PeterRS

Although i used to visit Manila quite regularly when I first arrived in Asia, I was never there for one of the regular typhoons. Given that regularity I often feel sad for the Filipinos who have to endure such misery and damage in their wake. Now it's an earthquake which has devastated some of Cebu. Not only was it a big one at 6.9 on the Richter scale, it was relatively shallow meaning the destruction is worse, the more so since it struck after dark. The US Geological Service has recorded four aftershocks of more than 5. The shaking of the indoor sports hall near the end of the video is really scary.

Great series of photos - thank you. One question. When I was in Rio I also stayed in a hotel on Copacabana but I did not use the beach because I wondered what might happen to my simple clothes and even the hotel beach towel once I was in the water. I assume leaving them safely in a small heap would be rather stupid!

I think all three Baltic States are likely to be in Putin's sights. You can virtually walk into Estonia and Latvia from Russia. Estonia's capital Tallinn is a beautiful city. Rather than 'walk in' from St. Petersburg, I returned to Helsinki and then took the jetfoil from there. I doubt if these three states have forces that would stop a few Russian army units. So they are totally dependent on NATO. I visited Tallinn in 2013

I think those historians are wrong, if only because as @vinapu righly pointed out, the disastrous post-WWI reparations imposed by the victors on both those countries reduced their economies to worse than basket cases. When the people of Germany were in some cases reduced to using wheelbarrows of cash to purchase a loaf of bread, the conditions were ripe for a leader - any leader - to rise quickly to the top, the more so someone like Hitler who quickly spouted almost every reason in the book for the country being in such a mess. Too late the victorious WWI allies realised they had therefore been complicit in the rise of a monster like Hitler Trump, on the other hand, took over a country that was doing relatively well for most of its people - although far from all. As has already been written many times on various forums on this Board, there may be some comparison with Germany in the way one man who suffered a wretched childhood and was then schooled by one of the master gutter-fuelled monsters in the USA in the person or Roy Cohn was persuaded that he could do anything as long as he shouted loundly enough for long enough, used the law to his advantage, continuously threatened law suits left, right and centre, and changed his politics and his thinking with some regularity, who then became a national figure with a TV show that polished a fake persona - such a person could not just take on the rotten USA political system, he could actually win. The comparison surely is that Hitler rose to the top because he did basically the same given the differences between those two generations. With Trump I see some parallel with the lyrics to the great song from Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill's "Ballad of Mack the Knife" from The Three Penny Opera. They wrote the song almost at the last minute to compare the sinister MacHeath to a shark and reveal his crimes that included arson, robbery, rape and murder. Oh the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear And it shows them pearly white Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe And he keeps it out of sight. You know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe Scarlet billows start to spread Fancy gloves, though, wears old MacHeath, babe So there's never, never a trace of red. Many have sung the song, but the original Bobby Darin version is still one of the best

I agree with most of your post, although I certainly don't believe the disappearance of the "good ol' days" is a subject necessarily for lamentation. For those like me who enjoyed so many years in Bangkok - indeed revelled in them - (never really liked Pattaya as regular readers will be aware) they are a source of much continued enjoyment of wonderful and often amazing memories. As @mauRICE rightly says, though, time never stands still and what we once loved is almost bound to change over time. I used to love living and working in London as soon as I left university. Absolutely adored the city and took advantage of what it offered in terms of entertainment, opera, concerts and wonderful theatre as much as my meagre salary could afford, always in the cheapest seats. Coming from a small city, it all opened my eyes. Returning almost every year over more than four decades, most recently in March, not only have I witnessed the city changing greatly (some for the worse!) my own life experience has changed massively and I generally would not wish to return to any of the past, including those heady days in London or even Bangkok. I sometimes wish those today could have experienced the Bangkok days of old but . . . Although I have not been a visitocr to most of the sex scene in Bangkok for some years, I fully recognize and acept that is definitely a result of my personal development. It is always unrealistic not to allow for change.

As I have learned more about Colombia it is one country in South America that I wish I had included in my itinerary for my long vacation 15 years ago. For me the photos I see of Colombian boys are a greater turn on than those in Brazil, Mexico and other countries.

Ha! I thought you are not a church-goer.

