PeterRS

@scott456 should try Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong for starters. All have either more or most of the same problems but without the gorgeous temples, the variety of street food, the river life (Hong Kong's harbour is nothing similar) and the beguiling Thai smiles.

The Steven Spielberg/Martin Scorsese co-produced movie Bernstein is due to open with much fanfare in cinemas at the end of the month and then on Netflix. This true tale about the love affair between the acknowldged gay orchestral conductor Leonard Bernstein and his wife will almost inevitably throw the spotlight on to other gay men and women partcularly in the world of classical music. That world has tradtionally been closeted when owning up to some of its personalities who are gay and still not out. It is almost as though the older generation who tend to make up the audiences for most classical concerts still do not want to believe that their idols are anything but average straight men and women. They are of course wrong, and more and more classical musicians are coming out. We know that in his late teens and early 20s Bernstein mixed with a clique of American classical composers almost all of whom were gay. We know that some of those he mentored are gay - or at least bisexual. One, Michael Tilson Thomas, was Music Director of the London Symphony and for the last 28 years has been Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. Sadly he is now very ill with brain cancer. Marin Alsop recently MD at the Baltiore Symphony is one of the few openly gay women conductors. The Canadian Yannick Nezet-Seguin is openly gay and is Music Director at both the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York's Metropolian Opera. Of soloists, the great super-virtuoso pianist Earl Wild who died in 2010 aged 94 was also openly gay throughout his long life and distinguished career. Another piano virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, had married conductor Toscanini's daughter. But in the music business he was known by most to be at best bisexual although another great pianist Arthur Rubinstein said of him, "everyone knew and accepted him as a homosexual." Britain's finest pianist Sir Stephen Hough has been openly gay and happily partnered since his mid-30s. French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is also out and lives with his partner in Los Angeles. The other day I was flipping through youtube videos for a recording of the little-known Pergolesi Stabat Mater conducted by that great - and not at all gay - conductor Claudio Abbado. I then discovered what I consider a far better and more modern version with as one of the soloists the French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky. Today the world seems awash with counter-tenors - that developed, mostly-falsetto head voice that replaces in many concerts and recordings a voice somewhat akin to the castrati of 300 years ago. Many are thought, wrongly, to be gay, although some are. I had heard of Jaroussky but never listened to the voice. He is openly gay and has lived with his partner for about 17 years. Now a superstar in the counter-tenor firmament, he his very good loooking and his voice has been described as "that of an angel". Perhaps this short excerpt of the Handel aria "Ombra mai fu" - popularly known as Handel's Largo - made at a ceremony marking his award as Opera SInger of the Year will give an idea. I can recall only one instance where a gay counter-tenor has overstepped the boundaries of decency and morality. Back in 2007 I saw a glorious production of Handel's opera Giulio Cesare in Chicago. In it were no less than 3 counter-tenors, led by David Daniels as Caesar. Daniels was then arguably the finest singer in that genre. He and his partner were married in 2014 with Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg officiating. Counter-tenors almost invariably have a relatively shortish career if only because there are not so many roles for that voice. So it was not surprising that he also took up a teaching post as Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan Music School. Not only was he caught on a gay dating app offering students $300 for blow jobs, on a guest engagement with the Houston Opera in 2019, he and his partner were accused of drugging and raping a young singer. 3 months ago both pleaded guilty to sexual assault. The career of a once great singer is now dead.

Great for those flying from west to east. A bit of a pain for those in cramped economy flying from east to west since flight times will be very considerably longer. Bugger! Interesting part of the article is at the end. In 2020 a British Airways 747 gained the record with a JFK/LHR time of just under 5 hours! In the time between reaching cruising altitude and starting its descent, there would have hardly been time to enjoy a couple of drinks!

Purely for clarification, Michael Gove goes by one of the strangest government ministerial titles ever invented - Minister of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Unsurpriginly it was Boris Johnson who was kicked out as Prime Minster who came up with that one! Stella Braverman is the hugely unpopular right-wing Home Secretary.

