PeterRS2

Another little organ anecdote 🤪. The Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie was very fond of music. He was sad that so many towns in the USA had no access to orchestral music as funding an orchestra was hugely expensive outside the dozen or so major cities. By the time he died, he had given away 90% of his fortune - estimated today to be worth US$6.9 billion. He was aware that a good pipe organ could to a certain extent imitate the sound of an orchestra. After all it has many hundreds of pipes each tuned to sound like an orchestral instrument. So he purchased 8,000 organs and donated them primarily for buildings other than churches where the people of the towns could hear a variety of music, including transcriptions of the great classical repertoire. The largest still-working pipe organ ever made was located in Macy's (before it recently closed last year) in Philadelphia. The Wanamaker Organ has a massive number of pipes - 28,762. It used to be played to encourage customers to come to the store, mostly during shopping hours but occasionally for special concerts. The organ remains in Macy's old Building and is still sometime played. It can produce the volume of three full-sized symphony orchestras playing fortissimo!

That's fascinating. Quite a number of comments on the internet say that most of the many youtube versions are played too fast. This is certainly slower than almost all (including the one I posted - 1'35" slower allowing for the delayed start). And he even slows down further in the quieter middle passage. Yet for the age of the recording and the very resonant church acoustic, the sound and the notes are remarkably clear.

Untruths - or jokes?

Timings have obviously improved since I was there. But I still think if anyone wishes to see the Taj Mahal in its ful glory, he has to be standing there before sunrise and in the late afternoon. Photos are great in the middle of the day/early afternoon, but really they could be taken against a white painted backdrop. Nothing beats the sight before you when the horizon is black and the sky slowly brightens as the sun comes up, turning the Taj into different colours. And the same in the late afternoon as the shadows lengthen. I thought both my visits were utterly magical. With all respect to those who wish to see the Taj and do not have more time than for a quick day trip, that sight is certainly way better than not seeing it. But it is a little bit like going to Pokhara in Nepal to stand at the viewing point at Sarangot and seeing the many mountains in the Annapurna Range in bright sunlight. That is nothing like watching dawn break over those 14 peaks over 7,000 meters.

Despite all the furore of the recent World Cup with interference by Trump, corrupt referees, banning of an official from the USA, extremely questionable decisions by VAR operators and massive price gounging, the World Cup prior to this year had always been for the fans and the countries who make it to the finals. Now the corrupt President Infantino who is beginning to seem worse than his corrupt (as proven in the Swiss courts) predecessor, the former women's underwear salesman cum FIFA President Sepp Blatter, wants to privatise soccer's gold mine. Fifa has announced plans to sell the commercial rights to its tournaments, including the World Cup, to private investors in a controversial move that triggered an immediate backlash from Uefa, leading European clubs and politicians . . . Fifa has confirmed it is working with the US bank JP Morgan on setting up a new entity – to be called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) – that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling a significant stake in the commercial rights of the men’s and women’s World Cups, and the Club World Cup to investors . . . Thrive Capital, an investment company founded by Joshua Kushner – the brother of Donald Trump’s son‑in-law Jared Kushner – is leading the search for investors. UEFA, the sport's European governing body, has tried unsuccessfully several times to get FIFA to reform its corrupt business practices. It is totally against this new Proposal of Infantino. And now we can see - perhaps, just perhaps - that Infantino's cosying up to Donald Trump over several years resulting in a useless FIFA Peace Prize being awarded the Donald when he did not get a Nobel is starting to pay off in a much bigger way than anyone expected. Infantino is clearly in Trump's pocket and if this mad plan goes ahead no doubt Trump and Kushner will gain yet more unearned riches. A plague on both their houses! Another totally against Infantino's get-me-rich-quick plan is Britain's new Prime Minister and himself soccer fan. “Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine. The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone’s to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/28/fifa-plan-sell-world-cup-commercial-rights-uefa-hits-out

Yet elswhere he has said he is 62. Like I'm 47!! 🤪

The Taj Mahal is a long way from Delhi for a day trip - approx. 230 kms and well over three hours by road. Plus I assume you arrive at Agra after 10:00 am by which time the crowds have really built up. Although it's many years since I was in Agra, I was up before sunrise to see dawn break over the Taj - a superb sight. Since I stayed for 2 days, I also visited in the late afternoon when again the sun was lower in the sky and the shadows gave the Taj a more fascinating look. Frankly, I cannot imagine being there in the heat of the day with the sun high in the sky which makes the Taj look almost two dimensional white. If you are in Agra for more than one day, it is also worth taking time to visit Fatehpur Sikri, little more than an hour away. One of the Mughal Emperors had had the city built around 1580 to be his capital but it was discovered there was insufficient water. It was then abandoned and became a ghost city, although about 30,000 still live there. The mosque is said to be a copy of the one in Mecca. Built mostly of red sandstone in the Mughal and Indian architectural styles, at sunset it looks magnificent. Fatehpur Sikri unattributed photos from internet

