lovely Philippine Plaza hotel on the bay was where all manner of gays stayed. Breakfast would be heaving with them accompanied by their boys du jour - or that should probably be boys de la nuit! But it was my Easter that filled all my fantasies of Bangkok. I stayed in the then ultra-cheap Rose hotel in a room accompanied by around 50 cockroaches. Thanks to a quick exit and a can of something, they all met their maker and I was blissfully alone. Armed with my Guide, on my first night I found one of what I always felt to be one the city’s finest gogo bars, Apollo. A small bar with a catwalk located at the right end of Soi 4 on the first level above where the restaurant Sphinx used to be, I absolutely loved it. That was the first of what must have been at least 50+ visits. There were not many boys - if memory is not playing tricks, not more than about 15 or so - but every single one of them seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and forever smiling at the punters. Like many it had a room or two upstairs where I was a regular with most of the boys, often more than once - although always solo. I have never been into the group thing. Whilst I spent almost every evening in the Apollo, I also ventured out occasionally. But all I can recall is one host bar on the upstairs level of Patpong 2 and another opposite an entrance to the Ambassador Hotel. No recollection of either name. As my long weekends in Bangkok continued, I discovered Twilight in the Soi we called by the same name. Utterly different from Apollo, it was sleaze. It was managed by two ageing ladyboys who, I thought, rather strictly controlled their 100 or so young charges. The long bar was to the left as you entered upstairs, with on the right just behind it a tiny stage where four boys would strut their stuff. I always preferred sitting at the left end of the bar. At around 9:30ish, an order would be barked whereupon pants would disappear and dancing would be in the nude. Mind you, that had been true at Apollo as well - the nudity I mean, there was no need for any barking as the boys knew their timetable. Sitting as I did on the left of the bar in Twilight, I could still see the boys on stage, many of whom seemed somewhat shy and covered their assets with their briefs. But crouched behind the bar right in front of me were the next four boys due to hit the stage, and in their nakedness were always doing their best to get a bit of life into their reluctant dicks. After a few minutes on stage, the four boys would parade through the onlookers and take up positions merely standing on a mirrored pillar. The four in front of me would then move to the stage. Not much hanky-panky seemed to be going on within the bar itself, unless you visited the rest room or sat on one of the darkened banquettes around two of the sides. At the weekend there would be fucking shows. These required some agility from the boys who would start onstage, clamber over on to the top of the bar and then wend their way along it. Another reason for sitting at the bar! There would rarely be many customers during the week. At the weekends it was packed. As more punters arrived, a small rather wizened man would be filling the empty floor space with yet more folding chairs. I do not recall when Apollo died, but I expect it was soon after Barbiery opened across Suriwong from Twilight. With 100 boys mostly of the twink variety, as in Apollo but much less so in Twilight, they almost all seemed to be having a great deal of fun. And they were fun to watch, especially in the variety of their show items. Naked boys covered in soap suds, acrobatic displays, ultra violet displays of painting on nude bodies - and more including the de rigeur fucking shows with the coupled moving around the audience. The bar had seating on three sides with as many other seats as possible added at weekends for punters who by and large were Thais. I doubt if anyone left that bar without a smile on their faces. And the boys I offed were all both fun and by and large gave the impression of being experienced.