There is one other issue from that article in the OP which , I think, suggests that the writer really does not know a great deal about present-day Hong Kong. Later in the article it states - "In an effort to arrest the [nightlife] decline, the Hong Kong government has launched a “Night Vibes” campaign featuring bazaars at three waterfront areas, splurged millions on a recent fireworks show to celebrate China’s National Day . . ." It then goes on to add there have been - "security concerns over the use of fireworks." This last comment is utter b/s! As far as splurging millions on a "recent" fireworks display, the fact is that massive fireworks displays have been a regular feature in Hong Kong since 1982. They always cost millions, are arguably the most elaborate ever seen anywhere, and started as a way of celebrating Chinese New Year. This continues, but a second mega-display was added in 1997 as part of the celebrations of the handover. This has continued every year since then. It has absolutely nothing to do with recent government actions! As for there being less people on the streets and in nightlife venues, that is no doubt true. But, as the writer belatedly points out in the article, Hong Kong's reaction to covid was almost the most stringent on the planet. The city was all but closed down for 3 years. Hong Kong people really were afraid and inevitably this took a huge toll on all forms of nightlife. When it eventually opened its borders, the quarantine restictions were equally severe - three weeks stuck in a hotel room and a further week of monitoring. Little wonder that the tourists who always made up a decent number of those enjoying the city's nightlife were non-existent. Certainly a good number of Hong Kong people have been leaving, including both locals and some of the expat community. But the writer gets it all wrong in suggesting that the bars and the streets are all but empty a result of recent Hong Kong government legal actions. Once again this is b/s. When I was in Hong Kong in January and February, it was certainly true. But I was back in Hong Kong 4 weeks ago from a Sunday to the following Wednesday. There were plenty of people about, day and night. How many were locals and how many Chinese tourists I did not bother to find out. Shopping malls were busy especially in the evenings and my hotel was at least 80% full. I visited one gay bar where, to be fair, there were few patrons. But then gay bars never had more than a few patrons on those days. One gay friend told me they were packed as usual on Friday and Saturday nights. With work the following day, a Thursday was never quite as bustling! The one area which has seen a drop in patrons during week-days is Soho, but this used to be largely an expat haunt. If Hong Kong has been "dozing" according to the writer, it is certainlly waking up again.

The more I reflect on China and Hong Kong's histories, the more I respect Deng. Naturally the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre blots his copybook big time, but even there I think he was to a certain extent hoodwinked by the hardliners who had worked so efficiently behind the scenes to remove his reformer proteges from their various positions of power and installed hard-liners like the dreadful Li Peng as Prime Minster. It is acknowledged now that Li was the leader of that incident. As with the current President whose father was a moderate reformer, Li had amost a similar upbringing. His father had been executed by Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang. He was then adopted by Mao's No. 2, Zhou En-lai, and his wife. As more and more of the history becomes known, Zhou himself was very much a moderating influence on Mao's increasingly mad schemes. So how is it that these two, Xi Jinping and Li Peng, brought up in relatively reform-minded moderate households turned out to become such hard-line extremists? A question for another day. Back to Deng. Another of his famous phrases was uttered in early 1979. Hong Kong investors, increasingly Chinese who had taken over many of the old British trading companies, were concerned about 1997. They wanted some guaratees that if they continued to invest in Hong Kong enterprises, they would still be able to make sizeable profits. If the Chinese took over the economy in 1997, the deadline for making those profits was fast approaching. So Hong Kong's governor, the much respected and admired Sir Murray MacLehose, a Scot who had spent many years in several posts in China including a spell at the Beijing Embassy and who spoke fluent Mandarin, made a trip to meet Deng in Beijing. He returned with Deng's words which he proclaimed in the media. "Tell Hong Kong investors to put their hearts at ease. It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches the mice" At the time this was interpreted as giving the green light to investors, that post 1997 Hong Kong would still be a centre where they could make big profits. In other words, Deng's Beijing was far more interested in the economy of Hong Kong continung to prosper than in imposing a political ideology. This was unlike Shanghai in 1951 when Mao, having first all but begged investors and busineses to stay, then turned turned his ire on wealthy capitalists resulting in virtually all businesses fleeing to Hong Kong. Deng was a visionary but very far from perfect. He never liked titles and unlike many of his top Party colleagues, when he stepped down from power in 1989, he held on to just one: Chairman of the China Bridge Association.

