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Chicken with cashew nuts enjoyed in Hanoi last month

From the Nation 2023 was an eventful year for Suvarnabhumi Airport, the sprawling gateway to Thailand on the outskirts of Bangkok. The Nation looks back on 12 turbulent months at the airport that serves as the gateway to Thailand for most international travellers. But first, a quick introduction to Suvarnabhumi Airport. Suvarnabhumi (“golden land” in Thai), is also known unofficially as Bangkok International Airport. But Thailand’s main international airport is actually located in neighbouring Samut Prakan province, from where it connects with downtown Bangkok via the Airport Rail Link train. Opened in September 2006, the 32.4-square-kilometre (3,240 hectares) Suvarnabhumi is the country’s largest airport and among the biggest in Southeast Asia, serving as a regional hub for aviation. The airport is also a major global hub for air freight (20th busiest in 2019), with a designated cargo Airport Free Zone and road links to the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), Thailand’s biggest economic zone across three provinces on the eastern seaboard. Suvarnabhumi Airport reached its 17th year in 2023 with operator Airports of Thailand (AOT) vowing to restore its status as one of the world’s top airports after it slipped sharply in the global rankings in recent years. Suvarnabhumi held 10th position in the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2010 but nosedived to 77th in 2022 before pulling up to 68th this year. In May, AOT director Kirati Kitmanawat set a goal of making Suvarnabhumi one of the world’s best airports for travellers again. The target is to break into the top 50 within two years and the top 30 in four years, he said. To meet that goal, AOT needs to tackle the long queues at check-in, passenger screening and immigration counters, especially during rush hour, which have plagued the airport for years. The authority said it will set up around 200 self-check-in and self-service bag drop points to cut the queues. AOT has also earmarked 9 billion baht for terminal expansion to the east of the airport, with construction expected to begin at the start of next year. After years of construction, the new satellite terminal at Suvarnabhumi was opened in September this year, with incoming Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin cutting the ribbon. Satellite Terminal 1 (SAT-1) cost 35 billion baht (US$1 billion) and will boost Suvarnabhumi’s capacity by 33% from 45 million to 60 million passengers per year. SAT-1 is connected to the main airport terminal by an automated people mover (APM) train system. The terminal has six storeys, two of them underground, with a total floor area of 251,400 square metres. AOT advises passengers flying from the new terminal to have at least 20 minutes in hand, since the APM trip from the main terminal to SAT-1 takes around 18 minutes, with services leaving every five minutes. Passengers are also urged to check their flight information carefully, as entering SAT-1 by mistake may require them to restart the whole check-in process again, resulting in missed flights. Continues with photos at https://www.nationthailand.com/more/commentary/40033869

I believe you're wise to leave the lust to others. 😉 Otherwise, I'm sure there's nothing left to tell. 🙄

No, not at all, Marc. We frequently do that before we leave our hotel. You know, Marc, you may be right. So why don't you tell us about your last trip to Thailand and how an educated man like yourself spends his time. You have been to Thailand, haven't you?

That's why trip reports are the meat and potatoes of this forum. Trip reporters have saved to purchase a ticket and accommodations for a limited time. They strive to make efficient use of that time and it should come as no surprise that they wring out as much enjoyment as they feel comfortable doing. You may label them "cheap" sexual encounters. Perhaps you'd prefer that they have more expensive sexual encounters, or no sexual encounters at all. For most of us that involves a lot of sex. That's what this thread illustrated. Members read the forum in hopes that they'll find descriptions of those trips. They enjoy reading about the bars, massage shops and hotels that are visited. It provides them with tips that may help shape their next trip. For some members who are not able to travel owing to financial of health reasons, these reports provide a source of entertainment they can't find elsewhere. One of the reasons for the success of this board is the opportunity to post about many different topics: travel, current events, politics, food, health.. But trips and venue reports will always trump those secondary topics. To wit, this thread has attracted 4.6k views from members alone, not including the many others from non-member readers.

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As the day is long, Peter, please be assured that I have no problem whatsoever in acknowledging that I am not like you. 😉 But sure, let's bury the hatchet.

