PeterRS

And how many had health insurance, I wonder? Probably a stupid question. Then one wonders how many of those testing positive end up in a hospital, thereby reducing hospital beds and facilities for Taiwanese and for other proerly vaccinated tourists who fall ill for other reasons.

The growing number of Chinese public figures whose deaths are being made public is prompting people to question the official Covid death toll. The death of Chu Lanlan, a 40-year-old opera singer, last month came as a shock to many, given how young she was. Her family said they were saddened by her "abrupt departure", but did not give details of the cause of her death. China scrapped its strict zero-Covid policy in December and has seen a rapid surge of infections and deaths. There are reports of hospitals and crematoria becoming overwhelmed . . . According to a tally by Chinese media, 16 scientists from the country's top science and engineering academies died between 21 and 26 December. None of these deaths were linked to Covid in their obituaries, but that hasn't prevented speculation online. "Did he also die of 'bad flu'?" one of the top-rated comments under news of Mr Ni's death said. "Even if you trawl through the whole internet you can't find any reference to his cause of death," said another internet user. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64173824

A joke! Another Thai joke from one of the principal jokers! My sister-in-law has just been diagnosed with cancer. I was to be staying with her and my brother in a few weeks' time. But her treatment means she has to keep clear of other possible infections for a minimum of 12 weeks. Even if I take daily covid tests, I can not guarantee that if I stayed with them I would be virus free. But for me that is a relatively minor inconvenience. For a great many Thais, it could mean infection and then more time away from work in a hospital. The measures being taken by India, the USA, Canada, the EU and others is sensible prevention. Anutin is in some dreamworld if he believes that planeloads of Chinese will have health insurance. Even if they do, how overwhelmed will Thai hospitals become if flights arrive - as they have in Europe in the last few days - with bewteen 25% and 50% of passengers infected with covid? Madness!

With the Thai government seeming ready to open its borders to waves of Chinese tourists, I am pretty certain many individuals fro other countries will reconsider Thailand for a vacation because of the possibility of a new outbreak of covid here. The government cannot have it both ways.

It surely has to be the most frivolous case for a law suit! in 1967 the great director Franco Zeffirelli auditioned 300 young actors to play Romeo and Juliet in the new movie version he was making to be released the following year. He wanted more realism than possible for a stage version and actors for the lead roles who were roughly the ages Shakespeare's play intended. He selected two who already had not only aspirations to become actors but considerable experience. Leonard Whiting had been spotted by a theatrical agent at the age of 12. For 15 months he was a regular member of the cast of Lional Bart's musical "Oliver" in London's West End. He then spent 15 months with Britain's new National Theatre Company performing in a production of the classic William Congreve play "Love for Love" with Sir Lawrence Olivier in London, Moscow and Berlin. Olivia Hussey was also an apiring actor. In 1966 she had appeared along with Vanessa Redgrave in the London West End production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". Both Whiting and Hussey would have been perfectly well aware that if they got the parts in the Zeffirelli movie, it would almost certainly do wonders for their careers. In the movie, their frivolous law suit suggests they were told by the studio and Zeffirelli that there would be no nudity in the movie. During shooting they allege they were then told there had to be mild nudity in the scene covering the morning after their wedding. In it, the upper part of Whiting's bare back is shown with the camera lingering for a moment on his buttocks. Hussey is shown with a sheet covering her front. For one brief moment it slips and reveals her breasts. Now, 56 years after filming, these two actors are alleging viollation of California and Federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children! No doubt there is also something about emotional distress and long term mental damage in there! Is there anything more stupid? Why wait 56 years? Is it perhaps because Whiting's career never took off? Nor indeed did he have much success in his personal life. The child by his second wife, Charlotte, claims he never saw her until she was 12 years old. Hussey has had a much more successful acting career, but not in the leading roles she perhaps had thought might come her way. But surely Hussey gave away the fact that the present suit is indeed frivolous. In an interview in the show business publication Variety in 2018, she actually defended that nude scene (well, let's be honest, scene with tiny flashes of partial nudity!). "Nobody my age had done that before," she said, adding that Zeffirelli had shot it tastefully. "It was needed for the film. Everybody thinks they were so young they did not realize what they were doing. But we were very aware. We both came from drama schools and when you work you take your work very seriously." In a Fox News interview the same year, she said, "It wasn't that big of a deal. And Leonard wasn't shy at all! In the middle of shooting, I just completely forgot I didn't have clothes on!" Surely any judge reading that will throw this ridiculus law suit into the trash can where it belongs.