I want to thank Macaroni21, a-447 and those who agreed with them for their kind suggestion that I return to posting. I had decided about 16 months ago to cease posting (other than one recent post about Myanmar about which I am writing a book). For those who remember some of my posts, you will know that I had a tendency to write at length. This explanation/exploration will be similarly long - very long, and therefore in several parts. So if you are no fan of length, please stop here. I must add that I have written part of what follows in several earlier posts. To those who have read them before, my apologies in advance. I have just returned from a long weekend in one of my regular haunts, Taipei. On the flights I read Edmund White’s recently published latest book, The Loves of My Life; what he calls his final autobiography - after all, this icon of gay literature is now over 80. It is particularly very graphic in the description of his vast number of sexual encounters starting in his early teens. At one point he writes about a friend’s comment that he must have had sex with about 3,000 other men. To which he replies, “Why so few?” As I was reading I was reminded of the number of posts I must have made on this Board. After lurking for a year, I summoned up the courage to start posting (although then under a different name). That must have been around 2004 or 2005. When I left, it was nearly the end of 2023. I have zero no idea of the number of posts I have made. I enjoy writing and trying to convey to readers my travel enthusiasms. Another hobby that has turned slightly to longer writing is history. I love the vast history of Asia – of what we know and the great deal we know absolutely nothing about. One blog series I posted here was a history of Gay Sex in Asia. This covered Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and ending with the gay-bashing Brunei. I cannot find it using the search engine but it is on my computer. I cannot even recall when it was written, but judging by the content I think around 2015. Should anyone wish to read it, I will be happy to repost. I have also enjoyed photography and always found that, as in the recent excellent series of posts about the Philippines by @bkkmfj2648, photos can say much more than words. It would not surprise me if in terms of posts I have got quite close to Edmund White’s 3,000+! Which of course means nothing. A post can be one line - as many now seem to be, a jocular response to an earlier post, perhaps. Or it can be of considerable length. I tended towards the latter. Actually I also enjoy sex as much though in my latter years of posting, visiting sex venues in Thailand was no longer my thing, despite having lived much of the last 24 years in Bangkok. Domesticity, work and a committed and wonderful relationship do tend to reduce such desires for external stimulation. But I suppose the point of this post (perhaps I should really say "essay") is to fall back on my memory for, after my first visit to Bangkok when I had moved to first Hong Kong and then Tokyo to work, I became what can only be termed a slut of the first order. Not that I was a total ingenue on arrival in Asia. My previous employment in the UK had introduced me to the temptations of the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, the saunas in Amsterdam where I had my first encounter with a lithe ever-so-willing young Indonesian and the vast Le Continental sauna in Paris peopled by so many young Vietnamese. With one I had the most fabulous time. I said I hoped we could also meet up the following evening, my last before returning to London. After a little kissing and hugging on my 5-star hotel bed (paid for thankfully by the French government), he suggested I spend the night at his place after dinner. Assuming this might be a cheap dive somewhere, the thought of a night with him overruled any idea of grottiness. Imagine then my surprise when the taxi dropped us off at a single house just round the corner from the Place des Voges, one of the most exclusive and expensive addresses in the city. He lived in this utterly gorgeous house with his French lover, conveniently away for 3 weeks in the USA! As with so many such wonderful one-night stands, we were never to meet again. But what a glorious memory remains! Part of the reason for this series of posts is not merely vanity. This Board has lots of new members. While much of my posting is out of date, some perhaps give an inkling of what a city or place or event is like, with a rough idea of gay life and gay venues. That at least is my hope. And that is why at the end of the series, I will add in several photo-illustrated posts from older years of Gay Guides.

You have just made yourself look even more ridiculous! Did not @reader's original post mention "soldiers, weapons, mortar fire, ammunition, drone strikes, civil war for years now"? You may not have heard of the Karen rebels but it was perfectly clear that the OP was about a war. You clearly had no desire to check. Instead you just made up your mind that war is a subject for mirth of the siliest, childish kind! And after my post with details of the absolute horror meted out to two young men who were burned alive, all you can talk about is "high horses"! That is a total disgrace! Shame on you!

So @unicorn compounds his dreadful stupidity by giving my post a laughing emoji. That tells us a great deal more about him than any post would. 8 decades of one of the most ghastly wars against its own peoples is to him just a joke! It takes all sorts!