I never stayed at the hotel, only took my guys to the rooms off the garage on the ground floor. Easy and quick. But certainly no ceiling mirrors that i recall. In fact I only recall one short time hotel with ceiling mirros but that was definitely somewhere off Sukhumvit - and a good 30 years or more ago. I sometimes miss the Japanese short time hotels. many with circular beds and mirrors both on the ceilings and the walls. They all seemed set up to give you a fun and exciting time with your partner.

I am sure he has pockets in his pants and you can have a bit of fun as you try to find something in one.

When I was visiting Bali regularly in the early 1980s, I based myself in Ubud, a town where art had flourished for many deacdes. There were artists working in other towns but it was Ubud which inspired a number of western artists to visit and make their homes there in the 1920s and 30s resulting in the development of a more naif form of painting. The main one we know of today is almost certainly the German painter and musician, Walter Spies. After a spell living iin Java, he moved to Bali in 1927 and spent most of the rest of his life there. As his art grew in popularity, he formed a co-operative of young Balinese artists who continued his style after he was forced to leave the country and his ship was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in 1942. Spies was openly gay. In Bali in those days although homosexuality was illegal, it openly flourished in and around Ubud and other parts of the island. It was only towards the end of the 1930s that the Dutch colonial masters decided to more strongly enforce the law and Spies was arrested resulting in his deportation. Using daily Balinese life as their subject, the works of the cooperative formed by Spies were popular for many decades. In Hong Kong I had five Ubud paintings on walls. Here in Bangkok, just one. What I had not realised until today after reading an article in the Guardian about an art exhibition in England is that art in Bali had major developments as the century was coming to an end. This particulr exhibition focuses on paintings by the female artist known as Murni (I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih) who had died of ovarian cancer at the horribly young age of 39 in 2006. Her work retains near absolute simplicity as she paints with an abandon of form. Her later works are amost entirely devoted to sex. Through sex she shrugs off the constaints of Balinese daily life and society. As the article states - "Murni’s later work stands apart though. The paintings are now infinitely more brazen, a total embrace of desire and sexuality. A pig in a bra puts on lipstick. High heels – sexily feminine and absolutely lethal – kick and stomp. Vaginas are worshipped by kneeling figures or penetrated by tentacles; breasts are bound by wristwatches; couples hump and writhe; everywhere you look there are cocks throbbing and piercing and erupting. They pop out of cups, wrap around women’s bodies, nudge at orifices. It’s all desire, totally unbound, totally free." There are none of the norms of Balinese society here. She wanted freedom in her life and as an artist. Her works are now to be found in a number of pretigious galleries in New York, Chicago, Sydney, Singapore and elsewhere. Two of her works - Images: Gajah Gallery & The Estate of I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/sep/29/i-gusti-ayu-kadek-murniasih-review-a-vivid-testament-to-a-life-lived-hornily

