PeterRS

When there was the earhquake of Aceh Province that ked to the tsunami in December 2004, the building swung violently and had to be quickly evacuated!

Thanks to @tm_nyc for alerting me to Shamlessmacktwo's blog. I used to be an avid reader but for whatever reason it has had a place on my bookmark list unread. Re Chiang Mai, love his comment that "once upon a time there was a colony of expat retirees!" On my last visit just over 5 years ago, there were clearly some who seemed fixtures at the newer bar location in the smallish Chareon Prathet Soi 6 virtually opposite Le Meridien and to the left across the main road. But not nearly as many as would be seen years before - both bars and customers. I happen to know two retired couples (one of two expats and one of an expat and his Thai partner) in CNX, but they just have no interest any more in the local gay scene. Whereas before they would take me to this bar or that bar, now they tell me the scene is all but dead. Also love the photos of the curtains at Circle Pub. They remind me of two similar sets of drapes. One in cinemas in the west of the 1970s or thereabouts which would slowly rise and fall before and after the main feature. The other of more interest here was the bar at the end of the little soi in Bangkok to the left and down from Mango Tree restauraht. It is the soi where I believe Super A still exerts some sort of charm (although what I fail to understand given its seediness when I visited pre-covid). I believe its name was Super Lex. Quite a large bar with lots of tables and a square stage. What I remember most, though, were those draped curtains around the stage - exactly as in Shamelssmacktwo's photos! Photo taken (without permission - apologies) from Shamelessmacktwo's blog - https://shamelessmacktwo.travel.blog/2025/02/03/watching-curtains/ Unlike some, though, I have always enjoyed CNX and just wandering around still find new things to do and see - with the occasional eye candy giving me more than a once-over glance. Ouside of the city there is much to see, including the lovely Doi Inthanon National park. Within the city on the oppposite side of the river, there used to be a lovely shop selling Thai handicrafts made by one of the local hilltribes. Over the years I have purchased eight exquisitely beautiful fabric table/bed runners and a quite lovely three-part fabric folding screen which nicely separates the kitchenette area from the living room. I hope Sop Moei Arts is stil going.

I wonder if the fact that I enjoyed sauna-going for much of my career lies in the fact that I came from a country where individuals could still be thrown in jail for gay sex. No, not England where the law changed in 1967! I felt I was missing quite a lot in my late teens/early 20s. Then suddenly I had a job requiring travel within Europe and this whole new world of naked men seeking sex in saunas opened up. It additionally had an element of excitement - who might be waiting around the next corner, as it were? I agree that with age one's own attractiveness to many is diminished. I have not been in a Bangkok sauna for many years but until quite recently I still occasionally ventured into one when in other parts of Asia (never elsewhere). There is defintely a group of young Asians with a primary interest in being with older westerners, although I have never tried to work out the reason. And as long as I have been prepared just to hang around looking at eye candy, most times good things have happened!

I get through on fast track having reached the age when this can be done without flying at the front and of the aircraft. When exiting, there is no officer and no stamp in the passport. Since the passport has to be scanned before the machine takes the face pic and lets you through, I assume the passport details can - or should - be recorded somewhere. It all reminds me of one of the reasons for the new machines being introduced. It was discovered only 2 or 3 years ago that most of the information on the paper entry immigration forms had never been processed. A gazillion of them were merely sitting rotting in a large warehouse! What really pisses me off, though, is that returning to Bangkok I still have to pass an officer who does check all my details and inputs into a computer. Yet since I own my apartment, under the law I then have to do a manual telephone report on an Immigration website within 36 hours of arrival to inform someone of my address. Given that after all but just one arrival at BKK, I am always at the same address - the exception was a quarantine hotel during covid - this seems another typically pointless piece of Thai bureaucracy!

Sorry to disagree but I find a view that is nothing but flat ground with some sparkling lights dotted everywhere quite boring - and quite expensive! How many can go on to afford dinner at Vertigo, I wonder? Just a personal view LOL