I congratulate @reader for raising this issue but am utterly appalled at @unicorn's post. The civil war in Myanmar has been going on virtually unchecked for almost 8 decades with successive military juntas involved in the most ghastly crimes. I have been doing extensive research for a book which is the only reason I am responding here. Following yet another democratic election in November 2020, the junta mounted yet another of its regular coups less than three months later. The following are examples of what @unicorn seems to regard as an item for fun. "Reports have provided gruesome details of some of the army’s horrendous atrocities since the 2021 coup, including the bloody suppression of anti-coup groups. Individuals believed to be part of the resistance have also been targeted, whether or not they had in fact belonged to that resistance. In May 2022, military forces entered the Buddhist monastery in the village of Mongdaingbin, forcibly conscripted all the young men hiding there, took them outside and then executed them in front of a stupa. "Torture has been routinely practised by the junta. This is especially true when villagers and others in the local militias are believed to have been responsible for attacks on military forces. In November 2023 two young farmers aged 23 and 22, Phoe Tay and Thar Htaung, who had joined the resistance were captured, interrogated, dragged through the streets in chains, had gasoline poured over them, been suspended from a tree and had fires lit under them. As up to 100 villagers were forced to watch, the silence was broken only by the crackle of the flames and the screams of the two men who were little more than boys. Someone took a video of this horror and leaked it to a local media outlet, Khit Thit Media. Given the triumphal nature of the voice-over, it is assumed the video had to have been taken by one of the junta’s forces. Yet on March 5 2024, the junta was still denying the burning of the two men. Phoe Tae and Thar Htaung: photos from the families "Remarkably, the families of the two men, despite the horror of their sons’ deaths and their unimaginable grief, had not objected to their joining the resistance. Phoe Tae had been especially smart at school where he earned two distinctions for entering university. During an interview with his father for Radio Free Asia Burma on February 19 2024, Myint Zaw told the reporter, “We could not retrieve the body. Nobody could go there because Myauk Khin Yan is a stronghold village of the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militias . . . I haven’t watched the video because of poor internet connections. His friends in the village are horrified by it. ‘Is it true? They really did that?’ . . . I told my son that if I was your age I would already have joined the resistance. My son and I had the same opinion . . . I am proud my son sacrificed for the people and the country. But I feel sad. I am devastated.” "Thar Htuang’s father, Soe Linn, appeared more stoic. He told the interviewer, “My son sacrificed his life for the good of the country and I am proud. I would never cry for him.” "By that time the number of atrocities had increased, including the use of civilian hostages as human shields. Myanmar-born American Dr. Miemie Winn Byrd, a retired US Army Lt. Col. and professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, stated 'the Myanmar military is no longer a professional military. It is a criminal gang, a militant criminal gang.' According to a Report at the end of February 2024 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk described the years of army rule having inflicted “unbearable levels of suffering and cruelty” and as being an “unending nightmare”. Human Rights Watch calls the situation in Myanmar a 'humanitarian catastrophe.' "Two other worrying issues should perhaps be noted. Last month in a court in New York a member of the Japanese yakuza pleaded guilty to attempting to traffic uranium and weapons-grade plutonium from Myanmar. Russia has had a long-term agreement with Myanmar to develop a nuclear reactor. The assumed destination for the materials is thought to have been Iran. As @reader has indicated in another post, Thailand has cut electricity to part of its border area. The reason is that financial scam centres have mushroomed on the Myanmar side of the border with up to 250,000 young people illegally trafficked, mostly from Asian countries, to operate them. By the end of 2023, the United States Institute for Peace estimated these scam activities had netted US$64 billion. Originally they were based in the border of the Shan State further north. With Chinese help these were slowly cleaned out, but the gansters just moved them fast to another area in Kayin State." Having stated over a year ago that I would no longer contribute, I apologise for breaking that vow. I do however continue to read the site which is always of interest.

For what reason @reader? At my initiative, for which you'll recall you thanked me, we did so before. We came to an agreement. I would not criticise any of the multitude of posts you made by copying and pasting media reports. In return you would not comment on my choice for living in Bangkok when, unlike you and many others, I deliberately choose not to visit gay venues here. I have complied 100% with that agreement. Unilaterally you have totally broken it. You have shown you have zero integrity when it comes to agreements. So no more! I'm delighted that some of the younger generations are now making posting excellent posts. I wish them, the Moderator and other posters all good wishes. Goodbye!

Yet another piece of trite nonsense. Grow up @reader! Not everyone is like your good self. And that is precisely what you wrote when you were attacking my posts a couple of years or so ago by suggesting nobody lived in Bangkok and did not go to gay bars etc. You have obviously forgotten that I sent you a PM and suggested we bury the hatchet - as it were. You agreed and thanked me for suggesting it. But guess what? Now it all comes spilling out again. I am not like you, thankfully, and I do not try to live the sort of life you live! Similarly, although you may not like to admit it, you are not like me. Everyone on this Board is different and we should be relishing our diversity. But you just will not accept it and your method is to attack! So quit the name calling and the incorrect assumptions just because they do not fit your idea of what an older expat in Bangkok should be doing!

Happy to confirm that I did indeed delete the post just after posting as I thought it inappropriate

Another instance involving one of the 10 million illegal guns in private hands in Thailand - I assume!

Perhaps. But more likely a slip of the finger. Or the fact that having at the end of last year purchased a new mac desktop on which I write most of my posts, I find the keyboard dreadful and will soon purchase a different one. The computer and new operating Sonoma system is great but I see on the internet that this particular keyboard gets a lot of mediocre and even downright bad reviews.

