PeterRS

Everything @unicorn writes is mostly logical - apart from the fact you are are dealing with a country in the midst of a ghastly eight decade civil war. There is no one authority in the country. It has a total of 135 different ethnic minorities. Even China which has a population over 26 times larger than that of Myanmar only has 56 different minorities. The Thais basically do not like the Myanmar people and they are not going to do anything to stop illegal activites over the border unless it has some direct effect on Thailand and its people. China has its fingers in both pies - it supplies weapons to the ruling military junta (which now has control over well under half the country) and also arms some of the militias (of which there are many dozens). Although there are a great many Chinese living in the Shan State (which borders China's Yunnan Province), there are far fewer in the Karen State. In any case, many of the Chinese in the Shan State are up to their eyes in coruption and illegal activities. Incidentally, I think the number of Thais and Chinese in the scam centres is quite small. The scam of the Myanmar operation was largely brought to world attention earlier in the year when one of those hijacked to work in the centres was a well-known Chinese TV actor, Wang Zing. He was rescued thanks to Thai/Chinese cooperation. As for Thailand and/or China invading Myanmar, think again. No country is going to invade another merely to stamp out illegal activities. None! But China has other reasons for not interfering too much, and not only because large Chinese companies have a direct imvolvement in operating the scam centres. China's long term object has for almost a century been securing its borders. The border with Myanmar is a very long 2,129 kms. It wants that safe and secure. Secondly it has a vast number of smaller investments, some legal, in the Shan State many overseen by ethnic Chinese. Thirdly, and most importantly, it is constructing major gas and oil piplines through the country linkng China with the Andaman Sea. It also plays a key part in President Xi's Belt & Road initiative with the construction of a major railroad again linking China with the Andaman Sea. It has several times tried to broker some form of peace and there have been I think three meetings with senior Chinese leaders in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, to try and hammer something out. The Chinese Foreign Minister even visited Myanmar in August last year but with again no success. Of interest, I think, is the absolute lack of action in any way by the USA, the world's policeman. Myanmar is the fourth largest country in Asia - twice the size of Japan. With China involved, most of ASEAN involved and Russia involved (solely on the side of the ruling junta), the USA has sat on its hands on the sidelines. Yet the massive sanctions imposed on Myanmar have little effect. Myanmar companies operate out of Bangkok. Singapore sits on the fence. In June 2024 its Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "“Legitimate trade and financial links between Singapore and Myanmar are necessary to support the livelihoods of the Myanmar people." Despite Obama having assured the Burmese on an official visit in 2012 that “one of the things that we can do as an international community is make sure that the people of Burma know we’re paying attention to them, we’re listening to them, we care about them.” Those words proved to be competely hollow as the USA has done precious little to assist the mass of the ordinary Burmese. Biden did at least try to get a bill through Congress. In April 2022 the BURMA Act aimed at providing financial aid for the militias sailed through the House of Congress with bipartisan support. It then was killed in the Senate! US sanctions continue to hit certain industries, but oddly not the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. This is a state enterprise which provides much of the income required by the military juntas. One of the fields at Yadana mostly suppies gas to Thailand. Go figure! It's all a ghastly mess and it's the ordinary people of Myanmar who, in the words of Volker Turk, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, have been suffering mightily for decades. "unbearable levels of cruelty and suffering" and are mired in this "unending nightmare."

I have read today an article about this new book Lower Than The Angels. I have not read it myself yet and so I will merely quote parts of the article. I see it is available on amazon and there are more comments there. The book is the last in the Guardian article to be reviewed. Jesus never mentioned homosexuals, masturbation or the role of women in social, let alone sacred, life. Yet that hasn’t stopped millennia of godly scholars and lay Christians acting as if he had. According to these finger-waggers, extrapolating from biblical apocrypha, exegesis and their own personal fantasies, women are either morally superior or corrupt whores. Likewise, same-sex love is at one moment the emotional glue that binds celibate monastic communities and at another a sin that requires participants to be stoned. In this masterly book, the ecclesiastical historian Diarmaid MacCulloch sets out to show that the source for Christianity’s confused teachings on sex, sexuality and gender is its own untidy DNA . . . MacCulloch deals candidly with the clumsy and often cruel way in which churches in the post-second world war period dragged their feet on contraception, gay and lesbian rights and the ordination of women. His book is not in any sense a campaigning document, but he concludes with the mild and sensible suggestion that what is desperately needed is a general agreement that the church’s teachings on sexuality have little to do with scripture and everything to do with the muddled fears, fantasies and self-interest of subsequent commentators and the historical societies in which they lived. The best thing to do now would be to look beyond the old and often damaging dogma and take proper notice of how real people, in all their splendid variety, organise their sex lives most comfortably when left to their own devices. https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2025/sep/03/this-months-best-paperbacks-haruki-murakami-richard-powers-and-more#lower-than-the-angels

