PeterRS

I agree with you 100%. What has happened in Gaza in the last 18 months or more is one of the great crimes against humanity. Three years ago when back in the UK staying with my sister, knowing of my interest in Taiwan she arranged lunch with a lovely young Taiwanese who had recently moved into the neighbourhood and her Palestinian doctor husband. When Israel started its incursion into Gaza (which given what Hamas had recently done in Israel may have had some justification, even though Israeli intelligence had totally botched up its mandate), the doctor was immediately concerned. It was not just that his parents, brother and sister lived in Gaza, he had a total of 26 relatives living there. He immediately gave up his work as a doctor to fly to the Middle East to see if and how he could get everyone out. It took more than a year to raise the required cash from all of their friends as well as a GoFundMe page. Eventually he did get everyone out. Some are now in the UK, others in Canada and yet more still stuck in Egypt awaiting resettlement. That young man was determined to rescue his family. Hundreds of thousands of others must have wished they could have done the same but either had no clue how to achieve that goal or were unable to raise enough money. It's so dispiriting - and often makes me furious - that had Yitzhak Rabin not been assassinated in 1995 by one of his own Jewish extreme right wing, perhaps - just perhaps - everything would have turned out so differently. Netanyahu has always been a right wing zealot determined to see an end to those he perceives as Israel's enemies. Without the recent wars he himself would have been in the dock for crimes the Israeli prosecutors know he has committed. He will no doubt continue on his evil path if only to see he is six feet under before ever seeing the inside of an Israeli court.

Apologies to all as my information above seems to be incorrect.

This thread is about classical music - nothing to do with pop and rock!

I was present at a concert in Hong Kong recently when Seong-Jin Cho gave an absolutely mind-blowing performance of the fiendishly difficult Prokofiev Second Concerto. Interestingly it was conducted by the young 25-year old whizz kid conductor Tarmo Peltokowski who is the Hong Kong orchestra's new Music Director after Jaap van Zweden's departure after 12 years at the helm. Thanks largely to van Zweden and his predecessor Edo de Waart, the HK Philharmonic is now one of the world's best, having won Gramophone magazine's coveted Orchestra of the Year award in 2019 for its recording of Wagner's Ring cycle. Peltokowski is another of the students of the great Finnish conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula. Now at the venerable age of 95 he has honed the skills of so many of today's conductors, including 29-year old Klaus Makela who is soon to take over two of the world's top orchestras: the Chicago Symphony and the Royal Concertgeouw. I only saw Yuja Wang once performing Brahms Second Concerto with the New York Phil under van Zweden some years ago. The concert was in Taipei's main Concert Hall with its glorious acoustics. Although seated in the centre of the stalls, my friend and I were rather underwhelmed. The fact was the piano was frequently lost in the orchestral sound. Being generous to an artiste who I know is superb, I suspect the conductor had not had a colleague sit in the stalls during the earlier balance rehearsal. Pity!

Just one word of warning. @khaolakguy's post is very perceptive. Both go to see the lawyer so that P will not be too uncomfortable when the time eventually comes to discuss your will with him. I will only add one more caveat: beware of lawyers who advertise cheap wills on the internet. The first will I made out here was with such a lawyer who happened to be based in Phuket and I thought everything was settled. Unfortunately not. He had omitted to include one important clause and then to advise me to amend it some years later when legislation changed. Get a good lawyer and don't be put off by the fee. I now have an excellent one in Bangkok but you will be looking for one in Pattaya where I am sure there are many.

How wrong you are! But you will never accept it! Gergiev is Putin's main spokesman. That's why Putin awarded him with the artistic direction of the Bolshoi in Moscow as well as his Mariinsky in St. Petersburg. No conductor has ever before controlled both Houses! Note also that I was discussing top international artists who are prodigies. You brought in the vocally failing Netrebko who will soon be nearing the end of her career. I admit I brought in 72-year old Gergiev, but only because he is Putin's close friend. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the only country he has worked in outside Russia has been China plus one propaganda exercise in Palmyra in Syria. Funny that he was an officially authorised surrogate for Putin's 2018 election campaign. Absolutely "no one put him under intense pressure", as you quite incorrectly claim. Once lauded everywhere as a guest conductor, in addition to his Russian opera Houses he is now stuck conducting local orchestras at venues like the Kamaz truck and bus factory in Tatarstan, or in the small village of Chorny Otrog, the Ural foothills hometown of late prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. I know the business of classical music extremely well - and with respect probably a great deal better than you. Of the list you posted, I know of only four top international names - Gergiev, Netrebko, Matsuev (who certainly is a superb pianist) and the violist Yuri Bashmet. Bashmet had a huge career in the west until he signed a letter approving of the invasion of Ukraine. End of western concertising! The others are basically international nobodies. You write "authoritarian Russia still announced no one". Of course you realise why that is. Western artists will not go near Russia while it wages war no matter what incentives Putin's Culture Ministry might offer!

