PeterRS

Fascinating. I also purchased a Buddhist tanka from Nepal on my first visit but I cannot remember from which shop. The painting is very detailed. About 15 years ago the cloth covering was getting rather moth-eaten and I found a Nepalese shop selling the tankas in Silom Complex. The owner said he thought mine might be an antique (but purchased for almost nothing!). His brother was returning to Nepal on a shopping trip the following week and he took my tanka to be recovered. I love the new colours. Sadly that shop disappeared from Silom Complex and I do not know where it is now located. A google search might find it, though.

Reading other accounts, it seems this poor lady tripped over her own case resulting in the fall. But how, I wonder, is it possible for two wheels of her case to break off and find their way into the void at the end of the belt before her shoe and then her leg became trapped. Although quite old, these walkways are inspected daily. As those of us who have used walkways in many airports are aware, the gaps at the ends seem way too small even for a suitcase wheel to get stuck. According to The Nation, after she fell her leg got trapped "on the edge of the conveyor belt." The New York Post has photographs which I shall not post here which the paper says is of the lady with her amputated leg covered by her jeans. Oddly she seems quite calm but that may well have been a result of the effects of the anaesthetic. There is also a photo showing the broken case. There is certainly a series of yellow flap-type parts as you reach the end of a walkway and one photo shows two parts had definitely become displaced. Even so, I am surprised there is no automatic stop mechanism should any accident occur. I believe there may be a stop button similar to those on escalators. If so, one would expect another passenger to press it when screams were heard. No doubt we will learn more in due course.

Nepal is a fantastic country. It's not only the ancient temples and buildings in Kathmandu and in the towns in the Kathmandhu valley, there are several temples with erotic carvings, including this one in Patan's central square. I visited two times for a week each in 1980 and 2008. Each time I found so much of interest and fascination. My only hope is that all the ancient buildings that were destroyed in the double earthquakes in 2015 have been restored by now. If you decide to go, you MUST visit Pokhara, now a city literally at the foot of the Annapurna range. Go to a lookout vantage point outside the town while it is still dark and then watch and be amazed as dawn breaks over the mighty Annapurna mountains. These are relatively close being just across a small valley. One peak is over 8,000 meters, another 13 over 7,000 meters and 16 over 6,000 meters. It is a totally awe-inspiring sight even if you hit a morning which is not crystal clear. I did not check out sex in Nepal but I am sure there is plenty. These boys with their tricycles seemed interesting but I did not approach.

Now why I wonder do I smell the stink of corruption here? Insufficient brown envelopes - the fat, bulging ones - have no doubt not been handed around to the right people. That's the reason we have so many concessionaires on the Bnagkok tollways. Every top politician wanted a large piece of the profits - er, the pie!