So there are indeed two issues here - the Supreme Court and the 2nd Amendment. What I fail to understand is that if laws can be repealed - and I am sure some have over the centuries in the USA - why cannot an Amendement to the Constitution be altered?

An excellent summary of what I think many believe, apart from gunowners that is. Some years ago I wrote a long article about how the USA has not kept pace with history and social advances. Basically, in addition to retating much of @jimmie50's post, I queried a number of other issues. Why, for example, does the USA consider it still requires around ten weeks between the date of voting and the installation of the new administration? Other countries achieve this in a matter of days. The UK in just 24 hours. No doubt it is because when the USA became a country vote counting was a much more laborious affair, with horses and buggies having to take the voting slips to Washington where they could be re-tallied and a result finally announced. Yet we have lived in the age of the computer for several decades now. The result should be known - and then contested if so desired - within days and the new President immediately sworn in. In the UK a contested constituency result is recounted within a matter of hours - by hand! What damage could an outgoing President do during that ten-week interregnum? When attempts were made to reduce the influence of money in elections, the Supreme Court got rid of that little annoyance by permitting the starting of Super-Pacs. That only resulted in vastly more money from groups with even more entrenched political positions influencing elections. And no-one in the electorate seems to bother about it. That individual states should have the right to choose their own voting system is understandable - for their own interstate elections. A general election is a country-wide affair and there should be just one voting system that is exactly the same for all states. Yet the present system means Presidents can be elected on the basis of disputed "hanging chads" in just one State! Then there is the Supreme Court! Who mandated that judges be recommended by political parties? And who mandated that judges serve until death? To me that is some form of idiocy as we saw during Trump's first term with three Conservative judges appointed. Why was 87 year old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a superb judge but who suffered from a battery of illnesses, not persuaded to stand down by Obama so that another moderate could be put in her place? DId he just assume that Hillary Clinton would win and all would be well? If so, then that was sheer stupidity. In the UK top judges must retire at 75. We also saw it in Bush I's term with his ridiculous claim that Clarence Thomas was the most suitable candidate to fill an empty seat on the Court. Thomas had been a judge for only 19 months! Despite the claims of sexual advances by Anita Hill, other ladies with similar claims were prevented from giving evidence. The appointment was shoved through with indecent haste - and the Chairman of that Select Committee who prevented the ladies from backing Ms. Hill's claims was Joe Biden! So now the US has two alleged sex offenders on its top Court. Had a 75 years old rule been in place, Thomas could have retired and taken up all his bribes from the rich without any threat to his position. In 2025, the time of a four-year Presidency is no longer tenable. It is too short, even though Trump haters will not agree. With only two political parties having any chance of running the country, as we have seen it results in constant changes in senior administration personnel and policies. With the world's second largest power having no such restrictions and President Xi able even to extend his own tenure, the Chinese have long been able to think and act long-term. No matter that the country is now experiencing considerable economic hardships and other problems, it is in a far better position than the USA to solve them and grow faster, both economically and militarily. While the USA has concentrated on its relations with just a few countries, China has expanded its reach, and is continuing to do so through the Belt & Road initiative. And then of course there is the fact - fact - that most voters in the United States vote on US-related issues. That is perfectly understandable - but surely not in the world in 2025? Since WWII, the USA has been the world's policeman and many of us are and should be extremely grateful to that country for taking on that role. Yet, we cannot escape the fact that voters in the United States vote on the basis largely of local issues. That, I understand, is particularly true in the central belt. Yet it is estimated that between 45% and 50% of US citizens do not have passports and have never travelled outside their country. The majorty of those who do have passports are to be found on the east and west coasts. So the majority of those in the USA have never travelled abroad, know about other countries, their peoples, their societies and their problems only from their own media sources. A 2021 census showed that roughtly 85% of Britons have passports. No doubt understadable given the proximity of EU countries. Yet surely Canada and Mexico are as easy for US citizens to visit? China issues more passports than the USA. When you add in valid travel entry/exit permits, that's another 300 million. Even though China is vastly bigger in terms of population, my view is that in the next few years the Chinese as a whole will soon know more about the world than Americans. I write all this in the full understanding that other countries, including my own, have their own set of major problem issues which they have failed to solve. But then other countries are not the leader of the free world.