The return flight from Melbourne to France landed yesterday. Flying against the prevailing winds, the flight time was 24 hours 24 minutes, an hour longer than predicted. All passenger aircraft have to carry additional fuel to allow for problems at the destination airport. Two years ago my flight from Taipei tried to land at BKK several times in bad weather. It failed and we had to fly up to wait at Chiang Mai for an hour. I wonder how much extra fuel that modified A350 Australia/France carried? https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/28/qantas-plane-flies-for-more-than-24-hours-in-record-breaking-flight

Totally agree. The volume can hit you right in the stomach! I was taught piano from the age of six and in my mid teens decided to try playing the organ. But I had a big problem. You need to be able to play not only with your hands but also your feet. That means not only reading three lines of music instead of two which is difficult enough, when sitting on the organ bench you must be pretty agile with your feet. I never made it. Gave up! This is one of the most famous short organ works - the Toccata by French composer Charles Marie Widor. It was played at one of the Royal Weddings in the UK but I cannot recall which. I wish I had persevered and could play

And a visit to nearby Hoi An is essential.

I'd wait till we've heard that the upgrade is in place to see if all works well then.

I am curious. Where is there a decent pipe organ (the musical variety) in Bangkok? I have been to a couple of churches whose pipe organs were relatively poor. I think there is almost no musical experience that equates to a pipe organ being played full belt. And so few classical works include an organ, unless you think of the last movement of the Saint Saens Organ Symphony or the much smaller scale ones by composers like Handel. The one work which knocks me out if ever I get a chance to hear it live is the Berlioz Te Deum. The organ plays a massive part in all its six movements. Unfortunately it requires a huge orchestra, two large choirs of around 100 singers in each, and a boys chorus plus that mighty pipe organ. So when the orchestra and singers are all playing/singing fortissimo it is sometimes difficult to make out the organ. But what an experience! This is the second movement composed of three verses where the organ is more prominent - Tibi Omnes

There is only one theatre where musicals are usually presented - the Muangthai Rajadalai Theatre in the Esplanade Shopping Complex near the Thailand Cultural Centre MRT station. So quite central. It is actually a fabulous theatre with 1,400 seats, probably the finest in Bangkok. And it was built specifically to house musicals. The driving force behind its construction was the son of a foreign minister. While studying in the USA he would get to New York to see a musical almost every weekend. He was determined to have some come to Bangkok but there was no big enough theatre apart from the Thailand Cultural Centre which can only be hired for a few days at a time. Musicals are so expensive to import or create they generally need four weeks of performances minimum. So I expect Daddy and his friends put up the cash to construct it. I have seen several touring productions. When I took my bf to see The Lion King he could not believe he was seeing real performers. He absolutely adored it! https://www.rachadalai.com/en/about-us The theatre also hosts a lot of locally produced musicals, including the excellent Thai version of Miss Saigon I mentioned in my earlier post, although that one was monitored over several months by a production team from Australia. These are some of the other touring shows https://www.scenario.co.th/en/touring-shows

