PeterRS

I have no idea what this means! Is it closed for renovation?

Allegedly there should indeed be bargains throughout the main shopping malls. I have seen 45% off advertised for a pair of sneakers that week-end, but inevitably with these kind of sales stores usually have some loss leaders to encourage you hrough their doors. If you do not need your equipment immediately, I'd just wait and see in the hope there will be discounts.

Oh really? With Shohei Ohtani getting paid $700 million for a ten year contract? Or soccer player Christino Ronaldo taking home $275 million? Or Alcaraz and Sinner each earning up to $40 million or more this year in tennis winnings and endorsements? But I detect a tongue in cheek!

Sorry I do not know which cruise line or which ship as it was quite a few years ago. The week's route was from Barcelona to Rome stopping at various ports in between.

I have never been on a gay cruise, but good friends did one in the Mediterranean some years ago and absolutely loved it. Not sure the Baltic one would interest me, though. Part of the enjoyment, according to my friends, was being outdoor in the heat of a Mediterranean summer and seeing so many gay singles and couples partying in revealing outfits day and night. The average temperature around the Baltic in summer is only around 20 celsius - more than a bit chilly for sunbathing and swimming. The other is that I'm not sure I would personally enjoy the ports of call - although I stress again that's a personal view. Such a pity that St. Petersburg could not be included for pretty obvious reasons. Bornholm does not look interesting but Helsinki and Tallinn would have been great destinations.

This might be a good time for those considering visiting Japan. Not only is the ¥ at very low levels (today US$1 - ¥154), the Chinese tourists who have been arriving in Japan in droves recently have just been advised by their government not to visit. The reason is a result of recent remarks in parliament by Japan's new right-wing and China-hawk Prime Minister that a military response from Tokyo might be necessary if China were to invade Taiwan. Previous Prime Ministers have always maintained a policy of "strategic" ambiguity over the Taiwan issue. Chinese tourists to Japan have risen to become second in number only to Americans. If Chinese numbers quickly fall, even by a relatively small amount, the tourism industry in Japan may have to resort to lowering prices to attract others. That will be my hope, anyway.

Why would I write cheques to anyone in Thailand? I still do business in the UK and depend on my suppliers getting paid. All UK funds are remitted to my UK bank and I was informed there was no other way to access them. The Banking Commissioner agreed that no other apps would have worked!

Surely we have to remember that last year's election had two candidates and Trump was clearly regarded by many swing voters as the better of two dreadful ones. The Biden Presidency, for all the spin, was a near disaster. He could have totally emasculated Trump during his term but he thought that didn't matter as he'd beat him in a General Election anyway, this despite his having always said he would just be a one-term President. His ego got the better of him and then he and his handlers kept from the public the man's failing health and cognitive abilities, but it was pretty obvious to many. If ever there was a reason to have age limits for Presidents and Supreme Court Justices, we have seen that obvious truth in the last couple of years. Where were the Democrat grandees who sat back and did nothing until it was way too late? They should have ensured Biden pulled out of the race much earlier to enable at least a form of primary to select a candidate. When Kamala Harris was asked on The View what she would have done differently from Biden, it was as though she was a deer in the headlights. Didn't her team even guess this was a question she'd at some stage have to face? Clearly not, for her answer was "nothing"! That killed her. As has been written here before, Trump's hold over the Republican Party goes back to the teachings of his mentor, the sleaze bag, frightful, homophobic in public and gay in private, lawyer Roy Cohn. His mantra was always attack, attack some more, counter-attack and then sue, no matter how right or wrong the case. As is now happening with his once fiercely loyal MAGA lap-dog Marjorie Taylor-Greene who has finally come out against him in the Epstein case and other issues, she has received threats and Trump has withdrawn his endorsement of her in the next Congessional Election. Republicans are basically terrified and the Democrat old guard is basically spineless. The latter's one hope is that signs are starting to show the emergence of a new younger and more energised Democratic Party.

Errrrr . . . yes! Gulp! Being based in Thailand I have to make a great many international calls. Making them through a landline saves a reasonable amount of cash in the long term. Also still have a cheque book! Two years ago my UK bank cut me off from my account for nearly 9 months. The 6-digit PINs they were allegedly generating never appeared on my phone or computer. They blamed my Thai phone service. After I complained to the Banking Authority and then higher up, I got rather a nice cash bonus since the bank was proved wrong! But that chequebook came in handy!

Somewhere in there was the influx of masses of Russians, I believe between the Japanese and the Chinese. I realise some are back, escaping Putin's war and enjoying the fact that they do not require visas for Thailand.

Really? You certainly read more into posts than I have read. Others may be mightily pissed off like you about Trump, Epstein and others, but we do not let them consume our lives. I too use a landline - but only for certain expensive long-distance calls.

