The Beer Bar

Traveled to the US Embassy to get a new passport, All in preparation to extend my retirement visa. It was not a bad experience but I wanted to alert you to something you may already know. When you fill out the form to renew the passport you must put your Thailand address and not your home address in the US. Every person in line to renew their passport had to fill out a new form and go back to the end of the line.

It's been a tough couple of months. On 27 March the rescue squad took me to the ER, I was in the hospital for two weeks and now am in the nursing home. I don't know if it will be a few months or I'll be a lifer. I'm not online everyday. Plus it's difficult to time from bed.

Do you have a "Do Not Resucitate" directive? I decided against having one.

When I became a diabetic 10+ years ago my doctor did not give me a specific diet to follow unlike my mother had 50 years ago but told me to avoid the big 5 - bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereal plus a few other things like citrus fruit, grapes, corn, peas etc.. AVOID CARBS! But at the hospital and now at the nursing home that is not the practice. They give me these things that I was forbidden but smaller portions. I asked if there was a special diabetic diet and was told "no". Still I try to avoid the bad stuff as much as possible. Last night for dinner there was a mixed vegetable, a small slice of pepperoni pizza and a chocolate chip cookie. I ate the pizza.…

From Khaosod English (2 May) New Queen Appointed Ahead of Coronation BANGKOK — A former commander of His Majesty the King’s bodyguards was named the new Queen of Thailand today. A royal command issued on Wednesday, just three days before the formal coronation of King Vajiralongkorn is due to take place, announced that the King has married Gen. Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya and therefore elevated her to be Queen Suthida. News footage released by the Royal Household Bureau on Wednesday night shows the couple married at Dusit Palace in Bangkok. Little is known about Thailand’s new Queen, though media reports say Suthida has been serving in the Rat…

A study shows that men with HIV who have taken anti-HIV therapy to the point of being "undetectable" can no longer transmit the virus. A condom free world for gay men is at hand! https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/02/end-to-aids-in-sight-as-huge-study-finds-drugs-stop-hiv-transmission

Fuel costs -- Aviation Week sees increased travel demand and rising fuel costs putting carriers with the right mix of equipment having the advantage. Carriers with deep pockets have already begun hedging on fuel prices but that benefit will likely fade in a year. Being able to put the more fuel-efficient equipment on long hauls provides the needed flexibility. This may spell future problems for airlines deploying large numbers of the jumbo Airbus 380, leaving those with more twin-engine wide bodies (777, 787, A330, A350) better positioned. The mid-east carriers may be the first to feel the pain. Qatar is also hampered by the on-going air space restrictions enacted by nei…

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nisus_and_Euryalus._Cornwall_LGBT_History_Project_2016._Malcolm_Lidbury_d.JPG Two characters from Virgil's "Aeneid" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisus_and_Euryalus

From The Nation (7 Apr.) Headline-making Police Lt Gen Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn has lost his job as head of the Immigration Police in a transfer to the Royal Thai Police Operations Centre. National Police Chief Chakthip Chaijinda signed the order on Friday night and by Saturday Surachate’s Facebook and Twitter accounts had been closed, while the Immigration Bureau Facebook page was also offline. No reason has been given for his sudden demotion. Rarely out of the headlines as he traversed the country tackling different cases, the high-profile Surachate was best known for his weekly round-ups of foreigners for overstaying their tourist visas. …

From BY Times (26 Apr.) Michael Fesco, whose trendsetting clubs on Fire Island and later in Manhattan gave gay men a place to gather, dance and explore sexually at a time when homosexuality was largely unwelcome in mainstream society, died on April 11 in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 84. His friend Tony Powell, who worked for Mr. Fesco on Sea Tea, a gay party cruise around Manhattan that he began organizing in the 1990s, confirmed the death. Mr. Fesco gave a jolt of energy to the gay scene in 1970, when he opened the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove, a gay community on Fire Island. He had recently visited the Sanctuary, a discothèque on West…

From Pattaya Mail (26 Apr.) A gay prostitute was arrested for allegedly stealing the wallet of his Pattaya customer. Talang Thamnao, 29, was taken into custody at his home in Phanat Nikhom District with the wallet of Belgian Luc Rapoye, 63, and 100 euros plus 1,500 baht. Rapoye said he was drinking in a bar April 24 when Talang approached him. They adjourned to the Belgian’s hotel room. Talang allegedly took the wallet and ran when his customer went to the restroom. Continues with photo https://www.pattayamail.com/news/robbing-prostitute-arrested-253390

I’d love to hear what you do for Thai-style adventures in LA when you’re not in Thailand.

This year will be big for NYC's Gay Pride. Is anyone headed to NYC for the event?