I hope someone from Chiang Mai gives his thoughts. Mine go back to one year in particular - 2009. Two events occurred that year. The first was that in February a Gay Pride Parade in Chiang Mai was interrupted by hooligan local demonstrators when fights broke out. The police put a stop to the Parade and none took place for quite a number of years thereafter. But it illustrated a depth of anti-gay feeling among some of the city's inhabitants that had not previously been visible. Perhaps initially less important was the opening of what was billed as Chiang's Mai's first gay resort hotel, the Lanna Lavender. The owner, Jay Gregson, had bought an existing 110 room hotel at the northwest by the city wall. It opened with great fanfare near the end of 2009. As the gay public was informed, the rooms had all been upgraded, there were outdoor patios with dining areas above the third floor and another up on the roof (11th floor?) plus the swimming pool had a massage spa attached and there were always boys in attendance. In the basement was a huge entertainment venue for a "Power Boys" twice nightly show. I only went once with friends when we had dinner on the third floor patio. The ambience was pleasant, the food was fine but the service lousy. When the bill arrived, we sent it back because it was wrong. The seond time it was brought, we sent it back again - again wrong. Not a great omen. That said, though, we then went down to see the cabaret. It had well over 120 fixed seats of which around only 14 were occupied. Not a gogo show, merely cabaret but polished and very well performed with some cute guys taking part. We felt it was considerably better than most Bangkok bar shows of that time! We chatted to one of the boys afterwards. He told us that many of the performers were from the nearby University making some extra money. In the right location and with a far smaller number of rooms for the transient gay tourist population. plus a lot more attention to getting the detail right, perhaps the Lanna Lavender would have worked. Sadly it was all but a disaster! Massively too big, only a few of the rooms had actually been upgraded by the time it opened and the remainder were poor. There were endless complaints by those in the 'ordinary' rooms, most of whom had quickly to be upgraded. Clearly the initial financial investment in the facilities had not matched the extensive PR - it had been billed as "a gay man's utopia". The end result ought therefore have been obvious relatively quickly. The owner sadly committed suicide the following January, Power Boys closed two months later, and I believe it was not long before the hotel closed its doors for the last time. Its closing was certainly nowhere near the end of the gay scene. But it gave the lie to Chiang Mai being a popular gay destination with the guarantee of a goodly number of regular gay tourists. I don't believe it ever was, even though it had some really excellent gay venues and remains a great destination today for general tourism. Unfortunately I also believe that unlike those visiting Bangkok and Pattaya, too many gay tourists enjoyed their first visits but just failed to return.

Compared to what gay life in Chiang Mai was like even a dozen years ago, it is now virtually on its last legs for western tourists. True, there is still a cluster of bars in the smallish soi close to Le Meridien Hotel. When we had a look into them immediately pre-covid in November 2019 the patrons seemed mostly old-time regulars and some boys checking their phones. We did not stay for a drink in any. Adam's Apple is still on the go as I believe are the two gay saunas. And somewhere there will still be gay massage venues. But if you take a look at this Chiang Mai site, near the bottom of the page you will see a list of many gay venues that used to give the city its gay attraction. Almost all of them are closed - 2 Brothers . Adam's Apple . Akha . Attitude Magazine Thailand . Barocco . Bird of Paradise . Black Door . Blues Club . Bon Tong Productions . Chang Puek . Christmas . Circle Pub . Classic House . Club one Seven . Coffee . Coffee Boy . Common Massage . Cream Bar . Cruise Bar . CU Bar . Darling Wine Bar . David Crisp . Diamond House . Eve . Flower Festival . Food . Free Guy Club . Friendship Bar . g-star . Garden Bar . Gay Pride . Gay Soi 6 . Glass Onion . Golden Oldies . grand-arena . Halloween . heaven-massage . His Club . House of Male . in Memorium . jacky bar . LGBT . Lotus Hotel . Loy Kratong . Mandagay . Mandalay Bar . Mango Bar . Mansfield Place . Marn Mai Massage . Marspa . Maya . New My Way . New Year . Night Bazaar . Nimmanhaeminda . Note . One 2 Come . Orion Bar . ozeed . Pandee . Paradise Massage . Pedophiles . Pee Mai Tai . Phuket Pride . Pizza . PJs Place . Powerboys . Poy Sang Long . Quick Guide . Quiz Night . Radchada Cafe . Radchada Garden Cafe . Ram Bar . Relax . Sabaidee Santitham . Santitham . Santitham Guest House . Sarcasm . Secrets Bar . See Man Pub . Shan State . Shan State Earthquake . Sleaze Alley . Soho Bar . soho-lounge . Songkran . soulmates-retreat . Spirt House . Thai Puan . The Edge . The Peak . The Pub . The Wall Massage . Valentines . Victory Massage . Visakha Bucha . Warnings . What happened to . Yaa Baa . Yokka Dok https://www.gay-in-chiangmai.com On the other hand it is still a very beautiful city to visit and I am sure the apps will have some attractions.

Forgot to add pics from Petra which I just found with a couple at the end from Mt. Nebo where Moses is supposed to have climbed to die nearer to his God and one of the Roman Amphitheatre in Amman. Again I don't know why the pics are small but easy to increase the size by clicking on them. Also a few other destinations.

I can remember walking through London in the 1970s seeing gorgeous posters in travel agent windows with lots of purple advertising THAI. They looked so enticing! But The THAI we know today started as a joint venture with SAS. I know there was a domestic carrier which was eventually merged with THAI in the late 1980s. I expect this must have been the one run by the Air Force. I wonder if there is any less efficient airline in Asia? Having purchased its ten A340s primarily for the New York, LAX and some European routes, it could only make money with huge business class cabins. And they did not sell. So use of the aircraft ceased ten years after the first one was received and most of the aircraft basically left to rot. I understand 3 are at Don Mueang and 6 at U-Tapao. The 4-engine A340 died as an attractive plane ages ago. Similarly with its fleet of six A380s. Instead fo flying them off to dry desert locations in Australia or the USA when covid hit, THAI's management left them at BKK - slowly rotting. There was a post here a few months back that while many other airlines have reactivied their A380s, the cost of total maintenance and refurbishment of the THAI fleet is vastly too high. I believe they are on the market for just US$30 million each. After endless management changes and debt restructuring, THAI just cannot get it right!

