PeterRS

Thanks for the clarification. Plus they own See's Candies. When in Taipei I always buy far too many of them, despite the expense!

If that were the rule in the US, Clarence Thomas would have just two more months 🤣

Given that there is a minimum age at which an individual can become a US Senator, I wonder why there is no maximum age? WIth near gridlock in the US Senate, we have the spectacle of Senator Diane Feinstein at 89 seemingly desperate to hold on to her Senate seat while concerns about her physical and cognitative health are spreading like wildfire. If failing health means she cannot get from her California home to Washington, she puts her own party at major risk. She has already been absent since February and missed 60 of 82 votes. She, though, beats Chuck Grassley on the other side of the aisle by only a few months. Presumably there is no maximum age because the framers of the Constitution in 1788 did not consider that many Senators would live above the average age at death which was then under 40! But when you look at the Supreme Court there is not even a minimum age limit and few required qualifications. The youngest ever appointed as far as I can see was Joseph Storey in 1812 when he was 32. When nominated by George H W Bush, Clarence Thomas was 43 and had only been a judge for little more than a year. Yet Bush called him the "best person" to take the job, a recommendation massively derided. It was known Thomas was an extreme idealogue. Perhaps it was an 'up you' by Bush to those senators who had rejected and condemned Reagan's choice of another idealogue Robert Bork only 4 years earlier. The point surely is: if the average worker has to retire from their jobs at an age of between 60 and 70 depending on where you live, why is there no maximum age for those who rule over us in Congress, parliaments and High Courts? Judges in the UK have to retire at 70 (although there is a remote possibility of extending to 75). Although there seems to be no mandatory maximum age for UK MPs, at present the oldest member of the UK's House of Commons is 78. One of the oldest ever was Winston Churchill who retired at 89. Of course the USA is a different country, but how is it - and why is it - that the Joe Bidens, Donald Trumps and Rupert Murdochs of this world are able to have positions of such power and so greatly influence events at an age when most of the world has not only had no choice but retire, a very large number are dead?

Just a quick note to say that Yunnan Province of which Kunming is the capital city has many fascinating places to visit. I flew there about 5 years ago and visited Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La in addition to a day in Kunming. Dali is part of the breadbasket of China. Lijiang has a legendary beautiful old town and Shangri-La boasts a Tibetan monastery said to be the most beautiful outside Lhasa in Tibet. The Province has many Tibetans as it abuts Tibet. Dali Lijiang Ganden Sumtseling Monastery at Shangri-La

As I think Barry Kenyon pointed out in one of his articles, getting a new UK passport if you apply in Thaiand can take up to 11 weeks. This was prior to the passport officers' strike. Goodness knows how long it will take now as April/May is a peak appllication period at the national passport office in Liverpool for Brits applying for first passports for summer holidays. As I mentioned in another thread, I was in the UK last month. With just three pages left in a 50 page passport and rarely having a 3-month period before having to travel, a friend in London told me about the one-week fast-track service in the London and Glasgow passport offices. Although this is technically available only if you live in the UK which I do not, I did apply for an interview in advance and prepared various reasons which i was sure the officer would ask about. As it turned out, all I had to do was show him two previous passports illustrating how quickly they got filled up. Instead of 30 minutes, the interview took just 8. My new 50-page passport arrived at my relative's home exactly 48 hours later (I did pay a little extra for local courier delivery)! In total I paid about £35 more than the £138.51 quoted in the article. It was definitely worth it and I would gladly have paid even more.

I have never thought much about 'woke' and have wondered why the word has gained such traction. Reading the above, my first reaction was ridiculous! How can you reset a quintissentially Japanese G&S parody to Renaissance Italy? How do you make Sullivan's pseudo-Japanese music work? Then I realised it was only the music I was really concerned about because it simply would not fit the concept. In theatre (and often, paradoxically perhaps, opera), though, resetting the period and even the country can work extremely effectively. I recall seeing two theatre companies present stunning productions of classics reset to Japan. The Ninagawa Company took its Macbeth set in samurai Japan to the Edinburgh Festival and later London in the mid-1980s. It was adored by audiences and critics alike. The same country's Suzuki Company took its versions of various Greek classics on tour to various countries. I saw its Elektra with strong Noh and Kabuki influences and was overwhelmed by its stunning physicality and overall effect. Would wokeness have resulted in such productions being banned?

