PeterRS

Perhaps unfortunately Ueno is less cosmopolitan than Shinjuku, there are few schools nearby and so most of the patrons work for a living. Late afternoons onwards are the times to go.

There was a time after "Phantom of the Opera" that everyone assumed Andrew Lloyd Webber had finally lost his mojo. None of his six later shows worked and most lost a lot of money. Even "Sunset Boulevard" which he and the producers assumed would be the next "Phantom" pot boiler made milions in losses. Since then he has largely remounted versions of earlier musicals like "The Sound of Music". Now though, he is becoming flavour of the month again. His Broadway revival of "Sunset Boulevard" in a very different type of production just walked away with the Tony Award for the Best Revival of a Musical. It was his first award for 30 years. Nicole Sherzinger also walked away with the Best Leading Actress in a Musical Award for the lead role in "Sunset". Elsewhere revivals of "Starlight Express" are enjoying huge success in London, and revivals of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita" are already in rehearsal. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jun/14/andrew-lloyd-webber-is-hot-again-with-help-from-new-kids-on-musicals-block it's unlikely that his net worth in recent years ever fell much beyond £1 billion. Now it will balloon upward again. He once boasted of having the finest wine cellar in London, only he always bought 2 cases of only the very best. One was for his own consumption; the other to sell when as inevitably happens with fine wines, the price went up. Effectively his own cases therefore cost him nothing!

Just for a change, you might want to try the 24 Kaikan in Ueno which is probably the second gayest location in Tokyo after Shinjuku ni-chome. A slightly larger facility but on 11 floors that is about a 12 minute walk from Ueno station. It tends to have a slightly older crowd on average This is a German site and while the text is in English the map is of Berlin!! But it's easy to scroll it over to Tokyo''s Ueno district. https://travelm.de/en-US/place/chij5yvbzjqoggarjwttjv3pyro-en-24-kaikan-hotel-and-sauna-ueno Just come out of the east side of Ueno station, turn left and eventually you will see the sign on the other side of the road.

A pity bordering on a disaster, alas! I think I am right in suggesting that in the lead up to his 2016 election Trump had always said he would rip up that agreement despite its being agreed by the world's major powers and approved by most others. As usual Trump lied when he claimed that the agreement would result in the US paying Iran $150 billion. He had no intention of paying Iran 1 cent. In fact the amount was $100 billion and it was not the USA's cash. It was Iran's money frozen by the US authorities. One of the strongest advocates against the deal, although not in the administration at that time, was John Bolton. In recent days he has again claimed it is time to wipe Iran's nuclear facilities off the map. The really sad aspect of this whole debacle is that Iran is not only a beautiful country with a long and distinguished cutural history, its people are among the most educated, friendly and virtually to a man loathe the regime they live under. History cannot be unwound, but had the CIA and its British allies , greedy for Iran's oil, not deposed Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister in the early 1950s, then backed with masses of cash and military power the megalomaniac Shah, before siding with Iraq in the ensuing ghastly 8 year Iran/Iraq war, everything could have ended up being so different. On my visit a few years ago I noticed this outside the old US Embassy. None of the passers by took the remotest interest in it!

I assume you mean when is it held. The Thai name for the Fesival is Phi Ta Khon and this year the Festival is unusually from July 25 to 27 which means it is not over a weekend. The dates change a bit every year as they are related to the Buddhist calendar. Expect to get at least 6 months' notice of the 2026 Festival, If you plan to attend, immediately book your hotel. The only hotel very close to the town is the Phunacome Hotel on a hillside above the town which runs a regular shuttle up the hill. As a result it gets booked up very quickly for the Festival dates. A key element of the Festival is fertility rites and the importance of the phallus. You see them everywhere! Not the real life variety, unfortunately!!!

A belief in ghosts is a key part of Thai cuture. Ghost Festivals therefore take place in many cities around the country. The most impressive I believe is the one in Dansai, a small town of around 10,000 in Loei Province close to the Mekong. You can get there by flyig to Loei and then taking a minimbus to Dansai. The one problem is that there is only really one decent hotel in the town, up on a nearby hotel. But participants come from near and far and Loei itself has quite a number of hotels. Fertility rites play a big part in the Festival. It is the amazing variety of costumes worn by the guys that make it all very special. Other aspects of the parade include young men carrying a variety of offerings, a skeleton orchestra, a dance for the older generation and lots of phalic symbols. The Festival lasts three days but the Parade is always only on the Saturday. Lots of very handsome young men but no gay bar or facility in Dansai, For these you probably have to go to Loei.

