PeterRS

And do we continue to believe that in this day and age one-man-one-vote is the democracy that works best? This is particularly true when very few countries actually give individuals a vote that truly elects a leader. Increasingly out of date systems like electoral colleges, constituencies where the winner takes all and countries allow those with the cash to spend gazillions to see elected only those who will pass the policies they wish to see passed or even just to stand for election. The changes in our day to day lives since Churchill made his much quoted comment on democracy being the worst form of government except for all the other forms that have been tried from time to time was made have been massive. Would he agree now, I wonder? I suspect he would add only in those countries where there is freedom of speech, a truly independent judiciary and a Constitution that all respect.

Rather surprisingly as he is not on OnlyFans, my partner decided last night to see if he could find any of Titus Low's video material. Two turned up on a regular porn site. One is straightforward stripping and masturbating on camera. The other, though, has major SM influences with him clad in leather and someone off camera using a sort of whip and vibrator. I wonder if it is the latter that got the authorities interested? Would he have got away with just nudity and jerking off? We''ll probably never know!

So beautifully written @CurtisD. I so much hope that all worked/works out well for you.

Leaving aside his being an antivaxxer, I am one of those who could never understand the appeal of Meat Loaf. To me he was just a silly oaf who could never sing in tune. If he did die of covid and has been preaching the anti-vaccine message, I have no sympathy for him.

The comparison with airlines is interesting and no doubt accurate. Even 15 years ago I was still buying most of my airline tickets through an agency. I remember they complained about airlines reducing their commissions which had until relatively recently been 9%. By now agency commissions must be close to 0% and the customer should have benefitted as a result.

He is 22 yo. Like many he was having a hard time making ends meet during the pandemic. Six months ago he decided to try and raise some more cash by going naked on OnlyFans. Soon the site enabled him to gain financial independence. But things are never that easy in conservative Singapore - conservative when it comes to matters of nudity and sex. In October last year police arrived and confiscated Titus Low's phone, iPad and details of his Only Fans account. Allegedly they stated he had transmitted obscene materials through his OnlyFans account. He was warned not to access the account any more as it would amount to a criminal offence. Allegedly, according to the police, he continued posting on his account and even opened a second one. In late December he was handcuffed and arrested. The two charges could result in up to 6 months in jail and a fine of S$5,000. Professor of Law, Eugene Tan, has stated, "Those using the platform to produce and transmit obscene material are in the crosshairs of the [authorities]. Where the authorities know of their involvement, it is a question of when, rather than whether, the law will catch up with them." He adds, "In some jurisdiction like the UK and the US, the production and transmission of obscene material is not illegal ... [and] often connected with freedom of speech. The topic of sex is still one that remains largely taboo in conservative Singapore - a country where gay sex is still technically a crime and there are strict laws around sex work. The making, transmitting and sharing of obscene material is widely accepted as not being in accord with moral standards and norms of Singapore." Back home, Low says he will now concentrate on posting on other sites like YouTube. His problem is that he will still be breaking the law which covers all allegedly obscene material transmitted by electronic means. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60022424

I don't understand much about the world of finance. I never worked out why the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation rebranded as HSBC and set of on a huge global expansion. The takeover of the UK's Midland Bank was probably its noticeable early acquisition. So extensive were its tentacles it then started to call itself "the world's local bank." I can remember almost 20 years ago being on a ship that stopped at a small town half way up the Amazon to Manaus and sure enough there was an HSBC branch! Now HSBC has sold and closed part of its business in many countries, including Thailand. Consumer banking ended here quite a few years ago. Citibank's adventures in Asia have also seemed somewhat quixotic. Citi was in Japan for decades and then sold of its consumer division to Sumitomo Mitsui in 2015. It does seem that for non-local banks consumer banking is no longer the profit generator it used to be.