From CBS News A year-long investigation by 60 Minutes examines what might be the greatest art heist in history: the theft of thousands of sacred stone, bronze and gold artifacts from religious sites across Cambodia. Correspondent Anderson Cooper reports Sunday.

From Thai PBS World The current increase in COVID-19 infections is seasonal, like other respiratory diseases, and will continue until the end of January, returning to normal between February and May, according to Dr. Yong Poovorawan, head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University. He added that a new wave of infections will begin in June and last until September, dropping again by November. Like many respiratory conditions, such as flu, COVID tends to peak during the rainy season. COVID-19 infections are entering their fourth year and Dr. Yong said that the severity of the disease has declined substantially, even though the virus continues to mutate, such as the XBB sub-variants. The symptoms are less serious, except for those suffering from underlying diseases. These people should take special care, including the wearing of face masks and regular hand washing.

From The Nation Five industries experienced significant growth this year, while three others were suffering huge contraction, the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Business Development said on Friday. Department director-general Oramon Sapthaweetham said that the five industries that saw the biggest expansion in the past year were: ▪︎ Tourism (growing 64% year on year), including tour guides, travel agencies, hotels, resorts, spas, and foreign currency exchange ▪︎ Real estate (up 36%), including real estate developers and real estate agents ▪︎ Herbal products (up 33%), including herbal medicines, fragrances, and spices ▪︎ Electrical and electronic installations (up 25%) ▪︎ E-commerce (up 19%) The three industries that contracted in the past year were: ▪︎ Plastic packaging and chemicals (down 30%), including chemical fertilizers and inorganic compound manufacturing ▪︎ Offline retail (down 12%) ▪︎ Industries related to fossil fuel (down 5%), including petrol service stations, wholesale of frozen/liquid fuel, and mining. The department also forecast that in 2024, the following businesses would see growth: ▪︎ Tourism-related businesses, including MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) hotels, resorts, apartments, guesthouses, tour guides, travel agencies, restaurants, and foreign currency exchange ▪︎ Health-related businesses, such as personal care products and services, aesthetics clinics, hospitals, specialised clinics, pharmaceutical retail, and senior care ▪︎ Lifestyle businesses, including pet care, pet food and equipment, recycling, and environmental consulting ▪︎ Digital businesses, including online retail, digital payment, website development, software development and consulting

Peter, you seem to harbor a particular disdain for men in your own age group. They appear to represent everything that's wrong with the gay scene in Bangkok. You present yourself as above it all who is sought out as a sex partner when he travels aboard for the pleasure of your company. And your partners are all educated, "intelligent university men" who all approach you first. Give me a break! So it's us slobs who are dating the hoi polloi who didn't neatly fit into your construct of your ideal sex partner. You purport to know exactly what goes on on Soi 4, Patpong and wherever us undesirables congregate. Your have written regularly about your partner. You're the one who introduced him into various threads. You made him part of your narrative. I even agreed that he--and his friend who sleeps on the sofa bed in your living room--made a good decision in deciding not to return to a gay bar. I joked that they may have wished to wait to hear the offer from the old gent in your age range before they tossed their drinks over him. Granted if I said they may want to delay their action because their glasses maybe contained a luscious Mouton Rothschild it would have come across as the pun it was intended to be. There's no cause to apologize for the comments of myself or Floridarob for disrupting this thread (feel free to include yourself, Peter). You have apparently missed the point that this thread (and it is indeed excellent) is all about sexual desire and seduction. Soon or later you're going to accept the fact that you're an old timer just like the great majority of contributors to this forum. You may drink better wines and dine at better restaurants than they rest of us but you still pursue young men for your pleasure. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Not a typo but a slip of the finger on a dreadful Mac keyboard? 🙄

Thanks to Putin's attack on Ukraine, those "clowns" now have the 30 other members of NATO committed to their defense. From NATO website Finnish cooperation with NATO was historically based on its policy of military non-alignment and a firm national political consensus. This changed in 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

From CNBC A federal jury on Friday ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay over $148 million to two Georgia election workers for falsely claiming they committed ballot fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The jaw-dropping figure includes $75 million in punitive damages, along with awards of $20 million to each of the two election workers for emotional distress and more than $16 million each for defamation. Giuliani was in court as the verdict was read aloud by a federal judge. The defamation damage award is the latest in a series of legal blows to Giuliani related to his service as the top campaign lawyer for Donald Trump in efforts to reverse the former Republican president’s loss in that election. Giuliani, Trump, and 17 other defendants were indicted this summer on state criminal court charges in Georgia in connection with their attempts to undo Trump’s defeat. The civil verdict by the jury Friday came a after Giuliani’s lawyer said he would not testify in the case in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., reversing his supposed plans to do so. The plaintiffs in the case, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who are mother and daughter, sued Giuliani in 2021 for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy.