That has absolutely nothing to do with issue, the more so when in this forum there has also recently been a discussion about older men walking around with guys very much younger. You can take it that the two are in their mid-20s and are exactly the same age to within about 4 months. 60 years before that I was at junior school! So your question is immaterial! As for my time from university onwards, I have never written anything other than I have enjoyed the life of a gay man to the full. I was never an angel! And having discovered Bangkok and much of the rest of Asia from 1979, I have written qute a few times that I was always a regular in go-go bars, saunas and latterly at host bars in quite a number of Asia's cities. I have never once tried to disguise that. Indeed this forum has many posts I have made not only giving guides about gay venues annd events (my several reports with extensive photographs about the annual Taipei Gay Pride Parades, for example) but also extolling the virtues of certain gay establishments, posts that others have found useful! So, again I ask, what is the point of that question? But when @reader writes - - he is not only making more than one incorrect and demeaning assumption, he knows perfectly well from my previous posts - and he has previously questioned with incorrect asumptions on my decision not to visit gay establishments here - that since I settled down in Thailand with my present partner I have never stepped into a gay establishment in Thailand other than once when with a dear friend from the UK who, following an excellent dinner, wished to see Telephone bar. That is just over 5 years. Given that virtually everyone anywhere close to my age on this forum who visits Thailand heads for the gay venues almost as soon as the plane lands, I suppose those elderly farang find it strange that someone who has lived here for so many years can elect not to do likewise for quite a few years. That I don't fit the presumed sex-starved stereotype here, then I am certainly not going to apologise for it. Insult me if you wish and if you are wrong, I will give as good as I get. But as no one here knows a thing about him other than what I have written, my partner is totally off limits, the more so when others start to assume he will act as they would react in a situation like that which occurred in Balcony. What a totally idiotic statement! You're like @reader in writing words I never stated! When did I ever write that my partner and his close friend were "drunk" or even "exaggerated" what they told me? I didn't! They weren't! And they didn't! They were having their first drink. End of that piece of rubbish. Don't assume @floridarob! And why would you even consider that two young Thai men who are inteligent university graduates making their first ever visit to any bar in any gay street would exaggerate something as disgusting as an elderly farang propositioning them? As I wrote very recently in the thread "Offing a guy from a bar (but not for sex)", many Thais have a natural in-bred modesty. What right does any bar patron have to assume anything about another bar patron - unless it is a specified host bar or go-go bar? No right whatsoever! When they returned to my apartment soon after, they said they felt like pieces of meat! And before you make any other wrong assumptions, my partner's friend sleeps on the sofa bed in the living room when he is here! Lastly I apologise to @revengeboo that the assumptions and comments from @reader and @floridarob have meant I have had to disrupt his thread of truly excellent posts.

Winton Road is an aware-winning winery. But Shiraz will not be sweet. It has a more earthy, spicey flavour.

Deleted

Would these be some of the many apartment blocks built by local developers pre-covid particularly to attract Chinese buyers - and some from Hong Kong and Singapore as well? Very small by farang standards - probably around 30 sq. meters or thereabouts? (There is a thread about this somewhere!)

So your reasoning got it all wrong again! Why should anyone be surprised? Who is the clown here, I wonder?

I have written about this before but I have such happy memories of the ten visits (2 a year) made to Bali in the early 1980s. I remember being surprised - and not a little delighted - at seeing young men strip off around 5:00 pm and wash themselves while completely naked in the water spigot in the garden of my simple hotel. Once I was on a Garuda DC10 flying from Denpasar to Hong Kong. As the aircraft was pushed back and waiting to taxi on the the runway, a young man again stripped off and washed naked in the stream parallel to the taxiway!

I will PM you as I do not think it is correct to name names and such specific events in this forum. But as the case you refer to (which I am sure is the same) has been written about in more than one book, there may be some way to write about it here.

Now you just add insult to injury. I AM NOT "on the prowl for young men" whereever I travel. NEVER! For years I have rarely visited a gay bar anywhere outside Thailand. on my own. I visit when friends take me. Yes, I have been to saunas occasionally. For your information gay saunas are where virtually all customers go to find other guys. For your further information, men and guys in Taiwan would never even dream of going up to others in the Red House bars and cafes (the gay equivalent of Soi 4) with any similar proposition. NEVER! When I meet guys on the apps overseas, they initiate the conversations. I can think of perhaps three occasions at most in the last five years when I have been the one to start it up. So never assume that other posters do overseas what you and others might do here in Bangkok. I would certainly never ASSUME that anyone is in a gay bar like Balcony simply for the purpose of solicitating others into paid sex. In any case, as you know perfectly well, paid sex has not been my thing for many years. I certainy would never dream of approaching any guy in a bar like Balcony. In case you are not aware, it is not a host club! It is a public bar in a public street both of which happen to cater primarily to customers who are gay. That one farang customer should have the gall to ruin the evening of two bright, intelligent young Thai guys is shocking! As @khaolakguy so rightly points out, this is no doubt one of the reasons many Thais no longer visit farang gay places like Soi 4. That is absolutely nothing like what happened to my partner and his friend. You simply have used an example of what actually happened to your twisted narrative. Is it not true that that guy basically took the initiative and proposed to you and you took him up and back to your hotel? Did my partner and his friend do something similar? Nothing like it! They were doing nothing but having a drink. They did not approach anyone. If you are going to quote comparisons, quote like with like - not like with unlike!