@z909's estimate is reasonably accurate. Re room sizes, in the days not so long ago when I travelled on business I was able to stay quite close to Shinjuku Station in a decent sized room in a 4 star hotel for around 5,700 bt. Since those days, I have found two hotels in the Kabuki-cho district (nearer the bar area) where I get B&B for 4,200 bt. The rooms are a bit smaller but nothing like the much smaller rooms you'll get if your budget is nearer 2,000 bt. And it's true that being restricted to only Japanese tourists, all Tokyo hotels presently have big discounts. But as he points out, there are deals to be had if you are prepared to check around for them. Another area where Tokyo is much cheaper than people assume are food and transport. There are so may small restaurants/cafes where you can get a nourishing main course for little more than 200 bt. The public transport system is amazing and amazingly cheap. You can get virtually anywhere in that huge city and be just 200 meters or so from your destination. The one problem is that almost all of it shuts down before midnight. So location becomes important because taxis are horribly expensive. I suggest a stopover is the best way of sampling some of what Tokyo offers. When I first moved to Asia, I wanted to visit many countries, but for whatever reason not Japan. On a Tokyo business stopover from the USA I found I was hooked. Not only have I worked there but I have visited at least 40 other times. Each time is a joy and anew exploration.

Apologies to all. My error. I stupidly assumed the price was in ¥ and covered down to baht. As @spoonhas rightly confirmed, the actual price is virtually 1,000 baht.

Not at all. Your summations are correct. If you are into gay for pay, then sticking with boys from the boy bars and boy websites in Japan does mean you pay extra for extra time. And your vacation will be more expensive than in Bangkok. But I assume since you are not paying for drinks and off fees, you are focussing on money boys from the apps. This always surprises me. I cannot speak for Pattaya but in Bangkok there are lots of boys in the apps looking for hookups who do not expect cash - and will sometimes refuse even transport money. The last time I was in Tokyo there were certainly fewer boys interested in foreigners. On the other hand there were far fewer money boys. Hotel room pricing in Japan is to a large extent dependent on room size and partly location. But you do not have to pay a fortune and the rooms will be spotlessly clean. There are plenty of guest houses and small hotels offering rooms around $40 or thereabouts. Yes, many will be small. But not all. For example, here is the room with bathroom at The Red Planet close to the famous Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa. This will cost you all of 350 baht on agoda for a night in February. Sadly the summer heat really is worse than April in Bangkok - largely because the humidity is high. When I worked there I needed a dehumidifier in the summer and a humidifier in the winter!

Considering everything, the cost of sex and massages in Japan is not all that much higher than Thailand pre-covid. You can choose a guy from one of the several boy bars to come to your hotel room. Each website is likely to have at least 100 boys with photographs, statistics, details of what the boy will or will not do and how much an hour or more will cost you. These bars also have some of the aggressively cute boys who star in the plethora of gay porn movies. Best of all the photos will look exactly like the boys. For around US$113 inclusive of everything he will come to your hotel room (and be there exactly to the minute), spend a hour with you and 'perform' exactly as per the website and you have informed the mamasan in advance. I have yet to come across anyone who has been anything other than very satisfied. True, you can get away with a short time in Bangkok for around 1,500 baht although it has been creeping more towards 2,000. In Bangkok, though, you mostly have to get to and from the bar, pay for drinks for yourself and your chosen one, and then pay the off fee. In most cases you will get what you have asked for - but certainly not always. Tokyo also has several of the best saunas in the region where you can stay for many hours. And although most of the bars are for Japanese only, there are still plenty catering to a mixed crown. And it is here you are more likely to find Japanese wanted to meet foreigners. The apps, too, are becoming more foreigner friendly. No doubt the problem more guys do not consider Tokyo a gay destination is the 'fear/concern' of not knowing the language and the local customs. Then there is the climate. It is even more hot and excessively humid than Bangkok in the summer and cold, frequently with snow, in the winter. Against that the spring and autumn periods are stunning with glorious scenery just outside the city. For those not wishing to consider Tokyo as a vacation destination, as a stopover for 2 or 3 days it could be great. Just make sure you have a good bilingual map!