A continuation of my little Japanese story. The two nights I spent with the young Japanese I met on my first-ever visit were eye-opening. Japanese can seem so reserved and polite in general conversation. Get a young guy into bed and he can become a tiger. I was sorry my new friend had left Tokyo by the time I returned but just by visiting the bars I was able to meet several more, although none was as athletic in bed as my first. A year later I was again in Tokyo after a trip to the US arriving on a Saturday afternoon. After dinner, this time I went straight to the Regent Bar which was packed with a nice mix of young Japanese and foreigners of various ages. I was with a young guy I had met on a previous trip and had arranged to spend the night in his small room. Masayuki was a lovely guy and I really enjoyed his company. But there was another young guy amongst the crowd who clearly spoke good English and seemed to be the life and soul of the party. He soon came up to me and said be had not seen me before. What was my name and was I new to Tokyo? He then asked what we'd like to drink and it became clear he was one of the bar tenders. Over the course of the evening, I found myself drawn to him. He was not the most beautiful guy in the bar - Masayuki was definitely the better looker - but there was something about him. This bartender exuded massive charisma to the point where you almost had to look at him. Still, I had made arrangements for the night and turned my attention to my lovely date. Masa was much more gentle in bed, but still clearly eager and quite delighful. We had a lot of fun. As he had to spend Sunday with his parents outside of the city, I decided to return to the Regent in the eveing to see if i could have a longer chat with that bartender. It so happened it started to rain quite heavily and I was nearly soaked by the time I reached the Regent. Getting there about 8:30pm, there was only one other punter sitting at the bar. So I sat down, ordered a drink and was delighted that Yuji was on duty. Over the next nearly three hours, we drank and chatted together - me on a stool and he behind the bar. That charisma, his sense of fun and the ease with which we chatted completely enveloped me. I really wanted to ask him back to the hotel but something held me back. I found myself totally backward in coming forward. Having been relatively free and easy during my previous visits to Japan, here I felt like a young teenager almost afraid I'd be rejected. Finally around 11:20 it was time for him to leave to catch his train home. Having put on his rain jacket, he came around the front of the bar, said he'd really enjoyed meeting me and trailed his hand ever so lightly over my ass. Still I did not move. I should have recognised all the signals but it was like this was all way too good to be true and he'd just say 'no'. And so he left the bar and I was left with a host of memories and a feeling of utter stupidity. Since it was still raining and taxis were always expensive, I decided to stay in the area. Next door to the Regent up on the first floor was a small disco named New Sazae. I had never been inside. But I thought I needed another large drink to drown my sorrows. I hesitated at the door before opening it and looking inside. You walked in by a small dance floor. The bar was at the other end on the left. Whisky in hand, I looked around the dance floor, wondering if anyone could possibly be a companion for the night, even though I doubted he would match what could have taken place with Yuji. And then I saw him. He had not gone home. He'd come to the disco and was dancing on the floor on his own. I was amazed - and then he saw me. With a smile on his face he stretched out a hand and beckoned me to join him. Thus we danced bodies pressed to bodies for some time, initially both reallising we were rock hard! I think I need say no more than we ended up in bed in my hotel where neither of us slept a wink. In the morning we had to part as we both had work. But this time we did promise to meet again - and we did. The following month I spent a week's vacation with him in Tokyo. I then visited for long week-ends once a month thanks in large part to very cheap air fares on Pan Am which was then still flying in the Pacific. Yuji even came to spend 3 weeks with me in Hong Kong. I knew I was in love, but I knew too that it was doomed never to last. Young Japanese needed sex much more regularly than once a month, as truth be told did I. Sure enough. By the time of my last visit when i stayed with him in his little room, he told me he had met a much older westerner who lived in Tokyo and was able to offer him a nice apartment and all the perks of expatriates then based in Japan. I will never forget that last night with him in his single bed as we hugged and cried as the hours slipped away. One of the benefits of knowing Yuji was been being introduced to several of his Japanese friends. Later I was to have a smaller affair with one of those cute friends. But he made it clear soon after meeting that he was not looking for any form of longer term relationship. As @A-447A pointed out above, sex was much more on his mind, not that was any disincentive whatever. Although my Japan adventures have continued ever since, there was one episode that I can never forget. Three of Yuji's friends happened to have birthdays over four days in October. A few years later, they decided to have a joint birthday party and very kindly invited me. I really wanted to join them, but another trip to Tokyo was going to stretch my finances, so I declined. As the date neared, I thought this is silly. They are dear friends and have been extremely kind to me. So I purchased a Pan Am ticket and decided to turn up unannounced. When the door to the apartment opened, there were wonderful smiles all round. I handed out small gifts and was introduced to many guys I did not know. As the evening came to an end, I paired off with one of the guests for another tigerish evening. What makes that evening such a special one is that within 5 years all three birthday boys were dead. AIDS! Like so many all over the world, I cried buckets when I learned.

