PeterRS

Just to add to this point, Chengdu has 14 official universities and a further 7 official colleges of some other disciplines. In other words, a huge number of students. Even though I was living closer to the outskirts of the city than the centre, not one of the guys I had the joy of meeting would accept any money for transport. I did enjoy dinner in the hotel with one which naturally I paid for. I wished I could have stayed for a few more days. Chengdu is also a great cultural centre. This is where the wonderful Panda Breeding Center is located where you can see 50 or so of these wonderful creatures, including the rare brown pandas. 90 minutes away is the famous Giant Buddha at Leshan, often cited as one of the wonders of China. Further away and accessible by bus or a short flight is the stunning Jiuzhaigou National Park. If you arrive by air, make sure you have your camera on your lap because the views in the minutes before you arrive at the airport are breathtaking. Sadly mine was in my backpack n the luggage locker. The runway itself is carved out of the top of a mountain and is in itself amazing. The National Park covers two valleys. Go early in the mornng. From the entrance, minibuses drop you off at the main valley at a level of around 4,000 meters after which it is easy to slowly amble down taking in some gorgeous natural wonders. If you are peckish, the cruising minibuses will take you down to the entrance where there are large restaurants and then back up afterwards. The Park suffered major damage in the 2017 earthquake. It was partially reopened the following year and has now been restored to its former glory. The Park is also home to 7 Tibetan villages. But do not attempt to go during or close to one of the country's national holidays when everywhere in the Park is crammed with Chinese!

I have lived in Hong Kong and Bangkok for more than 20 years each. I have absolutely no idea what the Hong Kong people meant! Charoen Krung is a very long road of 8.6 kilometers. The only Rop Krung I have heard of is the canal Khlop Rop Krung. I believ this is the old name now given to Klong Ong Ang and Klong Bang Lamphu. Klong Ong Ang is now known as a cultural tourism hub. There is an area relatively close to both and not far from the Royal Palace. There used to be Thais who were freelancers who would cruise there, but this was very much at your own risk, especially if you are a newcomer, do not know the area and do not speak Thai! And difficult unless you have a car. Not sure if this is still a cruising area but I expect this may be what your Hong Kong friends meant. Personally I would totally avoid that area. Stick to the known gay areas of Silom and Suriwong.

Thank you for a fascinating investigation of the real issues. In the late 1980s I read what was then a new book by the Yale University economist Paul Kennedy. "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers : Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 To 2000" looked in detail at which countries had been "great" powers during that time and the reasons why they ceased being "great". Kennedy's essential premise was that as any country becomes larger and larger, particularly through colonialism and military might, it has invariably found the cost of that military might becomes too great for the country to afford through taxation of its people and those in its overseas colonies. Military overstretch is the term he uses. As other countries have developed their own military strength, so then has it become necessary for the "great" power to continue to invest more and more of its tax revenues in new and more modern military equipment. "Great" is not a given. It is a term relative to what other countries are doing or are capable of doing. Only if the overall tax revenues increase can the country continue at the top of the international tree, as it were. With the USA having reduced its relative tax revenues over the years by not taxing the rich at the levels paid by ordinary folk and yet at the same time devoting more and more funds to increasing the size, capability and international reach of its armed forces, Kennedy concludes that its term as a great power must inevitably wane. The fact is that the USA's national debt has increased massively since 1960. Only during President Clinton's Presidency did it fall significantly, particularly during the last four years of his term in office when the USA's GDP was actually in surplus. In those years the deficit to GDP ratio also fell to under zero. Instead of building on that, one of George Bush II's first actions was to give away - mostly to the already rich - all the savings under Clinton. Trump 1's final year in office showed a more than tripling of the debt and a similar increase in the debt to GDP ratio (although in fairness it has to be pointed out that this was the first year of covid). In the fiscal year 2024 (i.e. the year ending September 30), the US government spent $1.18 trillion more than it received in revenues. The country's national debt then stood at $35.46 trillion, or 125% of GDP. That amounts to $271,577 of debt for every tax payer and that debt has to be serviced through issuing government bonds. (The figures just quoted are from the US Monthly Treasury Statements). In October 2024, Maya MacGuineas, president of the [non-profit group] Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said that is equal to borrowing about $5 billion a day . . . We’re borrowing nearly double the amount we borrowed annually before the pandemic, and this is projected to grow indefinitely,” she said. “This is no way to run a country. In fact, the way we have been running the country is we don’t pass budgets; we don’t pay for new policies; we don’t address our major entitlement programs, which are facing insolvency; and we tolerate the two major presidential candidates competing over who can promise to give away more.” Kennedy's book has some flaws, but not many. For example, he failed to predict the end of the USSR, as did most economists of the day, but does outline the huge problems it faced. In general, though, his analyses are spot on! If the USA is effectively to reduce its National Debt, its existing military outreach has to be addressed. Were that to happen, it would be a much greater shock to the world than any number of tariffs. In our part of the world alone, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan would just be some of the countries to become massively concerned! It really would be a great service if Kennedy could update his book to cope with modern day realities.