No, but they do refer directly to the points made in the very interesting vdo posted by @macaroni21 in the OP.

I suspect this may be the same with other hospitals. Do you think they might consider a range of costs rather than a specific number?

Ha! Too right! Apologies - birth!

Not sure if I am interpreting your comments correctly. Please forgive me if I am not. But it seems from this post that you are not planning to take out a general medical policy when you move to Thailand. Is that because you already have one? If not, I do suggest most strongly that one is necessary for anyone living in Thailand. I realise some expats have no policy and more or less self insure. That can work but only if they have a large enough pot of emergency cash. The fact is that medical costs in Thailand keep on increasing (as probably everywhere). Not even public hospitals are immune. About two years ago the government mandated that non-Thais visiting the much cheaper public hospitals would pay more. The fee for the excellent doctor I occasionally see at the King Chulalongkorn Pulblic Hospital has risen from around Bt. 200 to Bt. 800 per visit making it relatively close to the doctors' fees at the nearby private BNH. There are plenty of private hospitals that will do your tests on a one off basis. But no clue about cost for your specific lab tests. I would email several hospitals and find out their current charges. I suggest trying Bangkok Christian Hospital on SIlom and the St. Louis Hospital on Sathorn where costs are generally a lot cheaper than many other private hospitals.

So why do you comment on them - with personal views that are not accurate?

For most reading Gay Guides, Richard Burton must have featured more than a little in our lives. He was after all not only a star of the cinema screen, he was regularly featured in the gossip columns of newspapers for a whole variety of reasons. Perhaps ironically, as in the previous thread, he came from the same Welsh stock as Sir Anthony Hopkins, although raised following the very early death of his mother in a poor Welsh village by one of his devoted much older sisters, Cecilia. His inexplicable acting talent was discovered by the English teacher at his school, Philip Burton, whose name he assumed for his acting career. Like Hopkins, he was also known for his drinking, although in Burton's case he could never stop. And it was largely a result of this drinking that he died. One newspaper stated he died 100 years ago this month aged just 58. In fact the 100th anniversary of his death was in August last year. But the error is as good areason for remembering him. Remembered mostly for his massive affair with Elizabeth Taylor, herself a fellow drunk during their whole time together when they made the movie Cleopatra and their subsequent two marriages, he seemed to become almost a caricature of himself, his talent subsumed by a narcisism and his alcoholism. It was almost as though he wanted to be larger than life itself, larger even than the massive rock of a diamond he bought for Taylor paying US$1.1 million in 1969. But we also remember that voice - that extraordinary rich low baritone which boomed through the cinema loudspeakers when portraying all manner of characters. Like Hopkins, his career veered between theatre in the UK and roies in Hollywood. But then he added Broadway when he successfully played in Lerner and Loewe's successor to My Fair Lady as King Arthur alongside Julie Andrews in Camelot. But it was certainly Cleopatra and all its surrounding hoopla that brought him to world attention, even though it is not much more than a mediocre movie made at massive expense. On a budget of US$5 million, its total costs in 1963 came to over $50 million, an amount so hugh it was almost unbelievable in those days. Filming took two-and-a-half years! Arguably Burtin's best movies were the adaptation of John Le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Edward Albee's black comedy Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, made with Taylor. Others will no doubt add his portrayal as Thomas Becket in the historical film Becket, a role for which he was nominated for Best Actor Oscar, an award he never won. Perhaps surprisingly for this most aggressively straight actor, he told a good friend in 1975 that he had "tried homosexuality". He also suggested that all actors were "latent homosexuals". The 2000 biography of Elizabeth Taylor even suggests there had been an affair between Burton and Sir Laurence Olivier. In addition to booze which almost killed him in 1974, he was a heavy smoker all his life. By then he admitted to drinking three bottles of vodka each day. I often wonder what demons were held captive in his mind as there surely must have been many. Rather than end with a clip of his own films or interviews, I add this short tribute to one of his friends of more that 30 years, Frank Sinatra. Not only will it open your eyes to a part of Sinatra's life, it reminds us how magnificent that glorious speaking voice was. It would fall silent within a year.