Good tries @forrestreid and @10tazione. It was a difficult quiz which I had perhaps more fun setting that those even considering answering. 1. Graveyard Street was in Istanbul. The quote comes from the excellent Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern istanbul by Charles King. The Pera Palace was/is the luxury Hotel built to complement the opening of the Orient Express train but the book examines all the many changes in the city as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Allegedly Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express while staying in the hotel. 2. Istanbul again. And again a quote from Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern istanbul. The eunochs guarding the harem in Topkapi Palace were mostly Ethiopian Christian slaves who literally were out on the streets as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. 3. The make of shoe is Moreschi. Alessandro Moreschi sang in the Sistine Chapel Choir from around 1866. His voice was recorded in 1902 and 1904 and one is avaiable on a youtube vdo. He was then in his 40s after a castrato voice had reached its peak. It's a strange thin sound - neither soprano nor countertenor. 4. The Austro-Hungarian Empire which existed only from 1867 until the end of World War I in 1918 and was cobbled together from the breakup of several central Europen states. It was the assassination of its heir that led to World War I. 5. I was really surprised that the quote about Hitler was made by the future US President John F. Kennedy. 6. Another surprise for me. All the possible answers had strong anti-semitic views but the anti-Jewish quote was made by Martin Luther.

I often wonder what travellers are looking for in business class lounges. If I am about to take a shortish flight, I want peace and quiet, a nice drink (meaning a glass of good wine - certainly not a cheap one - or a vodka that is also not the cheapest on the market), perhaps a canapé - and that's it. I was only once able to get into the Concorde Lounge at LHR which was streets ahead of the business and first class lounges. The wines there were fabulous. But that has just been a memory for a couple of decades. If on a plane change mid-way through the total journey, food and drink is not a priority. I fly Qatar quite a lot between Bangkok and the UK and the food and drink on board are always very good to excellent. I don't need more in the lounge at Doha. With another 6-7 hour sector ahead of me, I don't need a shower. Once again it is more peace and quiet where I can read or catch up on mundane things like emails. A no-mobile phone area is wonderful if you can find it. When I used to take BA from Asia and had an onward flight after landing at LHR, a shower is essential for me as well as a decent breakfast (if I have been able to sleep through the service on the aircraft). A newspaper with the latest news and again peace and quiet. For that reason I totally dislike the main CX lounges at HKG. They have slate floors meaning that almost every passenger drags along their on board baggage on it, each one making a very considerable noise! I didlike the TG lounges in BKK because I find the chairs hideously uncomfortable. But those are merely my thoughts.

US politics continues to amaze me. I gave up on UK politics years ago and nothing there amazes me. But the whole fiction spun around George Santos and the people who refuse to condemn him has me - well - staggered! This man - I assume he's actually a male - has made up so much of his persona that he must surely be a work of total fiction. He doesn't exist. He's not just a phoney, he's a kermit-like figure with someone's hand up his ass making his mouth move. (Yes, I know. Kermit was not a glove puppet, but you get my drift.) Every day brings new revelations about this impostor's life and totally fake existence. Yet all but a handful of the Republican Party refuse to condemn him. The awful Kevin McCarthy, the one whose head was up Trumps' ass most of the time (can anyone imagine the utter disaster if he becomes the third in line for the Presidency?) clearly sits around waiting for Santos' vote as Speaker and then hoping he will somehow magically just disappear. His party colleagues sit in waiting to grab the power they believe they are entitled to all ready to set the dogs on Hunter Biden, seemingly perhaps a more difficult task if they condemn one of their own for far more serious crimes/misdemeanours - call them what you will. Politics has become a joke - literally. Ever since John McCain (wasn't he supposed to have more than an ounce of common sense?) annointed the frightful Sarah Palin as his Presidential running mate, an even greater number of frightful ghouls has found Congress the way to promote their idiotic platforms. That good ordinary folk actually believe their lies seems to indicates that someone sooner rather than later will become the next Dr. Strangelove. A real one! And then God help not just the USA but the world.