Absolutely true. But . . . and it is a huge but. Regarding Asia how do you go after the scammers when the scam centres are located in a country like Myanmar which has been in an horrendous state of civil was for nearly eight decades? A country in which the rule of law hardly exists and where hundreds of thousands of people, mostly young, who lost so much during the covid years were enticed by false promises of better jobs with better salaries? The Thais and Chinese, along with a few from Myanmar, have been trying to put an end to this but zero success. Originally the scam centres were based in the country's Shan State - just one Myanmar State which is almost four times larger than Switzerland. When the Chinese in particular turned up the heat, the scammers just moved their operations further down the eastern border into lawless Karen State. Please read the BBC link below and watch the video embedded in it if you want to understand how impossible it is to stop the scammers. The huge city of Shwe Kokko was built in just seven years with the sole intention of using it as a massive scam centre. "The scams have grown into a multi-billion dollar business. They involve thousands of workers from China, South East Asia, Africa and the Indian subcontinent kept in walled-off compounds where they defraud people all over the world of their savings. Some work there willingly, but others are abducted and forced to work. Those who have escaped have told harrowing stories of torture and beatings. Some have come from Shwe Kokko." https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04nx1vnw17o

As readers will know, Taipei is one of my regular haunts with visits 3 or 4 times a year. The first was in 1986 when martial law was still in force and gay life was almost zero apart from the boys who would congregate in the New Park not far from the old Hilton Hotel. That park is now Peace Park and the hotel remains as the Caesar Park. The times are detailed in the book Crystal Boys set in 1971, later made into both a movie and later a moving TV series. I wonder if any city has changed as much as Taipei in its attitudes to gay men and women since then? I find it one of the most fascinating cities with an increasingly active gay life of its own in which foreigners are always welcome. Like @jimmie50 I have had many amazing experiences there.

That's exactly the same as I heard from a European who used to live in Thailand for more than a dozen years. He was a painter and he moved to Bali both to have freedom to paint and because he had been told that one European he vaguely knew lived there with regular parties at which many dozens of gay Bali boys would cavort naked around the pool. This was allegedly a weekly occurrence. Having packed up his house outside Chiang Mai he made the move. Within a year he was back. He'd had a great first few weeks and then it just became boring, boring, boring, he told me.

Ok, so we don't agree. In Rome I was responsible for being pickpocketed for the simpe reason that i was aware of the city's reputation and I did not do enough to keep my cash safe. That's pretty obvious. On the other hand, I was not responsible the first time a taxi driver in Istanbul instantly switched a 10 million note for a 5 million one. I knew i had given him a 10 million note but I was not aware of that scam and in any case I had absolutely no way of proving it. Similarly, anyone expecting the police and legislation to protect them from pickpocketing wherever they happen to be will be mightily disappointed. The problem with pickpockets is that they are almost every time far from the scene by the time a policeman gets anywhere close. You cartoons posted on Tuesday at 2:03pm are obvious and stupid. You may not regard them as cartoons but even though they may be found in Texas, they are visuals that are quite inappropriate for this particular subject matter.

We read a lot on this Board about the sexual preferences of readers. It's partly what makes it interesting. In the hope that this may make it even more interesting, I am going to try and start a Poll underneath this post. I have never ceated a Poll before and so may get my knickers in a twist. But I'll try. Two points to note. 1. Polls here can only have 4 subject lines, each with various choices. So if I am not finished I may try to add a second Poll. 2. Polls on some Boards have the screen names of those giving answers. I have chosen to make this anonymous, so your name will not appear. This may lead to some scam-type answers but I hope not. Well, I tried several times but each time I was informed the Poll was not completed correctly. Goodness knows what that means for I had added Subjects and Choices exactly as requested. I'l check the general regulations and see if there is anything about Polls there.

