PeterRS

Ten years ago 18 year-old Ratchanok Inthanon became Thailand's first World Badminton Women's Champion when she won in 2013. Tonight at this year's World Championships in Copenhagen, Thailand's 22-year old Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Bangkok, the current World No. 3, became the nation's first-ever Men's Singles World Champion. He beat another 22-year old, Japan's Kodai Naraoka, in three sets in one of the longest badminton matches I have ever seen. Some years ago, Khun Kunlavut was the World Junior Champion for three successive years. One of those he beat in the final in 2018 was the same Kodai Naraoka! He now seems certain to enjoy much more international fame and success for over the next decade. Photo: AP

Not only Japan whose population has been shrinking quite fast for well over a decade. Young Japanese are putting off marrying until much later than before and many couples are either delaying having kids or deciding not to have any. The country's allied problem is that it still does not want to open up its labour market to foreign workers. It is estimated that for population numbers to remain constant, a country's birthrate should be a minimum of 2.1 children per woman of child bearing age. Japan is now at 1.26. Singapore's population has also been shrinking quite dramatically for at least 2 decades. Last year the fertility rate dropped to an historic low of 1.04. The country's economy now depends on well over 1 million overseas workers. South Korea's population started shrinking much later in 2020. But its drop has been much more dramatic and last year stood at a world record low of 0.78. If nothing is done to change the attitude of young South Koreans, it is estimated the country could "lose" close to two-thirds of its population within just one generation. As worrying for Beijing, its four-decade policy of one child per family certainly had the desired effect of reducing its alarming population rise. But it has now joined the list of countries with worrying declines in birthrates. Equally, due to the preference of parents for boys rather than girls, it has a major population imbalance. It is estimated that some 30+ million young men will be unable to find wives. The one child poicy has now been replaced with a recommendation that couples aim to have three children! And like Japan, both China and South Korea are reluctant to open their countries up to a larger number of foreign workers. Unless they do so, the ability of the countries to look after their ageing populations will become increasingly problematic. There are many reasons for population decline, including improved personal incomes. Singapore and Japan have tried to encourage more young men and women to marry with the opening of special centres for meeting members of the opposite sex. Tax and other financial benefits are also available. But so far these do not appear to have more than token success. The major hurdle all countries have to overcome is that recent surveys have shown that more than half of young Japanese and South Korean women in in their 20s do not wish to have children. A survey in China found the percentage to be closer fo 66.6%. Asia is shrinking! https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-s-birth-rates-hit-record-low-in-2022-along-with-most-yearly-deaths-since-1960#:~:text=Official figures released by the,2021 to 35%2C605 in 2022. https://www.foreignbrief.com/analysis/population-east-asia-decline/#:~:text=EAST ASIA IS SHRINKING&text=China is only the most,children per woman is required.

Having read so much about retirement visas over several years, increasingly it seems that the bad guys continue to be the crook agents and crook Immigration officers and less crook retirees. If the government just cleaned up its own house, much of the problem could be solved without the need to increase fees in my view.

For two entries in relatively quick succession, this is important - less for Thai Immigration and more for the counter official when you check in at your departure airport. So please make sure you have evidence of a ticket out of Thailand ideally not less than 29 days after arrival (to be certain there is no confusion with night flights). Although living in Thailand, as a regular traveller I find I am increasingly asked either to show my visa or for proof of onward travel within 30 days when checking in overseas.

Unless the brown envelopes are stuffed with enough for them to avoid prison altogether 😵

If the couple only had 9 milion baht in their bank account, my guess is that a great deal more has been squirreled away and is sitting in overseas accounts.

Two interesting points from that article. First that the "younger generation is not interested in travelling abroad or applying for a passport." I find that almost impossible to believe. Walk around Honolulu and amost everyone is a young Japanese. And every younger Japanese I meet always wants to visit parts of Europe. Secondly, it does not mention flight departure times. If it is like many low cost carriers (and some of the full service carriers on the Japan routes), at least one leg will be overnight. Maybe OK for those elusive younger passengers, but I for one will not fly on a 6 to 7.5 hour overnight flight, even with that low price. I'll happily pay more for the JAL daytime economy tickets.

I always travel with two different types of ear plugs. One is made of a waxy substance which can be moulded to the shape of your ear and blocks out almost all sound. But it cannot be used on aircraft because it can trap air in the ear canal. I use them in hotels with a lot of traffic outside or noise from adjoining rooms. For flying I get the softer plugs that are usually given out in business class but can be purchased in stores like Watsons and Boots. These feel a little strange when you first put them in but I find them very effective in reducing external noises.

The Photos page in the members area has disappeared!