I need here to apologise. My original response was slightly more personal. After posting I felt it was overly delicate and a little unfair. So obviously after you had read it I deleted the part to which you have responded. Just so that your reply does not appear somewhat strange. My fault!

I have no doubt at all you are correct. The only point that I was trying to make and backed up by @macaroni21's comment is that Thais used to make up a large majority of the punters during the period we were discussing - at least 65-70%. That surely cannot be the case now - or are we wrong?

Looking back via the Search Engine, I see a post made on December 29 2013 by @firecat69 referring to the recent closure of two bars - Solid and Heartbeat. So Solid probably must have closed its doors that summer and your estimates of the content of present day brown envelopes might be a little higher. Heartbeat was an unusual twink/femboy bar on the opposite side of Suriwong from Twilight and on the right side at the end of a one-way soi down Suriwong but before you got to Patpong 2. In the centre was a large dancing space. On the right side it had 4 or 5 semi-closed plush banquettes where the boys were always happy for a bit of gentle hanky panky. It was a lousy location unless you needed a place to park a car. I think it lasted little more than 18 months.

I only made two visits to Tawan but enjoyed neither, only because I am not in the slightest interested in muscle. Although I did have friends who loved that bar. On the few occasions we visited Jupiter it always seemed to be full. Again, though, the entertainment was not for me. The fact that Thais have all but disappeared from the bars is no doubt one reason for their problems. Another little anecdote. I used to visit Tops market on the ground floor in Central Chidlom weekly. There was one aggressively beautiful cashier and I'd always aim for his line. I would always smile at him, but rarely had any recognition back. One afternoon the boy doing the packing having clearly seen lust in my eyes lent over and asked, "Do you want him?" I was so shocked by the question that instead of saying "Of course" or some such approval, I just clammed up, paid my bill and left. Afterwards I kicked myelf for being so stupid. A few weeks later I was in one of the Twilight bars when i happened to see this lovely boy in the audience. I was about to go up to him when I noticed that he was with a big, considerably fat and much older Thai who was paying their bill before they left. Again I kicked myself. But I never saw him again. One of the many who got away!

I'm sorry I cannot substantiate anything re Pattaya. But the demarcation lines between the army and the police have been around for many decades. When Thaksin became Prime Minister in 2001, he had at one time been a senior police officer. He was therefore heavily guarded by the police. Years earlier I had hoped to do some business dealings with a well-known businessman named Sondhi Limthongkul. He was a Thai media mogul whose empire included The Manager monthly magazine in Thailand and the Asia-wide Manager Magazine run out of Hong Kong. At the time he propogated anti-army views in his publications. As a result he had a police bodyguard all the time. He told me about the distinct division between the two forces and neither liked the other. It appears that after bankruptcy during the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis, he eventually switched allegiances. Neither helped him when he was then jailed for fraud and insulting the monarchy!

Let's be clear about one thing. The scam centres are huge. It is estimated that at least 250,000 innocent people, mostly but not exclusively from Asia, have been trafficked into Myanmar and now man these burgeoning scam centres. The United States Institute for Peace estimates people from 60 different countries are involved. Further, that same organisation estimates that by the end of 2023 the centres had made profits of US$64 billion! Covid19 and the loss of so many jobs and household incomes were a huge boon to the traffickers who suddenly had a huge supply of willing targets hoping to make decent money by coming to jobs in Thailand. For it is Bangkok which is the first stop for those being trafficked. Freeing 1,000 or more is not even a drop in the bucket, for we can be sure that in the days since the report a week ago, they have already been replaced. We must also realise that it is not just the Chinese at the centre of this racket. Many certainly are, but ironically they are protected by certain Karen rebel groups - those same militias who are supposed to be fighting against the forces of the military junta. It is one of the horrible ironies of the eight decades old civil war in Myanmar that while many rebel militias are fighting and dying for freedom and independence, others are also fighting their fellow citizens. There is no rule of law around the huge city of Shwe Kokko which was just fields until 2017. Allegedly just another regular city, the locals all know precisely what is going on and that it is the scam centres which rent the high rise buildings. Even more ironically it was only in 2019 when Cambodia banned on-line casino gambling that the Chinese crime syndicates moved most of their operations into Myanmar big time. Shwe Kokko under construction: photo Observervoice