How many times does the will of the people have to be ignored? The 2019 election is now widely regarded as unfree and unfair. Human Rights Watch cited political repression, media censorship, unequal media access, the role of a military-appointed Senate in appointing an unelected prime minister (the junta leader), and lack of independence and impartiality of the Election Commission as factors preventing a free and fair election. Having been permitted to stand as an official political party by the Election Commission, Future Forward gained 81 seats in the new parliament. That same Constitutional Court, a branch of the elite, ruled in February 2020 that it was after all unconstitutional and was ordered dissolved. Move Forward is essentially the new Future Forward. Although it gained the largest number of votes, the fact that a record 75.22% of eligible voters took part in the election illustrates how fed up the country is with the stalemate of the last few years. In how many countries do so many electors turn out to vote unless voting is mandatory? That's more than in the USA and the UK. If the army and the elite succeed as Andrew MacGregor Marshall suggests and MF allows itself to be suqeezed out this time, the Army will find ways of again redrawing constituency boundaries and perhaps even altering the constitution to ensure MF is squeezed out of existence to ensure it will win both the most recent and the next election. At some point the people have to take a stand.

I agree that I find too much oil in several basically Chinese dishes offered in Thailand. But then I am used to the superb Chinese cuisine in Hong Kong where it does not get any better. I certainly would not expect Thai chefs to follow Hong Kong recipes to a T and I assume Thais prefer more oil. I recall an excellent italian restaurant opening in a major city in England. Friends and I thought the cuisine quite wonderful. One guest who travelled extensively in Italy dismissed it as Italian food as the English like it!