As things stand, he is banned from returning to Australia for 3 years - although I'm reasonably certain that will be relaxed. But unless he gets vaccinated, he's out of the French Open and the US Open plus he'll need to quarantine before Wimbledon. I wonder if he realises that a lot of people hope he never gets vaccinated!

What's a video game?

It's sometimes easy to forget that 50 years ago couples in Thailand were each bearing between 5 and 6 children. The governments of the day agreed this was unsustainable and so started a major nationwide campaign to promote birth control. Leading the effort was Mechai Viravaidya who decided much greater use of condoms was required. He then travelled the country promoting condom use - basically through taking the stigma out of them. He would organise condom balloon contests, filling them with water and dropping them from heights and seemingly silly things like that. But it worked so well that condoms are still today referred to as Mechais! His restaurants Cabbages and Condoms are still operating. And it worked even better than expected in reducing the birth rate. Being at best a second world country, 5 to 6 children were economically unsustainable for families. Hence many were mired in basic poverty. As birth rates fell, incomes rose and the incentives for having fewer children were significant. At the present rate, Thailand is going to become eventually more like Singapore and Japan where birth rates are so low an increasingly smaller labour force will have to look after an increasingly larger percentage of those in the older age group. At present the birth rate per couple in Japan is 1.36. The spectre of importing foreign workers, once considered anathema, is now openly discussed. In Singapore the birth rate has fallen to 1.21 despite many government efforts to boost it. The nation-state now is home to 1.2 million registered foreign workers. This all helps to explain why the very large numbers of Thai boys working in the bars in the 1980s and 90s began to drop off by the mid-2000s very significantly. With all respect to @LondonerI do think this is now far less of an alternative to find work in gay venues than it was 30 - 40 years ago. Then the alternative to gay activities was indeed the rice field. I believe that is much less so today. Of course there will always be young Thais who like being with a farang, especially if he has money to provide a better life for him and his family. Same with the girls. But as - and if - the country keeps developing economically, I also believe these numbers will continue to fall. Will gay venue owners be prepared to continue operating with boys from neighbouring poorer countries, virtually all here either illegally or on one month non-work visas? I guess only time will tell.

I believe the weighing of the contestants used to be when they were nude. Wonder if that has changed.

Hong Kong is part of China and therefore what happens in China happens in Hong Kong. China is desperate to prevent more possible outbreaks because it is hosting the Winter Olympics in a couple of weeks. Draconan measures will not cease for the time being.

As I see it, the problem is one not uncommon throughout much of Asia. There is an assumption that one man one vote is the solution for democratic rule. That presumably is what the American colonial power assumed when it drew up the Constitution before leaving the The Philippines. Prior to to the US taking over as the colonial power, the country's Constitution had been based on the French model. That Constitution was immediately changed and in 1935, aware that it would eventually have to give the country independence, a new Constitution was adopted based almost exclusively on that of the USA. It has been changed since, but the earlier Constitution established the democratic principles by which the country would initially govern itself. It did put in place the institutions essential to a functioning democracy. And it is true that for a while the judiciary was independent and the first Presidents were acclaimed for their trusteeship of the post, particularly Ramon Magsaysay and Diosdado Macapagal. Then came Marcos, martial law and the descent. It is tempting to call Filipinos politically naive. As @TMax points out, Filipinos are addicted far more to popularity than policies. I cannot believe that the actor Joseph Estrada would have been elected in any other country. Even Duterte at the time of his election would only have had an outside chance - although with right wing nationalism sweeping much of the world, that might not be the case today. If Bongbong Marcos wins, as seems likely, it will largely be because he comes from one of the wealthiest families in the country and the fake history that is proving so successful in sanitising his father and mother's crimes. But I forgot in my earlier post to mention the dark horse. Another popular figure is in the race - Manny Pacquiao. Although he happens to be a member of parliament, he is a boxer who became famous because of his pugilistic exploits around the world. He is virtually worshipped in the country. He is also a noted homophobe. He has continually called homosexuals "worse than animals". He is also a bible thumper. So it would seem to this outsider that the choice is between one of two evils. I suspect Pacquiao will tamper less with the country's government. Marcos is the real danger man because he knows exactly how the country is run and knows exactly where his family's ghosts are hidden. So much for democracy!

