PeterRS

I also highly recommend Somerset Park and I totally agree with DivineMadman about Le Meridien in Chiang Mai. It used to be a lovely hotel. No longer. Besides when I stayed bout a year ago, the large bed mattresses were quite old with valleys and hills which made sleep awkward. The Shangri La is not far away A little further is the quite lovely Ping Nakara Boutique Hotel and spa in a glorious colonial building. The rooms are beautifully furnished and the service excellent http://www.pingnakara.com But avoid the Marina Bay Sands like the PLAGUE! It is a stunning piece of architecture and the infinity pool at the top is great. BUT - check out a lot of tripadvisor reviews. Two days ago, one post was headed "Truly awful, outdated, overcrowded tourist trap" The problem is the hotel is so massive it cannot cope with the numbers - even after being open almost a decade. You will encounter queues everywhere. When I stayed, it took 20 minutes queuing just to get to reception. I was on floor 46. very time I tried to get a lift it was about a 5 minute wait. When I came down for breakfast there was a very long queue. It took almost 30 minutes to get a seat. When I checked out, forearmed is forewarned, it took about 25 minutes. I will never in my life consider staying at that dreadful excuse for a hotel again. As for the pool, you will enjoy it. But you will feel like a caged animal in a circus. The hotel permits the public access to that floor for payment. So you will have 100 plus people watching your every move. Want a drink? Be prepared to wait a long time to find a waiter and another to get your drink. Want a non-smoking room? You will get one, but someone will have been smoking in it quite recently. The hotel caters to so many guests from China (they come for the casino) most of whom seem to smoke. My non-smoking room had several cigarette burns on the desk and the table. A final point. You will notice that the overall Tripadvisor ratings are quite high. You will find a host of reviews from posters who have made only 1 or 2 posts in their lives. Invariably all are in the rave category. Disregard these and the overall rating falls. The Singapore government has a stake in Marina Bay Sands and a lot riding on it. Years ago on Tripadvisor, it came last of all the country's 5-star hotels. Within a year, thanks to a host of short 2 or 3 line 5-star rave reviews, it began to rise in the rankings. It was discovered that virtually all of those reviews had been deliberately "planted". Singapore has lots of excellent 5 star hotels. On the basis of my experience and that of my colleagues (I was attending an international conference with speakers from around the world) none of us would consider staying there again. Sorry!

Yet another almighty Thai screw up. Way back when Central Village was planned, clearly far too much money was handed over under the table for the politicians concerned not to go ahead. And the whole project has just been steamrollered with the left hand never agreeing what the right was doing. Now it seems incoming flights may land in a branch of Maxim's of Paris! Hope there's plenty of caviar to go around I remain curious, though. Where on this planet is there a country's "first luxury shopping mall" on the doorstep of its main international airport?

Rio is one of the most beautiful cities and the boys give you a wonderful time. You must be careful though. On my one visit, I got mugged. Thankfully my injuries were minor, but it was enough to make me realise wandering around on your own can be dangerous.

Haha! Don't worry. I dont go for the reasons I outlined. Being attended by a female bar girl is of no interest to me. The great thing about the Soi Twilight bars was the cameraderie amongst the guys themselves. Then if you bought them drinks they would sit with you and ensure you were having a good time, even though the basic English level might not have been high. I fully realise Twilight is dead and will not come back. My point was Patpong 2 could do with a few gay-staffed beer bars. No idea whether it will or not.

Sorry but I am not looking for a bar with ladies and one guy who might or might not be be cute and might or might not be there. The great thing about the Twilight beer bars was that all catered almost specifically to a gay clientele and all were staffed only by guys, often quite cute ones.

Thats probably the reaction of all who live far from Thailand and whose trips inevitably are limited to once or twice a year. But having lived in the country for more years than i care to remember, the availabilty of cute and handsome young men does begin to reduce the appetite. Besides, constant bar hopping and constant massages remain expensive and most living here still have to pay for some form of accommodation. The grass is not always greener!

It would just be nice if there was a cluster of open-air gay beer bars to sit and enjoy drinks at much cheaper prices whilst people watching.