The new, but already desperately late, 777X is as bad. Parts of the exclusive GE engines are made in Italy, the folding wing tips in Germany and France, the doors in Vietnam, parts of the landing gear in Japan, the UAE some of the composite parts, the horizontal stabilizer in China, the company responsible for the interior layouts and seating has 150 sites in 25 countries including the UK meaning many arrive just in time for assembly in the USA. Rudders for Boeing jets have been made in Australia for many decades. A tariff bonanza for someone!!

On another slight sidetrack, I remain ashamed that in the second book I had published the primary proof reader - me! - and a couple from the publisher's totally failed to miss a glaring error and it remains there for all to read. In talking about a leading figure in the Decca Record company, I wrote that she was primarily responsible "for pubic relations"! 😒😧

Trump's 44% tariff on Myanmar is absolutely outrageous! I could say the same about the tariffs on Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, but at least they have not been fighting a multi-decades long civil war with a junta that cares nothing about the lives of ordinary people. Nor have their countries suffered the most devastating earthquake in years which Trump's policy has resulted in aid from the USA being held back. Shame on him!

You forget + - etc. LOL

I visited almost 15 years ago. I remember as the plane was arriving at Foz Do Iguazu it was almost impossible to see anything of the Falls in the distance due to the spray which forms over them. But it was at some distance away. I did not do either the water or helicopter tours (was not even aware of a helicopter tour then!). But the views of the Falls from both sides were certainly one of the world's great sights. We were advised to see the Falls first from the Brazil side when the sun is at your back and you can see the entire panoply of this great wonder. You can also walk almost right into the Devil's Throat by a small walkway when we were given plastic macs to keep us more or less dry. From the Argentine side, there is a little train to get you directly to the Devil's Throat. On the day we were there, though, it was almost impossible to get on to it because there were just too many people in the queue in front of us. I believe the best time of year to visit is from around mid-October to mid-November. Rainfall is highest in the area in October and so the Falls are at their most spectacular. It's all so photgenic it's hard not to take hundreds of pics!

Amd where will it end, I wonder? It's already too long in my view.

The above issue raises another equally pertinent one. Given that the factory was shut for "other violations" in December, why did no Thai authority start testing its steel output immediately, rather than wait at least two months for a building to collapse and then start testing? Although we do not know what those violations were, everything produced by that factory should have been thoroughly examined. Of course, had imperfections in the steel being used for the State Audit Office been discovered, would any Thai official or official body have had the balls to make that known? Given that the bulding was nearing completion, my own suspician is that no one would have mentioned anything. Better that the building collapse, no matter the number of deaths, than it have to be slowly dismantled due to imperfections in the steel. TIT

I'm wondering when did the LGBT that we all started to get to know towards the latter part of the last century become LGBTQIA+? Since I am from the generation when being called "queer" was a pejorative term and one most of us loathed, I remain unhappy at the includsion of Q but fully accept later generations have no issue with it. I am perfectly happy with T. But what do I and A stand for - and why a + sign?