Netanyahu turned up at the White House yesterday bearing a gift. A nomination for Trump to receive the Nobel Pece Prize! Does anyone take Netanyahu seriously these days? Or Trump, for that matter? https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5388994-netanyahu-trump-nobel-peace-prize/

1) So? I don't believe this young man was under pressure from anyone. You totally fail to mention that even before his first concerts in Canada were cancelled, he wrote this on a popular classical music blog site read by millions, "I do understand that my problems are very insignificant compared to those of people in Ukraine, including my relatives who live there. The most important thing now is to stop the blood. All I know is that the spread of hatred will not help in any way, but only cause more suffering." And as NPR stated on March 12 2002 - "Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev, 20, has condemned his native country's invasion and war against Ukraine. But that hasn't kept a string of his concerts from being canceled in Canada" Why would he speak out earlier while many of his family still remained in Russia and could therefore be targeted for persecution? The fact that he fled from Russia to settle in Berlin shows that he is totally unlike other Putin arts warmongers. With a fabulous career in front of him, why would he - or any other young musical prodigy - elect to stay in Russia where his opportunities for international recognition as a great artist would be virtually zero? Performing in Vladivostok, Perm, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Omsk and similar? Not what makes an international star's career! 2) You have already mentioned Anna Netrebko whose voice frankly is no longer in the pristine shape as it used to be. She also tried to sue the Metropolitan Opera without much success. Sue any major artistic organisation and expect to be re-engaged in the future? Fat chance! You failed to mention Putin's greatest artistic admirer, the conductor Valery Gergiev. Music Director of both the Mariinsky Opera in St. Petersburg and now also of the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow, he used to have a major career in the west in demand virtually everywhere. At one time, for example, he was Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, also of the Munich Philharmonic, the Verbier Festival Orchestra and a regular guest conductor at Milan's famed La Scala and New York's Metropolitan Opera. Now he has been dropped from every post and guest conducting position in the west. No one in the west will touch him because he is Putin's artistic spokesman, (proudly so it would seem from his statements). Let's not forget also that he was - and may still be - homophobic. Let's also not forget that his career in the west made him very rich. According to the Anti-Corruption Federation of the late murdered Alex Navalny, he had purchased several homes in Italy, including the Palazzo Barabrigo in Venice, and in the USA as well as in Russia where Putin has contributed to his fortune. In 2022 as a result of the war, the Corriere della Serra confirmed his Italian properties had been put on the market for $150 miilion. Not bad for someone waving his fingers in front of an orchestra (Gergiev does not use a baton, although sometimes he resorts to a tiny toothpick!) https://www.npr.org/2022/03/12/1086282867/a-russian-pianists-shows-are-canceled-even-though-he-condemns-the-war-in-ukraine

Is there anyone, anywhere - even in Trump's administration - who actually believes there is no list? Are we expected to believe that he chewed and swallowed it before being tipped off about his being arrested? From what we have learned about Epstein, among his many other dreadful traits the man was a master manipulator. Of course he had a list - and for us to be expected to believe it might have just been in his head has to be pure b/s. Somewhere there is a list with Trump, Clinton, Dershowitz, Prince Andrew and no doubt hundreds of other names on it. Perhaps his partner in crime Ghislaine Maxwell might know where it is, but I doubt it as surely she would have used that information to lighten her jail sentence. Someone must know and the secret remains hidden for the time being. Once Trump has finally been ousted fro the White house or is six feet under, that person may come forward. Whoever he or she may be, there will many tens of millions to be made from a book deal and various media events.

