Patience of Londoners - the Great British during a tube strike

London owns nearly one third of the UK population and much of it is foreign but the remarkable thing is how Londoners are sheep to the Great British etiquette.

The tube strike brings fear to the hard working souls of this city; we work long hours, our commutes can be unpleasant on the best days and we like to make the most of this number one Capital city. Yet when we hear the tube is closing those long hard hours whiling away at work are rewarded by arduous journeys to and from home!

I've personally never agreed with tube strikes that support reasonably well paid workers. It's true that our tube system Needs to changes, needs updating and requires more than a face lift but a true digitalisation. If waiters talk with digital menu slips, we pay by contactless payment and airplane boarding passes go mobile - it certainly is time to say goodbye to the ticket office and get customer service staff out from behind the glass cages mixing with people at ticket gates and on the platforms using digital devices for support.

And while Londoners are put through this pain, they wait patiently in long lines at bus stops - the wonder of a British queue, cram into packed tube carriages and face journeys 3 / 4 / 5 times their usual length. One colleague of mine left home at 6.30am from Heathrow today only to arrive at the office at 11.45am. When she finishes her shift at 6pm, going by her morning experience, she is unlikely to get home until 11.15pm. 

For all those who went on strike - feel ashamed you put people through this misery who often earn considerably less than you. And feel horrified that there are so any cleaners and support staff who are only paid by the hour - they only earned half a days wages today!

Yet the Great British grit is contagious - and Londoners will continue to soldier through, with or without the tube! 

Patience of Londoners - the Great British during a tube strike

London owns nearly one third of the UK population and much of it is foreign but the remarkable thing is how Londoners are sheep to the Great British etiquette.

The tube strike brings fear to the hard working souls of this city; we work long hours, our commutes can be unpleasant on the best days and we like to make the most of this number one Capital city. Yet when we hear the tube is closing those long hard hours whiling away at work are rewarded by arduous journeys to and from home!

I've personally never agreed with tube strikes that support reasonably well paid workers. It's true that our tube system Needs to changes, needs updating and requires more than a face lift but a true digitalisation. If waiters talk with digital menu slips, we pay by contactless payment and airplane boarding passes go mobile - it certainly is time to say goodbye to the ticket office and get customer service staff out from behind the glass cages mixing with people at ticket gates and on the platforms using digital devices for support.

And while Londoners are put through this pain, they wait patiently in long lines at bus stops - the wonder of a British queue, cram into packed tube carriages and face journeys 3 / 4 / 5 times their usual length. One colleague of mine left home at 6.30am from Heathrow today only to arrive at the office at 11.45am. When she finishes her shift at 6pm, going by her morning experience, she is unlikely to get home until 11.15pm. 

For all those who went on strike - feel ashamed you put people through this misery who often earn considerably less than you. And feel horrified that there are so any cleaners and support staff who are only paid by the hour - they only earned half a days wages today!

Yet the Great British grit is contagious - and Londoners will continue to soldier through, with or without the tube! 

Gay London gets a boost by Tube: 24 hour weekends

London Underground has announced that in 2015 parts of the tube network will run 24-hours at the weekends. This will give nightlife in the capital a huge boost making it much easier for gay clubbers to enjoy much more of what the City has to offer.

The 24-hour running will cover the Picadilly, Victoria, Jubilee, Central and Northern Lines, which will no doubt make life so much easier for Londoners and tourists. It will also make selecting hotels much easier as travelers can now look beyond the centre city and towards upandcoming areas including Greenwich, Shoreditch, Brixton and Shepherds Bush.

The underground celebrates 150 years and while behind some of the other leading global cities London has taken a while to prepare for 24 hours. And while we all complain about the services, during peak hours it is one of the best underground networks in the world and pretty good for its size and age. This now moves the city in the right direction, if only it could handle 24 hours 7 days a week and cover an ever greater expanse of the city...

The Underground really has been built typically on the lifestyle culture of Britain's. Pub shuts at 11.30am - get the last tube home. It ignores middle-length nights out (you know, until 1/2am, and complete ignores the later hours of 3/4am.) the number of times I've waited an hour for a Night bus and then it's taken me another hour to get home.

This news is really exciting, and will make weekends much much more fun in the city. The tube has been less fun since they banned drinking (alcohol) on the network...so maybe this will add a bit more drunken British Spark! 