I used to love visiting Manila for long week-ends. Before Bangkok became the Asian centre for commercial gay activities, Manila beat it hands down. A long week-end at the Philippine Plaza Hotel by the bay was incredibly inexpensive given its high quality and there were always so many gay westerners from all around Asia with their Filipino boys du jour. It really was gay central. I have written before of the delights of the huge barn of a place 690 Retiro Strip in the Quezon City area with its catwalks and well over 100 naked guys. In those waning years of the Marcos dictatorship, we were blissfully unaware of the depths to which Marcos and his cronies had sunk. Clearly corruption on a massive scale enabled the plethora of bars and clubs for all types to exist. One of Marcos' main antagonists of the time was the Cardinal of the country, a seemingly lovely man named I often thought rather appropriately Cardinal Sin. Jaime Sin was much loved and respected in the almost exclusively Catholic country. While his ranting against the evils of the Marcos regime seemed to come to nought, his open support for Corazon Aquino must have helped ensure the success of People Power. It took the murder in broad daylight of her husband, the main opposition leader Benigno Aquino returning from medical treatment in the USA, to waken us up a little. By then I had become enchanted with the gay scene in Bangkok and my visits to Manila tapered off. On my rare visits to Manila in recent decades, I have been depressed at the gay scene. For those interested, though, I am told other parts of the country are very beautiful and there are plenty of young willing men around. Any member been recently?