Mao's government was certainly to all intents and purposes anti-foreigner. Back in history, the destruction of the Summer Palace is unquestionably the foreign action most hated by all present Chinese however conservative or liberal their views. Not even the Opium Wars come close. As the chaplain to the British forces stated the Palace and its Gardens were - "arguably the greatest concentration of historic treasures in the world, dating and representing a full 5,000 years of an ancient civilization" Let's recall, though, that is was the French who started the destruction. And one of the first to condemn that destruction was French novellist Victor Hugo who wrote - There was, in a corner of the world, a wonder of the world; this wonder was called the Summer Palace. Build a dream with marble, jade, bronze and porcelain, frame it with cedar wood, cover it with precious stones, drape it with silk, make it here a sanctuary, there a harem, elsewhere a citadel, put gods there, and monsters, varnish it, enamel it, gild it, paint it, have architects who are poets build the thousand and one dreams of the thousand and one nights, add gardens, basins, gushing water and foam, swans, ibis, peacocks, suppose in a word a sort of dazzling cavern of human fantasy with the face of a temple and palace, such was this building . . . Artists, poets and philosophers knew the Summer Palace; Voltaire talks of it . . . If people did not see it they imagined it . . . like a silhouette of the civilization of Asia on the horizon of the civilization of Europe. This wonder has disappeared. One day two bandits entered the Summer Palace . . . The devastation of the Summer Palace was accomplished by the two victors acting jointly. We Europeans are the civilized ones, and for us the Chinese are the barbarians. This is what civilization has done to barbarism. A joint Anglo-French force had crossed the Qing lines in Beijing with a view to negotiating a truce in the hostilities that had been taking place. A Qing general arrested the peace envoys and had them badly tortured, as a result of which most died. The French Commander ordered an advance on the Summer Palace where the Emperor and his entourage had earlier been located. He assured the British Commander Lord Elgin that nothing had been touched in the Palace which was an outright lie. The French looting was massive. Two days later Lord Elgin decided the Chinese had to be taught a lesson. He ordered the total destruction of one of the greatest works of art and architecture in all of history. For that action the Chinese will never forgive the British and French. Let's also recall that China itself was in turmoil with the Qing Dynasty collapsing from within and from the action of the colonists who had forced open Chinese ports for trade. There were a few years of relative peace with the end of the Imperial system and the Presidency of Sun Yat Sen. But Sun had not long to live. The murdering corrupt Chiang Kai-shek forced his way to the country's leadership. No sooner was he on the way to winning his war with the warlords than the Japanese invaded Manchuria before the war when the invaders started moving south in 1937. Once Mao had won the civil war, his entire attention was on maintaining his power and turning his desperately poor China into a self sufficient nation. No one in power had any interest in stopping the orchestras and concerts. His Great Leap Forward and Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom campaigns were major disasters which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of his countrymen. Then came the Cultural Revolution when one would have expected western classical music to be banned as bourgeois. And it was, with the exception of about four works which Madame Mao permitted to be performed. Before then, though, western classical music was well established in Beijing and Shanghai. The orchestras and many musicians suffered very badly during the Cultural Revolution - most sent to work in the countryside, or I knew one violinist who had to work for four years in a brick factory. But these musicians were a hardy lot and quickly reassembled once Deng Xiao-ping came to power. I am sure you must have seen the documentary made by the violinist Isaac Stern From Mao to Mozart which won an Oscar. I also recommend the book by Sheila Melvin and her husband Cai Jin-dong Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese. I am sorry I do not know about the music history curricula of Thai children. I assume they must be versed in Thai classical music and dance. Certainly the late Queen ordered a month of Khon Dance performances at the Thailand Cultural Centre during every November.

I know the US and Canada have their own wildfire problems at present, but France and Spain are just as bad. According to the BBC, one wildfire is only 9 miles away from the south of Bordeaux. 220,000 people have already been evacuated. And the temperature is predicted to rise in the next few days. Fires advancing on Madrid are "active and uncontrolled" although more slowly than in recent days. So far 105,000 have been evacuated in the country. But a new "very intense" fire has now broken out in Valencia. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cvgzd34kq5dt

These park concerts are paid for by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and take place before the hot weather starts. They can be very good. I wish there were more of them.

With all respect, Pattaya may have several classical recitals but because they take place in hotel ballrooms you are often stuck with acoustics which are too dry (too much carpeting and soft furnishings), door attendants who let late comers in because they've had no training and pianos which are either slightly out of tune or have not been properly voiced. These are not criticism of the artists; only of the venues they have to play in. I note on the Facebook vdo there is a pianist (Russian?) playing Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos. These absolutely need an orchestra but he is playing to some kind of pre-recorded music which is very different. I canot imagine anywhere else these would be performed without the live orchestra of 70-80 musicians. Mind you, this sort of concert was not so uncommon 40 - 50 years ago in places even like Hong Kong whose orchestra now is world class. In 1980 I recall going to see one of the world's great ballerinas, Natalia Makarova, who had defected from the Soviet Union. Still in her prime as a dancer, she danced to a tape that her promoter had made during a 'live' performance in Manila. The problem was that he had recorded the whole evening on the cassette tape, including the applause! It was so sad for Mme Makarova. I admire anyone who attempts to mount classical recitals in any reasonable venue. It take a great deal of work. Of the recitals in these venues in the link, the artists are almost exclusively Thai. I am sure they are very good but when you have small venues, no matter how good the acoustics you have the problem of fees. A recognised international soloist is not going to stop over in Thailand for less than around $2,000 plus air fare contribution, hotel and local tax. Promoters in a small hall just cannot handle these expenses. Besides, the international soloists listed do not perform in any major concert halls anywhere, from what i can check. The international music business is pretty cutthroat and all promoters and orchestras want names that can fill upwards of 1,000 seats at reasonably high prices. In Bangkok the Thailand Cultural Centre has 1,800 seats and the Prince Mahidol Hall 2,000 seats.

