PeterRS

Not at all. I understood you perfectly and had I come from the same background, I would probably have dealt with the issue exactly as you would have done. But then while I know a bit about Japan and had the joy of working there for some years, I come from a country where we are proud of our heritage and, to a certain extent, of our own accomplishments. That's not to say we deliberately go out and brag. But we do not put up with intensely personal insults, the more so when they are virtually the opposite of what one person has already said/written quite recently about us. Indeed, when they are to all intents and purposes outright lies! I will say till the cows come home, I can take criticism as much as anyone else. I may not like it, but if I could not take it I would not be a member of this or any other Board. There is a line which I draw - and I believe that line is actually covered in the board's Code of Conduct. When someone has expressed almost profuse gratitude for my postings, lauded my style of writing and even compared it rather fancifully (but delightfully) to "great music", and when that poster then turns turtle and trashes me personally (not, please note, my writing style) by stating I personally showed "condescension”, “superiority”, “pride”, "self-congratulatory asceticism” and other negative qualities, for me that line is well and truly drawn. Hence my post.

Thanks

Apologies! I missed the deadline for adding this to the earlier post. I take it from your comment that you are perfectly happy for another poster to attack your character. Not what you have written but your person. Posts i have made have been criticised on this board many times which I take as part and parcel of contributing to a Board which permits a good deal of free speech. But the post I responded to was a direct attack on my character as I made perfectly clear when choosing the descriptions used and the specific words and phrases used. And it you fail to see that, then that is your judgement which I would respect, although definitely not agree with. I forgot to thank you for your earlier kind comments on my past postings which I happily do now.

I have heard this morning from a long-time friend presently staying in Tokyo but who has been spending 2/3rds of his years recently at his condo in Thailand that the government has done a U-turn on taxing funds remitted in to Thailand. According to his source, the government will not now consider taxing foreign income in 2005 and 2026. Apparently a decision was made a couple of weeks ago. I am reluctant to post on the basis of one source, but if true it will clearly be of benefit to many. Has any other member heard this news?

I completeled the form on my phone. May I ask if you used your phone or a computer? My confusion basically stemmed from the fact that the country listing was not in alphabetical order. It was in no logical order whatever! Perhaps I should just have typed in GBR rather than wade through and try and find it. But then not being able to type anything in the Thailand address lines seemed weird. Yet even without that, I still got the emailed QR code!

As I wrote earlier, I accept all criticism in this regard. I did think long and hard both about writing that post and then uploading it. I had a reason for writing and I certainly did not consider it would be popular with many. But I certainly did not write it lightly. And I think some have, or perhaps might, understand why I was simply not prepared to let the utterly incorrect personal criticisms posted in the earlier thread stand unanswered, the more so when they were 180 degrees opposite earlier written statements. If you are, then I would perfectly understand your reasons. Unfortunately that does not change my view. I'm sorry you are upset by it.

Adding to the recent thread on gonorrhoea inoculations soon to be available in the UK, in Thailand we have also to be aware that the rate of STIs is rising alarmingly. According to date from the HealthDeliver Clinic website, three key take-aways from their research - - Thailand experiences a rise in STI rates, particularly syphillis and gonorrhoea, with alarming inplications for youth health. - Drug use and casual sex culture contribute significantly to risky behaviors and decreased condom use among young individuals. - Gonorrhoea is increasingly antibiotic-resistant, posing a serious public health threat that could lead to untreatable infections. More significantly, under the heading Alarming Statistics on STI Rates in Bangkok, the Report writes - "In recent years, Thailand has witnessed a shocking spike in the rise in STDs, with syphilis cases jumping from 11 to 18.6 per 100,000 people between 2018 and 2022. These alarming statistics reveal a troubling rise in sexually transmitted infections, particularly among youth . . . As syphilis rates soar, gonorrhoea emerges as a growing concern that can no longer be overlooked. This STI, particularly affecting our youth, is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, raising alarms among health professionals. With rising STI rates in Thailand, gonorrhoea’s potential to develop into an untreatable health crisis looms large. It's vital for you to understand the risks of transmission from one sexual partner to another." The Report is particularly concerned with Thailand's youth - "The rise in sexually transmitted infections among youth can be traced back to multiple factors. Casual sex and dating app culture often lead to risky behaviors [aligned with] the decrease in condom use which has contributed to the rising HIV prevalence in Thailand." This forum has frequently expressed concern at the apparent lack of condom use in most of the saunas outside the centre of the city, but till now that has been focussed more on the spread of HIV. With other STIs rising in importance, the government's seemingly increasing lack of urgency in introducing more detailed sex education in schools and colleges is especially worrying. https://www.healthdeliver.asia/blog/thailand-and-bangkok-rise-in-sexually-transmitted-infections-crisis-among-young