There was a time when The Philippines, released from colonialism by its former master the United States, enjoyed one of the most dynamic economies in the world. It was also politically stable and seemingly a thriving democracy. By the mid-1960s, other countries in Asia were mired in their own problems. Japan was recovering from World War 2. South Korea was in a worse mess following the Korean War. Hong Kong was still a sweatshop about to be engulfed by the mainland's Cultural Revolution. Malaysia and Singapore were much too young to have developed their economies. So when the Asian Development Bank was deciding where to locate its headquarters, there was only one real option - Manila. What no one then knew was that within a few years The Philippines would start a long period of disastrous decline, headed by a murdering kleptocrat who had been voted into the Presidency in that same year - 1965. With America soon to become engulfed in its series of wars in IndoChina, Ferdinand Marcos knew his previous colonial masters needed him and the military bases he could provide - big time. They would in no way force him to accept the usual checks and balances. As power increasingly went to his head, he declared martial law in 1972. There then followed a period of plunder of the nation's wealth, extra judicial killings and a massive increase in dire poverty nationwide. Opponents were first silenced and then killed. His dreadful wife Imelda whom he created the Governor of Manila believed, or so she claimed, her job was to give the Filipino people the glamour that none could even think about when they could barely afford to feed their families. By February 1986, the Filipinos had had enough of the murdering thieving Marcoses. They booted them out in a People Power Revolution and installed in his place as President Corazon Aquino, the widow of a senator killed by Marcos. That should have been the end of the Marcoses who deserved to be consigned to oblivion. The family fled into exile in Hawaii where they plotted their return to take power again in their home country. Only Marcos himself was by now too ill and died in 1989. President Aquino allowed the rest of the family to return to The Philippines to face justice for the billions they had stolen and ensure it was returned to the state. This was a decision that many were to come to regret. Marcos' all-powerful wife was hale and hearty and his children had all been earlier installed in positions of power. All used their former cronies to build a wall of silence around their kleptomania. Alleged to have stolen up to US$10 billion, the state has so far only managed to recover little more than $3.5 billion. The body of Marcos was kept embalmed in his home province until a national burial in the Cemetery of Heros was approved by President Duterte in 2016. To escape from the law, Imelda ran for office - and won. Even today at age 83 she out of reach of the arms of the law as a Member of the House of Representatives. She remains cocooned in her fantasy world of beauty, fine art, haute couture dresses, goodness knows how many pairs of shoes - and the rock solid belief that her husband was betrayed and wronged. Why this should still be something many in the media are now talking about again is the fact that another Marcos, another crook, seems set to become the next President of the country in May. Bongbong is the couple's only son. 4 years ago he was pretty much out of favour. Thanks to Trump-like use of social media he has cultivated an almost totally different persona. He has been almost completely disassociated with his father's crimes. Now he is a clean-cut businessman promising Filipinos a great future. Sadly, memories are short and too many believe him. In a recent survey, close to half of all Filipino voters are ready to vote for the former dictator's son. Not surprisingly, the man is a liar. He studied at Oxford University where he claims he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts. In fact he failed in Economics and twice in Politics. He did not receive a degree. He enrolled in the Wharton School of Business and again failed to graduate. Back in The Philippines, his father made him Chairman of the Telecoms company Philcomsat in early1985. Despite rarely visiting the company's offices or doing any work at all, he drew a salary that was allegedly up to $97,000 per month. Since his return, he has played major part in ensuring the family's ill-gotten wealth remains hidden. He has consistently trashed those who accuse his father of his many human rights abuses. But thanks largely to social media, Bongbong the crook stands at the pinnacle of power in a country where the government is infested with corruption and where power remains vested in a small number of hugely wealthy and influential families. Marcos senior frequently claimed that he would make The Philippines the Singapore of East Asia. Lee Kwan Yew loathed Marcos and wrote of him in 2000, "a self-indulgent ageing ruler who allowed his wife and cronies to clean out the country through ingenious monopolies and put the government heavily in debt . . . Only in The Philippines could a leader like Ferdinand Marcos, who pillaged his country for over 20 years, still be considered for a national burial." Once Bongbong sits on the throne, let's be ready for all manner of pardons and the still undiscovered stolen wealth remaining hidden where it will never be discovered. It now seems clear that yet again the Filipinos will elect a ridiculous, yet highly dangerous, figure to lead it. Adapted from https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/12/14/what-is-behind-the-resurgence-of-the-marcos-dynasty

As I understand it, some airlines have brought back the A380 to cope with the post Delta variant surge in desire for travel. To retrain its flight crews, Singapore Airlines is even running the aircraft on some of its short haul Singapore/Kuala Lumpur services. I have flown both Qatar and Emirates A380s. I found the Emirates version better, especially if you pay for the upstairs biz class. The stand-up bar at the back is a great addition. Not sure if it will continue post-pandemic, but EK used to extend one of its daily Bangkok services to Hong Kong. At around 14,000 baht with lounge service at both ends, flat bed seating, huge video screens and premium liquors, it was an unbeatable price.

Too many airlines are changing the seating on their 777s from 9 across in economy to 10, as CX has done. CX has also reduced seat pitch to add in 2 more rows. All that was before the pandemic! Totally agree with z909. Economy seating on the A380s have always felt comfortable. Here's a series of photos taken about 4 years ago with A380s on 3 adjacent bays in Hong Kong. I wonder if we will ever see that again.

Cathay Pacific must be in a desperate financial state. The territory has some of the most draconian anti-covid and quarantine measures in the world and passenger numbers have crashed. At least 50% of its fleet is now parked in Australia and Spain. It has been closing down its overseas pilot bases - decades ago it transferred many of its long haul pilots from expensive Hong Kong to their home countries in the UK, New Zealand and Canada - and offering early retirement to many employees. Last year it received a US$5 billion bail out from the government but that will have long been spent. The one bright spot is that its cargo business is better than before the pandemic. Whenever traffic picks up for the airline, some form of major restructuring will be essential.

