PeterRS

When I first flew on Qatar in 2009 to LGW I had completely forgotten to fill out the loyalty club application. I did so on the final leg back to Bangkok, enclosed the four boarding passes, sealed it and sent it off. QR received it for they gave me a loyalty club number but they said they never received the boarding passes. I offered to send them the baggage tags which quite clearly mentioned my name, flights and date. These were not acceptable although QR never explained why. So I decided not to put mileage on to QR instead sticking with CX's Asia Miles. But I now get endless QR emails to loyalty club members but have never accrued any mileage on the airline!

Wonderful film with as @BjornAgain points out amazing acting from Hopkins and Coleman. Hopkins was the oldest to win the Best Actor Oscar in the year everyone thought it would go to the late Chadwick Boseman. But also more than a little frightening. It reminded me of the Judi Dench movie "Iris" where she pays the novelist Iris Murdoch as she first realises she has dementia and follows her through that horrible journey. Jim Broadbent, so good in so many movies, plays her husband determined not to leave her in an institution, the role which won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Masterfully directed by Richard Eyre.

Returning to @bkkmfj2648's point, Japan has a huge sex industry. I recall reading somewhere that it contributes somewhere between 3% and 5% to GDP. Of course, most of this is for local consumption but anyone who has been to the foreigner-welcome bars and the main saunas will know that there is a large number of tourists and foreign residents. And the gay scene covers many of the country's cities. Yet, few consider Japan a sex haven. That is the sort of image Thailand's elite want. Keep the sex if you must but keep it well away from the front pages.

On one occasion I was surprised when I looked at my mileage statement - but for very different reason. There seemed to be too many miles! I was on one of those really useful round-the-world tickets. When I got to London I was asked by a client to meet up in Palm Springs. Since I still had some spare coupons, before flying to the US I went to BA at Heathrow and had return flights from LAX to Palm Springs on AA added. No problem. In any case it's less than 200 kms between the airports. Arriving back at LAX I was flying up to San Jose where AA had recently started a non-stop flight to Taipei. I then ended up with a stop-over in Hong Kong before getting home to Bangkok. The airport code for Palm Spring is PPS. For some reason, AA had inserted into the mileage computer the outward ticket as LAX to DPS. Why no one wondered that the next flight was PPS back to LAX I have not the faintest idea. But did I care? DPS is Denpasar, Bali. So I gained 4,000 miles.

Thanks for the information.

Great to see comments. but please remember I asked for just one sentence to explain the reason for your preferring a particular movie. It concentrates the mind on why you really like it!

Not necessarily. It's a reason those who pay have decided to pay. if there are your type of guys willing and able to fulfil your desires just to fulfil their own, why pay? Again I disagree. It's a common argument, I admit, but I do not agree that it is valid in many cases.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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