I had brunch with a young Taiwanese friend whom I have known for about ten years on Sunday. He had just returned from a week's holiday with a friend in Sicily (good timing because there was a massive eruption of Mt. Etna yesterday). He is 29, has a job with an Italian company and goes to Milan twice a year economy class for business. He also likes to take in trips to Tokyo where he has a love interest. I was slightly surprised that the two longest of his three flights to Sicily were in business class using mileage. His trips to Tokyo are also in business class. I asked which Alliance he is in and how he is able to accrue mileage so quickly. He's in One World using the Alaska Air programme. He's never actually flown Alaska Air but said they are by far the best when it comes to free miles. All he did was sign up for their programme. I had no idea Alaska Air was so generous. These days that of course may not last. But I'm certainly going to check it out.

I know there is a thread somewhere on this and apologies I cannot find it! I arrived yesterday and remembered to complete the new electronic arrival info the day before. But the site seems still something of a mess. When it comes to your country of residence, you are provided with a list of countries. The list I received was a total mess, it was not in alphabetical order and I could not find Thailand which I had been informed is now included. Nor could I find Great Britain but I did find Scotland! Then when it came to inserting my address in Thailand it would not accept any typing at all. At Immigration, the officer was understanding and took my address verbally. When I suggested the site still needed some work, she looked at me, smiled and nodded her head! I wonder if any member has been able to complete that form in full.

All negative and other comments received in the spirit in which they were made. I take full responsibility for what I post.

Bangkok is said to be applyng for 2030, but the city that year will not be chosen for at least another year. I can't see any other Asian city taking the initiative unless it is Taipei. That said, I have not heard that Taipei will be applying but given it's considerably longer - and continuing - history of gay acceptance island-wide, if it came to a vote between the two, I expect Taipei is likely to win out. Hopefully only Bangkok will apply.