The only aircraft I would consider this would be those A380 operators which have toilets at the front upstairs. These are always about 3 times the size of the usual plane facility and allow for lots of freedom and positions 😂. Some, like BA, have business class at the front upstairs. Sadly the BA product is very second rate now.

I am curious about one aspect of this ghastly event. I recall reading that the electrical system in the hotel quickly failed. As a result many were locked inside their rooms. From this it seems an obvious assumption that room doors were opened with key cards electronically. I am trying to recall if I ever stayed in any hotel when, once inside a room, it was necessary to use the key card also to exit. I always remember manual operation to open from the inside. But could a total electrical failure render this impossible?

I don't pay for any of the apps but I have noticed in the last few months that the number of ads has increased considerably. The worst now is Blued.

I recall a thread some years ago which informed readers that flying via Dublin was considerably cheaper than through London. This was because the passenger taxes at Dublin were far cheaper than LHR which has some of the highest passenger taxes anywhere. Just a thought.

You clearly don't bother to read any other medical journals published in other countries. Colo-rectal cancer is on the rise among the 20-49 age group in most countries. You should at least have a colonoscopy. That might finally get most of the shit out of your system!

SInce we are on the topic of quizzes, perhaps the following might elicit a spark of interest. But please do not consult wikipedia! 1. A quote from a book. "Venereal disease was rife . . .Since the bar run by the sometime madame Bertha Proctor was just down Graveyard Street from Dr. Chukri's office – a bar that employed women whose names are recorded in history only as Frying Pan, Square Ass, Mother's Ruin, Fornicating Fannie, and Skinny Liz – it was possible for men and women to acquire a disease and be relieved of it on the same city block." Where was Graveyard Street? Liverpool England, Calcutta, Portsmouth England, Istanbul, Shanghai. 2. Another quote from a different book. ". . . these men . . . had exchanged their sex organs for a profession that offered prestige, and a certain degree of power – or, more frequently, such a transaction was forced on them in childhood. They had been brought into slavery by middlemen on the far reaches of _______'s domains and eventually found themselves at the centre of the Imperial system. But in a time of changing mores and political revolution, they were out of a job. Many of them drifted into penury. They could sometimes be seen begging on the street, their elongated limbs the visible signs of prepubescent castration." Where were these men seen? Naples, Beijing, Rome, Istanbul, Hyderabad. 3. While on the subject of castrati, the fashion of child castration was adopted in earnest in Italy after Pope Sixtus VI pronounced in 1588 that from henceforth women would not be permitted on stages and in church choirs. As a result, the female soprano parts in choirs were taken by castrati. The fashion soon spread to baroque opera. Anyone who has seen the movie "Farinelli" about one of the most famous of them all knows that they were in effect the pop singers of their day, some earning fabulous sums for short appearances at ladies' soirees. In 1903 the last castrato sang in the Vatican choir. He had a name that is synonymous with a famous brand of shoe. Which brand? Ferragamo, Moreschi, Jimmy Choo, Gucci, Testoni 4. The parliament of this empire conducted business in no less than 12 languages with no official translators. Not surprisingly it collapsed. Which was it? Russian Empire, China's Qing (Manchu) Empire, Ottoman Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Mughal Empire 5. Which American wrote this in 1945 after Hitler's suicide? "Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived." Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, JF Kennedy, Joseph McCarthy 6. Who described Jews as "poisonous, envenomed worms?" Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther, King Richard the Lionheart, Richard Wagner, Amin al-Husseini Answers in a couple of days. Extra marks if you can identify the sources of Q 1 and 2. Happy New Year!

My spelling and mis-naming people (see the Pope thread) are sadly occasionally deficient.

Lucky you! Wonder how old you really are. Perhaps you are only 19 as you clearly did not read all my post. Note the following - "By 2030, predicts a study published in April, colorectal cancer will be the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in people aged 20 to 49."

Ah yes! Old people! Funny, isn't it, that rates of colon cancer are increasing among so-called "young people". Chadwick Boseman 43 - colon cancer 2020 Dame Deborah James 40 - bowel cancer 2022 Jay Monahan 42 (husband of Katie Couric) - colon cancer 1998 "For many young, healthy people colon cancer was never on their radar because it is typically seen as a disease that affects older people. But since the 1990s, even as colorectal cancer rates have declined for people 50 and older, they have more than doubled among American adults under 50, according to the National Cancer Institute. By 2030, predicts a study published in April, colorectal cancer will be the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in people aged 20 to 49." https://www.statnews.com/2021/06/22/colorectal-cancer-hot-spots-young-men-dying-higher-rates/

So if a doctor inserts a camera up your big ass and tells you you have colon cancer - you clearly believe you are not sick. Bye!