A number of posters soetimes ask what else is there to see in Thailand part from the sex scene in Bangkok and Pattaya and the other cities/islands like Chiang Mai, Phuket and Koh Samui. I have posted quite some years ago about two particular events that are stunning and very unique to Thailand. The first I attended was the Ubon Ratchanthani Candle Festival. This is not as it may first sound, a Parade with townspeople milling around with candles in their hands. It is a far more grandiose affair. Each of the city's temples spend the better part of a month decorating large lorries with wax scenes from Buddhist history. These really are huge. On the day of the Parade (the end of Buddist lent), the lorries and virtually all the towns people take part in a long Parade that takes up several hours. I had tried to book a hotel some weeks in advance but all were sold out. Thankfully one room became vacant. I arrived the day before and saw ast minute preparations being made. The day itself was just magnificent. The day after the Festival all the wax is melted down and used iin the following year. I had checked and discovered tehre was a sauna close by the river. It took some finding but there were several cute guys inside when I entered. A pleasant ending to a lovely day.

There you go again Who has been driven off?

You would not be derailing the hread. You would be answering a pertinent question.

I cannot comment on the article posted by @Tomtravel but this site indicates that Sweden’s capital is one of the most open and LGBTQ+ friendly cities in the world. https://viewstockholm.com/gay-places-stockholm/

At the moment everything is speculation and all we can do is grieve for the dead. The Professional Pilots website pprune.org has a number of thoughts. One is that a full 787 with nearly 100 tons of fuel on board (the figure from Indian sources) took off without using the full length of the runway. The website Flight Radar shows it started its take off roll half way down the runway - far too short for such a heavy aircraft. Apparently this is qute comon at this airport, but only for quite lightly loaded aircraft. Normally heavy aircraft would back track to the end of the runway to give it sufficient time to gain the speed essential for take off. Another pilot suggests that the landing gear should not have been in the down position by that time since take off. He goes on to suggest that someone in the cockpit may have tretracted the flaps rather than the landing gear. But all we know is that the aircraft was not sufficiently high to continue flying. We therefore must await the outcome of the black box analysis.

In short, no! That is not why I was there. Besides there was really no time with all the flying betwen cities and in any case I am only into Asians. But I am sure you will find many guys in Stockholm's gay bars and on the apps.

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I should have added that the Lodge at Ivalo did provide three meals daily and organised a number of activities like sled riding with huskies. There were almost no other guests there during my saty - just two on the first night and the two more on the last two nights

You already admitted in a separate thread that you made decisions about writing posts without checking back at what had actually been written. Enjoy it!

Read my posts. NO!

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. The ferry accommodation depends on price. I paid for the smallest cabin and that's what i got - The bathroom was at the left. For one person it was perfectly fine for 4 nights. Some might find it too cramped. As for food, the ferry fare offered breakfast plus one meal. I don't know why I chose dinner. Were I to do the trip again, I'd choose lunch and then have dinner in the rather nice coffee shop. Reindeer meat was popular which was not really to my taste. But there were options. I should add that there was a great deal of public space and louges on the ferry. If you are not a good sleeper, be prepared for the ferry to dock sometimes in the middle of the night. It does after all service the entire Norwegian coast. I don't sleep well and used ear plugs to ensure I was not wakened. Rooms in the cheaper hotels I stayed in, while perfectly good, were also on the small side. One nice thing about the Viking Hotel in Tromso was it served free pancakes mix with various jams in the late afternoon. Free tea and coffee service all day. I was rather stupid in making my flight arrangements. I had a mileage ticket from BKK to Bergen but could only get one back from Stockholm. I also assumed that I'd have to fly from Helsini to Ivalo since it's an internal destination. I therefore took flights Tromso to Oslo, changed to Stockholm, overnighted at a lovely hotel by the station (walking distance to the Arlanda Express to the airport) and then on to Helsinki where again I overnighted as i wanted the first of the two daily flights to Ivalo. Had I just been a bit more diligent, I would have found there was a daily flight from Tromso to Ivalo!! On my return I stayed for two more nights at the Stockholm hotel. The Noregian hotels had small but comfortable and well furnished rooms. The Lodge near Ivalo had very large rooms with lovely log fires and large bathrooms. It's important before you start working on dates that you check for the most ikely time the Aurora Borealis will be seen. The darkest months from September to April seem the most ideal. To be safe, I'd shorten this to October to February. Lastly, remember that you are unlikely to get good photos from the ferry. It is in constant motion and you will need some short time exposure on your camera.

No! But tell me of any other poster who has started in just one forum in less than 6 months 15 threads with 48 posts exclusively about one subject? No poster has. If that is what the moderator wishes, that's perfetly fine by me. But contravening Board rules as you seem perfectly happy for him to do regarding nude photos is another matter entirely! Or do you believe rules are threre to be broken?

And since you @Moses seem happy to make up your own guidelines, these are the Gay Guides Guidelines as very clearly spelled out at the top of this Board. Gay Guides Message Center Mission and Code of Conduct v1.2 If you have not read and understood them, then by all means post as you wish and wait to be banned! LOL This has absolutely NOTHING to do with ChatGPT! Or do you still disagree?