There are more than a few times when one poster will disagree with another. That is the nature of a board like Gay Guides Thailand and it tends to keep a discussion lively. Occasionally there are times when things can get heated and one man's disagreement becomes somewhat more serious. Reading back over the forums on the flight to Bangkok this afternoon, i was reminded of one recent occasion where I incurred the wrath of another. As i had just returned from a meal with friends and was leaving early the next morning for Taipei, in keeping with board guidelines I wrote an apology. Frankly, I did not believe one should have been made for I knew I was the injured party. On the other hand I did not want any discussion to get out of hand when I was away as I generally do not read the forum when out of Thailand. But there is one issue which I recall reading with intense indignation just before I left Bangkok and which I believe is a case where one poster has stepped beyond the limits. I believe it important that the issue has to be corrected. Sadly in the relevant post @bkkmfj2648 made himself out to be a sanctimonious pompous fool. Why do I even consider writing that? For the very simple reason that he made assertion after assertion by attacking me in no uncertain terms in a ridiculous post in The Dangers of Colombia thread on May 28. When I happened to read it just prior to departure, I was utterly furious. I knew he had spouted major lies, but had absolutely no time to check back on my posts to disprove them. So to avoid further comment, I wrote a humiliating apology. As it turns out, that apology was a major error on my part. I take back every word of it. Let me remind @bkkmfj2648, a poster who in addition to matters relating to sex enjoys making endless posts about cafes, restaurants, bars and what he likes to eat and drink when out of Thailand. Earlier this eyear in February I made seven very, very long posts in The Beer Bar in which I all but laid out my sexual history, partly pre-Asia in places like Paris, Amsterdam and Hamburg, but mostly in the nearly four decades I have lived and extensively travelled in this continent. These were titled TALES from a GAY LIFE (mostly in Asia) - there were actually 9 posts but the last two were repeats of previous photo journals of many of the fascinating places I have visited. The earlier seven, all posted on February 18, were extremely detailed posts with a mass of information not only about bars, gogo bars, saunas, male spas and the pros and cons of a variety of apps in each place, but also about some of the individual young men who had made my regular traveling both around the world but more especially around Asia particularly special. Some of the information had already been individually detailed over nearly 20 years of posting on this Board. When I read @bkkmfj2648's disgraceful post, I wondered if he had actually read my long posts. This afternoon I discovered he had read them - all of them. Now I know he had given each of them a ‘like’ emoji. Now I know that in response, he had actually written a post in which he stated on February 18, “I wish that I had the writing style and talent that you have. Your choice of word usage always mesmerizes me as a great piece of music does . . . I know that the primary focus of this site, gayguides.com, is to share our hunt for our sexcapades and share some of those details - which I truly enjoy and I do participate in those when I am having one of those adventures.” That great music evaporated in a flash. In the discussion about the dangers of traveing to Colombia and South America in general, he concurred with the view about danger, basically saying he would not be comfortable in any such countries. I then made the point that in my month visiting four South American countries about 14 years ago, sex had specifically not been part of my agenda. I was there merely to see the natural beauty of that amazing continent, just as I had when visiting, for example, Glacier Bay in Alaska, traveling north of the Arctic Circle in Finland, and Petra in Jordan to name just three. I then asked a very simple question. “Merely out of curiosity, is sex an essential part of your traveling?” The implication behind the question was just that - “simple”. Why miss out on some of the world’s wonders only because you might have a concern about possible dangers of sexual adventures in such places? But to him that was as a red rag to a bull. He then accused me in his May 28 post of this being a “condescending question, framed as a mere curiosity, [carrying] an unmistakable whiff of superiority, as if the pursuit of physical intimacy while traveling is somehow beneath the refined appreciation of culture you so clearly pride yourself on.” What? "Condescending”? “Superiority”? “Pride”? What on earth made him write that garbage? He knew my posts. He knew of my many sexual adventures - when in the very first of the seven posts I had written of the admission by Edmund White in his latest novel of probably having had sex with more than 3,000 men, I had then written that throughout my life I had perhaps got somewhere close to that 3,000! So he then wrote I was “implying that those who acknowledge sex as part of their human experience are somehow less enlightened or incapable of savoring the world's deeper offerings. This condescension, cloaked in intellectualism, betrays a rather narrow view—one that dismisses the complexity of human connection in favor of a self-congratulatory asceticism.” There he spelled it out again. “Condescension”. “Intellectualism”. “Self-congratulatory asceticism.” Let me give @bkkmfj2648 a piece of advice. NEVER post such lies about any poster in future. As stated above there is a gentlemanly code of conduct on this Board that is part of the Board rules. You broke them - and I may also have done so with this post! Differing views are part and parcel of a Board. But lying so specifically about fellow posters is not. So I’ll end by repeating his own words, “STOP making condescending remarks towards my person in this forum!!!”

Please be 100% assured that I absolutely did not intend to make any condescending comment in that post which has clearly hurt you. You, as with each member here, are entirely entitled to do what you wish when it comes to travelling. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your posts and I think you may have noted that to almost all of them I have given a 'like'. My error for which i apologise completely and one that I much regret is that at the start of my reply I had hastily copied your post without considering its full implication. If I may briefly explain, since the subject of the thread had been basically about sex in South America and you had said you would not consider going due to the dangers already expressed by others when occasionally meeting up with locals, I merely - and I did start the post by writing "merely out of curiosity" - wanted to compare my own experience where sometimes I travel with sex in mind - as I expect will be the case in Taipei this week-end - but at others, especially when I went to South America and aware of the possible dangers, my sole purpose was to enjoy its many natural wonders. Sex was never on my mind in the entire year it took to plan that trip. But my comments were ill-thought through and clearly hurt you. For this i cannot apologise enough. It may be just as well that I will be away for 5 days enjoying my usual adventures in Taiwan which I have detailed in other threads. I will therefore be making no posts and certainly wish to avoid the possibility of adding insult to injury. Please keep posting. I renew my apologies. I thank you.

. . . not yet, thankfully.