I have enjoyed what is rather loosely termed classical music since I started piano lessons at the age of six. I have had the joy of hearing many of the great musicians in concert and others on CDs and other means. Occasionally I come across a musician who I find extraordinary and of whom I have heard nothing at all! Anyone who happened to watch the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Finals (something I would never normally do) will know that the 18-year old South Korean winner Yunchan Lim is an absolute genius. That one so young had never studied outside South Korea was extraordinary. And when he completed the marathon Third Concerto by Rachmaninoff, the conductor Marin Alsop was in tears, so magnificent had been his playing. He won the Competition by a large margin and is now a superstar. This morning I found a youtube concert by a young (and now very handsome!) 23-year old Russian, Alexander Malofeev. I was knocked out by his playing. This is a youtube version of his playing the very popular Second Concerto by Rachmaninof when he was only 15. The second movement is quite short and has several popular themes. One you will recognise is "All By Myself", the song made popular by Eric Carmen who himself was trained as a classical pianist. Carmen actually used this theme believing that Rachmaninoff's works were out of copyright. It so happened they were in the USA, but not in the rest of the world. As a result Rachmaninoff's estate earned hundreds of thousands of dollars! Start at 11:30 and the movement ends at 21:55 Malofeev could easily have stayed in Russia and been feted as a virtuoso pianist. Instead, in 2022 he was one of the few top Russian musicians to denounce Russia's invasion of Ukraine, declaring "every Russian will feel guilty for decades because of the terrible and bloody decision that none of us could influence and predict." Soon after he defected and now lives in Berlin. And for anyone still interested, this is an interview the now 23-year old gave in English about growing up in Russia and life as a professional musician. This young man is almost certainly becoming one of the greats.

Thank you for telling us about Chance. I had never heard of it before and many of the boys look stunning.

Fast Track at BKK used to be available to all over 70. That has now stopped, but I have no idea why. In the many times I used those lanes they often had only 1 or 2 passengers maximum at each booth. I am starting to wonder if they are now getting busier as a result of all those many Chinese and Russians who have paid through the nose for the new Thailand Privilege visas.

I believe it has been mentioned quite a few times on this Board that anyone with assets in Thailand must have a Thai will written in Thai. Without that the Court will almost certainly give your assets to your nearest living blood relative wherever based. I realise that @Londoner's assets are in the UK and he probably has litte under his name here. Clearly once over the legal hurdles on his next trip everthing should thereafter run smoothly. But I wonder if he might think it worth considering transferring at least some of his funds to Thailand now and having a Thai will in addition to the UK one. That would, I expect, transfer a small portion of assets to P more quickly than having to wait for the legal process to run its course. Just a thought. Returning to the OP by @TotallyOz and comments by others, sadly lack of concern over distribution of assets even before death can cause much heartache. I have had a Thai business friend here in Thailand for more than 40 years now. One of her close friends whom I had met on several occasions is gay, a lovely man who had been in a relationship with another Thai for decades. Having just reached the age of 80, he called my friend in a state of near hysteria. Overnight his partner had disappeared. All his clothes, many mementos, a bank book with their joint account (thankfully he also had a separate account of his own) and his car had all gone. No note. No thank you. No wishing him good luck. Nothing! Fortunately for him, my friend is a very organised lady. She is originally from Chiang Mai and knew there were inexpensive but very nice elderly care homes just outside the city. She quickly arranged to have her friend placed in one of them. She returns to Chiang Mai at least 4 times a year and aways visits him. She tells me he settled in very easily and he has now found at least a degree of happiness again just enjoying life. The home has minibus trips into Chiang Mai 6 times a day and so he is still able to feel part of a larger community.

I rarely change foreign currency but quite recently I brought in £1,000 cash in £50 notes. I changed it at X One down Suriwong as I had heard the rate was better than many. Today its rate is exactly the same as SuperRich which has a branch by the Saladaeng BTS station which I expect is more convenient for most.

Looking back through some old photos last night, I found these showing three A380s parked in adjacent bays at Hong Kong airport. As I was there for a long week-end with a Thai friend, he loved the Emirates upper deck and especially the bar at the back. The barman even allowed him to take his place - but only for a few minutes.

Wasn't it Ernest Hemmingway who chuckled when reading his obituaries over breakfast while quaffing champagne? He had been in a plane crash and several newspapers assumed he had been killed.

Thanks for that. There were in fact two in Korea Town, one on the top floor and the other the floor below.

Must be a new member LOL

Funny that you replied to one of my posts relatively recently. I don't recall seeing my obituaries 🤣

I don't recall the name but a complex called Korea Town is in that area and for a few years in the late 1990s there were two massage spas there on different floors. I was living in Hong Kong then and would sometimes pop in for a massage before getting a taxi to the airport. Body Club might have been one of them. Not far from there is Inter Moustache House, a gogo bar that seemed mostly for Thais although it did advertise in the free gay mags. I did go there once but don't recall taking anyone off. The vibes of the place didn't do anything for me.

