PeterRS

Although I am reasonably certain there was no family living in any compound in Soi Twilight.

I have been in the front row for an Emirates economy flight to Hong Kong. The flight was overbooked and they offered me lounge access, priority boarding and a free biz class return for a later date if I just agreed to that one sector downgrade. It was a generous offer which I accepted and actually enjoyed the front row - even though then it was an economy seat and there was no partition in front. So I think Premium Economy on the A380 might certainly be worth trying.

The problem on the Emirates A380s is there is no bulkhead, only two half partitions. The first row has two seats each side with tons of legroom because they are in the open area at the downstairs entrance. The problem is that the toilets are up a few stairs at the front and the chances are you are going to have queues occasionally in front of you.

It seems slightly strange that one of the screen's major icons died 70 years ago just before his third and last movie appeared. I had never seen Rebel Without A Cause until this afternoon when it was shown on a True Visions channel. I had looked forward to it but was perhaps a bit disappointed, both with the movie and with James Dean. Natalie Wood's character also seemed to me two-dimensional and more than a little unbelievable. Inevitably it is dated and the post-war rebel image of the younger characters seemed tame - at least when you compare it with, for example, the gang warfare in the 1960s West Side Story. The concept of teenagers as a class of their own was still relatively new after the war. Teenagers were regarded as being filled with a restless angst and spirit of rebellion toward the social norms which they felt restricted by, and it is this that Rebel Without A Cause doesn't quite present on screen IMHO. The interesting character I think is Plato played by the cherubic 16-year old Sal Mineo. It was a role that earned him his first of two nominations for the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor. It could never be said at the time but he admitted in a 1972 interview that he really had to be killled off. His character, he suggested, "was in a way the first gay teenager in films." For years Mineo denied he was gay, presumably to ensure he got parts. Later in his short life there was a spell when he said he was bisexual and had allegedly slept with some of the most powerful men and some women in Hollywood, including Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando. Sadly for him, it did not do his career much good. the more so as his looks began to fade. In 1976 aged 37 he was brutally stabbed to death by a pizza delivery man during a random robbery outside his West Hollywood apartment. For his final six years he finally came out as gay and lived with an acting teacher Courtney Burr III. James Dean and Sal Mineo in a scene from Rebel Without A Cause

Just make sure the nephews dont get the lube! Oops!

You've let the cat out of the bag! I hadn't planned to let on about that!

Thinking back, the golden age of British television sitcoms seems to have all but disappeared many decades ago. Shows like Blackadder, Yes Minister, Are You Being Served?, Dad's Army, Porridge (with Ronnie Barker and the very talented Richard Beckinsale, father of actress Kate, who died tragically young) Steptoe and Son, Rising Damp, Till Death Us Do Part . . .and that's before all the comedy shows with such talented actors as Tony Hancock, Morecambe and Wise, Eric Sykes, Arthur Askey, Frankie Howerd, Spike Milligan . . . so many and so many now forgotten. And that's before considering at all the radio sitcoms and great comedians, not to forget the many great writers without whom most of the shows would never have got off the ground.

Fabulous reviews @NoNameFanBoy . Many thanks. You deserve five hearts! And totally agree about Japanese lube. Tried it in the years I worked there and quickly abandoned it in favour of lubes I picked up in Hong Kong.

In this forum there are some fascinating insights into the start and development of Patpong. I wonder if anyone has a history of Soi Twilight from its very beginnings. Perhaps even adding in those gay venues which started up in Silom Soi 4 and Patpong 2.

In the years when I was doing reguar ultra-long distance travel, I always took wax earplugs with me to ensure noise did not bother me. I found in cities like New York the sound of traffic and emergency vehicles generally found their way in to most rooms. But if I am with company overnight, even the lovely sound of breathing next to me won't keep me awake. On the other hand, I cannot handle anyone who snores!

Not sure where I heard/read it but I thought Sauna Mania did have an age policy. If that is not the case, does it come into force on certain nights/holidays?

The sound insulation of rooms is also important to me. I have stayed in many hotels in Taipei. One relatively inexpensive one just 30 meters from a subway station and overlooking Da an Park had a fabulous location. My room also had a really nice view of the park but it was just across from the single lift. I was driven crazy by the noise of people chatting quite loudly during their long waits to get the lift. I asked the management if on another visit I could select a room at the end of the corridor even if I paid a little more. Nope. Only available if free at check in. Never stayed again, unfortunately.

Suely PrEP or whatever medication one takes as precaution against HIV will not stop one becoming infected with other STIs. I get an HIV test once each year and the staff at the well-known clinic told me they have seen a very significant rise in syphilis and gonorrhea infections in just the last two years.