We know that the 1990s were a very different time. After the mega-boom years of the 1980s, Japan had entered what was to become a decade of major recession. In gay terms it was also slowly coming out of the stage that I think many Asian countries went through - of Japanese/local young men seeking westerners both for sex and as boyfriends. Most young Japanese men either lived with their families or in tiny studio apartments, usually well out of the centre - hence the rush to stations to get trains home before the lines virtually all closed around midnight. Westerners had larger apartments nearer the centre and much higher salaries. For Japanese who wanted some form of quick relief, apart from love hotels there really were no places for most - other than rich Japanese - to go to apart from saunas or toilets. But love hotels and saunas required cash to enter. I recall there used to be quite a lot of furtive walking around and a bit of action in the little park with its tiny toilet close to King of College - and later just across from 24 Kaikan sauna after it opened. I think it may have been called Taishu-ji Park. Certainly it was only a few hundred meters from the BYGS building.

BYGS used always to be pretty busy in the 90s and even into the 2000s. But I have noticed on visits thereafter that it is usually all but empty. When I llived there also in the 90s, I was never into the toilet scene. There was enough eye candy and nighttime entertainment in the small bars and discos nearby BYGS.

And a few of the gay haters who are community leaders, actively promote family values or are preachers have in fact been caught in real closets with their pants down.

They aren't! There used to be some advertising in the freebie magazines that were then common in gay venues, but these all died years ago. And that is sad because, not only is it much less easy to obtain information, but at least one was a real attempt to develop a gay interest. The one which used to be based in Chiang Mai had interesting articles. It even got an exclusive interview with Sir Ian McKellen. Now the venue owners assume all they have to do is open a bar and the crowds will magically appear. Fora like this one and a couple I know in Singapore and Japan help but depend on word of mouth. If one poster has a bad experience, others know about it pretty quickly. Then there is the reluctance of some bar owners to accept that the clientele they should be seeking is no longer randy westerners, many of a certain age. From what I read here almost none in Bangkok has moved with the times to adapt to a changing market. It ought now to be a much bigger market with far more coming from some Asian countries with different ideas of what a gogo bar should offer - and some others from further afield. But generally it seems to be same old, same old. I recall @Gaybutton saying in this forum well over 15 years ago that bar owners had forgotten a key element in running a gogo bar: its entertainment value. After all, bars are just as much in the entertainment business as cinemas and cabaret shows.

60. I do go on other trips where sexual adventures are part of the agenda. For South America, the only reason was sightseeing. I had never been before, knew no-one and spoke hardly any Portuguese or Spanish. 9 cities/locations and 16 flights over a month (including 4 getting there and back) and each day was packed with activity. No time for anything else - except in Cuzco which was a complete although very pleasant surprise!

Merely out of curiosity, is sex an essential part of your travelling? I spent a fabulous month travelling around four South American countries and sex was rarely on my mind. It was a fabulous trip and I saw so many natural wonders. The only time sex came into view was on arrival in Cuzco in Peru. With the short 45 minute flight taking you from sea level to almost 3,500 meters up, everyone told me to do virtually nothing for the first 5 hours while the body acclimatized. For a while I lay on the bed reading, then got bored and hit a couple of apps. Ended up chatting to a delighful student who worked in a bar in the centre of the city in the evenings. He was keen to meet, so the next evening I went for a drink. He was lovely, was obviously well known to the other bar staff and so he came back to my room for a short time. Lovely little interlude!

I suspect this is true. For my own part my popular favourites have almost always been from those years and I have snapped up CD compilations whenever I come across them (I guess most people do still know what a CD is LOL). Occasionally I like more modern artists - Freddie Mercury and Queen, the Pet Shop Boys, The Village People and others at the start of the disco craze like Donna Summer. The one contemporary artiste I enoy and really admire is Taylor Swift. But with time on my hands, I'm with @Keithambrose. I'll also listen to Bach, Schumann, Wagner and a host of other classical composers as well as pianists and other top instrumentalists.