We read a lot on this Board about the sexual preferences of readers. It's partly what makes it interesting. In the hope that this may make it even more interesting, I am going to try and start a Poll underneath this post. I have never ceated a Poll before and so may get my knickers in a twist. But I'll try. Two points to note. 1. Polls here can only have 4 subject lines, each with various choices. So if I am not finished I may try to add a second Poll. 2. Polls on some Boards have the screen names of those giving answers. I have chosen to make this anonymous, so your name will not appear. This may lead to some scam-type answers but I hope not. Here goes!

The basic premise of that article is what we all knew! "So these are uncharted waters . . . Unfortunately, we’re still in a position where things are changing day by day. No one knows what will happen next."

Samming has become a huge business. We know that here in Asia there are some 250,000 people who have been trafficked from many countries to work in scam centres almost all of which are located in Myanmar near the border with Thailand. It seems that all arrive in Bangkok having been promised all manner of jobs before being whisked to the border and their new life of utter misery. The Thai authorities know this but seem to do little about it. A Report published by USIP in 2024 stated that Myanmar scam activities had netted US$64 billion by the end of 2023!

Ghastly event! But you can rest assured that Putin will never set foot in the EU. He knows that will be his death warrant - death in jail that is.

1. What does it matter how old the boy was when that photo was taken? I did not state the photo was taken when he waa 11. It was a photo pictured on many media outlets. DId this affect the outcome of his being murdered in cold blood? Of course not, but maybe you do not agree. And with equal respect, I frankly do not believe that is a photo of a six-year old. He is clearly several years older. I think you may be confusing this with the murder of Aiden Leos aged 6 in a road rage incident in 2021. As news reports today have highlighted, the man was not in his house when the bell was rung. He was actually waiting in the shadows with the gun in his hand. He then followed the boys as they ran away BEFORE he fired any shots. He was clearly intent on shooting one or more. This makes his murder charge much more serious as I assume it now involves premeditation. He deserves the maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole. In a search of his home, in addition to the handgun, police found 20 other guns and tactical and smoke grenades. This man is a monster. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ding-dong-ditch-prank-shooting-houston-suspect-waiting-shadows/ 2. You are kind but please do not be sorry for me. I was on my 5th or 6th visit to the city, I knew about pickpocketing but still I placed some cash where it could be relatively easily taken when distracted by a thief's accomplice. I still believe had I been more sensible, it could not have happened as it did. I agree, though, for a casual tourist Rome is pickpocket's heaven, as are many big cities. But I still believe that virtually all who have their pockets picked are to a certain extent at fault for not taking greater care of their cash and valuables. And I still believe that even tightening up laws and giving the police more powers will help not one iota. The vdo clip from The Take I posted immediately above shows how simple it is for a talented pickpocket to steal your cash and have melded anonymously into nearby crowds long before you realise your cash is gone! We each have a responsibility for our own belongings. Finally, and again with all respect, I do not think a very serious subject like the murder of an 11-year old should be peppered with cartoons. Wrong thread! Wrong attitude!

Yes, but my question was pretty obviously intended for the others who did find evidence of considerable drug abuse.

It is surely perfectly ridiculous to equate a pickpocket with a rapist. Agreed - both are breaking the law, but this is not merely the breaking of one law because they is each covered by different laws! Please be sensible. I had my pocket picked for the simple reason that I did not take precautions to secure all my cash. Having been to Rome several times, I knew all about pickpockets. I could quite easily have prevented the theft. My own stupidity resulted in it. But then to suggest that you expect the police to deal with a pickpocket is, sorry to say, further stupidity. Of course, in an ordered world that might be the sensible thing to do. But picture the scenario. I am walking by the Spanish Steps. I just realise my wallet has been stolen but I have not the faintest idea who stole it. I try to find a policeman. No luck. If I have been sensible and put the local English police reporting office number on to my phone, I call. I give my details and location. I am asked to describe the pickpocket. I cannot. If - and only if - the police decide this is a case worth looking at, they might send someone to talk with me. How long does that take? 15 minutes? With luck maybe 10. And where is the pickpocket by then? Having hopped on a motorcycle, he is probably praying for his thieving soul in St. Peter's more than two miles away - while at the same time thanking the good Lord that there are idiots who happily put there cash where it can be stolen. Ever seen this scene before?