As one who rarely visited Pattaya, I recall just one when inadvertently my friends and I found ourselves in a bar with underaged boys. Frankly we found it sickening and quickly exited. Although that memory is hazy, I think it was around 2000. At that time, assuming my year is approximately correct, having looked into quite a few other bars before settling in one, we noticed no other catering to that diseased market. By our next visit perhaps 2, 3 or even 4 years later, that bar had gone and others like Krazy Dragon opened (that's all I remember of that second trip)! But the point of my post is that the rest of Sunee still seemed quite busy despite the crackdown. In fact, was it not still busy around 2010? I'm merely curious to find out if indeed most consider it was the police crackdown which was the spark which led to the start of Sunee's demise? I recall a number of threads in which the death knell for Bangkok's gogo bars has been sounded. I know more recent members are sick and tired of those who talk of how different the bars are from the "good old" days and I will not go down that path. Besides, apart from having to find the toilet in Banana Bar when having drinks outside with another member quite recently, I have not been inside a bar for years. I merely want to make a point about tea money. Years ago I was a regular with a good friend on Sundays at Solid Bar which some will recall was just down from Mango Tree restaurant. It was a simple bar compared to those on Twilight. When it closed after a few years, one of the mamasans opened a tiny beer bar on Twilight slightly further into the soi from Dick's and on the same side. We'd sometimes chat to him over a drink and he'd give us the latest updates on some of the soi's goings on. At one point he brought up the issue of tea money. In that year, he told us that gogo bars paid Bt. 160,000 per month; beer bars Bt. 40,000. My guess is that this was about 8 years ago. Whether the rate varied according to high/lpw seasons we did not ask. But we were surprised how high the amounts were. Here again I believe @macaroni21 hits the proverbial nail on the head. When the younger Asian gay tourists started to come to Bangkok in quite large numbers, the majority came primarily for massages after which they and their friends (many came in small groups) would head off either to a gogo bar but only to watch the show before ending up in DJ Station or another club to dance the rest of their night away. Offing a gogo boy was not on the agenda for most. I had also noticed on a couple of websites located in other Asian countries, when considering Thailand a large majority of the posters wanted information of the best massage places and the best masseurs. Information about gogo bars was far from a priority. Maybe things have changed, but if you do combine a large percentage of Asian tourists together with straight tourists and neither group is particularly interested in offing boys, surely the bar owners have a problem that has no immediate resolution. I'm curious to know if those patronising the bars agree or not.

As promised in Part 7, this post resurrects some postings from the past with photos of various travels. Since the photos are in the posts, there seems little point adding them again. So if you are interested, please just click on the links. I hope some will be of interest. Tokyo as a Potential Stopover: Blog This was a long 5-part photo blog covering mostly Tokyo and also partly Kyoto and Nara and lots of sakura blossoms. https://www.gayguides.com/topic/7804-tokyo-as-a-potential-stopover-blog/#comment-56340 Photo blog of Nikko outside Tokyo For some reason photos in this link are unfortunately much smaller, but clicking on them increases their size. https://www.gayguides.com/topic/8881-another-tokyo-side-trip-nikko/#comment-68106 A Suspicious Death Changes Gay Hong Kong: Murder or Suicide? Five part series with links to each in order (but I think no photos - merely a fascinating tale!) Experience of Chengdu being a very gay city plus photo visit to the Panda Reserve and the gorgeous and huge Jiuzhaigou National Park https://www.gayguides.com/topic/7390-a-gorgeous-part-of-china/#comment-53040 Harbin Ice and Snow Festival - and a trip to Lijiang and Shangri La in Yunnan Province with yet another reference to Chengdu and its Panda reserve plus being a very gay city https://www.gayguides.com/topic/40392-china-cuts-visa-fees/#comment-368946 Response to TotallyOz thread One Week in Gay Taiwan - a few photos of Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo https://www.gayguides.com/topic/39659-one-week-in-gay-taiwan/page/2/ Taipei Info/Tips? - photos of a Taiwan round-the-island trip and some of various Gay Pride Parades (I have attended 6 Parades!) https://www.gayguides.com/topic/38532-taipei-infotips/page/3/#comment-350156 Photos of the Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival and Loei Province (at Dansai village) (the caption has an error stating 'Udon' - it should be 'Ubon'! https://www.gayguides.com/topic/36866-the-prince-massage/#comment-322824

i can't say I have many experiences of Russians in recent years other than great visits to Moscow and St. Petersburg a dozen or so years ago. But I recall when Russians started coming to Thailand en masse probably around 15 years ago. Then there were few if any flights from Russia directly to Phuket. So the passengers had to change at BKK. I lost count of the number of times I would be in a queue when a large number of Russians would suddenly appear - I assume from a nearby security check - and immediately barge into the queue near the front. This upset a lot of other passengers.