Interesting comment. You are correct in saying that Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan have and are producing world class instrumentalists, and their concert halls - to which you should add those in Singapore and the wonderful one in Kuala Lumpur - also range from extremely good to stunning. It's interesting I think, that whereas Japan has produced wonderful soloists, there are less now than one would expect. It is South Korea where western classical music is exploding in terms of the superb quality of its musicians. Young classical instrumentalists who increasingly win the top competitions are treated almost like pop stars. I am sure you heard of Yunchan Lim when he won the Van Cliburn Competition four years ago then aged just 18. Marin Alsop who conducted his performance of the Rachmaninov Third Concerto was in tears at the end. But a pianist I know who was on the jury said Lim's rendition of the fearsome Liszt Transcendental Etudes in the Semi Finals was as good as any he has ever heard in 40 years of hearing other great pianists perform the work. In all these countries western classical music is taught in schools. The classical music tradition in Japan goes back to the Meiji period when it was the norm to copy as much from the west as possible. That's no doubt why Tokyo alone has eight symphony orchestras and a plethora of new concert halls. In Asia, it has been the norm for concert halls to be built from the inside out placing the primary emphasis on the acoustics. Minoru Nagata founded his acoustics firm in 1971 and many of the world's new halls engage his company. The conductor Herbert von Karajan regarded Symphony Hall in Osaka as the finest his Berlin Philharmonic ever played in. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma considers Tokyo's Takemitsu Hall the finest. China is starting to produce world class soloists and its more than two dozen new concert halls and opera houses are amazing for both their interior acousitc and external architecture. The new Opera House in Harbin is one example, and that city partly explains why western classical music is becoming so popular in the country. At the time of the Russian Revolution, hundreds of thousands of white Russians fled to Harbin which had a spur line to the Trans Siberian Railway. Many were major musicians who then set up China's first music conservatory. Eventually they spread through the country, especially Shanghai, and taught Chinese about music. The one child policy resulted in parents wanting the best for their kids and music was regarded as a step up the ladder. It's no surprise that the world's largest piano factory is in Guangzhou and produces 125,000 instruments annually. So why not Thailand? I think it's an easy answer. Thailand was never colonised and so there was never any demand for western music. It is not taught in more than a handful of international schools and some private schools. Really good instrumentalists have to go overseas to study and work. For example, the principal trumpet in the Hong Kong Philharmonic is Thai and played in their recorded Ring cycle on Naxos. Part of the Harbin Opera House exterior The new Shanghai Opera House complex will open in mid-October Yunchan Lim playing the Liszt Transcendental Etude #5 in 2022

Frankly I can't see the point unless there is a particular model you want to ogle at but not touch. That said, about ten years ago in Taipei I saw on one of the apps a beautiful Chinese whom I later learned was a male model. I sent him a message but he was not interested in foreigners. In view of the discussions on photos, i have placed two naked photos of him in the Photo page.

I have also had quite a few .jpg files rejected. When I then copy them on the computer, even though they are still in the .jpg format some upload OK. But .png certainly works better. I cannot understand why @TotallyOz does nothing about explicit photos appearing throughout the Board and not specifically resricted to the Members Only Photo forum. The subject has been on the front burner for close to three months. I'm wondering if the lack of any other moderator on the forum could be one reason - in that he does not have time to read every single post. When this site was gaythailand, there were usually three moderators. I wonder if the change to Gay Guides makes moderation more difficult?