Can't read as the NYT is under a paywall. But I assume the opera is based on the book A Man's World which is summarised in the following longish 2015 article from The Guardian. Great true story. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/sep/10/boxer-emile-griffith-gay-taunts-book-extract

In 1979 most decent Bangkok hotels had air-conditioning. Even the Rose Hotel in Suriwong and the Royal Hotel near Sanam Luang, both of which would have struggled to gain more than 2 stars, had a/c. Perhaps interesting, Government House in Hong Kong did not have a/c installed until the start of 1979! How the Goverors put up with the heat and especially the summer humidity before then I shudder to think.

Emirates has just offered a special price of "from 70,480 baht" for biz class from BKK to Dubai. I haven't checked any dates but it is valid from April 13 to 30 September. The offer expires in 13 days. At US$2,050 that's a great deal cheaper than quoted by the OP.

I suspect most of us were eager to read Mary Renault's novels in our youth. She was one of the few writers prepared to highlight homosexual relationships even though the references are now regarded as somewhat mild. Fire From Heaven depicts the love between Alexander and his boyhood friend Hephaestion, while The Persian Boy describes the love that develops between Alexander and the young castrated Persian from an aristocratic family gifted to Alexander by King Darius.

The humidity in Bangkok does not feel especially high - and there is at least a bit of a breeze most days. Certainly I have felt much higher and almost unbearable levels of humidity in places like Tokyo and Hong Kong.

There's an interesting article in today's UK Observer newspaper with today's writers informing readers of lesser-known books about gay life that deserve to be classics. So it's not discussing the James Baldwins or Alan Holingshursts. I won't list them here as it's easy to see them headlined in the article. I will just quote a few lines from near the start. "Arriving in London in the last few months of the 1980s, I discovered that there were more than a few hundred of us and that books still had a potent force. Shared among gay friends, we could celebrate our growing confidence and visibility with new work from Alan Hollinghurst and Jeanette Winterson, develop a camp sensibility by quoting to each other lines from EF Benson and Ronald Firbank, imagine that London could become the queer Arcadia depicted in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City." https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/09/lgbtq-lost-classics-books-chosen-by-authors It made me think about the books which helped me realise that I was not one of a few feeling he was gay. One of the first i read was a classic of its time and I see from amazon that it remains in publication today. Written by the late French diplomat Roger Peyrefitte, Special Friendships was the English translation published in 1958 of his 1944 novel Les Amities particulieres. It is set in a French religious public (private) school for boys, outlines his own homoerotic experiences and deals specifically with the crush/love of two boys for each other. The New York Review of Books wrote in its review, "Schoolboy passions have seldom been described with such delicate sympathy and understanding." Regarded by many as scandalous, Andre Gide congratulated Peyrefitte on its publication. It was assumed to be autobiographical although it seems Peyrefitte did not acknoweldge his own homosexuality until he was posted as Secretary to the French Embassy in Athens in his early 30s. After Les Amities particulieres Peyrefitte continued to be regarded as an iconoclast when he published in 1955 Les Clefs de Saint Pierre - printed in English in 1957 as The Keys of St. Peter - which was regarded as "lewd and libellous" and was prosecuted for obscenity in Italy. Hugely popular in France, it attacked Pope Pius XII in particular and the Catholic Church in general. A secondary theme is the realisation of a young seminarist that he has fallen in love with another man. In articles written some years later, Peyrefitte accused Pope Pius of being a closet homosexual and having chosen for his Papal name his lover's first name. This reached the eyes of Pius who in an address in St. Peter's Square complained about the "horrible and slanderous insinuations" being said about him!

What a fascinating documentary! Thank you so much for posting. I am sending it to my friends who will be visiting the Amsterdam Exhibition next month. When I saw that it was a Penn & Teller film, I assumed it would be something quite flippant. Nothing could have been further from reality. It's a very serious study of how Vermeer might actually have been able to reproduce so exactly the images he painted. If so, then he would not have been the first to use that marriage of art and simple technology. 150 years before Vermeer, the early Renaissance Tuscan painter Piero della Francesca was known also as a mathematician and master of geometry. This is clearly seen in the few of his paintings still available in Museums and Galleries. One year in Italy I drove over to Urbino just to see what is arguably his finest extant work, The Flagellation of Christ, frequently called the finest small painting in the world. The geometry is extraordinary and has been the subject of many videos. This short one is interesting partly because it starts by explaining the background to the possible composition and the characters, but more particularly because it details some of the painting's geometry. If you are interested only in the latter, start at 5'05" - and be amazed!