I wonder why this topic has become a major one only relatively recently. After all, look at the north of Thailand where there are around 1.5 million of Burmese origin who have been living for many decades - some for centuries, and most from the huge Shan State across the border. For those who do not know much about Myanmar, the Shan State alone is just under four times the size of Switzerland. Some of the boys rescued from the cave in 2018 were technically illegal Shan immigrants who were granted citizenship after their miraculous rescue. We know also that with the border between the two countries being so long and so porous, illegal Burmese have been crossing it with relative ease. Remember covid in 2022? Thailand had had relatively few cases until a very large cluster was discovered at the main fish market in Samut Sakhon west of Bangkok. About half the 4,000 workers were illegal Burmese with well over half these testing positive. That also led to many calls for immigration curbs, although no call for an end to the corruption which had enabled these illegals to cross. Yet Thailand's population figures are now getting close to the same crisis levels as seen in Japan and South Korea. Whereas in 1965 the fertility rate was 6.26 and the average age of citizens just 16.2 years, today these figures have plummeted to 1.2 and 40.6. Like it or not, the country is going to be increasingly dependent on immigrant labour for the sort of jobs Thais just will not consider doing. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/thailand-population/

Not sure The Muse would be for you @Olddaddy if only because it's a long walk down from Chidlom BTS station - around 250-300 meters I'd guess. The entrance lobby is quite dark and the overall theme in the hotel is art deco. I have never stayed but often take friends to the open-air Speakeasy Cocktail Bar on the 25th floor. The ambience is great, service very good and there is an excellent snack menu. If it's raining, everyone just moves inside. Not much of a view other than the tops of other buildings - unless you are there at sunset - but it is the bar itself which 'makes' the place. Mind you, I don't think the view from Vertigo at the top of the Banyan Tree is great either if only because Bangkok is so flat!

I am not mentioning Hong Kong here, even though I lived and/or worked there for all of 38 years. The gay scene has changed so much in recent years and the places I used to visit are virtually all gone now. It suddenly became a very cruisy city after 1991 when the old British Victorian law against homosexuality was finally changed. All manner of bars, clubs and saunas sprang up. The beach at Middle Bay close to Repulse Bay on the south of the Island became very cruisy at the week-ends with action in the changing rooms. The centrally located Propaganda nightclub was hugely popular, later to be renamed Works. I once met another Taiwanese there maybe around 20 years ago. We both got rather drunk and he came back to my apartment. At one point when in bed he told me to stop what I was doing, close my eyes and stay still. He went to the bathroom but quickly returned. He had filled his mouth with warm water into which he then placed my dick. It was a wonderful sensation I had never had before. Also within Asia I have visited and written photo blog posts about my two visits to Nepal and one to Bhutan, both fascinating trips. I know that I have been extremely fortunate in working mostly for international companies based in Hong Kong, for the regular travel to regional and head office meetings not only enabled me to take many side trips - thank you those round-the-world air tickets! - but also resulted in tons of air miles. For a decade I used some for annual business class trips to spend New Year with friends in one of my favourite cities, Sydney. Others resulted in photo blog posts to several countries in South America, including Chilean Patagonia and Machu Picchu; to Petra; to seeing the Northern Lights from a frozen lake near the lodge where I was staying far beyond the Arctic Circle, mercifully on the very last day of a 9-day excursion; and in 2017 an amazing two weeks in Iran. It really is so desperately sad that this absolutely wonderful country and its lovely people are ruled by mullahs they all seem to loathe. I would go back like a shot if it was not now so dangerous. The astonishing ruins at Persepolis; the desert city of Yazd where the world's oldest monotheistic religion, Zoroastrianism, was founded with images of its arms-stretched out all-wise deity Ahura-Mazda everywhere; the utter magnificence of the main square in Isfahan with its two stunning mosques and royal palace; the simple quite lovely beauty of the gardens in Kashan (the Persian word for garden basically meaning Paradise) and the majesty of the religious centre of Qom where I was shown round by a young mullah who could not have been more kind to this unbeliever! With age creeping up and much less desire to travel given that I have already seen so much of our world, my trips are limited mostly to Taipei several times a year to meet up with my good friends there, once a year to Japan and once to Europe, mostly to meet up with similarly ageing family members. Lastly, though let me return to a subject I mentioned in part 1 – history, and specifically a series of gay icons. Before then I will pause. The final part of this overlong blog posting will refer specifically to Gay Guides websites in which I have described travels, many with photos, to some of the countries/cities/events referred to above. Hopefully they will still be of interest to some. Tnank you for reading thus far.