Back in 2004, I conceived of the idea to have a get-together with fellow posters and escorts from Hooboy's posters on the message board. The event continued, and gradually the crowd grew.We added a Saturday night theater event after the dinner. Sunday was a pool party, excepting that I didn't have a pool! Then the day came when Daddy had taken over from the late Hooboy and banned me from his site in what I recall as extremely under-handed behavior. But the Weekend continued under the wise eye of Oliver. He maintained the rules- only escorts and actual posters were invited. Eventually the Weekend, now known as the Palm Springs Weekend flourished. More people attended,…

From Wall Street Journal PANG-ASOK, Thailand— Li Guanghe has built some of the most technically complex railroads in China. Now he faces his toughest challenge yet: working abroad to deliver a flagship rail project in Thailand that could make or break China’s hopes of selling high-speed trains abroad. Exporting high-speed rail is one of the ambitious elements of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative, which aims to upgrade trade and transport networks from Africa to the Pacific. But despite throwing its diplomatic weight behind high-speed rail, China has struggled to convince would-be partners to commit to the costly technology. After years of stallin…

From The Nation (22 Apr.) Cambodia and Thailand reconnected by rail after 45 years Poipet, Cambodia - A railway reconnecting Cambodia and Thailand was officially inaugurated on Monday in a bid to slash travel times and boost trade between the southeast Asian neighbours. The railway would also better link his country to other southeast Asian neighbours and boost economy and trade, he added. Bilateral trade between Thailand and Cambodia currently stands at $6 billion. Cambodia last year re-opened the final stretch of a 370-kilometre (230-mile) railway running from the capital, Phnom Penh, to the Thai border. The Asian Development Bank bankro…

" Proportionately speaking, women are 69% more likely to watch Gay Male porn than men. " https://www.pornhub.com/insights/girls-like-boys-who-like-boys

From Asia Times (April) All aboard Thailand’s decentralization train A group of provincial entrepreneurs, academics and hoteliers in Khon Kaen are bypassing Bangkok to privately develop a light rail line Thailand has made scant progress over the past three decades in spreading power and national budgets outside of the capital Bangkok, a core issue behind the nation’s yawning wealth divide. But now there is a slim hope that the decentralization process has begun, and it has started not in the capital but in the provincial city of Khon Kaen through an independently devised light rail project. “This is decentralization but I don’…

Thailand residents can now test themselves for HIV in the privacy of their own homes, according to a report by local news platform One 31. As of Apr 9, Thailand's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the public sale of home HIV test kits via pharmacies. Previously, HIV test kits could only be sold to medical professionals. “Giving people the easy and early option to check for HIV will increase the chance of preventing passing the HIV to other people,” Tharet Kraratnairawiwong, MD, the secretary of the board of the FDA, was quoted as saying. “The sooner you find out, the sooner the treatment process can start and that would benefit both yourself and pe…

I am an avid reader. I fell in love with reading The Hobbit when I was a young lad. I still love reading. I saw this article in The Atlantic and it made me happy to know that the new generation is out reading my generation. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/09/millennials-are-out-reading-older-generations/379934/

From US Consulate Bangkok (18 Apr.18) The United States Department of the Treasury now offers direct deposit of federal benefit payments, including Social Security Administration (SSA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to banks in Thailand. The payments are automatically converted to Thai Baht (THB) at the international exchange rate before they are deposited in the account. U.S. dollar payments are not available. The United States Department of the Treasury does not charge fees to make the deposits. However, the Thai banks may charge fees. Direct deposit is the safest, most convenient and reliable method of rec…

From The Nation (18 Apr.) The Maya Bay beach, which has been closed to the public since last year to allow coral restoration and beach recovery, would remain closed to visitors indefinitely, the head of Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, Woraphot Lomlim, said. After 10 months of being closed, nature is slowly rehabilitating itself, Woraphot said, citing the return of reef sharks and ghost crabs to the area while the 23,000 pieces of coral that were planted were growing. The bay with sugary-white beach and beautiful coral reef -- located in the Phi Phi islands between Krabi and Phuket -- was made famous by the 2000 Hollywood film “Th…

From Bangkok Post (17 Apr.) The cabinet has conditionally approved a plan to add a new runway at Suvarnabhumi airport to ease air traffic congestion at the main gateway to Thailand. The cost of the planned third runway is estimated at 21 billion baht, including financial compensation for local residents who would be affected by the noise from planes taking off and landing. Suvarnabhumi has two runways, one to the east of the terminal building and the other to the west. Together, they can handle 63 flights per hour -- but capacity is halved if one has to be closed for maintenance. The new runway will be built parallel to the western runway. After constr…

Less than a week after the Central World fire, an even more devastating blaze on the other side of the world. Truly heartbreaking. Thousands of Parisians have watched in horror from behind police cordons as a ferocious blaze devastated the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral, destroying its spire and spreading to the historic bell towers. Firefighters battled to contain the fire, which began at 5.50pm local time (16.50 GMT) on Monday, with police saying it began accidentally and may be linked to building work at the cathedral. The 850-year-old gothic masterpiece had been undergoing restoration work to help it better withstand the tests of time. “Everything is bur…

From Bangkok Post (16 Apr.) The following video depicting a tour of the National Aviation Museum at Don Mueang airport was posted on The Nation website. https://www.bangkokpost.com/vdo/travel/743520/royal-thai-air-force-museum-in-don-mueang-district-bangkok-thailand Link to the National Aviation Museum: http://www.museumthailand.com/en/museum/National-Aviation-Museum-of-The-Royal-Thai-AirForce Address And Contact Number 171 Phaholyothin Road Si Kan Khet Don Mueang Bangkok 10210 Telephone : 02-534 1853, 02-534 1764 Fax : 02-534 1853 Website : http://museum.rtaf.mi.th Operating hours Tuesday - Sunday from 8.00 - 16…