Tomtravel

When Putinism will be banned? I see the criminal is still talking on the Red Square.

I am not American, discussions about human rights, crimes of communism (everywhere), political prisoners (ca 170 in Vietnam) must be conducted irrespective of what is happening with US, Guantanamo, CIA. Otherwise we continue the colonialistic treatment and ignore the nations who suffer.

Refering to International Action Center - Marxist-Leninist organization - in the context of Vietnam post? I think you miss my point, Vietnam government is now souvereign in its decisions and how it treats his past (nothing to do with US, the victim is his own nation).

Only stating the fact that after the horrible civil war, people were subject to the red terror which ended only fairly recently (at least in a large scale; Vietnam still has political prisoners). At least 150 re-education prisons were built after Saigon fell. One in three South Vietnamese families had a relative in a re-education camp. These traumas were created after the war and the current Vietnam government, until today, has not condemned those practices.

So what happened after the communists won the Vietnam war? „Re-education camps“ were introduced, which followed the horrible Soviet GULAG and German concentration camp traditions; torture and death were common. Hundreds of thousands were arrested without a trial and sent to those camps, many died. And Vietnam today? „Vietnam’s human rights record remains dire in virtually all areas. The ruling Communist Party maintains a monopoly on political power and allows no challenge to its leadership. Basic rights are severely restricted, including freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and religion. Rights activists and bloggers face police intimidation, harassment, restricted movement, arbitrary arrest, and detention. Farmers lose land to development projects without adequate compensation, and workers are not allowed to form independent unions. The police regularly use torture and beatings to extract confessions. The criminal justice system, including the judiciary, lacks independence. Political dissidents and civil society activists are frequently sentenced to long prison terms on bogus national security charges.“

I met a young barman in one Bangkok bar. He and 3 LBs. He said my beer is 100 and his beer is 200 baht, he gets the extra money. He is 23 years old and I told him, if you slurp those beers every night, you soon damage your mental and physical health. Drink nonalcoholic beer or softdrink or just dont drink/pour to beers clients buy to you to the sink. He has a good outgoing character and charm, no need for a drug. Unfortunately, he likes this beer and party lifestyle. He is very nice and fun gay guy, stayed with me few nights, but next time I give him 500 baht in cash and demand we drink juice. Holiday for his liver. Actually the whole bar concept is based on the beers clients buy for the LBs and the boy. And they drink them, 6 evenings every week.

I spent 4 nights in BKK and told the boy to stay in my hotel from 13-19.00. Its hot outside, not fun, and aircon room with shower is the best. He did so 2 days, was very pleased (me too). Evenings we were drinking. He eventually spent the two night as well. Very challenging for the room cleaning!

I once had (free) sex with a hot french twink and asked what is his profession. He said „Photographer, DJ and Personal Services“. It was in Berlin😀

I was last year 4 nights in Aruba and could not find anything gay. I suspect the local culture is influenced by the old school Dutch conservatism and religion. Beach and snorkeling tour was good. I made a quick jump from Bogota which is a happy and lively place compared to Aruba, however Aruba is basically EU life quality and safety (and cost). Its a hot place and look how close to Venezuela! Its touristy and commercialised, full of American cruise tourists. I see no reason to return.

I am not a friend of a communication through the apps, I like to meet and talk using my voice😀. In Shanghai, everybody who contacted me in Grindr was speaking English. But gay club in Beijing was not so easy or the guys were shy, however using translation apps in a loud drunk environment is probably working not very well. The easiest introduction to Han gay culture would probably still be Taipei, as it has plenty of open gay establishments, tourists are welcome, plenty of paid and unpaid activities, etc.. Or to combine Taipei and Shanghai. And after that maybe other cities. Grindr in Nanjing was not overly active. I enjoyed my time there, would go back because both Taiwanese and Chinese are fun people to be around!

I liked e-sim (there are also other providers) from practicality reason - you buy it when outside China and activate in China; my home apps remained functional and I got connectivity in China, including Grindr, Alipay (important!). Its fully legal solution like any roaming. Alternative is to buy Chinese sim in China (lower cost) and install VPN (requires research which work and is legal). Dating is legal, prostitution is illegal (respect of local laws…). I got only one escort contact, but did not have time to explore it further. The main barrier in China was the language. I did not change my views on the Communism.

Grindr works without VPN if you have e-sim like Airalo (which is Singapore based) and in that case you stay outside of the dystopian „ Chinese data wall“ and can use gmail, youtube, whatsup and other banned applications, which „are full of American lies“.

I was this year in China. Grindr in Beijing was pretty quiet, but I was mostly visiting various tourism attractions. Destination gay club was crazy busy, it was Halloween. English was challenging there. No dates in the capital. Grindr in Shanghai was similar to Taipei and I had sometimes two visitors per day in my hotel near Bund. The most interesting one (but not fun-wise) was one Korean. „So you are from Soul?„ No, I was born in Pyongyang“. 🙂 Hotel did not care about my visitors. One twink insisted I try his cock in the dark corners of the central park, late at night. He was a nice guy, showed me the „family sauna“ (more like an entertainment complex), the male part was very gay with some eye candy. Action starts after 23, however, foreigners cannot stay there for a night. Shanghai parks are very quiet and nice at night, well designed, with water bonds, really romantic. Politically some twinks were concerned about the future, but some in line with the official policy. The wakeup call for the concerned ones was China covid policy, which incarcerated people in their homes (twinks in their uni dormitories) and the first period without the food.. I expected to see lots of handsome guys on the streets and public transportation, but not so much. Ladies were really beautiful. I would say its easy for western tourist, everything is app based. In some supermarkets Chinese can pay for their groceries with face recognition! The amount of cameras and police is a bit like in a dystopian movie.

Vienna had or maybe still has student/proletariat bars (Bermuda Dreieck) which had a competition between tables - who makes the highest alcohol bill is freed from the payment. I can only imagine the horrible drinking to happen..