I wrote quite some time ago about the US political system and how the four year Presidential cycle really should be changed given the present state of the world. One President does one thing. The next reverses course and changes it. That has happened several times. Throughout his Presidency starting from his first year in office, Clinton examined ways of involving North Korea in talks in the hope of coming to some nuclear agreement. By his last year, considerable progress had been made that he even sent Madeleine Albright to Pyongyang. Earler he had established the Trilateral Co-ordination and Oversight Group along with Japan and South Korea specifically to move forward on North Korean relations. According to documents declassified in 2020, some time before her visit Albright had described Kim Jong Il as "strange, moody and hypersensitive." After meeting him in October 2000, her view had changed. Now she saw him as more "practical, pragmatic, decisive and non-ideological" than the US had earlier realised. She discussed her findings with the Japanese and South Korean leaders. President Kim agreed to use his influence with Chairman Kim to find ways of continuing to improve relations with North Korea. Clinton then wrote of his intention to remove North Korea from the list of nations supporting terrorism. George Bush soon assumed office, abandoned all talks and called out North Korea as part of an "axis of evil!" A total about turn and a total collapse of any form of co-operation. That said, I have lots of say about the poitical systems in other countries, especially my own - the UK. But this post follows on the point made about Cuba and the US.

Indeed! And has anyone yet discovered what he and Putin discussed during their 2-hour meeting in Helsinki in 2018, uniquely for a US President without any advisers present - merely an interpreter? When one reporter asked at the ensuing media conference if the Russians had interfered with the 2016 election as all Trump's intelligence agencies had claimed, Trump disagreed. According to him in front of the world's media, Putin had "just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be." Was Ukraine discussed? Did Trump say he'd turn a blind eye to further Russian incursions? Only the interpreters know.

Yes. It's the first topic in the third section of the forums headed Boy Toys, Escorts, Moneyboys Discussions.

I can fully understand your reasoning. Yet sometimes it is too easy to place blame on a people rather than a regime. I abhor what Russia is doing - and has done in other places like Chechnya - and I loathe dictators like Putin and their regimes. But that does not mean I use a broad brush and also loathe Russians, Chinese, Iranians and others living under similar regimes. I have met very few Russians, but spent two weeks travelling in Iran in 2018 when I met many Iranians. I found all extremely friendly, many very cultured and all utterly loathed the regime they had to live under. I have lost count of the number of times I have been to China over 4 decades visiting and making friends with people from Harbin in the far north east to Zhuhai in the far south next to Macao. The older Chinese tell tales from their grandparents of the disasters of the 20th century and compare these with the relative wealth of life today. They tolerate the regime that has radically improved their lives, but few actually like it.

Odd argument. And what of America? How many different ethnicities? How about the UK which not only has ethnic Scots, Welsh, Irish and perhaps some English, although there is Viking and French blood throughout the UK.

You err. The Khmer Rouge taking over Phnom Penh were hardened soldiers of the Pol Pot regime. When I was in Russia in 2011 and 2013, the young men I saw were students - not soldiers.

Russia lost roughly haf the total. That represented more than half of all Soviet deaths. On the basis of per head of population, Armenia, Latvia and Ukraine lost a fraction more but Belarus suffered by far the most. The other 10 Soviet states suffered considerably less than Russia. I thought Belarus was an ally of Russia. Only Ukraine is presently terrorized by Russia. Armenia has banned Russian imports and would arrest Putin if he entered the country. Latvia is a member of the EU.

Thai Insurance policy that covers overseas. The overseas limits are smaller than required for most countries and so i top it up with simple one-trip travel policies. I used to have an annual travel policy but the premiums jumped to a level I felt unnecessary.

The same way that most of the Chinese leadership never acknowledged the atrocities Mao inflicted on China with 30 million or so Chinese dying as a result of his various campaigns - including Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom, The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Yet it is estimated that less than a milion died during Stalin's purges. Even adding those who died of hunger and the estimate is little more than 5 million. Granted, two blacks don't make a whilte. But it's not unreasonable to make comparisons. I have been to Russia six times - 3 during the Soviet era and 3 much more recently in 2011 and 2013. Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 1980s were basically drab with large numbers on the streets trying to sell their household goods to get some cash. One group of youths even offered to buy the jeans I was wearing. My last three visits were like chalk and cheese. Both cities were fascinating, lively and with some stunning guys. At a Conference in Moscow, along with three fellow delegates (all gay!) we went one evening to the bar at the top of the Swissotel with its stunning views of Moscow. Equally stunning were the waiters and the boys manning the bar. Our waiter told us that all his colleagues were Russians but the barmen were Czech. Every one would have been extremely beddable! In St. Petersburg in 2013 I was with a dear friend from London. One day we ventured to the gorgeous Catherine Palace. The subway passes a Technical College. Once again most of the young guys looked extremely attractive. I thought one was smiling at me (wishful thinking no doubt!) but my friend is a lady and so my smile back was little more than weak! But when we talk about Russia and atrocities, we should never forget that without Russia the outcome of WWII might have been very different. We should also never forget that 27 million Russians died in that war, compared to little more than 400,000 each Americans and British. We tend today to think only of the 6 million Jews massacred by Hitler. Russia's contribution was vital to the allies winning that war.

