PeterRS

The Tourism Authority may be keen on doing something but the government definitely will not. There are still far too many in the elite who loathe - loathe - Bangkok being called the sex capital of Asia. And by Bangkok they mean the country as a whole. As Alex Kerr wrote 20 years ago in his perceptive book "Bangkok Found", the elite want sex out of the picture. Gay Pride marches and international World Pride events are great for image and they will go along with that. Promoting gay gogo bars are no-nos for them.

This was basically an English language remake of the Hong Kong movie "Internal Affairs". It won a ton of awards at the Hong Kong Film Festival, just as "The Departed" won top awards at the Oscars.

Using scissors? To reach the heart, he'd have to break through the rib cage. That's hard enough with surgical instruments. How do you manage that with scissors?

In my younger years, I loved the smorgasbord of gay sex that was available in many Asian countries. And I was happy to pay what for me were extremely modest fee requests. After I moved to Thailand more than 2 decades ago, I was again happy to pay for sex here. Strangely, though, free gay sex had become much easier in countries like Taiwan, Japan, China and even Singapore. I could never figure out why guys there were merely happy to find an older westerner and together enjoy a great time without any financial transaction. Only very occasionally would the cost of transport or a meal even be requested - and sometimes when offered it was declined. I stilll find this extremely common in Taiwan and to a slightly lesser extent in Japan. My last trip to Singapore was about 7 years ago - same with a young student who happened to be walking outside my hotel when I was on an app. Being partnered in Thailand for some years, I have given up my playing around. But I am allowed off the leash (as it were!) when I travel and remain constantly amazed by what is available free despite my advancing years. I find that usually guys seeking free sex are more fun to be with (as opposed to guys I want to chase after) - but each to his own.

Saw this young man with his horribly wide short jeans on the MRT yesterday.

I know that many more recent readers are no doubt fed up hearing from old stagers like me about the gogo bars in the 1980s, 1990s and even part of the 2000s and how much more fun they were with nudity, much more inventive shows and bars packed at the weekends with a wide mix of Thais and foreigners. As complaints started to appear in this forum about how all bars (with very few honourable exceptions) were following the same old formula, at some point - I think in the mid-late 2000s - one poster, shamelessmack in his first incarnation I believe, made a long and detailed post of how he would like to see a gogo bar operating. He ilustrated this with drawings of floor plans. It was a fascinating and different slant that could have perhaps enlivened what was starting to become a very slowly dying scene, but of course none of the bar owners put it into practice, although none had probably seen the post in the first place! Somewhere on my computer I still have that gogo bar model but I believe it should be replicated by its originator should he so wish. But I expect it is too much out of date. Times have changed. Government, police, army attitudes have changed. The gay scene for non-Thais in Chiang Mai is all but dead. Soi Twilight is no more. Many other bars have closed. The more regular customers are much less the older westerners now replaced by the growing number of younger Asians - including in some bars, women! So I am wondering. Given the changing times, in an ideal world what would you like to see offered in a gogo bar? What would make you wish to return regularly? Rather like everyone seemed to return to Barbiery in the 1980s and 1990s. Or are you happy with what is presently on offer?

I totally agree. I have seen videos of old aircraft being torn apart in some desert in the USA with a great many parts set aside for recycling. But storing an out-of-service aircraft in near zero humidity is vastly different from storing it anywhere in the high humidity in Thailand. As someone from TG stated, it would cost the airline more to restart a maintenance programme than to get rid of the A380s. Just another example of THAI's appalling record in terms of aircraft purchases and then not getting rid of out-of-service aircraft fast! That it totally failed to get rid of any of its A340 fleet (apart from one sale to the Thai Air Force) is a massive waste of public money. As of last year five carriers were still operating the A340, including Lufthansa and Swiss. Why have TG's fleet been sitting on the ground in Thailand for more than a dozen years without being sold?