There seems to be a readership for days gone by. This forum has several threads about gay Bangkok and gay Pattaya, but I do not recall one on Japan. As my first of many dozens of visits was in the summer of 1981, I will give a short outline. Some of the anecdotes have been included over the years in other threads. Apologies in advance to those who are reading them for a second time. For reasons that I totally fail to understand, on moving to Asia the one country I had zero desire to visit was Japan. I have no idea why. It was certainly nothing to do with WWII. Perhaps it was more the fact that I knew little about the country, no idea how to get around, nothing of the language etc. So I was perfectly happy getting to know many South East Asian countries, their histories, cultures and not a few of their wonderfully beautiful young men. Working for an international company which had links with Japanese companies, it was perhaps not surprising that my Chairman told me a visit to Tokyo could result in more business. So on the way home from a trip to the USA, I stopped over in Tokyo for 4 nights. I arrived in a Friday afternoon to give me the week-end to explore, find the gay area and help to get over jet lag. I can only recall the Spartacus Guide from those days, a thick publication covering the entire world and not infrequently inaccurate. I had chosen the large Keio Plaza Hotel in the middle of the Shinjuku skyscraper district as I imagined that somewhere in that forest of buildings I'd find Ni-chome, not that i knew then what a chome was! On a subsequent visit I found one of the bilingual maps of Tokyo which became my constant companion on my many future visits. Friday night was a wash-out. After checking in, I was taken up in the lift by a beautiful bellboy. He explained everything in the room and placed my bag correctly on the luggage rack. I found some ¥100 coins in my pocket and offered them to him. The look of horror was such a surprise. I had not read about tipping being anathema in Japan. I learned my lesson! Later I looked in so many places but could find not one gay bar. Tired, I had an early night. Being interested in classical music and opera and knowing that Tokyo was a tour date for many western orchestras and opera companies, I found how to get on to the subway where I should have found the Bunka Kaikan close to Ueno station. Not many subway stations had names in English and of course i had got on at the wrong side of the platform. So I ended up miles fro my intended location. Moral: make sure you check and copy out the script of the Japanese names. Eventually I found myself at the Bunka Kaikan where I looked over the many posters plastered around the lobby area. And it was there that I saw the opera company from La Scala was to be visiting four months later. I was determined to return to see at least one of the operas. But how to get a ticket, for there was no box office in the lobby or anywhere in the complex. And that is where serendipity came into play. Deciding that I would visit a hotel in the centre which had a great view of the entire city from its 40th floor, I got back on the subway. It was a bright, sunny day. Coming out of the subway meant climbing a long set of stairs from the relative darkness of the station to the brilliance of the street. As I was about half way up, I happened to notice a tall young Japanese guy wearing a white shirt that was gleaming in the sun going down on the opposite side. "Wow, he's handsome," I thought. As I passed him I thought I saw his eyes look at mine. Then what to do? So I turned and looked back. He had also turned and was looking at me. But the crowds on each side of the stairways were packed and there was no chance of stopping. So what to do? Having reached the top, I turned around and looked back down into the darkness. Because of that shirt, I thought it must be him. Lust took over! I went back down and sure enough he was waiting for me. His English was limited but enough to make a rendezvous for that evening. Not only was he to show me the bars in Ni-chome, he came back to the hotel and stayed with me for the next two nights. As importantly he showed me where to get the opera ticket. As soon as I returned to Hong Kong I booked a package tour around that date - 2 days in Kyoto and 4 in Tokyo. We kept in touch for a few months but he was leaving to spend 3 years studying in Paris. No doubt he quickly found a lover there and I lost my first Japanese friend. Others were to follow though - many! Having found the gay bars, on my soon to be regular four visits each year, I met a number of very cute young guys. Mostly in the Regent bar, long since demolished, or across the road upstairs in the Fuji bar. There was then still a tradition that young Japanese really wanted to meet foreigners. Perhaps it was a result of social conventions in Japan still making it difficult for young Japanese guys to be seen with other guys rather than girls. As today, there were hundreds of bars catering exclusively to Japanese. A few would be open to westerners and Japanese who liked being with westerners. I once went with friends to one of the Japanese only bars. Maybe a dozen seats around a U-shaped bar and six tables for two patrons each. My friends were a couple - a Japanese and a westerner and they frequently visited this bar. So I was welcomed as a guest. Almost as soon as I walked through the door and introduced to the mamasan, he whispered in my ear, "Are you top of bottom?" I was not quite sure how to answer such a personal question. The reason soon became obvious. If you said top, he would rearrange the Japanese customers to make sure you were seated between two guys who were bottoms! Very practical! It seemed to be that on each visit it was very easy to find company. But I had a craving to find a Japanese sauna. I had started reading a few photo books of Japanese gay porn and the saunas looked, well, interesting. Just as Japanese in general are very group-oriented and the individual is often frowned upon, so in the saunas sex took place in dark medium-to-large sized rooms with long mattresses on each side. Two guys could be enjoying a passionate encounter with half a dozen or so just kneeling around them watching the action. The first I was shown was Oban sauna in the Kabukicho (sex) entertainment district. Small and compact, I remember being pleasantly surprised when, having changed and made my way upstairs to the bathing and steam room area, out from the steam room came a gorgeous slim porn star! Anyone who has been to the popular 24 Kaikan in Shinjuku in recent years will also have seen these long mattresses, although it has added some bunk beds in the area. The most amazing sauna experience I had was in one in the trendy Shibuya district. I now have no idea exactly where it was and almost certainly it will have been redeveloped. I met a young Chinese in a small dark area. After a long time on a mattress, we moved to the roof where all sorts of activities were taking place. We continued there for what must have been another half hour of total pleasure. Again we swapped contact details - and again we lost track of each other. I am not sure when hattenba were introduced in Japan. I suspect soon after gay saunas. These were much smaller, usually a one floor apartment than had been curtained off with sheets. They were there purely for quick sex. There might be small mattresses or occasionally a couch. When you were finished there could be one small shower. I only ever went to one - Treffunkt in Akasaka-mitsuke. I really did not enjoy it. I prefer the larger saunas where you can actually see guys as they walk around. Inevitably AIDS changed the sauna scene - but not immediately. At first it was regarded as a foreign illness and as few foreigners attended saunas, nothing was done. Then foriegners were banned, although by then the horse had bolted. And if you were from another Asian country but looked a bit like a Japanese, you would still be let in. SInce then Promenade cruising saunas opened up although like some saunas and hattenbas you have to be on the look out for age restrictions. Body Breath is one of the most popular with young guys now but it not only has an Asian-only policy, you have to be younger than 40 and have short hair! Not that any of this should put you off. A lot has changed in recent decades and, although more Japanese now want to form relationships with their fellow countrymen, there is plenty for the visiting foriegner to enjoy. Over almost 4 decades I have rarely failed to have a good time - and I look forward to the next visit.