As a youngster my golf mad mother did her best to teach my brother and me how to play the game. We did for a while, but neither had much interest. Nowadays my only interest in televised golf is the biennial Ryder Cup which pitches 12 of the best of European golfers against 12 American counterparts. This is a three day event consisting of two days of foursomes and the last when all 12 are singly matched against another. Played every two years, first in one continent and then the other, inevitably it arouses greater fan participation as they cheer on their own teams. Generally it is an exciting and fun event, assuming one team is not losing dramatically, and it is the home team that often wins. Last week-end it was held at a course in New York State. The Europeans had won quite handsomely two years ago and most expected the US team to triumph this year. Whereas the Cup is about players and their golf, this year the headline writers had a field day about the bear pit that the huge galleries of spectators had become. For reasons totally beyond most people, the US Professional Golf Association had hired a vulgar comedian to introduce each of the matches. For the second match on Friday, she introduced the world #2 golfer, Irishman Rory McIlroy, by saying into her loudhailer "Fuck you, Rory." This was a total disgrace and the lady was rightly replaced later in the tournament. But it was an incentive to the crowds. While many were respectful of the rules of golf - rules which basically state that spectators are silent when a player is lining up a shot and then hitting it - that "Fuck you" was the start of a whole tirade of appalling behaviour of which "fuck you" was almost a pleasantry. European players, McIlroy especially - despite the fact that until recently he lived in the USA and is hugely popular on the US golf tour - were routinely targetted with horrifically disgraceful and disgusting comments about their wives, their being gay (totally untrue), their weight, with McIlroy's wife being hit with a beer can etc, and most happening just when the player was about to hit a ball. Made worse was the American PGA's agreement that one company selling alcohol could put little squawking plastic ducks in the drink. At times these could almost be heard over the abuse. All the media I have seen and read today mentions the apalling behaviour of this group of rowdies who probably had never been to a golf game in their lives before. You do not see this hideous behaviour at the Masters in Augusta or at the other two PGA major tournments. Everyone, the USPGA included, were perfectly well aware that holding the tournament at this particulr venue would lead to aggressive verbal abuse. But they did nothing to stop it apart from belatedly bringing in some state troopers to protect the European players. Hoologans being ejected was rare. Then again, as one meda source noted, this was a microcosm of what the USA has now become under Trump - who jetted in on the first day leading to many of those who had paid an unbelievable $175 for their day's ticket being late arriving. He who shouts loudest not only gets heard but gets his message across. It has been tradition since the Ryder Cup started that players do not get paid. Profits go to a variety of golfing charities. Two years ago on European soil, the American Patrick Cantlay mounted a silent campaign claiming players should get paid. The USPGA caved in. All their 12 this year were paid $500,000, of which they had to give 60% to a charity of their choice. Ironically, Cantlay with a net worth of over US$30 million won only one of his four matches. The Europeans who continued to play purely for pride surprisingly retained the Cup with a 15 - 13 lead. So the USPGA had forked out $6 million on effectively a bunch of losers, no matter that some did redeem themselves on the last day. Even in Donald Trump's America, money does not always win! When the Cup is next played for in Ireland in two years time, so will respect for the game's traditions return.

And I think with that we are both basically on the same page! By the way, I do love those shirts, even with a rainbow Mickey!

@unicorn I think you should also remember that California made same sex activity legal in 1976. As you are I believe quite a bit younger than I, I expect that covers most if not all of your active sexual llife. Before I moved to Hong Kong I lived in a country where same sex activity was still illegal. I then arrived in Hong Kong where thanks to a 19th century English law, same sex activity was also illegal. Not only that, a few homosexuals were jailed for 2 or 3 years each year as if to discourage others. On top of that, it was believed - wrongly - that the local 90% or so Chinese population was against homosexuality. That law in Hong Kong was not changed until 1991. If you think anyone could live freely and openly as a gay man as I would have been able to do in California during those 15 years, think again! Notwithstanding, provided one did not have a banner on one's back saying "I am homosexual", life was pretty easy for gay men. Remaining under the radar is not at all the same as remaning in the closet.

Where did you dig up that nonsense? I have never shielded my romantic life from anyone. Of course I bring and have brought boyfriends to parties and other social events like going to restaurants, concerts and musicals, or even just to the supermarket and other shopping trips. We have been on vacation together to various parts of the world. In that sense I am perfectly open. A man with another man. You just did not read my initial post properly. What I stated was essentially that I do not go around with a banner on my back stating "I am gay!" as it seems so many in LA do. But if anyone asks, I tell them. I do not lie. I do not make excuses. My life is far from "emotionally taxing" and I live perfectly openly without "hiding". But I live in a part of the world which is very different from LA (thankfully) and I live my life very happily my own way. Not your way. Please read before making such rather silly assumptions.

As I stated, where is the Democratic Party? Cowering out of fear! You add that it is the people who will rise up - but they too are afraid and you have little faith in them. So it seems you are ready and willing for the USA to become a virtual dictatorship. If the Democratic Party is such a bunch of wimps (and I know some certainly aren't) then the 75,017,613 million people who voted for them are now being sold down the river. Trump and his MAGA idiots are certainly a massive problem. But every political party needs strong leadership, and the Dems have abandoned its base by not providing anything like effective leadership.

Respectfully I dont agree with that in the slightest. What did you expect me to do? Go around telling everyone, "Oh by the way, I just want you to know that I am gay?" That's just nonsense. I cannot think of anyone of those many hundreds I worked with throughout my career or who I called friends and acquaintances who ever considered being gay was a subject I would not be comfortable discussing. There is a virtue and it's called being polite. Few people, certainly in Asia where I have spent most of my life, are as openly assertive and questioning as gay men in Los Angeles.