He is unquestionably a great actor. Like other British actors who have reached stardom - Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Albert Finney etc. - he came from a very poor background with little prospect of more than menial jobs. It was at school they discovered acting, or others discovered that talent in them. In an age when the government subsidised admittance to acting schools like the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), they started to blossom. That is how the young Anthony Hopkins started his long career in the business of acting. Now at the age of nearly 88 and with a hugely successful film career behind him that includes two Best Actor Oscars (The Silence of the Lambs and The Father) Hopkins has published his memoir "We Did OK, Kid". I haven't yet read it, and frankly am not sure I shall based on reviews I have read. I know from other books that I have indeed read that there was within the young Hopkins a rebelious streak and for some reason a deep-rooted anger. Clearly hugely talented, Sir Laurence Olivier took him into the company of his National Theatre that was just opening up in London in the early 1960s. It was a company that boasted a superb collective of actors and directors. But somehow, no matter his excellence, Hopkins was never satisfied. His anger was never far from the surface, he argued extensively with directors and turned heavily to booze. He mistreated his first wife appallingly - as reviewers highlight from his book - and had a daughter from whom he has been estranged almost since birth. He does not even know if she is married and has grandchildren from her. While remaining a fixture on the British stage and television until the end of the 1980s, by the early 1970s he was starting to work in film. Even then, he could be 'difficult'. Famously he called Shirley Maclaine, "the most obnoxious actress I have ever worked with." By then he was commuting between Britain and California. Then came his huge break playing Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs, a portrayal unlike any other serial killer in film. Hopkins knew exactly how he wanted to play the role. in a 2016 interview, he spoke of his ability to frighten people since he was a boy growing up in Port Talbot, Wales. "I don't know why but I've always known what scares people. When I was a kid I'd tell the girls around the street the story about Dracula and I'd go 'th-th-th' (the sucking noise which he reproduced in The Silence of the Lambs). As a result, they'd run away screaming." He finally moved to California in 1998 and there he met his third wife, finally achieving both the happiness and long-term success he had craved. He had quit booze much earlier and found much enjoyment in his other great passion, music. Few know he is a fine pianist and has many compositions to his name. But why will I not read his memoir? As a number of reviewers have noted, many are likely to buy the book for insights into why and how he played so many charcters in film. Yet, in the book he rarely discusses his film career. Lots of personal details, and some are certainly of interest. But the way he approached Hannibal Lecter, Nixon, Hitchcock, The Remains of the Day (for me his greatest movie role as the emotionally repressed butler), Howards End, Legends of the Fall, Pope Benedict. Meet Joe Black, The Dresser and so many other roles remains behnd the curtains. Most moving almost certainly is when he was with his father just moments before he died. His father asked him to recite something from Shakespeare's Hamlet. “I stopped, he lifted his head up and looked at me, still baffled by his son who was so dense in so many ways but so surprisingly bright in this one” https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/anthony-hopkins-memoir-review-king-lear-nixon-b2857977.html

I would not even put the Agency's address. I'd put a nearby inexpensive hotel - or virtually any inexpensive hotel, for that matter. You'll be well out of the country before anyone even starts to check.

In the heat of the moment, it is sometimes hard to think rationally. But I decided that if I punched him and the police became involved, he could argue that i had started the altercation/fight. There were after all dozens of people around with its being rush hour and if anyone stayed behind to tell the police what they saw, they might only have become aware of the situation after seeing my punch, thus thinking I had started it. He both pushed heavily and used closed fist. After the cops came to the hotel I went to the nearby police station to make a formal report. After signing it they took copies of my photos. I was informed it could not be acted on unless I could prove damage to my person - meaning a doctor's report proving bruising. But I had been wearing a rather thick leather bomber jacket and he did not hit hard enough for that. Besides finding a medical facility, being examined, getting a certificate and then returning to the police station would have taken more hours than I wanted to lose. However, I reported it in detail to the limo company before my departure. They took photos of my photos and the address of the pollice station. I doubt that jerk will ever drive for them again.

I have never put my hands around a motorcy driver - only on a shoulder occasionally when I am getting off. Turning the tables a bit, on my recent visit to Taipei, I was accosted by the limo driver from the airport to my hotel. In all my decades of travel this has never happened before. I flew to Taipei on Wednesday last week. As usual I got a car from the limo counter. Fortunately I was staying in the same hotel as before and knew that the driver had stopped on the wrong street instead of taking me to the hotel front door. In my basic Mandarin I asked him to take me to the hotel. He merely got out, took my bag out of the trunk, opened my door and told me it was around the corner. Fortunately it was not raining but I had no intention of letting him go without completing the job. So I got out and was in the act of trying to take a photo of the license plate when he tried to grab my phone. He then placed himself in front of me, weaving around trying to avoid a photo. Then he started to hit me - six times in the right shoulder and my chest. That did it. I refused to move. Never once did I touch him. Eventually I got the licence pic and a vdo of his antics after which he drove off at some speed. I reported the matter to the hotel security officer who called the police and it was duly reported. When I flew back on Monday, I went early also to report the matter to the limo company. I could not believe that anyone in a Taiwan service company would behave like that. But I suppose there are always rotten apples. Some will suggest I should just have accepted the situation as the matter could have got out of hand. But it was rush hour and we were close to a traffic light, so we were surrounded by cars and many motorcyclists. There were too many people around for him to have become violent.