Sometimes I think I made a mistake by choosing Bangkok as a place to work remotely and eventually retire. For I have been intrigued by Taipei since my first visit in 1986. It was then under martial law and gays were more or less confined to wandering in a park behind what was then the Hilton Hotel. Some readers may have read the novel also made into a TV series, Crystal Boys, a depressing tale about those who all but lived in the Park in the 1970s. Yet within not much more than half a dozen years after martial law was abadoned in 1987, much had changed. At least two bars opened and a couple of saunas. One of the bars - only recently closed - was called Funky. On a visit with two friends from Hong Kong we tried to find it. After wandering around for at least 15 minutes, we gave up. I suggested checking with the concierge at the nearby Sheraton Hotel. He was all smiles when I asked my question, checked on his monitor screen, and then with the smiles gone informed he he did not know of such a bar! Not prepared to give up, we kept wandering the area until we finally found the entrance. Unfortunately we also found that young Taiwanese in the mid-1990s tended to keep themselves to themselves. Perched at the bar and looking around many lovely faces, we found no interest whatever. We then hit the sauna instead! The sauna on the 5th and 6th floors of a building near the main station was very large, had an open shower area with mirrors behind which were close to the steam sauna so that there was a constant flow of beautiful naked bodies between the two. Having mandatory military service certainly helped create some stunning bodies. Upstairs were dozens of private rooms and a huge dark room area. My Hong Kong friends were staggered at its size and clientele. I have lost count of the great times I had there. Sadly a major earthquake in 1999 so damaged the structure of that building it had to be torn down. Various other saunas have opened and shut. Most recently I posted about one of the longest established Hans Men’s Sauna having moved 200 meters up the road into much larger far more pleasant surroundings. I occasionally used to visit Rainbow sauna, but that was known for the attitude shown by some guys to foreigners. The owner closed it and then opened what quickly became the most popular sauna, Soi13 in. When the Japanese colonized Taiwan, they developed a whole series of hot springs. The most popular amongst gay guys is Huang Tzu accessible by the subway to Shipai station. Not always very busy during the week, it tends to be very crowded at the weekend. There used to be the possibility of some groping in the steam room, but I noticed at the weekend the owner has kept the steam permanently hot which means it’s really too hot for more than a couple of minutes. NT$250 (US$7.65) gets you access to the hot spring. For an extra NT150, you can get a meal in the attached restaurant. Even after visiting many dozens of times I still love the sight of so many glistening naked bodies, many young and fiercely good-looking! Nine months ago I was visiting the new Hans Mens Sauna when I saw a beautiful early 20s guy come in. Thinking I would be way too old to attract him, I merely sat on a sofa watching the crowd go cruising by. Soon the beautiful youth appeared and smiled at me. I smiled back. He asked if he could sit beside me. What? I was thrilled. He then told me in good English that he had met me before. Surely not! I would certainly have remembered. Then he told me it was at the hot spring when he was with his then boyfriend. Only 18 at the time and unable to speak any English he had not tried to speak to me. But for whatever reason he remembered me! He was keen to go to a room. I felt almost in a daze. We had a nice time and a chat. We kept each other's Line details but never kept in touch. Then just recently at Christmas I was dining with some friends from Shanghai on the top floor of Icon Siam when I suddenly saw a lovely young man smiling in my direction. Certain that he'd be smiling at someone else, I looked around. Nobody. To cut a long story short it was my Taiwan friend. He was with a group of his own friends and so we did not even try to chat. As he was leaving the next day, we said we'd meet again in Taipei. But last weekend he was in Siem Reap. So hopefully we'll meet up on my next trip in May. But I remain really puzzled. How do you remember for 4 entire years someone you only saw for a few minutes in a hot spring at such a young age? It can be a strange gay world! I did post a photo blog of my 5-day 4-night round the island tour in 2016. It really is a superb holiday destination. I will report the link in the final part of this series. PS: I have stupidly forgotten to add in various trips to China over the years. Apart from many to Beijing and Shanghai, the Harbin Snow and Ice Scupture Festival from mid-January to mid-February each year is a spectacle impossible to describe, utterly stunning. As others have written, Chengdu in the centre is a very gay city with something like 20 universities. When i was there I had too many hits on the apps. When I told one lovely young man I had no time to see him as I was leaving the following day, he asked when I'd leave the hotel. He said he would be round to meet me at 10:00! Chengdu is also famous for being close to the famous panda reserve where you can see at least 50 of these lovely creatures. Also either a bus ride or short plane ride away is the absolutely magnificent and huge Jiuzhaigou National Park. Starting 4,000 meters up in two valleys, it is impossible to describe the beauty of the place as you descend. Nearer to Bangkok and easy to get to is the capital of Yunnan Province, Kunming. Here the apps were also busy but I was there principally to visit three towns and cities - Dali with its three pagoda temple, the amazing old town of Lijiang nestled below the Himalayan peaks, and especially the monastery in what is now called Shangri La. The Ganden Sumtseling Monastery is said to be the finest Tibetan monastery outsde Lhasa and is quite stunningly beautiful. I was staying in a lodge right behind it. As I sipped my ginger tea in the afternoon, I could not keep my eyes away from such beauty.