There was a discussion on the type of circumcision practised in the Philippines in February. It starts about half way down the page. Personally the result of the way most boys are circumcised in that country - and that's over 90% of them - puts me right off sex. I have nothing against a nicely circumcised organ although I far prefer the natural uncut version. In porn movies, many Japanese boys have shorter foreskins and will sometimes pull them back which makes them look as though they have been circumcised. But it still looks aesthetically pleasing - at least to me. Not so Filipinos. But to each his own. I see that part of this discussion has centred on Columbia. Although I have been twice to South America, I missed Columbia. Occasionally looking at the chaturbate site, I note that many Columbians have extremely smooth near hairless skin and impressive uncut dicks. Most also seem to be bottoms. I obviously should have included Columbia on one of my trips!

Agree wholseheartedly that Taiwan guys are great and the number of money boys on the apps is perhaps at most 1 per visit. I attended 7 Pride Parades until 2018. Fabulous days. Couldn't go in 2019 as I only returned from Europe the night before. Thereafter the border was closed due to covid. But I'll definitely be back again this year.

Why am I not surprised? The photos in the OP are horrendous. They make the hotel look as though it was made of wood! Soon we will find out which fire protection corners were cut and how fire escapes were blocked, no doubt.

Deputy Prime Minister Anutin is a snake whose sole aim is to become Prime Minister. He is clearly playing to the base in the country understandably desperate for the cash the Chinese will bring in. Italy discovered yesterday that more than 50% of Chinese arriving on two flights to Milan tested positive for covid. I realise the new rules apply only from January 8 when Chinese boarding fights for foreign parts require 3 vaccinations and undergo testing ptrior to boarding. But who in Chinese airports, especially the secondary ones, is actually going to police that. I have no faith in the Chinese authorities who are not making public the extent of the present number of cases and any variants they may have discovered. As for Anutin suggesting there is nothing to worry about because 60% have already had covid, that means 40% haven't and we know presently Chinese hospitals are completely overwhelmed with what we are told are many millions of new cases. And in the midst of all this, Thailand is prepared to accept tourists? I have four overseas trips to four different countries in the first four months of the year. Has anyone thought what the arrival of Chinese infected with the virus might do in terms of spreading covid here? If it results in a new wave in Thailand, will those living here and those planning to visit here find ourselves facing new testing and quarantine regulations? Why Thaiand does not wait until there is an end to the present disastrous covid crisis in China beats me.

My apologies to all.

I used to chat with quite a number of visitors from Singapore and Taiwan - and occasionally Japan. They came to Bangkok primarily for sex, but not for gogo bars. Before Babylon finally closed its doors, they would usually go either to a sauna or for a massage first. Many would satisfy their needs there. They'd then go out for dinner before some would hit the bars primarily to see the shows. Few were interested in watching gogo boys strut their stuff. Then some would hit DJ Station and another disco or two to dance until closing time. In other words, the impression i received - one that is reinforced by comments on sites like the Blowing Wind Travel section and from friends in both Singapore and Taipei - was that for the relatively new and younger Asian tourist, gogo bars are not of major interest. Massage with HE was much more so. As for the many mainland Chinese, has anyone actually seen a lot in the gogo bars? If you have, how do you know that they are from the mainland rather than from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong or elsewhere from the Chinese diaspora? That said, several years ago I did see a few handsome, tall, slim mainland guys in a Hong Kong sauna. One told me they had come on a week-end trip to Hong Kong mainly for luxury good shopping and going to a gay disco. They'd only hit the sauna because it was close to their hotel. They reminded me of some of the gorgeous guys I used to see in Beijing's Destination Club. So when the mainlanders do finally arrive - and I don't believe they will come in any number until 2024 - I just do not see them being a major boost to the gogo bars.

