PeterRS

What did I write just a fw moments ago? @Moses continues to make a total mockery of the truth.

Out of curiosity, what is the name of the View Talay complex of low rise buildings just off Thappraya Road begfore it turns down to the beach, each with its own pool and a wall around it. These seem rather nice, but I expect considerably more pricey. Perfect for Olddaddy's birthday party with lots of hanky panky around and in the pool. 🤣

What a load of utter rubbish! It was Ukrainians who launched the revolution which finally got rid of the President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 after months of protests against him. Funny, surely, that when he first won the Presidency in 2004, he was declared the winner. But following widespread protests within the country about voter intimidation and electoral fraud, the vote was rerun and Yanukovych lost. His second election in 2010 seemed to observers more free and fair. In that election he stood for greater ties with the European Union and a non-aligned military. But he did not fulfil these promises. His reign resulted in massive corruption, an increase in cronyism, the jailing of his opponent in that election. Although the Ukrainian parliament had approved greater union with the EU by a massive majority, he withdrew his approval. This sparked major protests against his governing and he turned the troops on the demonstrators, killing 100 of them. He then secretly fled to Russia with, as admitted by Putin, the help of the Russian President. His house in Moscow cost US$52 million. In the meantime parliament voted 320-0 to remove him and hold new elections. His own party disowned him. An arrest warrant was put out for him and he was sentenced in absentia to 13 years in jail for treason. Pollng since then has put Yanukovych as one of the country's worst Presidents! After he fled, his mansion was opened. For a man who had never earned more than US$2,000 per month, people were aghast at the $100,000 each of the chandeliers had cost and the extre lavishness of his "palace". Documents uncovered in the Palace showed that close to $42 million had been spent on light fittings alone. His successor Poroshenko was considerably more popular but he failed in many of his promises. In the 2019 elections he was dogged by a major scandal involving cronies organising the sale of Russian components to Ukrainian Defence factories at vastly inflated prices. He had also been discovered in the Paradise Papers as having opened an offshore account in the British Virgin Islands. At the election Zelensky was elected President with 73.32% of the vote - the highest ever for any Ukrainian President in history. Yanukovich had never received more than 49%. Thus @Moses continues to make a total mockery of the truth in his posts!

I did mention in an earlier post that I do not have a spare bedroom. When I purchased the apartment, I knocked down a wall to allow for a much larger living/dining space. But you can have a hammock on the little balcony. Just make sure you bring lots of mosquito spray As for the party location, if I move some furniture around, i reckon I can accommodate about 25. But with no public transport nearby, you'll have to get your guests to take taxis or you hire a bus for them. Just for your information, as the party will be taking place in my home, I reserve all rights to photos and videos (of which I will of course provide you with copies). The videos in the bedroom with the nice large bed might make interesting viewing especially if you have some nice cute twinks! Can I post them here later? 🤣

Have you started getting the pre-nup in place?

As I believe many people are aware, the annual Edinburgh Festival now underway is not only an occasion for the high arts. There is at virtually the same time a Fringe Festival which attracts thousands of performers presenting all manner of shows and events. Last year there were 51,446 performances of 3,745 events from 60 different countries. The satirical evening "Beyond The Fringe" presented in 1960 launched the careers of Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller when all were recent University graduates. It started the satire boom in the UK and was way ahead of its time. It then went on to long runs in both London and New York. Although it was in fact part of the official Festival programme, it was devised to attract attention to the existence of the Fringe, which has never looked back. Among those who started their careers with shows on the Fringe include Sir Billy Connelly, Rowan Atkinson, Sir Stephen Fry and Sir Derek Jacobi. I mention this because one show this year has gathered considerable attention and seems destined to go on to performances in more major theatrical centres. The Alpaqa Theatre Collective from Peru's new musical with a Latin twist "Jeezus!" portrays Jesus as the son of Maria and Jose. Jose is deeply religious and homophobic but when Jesus sees presentations of the mosty naked Christ on the cross in his local church, he is both confused and aroused. He has a sexual awakening. The musical only has two characters, one playing Jesus and the other all the other parts. It is set in the time of Peru's strongman leader Alberto Fujimori. As The Guardian's review today reports, in one of the songs Fujimori's followers sing "We will suck your massive dic . . . tatorship." Erotic overtones and religious imagery are explored in many of the songs. The reviewer writes, "Jeezus! lightly explores the grip of religious patriarchy and the potential salvation of embracing love with no limits, in a sweet and smutty hour of uplifting musical comedy." At the end, the two characters sing "If love is a mortal sin, let's burn in hell." Summing it up, a reviewer in WhatsOnStage writes, "The score fizzes with variety, shifting from Lloyd Webber-esque ballads to Peruvian folk melodies . . . the production crackles with electricity, the pace never flagging. It’s a set-up that promises unaltered blasphemous satire, but writer Sergio Antonio Maggiolo sidesteps the easy route: Jeezus! is not about renouncing faith, but about finding a way to reconcile it with queer love." https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/aug/20/jeezus-review-underbelly-cowgate-edinburgh https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/jeezus-at-underbelly-cowgate-edinburgh-fringe-review_1691217/