I cannot recall your post about the purge and when it happened. The fact is that Thai boys have been leaving the go-go bars to be replaced by others from neighbouring countries for a considerable number of years. I guess the purge @vinapu refers to is something that happened post the government's Social Order campaigns at the start of the 2000s because I do not recall many boys being non-Thais even for a few years after that time. I do remember, though, (I'm guessing around 2008-10) there was a lot of chatter in Dick's Cafe about a very handsome young Vietnamese who worked in a beer bar (Scorpion?) a little futher up the Soi. But for whatever reason he was not affable! On the other hand, the gradually booming economy made working in other jobs more attractive to many of the upcountry lads who were the usual recruiting ground for go-go bar boys. And my guess is that barring a desperate slide in the economy, bars will continue having to rely mostly on non-Thais.

Hong Kong airport has been using this technology since at least the start of the year. Perhaps becase it is so relatively new, on my three visits this year so far, I find it actually slows down what used to be a very fast system (especially for those with HK Permanent Identity cards). From observing just a few passengers, some tourists seem to have a problem with spectacles, others with inserting their identity documents the correct way at the first 'station'. It's also been in use in Taipei when exiting the country since pre covid. For some reason, at Taoyuan airport the whole process works much faster.

Daytime temperatures in Bangkok's 'winter season' very rarely fall below around 28. It will be a little cooler in the evenings and can drop down 4 or 5 degrees. Chiang Mai is certainly cooler, especially in the evenings when you will almost certainly need a sweater. As @reader's article points out, much depends on China. If it is below freezing in Beijing, the winter monsoon will ensure that some of those cold winds will extend down as far as Thailand leading to cooler weather. I was once having a short vacation in Hua Hin bewteen Christmas and New Year when it was pretty cool just lying by the pool. But the winter monsoon can blow in at any time. I recall one late November spell in Hong Kong, normally one of the loveliest months weather-wise, when daytime temperatures dropped to what felt like a bitterly cold 12 degrees. Check what is happening temperature-wise in Beijing in the winter period and you can be sure this will have some effect on Thailand a few days later.

Hong Kong is still reeling from the law brought in by its Chinese masters 3 years ago. This effectively gives the Chinese-appointed Hong Kong government (yes, I know it's elected but only by an elite group from a small slate of candidates all approved by Beijing) even greater powers than those in China itself regarding subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign powers. It's known as the "love China" law and extends right down into schools and publishing companies. As I have recently discovered, all books about Hong Kong, past and present, must now be censored prior to publication and certain words, phrases and events can not be included. Having initially failed in its duty to protect the citizens of Hong Kong by denying Chinese holding the British National Overseas Passport the right of abode in Britain prior to 1997 - an event which one political commentator of the time claimed would have been the single best boost the British economy could ever have - in 2020 Britain reversed course and opened its doors to those very same citizens. As of December last year more than 150,000 had taken up the new visa rights leading to Hong Kong's first fall in total population for many decades. Now it seems the UK has learned from China. An article in today' Observer newspaper states the deeply unpopular Conservative government has drawn up plans to broaden the definition of extremism to anyone who undermines its institutions and values. "The proposals have provoked a furious response from civil rights groups with some warning it risks 'criminalising dissent', and would significantly suppress freedom of expression. "One Whitehall official said: 'The concern is that this is a crackdown on freedom of speech. The definition is too broad and will capture legitimate organisations and individuals.' . . . "The documents state: 'Extremism is the promotion or advancement of any ideology which aims to overturn or undermine the UK’s system of parliamentary democracy, its institutions and values.' "Martin Bright, editor-at-large, Index on Censorship, added: 'This is an unwarranted attack on freedom of expression and would potentially criminalise every student radical and revolutionary dissident. It has never been the British way to arrest people for thought crime.'” https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/04/plans-to-redefine-extremism-would-include-undermining-uk-values

Why?

Quite by chance I came across this rather fascinating short film highlighting the difference between the ease with which homosexuals mixed in London in the 1930s compared to the much stricter climate that existed in the 1950s. It was made by London Weekend Television in 1981 and inevitably considers homosexual men as of that time. The video explains why views on homosexuals changed as the works of sexologists like Freud slowly began to seep outside academia after the Second World War. The word "homosexual" became much better known, along with such terms as inverts and perversion. Very quickly the public would become obsessed with the idea of dangerous effeminate homosexuals corrupting those around them. With spies like Guy Burgess being known homosexuals, the idea of homosexuals also being traitors mutiplied. In 1954 police arrested ten times more homosexual men than in the 1930s. So those interviewed in the film regard the 1930s in a much more favourable light.