Of course it was a joke, Peter; lighten up. Hope this doesn't come as a shock but older men proposition young men on Soi 4 many times a night. That's why not all but many young men go there in the first place. You told us yourself that you avoid the bars in Bangkok but when you travel elsewhere in Asia that you're on the prowl for young men. So I wouldn't be too quick to put down what other men in your age group are doing in Bangkok's best known gay street just as no one in Taipei will put down you. The first bar I went to on my first bkk trip was Balcony. A young man seated on the opposite side of the bar smiled at me and and I returned it. Thirty seconds later he took the seat beside me and placed his check bin next to mine. He was my first date. Half and hour later he slipped into bed beside me at Tarntawan Place. The game really hasn't changed a lot since.

Ah, finally something we can agree on. We can tell each other what we should so. And don't you wish you could do that in mother Russia?

I agree but I'd hope they might want to hold off until they head the offer.

Sure, you're dreaming, Mac. But at least you're having pleasant ones. 🙂

Again, why don't you save this stuff for your own board. Surely you'll enjoy a more receptive audience. Meanwhile, dream on.....

....not if you don't value your co-op. 🙂

From The Thaiger Thailand, hopeful for a Chinese tourism resurgence post-pandemic, faces an unexpected plot twist as a surge of Taiwanese visitors, in particular, reshapes the narrative. Saichon Chounchou now handles a 20-person group of Taiwanese tourists. “Now my clients are Taiwanese. They are regular clients and generate revenue for many local communities as opposed to many Chinese on a zero-dollar tour.” Zero-dollar tourism, a longstanding bane in Thailand, involves Chinese tour companies steering visitors exclusively to Chinese-run establishments, depriving local businesses of potential earnings. In contrast, Saichon’s Taiwanese group opts for opulence, staying in a five-star hotel for five days at a whopping 100,000 baht per person. Government data shows that the Taiwanese influx is no fluke, with approximately 585,000 Taiwanese visitors to Thailand in the first 10 months of this year. With a new visa-free policy for Taiwanese visitors, this number is expected to soar. However, Thailand’s overall tourism revival post-Covid is unfolding more gradually than anticipated. With Bangkok aspiring to host 28 million international visitors this year, compared to the pre-pandemic high of 40 million in 2019, the projections seem optimistic. Saichon’s observations echo the sentiment. “Chinese tourists are concerned about safety in Thailand, and the Thai government just can’t crack the code of why Chinese have not come as much as before.” The shift in tourism dynamics isn’t merely a case of preference but is entangled with safety concerns, economic factors, and even negative narratives circulating on Chinese social media platforms. Reports of safety concerns and unmet expectations have prompted Thai officials to engage in damage control. While Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s push for visa-free entry for Chinese nationals was a bold move, it hasn’t yielded the anticipated results. Projections of four to four and a half million Chinese arrivals this year have been revised to a more modest three and a half million by year-end, reported Benar News. As Thailand grapples with this tourism rollercoaster, the spotlight is turning towards other potential markets. India, with its burgeoning tourism numbers, has become a beacon of hope, said tour guide Patcharee. “If the free visas didn’t work for the Chinese, it worked for the Indians Despite the uncertainties, industry experts like Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks, affirm Thailand’s enduring appeal. “Absolutely, this is the start of a new cycle, and Thailand remains a favoured global destination.”

Good news, Mac. An updated article reports that the market should be reopening in less than a month!

Don't you wish in your heart of hearts that you could get away with saying that in Russia?

Why not tell your dictator where he should go?

Sorry, Moses. You make money from the venture. You're in business to realize a profit. Be a humanitarian and inflict your freedom of speech on your own board. Or would that constitute pollution.