If I recall correctly, the small print T&C of all hotels states that visitors are not permitted after a certain time in the evening. The reason for this is that under Thai law hotels have to report in their daily communication with the cops the names and passport/ID numbers of all guests staying overnight. So there is a cut-off time for guests in rooms. I cannot believe this is included on most hotel booking sites as they will probably refer to the need to fulfil the hotel's own T&C or at least to refer to them. Of course, many of the cheaper hotels turn a blind eye to this. But not all. By charging for a joiner, effectively they can include the joiner as a paid guest.

I asked the same. The fact was that most of the hotel rooms were spacious and beautifully furnished. But there was a corner in the building and the hotel had decided to convert these tiny areas to rooms. Being a corner, the space was in a V shape. They decided to have to room in the bottom of the V and the bathroom with the windows in the larger part. Result was the bathroom was about 3 times the size of the room. The bed was wedged into a wall and about the size of one of the beds in a normal twin bedded room. So if two were trying to sleep, the one nearest the wall would have had to climb over the other party to get to the loo! I headed my review "Beware of Phantom Rooms" I had earlier found the same in one Tokyo hotel - then just the Hyatt and now the Hyatt Regency in Shinjuku. I had once before been accommodated in a room that was a fraction of the size of the normal minimum price rooms, even though it was stated that two people could sleep there! That room was nowhere on the hotel's website. Attending a Conference a couple of years later, I asked the organiser to make certain I was not in one of those tiny rooms. Well, he didn't do his job and I found myself stuck in this tiny room once again. So I went to the front desk and asked what was the price of their standard twin or double room. I was told around ¥27,000. And the price of the room I was in - ¥25,000. This was nuts. I asked who booked these rooms. I was not told. So I asked to speak to the Night Manager. He told me that they were only sold to Japanese tour groups and walk-in guests. I was not Japanese, I informed him, and demanded to be put into a normal room with a large bed. He could not do this, I was told. So the next morning I had a meeting with a Mr. Kobayashi, the GM. In typical Japanese fashion he trotted out excuse after excuse. Again I got nowhere. So on my return home, I emailed Hyatt head office in Chicago. I got a very nice reply asking for my phone number and a suitable time to call. The young lady actually thanked me for my mail, pointing out that no-one in head office was aware of these tiny rooms. They had an executive going to Tokyo the following week and he would make sure to see every room type. A couple of weeks later she again called. They had instructed the management to withdraw all of the 90 small rooms in the hotel. She offered me Hyatt points equivalent to the amount I had paid for my visit and asked me to contact her the next time I was at a Hyatt as she would ensure I was upgraded to a suite. Great service! As a postscript, I was able to use those hotel points twice over. I soon used tham for 3 nights at the Hyatt on Waikiki. But that hotel was also a disaster - for reasons I need not go into. After I left for japan, I wrote a long email to the GM. He said he was mortifed at my treatment and recredited the Hyatt points. Later I used them at the lovely Hyatt in Kyoto!!

Words fail me. How on earth does a 6 out of 10 stars review merit a lawsuit. There must be something more to this than we have been told. On Tripadvisor I have twice given hotels 1 out of five stars. One was the Holiday Inn at Helsinki's Vantaa airport. There was no way to heat up the room as the hotel had determined what was the ideal temperature. When I told them I came from Thailand where it is hot, they did not care. The shower flooded the bathroom and there was a mop for guests to clean up the mess. The other was at a 5-star hotel in Tallinn. I was so looking award to staying there but the room was tiny, the bed was tiny, there was no bedside table and since the restaurant was closed the evening I arrived, they suggested I eat there the following evening. I booked, but it was closed that evening as well. When I complained, I was offered free transport to the ferry terminal to Helsinki. The car never tuned up. I took and laud for a taxi. At least the manager of that hotel refunded my room charges. He still got a 1 star from me, though.