In Bangkok I find Blued the most active. Lots more Thais are using it and seem especially to like its instant translation feature. Quite a number of young gay tourists from China are also using it to try and hook up with guys here. So far as my experience goes, these are in no way money boys. The one issue I have with Blued is that it opens the door to your profile also being seen by tens of millions in China. If there is a way of blocking that I have not yet found it. Sometimes it is flattering to be hit on by a very cute Chinese youngster but when the chances of actually meeting up are virtually zero, what is the point? The Chinese/English translation is also instant.

I have never known a year like this weatherise in Thailand. First there was no cool season. Around December and January nights should be a lot cooler and many days with overall temperatures dropping at least 7 or 8 degrees. Apart from one short period, this did not happen. Now in mid August we have had virtually no rain. I can recall only two heavy thunderstorms since Songkran. Normally there will be a couple a week. Often I would open the curtains to grey skies. This morning, as with most mornings in the last few months, it is bright and sunny. Unless there is a bucketload of rain in the next 3 months I fear water rationing will not be far away.

The problem is surely not just one of a policy gone wrong. Like all third world countries (even if bordering on second world) many rural Thai families traditionally needed a large number of children to tend their fields and ensure they would be looked after in their old age. Some inevitably would gravitate to the cities but some had to stay at home. It was this very large group that Mechais campaigns targeted. But then as Thailand's economy started to take off in the 1980s, some of the wealth trickled down and there was a reduced economic need for families to have so many children. At 2.2 kids per family, Thailand would be at slightly above replacement rate. However, not quoted from the Bloomberg article in the OP is that Thailand has dropped quite a bit below that. It states the rate now is 1.5. So Thailand is only fractionally ahead of Japans 1.43 and a little further ahead of Singapore at 1.16. Japan has introduced measures to keep older people in work voluntarily. Thailand is stuck with a retirement age of 60 and no political will to raise it. Singapore has tried for decades not just to get couples to produce more babies but to get men and women actually to marry. Nothing seems to work. So Singapore imports a huge number of foreign workers. Of a population of 5.64 million, only 3.47 million are Singapore nationals! That I assume is the route Thailand will have to take. And we wonder why there are so few Thai boys in the go-go bars compared to 30 years ago!

I think we must remember that the primary reason for the big drop in the birth rate is the success of Mechai's promotion of condom use in the 1980s and 90s. The government realised that the high birth rate was unsustainable. One reason was the lack of knowledge about birth control. So Mechai started a campaign to promote an understanding of condoms and greater condom use. It is no surprise that many older Thais still call condoms "mechais". That resulted in a very fast drop in overall birth rates. Many residents and tourists have visited Mechai's restaurant chain, Cabbages and Condoms. Caucasians are certainly in the minorty. Already the Han Chinese are the majority ethnic group and Mandarin the world's most spoken language. Are we inferior? Not sure, but we are certainly doing a good job of going in that direction.

The earlier Bill in Thailand was for civil unions - not gay marriage.

A gay marriage law went into effect in 2015. But it offers no legal recognition or protection. So its basically a sham - at least for the present.

I believe the law in Taiwan is very clear. Marriage between two men can only take place if one or both of the partners is Taiwanese.

If you like entertainment, nowhere beats Las Vegas - not even Broadway. I dont mean the gaming tables but the absolutely stunning shows by Cirque du Soleil. These permanent shows in specially built theatres in hotels are nothing like the touring shows that have sometimes come to Asia. In fact they are vastly bigger, technically amazing and the best entertainment you will ever see. 'O' at the Bellagio. 'Ka' with its vertical fight at the MGM Grand, 'Love' (to the digitally remastered surround sound music of The Beatles) are absolute must sees. There is also one to Michael Jacksons songs called 'One' at the Mandalay Bay. You can book tickets on line. You can even take in two shows in one evening. Hotels can be pretty inexpensive and eating is also cheap and very good. Youll have to put up with crowds but it is still a place that will stay in your memory. If you are not returning via the Pacific, you can probably still get a good price on a return ticket to Las Vegas from New York. There is also an amazing show at Wynns by the original creator of some of Cirque du Soleil shows, Le Reve. It is a circular water based show - so dont sit in the front rows! And of course there is the free fountain shows at the Bellagio between 3pm and 8pm. If you are a bit flush, book a helicopter tour over the Hoover dam and actually into the Grand Canyon with a glass or two of champagne when you touch down in the Canyon. Make sure you have your camera with you. If not, there are plenty of coach tours.

