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tell that to all of the dead people waiting in line at the Chinese crematoriums

and then you have to account for the people who eat several pizzas each day

according to this somewhat dated info on Wikipedia, PRC tourists accounted for around a quarter of all tourist arrivals. So without some serious work diversifying their incoming tourist market the industry will really struggle. Of course in addition to Covid the Chinese economy faces lots of issues that might well put a dent in their citizens' ability to travel " In 2014, 4.6 million Chinese visitors travelled to Thailand. In 2015, Chinese tourists numbered 7.9 million or 27% of all international tourist arrivals, 29.8 million; 8.75 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2016. In 2017, 27% of the tourists that came to Thailand came from China. Thailand relies heavily on Chinese tourists to meet its tourism revenue target of 2.2 trillion baht in 2015 and 2.3 trillion in 2016. However, in 2020, it was reported that Chinese tourists now ranked Thailand as third most popular foreign tourist destination, having been the top previously. It is estimated that the average Chinese tourist remains in the country for one week and spends 30,000–40,000 baht (US$1,000–1,300) per person, per trip. The average Chinese tourist spends 6,400 baht (US$180) per day—more than the average visitor's 5,690 baht (US$160). According to Thailand's Tourism Authority, the number of Chinese tourists rose by 93% in the first quarter of 2013, an increase that was attributed to the popularity of the Chinese film Lost in Thailand that was filmed in the northern province of Chiang Mai. Chinese media outlets have claimed that Thailand superseded Hong Kong as the top destination for Chinese travellers during the 2013 May Day holiday. In 2013, the Chinese National Tourism Administration published A Guide to Civilized Tourism which has specific statements regarding how to act as a tourist in Thailand."

completely agree with you about the alms giving having been turned into a tourist circus. The last time I attended it was really awful. Russian tourists shoving their cameras in the faces of the monks... I was quite lucky when I went to Pak Ou. My guide brought along a big pack of candles and set them up all around the cave. Having it lit up by candle light made for some very pretty photos. I've always been fascinated by those decorations on the top of Lao temples

I love LP. Kuang Si is one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have been to. I like how small the town is. But there's so much history packed in there. One of my favorite charitable causes is Big Brother Mouse which publishes children's books in Lao and some tribal languages to get kids interesting in reading. They also run their own school called Big Sister Mouse. Great organization. http://www.bigbrothermouse.com/

As was mentioned the next generation is completely fucked. Social media has warped them in a way that will be hard to repair. As a Thai college professor said in a video I watched earlier today - kids today have no attention spans and little resilience. In Western countries there is a huge epidemic of loneliness. Big percentages have few or no friends in real life. A huge number haven't had sex with another person in over a year. It's not that they don't want to have sex, they're just poorly socialized. All of those sexually frustrated young men (with access to high powered weapons in America) are a big problem. Obviously there are still some places where young people are still boinking (and making lots of babies), but I'd guess that is in places with less access to social media apps and phones. And those places are fewer and fewer all the time

Andrew MacGregor Marshall had the scoop on this yesterday. Sounds like they're just trying to figure out how to break the news at this point. I always appreciate Jonathan Head's willingness to push boundaries talking about this subject

I finished binge watching Choco Milk Shake on Sunday. The acting is really fantastic. The premise is that the cute boy in the middle is just drifting through life and is lonely. His dead dog and cat are reincarnated as the two other cute boys and they come back for a limited time to help him get back on track. The writing is very good and while they obviously made this on a shoestring budget, overall it's one of the most enjoyable things I have watched in a good while. Most episodes are about 15 minutes. There's an extra 11th episode that comes out next week. I'm not sure why because ep 10 wraps everything up pretty well. Highly recommended.

and it still doesn't do any good for all of the non-Muslims and more moderate Muslims who live there

or find some new guys... I always admire your stamina

This is one of the oddest and most adorable BLs ever. The episodes are short

Bayon is my favorite of all

Looks like you had Preah Vihear to yourself. I went there early on a Sunday morning and it was quite busy. In fact we arrived at the little place where you buy tickets and wait for your truck up the mountain before any of the employees and it was surprisingly crowded already. Definitely a great setting. Have you been to Koh Ker?

their latest photos look interesting. They seem to be trying lots of different special events

I agree. It's interesting that these photos are in private collections. Aren't there two different history museums in Bangkok now? It seems like they would be good candidates for such a permanent exhibit. The Bautze book is much bigger and more comprehensive of the the two as it covers several different photographers and their work.

gay bottom?

Awesome. Wish I was there. A few years ago I bought a couple of books that probably include most of these photos. Unseen Siam: Early Photography 1860-1910 by Joachim Bautze published in 2016 by River Books and Siam Through the Lens of John Thomson 1865-66 by Paisarn Piemmettawat 2015 also by River Books. The history is quite interesting.

I guess I was supposed to be able to read your mind?

The Nomadic Boys get around quite a bit https://nomadicboys.com/destinations/asia/south-asia/gay-nepal/

if you are looking for something extremely lightweight...

aren't most Thai guys flexible?

I've seen captions in many programs. But not all of them

I haven't had a lot of time to keep up with the current shows, but here's some things coming from GMM

And if you like Kpop these guys have really been pushing boundaries in a very gay-positive way despite Korean conservatism

I love lots of Asian bands. Lots of Thai indie/rock bands and Korean indie groups especially. These guys are amazing but they are sort of on hiatus right now One of the members called Ha Hyunsang is my favorite. His solo music is also really great. I recently saw The Rose here in Washington These Thai guys are quite popular these days and so are these guys