This is horribly similar to the collapse of a major shopping mall in Seoul, South Korea, in June 1995. The plan had been to build a four-storey apartment block on the site. Its owners, though, changed this to a five storey shopping mall. Short cuts were taken during construction before the building opened in 1990. Three huge air conditioning units weighing 15 tonnes each when empty had been placed on the roof. Noise complaints from neighbours resulted in these being dragged across the roof to a different location. Soon cracks began to develop on the 5th floor. No one took any action. By April 1995 these had become considerably worse. On June 29 staff were aware that there were serious structural problems, but the store remained open. AT 5:52 pm that afternoon, the fifth floor gave way and the entire building collapsed. 502 people were killed and 947 injured. Hardly any were rescued from the mass of debris, but one 19-year old shop attendeant was pulled from the ruble after surviving in the intense heat of a Seoul summer for 17 days. The investigation into the tragedy identified a number of maor construction short-cuts. After corruption, the biggest single source was identified as the constant vibrations from the huge air conditioning units on the roof.

I usually enjoy fusion cuisine but have never been to any Thai restaurant in London. Too many to enjoy in Bangkok! But I am no fan of one particular Michelin-starred restaurant in Bangkok - Nahm in the Metropolitan Hotel on Sathorn. I went with two colleagues a few months or so after it opened with great fanfare. The dishes are all classic Thai - and perhaps surprisingly we enjoyed none! First the tables were both too high and too wide, and the chairs too low. So trying to make conversation was just that - a trial and uncomfortable to boot! Throughout the evening not one of the mostly middle-aged waiters smiled. Not once! We were given the option of the level of spice in the dishes we ordered and, rather un-Thai-like, we selected moderate. All but one were so spicy we could hardly touch them. We chatted with the English maitre d' who agreed with our coments about the tables and chairs. He said the wrong sizes had been delivered and new ones were "on the way"! He also apologised for the cuisine being over spiced. He had nothing to say about his wait staff not smiling. This restaurant gets consistently high marks from those who know their classic Thai cuisine. We've never returned.

The utter simplicity of the late Pope's tomb is both touching and symbolic of the simplicity of his life. In itself it is very moving. Photo: Reuters

I think the operative words here are "depending on condition"! Since the aircraft have had no maintenance for five years and have been sitting parked daily in dreadful climatic conditions for aircraft, I'm not sure I would want to fly in an A380 with spare parts from TG's fleet!

Can you remember how much the entrance fee was? Friends have taken me to hot springs in some very posh hotels in that area. The hot springs were beautiful but I was so glad they paid and not me because they were very expensive. Sounds like Shan Yue will be cheaper but it will be useful to know before going. Easy to locate on the google maps. Thanks

The painting is by Rembrandt and was comissioned by the Amsterdam Guuild of Surgeons. There are several copies of The Anatomy Lesson. The original is housed in a Museum in The Hague. A second copy is in the University of Edinburgh Fine Art Collection.

I assume for TG the A380 was a glamour aircraft to show the world that the airline was up there with the other top carriers. Yet once it was decided to take its six A380s out of service, TG made another of its dreadful ocommercial decisions. Instead fo flying the aircraft off to desert conditions in the USA or Australia as other carriers had done, TG kept its fleet on the ground at BKK. With the high heat, high humidity, heavy rainfall and zero maintenance, did no one in TG realise they had an asset that was quickly vanishing? This was all so similar to the fate of the ten A340s it purchased to serve routes to New York and LAX which it soon cancelled due to high operating costs and insufficient load factors. All but one of these aircraft still sit languishing at various Thai airports despite TG pulling them from service more than a dozen years ago! In a thread more than a year ago it was reported that Emirates had purchased a used A380 for US$30 million. Yet this was a leased aircraft it had already been using and maintaining. It was in near perfect condition. TGs A380s cannot now be worth more than the value of some of their spare parts! Khaosodengllish reported a year ago that all the A380s and 12 777s had been sold. But no information about to whom and at what price? And since the airline had earlier reported that the cost of maintenance to get them into the air would now be prohibitive, how did whoever purchased them - if indeed they were purchased - fly them out of Thailand? Indeed, an article earlier this year in Flightradar headed "Thai Airways Fleet In 2025" states that as of January TG still holds its six A380s on its books! https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/aviation-news/thai-airways-fleet/