Thinking back more than a few years, Soi Twilight did not really come into its own until the 1990s. Then it was not just go-go bars but massage spas staffed by cute guys and the much lamented Dick's Cafe where people watching could be an enjoyment all on its own. Until then it was basically only Twilight Bar (later remodelled as Hotmale around 2000). There were go-go bars dotted around including the wonderful Barbiery just across from Soi Twilight, but Silom Soi 4 seemed the place for gay men to go, with Rome Club being a magnet and especially when Telephone opened. Overall the clientele certainly seemed to be younger than today with many from Hong Kong at week-ends. And then there were more Thais than farang. But back in the 1980s, there were considerably fewer long flights from Europe and the USA and there were far fewer cheap tickets. In Europe the gay spots in Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and other cities were cheaper and easier to get to. Those who discovered they had a liking for Asians could find many Indonesians in Amsterdam, Vietnamese in Paris . . . and so on. I have written elsewhere of meeting young men of both nationalities in large saunas in both cities. But I am always curious how Thailand found its way on to the mass gay tourist travel map. I guess the reputation of the country had something to do with it. The number of prominent gay men who had visited and stayed in the country - the Somerset Maughams, Noel Cowards and many others - must have spread information. Word of mouth from Hong Kongers and other Asian-based westerners probably also had something to do with it. Then there were those stopping over when flying the kangaroo route from Australia and New Zealand. But if my recollection is correct, it was the 1990s when gay tourism started to explode. Is that other members' view? I have no idea if Eastern Europe and South America were attrative to larger numbers of gay tourists back then. I certainly wish I had discovered some South American countries much earlier. But I am happy that a career change saw me move to Asia and discover a world of gay entertainment I never imagined existed. Like others, I fear that the younger generation of western guys have too much choice for Thailand now to be top of their list. On the other hand, the increasingly richer guys from North and South East Asia that I have met seem to love the gay scene in Thailand. They - and repressed Chinese ladies - are likely surely to be the punters of the future.

Excellent news and about time as he is 97 years old. He is one of only 18 people to have already achieved EGOT status - winning at least one Emmy, one Grammy, One Oscar and One Tony Award - athough he has won quite a few. Of all the stories he has told, this is one of those I think his best. He is talking to his Jewish mother about his decision to marry the Roman Catholic Anne Bancroft. Wonderful actor. His mother looked at him, said nothing except rather dismissively- "Oh! Why don't you invite her over for Sunday lunch. I'll be in the kitchen - wth my head in the oven!"

Totally agree about Wine Connection and their rather good wines by the glass. You also get a decent amount in the glass - no doubt at least 175 ml. My problem was merely that after 2 hours wilting in the onsen, I was hungry. The restaurant across the road seemed worth investigating. Next time I will just hop on the skytrain at the nearby St. Louis station for the 2 stops to Saladaeang and get my meal at Wine Connection.

I recall a number of threads a few years ago about drinks prices and how when business is slow - or has been slow - the automatic reaction of bar owners is to raise prices. It is the only thing they know. Reducing prices to encourage higher patronage, reducing off prices, making shows more appealing . . . they do not want to know! Mind you, I could say the same about the cost of a glass of wine in many restaurants. Having had an enjoyable 2 hours at the newer of the two Yunimori onsens last week, I decided to have a nice meal. Across the road is a small rather elegant restaurant with medium pricing. I ordered a glass of white wine. The food was excellent but I could hardly see anything in the large wine glass. I suspect it was little more than 125 mls and cost 250 baht +service+tax. This from a bottle that from a wholesaler had problably cost not more than 600 baht. A markup of more than 350%.

Have we ever been told the reason for Dom's death in England? I seem to recall it was some sort of head injury and we were informed the reason would be announced in June/July. Why the delay was never explained. It was surely the saddest episode in this remarkable almost unbelievable rescue.