I cant see that connecting through Seoul will make life any more difficult for passengers flying on to Hong Kong or Singapore. It might add an hour or so to the total time but not much more. My concern is that Haneda will become even more packed.

I wonder if there is a difference between prices offered in different countries or different continents. If I am travelling to the Americas or Europe, I usually find venere offers lower prices than agoda and hotels com. In Asia veneres prices are almost always higher. I cannot now remember the site, but when I have visited New York quite frequently, the Australian site of a much larger worldwide site consistently offered lower prices than the main site. The additional reductions were too large to be a result only of currency fluctuations. I note from Reader's useful list that travelzoo is not part of that grouping. Occasionally I have had amazing prices from that site - up to 70% once in a 5-star hotel in Japan and 60% in a similar class of hotel in Europe. Without the reductions I could never have dreamed of staying in those hotels! Then there are the little perks offered by different sites. I am bombarded weekly by an email from agoda offering a special Bt. 150 off. Hotels.com offers one night free for every 10 booked. The nights do not have to be earned in one stay. They are spread over all stays. In Asia I had always gone with agoda as I never really trusted that one night free slogan. Yet having analysed each possible booking, I soon found that the 1 night free actually works out cheaper for most bookings. But if I am staying in a chain hotel, I find the lowest prices on their sites cannot be beaten by the booking engines. Same with airlines if you book reasonably far in advance. Just yesterday I checked an inter European flight on a legacy carrier for later this year. Some of the search engine sites were charging as much as 20% more than if booked directly on the airlines own site, plus they would add charges for baggage when the carrier itself has a 23kg free allowance! Caveat emptor!

Thanks for the update. My information was from some months before the latest announcement. When Concorde was first conceived in the 1950s, it was assumed that it would find a small niche market prepared to pay high prices for speed. Despite using 1950s technology that view was largely correct even as the price of oil rose massively during its life. When the 747 was introduced, it was assumed it would open the door to mass air travel. It, too, survived the various oil crises and the massive rise in the cost of fuel. It even outlived the cheaper to operate three engine jumbos quickly introduced by Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas - the Tristar and the DC10. It seems Airbus just got its calculations wrong. I for one thought it was a wise move as air traffic continued to increase and airport landing slots continued to be limited. I will certainly be sorry to see it go.

Ive flown the 787 several times and never once noticed any difference in air pressure from any other aircraft. On the other hand I do feel a difference on the A350s. As for the A380 being obsolete you are correct that it houses a lot of bodies. Emirates has reconfigured some of its large stable of A380s into 2 class biz and economy. That totals 615 passengers! But thats far from the most squeezed into an aircraft. When the 747s became popular the Japanese carriers had around 700 economy passengers for domestic flights. Fortunately most Japanese are pretty slim But the A380 is hardly obsolete. Airbus will continue making it till 2021 and the life of the several hundred existing aircraft will continue for quite a few more years. Emirates plans to continue with some of its fleet until the early 2030s. British Airways seems to be considering purchasing second hand models to replace its fleet of old 747s. Air France is spending €45 million per plane on refurbishing 5 of its fleet. Hardly likely it would commit that expenditure unless it planned to continue flying them for a lot more years.

Add me to the "aircraft type is important" column. In fact very important. I will change dates if necessary to avoid an aircraft I just do not wish to fly in. I loved the 747 in it various versions, although have not yet tried the extended upper deck 747-800 which only Lufthansa seems to operate. I can not imagine any long flight like Europe to Bangkok and Japan to New York on a narrow body. For the same reason I absolutely love the A380 in both economy and business but especially business when I can afford it. Business, that is, with the exception of British Airways dreadful and dreadfully outdated 8 across biz class seating on its 777s and A380s. Anyone who has flown London/Asia or in the other direction knows how awful these planes are. It was not so long ago that most long haul flights were operated at night. With most people trying to sleep or just watch movies, perhaps I might be less concerned about a single aisle plane - but I doubt it. On a daytime flight the thought fills me with horror. The great thing about the jumbos is that there was plenty space to move around and you never felt cramped. I dont like the 777, the 787 Dreamliner and the A330 which many airlines seem to be converting for long haul. The A350 is by far the best of the twin engine lot.