So you rule out personal opinions? Funny since your own posts are full of them! But since you mention it, with @alexch having such an major interest in promoting Tunisia, how come he failed to respond to two posters @JefeVosst and @colom-bien who specifically requested advice in the Solo gay traveler in North Africa thread each specifically metioning Tunisia. That thread started weeks after @alexch started posting about Tunisia. There may well be a reason but it would be interesting to know why.

@khaolakguy has been a member for more than 19 years. Is he not aware that the posting Covenant which members must follow states? - This website is geared toward an adult audience. However, we are not an adult pornographic website. NO posting of nudity in any form is allowed. The reason is obvious. All posts can be read by anyone who ia not a member. That includes the Thai police and internet monitoring authorities. Only the Photos thread (and I believe one other) is resticted exclusively to members only and can only be seen by full members. Nude photos are permitted on that forum. That @khaolakguy seems not to know this given the longevity of his membership and that it has been stated verbatim in at least two other threads recently, it appears he is happy to recomend others disobey the rules.

From one who has lambasted me in another form, that is a joke. And for his information since he seems not to know the regulations, the only forum where nudity is permitted is in the photos forum. For a long time member not to know that appears very strange. Many post and comment there. I repeat, 48 out of 67 treads by one poster being about Tunisia in just a six month period is certainly overdoing it. Since @khaolakguy does not agree, perhaps he will enlighten members of other fora with a similar number of separate threads on exactly the same subject matter - in any six month period. Therre are none! Sadly there are lots of countries in a similar situation as Tunisia, very sadly.

Why therefore are they posted on a gay website? 15 separate threads about Tunisia in less than six months seems more than somewhat excessive, the more so when the poster has only made 67 posts so far of which 48 are about Tunisia. As @KeepItReal suggested, he seems to work for the Tunisian Department of Tourism.

For many flying between Europe and Bangkok increasingly a plane change in Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi or now even Oman is necessary. Even though many are keen only to get to their final destination, the possibity for short stopovers is increasingly possible, the more so when some of the wonders of the world are on your doorstep. Some time ago, I wrote a series of articles on an amazing two weeks in Iran, an extraordinariy beautiful country with lovely people. While I would not consider that now in the present political climate, there is another short stopover to one of the unique sights of our world that amazed me. I took the One World airline Royal Jordanian from Bangkok to Amman where I had booked a 3-day stopover specifically for this fabulous site. Petra, "The Rose Red City Half as Old as Time", is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Although Petra appears in the Old Testament, the city we know today was founded by the Nabateans, nomads, highly skilled stone masons and whose mastery of water resources enabled the city to thrive as one of the old Silk Roads. By the 1st century AD it was a thriving city, but soon integrated into the Roman Empire. As trade routes from Asia moved more seawards, the city all but vanished into obscurity. The lost city was eventually rediscovered by a Swiss disguised as an Arab trader in 1812. Pre-covd it was hosting as many as 1 million visitors a year. Amman to Petra is about 230 kms. My driver/guide was waiting at the airport and pointed out sights on the way, including an old Crusader castle which we visited. I had chosen to stay at a hotel right by the entrance to the site. I was aware that to get there you have to descend around 2 kms. I was much more worried about the climb back up when after a full day sighseeing I knew I would be exhausted. To access the city itself you have to enter the Siq, a split in the rock no more than 3 meters wide You then wander down for 1 .2 km into this cleft with the rock on each side growing larger and larger Eventually you come to the extraordinary carving of the Elephant Rock At one point my guide played a trick on me. He asked me to turn and look at a point near the top of a rock. It was merely a ruse, for when I turned back we we turned a short corner, this is what I saw Within moments the full glory of The Treasury carved out of solid rock was before me. This then is the real start of the journey. As you wander right, you pass a number of buildings, including the remains of a Roman amphitheatre Then a host of caves which were the burial spots for prominent Nabataens Other examples of Roman architcture remain But it is the tombs of the Nabatean royalty that are most magnificent. This was that of the King m Others in the same area are almost as magnificent Guards unobtrusively watch over the city during opening hours Almost most magnificent of all are the colours embedded in the stone After climbing all the way back to the hotel, never has a large glass of cold beer tasted so wonderful! The following day, the guide took us past the Dead Sea (I decided not to take a dip) and then up to Mount Nibo, the mountain which Moses is alleged to have climbed to be nearer to his God as he was dying. Laid out before us in the mist were many well-known cities and landmarks. My trip ended with a tour around some of the sights of Amman, including its still functioning Roman amphitheatre where concerts regularly take place. The three day trip was worth every Baht. I loved it. Next on my list for a Middle East stopover will be Oman which a friend who worked there most of his life tells me is stunningly beautiful. Besides, he told me, there are two sisters who make the most delicious chocolate in the world!

In my youth I only purchased a handful of pop singles and LPs. The Beatles, the Stones, Procul Harem's "Grand Hotel" - the LP purchased solely for their massive hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale" but I soon came to love every song on that album - and of course The Beach Boys. Their songs illuminated the sun and fun of the great California outdoors, such a contrast to what felt like still drab Britain beyond swinging London. RIP