I think you will have realised from my following words that I erred, for which I apologise. I did mean to write "I do NOT agree with it". This is the photo of the murdered 11-year old. According to CNN, there is no law in Texas that permits a home owner to shoot and kill a boy who is running away from his property. The murderer Gonzalo Leon Jr. aged 42 has been formally charged with the teen's murder. In Texas the so-called "Castle Doctrine" or "Stand Your Ground" law permit a homeowner to shoot someone who unlawfully enters your building of if you as the home owner believe it is to prevent robbery, assault and certain other crimes. It does not cover a home owner leaving his home with a gun in hand and shooting and murdering an 11-year old boy in the act of running away from your building having caused no material harm. Prosecutors are adamant that the legislation does not cover the crime Leon Jr. committed as there was absolutely no threat whatever facing him. Any murder in Texas is classed merely as murder. First degree and second degree hold no sway. The maximum penalty for murder is 99 years. A murder charge can be reduced to a second degree felony if the prosecution and judge agree. That carries a maximum penalty of 20 years without parole. For the deliberate murder of a child, I believe 20 years is far too lenient.

To experience unique views; definitely. For bragging rights; No.

Understood, but that is surely not the basic reason for resorting to taking it? That's what I was hoping to find out.

I respect @unicorn's argument, but frankly do agree with it. Having one's pocket picked is quite often the fault of the one wearing the pocket. That was the case when I was robbed in Rome, and I was perfectly well aware after the event it was my fault for not being more careful with my cash. Behaving in other countries according to the customs of those countries is also, with respect, not an argument. I have been in Doha and seen quite a few willing guys on the apps there. I have spent two weeks in Iran where my guide had a hooker in every city we visited. Pickpocketing, scams, and adjusting sexual behaviour to comply with other countries' laws have, at least to me, absolutely nothing to do with the ridiculously easy access to guns and the murder of innocent teens and pre-teens in the USA. There is absolutely no excuse for extinguishing a life in such a manner. Trying to be fair, I realise that the situation in the USA thanks to that ridiculous 2nd Amendment is now totally out of control. But when a majority of the electorate want sticter gun controls and a major reduction in the ease with which guns can be acquired and lawmakers on both sides adamantly refuse even to tighten legislation, the fact that there are now far more guns than people in the country is just nuts. Even after the Brady Bill to mandate waiting longer periods before purchase was enacted, the useless Supreme Court struck it down! And even the 10 years after the Federal Assault Weapons ban was enacted in 1994 to get assault weapons of war off the streets, has never been reintroduced after it died its death in 2004. Why are American politicians such pussies when those in other countries like the UK and Australia have taken major action to enact much tighter gun legislation and make ownership of guns much more difficult?

I have acually lived in East Asia for 46 years in several countries. Although I never took the trouble to learn the languages well enough for conversations, I know enough for the basics. Fortunately friends I have made tend to speak at worst reasonable English. Everywhere I have had more "local" friends than western friends. For me I just cannot see the point of living outside my own country in an expat bubble - although of course I fully respect the rights of those who do.

To me that makes not one iota of difference. Of course, as stated I am not American and I do not understand much of what happens politically and socially in America. But the ability of virtually anyone in the USA to grab a gun and murder unarmed teenage and pre-teen boys virtually on their doorsteps whether or not they were playing a stupid prank or not, is the mark of a hideously warped society, one where people care little about anyone but themselves and where the callous murder of young children seems only to increase each time lawmakers talk about the need to preserve the ridiculous 2nd Amendment. How many recall this was actually ratified on December 15 1791? That anyone can remotely consider a law passed 234 years ago remains relevant without any further amendment or revision in the year 2025 is close to madness in my limited view. It is as though the good and the bad people in America consider they still live in a country where they can slaughter the Native American Indian communities with impunity and the horse and buggy remains the only mode of transport. All sensible societies accept that laws need to be revised or repealed with the passage of time. If not, homosexuals in England would still be subject to the death penalty under the Buggery Act of 1553. But that Act was revised in 1861 and again in 1885 before finally being being struck off the statute books (with certain exceptions as for sex with with minors, for example) in 1967. So if two gay members of this forum lived in England and the USA in the year 1886, would they rather be subject to two years in jail like Oscar Wilde or murdered on a doorstep?