The fact that Pheu Thai has reneged on its election promise not to ally itself to any military party (there are 2 military backed parties in its coalition) is already causing anger around the country.

I cannot imagine living in a 'new' country and ending up lonely and bored, no matter how attractive some of its other benefits. Earlier in the thread, @omega mentioned the effect of AIDS on the psyche of those who lived through that pandemic at a time when friends, acquaintances and sometimes lovers died horrible deaths while those of us sexually active at that time managed to escape. My guess is that almost all have managed to move on despite the losses and the feelings of survivor guilt. I know of two, though, who were never able to shake off the tragedy of those years, such was the effect on their personal lives. One could never form another close relationship, and he himself lived for another 27 years. Thankfuly I have quite a full life. When on my own, as is probably obvious from the length of my posts 😵 (!) I spend quite a lot of time writing. This has resulted in three books so far with a fourth hopefully about to find a publisher. They don't make more than beer money, but it's a hobby that I have found surprisingly interesting and absorbing. I suggest one problem for retirees in Thailand (and I mean in general rather than specifically in Pattaya) is that our visas not only prohibit any form of paid work, they prohibit all types of unpaid work - e.g. for charities. I would love to donate some of the skills I have learned in life to help a charity. That seems to me not just a productive use of time but a way of getting to know more people, some of whom might become friends. As for healthcare, that is a real problem for anyone who did not take out a policy prior to age 65. Even then, though, apart from small annual increases, the major jump every five years do raise premiums very substantially. I did have to downgrade and pay less for leser benefits. I have started using the public King Chulalongkorn Hospital where costs are a fraction of the private hospitals. That by no means reduces the quality of care. A doctor I occasionally see spends three days a week at KCH and the rest of the week at Bumrungrad. I recently required a retina check. The consultant I saw was a Professor of Retinology who works at KCH just two evenings every fortnight. Both doctors were excellent. But anyone who is living here without some form of health policy is playing a dangerous form of roulette IMHO.

I totally agree about John McCain. That man was a hero and it is sad that he seems almost forgotten now. Or is that merely the view of one who does not live in the USA? I think I should clarify one point in my earlier post. The reason the USA did not put pressure on France to stay out of Indo-China after WWII was partly a due to the French leader, General de Gaulle. He leaned heavily on Truman by suggesting that if France was not permitted back to its Asian colonies it would allow Soviet troops to enter France and extend Soviet influence to the Atlantic. That would have been anathema to the Washington establishment and so it bent to the lesser of two evils, even though de Gaulle was a master bluffer. Much as I love the mix of French and Vietnamese cuisine and some of the architecture, we should be in no doubt about the atrocities committed by the French. @Moses mentiones the Museum in HCM. Everyone visiting Hanoi should spend some time at the Museum there. Chilling!

It would be great fun. But a closed frontage is not going to stop the BIB. Some other owner will get pissed off at the custom that bar is attracting and submit an anonymous tip. And that will lead to an anonymous raid. Hope I'm wrong, though.

I bought a 2 bed 2 bath unit in Bangkok in 1999. I had no other property and so it was primarily for longer term retirement while being rented in the meantime. Fortunately the market was low following the Asian Economic Crisis and I got a top floor 82 sq.m. apartment in a new condo in a very quiet residential district very close to the centre of the city for 2.8 million. It has a pool, sauna, gym and excellent mangement team. Having rented - usually, thankfully, with employers paying the rent - during the previous 20 or so years I wanted a place of my own with my own furniture and fittings. Being the top floor, I had the roof insulated which keeps the temperature no warmer than in floors below. As we sit on the balcony having drinks, we have a great mostly green view with almost no traffic noise. I'm told it's now worth about 175% more than I paid. Not a great return but you have to factor in the dot.com bubble, the SARS downturn and the 2008 financial crisis. Plus I ended up living here far earlier in 2002. So I have not had to pay rent which for this area would have been at least 7 million over 20 years. Total management fees have totalled around 850,000. The flat took a long time to find, but I've been extremely happy living in this area and having my own property.

I wonder why you think that. Chinese are not going to travel in anything like their pre-covid numbers for several years. Too many Chinese are still trying to make up income lost during covid. On top of that the Chinese economy is in serious trouble. In turbulent times Chinese save rather than spend. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/21/economy/china-economy-troubles-intl-hnk/index.html

I have never been on a mega- or mini-mega cruise and cannot imagine going near one of these behemoths, even with a bunch of friends. The Silver Wind had 300 passengers and the other two ships I was on had less than 600. Best was I did not pay a cent since my friend was a lecturer and had free accommodation. I merely used air miles to get to the ports of departure. Although lecturers were classed as "entertainers" and should have been consigned to the bottom level of cabins, my friend knew the hotel managers and we were upgraded twice to suites with balconies. But I would still not take another cruise.