Little wonder that Changi is consistently at the top of airport rankings. Whereas most major international airports are boring and make one long to get on to the flight, Changi offers a great deal to keep passengers interested and enjoyed, particularly if you have spend some transit time there. Hardly surprising that Hamad Airport in Doha has been taking a lot of tips from Changi, especially in developing a garden-like atmosphere.

I should certainly have mentioned both The Beach Boys and The Eagles. On my last visit to the UK in March, I travelled a short distance to meet an old University friend whom I keep up with on most visits. This trip he selected a small restaurant we had not been to before. Walking from the train, I was absolutely delighted to find a shop selling only 'oldies' both on vinyl and CD transfers, all at ultra bargain prices. One of The Monkees which I would not normally have bought was £1.99 for a double album! I'll be back at that shop when I am over next in May.

Not everyone is into muscled ageing hunks! Having lived and worked in Japan for some years and being a regular visitor, I can say that many young Japanese guys may look younger than their actual ages, but I suspect some of the faces in those web photos use discreet lighting and/or a touch of photoshop.

+1

They were my teenage idols, groups whose shelf lives were usually brief. They shone like bright stars only to die as younger ones rose in their place. The Hollies, Marmalade, Herman's Hermits, Cream, The Animals, The Dave Clark Five, The Monkees, Procul Harem . . . the list is long. Many of the songs remain on my favourites list. Setting The Beatles aside, my all-time favourite album remains Procul Harem's Grand Hotel, an amazing collection of fantastic songs with the earthy vocals of Gary Brooker. Some, of course, have lasted the course. Who would have thought that The Beatles would today be launching their final single even though two passed away decades ago. Or that The Rolling Stones would not only have launched a new album which has raced to the No. 1 spot in many countries, the group will continue to tour next year. Mick Jagger is 80, for goodness sake - an age when most of us are sipping our Singhas and enjoying a life of retirement with energy levels much reduced although with a Thai boy sometimes in our beds and thanks to little pills which keep everything functioning as it should! The octogenarian Sir Paul McCartney and near-octogenarian Sir Elton John, who has just completed a multi-year tour of his own, take part on that Stones album. Dionne Warwick whose equally earthy tones led to her being the muse of Burt Bacharach for many years continued well beyond the 1960s and remains a true icon. Moving forward in years, Gloria Gaynor's star shone briefly for a while as a gay icon with I Will Survive and I Am Who I Am, the latter from the iconic gay musical the Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein La Cage aux Folles (far better than the later Hollywood movie although nothing could beat the original French one) which I saw twice on Broadway with Gene Barry and the incomparable George Hearn. The start of the disco revolution when I danced along with a gazillion others to Donna Summer, The Village People, The Bee Gees . . . ah! those were the days when music helped in a small way to take our minds off the ravages of AIDS then startng to spread its tentacles around the world. I suppose - unfortunately (well, his music is certainly not my kind of music) - we cannot forget that ever-youthful octogenarian, perhaps even gay although he vociferously denies it, Cliff Richard We will all have our own favourites. I just wonder which young artists now in their 20s and early 30s of today will last anywhere as long. Some in their middle age like Lady Gaga, Madonna and Janet Jackson will always be there, I reckon. Yet quite a few in the younger group are already burned out or taking lengthy breaks for a variety of reasons including Ariana Grande, Selina Gomez, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber . . . It's almost as though in this day of social media, that is what can quickly build up a 'star' and unless that star is always up there at the top of the posting lists (I am not on social media and so do not know the correct term!) the fans can just as quickly abandon them. In the 'old' days' we relied on television if we wanted to see the stars and a variety of gossip magazines if we wanted to know a little more about their lives. But then, of course, there were the great songs and great performances. Or is that just the view of an ageing hippie with a hankering for the old days?