And I have to repeat what i have already written. Where on God's good earth is the Democratic Party? They are clearly a bunch of wimps. I have no doubt they may have some great leadership potential but every one of them seems terrified of being emasculated by Trump's barbs. Somene should be out front at least acting like a leader. If they wait even another few months, campaigning for 2026 and 2028 will be underway and they will be in danger of disappearing. A two-party state when one is clearly terrified is virtually a dictatorship. The USA needs a third political party - reform of the existing machinery of elections will clearly never happen without one.

That is something i should perhaps consider, but one reason I bought this apartment is because of the view and , crows notwithstanding, I will not have that view interrupted. It is the bedroom which is affected now and I have some twisted strips of coloured reflective paper being installed at the side tomorrow. Plus I will soon have my solar bird deterrent. Hopefully these will work.

I made a rule soon after I admitted to myself that there was no possibility I could be bisexual or get married. I do not tell anyone I am gay. If they guess and don't mention it to me, that's their business. If anyone outright asks if I am gay, I will not lie. I will tell them I am. But it is remarkable in my experience how few people guess you are gay - well, when you reach your 50s, 60s and even 70s and do not have a steady girlfriend - it surely has to be 99% certain you are gay, doesn't it? On the other hand, once some people realise you are gay, making both gay and straight friends becomes a good deal easier.

The above is the subtitle of a book published last week with its main title The Last American President. I guess most readers here will not feel the need to read this short new book as much has already been commented here. But it has received extremely good reviews. Not having read it, here is the opening blurb - "The Last American President rips open America's wounded democracy to expose a terrifying truth: Donald Trump isn't an anomaly—he's the inevitable product of a system engineered to fail. This searing investigation reveals how a man forged by childhood trauma, pathological narcissism, and calculated cruelty didn't hijack democracy—he was handed the keys by those who should have been its guardians. "Hartmann uncovers the unholy alliance between Trump's damaged psyche and America's rotted institutions. From Fred Trump's brutal parenting to Roy Cohn's lessons in shamelessness, from a Republican Party that traded principles for power to billionaire donors who treated democracy as a profit center, this book exposes the assembly line that manufactured an authoritarian. "But this is about more than Trump's past—it's about America's future. As climate catastrophe accelerates and fascism spreads globally, Hartmann reveals the nightmare scenario: a second Trump term that doesn't just end American democracy but also triggers irreversible planetary damage. Through meticulous research and unflinching analysis, he shows how political cowardice and corporate greed created the perfect storm that could extinguish humanity's last chance at survival." And from one of the 13 amazon reviewers all of whom have unusually given this book 5 stars - "I’ve read over a hundred books on the cultural divide in this country and the rise and rule of Trump, but never have I seen the variables that have led to our current crisis woven together with such insight and urgency."

Aniki in Taipei was allegedly as great, something I find a little hard to believe as it catered mostly to Chinese rather than expats. But I never visited and it is now closed for good. Hutong in Hong Kong also gets very good reviews. But no sauna in Asia of which I am aware has anything like the range of facilities Babylon offered.

The railing spikes work most of the time, but I still get crows occasionally banging into windows. Yesterday I discovered a solar panel outside bird deterrent on amazon which I have ordered. East to fix to the wall and the sound it emits which humans cannot hear is supposed to be very effective. We will see! Hopefully it will not affect @Olddaddy when he finally makes it to sleep on my balcony!

I only once had Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. I know it is hugely popular but I just didn't like it much. And that's the only reason I would not buy it. Nothing to do with Unilever. Not sure if there is anything against Movenpick ice cream which I love, but it is just too expensive, more so in Bangkok than Haagen Dazs!

An important point. I re-read @Ruthrieston's post several times and tried to imagine myself in his situation. Coming from a loving family with a brother and a sister, both eventually happily married with children and grandchildren, I actually cannot put myself into that situation no matter how hard I try. I think if my brother had acted that way and I had even seriously considered suicide just once, I simply could not forgive. I have in the past forgiven others for actions against me. But in a case such as that described, I could not.

And I am certain the one leader who is mildly smiling is Xi Jin-ping. Not that he would wish to see a war between China and the USA. But the weaker the USA becomes, the stronger is his country.