On a slight tangent, I got a new passport when in the UK last month (excellent 48 hour service booked in advance - although at a price) and now have the hassle of ensuring almost every organisation I have to deal with in Bangkok has my passport details changed. On Friday at the Bangkok Bank Head Office I could not believe this meant the bank staff had not only to change my passbook but complete around 20 different forms of which I had to countesign most. The whole process took nearly 25 minutes and struck me as a total waste of staff time for what ought to be a relatively simple procedure! Re the cops, I always carry with me a laminated photocopy of the passport details page with the visa on the other side. Never been asked for it, though!

Not sure why I have not noticed that Bangkok seems markedly hotter than in previous years. I've had to walk around 3 kms (total with several stops) in the early afternoons daily over the last 4 days in the centre of the city and hardly broke sweat. And I returned from a fortnight in a really cold UK on March 21. But the cooler weather for Thailand is on the way certainly by next month.

Like @vinapu I am pretty sure they will be higher for what is one of the peak travel seasons unless the present volume of passengers starts to tail off. I'd certainly wait. Not sure to which city you wish to fly, but some Emirates flights have its new PE class. But I see from the Skytrax site that passenger reviews for Emirates are a good deal worse than before, even for first and biz class. I recall it was only 4 1/2 years ago I got biz class flights to/from the UK on Qatar for 77,000 Baht! Qatar still gets generally very good reviews on Skytrax. For my regular trips to Taipei, I am delighted that the low economy fares on China Airlines from BKK are still what they were 3 years ago. I am snapping up tickets for November 2023 and February 2024 before they rise.

That entire Barry Kenyon article is a sober warning that should be mandatory reading for all potential tourists. But I wonder how many, including residents, are aware of the back seat seatbelt law? Very few, I suspect. As a regular passenger in Bangkok, about two weeks ago I heard from one driver - who himself was not wearing his own belt (very unusual in my experience) - that "no one bothers with belts in the back seats." It's obviously one of these laws almost impossible to police because of the dark tinted windows. Discovery is only likely in the event of an accident. Although I have admitted to not wearing a helmet when taking a motorcy taxi, I do wear seat belts as a taxi passenger. This is no doubt the result of an experience on a business trip to California and what was luckily only a mild crash on Highway 1 when I was a back seat passenger not wearing the belt. In Hong Kong the wearing of belts became mandatory around the mid-1990s and the public was given just two short weeks grace to get used to the law. Thereafter passengers AND drivers would be fined. To be fair, dark windows were not common in HK 3 decades ago and it was much easier to police the law. The reality of having to go to a police station to pay fines soon had everyone using the belts.

The accident noted by @reader is so reminiscent on the one in 2010 when a hi-so teenager without a licence and using her mobile phone crashed at speed into the back of a minibus on the Don Mueang tollway. The van was pushed over the side of the road and crashed on to the road below killing 9 and severely injuring 7 others - most students and faculty members at Thammasat University. Thais were outraged when a photo appeared in the media of the teenager texting on her phone at the side of her crashed car. Photo: Bangkok Post This 16-year old should have been jailed for several years. However, being one of the hi-so set, she was given only 3 years with this later reduced to just 2. But she did not even have to serve any time. Because of her "co-operation" with the authorities, the sentence was suspended for 3 years. She then had the gall to appeal the verdict on the grounds of "lack of intent." That was thrown out by the Supreme Court in 2015. Last I heard is that the van driver's lawyers began a Court action on behalf of those killed for 120 million Baht in damages. As a result of the girl's family lawyers constantly raising ridiculous issues. the amount was finally knocked down to 19.8 million. One of these nonsensical arguments in the Court papers states "she is from the Thephasadin Na Ayudhya family which has done good for the country," and clearly this had some effect on the judges. As of July 2019, the victims had received neither cash nor an apology. The teenager, by then 25, was already married to a former National Legislative Assembly member. Presumably that makes her even more untouchable! She and her family are clearly seen by most Thais as a total disgrace! As one of the famly's lawyers said to the mother of a doctor killed in the crash, "You want some cash, then keep fighting." PS: After this post, I discovered that the family of the girl finally handed over a cheque for 42.54 million Baht in August 2019. This was made up of the settlement amount 25 million to the next of kin of those killed and injured plus legal fees and interest.