Firstly, I do not mean for this post to start a discussion of organised religion per se. Inevitably perhaps some will regard it as so and I can do nothing about that. Secondly I am basically not a religious person. I became very anti-organised religion when as a child I was sometimes dragged to church and for years had to play the hymns at a weekly meeting for young people called Bible Service. I do know quite a number who do believe in religion and I fully respect their views, as I trust they respect mine. It appears from the news media that the previous Pope, the former Cardinal Ratzinger, is on the point of death. His successor, Pope Benedict has asked for prayers. I happen to like Pope Benedict. As a world leader he has my respect for his humility, his dignity and his constant callng out world leaders for some of their failings. On the other hand, I never liked Ratzinger. He was a fundamentalist conservative who, in my view, only became Pope because of his influence over many years of the other cardinals. As a child he had been a member of the Hitler Youth, later in the German army and then interned in a Prisoner of War Camp. Having entered the Catholic Church, he was eventually made Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that position, he constantly reaffirmed the Church's negative views on birth control, use of condoms, homosexuality, gay marriage and dialogues with other religions. As sexual abuse of young children by priests was beginning to become known, he declared in a 2001 letter titled De delictis glavioribus that internal church investigations must remain confidential, including sexual abuse. For 20 years he had strictly enforced another Church document penned in 1962 which effectively banned discussion of sexual crimes by priests. He was the man in charge. He knew about the many tens of thousands of cases of sexual abuse that were being revealed around the world and did nothing. He even declared that as Archbishop of Munich, he knew nothing regarding abuses allegedly brought to his attention between 1977 and 1982. He later admitted his memory had been wrong but blamed the original accusation as an "editorial error". He asked for forgiveness and expressed nis "great pain." As Pope he was named in a lawsuit regarding the abuse of four boys in Texas but given diplomatic immunity. He was instrumental in not permitting senior clerics to resign. When he himself asked to leave his post aged 70, that other ultra conservative Pope John Paul II refused. On becoming Pope Ratzinger could have made substantial changes to get rid of at least some of the major corruption in the Curia. He failed to do so. A couple of years after he became Pope, Ratzinger became much more acquainted with what he called the "filth" in the Church. But he did little about it. He still refused to accept that secular law had presedence over Church law. I always thought that the Catholic Church hierarchy rather liked to have a conservative pope followed by a much more liberal one. I never knew the severe Pius XII (sometimes still called "Hitler's Pope" and the subject of an excellent book of the same name - although some of the allegations in that book are now the subject of debate) but really liked his successor, Cardinal Roncali the Archbishop of Venice, who became John XXIII. He called the Second Vatican Council with tha aim of making major changes in the Catholic Church. Almost as soon as the Council started its deliberations, John XXIII died of cancer and was succeeded by the much more strict Paul VI who is perhaps best known for his encyclical Humanae Vitae which confirmed the ban on contraception, a position exactly opposite that passed by the Seond Vatican Council. Paul VI went into a serious mental decline after his very good friend, Aldo Moro the Mayor of Rome, was capured by the Red Brigades Terrorist Group in March 1978. It so happened I was in Rome on May 9th that year and recall police sirens everywhere as Moro's body had been discovered in the trunk of a car close to the Vatican. After Paul's death later that year, the feeling of joy and light at the pastoral, beaming face of Pope John Paul I was palpable. The severity of the Church seemed to be consigned to the background for many years. It had at last a warm, gentle human face. Everyone, including the Cardinals seemed eleated. He reigned for just 33 days before being found dead in his bed. Conspiracy theorists had a field day, largely a result of discrepancies in the Vatican's various pronouncements about how he died and who found him. At least six major figures in the Church hierarchy were known to have had very good reason to fear if John Paul I remained as Pope. Another book was eventually written after the Vatican threw open its archives. "A Thief in the Night" by David Cornwell in 1989 goes into detail about the very different personalities around the Pope, the disasters and massive corruption in the Vatican Bank and the possibiilty that the Pope had been murdered. Another book written in 2017 revealed that John Paul ! had suffered from chest pains in the day prior to his death and died from a heart attack. At first John Paul II seemed almost in the mould of his predecessor. He quickly revealed he was not. The Catholic Church was back to the more severe interpretation of Catholic doctrine. Ratzinger was his ally. With Pope Benedict now also in less than the best of health, will the Cardinals revert to precedence and again return the Church away from its more pastoral ways and back to the severity of dogma? I hope not. And I will also not pray - although to whom or what I would pray is uncertain - for Ratzinger.