One trick sometimes used in bars is for your change to come in a mix of notes and coins. But 2 or 3 10 baht coins will be tucked into a tight flap at the bottom of the folder. If you dont plan on leaving a tip, make sure you take all your change.

As indeed is dropping your pants for a good time with a girl 30 - 40 years your junior, grabbing pussies or having an almighty row with furniture being flung around in your girlfriends apartment - as in the cases of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. Both got elected! I admit I have never heard of chaturbate before. I assume it is another porn or social media hook up site. But do you seriously think those trolling the internet for the latest porn pics in 2019 are going to keep them for 31 years in the expectation that one or more might just be running for any kind of office? I think those in their late teens and twenties have little to fear about internet exposure in a generations time.

There will certainly be left luggage lockers or a manned facility at every large transit airport in Asia. If in transit, it is almost certain your hold bag will stay with the airline (I believe). Even if you have to pick it up and go through customs, there is no point whatever in dragging that into the city. But it is good you brought this up because occasionally you might find a queue when you return to pick it up. So you need to add another 10 - 15 minutes to your schedule. Toilets. Aha! Sounds like you do not travel very often abidismaili! Wherever there are hotels, department stores, restaurants and even cafes, there will be toilets. Just walk in as though you are a customer, look for the toilet signs and make a beeline for them. No one will stop you! Smaller establishments may require a key obtainable from the cash desk. So look for larger establishments. Almost all hotels I have ever stayed in with a bar or a restaurant will have a toilet at that level. No one is going to stop you. One problem not yet discussed is currency. Anyone stopping over only for a few hours or even a full day is unlikely to have stocked up with Yen or NT$s or Chinese RMB in advance. But again all major airports will have currency exchange desks. Some airports like Taipei and Tokyo offer good rates more or less comparable to banks. At others like Bangkok and Hong Kong you may find the rate is not nearly as good. You can also get a small amount at your departure airport. But lets face it. You wont be using much and you dont have time to look around for the best deal. Even if you see a nice Prada handbag you want , the store will take credit cards.

Have we all forgotten that it was not much more than 12 years ago that the Thai government egged on by IATA wanted to close down Don Mueang and push all air traffic through Suvarnabhumi? Don Mueang was even closed for a few months before it was decided to tart it up and reopen it for low cost carriers. Last year DMK handled almost 41 million passengers and BKK remains massively overcrowded. Can you imagine what BKK would be like now if DMK had actually been demolished? I cannot believe a third airport will open in the lifetimes of most of us. When you take into account all the corruption that will be involved with politicians and their cronies buying up all the land for the airport and its approach expressways and then reselling to the government at vastly inflated prices, the corruption surrounding the bids for runway and terminal construction, the usual delays as committee after committee investigates this, that and the next thing, but especially the vast cost overruns, changes in government which in turn mandate design changes and so on, it just is not going to happen. After all, it took 33 years from the purchase of the first piece of land for a new Bangkok airport until BKK finally opened. Thailand is so predictable!

Re the Tokyo online Host boys I should have added the price list. 70 minutes in your hotel room will cost 13,000 Yen - thats about $120. You usually pay the boy but some host bars request advance payment by credit card. No tips are expected. If public transport is required to get to your hotel you may also be asked to pay for that. But it will be peanuts. You can go to the bar and hire a room there if you wish and that sets you back another $10 or so. In addition to the list below, there are overnight rates. But given that the cheaper hotels in Japan have very small single beds, I would not recommend it unless you book a much more expensive double room. Besides, overnight rates are much more expensive! The websites also give information of when each boy is available each day and that information is posted several days in advance..