Yesterday I posted a reply comparing the lack of interest of western countries in what is happening in Myanmar with what happened in Laos back in the 1960s and 70s. At least I thought I posted it. Perhaps i forgot to click 'submit reply' or it was felt not to be relevant. As I do believe the lack of interest is certainly relevant, I post a shorter post again which can be removed if felt to be too off topic. What came to be called "The Secret War" in Laos could easily be a term associated with Myanmar except that the greater communications now avaiable mean that what is happening in Myanmar does filter out in greater detail than was ever the case in Laos. The conflict in Myanmar is complicated, partly because of its British colonial past and partly because of competing internal groups. The same is true of Laos which had been ruled by a brutal French colonial regime and which was followed by a tripartite arrangement involving three monarchs each allied with different political ideologies. It never worked. With the Cold War in high gear, inevitably the Soviets and the Americans became heavily involved. Only the American participation was never authorised by Congress, and was therefore illegal. To get round this, the CIA and its Air America became America's proxy. And it went about its task with zeal. It made a deal with the Hmong peoples in the north and established a private air strip in their territory. For almost 13 years Long Tieng became the most heavily used airport in the world as a result of all the Air America planes landing and taking off on its bombing and other missions. Yet the world did not know about it and it was marked on no maps. It was part of a secret war even though it had 40,000 Hmong and Americans living there to service and maintain the aircraft. It was undertandably labelled "the most secret place on earth". At the time it was also the second largest city in the country. As the short video below points out, American involvement was primarily in an attempt to destroy the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail which crossed into Laos as arms, munitions and forces found their way from North to South Vietnam. Once the Vietnam War, sanctioned by Congress on the basis of what is now agreed a lie, was underway, B52s from the aircraft carriers off Vietnam were frequently unable to find their targets in Vietnam. Unable to land on the carriers carrying their bombs, Laos became known as "bomb alley". Thus this small country had more bombs dropped on it by US aircraft than in the whole of WWII. Aerial bombing is unlikely to play any part in the conflict in Myanmar. But as long as China feeds arms to its military and other countries are clearly reluctant to become involved, the sufferings of the Myanmar people are surely - and sadly - going to continue for a long time. If Laos was "The Secret War", Myanmar seems fast to be becoming "The Forgotten War".

If the senators prevent Khun Pita from becoming PM, I will be one of those on the streets! I know I am not Thai and I had no vote. But I will be there to support my Thai friends.

I was replying - literally or not - to no specific poster's post, and I made sure that was perfectly clear.

Did I refer to you or any other specific poster when I made my comment? No! And I will not do so. Your comment is somewhat irrelevant.

2025 will see Qantas operate the world's longest non-stop flights - Sydney to London and Sydney to New York. The longer London flight will have a time of 20 hours on an Airbus A350-1000. The aircraft will have six first class seats in a 1-1-1 configuration, 52 business class in 1-2-1, 40 Premium Economy in 2-4-2 and 140 economy in 3-3-3. New seats have been designed for the economy cabin with one inch longer leg room to give 33 inches. Economy will also have "wellness zones" with stretch bars for exercise. https://www.9news.com.au/national/qantas-reveals-economy-seats-for-19hour-nycsydney-ultra-longhaul-flights/e973d9d3-a0a7-4689-b795-b12e82a1d617