Ah! Poor Davy Jones. The cutest of The Monkees died too early aged 67. I actually met him once. Decades ago in the UK there used to be a touring production every year of J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan". The year Davy Jones was one of the Lost Boys. Through a friend, a group of us met him after the show and went to his hotel for drinks (I imagine given our youth, drinks of the non-alcoholic variety!). All I recall was that he was great fun and aggressively cute! Re "Peter Pan", there is an amusing story of one of those annual productions. This one was directed by the former Australian ballet dancer (and a very fine one, I should add), Robert Helpmann - later Sir Robert. At a technical rehearsal, he had by his side at the production desk one of the great lighting designers of the day, Charlie Bristow. At the point in Act 1 when the windows have to completely open to let Peter fly in, Helpmann was not happy with the look of the sky. I should add that Helpmann was very gay and had a slightly fey way of speaking. Bristow on the other hand was aggressively straight and spoke with a deep voice rather like a parade ground sergeant major. Allegedly the conversation went something like this. RH: Charles, I think we need to do something about the sky. What would you think about adding some clouds? CB: Yes, Robert. I think that is an excellent idea. What kind of clouds would you like? RH: I'm not sure, Charles. What would you suggest? CB: Well, Robert, I would suggest we need some poofy clouds. RH: Excellent Charles. Give me some poofy clouds please! Another story about Helpmann was when he was doing something at the Metropolitan Opera. Walking across one of the large avenues on Central Park South, he was not aware that he had dropped his umbrella. The big burly New York cop on duty shouted after him, "Hey, fairy! You dropped your wand." At this, Helpmann looked at him, picked up the umbrella, waved it in a sweeping movement across his face, and shouted, "Vanish!"

Trump seems to forget that this is 2025 - not 1913. Interconnected supply chains are everywhere now. They were not then. Besides, in 1913 the USA had just become the world's strongest economic power. It remains in that position, but add China, Japan, Germany and India as one block and you have an even greater economic power. Granted, these four countries all have their own economic problems at present. But together they are in a position to create a trade war that will likely end with either US consumers paying a lot more for many products which ultimately will hurt his electoral base - or Trump will once again be shown as the emperor with no clothes when he has to withdraw or significantly reduce his new tariffs. He also seems not to remember that the Chinese think in the long term - not in four year electoral cycles.

That is what you wrote yesterday. The WEST! Today you completely contradict yourself. You just wrote this - "4. Western Countries (U.S., UK, EU Nations) - Western nations have imposed sanctions on the junta and provided non lethal-aid to pro-democracy groups, but there is no confirmed direct military support to the rebels." Which is it? The West supplied weapons - or the West supplied no direct military support? I suggest you get your facts straight!

With many countries like China, Japan and even Germany having diversified their manufacturing to a number of different countries using part of end products actually made in more than a few, how does the USA plan to implement the detail of tariffs? Are Nike shoes made in Vietnam, China and other countries treated as American products or products from Asian countries? How will tariffs affect the price of cars in the USA where Mercedes, for example, have several factories? Will a Mercedes made in Thailand become more expensive than one made in the USA? How about the Boeing 787? It has 28 key parts made outside the USA. Will these parts be subject to tariffs?