Those us who remember the Confirmation hearings during Clarence Thomas's bid to be appointed to the Supreme Court three decades ago will definitely recall that he never once answered Professor Anita Hill's testimony with its allegations of sexual impropriety in the worldplace. Remember the pubic hair on the Coca Cola can? Instead, the veins on his head bulging, he spent some considerable time haranguing the Judiciary Committee members about how this was yet another slur on black men and a means to stop their advancement. The Chairman - Joe Biden, remember? - never asked for his detailed answer to Anita Hill's specific allegations. Nor did he call the other women waiting outside the Committee Room to back up Professor Hill's comments. So Thomas sailed through. Since then he has been arguably the Court's most right wing member, yet has hardly made any publlic comments. Perhaps his best course given how believable the allegations against him were. Now we know that his wife was involved through encouraging emails and perhaps more to those who stormed the Capital to stop Joe Biden's election process. And today CNN reports that his ethics are as questionable as his sexual peccadillos. ProPublica reported yesterday that over his years on the bench he accepted many luxury trips arranged for and paid by GOP billionaire and mega-donor Harlan Crow. These included trips on private jets and super yachts to Indonesia and New Zealand and to several US states. Some sort of perks were provided by Crow virtually every year. Thomas and his wife paid for none of these and failed to disclose all but one on his public ethics filings. Crow claims these were merely gatherings with friends! Huh? Er . . . what happened here about legal ethics and conflicts of interest? Or is it just that Thomas conveniently forgot about these nice little presents just as he conveniently forgot about that small public hair on the Coke can? CNN dug up his interview in which he states he prefere to take vacations learning about the United States rather than going to places like Europe! Huh? The man is a disgrace! https://www.gayguides.com/forums/forum/5-the-beer-bar/?do=add

Surely that comment is in the wrong forum. The title of this one includes "Post information here on events, places, activities, questions". There have been dozens of threads here dealing with items of interest to gay readers without relating specifically to outright sex.

When reading various sites yesterday morning, I recall one major company was named. However, even using my computer's history function, I cannot now find that information so i will not mention it. I did turn up information on another roughly similar accident involving and Englishman which occurred on Ko Tao in January. There the unfortunate scooter driver had crashed into a tree. He did have an annual travel policy from Lloyds Bank although given his injuries it would seem that perhaps he was not wearing a helmet. But he had been out of the UK for 31 days and the limit on his policy for any one trip was 30 days. Again insurance cover was denied. Small print! https://bangkokjack.com/2023/01/08/travel-insurance-thailand-crash/ Three weeks ago The Bangkok Post reported that out of 20,000 deaths on the roads in Thailand, 74% were of motorcycle drivers. It adds that Thailand's roads are the deadliest in the region and among the ten most dangerous in the world. https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2528069/motorbike-death-toll-a-growing-crisis

I have just paid 75% more for economy flights to/from Hong Kong at the end of the month than I did in December for flights on the same airline in mid-January. I could not even get my preferred dates as there were only premium tickets left for many afternoon/evening returns. The new normal it seems.

Just to add I have been more than a dozen times to The Muse Hotel's Speakeasy Bar on Lang Suan (about 200 meters down from Chidlom BTS). It's a great space and the service and food offerings are excellent. I just wish it would return to its pre-covid system of offering substantial discounts on food if you arrrived early. So, a major discount of about 50% if you arrived by 6:30, the discount reducing until around 8:00 pm.

One of the UK newspapers informs readers he was riding a moped in the early hours of the morning to get some food and had just arrived after 16 hours of travel on a bus to get to the island where it seems the accident happened. There are implications he was tired. There is an allegation that perhaps his helmet was stolen. No other details/suggestions are provided. Other questions that hopefully will eventually be provided. Might he have had a helmet but not fastened the strap? What was the nature of the accident? Did it involve another vehicle? How long did it take for him to receive medical treatment after the accident? We'll probably never find out. Like others, I wish him the best. Also like others have stated, read the small print in your travel policy and make sure you know the local laws regarding your activities whilst abroad. Thai law is very clear: drivers on motorcycles AND their passengers must wear helmets. As we all know, this is usually not observed by passengers (mea culpa!) But presumably if as a passenger the motorcycle I was riding was in an accident and I required medical treatment, the medical costs would not be covered by insurance.

It's the most sought-after ticket for years. The largest Exhibition of works by the 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer ever assembled are on display at Amterdam's Rijksmuseum. It opened in early February and runs until June 4th. But forget about trying to get tickets. They all sold out in just three days. After his relatively short life of 43 years, only 34 works by Vermeer have survived, of which 28 form the Exhibition. These include arguably his most famous The Girl with a Pearl Earring. Vermeer worked slowly, hence his small output, but this meant he left his wife and child in poverty and in debt. For 200 years he was all but forgotten. Then in the 19th century he was rediscovered and deemed to be one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age of Painting. For those who would like to know more about all the works on display, this audio/video guide with Stephen Fry introducing each of the paintings is a splendid introduction. Just copy the link and click on the box "With Stephen Fry" https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/johannes-vermeer?utm_source=nieuwsbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=online_vermeer_experience&utm_content=algemeen_en