While on the subject of musicals, most readers will have seen some 'live' in the theatre or in their movie versions. I wonder what your favourite/s is/are? For whatever reason, I am not a Lloyd Webber fan, although he has written some great tunes. I didn't like Phantom (very boring first 20 minutes), find CATS just a series of dance numbers, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat pleasant but instantly forgettable etc. My favourites have almost always been Sondheim's musicals. The first I saw in London was Company with the incomparable Elaine Stritch. It was not instantly my favourite but as I have got to know the music I just love it. Then with a close friend we saw Little Night Music with its famous number "Send in the Clowns". Sweeney Todd on Broadway was amazing, particularly the collective "Aaarghh" when Todd cut his first throat. Then I have a very soft spot for Follies, about a group of ageing stars who used to take part in the Ziegfeld Follies in the 1930s paired with their younger selves. But there have been others. I could not stop humming the tunes from Jerry Herman's La Cage Aux Folles with the wonderful George Hearn and Gene Barry. Crazy For You, the glorious updated adaptation of George Gershwin's Girl Crazy. I flew to Singapore three times to see the Australian touring version of Mamma Mia. And then there was the quite excellent 2012 Thai version of Miss Saigon supervised by the Cameron Mackintosh team some years ago. The boy playing Chris was drop dead gorgeous!

With all respect, as you point out the events listed are almost all held in Bangkok. Very occasionally (twice a year?) there will be a classical recital in Pattaya, usually in a hotel ballroom as there is no concert hall. They are usually by local musicians or from overseas and no one has heard of them despite what their PR might say! This often occurs when a musician contacts an Embassy or Consulate begging for it to arrange a concert. The quality of performance can be good, though.

About ten years ago I was sitting with some friends in Dick's Cafe in Soi Twilight when one mentioned he had just recovered from a nasty bout of shingles. I decided I would get vaccinated the next day as this is a particularly nasty condition that can make life a misery for a couple of weeks or more. It can also be dangerous if you get it on your forehead as it could spread to the eyes. The doctor I saw informed me the vaccine would last ten years. So I was reminded by an article in today's Guardian that it is time for another vaccination. From what I know - and I am sure @unicorn will correct any errors - this was always thought to be an illness that affected older people. Now though an article in The Guardian points out that it is affecting much younger women (no mention of men). This is how one 39-year old lady described her experience - It had started in May with a strange pricking sensation under her bra. Then 10 large blisters, plus a host of smaller ones, formed in a band from her stomach to her back. They burned, “like someone was putting an iron on me. I don’t think I wore underwear for five or six weeks.” Showering, or even a cold flannel, would make her skin burn. Then came “the itch”, which lasted for five weeks and was so intense that she was lucky if she slept for four hours a night. “It was like something was crawling all over me all the time.” A shingles vaccine is not cheap but certainly worth getting. Two doses are required at a total cost estimated in Thailand to be from 10,400-13,600 baht. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/26/shingles-rise-millennial-women

Thai AirAsia, Vietnam Airlines, Thai Vietjet, Bangkok Airways. When I took Vietjet, the flight was delayed by 3 hours! As usual no explanation.

I stayed several times at the Rabbit Resort when I was visiting Australian friends who aways stayed there. The garden is lush and green and it's more like staying in the country than in a city. It's gay friendly and Mrs. Rabbit (as she calls herself) is always very helpful). Accommodation is in bungalows with two floors. Rooms are large. With so much greenery you feel almost as though there is no one else staying there. Also the beach is only a few meters away. My only tip is try to get a bungalow away from the pool as occasionally there are kids splashing around. https://www.agoda.com/rabbit-resort/hotel/pattaya-th.html?locale=en-us&ckuid=69b74356-74c0-4e3a-accb-7587003ef232&prid=0&currency=USD&correlationId=ae7badfd-6659-491a-acce-ef7f5f22125e&analyticsSessionId=-3239176435934458770&pageTypeId=7&realLanguageId=1&languageId=1&origin=TH&stateCode=10&cid=1919460&tag=08b37f59-4a7e-4a1e-8c6e-2b64be9fd490&userId=69b74356-74c0-4e3a-accb-7587003ef232&whitelabelid=1&loginLvl=0&storefrontId=3&currencyId=7&currencyCode=USD&htmlLanguage=en-us&cultureInfoName=en-us&machineName=sg-pc-6f-cronos-spa-acm-web-7bfb99d6d5-cjhjd&trafficGroupId=5&trafficSubGroupId=9&aid=82361&useFullPageLogin=true&cttp=4&isRealUser=true&mode=production&browserFamily=Chrome&cdnDomain=agoda.net&checkIn=2026-08-19&checkOut=2026-08-20&rooms=1&adults=2&childs=0&priceCur=USD&los=1&textToSearch=Rabbit+Resort&productType=-1&travellerType=1&familyMode=off&ds=PcWoZ6dtWhE36wPF