And you get it wrong again! Since the 1962 coup, the west has not financed anti-junta forces. The problem was - there was no single or even group of local militias with anything like the possibility of overturning the government. And so the major "weapon" used by the west in Myanmar has been sanctions. At least until after the 2021 coup it has not financed local militias. There has been just one exception. Local militias in the small Kayin State, home to the Karin peoples, were provided with some helicopters and small arms to prevent what was thought might become an alliance between China and Burma and avoid the possibility of communism crossing the border into Thailand. In fact, it is a severe blemish on the west in general that the only time it even suggested assistance was during the brief period when Aung San Suu Kyi led the country. But this seeingly frail, brave beacon of democracy turned out to be a fallen angel. She is now distrusted by most Burmese - and loathed by quite few. To use the title of a 1970s movie which had nothing to do with the country, Myanmar is the land that time forgot. After WWII it was the first British colony to gain independence. Even after the assassination of General Aung and six of his cabinet, its first 15 years were relatively peaceful and productive. Around it, the huge continent of Asia was going up in flames. Wars and insurgencies in India (and as a result also in newly created Pakistan), China, Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and ultimately East Pakistan/Bangladesh drew worldwide attention, whereas no one in the west bothered about Burma.

I think it is partly a result of Thailand's history. Unlike all its neighbours, Thailand was never colonised. It used diplomacy to keep the British, the French, the Spanish, the Dutch and others at bay. Diplomacy frequently uses language that one side believes means one thing and the other, another. It is I think one reason why Thai logic is so difficult for non-Thais to understand. Another reason historically is it learned not to trust other countries who might have designs on its territory. Over recent centuries that has led, not a mistrust of foreigners in general but perhaps a belief that the Thais are best going it alone. Of course the world has changed massively since those days. Unfortunately, Thailand hasn't even with many major international corporations now based here. It has just become inbred into Thai culture.

More arrant nonsense! Earlier in the thread @Moses stated in response to a comment by @readerthat "when you have no arguments, you helplessly switching to me and Russia." Well now @Moses has done just that - switched! Since he knows he can not win any argument about Myanmar, suddenly he brings Libya into the discussion when it has not appeared before. And what has Libya to do with Myanmar? Precisely nothing! I say again - PRECISELY NOTHING! The histories of the two countries could not be more different. The peoples of the two countries are totally different. The governments of the two countries are and have been totally different. Do you know how many different ethnic groups there are in Myanmar? Do you know how many there are in Libya? Obviously not. So let me enlighten you. In Libya the Arab/Berber population accounts for roughly 97% of the entire country. Since there was so much intermarriage between the two groups, it is impossible to separate them. Now I ask: how many different ethnic groups are there in Myanmar? Most would probably assume that as China's population is 26 times larger than Myanmar's, it would have considerably more different ethnic groups than Myanmar. China actually has 56 major ethnic groups. Myanmar, on the other hand, has 135. So how does that have any relevance to Libya? Nothing! The west is not "destroying" Myanmar, as you claim. Successive military juntas have been doing that for nearly eight decades. Britain provided aid to the new independent democratic Burma until the military coup in 1962. Along with many world governments it ceased assistance until democracy was fully restored. It is an end to Russian-style dictatorship and a return to democracy that the state militias are now fighting for. PS: I notice you changed your post and added a new last paragraph after reading my post. Afraid to make a new post?

@Moses - before you make statements like this, do you not realise that Myanmar is the fourth largest country in East Asia? Only Mongolia, China and Indonesia are larger. It is, for example twice the size of Japan and also of Vietnam. And yet you claim that you saw what was happening with your own eyes when there - for a funeral? So in one short visit to one tiny part of that huge country, you saw what was happening in the country as a whole? Do you seriously expect us to believe that? (I suppose you do, which says something about your posts!) As for news, I suggest you update what you have been reading for it is hugely out of date! My partner is from Myanmar. He has a whole bunch of relatives in Myanmar. I take what he tells me as the truth for the tiny part of Myanmar where they are based. But I do not then upsize that and assume it is reflective of the country as a whole. That would be the height of stupidity. I also happen to read a great deal. I am writing a book about the country, its history and its present state. My book will never be more than a snapshot, I fully accept that. There are excellent histories on Burma/Myanmar by scholars like Thant Mint-U which anyone really interested in the country shouid definitely read. But my snapshot is a great deal more honest than yours!