You are much too kind, the more so when I for one loved your Philippines posts. Sometimes I used to think that perhaps I actually thought too much instead of posting what first came in to my head. Your Philippines posts tell readers exactly what you thought, how places compare with every other ones, what the prices were and a host of other useful information. You mention life choices, and I can not agree more. I made a decision to buy a small condo unit in Bangkok after thinking about it for nearly 2 years. Then my choice was going to be between Bangkok and KL - somewhere that had to be near an airport with a relatively easy flight to Hong Kong. Although I had been going to Taipei several times a year over a decade for business and pleasure, it was never on my list of possible cities. Now of course, as anyone who has read my posts will know, I love Taipei and sometimes wish I had thought more about it 25 or so years ago. This perhaps surprisingly is the start of my next Tale. Now it's too late, but I still have the joy of visiting regularly.

Including my early years living in Bangkok, my posts here have tended to concentrate on other Asian countries. I have written about Singapore bars and saunas. My favourite of the latter was always Rairua, billed as the first luxury sauna in the city. It was the first to introduce all nude nights. Slightly more expensive than other saunas, it was also located out of the city centre. That usually meant the clientele were better looking for some reason. Of several bars, Vincents Lounge was the oldest in Lucky Plaza decades ago. I see it is still going but have not been since the Lucky Plaza days. Backstage Bar in Chinatown is always fun. Even if the other customers were in groups, the bar tenders were always happy to chat. Years earlier, one of Singapore’s first regular gay events were the Sunday afternoon ‘tea dances’ at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Always packed, I’m not sure how many hookups were made. I think the police forced the hotel to stop them. But Zouk, a large bar/nightclub which opened around 1990 is still going strong. It always had a gay section and was great fun for late night partying. I am not sure why I have always found Kuala Lumpur cruisy. On my first visit way back in 1981, the only bar was Blue Boy - still going today. On my first night, I met a quite lovely Chinese named Andrew, fell in love straightaway and he spent the next two nights with me in the hotel. Ah! How easy it is to fall in love! Round the corner from Blue Boy I much later discovered a small sauna. It really was tiny and never had many patrons. But there were occasionally some good times. The shopping mall not far away, Sungei Wan, was then one of the best cruising places. But those who went there basically wanted immediate relief in a toilet and that was never my scene. Years later I was staying with friends when the sauna otot2 opened. We thought we’d try it. You needed a membership card. When I returned about 10 years later, the front desk Adonis welcomed me back as one of the original members. He could tell from my number! Seven and eight years ago I was back in KL on business for several days each visit. Frankly I did not need to go out as the apps were buzzing. Apart from those few evenings when I had to attend official functions, I had no problem finding good company each evening. One young Chinese was even with me for three nights. In the 1980s I had visited Tokyo roughly 5 or 6 times a year. Loved the city, the entertainment it offers and the country, got to know a host of young guys, initially from those bars welcoming foreigners and then from their friends. In those days it seemed as though all young Tokyo boys wanted foreigner boyfriends. Being based in Tokyo for 2 years in the 1990’s was then a special blessing. Bars in Japan can often be confusing if only because most just will not accept foreigners unless accompanied by a Japanese. But if you do go with a Japanese you will be surprised how organised they are. I once went with two long-time Tokyo friends to one of their regular haunts. It was tiny. U-shaped with around 10 guys around it and maybe 8 more at tables for 2 around the side. Seeing my friends the mama-San welcomed me warmly. He then whispered in my ear, “Are you top or bottom?” The point of the question was so he could make a seat available for me next to a cute Japanese he knew to be a bottom! In the days before the apps, the bars which did accept foreigners did good business. I fell quickly in love with a bartender in one and for months I flew to Tokyo for long weekends, and my friend came to spend a month with me in Hong Kong. We talked about living together in Hong Kong. Then on one of my absences he met a much richer older westerner who offered him a 2-month trip around the world. When he told me about it, I knew our relationship was over. I could have said 'no don't go' but what could I offer in its place? How many young not well off Japanese could afford even to visit another Asian country? It took me months to get over it. I guess it was then I realised long distance relationships have endless complications which depend so much on local cultures and habits. My first Tokyo sauna experience was at the original and rather run-down 24 Kaikan in the Asakusa district near the popular Sensoji Temple. My second was virtually the most memorable I ever experienced. It was in the upmarket Shibuya district and I assume I found it from Spartacus. Quite small inside, it had the whole open-air roof to itself. Inside I met a lovely Chinese boy. We ended up on the roof where we spent a good half an hour having the greatest time. I did try to find it again, but totally failed! When it later opened, I patronized the much nicer, cleaner 24 near Ueno station which had pretty much a working class clientele. I then tried a Hattenba in the Akasaka district. These are basically apartments converted into simple sex clubs which, with the use of sheets and some thin plywood, create very simple partitions. But there is no privacy and the one I attended only had one shower. I did not enjoy it much and never went back. I am not sure when 24 Kaikan opened its third incarnation in Shinjuku (about 2000?) but it quickly became the place to go. It is usually very active on weekends until about 10 pm when some of the clientele have to leave to get their last trains home. In one post I wrote of meeting an early 30s Japanese at Shinjuku's 24. He was married with 2 kids but always spent Saturday afternoons at 24 where all he wanted was someone to fuck him - endlessly. It was an exhausting 90 minutes even with occasional breaks for breath! But memorable! One of my Japan posts here is a 5-part photo blog on Tokyo. But this was posted more than 10 years ago and inevitably it portrays what the city was like then. There have definitely been changes, especially in the gay elements. I have also posted more recent accounts of the glories of Nikko and Kyoto and Nara at sakura time. For my next trip I want to go in late November when the leaves on the trees should be turning into a palette of the most glorious colours.