It does seem to be much more of a hot spring/sauna mix type of venue unlike, say, the newer and classier of the two Yunomori hot springs in Sathorn Soi 10. This certainly has some eye candy but the younger Thais who attend all seem to want to cover their "assets" with their hands or small towels!

Shouldn't that be "always being gone down upon!!

Like @khaolakguy it seems your comments with respect are based largely on assumptions. Unlike @khaolakguy though, much of what you write could be technically true even with the errors. But then when did you last see a touring production in Asia? When Phantom of the Opera played in Asia for the first time all of 30 years ago, it required chartering 3 - yes 3 - 747 freighters to fly in the scenery, equipment (including specialist lighting and sound) and costumes. The physical production actually came out of Toronto. In each city it required 10 days technical time on stage before it could open. It then gave four months of performances. Do you seriously believe that two of the most powerful producers of the final quarter of last century, Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Lord Lloyd Webber, would permit third-rate productions of their shows in such a key part of the world? Both also opened offices in Asia in Hong Kong and Singapore. When CATS had earlier been performed, it was the production out of Sydney but again, with the show's much smaller scenery, required just one full 747 freighter. Your comments about casting are also wide of the mark. But then you are clearly not aware that those playing the major roles in Phantom had all earlier appeared in the London or Broadway productions in exactly the same roles (the musical had opened in 1986 and so there had been several cast changes since then - indeed, it is rare for any top cast member to remain in any musical for more than about two years; they are then replaced, and replaced again . . . and so on). So to suggest the touring production was "different to the original show" is hardly fact. For your information, I am responding at length mainly because in the 1990s I worked variously for the Hong Kong Tourist Association, the Singapore Tourism Board and even more crucially the Singapore Economic Development Board. "Events" were and remain a key strategy, especially in Singapore, in the overall plan to drive both attractiveness to foreign corporations to base themselves in the city - and driving tourism. @khaolakguy was clearly happy to take me on by stating an untruth on just one element of several I mentioned. I also added "and other entertainments." Two I failed to mention are, for example, sport and pop concerts. Why for close to two decades has Singapore spent tens of millions of $$s each year to run Formula 1's first night race? Apart from the fact that over three days it builds a Festival around the week-end and makes much of that cash back by drawing in crowds of over 200,000 made up of locals, local expats and tourists, for many days the promotions and then the 'live' television pictures are beamed to many (probably most now) countries around the world. These give Singapore massive international exposure as a major international city, exposure that otherwise would be financially virtually incalculable. The same is true of longer-established events like the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens - a mix of great rugby with global teams and a massive week-end Festival. Let's also not forget. On Taylor Swift's most recent Eras tour, where did she perform in S. E. Asia? Hong Kong? Taipei? Bangkok? Kuala Lumpur? Manila? None, even though she had indeed performed in some of those cities on earlier tours. An exclusive deal was done with the SIngapore government whereby large sums were paid to her management to present all six of her concerts exclusively in Singapore. This did not happen by accident. It was all part of the much larger national strategy. As its Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in his 1999 National Day Rally speech - “It is talent that counts. We can be neither a first-world economy nor a world-class home without talent. We have to supplement our talent from abroad.” Talent in that sense naturally meant business talent which would base itself in Singapore rather than isolated one-off events. But couple the two together and it is this overall strategy that Thailand has largely avoided. I am certain the ousted leader Pita Limjaroenkul with his extensive international exposure will be perfectly well aware of this. If he can ever knock the old guard off its perch and gain power, I would be much more certain of Thailand's present half-hearted initiatives being revamped and upgraded for the benefit of all Thais.

But you miss the point. How many expats can get in to see a London or New York musical? Theatres in which they are performed have seating capacities of somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 with most at the lower end. Plus the chance of your getting tickets for the top grossing shows is exceedingly limited and usually have to be booked months in advance. If you work outside of these cities in the UK, the chance of your seeing musicals is extremely limited unless you make an expensive trip to London and stay overnight. In the USA, the major cities usually get touring versions. The fact is that quality touring musicals in Asia attract expats, locals and tourists and can generate a lot of revenue. Thailand has seen very few because the TAT, unlike its Singapore and Hong Kong counterparts, has not even considered their value. And you have still not answered my question. You stated clearly that touring versions are "inevitably sub-standard." That is totally untrue. I asked if you had been to CATS or The Lion King when they toured to the Rajadalai Theatre in Bangkok and were therefore giving an accurate personal assessment. Yes? No? If not, then on what basis did you make your claim?