What nonsense @Moses sometimes spouts! Britain was one of the first countries to provide financial aid to help relief efforts. Yes, Russia provided relief teams and commendable that was. China, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and other countries, though, have also sent relief teams, but they have been severely hampered by the junta's forces! While the shadow National Unity Government has announced a two-week ceasefire, the junta did not agree and has continued to use its air force to bomb civilians every day since the earthquake struck! Those attempting to assist in rescue efforts under horrific circumstances have been massively hampered by the junta's inaction. Britain, Australia and the EU have agreed funding. But then as the Myanmar government is in the pocket of Russia, naturally the junta gives prominence to what Russia is doing!

Wrong! The junta's territory is far from safe. @Moses has not been checking the news over the last 18 months. The local state militias have made sweeping gains over the junta forces. Since June 2024, the local militias have swept the junta out of virtually all its territory in by far the largest of the country's states, Shan State in the east. Lashio, the strategically vital gateway to China, fell in June/July. This was acknowledged by the junta on August 5. Since Shan State is the key to trade with China, this was a huge reversal for the junta. In Rakhine State in the south, the local Arakhan Army now controls most of the state. Strategically after the fall of the junta's last outpost at Maungdaw it now controls the entire length of the border with Bangladesh. In Karen State on the Thai border, the junta's forces have spent a year attempting to recapture control of the main trade route between Kawkareik and Myawaddy and the Thai border. They continue to be totally bogged down and continue to suffer major casualties. I could go on and on, but my point is made. The August 2024 map below shows those major towns captured from the junta up to that date, the area of the country out of junta control, and the much smaller part still within its control. Since that date, the local militias now control even more of the country. @Moses is unlikely to acknowledge that the junta's main weapon it is air force - much financed by Russia along with the provision of other weapons. Last year the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing visited Moscow, his fourth official visit to Russia since the 2021 coup. Russia already exports oil to the junta and uses Myanmar to supply oil to China as a means of getting around western sanctions. In return for assistance, Russia has been promised rights to extract minerals from Myanmar's conflict zones and to build an oil refinery at the coastal city of Dawei. Putin meets the junta leader in Moscow: photo Associated Press Both parties to the conflict (well, perhaps that should read "many" as the local militias basically operate independently even though there is now a National Unity Government which consists mostly of some elected in the 2021 General Election and were then booted out after the junta coup) are concerned about China. Unlike many rebel governments, the NUG members have not fled overseas. This is not a government in exile although it does maintain representative offices in many countries including the USA, Japan, South Korea, the UK, France, Norway, Australia and others. These help it raise funds for the militias. The members still remain, well protected, in Myanmar, though. Yet Washington still refuses to recognize the NUG and is withholding US$1 billion held in the Federal Reserve to the country's democratic representatives. The primary concern of the anti-junta forces is that China already has massive investments in the country and it is a key part of President Xi's Belt & Road initiative. After for some years providing finance to both sides, China called the parties together twice last year to meetings in Yunnan Province in an attempt to broker a ceasefire. It even sent its Foreign Minister Wang Yi to one to talk direectly with the junta leader. Both meetings failed. With the border area between the two countries in the northern Kachin State now controlled by the Kachin Independence Army following their victories against the junta in November 2024, China is indeed increasingly concerned. The last thing it wants is instability on its Myanmar border. It has said it will support the junta at least until promised elections later this year. No one in Myanmar expects these elections to be held. That perhaps is a degree of relief for China's stated position because the last thing it wants for Myanmar is a democratic government that leans more to the west than to China.

You really have to wonder why it has taken years and years and years for anyone to think about this! A unified communication strategy is an utterly vital part of all disaster planning - indeed of all planning. Yet every government department and NGO in Thailand seems to think it has a divine right to communicate its own thinking on any issue. Why, of why, oh why will Thailand continue always to go it alone without bringing in overseas experts for desperately needed advice on policy and planning? It's not rocket science!