No, PrEP arrived much later. It was the hugely effective campaigns originated by Meechai and the government education programmes they inspired that helped reduce HIV rates. Since 2006 anti-retrovirals have been included in the national health scheme for Thais which effectively made them free. The same was true with PrEP which is distributed through Community based Organisations (CBOs) led and staffed by LGBTQ individuals. It was felt that gay men would be more comfortable interecting with similarly inclined individuals. But no sooner had international organisations started praising Thailand, the government changed tack. As reported in The Bangkok Post in February this year, the budget for CBO's was cut by 50% as it believed many of its patients could and should pay for their own medications. As a result, the Service Workers In Group Foundation (SWING) founded in 2004 is having to close such community clinics, including one on Silom. The second blow is that the Ministry of Health decided in December last year that communiy-based organisations were not professional enough. The result is that these organisations which had previously distributed 70% of the PrEP given out in Thailand are now forbidden to do so unless they have a direct link to a public hospital. The same edict applies to HIV medication. This move was immediately condemned by SWING and the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand. It has also been pointed out that the government never fulfilled its claim to provide 50% of the CBOs funding. International organisations made up the balance. Now doctors in hospitals will have to prescribe PrEP, alhough the cost to individual Thais is likely to be little changed. But many younger Thais, especially young men, do not want to be seen going to a hospital for HIV medication in any form. The result of this and other government moves is that Thailand is no longer the leader it once was in HIV prevention and treatment. India and The Philippines have recently made greater strides through commnity-based organisations. As the Post article written by Stephen Mills, PhD, a Bangkok-based epidemiologist and the Regional Director for the USAID-supported EpiC project at FHI 360, also known as Family Health International, a US-based health and development organisation, points out - "the real losers here will be those Thais - often poor and stigmatised sex workers, gay men, and transgender women - who will have doors closed on them when they try to seek friendly and qualified HIV services. Thailand's quick pace to reach the end of its HIV epidemic has now slowed to a crawl and may soon go in reverse." https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2511266/thai-hiv-response-faces-setback It's hard to find up-to-date statistics on the rate of msm who have already been infected with HIV in Bangkok and Thailand. But statistics from recent years do not make for pleasant reading. The US National Library of Medicine published a paper in January 2022. I quote - ". . . integrated behavioral and biological surveillance (IBBS) among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Bangkok in 2003 found an HIV prevalence of 17.3%, further increasing to over 30% by 2005 and 2007. In biennial follow-up conducted through 2014, HIV prevalence among MSM continued to fluctuate around 25% to 30%, indicating ongoing HIV transmission at the population level. This high and increasing HIV prevalence was later confirmed from several other sources, notably the Thai Red Cross Anonymous Clinic (TRCAC), where 29.1% of 3485 MSM attending HIV testing and counseling (HTC) services from 2006 to 2009 were HIV-infected." Even more worryingly - "Receptive anal intercourse, lack of condom use, high levels of sexual partner turnover, drug use during sex, and finding casual partners via the internet have all been found to be associated with higher HIV prevalence and incidence among Bangkok MSM. In addition, fewer than half of MSM reported to have ever been HIV tested, and even fewer said to have actual knowledge of their current HIV status," There used to be an AVERT site with much more up-to-date statistics but I can no longer find it. Bit I do know that it confirmed by 2018/9 around 30% of msm in Bangkok are HIV positive. Lastly, a 2017 Thailand AIDS Response Progress Report "Thailand Ending Aids" has worring statistics about those in the 15-24 age group. It highights errors in young people's sex education programmes and the increase in the number of STD's detected - a 79% increase in gonorrhoea in 10 years and a 102% increase in syphllis, https://dearstraightpeople.com/2019/11/30/prep-guide-bangkok/#:~:text=Cost%3A The test%2C medical consultation,PrEP starts at 4%2C500THB. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8782340/ https://hivhub.ddc.moph.go.th/Download/Report/APR/2017/GARP2017 eng Final.pdf I suspect it is certain that some in high risk groups and the better educated have no problem getting their free PrEP from hospitals and hopefully this is pushing down the msm HIV rates. The worrying factor for me are the edge of town saunas where bareback sex appears to be the norm and far from all the participants will be on PrEP.

I realise the OP was made last year and the member will have already have made his visit. But after two visits to Istanbul I agree with @Mavica that if the main reason is sex, the city would certainly not be my choice. Rather than wasting time exploring for the sort of massage spas you can get in Thailand and escorts you can find in many other countries, take @davet's advice - I found it one of the most stunning cities I have ever visited and would gladly return. I stayed in a small hotel with rooms around a small courtyard - very close to the Blue Mosque. The early calls from the muezzin did not concern me as I always travel with wax ear plugs which completely block the sound. Great smallish room, great breakfast, great location.