It is one of the great contemporary dance companies in the world with a corps of stunning dancers. The men are young, tall and with incredible bodies. I have seen several performances of the Cloudgate Dance Theatre now celebrating its 50th anniversary. All have been quite wonderful. For those in London, there is another chance to see them at Saders Wells Theatre in Rosebery Avenue from November 30 to December 2 with performances of Lunar Halo. One of The Guardian newspaper's weekly video picks this week is the streaming of another Cloudgate production Rice on Marquee TV. This includes music from a variety of sources including Hakka Traditional Folk Songs, Bellini, Saint-Saens, Richard Strauss and Chinese composers. This is a dcumentary made about the company's brilliant founder Lin Hwai-min for the 40th anniversary.

As if anyone ouside the Palestinian/Arab world would even consider that a possibility! WIth such entrenched positions on all sides of this ghastly war, who would keep the peace?

Many of those boys look stunning!

This must be something of a sentimental return since it was a joint venture with SAS that helped get THAI off the ground internationally in 1960. SAS itself started flights between Copenhagen and Bangkok in 1949. Then the flight time was 36 hrs with stops in Zurich, Rome, Damascus, Karachi and Calcutta. As in @reader's post, the west-east routing with the new service will be 10 hrs 35 mins with prevailing winds making the return slightly longer. The aircraft will be the Airbus A350 with business, premium economy and cattle class! Economy is in the 3-3-3 format. Another New Scandinavian Airline to Service Bangkok A new Scandinavian budget airline, Norse Atlantic Airways, is also due to start ferrying tourists to Thailand from Oslo starting today with 2 flights per week using Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The schedule will increase to 3 perweek during the period Dec 19 - Jan 13. Cheapest round trip outside the winter season seems to be around US$700 return but you pay for nearly everything including the seat you prefer, meals, drinks, earbud headphones etc. One reviewer of a flight from Paris to New York was pleasantly surprised but found the baggage weights were strictly applied with substantial additional fees if you are overweight. The aircraft has 64 Premium Economy seats in 2-3-2 configuration. Economy is the usual 3-3-3 layout.

Although we're a bit off topic, since it has been raised I'd like to pose another question: how effective are border walls really for those determined to get to the other side? The world is today witnessing the ghastly murders on both sides of the Israel border with Gaza. I have nowhere seen mentioned the fact that israel spent a great deal of money and warded off another batch of international criticism when it started work on its huge border wall. Already over 400 kms have been completed and work is underway on another 58 kms. As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, it is the most complex project israeli defence officials have ever built. The 65 km section separating israel with Gaza is more of a massive iron fence, but it is equipped with cutting edge technology designed to detect any security breach. It also includes an underground barrier and is equipped with hundreds of cameras, radars and sensors. There are guard towers positioned at every 500 feet. Yet the Hamas terrorists still got through with relative ease. According to the Israel Defence Forces, the wall was breached in no less than 29 places. If the state of Israel, always on the front foot when it comes to defending its security, cannot build a secure wall, how effective or therwise is one between the USA and Mexico likely to be?

So yet again an idea is floated long before the relevant department/s have even considered even the short-term implications of the plan. This is soooo Thai!

Solid gold toilets and beluga caviar on tap 🤣

Yes, "lists" is correct. Not content with just a list of the ten best places to visit, Lonely Planey outdoes its competitors with five separate lists. The Best Travel 2024 list has no less than five different categories - Countries, Regions, Cities, Sustainable Travel and Best Value. Results are in many cases surprising. Best Country is Mongolia. Now I wonder if that country is even included in any other list! Best Region is Western Balkans Trans Dinarica Cycling Route. Well, and what if I don't fancy cycling? You'll probably prefer #5, Southern Thailand. Best City is Nairobi. Huh? Not for gay travellers. it ain't. Homosexuality can be punished by between 5 and 21 years in jail. Stick to #2 which is Paris - as long as you can avoid the bedbugs LOL Best Sustainable Destination is Spain. This is largely because of the country's efforts to expand renewable energy and bring tourism to hitherto emerging areas. I totaly agree with £2 on the list - Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia. Sorry if this is repeating photos, but I utterly adored my trip there way back in 2010. Torres del Paine National Park with great views from the mega-expensive Explora Hotel Guanocos are watching you! Perito Moreno Glacier Best Value is the USA's Mid West. Well I suppose if you take a gun with you, maybe so. The blurb stresses the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit. Huh? Chicago is cheap? Not when I have been there! https://edition.cnn.com/travel/lonely-planets-top-places-to-go-in-2024/index.html