Do let us know after your return. Sri Lanka is rarely mentioned here and a report from a member will I am certain be most welcome.

This should perhaps be in the Politics forum but I am today so angry I want it posted where more can see it. If there is one American gun event I remember more than the vast thousands of others during my lifetime, it is not Sandy Hook or other hideous massacres. It is the tragic tale of a 16-year old Japanese exchange student, Yoshiro Hattori. At Halloween in 1992, Hattori was invited to a party for Japanese students. His homestay 'brother' drove him to the party. Hattori was dressed in a white tuxedo in deference to the character played by John Travolta in the movie Saturday Night Fever. Finding an address with Halloween decorations outside, Hattori and his friend went up and rang the doorbell. It was the wrong address. As there was no response, they were in the act of leaving when the house owner, a 30-year old supermarket butcher named Rodney Peairs, opened the door, a magnum 44 in his hand. He shouted "Freeze". Almost certainly unaware what the word "freeze" meant, Hattori turned back to say to Peairs that they were there for the party. Hattori also did not have his contact lenses on that night. He moved towards Peairs. From a distance of just five feet, Peairs shot and killed him. This is where the law in the US appears to me madness! Originally Peairs was not charged with any crime as the Baton Rouge Police Department claimed Peairs had a legal right to shoot a trespasser. Only affter protests from the State Governor and the Japanese Consul was Peairs charged with manslaughter. It gets worse. Even though a police detective admitted in court that Peairs had said to him, "Boy, I messed up; I made a mistake," after a mere three hours deliberation, the jury found Peairs "not guilty". At an ensuing civil trial, that verdict was overturned and Hattori's parents awarded US$650,000 in compensation. The Peairs insurance company paid $100,000. Over more than three decades the Peairs have never paid one cent of any of the remainder. Why do I think of that today? Last Saturday evening a group of young kids were playing a prank in Houston, Texas. I am sure as kids we all played pranks of various descriptions, sometimes annoying those who were the subject of the prank. But virtually always we put it to the back of our minds and just got on with daily life. Last Saturday, the prank was ringing doorbells and then running away quickly. It seems there were three boys, not yet teenagers. After one bell was rung, the kids ran like mad down the street. The houseowner quickly appeared at the door, gun in hand, saw the boys and randomly shot several times. The intent clearly was to kill. An 11-year old boy was shot in the back and died the following day. The houseowner eventually gave himself up to the police and there is a possibility he will be charged with murder. Several guns were discovered in his home. Irrespective of the charge, in what civilised country in the world are people permitted to own guns and shoot anyone who comes near their front doors without first ascertaining the reason and a reasonable belief that they might come to serious harm? A halloween misunderstanding where the murdered victim is just 16 and has no gun and where the jury has the gall to bring a verdict of "not guilty" and an 11-year old playing a prank are wholly unacceptable circumstances for taking lives - young innocent lives. These are out and out murders which would never occur in most countries. And it is now finally being cited, along with a loathing of Donald Trump and what he, his sanctions and his law & order forces are doing in grabbing innocent people from the streets, as one reason for tourism to the United States starting to fall quite drastically. The US Travel Association estimated that the drop in inbound international travel to the US in March was 14%. The US then had a $50 billion travel trade deficit. https://abcnews.go.com/US/11-year-houston-boy-shot-door-knocking-prank/story?id=125141773 https://www.ustravel.org › us-travel-snapshot-april-2025

Gs Guy Hostel in Taipei sadly closed quite recently. It had single rooms in addition to various types of dorm rooms, open showers and a sort of suggestion that walking around naked was encouraged. Annoyingly agoda still adertises it on its list of hotels. When you try to make a booking it quotes "Just Missed It", which is probably true but actually misleading. But there are other hostels which are either gay or have gay floors. Just be careful when using websites. Nomadic Boys allegedly lists the ten most popular gay hotels. All, apart from Gs Guy which is closed, are regular hotels that have absolutely nothing to do with gay men! It's a total rip off. One popular gay hostel seems to be Miniinn close to the main station. Three of the floors are allegedly dedicated for gay guests. It has become so popular, one website states it will only take reservations two months in advance which I think is probably nonsense. But at around NT$770 (US$25) per night, it's a steal for younger travellers. Beds in male dormitory room Superior quadruple room