I have always found that one of the great joys of travel is you can step out of your comfort zone and nobody cares. You are usually well away from your home environment. All it takes is the willpower to see new places and try new things. Not everything will be to your liking but you will be surprised how much will satisfy your desires. Try lots of new experiences and enjoy your October/November trip.

Add to that bankrupting and closing a university he started up, the textbook of lies he told and has never fulfilled in order to build a golf course in Scotland north of Aberdeen, and a subject surely closer to @Moses heart, starting a hugely unsuccessful brand of vodka that quickly died after five years. Or at least died everywhere except, some internet sources suggest, in Israel where some is still sold! That's because it was kosher vodka for Passover! Only as the Jerusalem Post discovered, it has a non-kosher ingredient. When asked about this, the Trump Organisation refused to comment! Given that the vodka was actually produced in the Netherlands, were it available today I presume it would be subject to sanctions!

I'm sorry but I find that comment uncalled for. There are many issues re my own nationality that I would object to if I found them included in an ad. The Swatch executives who approved that ad were negligent and stupid! And that's the end of the story!

With respect I think that comment is unfair. May I remind you that I was responding to @khaolakguy's point in his post above that this poster has asked before over several years for information about travelling to gay Thailand and never wrote trip reports. @khaolakguy made the negative comment, not me! Please read my first post in this thread when I pointed out that there have been many changes since that member's last post in 2017. After @khaolakguy responded, I wanted to satisfy myself that his is an accurate comment. It is. And I suggest if someone seeks information on this Board and as a result several members take the time to provide information based on their own experiences, I think a simple thank you is pure courtesy. Not to comment after receiving responses to specific questions is, frankly, bad manners, and I am sure you must agree.

That's a fair point. I have been through all his earlier posts - all 21 prior to the 2 in this thread since 2013 - and there were quite a few other questions he sked on a number of issues, but when other members have posted replies to these and the travel queries, he never responds with even a "thanks".

Surely there is absolutely no doubt in this case it was Swatch. With 27% of your profits coming from the Chinese market, no company should have considered using an ad like that. It was demeaning and insulting.

Again that's funny in a sort of weird way. Do you have your own DC3 that requires refuelling? Because Qantas says the flight time is 3 hrs. 20 mins. Now that fits almost exactly with @Kiwi306's estimate of 3 hrs. 30 mins.

You are funny! You want to get back on to the toic of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and yet your "on topic" post is all about Australia. 🤣

There is a whole host of reasons why sanctions don't work. When I was in Iran, despite sanctions there were cans of Coca Cola everywhere and bottles of Heinz tomato ketchup freely available. Korean cars were everywhere. I could go on, but the point is I was informed that many of the consumer goods had come in from Malaysia via Dubai. Here in Bangkok there are branches of many Myanmar companies solely to get round the sanctions on these same companies' head offices based in Myanmar. Several major counties have banned the sale of arms to Myanmar. Russia freely sells arms to successive juntas which have committed horrendous atrocities on its people over decades. Through the Russian State Atomic Energy Company, Russia signed a nuclear pact with Myanmar in July 2023, ostensibly to build reactors but no one knows the real reason. In January, a member of the Japanese yakuza pleaded guilty to attempting to steal weapons grade plutonium and other nuclear materials from Myanmar for sale to Iran. Although the amounts were small, could they have originated in Russia? China sells arms to the military junta but also to the rebel militias. More than most countries it has an interest in seeing an outcome of the civil war favourable to itself. The last thing it wants is a western-style democracy beholden to America on its border. Not that that is likely to happen given the USA's persistent lack of interest in helping any group in Myanmar. The BURMA Act that provided for aid to the rebel militias saiied through the divided Congress in April 2022. In the Senate, Republican members repeatedly complained about its cost and it was rejected by the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee. It then died. Trump's actions have een worse. So governments know perfectly well that santions are not only a relatively ineffective economic tool, they can not infrequently have unintended negative consequences.

I wonder how recent this is? In the earlier days of go-go bars there was never any question about whether boy was a bottom or a top. Virtiually all could do both and there was never any secrecy issue. Do you think this is a result of so few Thais in the bars now? Are those from neighbouring countries much more sensitive on the issue?