We'll just have to disagree. I cannot see how the Thai government is likely to do more than encourage its own agencies - traffic management, police etc. - to cooperate with the organisers. Since, let's recall, prostitution remains illegal in this country, unless it changes the law the government cannot be seen to be co-operating with sex venues as some bright spark in the elite will certainly bring the media down on its collective head. Secondly, most of the gay sex venues here in Bangkok already do little to market their own product. Someone has to get the owners into one room, bash heads together and make them realise that co-operating on a huge event like this will be great business for everyone. This is vital because when Bangkok started its first Gay Pride Parade in 1999, it was basically up to each venue to do its own organising. It went off like a damp squib as it was badly organised and there was virtually no marketing (I know the main organiser did try to get TV stations and the media in general interested - they weren't!). Just talking about an event like this will achieve nothing. Everyone has to come to the party and contribute. Will they? No idea. But it certainly needs a small group of passionate advocates to take on the job of overall organising. As for the TAT marketing to the Pink Dollar, it has been doing this for years with slogan after slogan after slogan. Without the government actively backing it up, as with previous campaigns the TAT will have little success. I am reminded of a Songkran event on Silom about 10 years ago. Some young ladies/girls got up on the top of a truck and danced topless. They were arrested and accused of corrupting Thai morals. Then some bright spark made the point that the front page of the Ministry of Culture's website had a painting of four young Thai girls in front of some traditional background - all naked to the waist. That was quickly taken down! Let's also remember what happens in Singapore. Now it is arguably the most cosmopolitan city in Asia. It has finally got rid of its old colonial anti-sodomy law - but it still will not permit a Gay Pride Parade in the city! In 2009 a group of dedicated LGBTQ volunteers decided instead to have a gay event which they named Pink Dot. The government now restricts them to a small city centre park - thinking that this would limit international exposure - but the event just grew and grew. It became a family event. International sponsors flocked to sponsor the event. After all, Singapore encourages international companies to move to the city state with a number of concessions including tax benefits. But after Pink Dot became a big success, the government even barred international firms from participating in any way. Foreigners also are barred from the event. Then in 2019 the-then Prime Minister's nephew (great nephew of founding father Lee Kuan Yew) not only came out as gay but got married in South Africa and attended the Pink Dot that year with his partner. His father, the PM's brother, and his family also attended pink Dot that year. As bad for the government, one overhead night shot showed a sea of pink in the middle of the city skyline with the words "Repeal 337A". This was the old anti-sodomy law which was in fact repealed 2 years ago. (both photos courtesy of Singapore pink Dot) R to L: Younger brother of then Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong with his gay son's partner, his gay son and other members of his family at the 2019 Pink Dot

As regular readers will know, I have attended seven Taipei Gay Pride Parades since my first in 2011. I think they are fabulous week-ends, with lots of parties alongside the Parades themselves. At my last there were 160,000 marchers. I believe that is now more than 200,000. Many are dressed up in all sorts of gear. Others, like me, stick to a fun T-shirt and just enjoy watching all the others as I march. In response to a post in another thread about Bangkok hosting World Pride in 2030, I suggested I post a thread of some of my old photos. Apologies that most have been posted over the last 13 years but it's sometimes fun to remember what a blast that afternon can be and how many gorgeously cute guys there are, both Taiwanese and those flying in just for the parade week-ends. Do try and get over there this year if you can.

Yes, it will be good bye to a lot of what we know and what WE used to love. But for today's younger generation, they have no - or only a little - experience of what we used to love. Their experiences are different. What do THEY want and what will THEY love? I really do not know - and I think most of us do not know. Our gay world has changed massively in the 45 or so years since I first visited Bangkok. For the gay tourist or gay retiree everything is totally different with a whole new range of gay possibilities. Thanks to air fares in general being a great deal cheaper (as a percentage of one's income) than they were around 1980, there is a new gay world out there. Did I know anything about specific gay bars/areas in Bangkok before I first visited? Only from what I read in Spartacus magazine and heard from friends. But I had discovered Manila first. Then again, most of Bangkok's gay scene only began to develop after I started visiting. Let's also recall that the government had nothing to do with the establishment of Pattaya as a sex centre other than leasing U-tapao airport to the USA during the Vietnam War. Nothing at all! Pattaya was a sleepy little village then. It was the entrepreneurs who realised that the many US servicemen were young, sex-starved, wanted to have a bit of a wild time in their R&R breaks and girls were needed. So the private sector opened the bars, hired the girls and raked in masses of cash. It is no coincidence that R&R rapidly changed to become I&I - Intoxication and Intercourse! As for the World Pride in 2030, it will not need any help from the government. There will be plenty of private businesses thrilled to organise Pride parties. A bit like the annual Taipei Gay Pride Parades, of which I have attended seven. All the week-end parties and entertainment around the Parades are privately and amazingly organised - as are the Parades themselves. If you have never been, please try to do so. They are always on the last Saturday in October. Although I have posted lots of photos over the years, later today I'll open a new one under the Taipei section just to remind everyone what a great afternoon that Parade is.

Sadly perhaps - zero.