I only watched the end of the funeral yesterday. Having seen the pomp, ceremony and pageantry of the funerals of a few previous Popes, I was deeply moved by the simplicity of the coffin, the rounds of applause that greeted parts of the oration and then the complete absence of ceremony during the drive through Rome. How perfect that this man of the people who lived simply in a hostel rather than in the grandiose papal apartments ended his journey with the people of Rome waving, cheering and clapping as the coffin-bearing Popemobile made its way in bright sunshine through many of Rome's streets. On Easter Sunday, would any other Pope fully aware that he was nearing death have been pepared to make the arduous journey from his residence to the Vatican balcony to bless the crowds below, his voice little more than a whisper? They loved him for it. And then less than 24 hours later his life came to an end. Hopefully all the cardinals will have taken all this to heart and elect a similar man of the people as the successor to Francis. My nephew and his family moved to Rome only last month. I look forward to visiting them. When I do so, I will go to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and before the tomb of Francis say a simple "thank you."

With aircraft manufacturers having full order books, it will be interesting to know when these 787s are likely to be delivered. As of February 2025 Boeing had unfilled orders of 792 787s. Last year Boeing produced just 51 787 aircraft, but production was interrupted by the long strike. Even assuming production is ramped up to 120 aircraft per year, it will likely take more than 7 years before TG sees any of its order arrive.

I was being tactful since there might be Singapore readers most of whom are justifiably proud of their city, even though they might be less pleased about some of the political background.

I hardly ever take taxis in Taipei and so do not have the Uber app. As one who is challenged when it comes to apps in foreign languages, is there an English version? Do I download it in Thailand or wait till I get to Taiwan? Thank for the info on the Shan Yue Hot Spring. I'll certainly try it. At Huang Tzu I have found week-ends are definitely better - usually after 5:00pm. I have been also on Wednesdays and Thursdays but never as good. I am not after action - merely seeing lovely bodies and occasionally chatting!

I think Seoul has always been a city for hiding its gay lights under decreet veneers. I can recall the 1980s when all we had was Spartacus to guide us, a nearly hopeless proposition for that city. I spent almost an entire evening locating one gay bar (far from Itaewon) which ended up being a waste of time with only two other older men as customers. It took a few hours on a couple of other evenings to locate on a side street what was called a sauna but was in fact a bath house. On the ground floor was a hot pool, cold pool, sauna and massage table in the middle with a couple of heavy lads seeming to scrub all the skin off one poor customer. It took a couple of visits before I realised the low-ceilinged upstairs with bedding units was where action took place. But K Pop had not been invented and none of the Korean youngsters in those days took much care over their appearance, sadly. Tokyo was vastly more exciting.

GIven Bangkok's infrastructure, it can never become like Singapore! It took a visionary like Lee Kwan Yew (albeit virtually a dictatorial one) to plan out Singapore pretty much from scratch. Bangkok exists and it is slowly sinking. Any changes in the next few years will be purely cosmetic at best.

The strange thing is a great many of these screaming young teenage girls do not really care whether their K Pop band boys are straight or gay. BL dramas are a staple on TV in South Korea now. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3182754/inside-asias-obsession-boys-love-tv-shows-queer-series

How strange that TAT expects largely second tier low cost airlines to bring in "high value" travellers!

Never in a million years! Remember the promises make by Yingluck Thaksin when running for Prime Minister in 2011? One of her first give-aways was up to Bt. 100,000 tax rebates on those buying first-time cars and keeping them for five years. The rebate kicked in after the first 12 months of ownership. Not only was Bt. 81.1 billion given out by the Treasury, car sales ballooned to a record high of 1.42 million vehicles in 2012. And the number of new roads constructed at this time? I can see evidence of none! With Bangkok's road pattern of masses of long extremely narrow sois incapable of taking public buses linking in to very long wide highways, there is no room for new road construction unless a great many homes are demolished. Traffic-wise, Bangkok will remain a shambles! Only a new effectively planned capital city is the solution.

I think a podcast by @Olddaddy would be more than interesting. It ought certainly to spur more debate.

Given Korean society and the adoration shown to K Pop bands, this must have taken enormous courage. I think many of us probably expected that a handful or so of those in K Pop boy bands are gay but did not dare come out openly. I hope more will now do so as ultimately this may start to change perceptions of homosexuality in this quite repressed country.