No doubt some member may wish to stay at that hotel. It certainly looks iconic and you'd assume it was true 5-star quality. I spent two nights paid for by the Conference and then moved to a hotel I know to be vastly nicer, more comfortable and far less expensive. I see the Marina Bay Sands has dropped back to #54. The most recent review from a few days ago states ". . . it felt like everything is disorganized, maybe it was because the hotel looked like full capacity, breakfast we had to wait 40min in-line, the sky view pool was packed . . ." Clearly nothing has changed! And at 22,100 baht per night on agoda for one of its 2,500 rooms, it is a total rip-off. But that is not the worst horror I have had on my many travels!

I am sure that is correct. But whether it is permissible to mention a name and the bar/spa he might work for is an issue for the moderator. I know the Covenant that members have to agree to was written some years ago. It might be worth writing to the moderator to see if there is any update.

Gentlemen - I think perhaps a glance at the Board Rules makes clear what is and what is not permissible in terms of names. These state - "Personal information that can be used to identify a member, a user, or a go-go boy or bar boy, whether or not a Gay Thailand member, shall not be permitted. No member shall publish or cause to be published such personal information. A violation of the Covenant shall be cause for immediate termination of Forum privileges." I have no idea how the rule operates but it is clearly there. I realise that names have been used in a considerable number of posts in more than a few threads and I do not know of any termination of Board privileges. But are you really prepared to test the waters?

Around a decade ago, Business Traveller magazine had a two page feature on Tripadvisor and other 'review' sites which confirmed that Tripadvisor certainly manipulated reviews. I then wrote a post or two here on how it had manipulated the lousy standing of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore. I was booked in there when speaking at a Conference. For a 5-star hotel, I thought it was dreadful. 20-minute queue to check-in, 30 minute-queue for breakfast, 30 minute-queue to check-out, 5 to 8-minute queue every time you wanted a lift and my non-smoking room had at least a dozen cigarette burns on furniture. It was then ranked as around #65 in Tripadvisor's hotel list - the worst of any 5-star hotel in the city state. But this was and is the Singaopore government's pride and joy. And when the SIngapore government is pissed off, it does something about it. So over the next 18 months the hotel moved up to around #32. But all the 5-star reviews it received were one- or two-liners of the "great hotel", "fabulous pool", "definitely will return" variety. Clearly 90%+ were fake. I then wrote to Tripavisor's head office pointing out 20 reviews of this an other establishments that were clearly fake. I never received a reply, but within weeks 14 of those reviews had disappeared!

Although this trend has been happening in several Asian countries for many years - e.g. Japan and Singapore - the problem in Thailand in the 1970s and 80s was too many births. In the early 1970s the high birth rate of 3.2% was simply unsustainable if Thailand was to become a more developed country. In stepped Meecha Veeravaidya, a half Thai/half Scottish economist trained in Australia, who realised that the first step had to be making birth control a subject that was not hidden under the carpet, as it were, but openly discussed. Through his Population and Community Development Association he made condoms not merely acceptable - but popular! He staged all sorts of stunts around the country including condom blowing contests and filling condoms as much water as possible and then dropping them from a great height. He had T-shirts distributed with stick figures involved in various sex acts and the message "condoms please". His original Cabbages and Condoms restaurant remains a fixture on Sukhumvit Soi 12 in Bangkok (excellent cuisine incidentallyl). Now there are a dozen more around the country and even two in the UK. With his relentless advocacy, Meechai soon became known as Thailand's Condom King. And in many parts of the country, people still call condoms "meechais"! When HIV-AIDS came along, he intensified his efforts. For two decades he has been concerned that the younger generation is no longer taught about safe sex and the increase in the number of young people having unsafe sex. It was the first Thaksin government that reduced the funding for sex education in schools, something Meechai believes was a huge mistake. As he wrote some years ago, teenagers need to know that sex is natural, but “to master it rather than to let it master you.” Reversing the population downward trend is unlikely to be easy. As the country and individuals become richer - and as has been seen in other countries, young men and women are putting off marriage till much later. They are also having fewer children. My partner's brother who lives in Myanmar got married aged 16. That used to be quite common in Thailand. No more.