The reviews for premium economy seating seem to vary quite a bit. Those Emirates ultra long range A380s presently retrofitted with Premium Economy get very good praise with that cabin being located at the front of the lower deck. The retrofitted 777s seem a bit more cramped.

It has been announced that the King will subsidise him from his private funds. No suggestion yet where his avaricious ex-wife will live. I can't imagine anyone in those cities is too concerned! There is already a wealth of persons with titles in the UK but who these days wants another Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquess or Duke? Besides, the awards every half year given out to prominent persons are also out of date. The British Empire all but died in the mid-20th century but people are still awarded as either Members, Orders or Commanders of the British Empire!

So the King has finally acted. Andrew has been formally stripped of his titles and forced to move out of his 30 room mansion. In future he will simply be called Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. This may not be the end, though. Several Parliamentarians are calling for a debate. There are no modern precedents for such a colossal loss of royal status . . . The sliver of dignity given to him, that he was voluntarily choosing not to use his titles, has been taken away . . . Titles such as Duke of York, the Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh will be forcibly removed . . . All that remains is his place in the line of succession, and new guidance from the House of Commons Library has shown that too could be removed by Parliament, if Commonwealth realms give their consent. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62elnjnqqxo Parliament may well now act because even without his titles, as the son of a Queen, Andrew still remains eighth in line of the throne. That is almost certain to be stripped from him.

No need to be sorry! Mistakes happen.

I am thinking of trying Oman Air for my next trip. The full fare is little different from other airlines, but perhaps they may have a miles seat. In any event I want to visit Oman for a few days if possible. The airline joined One World in the summer and its biz class gets very good reviews. I always used to find London/Bangkok nearly impssible for mileage tickets, even when i once tried 51 weeks in advance - partly I suspect because the flight used to carry on to Sydney. Then it dropped Sydney but put ancient 777s on the route and I personally loathe long daytime flights.

Masive flooding has hit the centre of Vietnam with Hue and the small city of Hoi An particularly badly hit by the rains. Hoi An is one of the most picturesque cities in the whole of Vietnam. This is what it looked like two days ago. News reports say about 40,000 tourists have been relocated. According to https://news.tuoitre.vn/ these are the worst floods to hit the area since 1964. Photos: Nhac Nyuyen/AFP/Getty Images And this is what it usually looks like -

There is a rlatively new Marriott near the foot of Suriwong. The view from a high floor ought be to impressive. You could book in there for just one night and still have your Meridien adventures on the others.

Fascinating vdo @vinapu - thanks for posting. There have been threads here that have included the history of Patpong and in particular it being the centre of CIA and Air America activity in the USA's illegal and horrific wars in the South East Asia. But seeing the vdo makes it all much more clear.

In my experience, the number of award seats has also been reduced. For years I have returned for an annual visit to the UK using Qatar biz class - sometimes paid, sometimes award seats. I have never before had any problem with award seats. For this year's trip I checked award availability in early October last year for any two-week period in March. Given QR have five daily flights from BKK with one or two being A380s, I was sure there would be no problem. Nothing. So I expanded the period and asked about any two week period in the four months from 1 March to 31 July. Only one one-way flight allegedly was available.

How funny that @Department_Of_Agriculture downvotes the post that is 100% true! Takes all sorts!

Clearly his life was very far from the proverbial "bowl of cherries." I wonder how much his experience in playing Tadzio in the movie really did affect his life thereafter, and how much his family circumstances of, for example, losing both parents before he was ten (it was only later he learned that his mother had committed suicide) have to be factored in. Since he wanted to become a musician, he cannot have been the withdrawn, introspective type. Clearly, though, he absolutely hated all the hoopla surrounding him and the movie around the world, especially in Japan where for several years he was treated like a pop star. As he relates in a Guardian article four years ago, for him it was "a living nightmare." “I don’t think it’s ethically defensible to let a 16-year-old bear the burden of advertising the damn film,” he says. “Especially not when you come back to school and you hear, ‘Hi there, angel lips.’ A guy who’s in the middle of his own teenage hormone tempest doesn’t want to be called ‘beautiful’.” He thinks the adoration inhibited his development. “When you snap your fingers and you’ve got 10 chicks running after you, there’s no need to learn any social skills for dealing with the opposite sex.” He says it took him until 1992 to finally rid himself of all the demons, horror and memories that had plagued him since Death in Venice. The memories naturally remain, but he is no longer frightened by them. As the directors of the documentary claim in their film, "He had the feeling of being used. He was packaged as an object." He allowed the directors of that documentary to follow him for six years and he is happy with the result. It made him feel that finally Tadzio was dead. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/15/death-in-venice-screwed-my-life-tragic-visconti-beautiful-boy-bjorn-andresen

Just remember some rooms have no window - mostly the cheaper ones I guess.