I did see Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman a couple of months after "Phantom" opened. Crawford in particular was perfect for the role but I have never really liked Sarah Brightman's voice much. I don't know why but I also never really liked the show! The end of Act 1 with the chandelier is a great coup de theatre, and Maria Bjornson's sets were superb. But I found much of the show quite boring, including the first 20 minutes! Interestingly Crawford had also been a boy soprano and appeared in a Britten opera. He was considered for Miles in "The Turn of The Screw" but it went to David Hemmings instead. Yes, I also loved the Robert Wise film of "West Side Story". I bought the soundtrack album and sang the songs for weeks after! Interesting that Bernstein 'borrowed' some small parts of the score from major classical works. He even uses Wagner's redemption motif from his massively long "Gotterdammerung", the last of the four operas in the Ring cycle, for Maria's song "I have a love . . ." I quite like this version from Barbra Streisand's 2nd Broadway album which starts with Johnny Mathis singing the theme. I had been so looking forward to the Spielberg movie. I assumed there would be some updating but had forgotten that the musical is very much of its time with major redevelopments of much of New York's Upper West Side and the Puerto Rican gangs. The music was great but I left the cinema feeling that something had been missing. It always amazes me that "Cats" has been such a worldwide sensation. Neither Mackintosh nor Lloyd Webber thought it would be more than a modest success. Then their usual big investors failed to come up with cash as they believed the show would never get them back even their initial investment. It was only financed by small investors and Lloyd Webber taking out a second mortgage on his home to complete the initial financing of £450,000. Anyone investing in the original production would have made a profit of well over 3,500% by now - and the cheques keep coming!

With all respect, I do think you must be confusing the bar and/or the owner. He was the most pleasant of guys. After dinner at Dick's, a friend and I used to go almost every Sunday for around 18 months until the bar closed. We got to know him well and we never saw him stop anyone from visiting that bar - or even raise his voice at anyone. There was never a show - apart from the semi-pro dancers - so there was no nudity and the bar rarely had more than ten or so customers, some occasionally with cute young boyfriends. We also never once saw him asking for ID cards to prove age. The German owner certainly owned/managed two or three bars. I think I only visited the upstairs one. This was usually packed at the weekends with lots of chairs being added. and certainly had lots of gogo dancers. We all assumed at the time that he was making a mint of money with those bars. Does anyone recall Classic Boys near the end of Soi Twilight? More of a twink bar with a large water tank behind the stage filled with pretty murky water. I felt sorry for the two or three boys who had to swim in it. It was rumoured this was owned by a cop. For a few weeks it had to be closed after a fire in the apartment above. The owner then farmed the boys out to other bars for those weeks, one of whom we met in Solid bar - a lovely young man, beautiful face and body and extremely good English. We assumed he was around 25. Later I learned that he was about 34, married with two kids. Yet he was a fantastic off - as I can attest!

Inspired by @Olddaddy's thread under Gay Pattaya, I wonder if those who have visited Bangkok or lived here have memories of people and places in the city. I have written in other threads about bars in the 1980s and 90s. One character I recall was the Englishman who ran X-Treme Bar in Soi Twilight for a couple of years or so in the early 2000s, a man with a full head of white hair. There was a rumour that he had been associated in some way with the Church of England! His bar never had many customers, but at least he tried something different. In addtion to a small number of actual gogo boys, he hired about 8 dance students to present a proper show with sort-of semi professional-level dance numbers. The problem was that show desperately needed a producer. The pauses between eaeh dance number were far too boringly long. I can no longer recall his name. What I do remember is that his student boyfriend would occasionally come to sit in the bar and he was drop dead gorgeous! When X-Treme closed, the dancers moved across the soi for a while to the German's (can't recall his name either) downstairs bar. I last saw the Englishman in Roxy in Soi 4. I wonder if anyone remembers Khun An who was one of the original lovely bar tenders in Telephone. I met up with him when he went to London for a few years to help a friend with a Thai restaurant. Then he came back and some will recall he became a partner and Head Waiter in the lovely little French restaurant off Soi Saladaeng, La Table de Tee. Sadly this became a victim of covid. Lost track of him now.