The Swatch Group of Companies makes 27% of its profits in China. You would surely therefore assume that in its advertising campaigns it would be particularly careful to ensure that Chinese sensibilities are very carefully considered. After I do not know how many executives must have vetted and approved its latest campaign before the marketing department was given the go ahead, unbelievably it actually includes this photograph - Granted the model is cute and he certainly seems Chinese. But for what possible reason these idiotic marketing gurus could have imagined that his increasing the slant of his eyes would appeal in China totally beats me. What message is it supposed to convey? Not only does it have zero appeal, the build up of resentment and anger on China's social media was immediate, so immediate that Swatch imediately withdrew the image. Naturally it apologised - but too late. The damage had been done.

The water was not to his liking!

WIth all respect to @khaolakguy, @rd2077 has made just this one post since his last one in 2017 (assuming the "activity" section of member's pages is accurate, which I feel certain it is). Even then he posted only twice in 2017 with the ones prior to that being in 2015. I'm sure you'll agree there has been a huge change in the Bangkok gay scene over the last 8 years and it is not unreasonable to get some new suggestions. On the other hand, if members like @vinapu take the time to provide very good information, the least @rd2077 should do is write a report on his visit.

I entirely agree. Like @Mavica I visited Moscow and Leningrad three times near the end of the Soviet era when everything was so depressing. Supermarket shelves almost empty. The buffet lunch at the Ukraine Hotel with very little to choose. On my second Moscow visit coming out of the Cosmos hotel I was met by a group of teenagers all wanting the buy the rather old jeans I was wearing. At least they were smiling whereas it seemed most people never did. 10 and 12 years ago I once again visited St. Petersburg and Moscow. The difference was night and day. Apart from the glorious culture and architecture, my friend and I were met with much kindness. The hotel staff could not have been more pleasant, one even giving us tips of places to visit that are not in most guide books. My hair was pretty gray by then and I remember on the train en route to see Catherine's stunning Palace, two University students even got up to give us their seats. In all my years in Bangkok with now even grayer hair, that has happened just once on the Skytrain or subway.

I spent part of my early career in broadcasting with the BBC in London. Those working on a programme had to be in the studio 15 minutes prior to the start of working on the programme even though there might be little actual work to do. We were warned on the first day of training that if we were late once, we would be put on a final warning. Be late twice and we'd be dismissed. On the other hand, we were always paid for those 15 minutes.

I hope you realise - or at least come to realise - that blaming everything on lies produced by western propaganda just falls on deaf ears here. So why repeat it ad nauseam? The more you repeat it, the less credible your arguments become.

It's surely only human nature that everyone has different likes and dislikes, often for no apparent reason. I believe this has become vastly more publicly accentuated as a result of the internet and social media. Years before we could only criticise someone or say bad things to their face and then stand by for the reaction. Now if some Lady Gaga fans don't like Taylor Swift, in the age of the internet and social media they can say whatever they want and in almost all cases there is no comeback. Because they are anonymous! I can't imagine any bad comments from that group concerns Taylor Swift one iota. The same is true in so many different fields. If anyone wants to become a public figure in any public forum, they have to be prepared for the negative as well as the positive. If you get pissed off at being criticised or called out, either you can hit back, or you control your anger management and pay little attention, or you back off and hide. On the other hand, if you believe you have something to say or some tits to flash, just go ahead and do it. Just realise that someone will always be ready to pounce on you whatever it is you do.

Absolute nonsense! Homosexual relations were far from uncommon in pre-revolutionary Russia. In various articles on this Board I have stated that Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, his brother Modest, the impresario Diaghilev, his protege the greatest male dancer of all time Vaslav Nijinsky, varous choreographers like Leonid Massine were lovers of Diaghilev for some years, as was the famous scenery and costume designer Leon Bakst. Add to that list the artists Serge Sudeikin, Pavel Tchelitchew, Alexander (known better as Sascha) Schneider, Aleksandr Nikolayev and Konstantin Somov . . . Even Grand Duke Konstantin, grandson of Tsar Nicholas 1 and uncle of Tsar Nicholas II was gay. The history of the gay movement in St. Petersburg has been quite well documented. Russians had for a century denied that its most famous composer Tchaikovsky was gay. Yet in 2013 Putin acknowledged on Russian State Channel 1 television that Tchaikovsky was gay and used that as proof that Russia is not anti-gay in spite of his new laws. As Putin stated - "Tchaikovsky was gay - although it's true that we don't love him because of that - but he was a great musician and we all love his music. So what?" Asked whether he would meet members of the gay and lesbian community, Putin said, "I assure you that I work with these people, I sometimes award them with state prizes." So much for @Moses contention that Russia as a country has always been homophobic at the everyday level.

What else wou;d we expect a Putin propagandist to say?