Spas! I was never really a massage guy until Albury opened around 1996 or so. I happened to be spending a long weekend with friends who lived at the far end of Sukhumvit Soi 15. They had heard that a new spa named Albury was opening nearby that weekend and suggested we go. I am not sure how the word got out, but it was surprisingly busy. I tend to be more into twinks than the more buffed guys and was slightly disappointed until I saw a fabulous looker who was exactly my type. I will not give his name for I know he now lives with his lover in Chiang Mai. But he gave a surprisingly good massage with great ‘afters’. He then became my regular monthly masseur for about six years. Not that I only patronized Albury. Even before Chakran opened, nearby I was a semi-regular at V Club on Soi Aree. It was popular because it had a few genuine models - mostly from fashion magazines but once or twice someone from the movies. At that time I was living quite near Aqua just off Sathorn near Chongnonsi/Narathiwat. Like Albury, it was in a private house with a bar where you could also have snacks. Of the various times I was there, I cannot recall anything other than a good to excellent massage and . . . need I say more? Living so close to Thailand and then living here from the end of 2001 (albeit with monthly trips to Hong Kong), I had got to know a lot about other parts of the country. En route to Singapore I’d sometimes stop off in Phuket for a couple of days. The end of Nai Harn beach from what has been variously named as the Phuket Yacht Club and a Mandarin Oriental hotel was often quite cruisy in the late afternoons. I found the most enjoyable gay gogo bar for a while to be Young Sharks, not part of the complex around the Paradise Hotel. Chiang Mai has also been a regular since 1987 when I met and spent the night with a lovely young guy I met wandering around the Night Market. Adam’s Apple used to be fun for a few years but I then went off it. I preferred a young lad from Udon Thani who worked at one of the massage spas not far from Le Meridien Hotel and whom I visited regularly. Once when staying at the Dusit D2 hotel I asked a very obviously gay concierge if he could recommend a different spa. He suggested one named I think ‘Him’ - across the river from what is now the Centara Riverside hotel. Although a bit far away, it turned out to be excellent. Of the two saunas in Chiang Mai (I did go to a third named Sanctuary Spa once - it was located south of the city on the river - beautiful setting but a dud as a hookup place, alas), I always went to House of Male. It could sometimes be a bit boring, but they used to have a two-for-the-price-of-one offer for students at the nearby University a couple of days a week. These could be really fun. One time I had met a really nice guy and we’d exchanged details. Then I stupidly left a pair of spectacles in or near my locker. No one could find them which annoyed me for my stupidity. A couple of months later, the boy from Chiang Mai was in Bangkok and I suggested having dinner at Sphinx. He told me to close my eyes as he had a small gift for me. It was my spectacles! How he had got hold of them I have no idea. I thanked him the only way I thought appropriate! Exploring Thailand has been half the fun of living here. I have posted photo essays in this forum of my trip to the Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival, an absolutely fantastic day. Held at the end of Buddhist Lent, every temple in town hires a lorry - usually a long one and then craftsmen spend a month creating in wax the most spectacular scenes from Buddhist history. These are huge sculptures. It seems like all the townspeople take part from the kids, the students - some looked mouth-wateringly gorgeous - to the elderly. Such a fun day and I was almost the only tourist that year! In the evening I even found the town’s one sauna! I have also posted more recently about the Dansai Ghost Festival in Loei Province, another superb day and quite unique as it is larger than most similar festivals. I have done other photo essays on places like Khao Lak north of Phuket which has a fabulous Marriott Hotel and the widest and least populated beach I have ever seen in Thailand. I am not sure how I got a 75% discount from the TravelZoo site, but it was amazing value. That same year 2013 I also got 70% off a 5-star hotel in Tokyo and 60% off yet another 5-star hotel on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg - all from TravelZoo. Sadly TravelZoo Australia which had loads of special offers in Asia closed. When I tried recently to contact them, I was referred to their USA site. For Asia that is utterly hopeless. I see there is a UK site but that requires paying £30 per year for their services. It may be worthwhile, but I want to know more about their deals in Asia before I pay them anything. As used to be the case in gay bars, I like to see what I am getting before I pay up.