I wonder how many remember - or even visited - the original My Way. It was a small bar situated just off Rama IV between Silom and Suriwong. I don't recall gogo dancing or shows. But what sticks very firmly in my mind is the incredible pole dancing done by most of the boys, almost all of them cute. These boys acrobatic skills (at least in terms of pole dancing!!) were fantastic.

In recent decades the world has seen several figures who have deserved iconic status for their efforts to extol the virtues of peace. Not all have been the equivalent of angels throughout their lives but the good they have brought the world has been in most cases extraordinary. Who could suffer in jail for almost a third of ther lives like Nelson Mandela and yet still emerge to unite a nation? Another leader was surely the late Pope Francis, a man who brought light into life for many in our world despite having to battle constantly with the ingrained conservatism of his Curia and the long-term effects of the pedophile scandals of the Catholic Church. But is anyone more revered than the Dalai Lama? A smiling figure who has been so dominant in the world for all of our lives. Yesterday he celebrated his 90th birthday. And as has dogged his life for much of the last two decades, the issue of his successor remains in doubt. Since the 17th century, the figure of the Dalai Lama has been a symbol of the unification of the state of Tibet. Having been part of China since invasion by the Mongols (known as the Yuan Dynasty) around 1245, that domination over the country lasted little more than 100 years. With the Yuan Dynasty on the decline, Tibet was to all intents and purposes independent for the next 400 years with the Dalai Lama effectively as its head of state. But it was not to last. The south west of China had long been one vast land without specific borders. Only in 1724 were lines of demarcation drawn and agreed for the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai and Tibet. Tibet then became part of China's Qing Dynasty for nearly 200 years until its collapse at the end of China's imperial rule early in the 20th century. For the next 40 years, Tibet achieved another period of near independence, although Britain and Russia hovered hoping to exert greater influence. During this time, post imperial China was far too consumed by warlords fighting other warlords for Tibet to be on their horizon. After Mao's takover, though, Tibet expelled the few Chinese that remained within the country. Mao not only considered Tibet part of Chinese territory, he was as concerned about the country's borders as President Xi is today. To world condemnation, he sent troops in to the country. In 1959. Tibet then signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which formalised Chinese rule in Tibet. Immediately before then, the CIA had dropped guerrilla forces into the country in an attempt to fight off Chinese forces. Most were never seen again. China's actions in destroying thousands of monasteries and other actions have been equally condemned worldwide, but there was nothing the rest of the world could do to stop it. With the signing of the 1959 Agreement, the Dalai Lama fled over the mountains with many of his followers where they received sanctuary in India. That has been his base ever since. More recently he has tried to appease the leaders in Beijing by claiming that Tibet does not want independence, merely autonomy. This and future talks have resulted in the lead balloon analogy. So the question remains: when His Holiness passes from this earth, who becomes the 15th Dalai Lama. China has said it is up to its government to make the appointment. In the mid-1970s, the present Dalai Lama stated it was possible he would be the last of the line. This infuriated many of his followers. More recently he has changed that view and confirmed there will be a new Dalai Lama after his death. But who will appoint him? The second most important figure in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition is the Panchen Lama. In 1995 the Dalai Lama declared the name of the 11th Panchen Lama. Three days later the six-year old boy was kidnapped by the Chinese government and remains forcibly detained with his family in an unknown location. All China will reveal is that he received a University education, is now living peacefully and does not wish to be disturbed. For now, I fear all the world can do is wait and hope. And extend our gratitude and our best wishes for the health of His Holiness.

So many people and different events, I'm not sure I even understand it all. I do get the implication that the "former friend of my husband (Randy)" is not in fact "former" but in fact remains in fact a friend. In general I agree with @vinapu. Although sometimes when doors are open to apologies, they can lead to other unwanted events.

I already made a post about this and could not agree with you more. The appointment of Merrick Garland and the absolute failure of Biden to do anything at all to push him on the various Trump cases is, in my view, the reason Trump is in power now.

I think that may be a very incorrect comment. Although I only went past that area once in a car, my friend and I definitely saw no underage guys that evening. There were around 12 guys, most looking considerably older than early 20s and none that we would consider even approaching. I know that the poster @ChristianPFC has written about this area some years ago and mentioned it in his blog. Again I do not think underage has ever been mentioned. The concern around there has been drugs and definitely AYOR.