Pure Travel - the Tech for Travel

Discover the essential travel apps and gadgets for 2013 that will help you get the most from your holiday! Infographic by Villa Plus

Snowmo-sexual - Arosa launches its 10th Gay Ski Week

I've been. It's great! Seriously - it's a fantastically organised week for which you need plenty of energy for.

Arosa Gay Ski Week is not just about the slopes but also the evening parties. For me, I was exhausted by day 3 - but the atmosphere, the energy and the events keep you going to the bitter end.

Arosa has just announced its line-up for year 10 - and it is a must-see!

Check out my review of the event from 2012 here: http://ryanchaynes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/arosa-gay-ski-week-becoming-snow.html

I went for work, with one colleague, but most of the time I was left alone - and actually alone is a wrong word to use, I was left to experience it without my companion but met many more through out my stay.

The most memorable has to be either the Drag Race or the evening Pool Party :-)

Halloween - from Gaytravel.com

Guest post: By Sophie Needelman

Editorial Coordinator, www.gaytravel.com


Halloween is nearly here, but it is never too early to do a little ghost hunting! Spirits do their haunting all year-round, so regardless of when you get your travel on there are always ghoulish ghost towns to visit. Many of the country’s top travel destinations feature their very own ghost crossings, rich in history and haunted-ness! You might even be lucky enough to have a ghost sighting of your own.

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is a relatively new city, but it definitely has its fair share of haunted hotspots. Cemataries and hotels around the city have a plethora of stories that live up to their spooky reputations. The Capitol Building, Lake Highlands High School, and the Lawrence Hotel are all known for their hall-roaming ghosts. Many of these haunted hotspots are also the best-kept secrets of Hollywood royalty. Spirit tours around the city offer both indoor and outdoor options, so whatever time of year you visit you can get your haunted fix.

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio’s history dates back to colonial times, so it has plenty of ghost stories to offer visitors and locals alike. The Alamo was the site of the bloody and epic battle for Texas’ independence, and its historical significance keeps the ghosts coming back for more spooking! Spice up your visit with a trip to the haunted stomping grounds of spirits like Mission San Jose, the Menger Hotel, and of course The Alamo!

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is known as one of the most haunted cities in America, and its history is rich with ghosts and terror. According to the legends, New Orleans was used by Native Americans as a sacred burial ground because of its location on the Mississippi River. The city itself was built by prison inmates sent over from the then-King of France. Between the crime and various weather catastrophes that have struck the city over the years, New Orleans is a prime ghost town! Hotel Provincial, the Omni Royal Orleans, and the Wyndham Bourbon Orleans Hotel are a few of our haunted favorites.

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is known for being the birthplace of coffee, but it is also home to many ghosts and haunted spirits. Famous Pike’s Place Market is one of the most haunted places in the state because it was built on a Native American Tribal Cemetery. Seattle also has its share of spirit-inhabited bars and theaters. Jules Maes and Calamity Jane’s are two of the city’s oldest bars and have acquired many other-worldly visitors. The rainy weather in Seattle only puts the icing on the cake for this spooky town!

San Diego, California

San Diego is one of the most haunted cities of the West- and for good reason, too! The Hotel Del Coronado not only has its own share of ghosts, but is a beautiful place to spend an evening regardless of the season. The Whaley House is also one of San Diego’s most notorious haunted stomping ground located in the cultural Old Town district. Various other theaters and hotels around town are known for being frequented by spirits, so take some time out of your sunny visit to this beautiful coastal destination to pay homage to these haunting hotties!

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah has a wonderful elegance full of historic charm, friendly, locals, rich southern comfort food and pleasant Georgia weather. But peer behind the curtains of Spanish moss dripping from any beautiful oak and you’ll find a sure ghost town. From the slanted sidewalks framing the Gothic Revival architecture to the hallways of a haunted bed-and-breakfasts or Savannah’s many spirited cemeteries, this Southern city has plenty of scary sites to offer.

Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon has the reputation of being most haunted city of the Pacific Northwest thanks to its strange history and large number of ghost sightings throughout the years. The city’s most famous haunted houses is Pittock Mansion, where visitors have claimed to see apparitions and heard footsteps coming from empty rooms. In addition to the Pittock house, other Portland haunted places include the Bagdad theater which is a movie theater built during the roaring 20s that supposedly houses a number of spirits. For outdoor enthusiasts, Willamette River is home to a phantom rowboat that makes an appearance from time to time. Check out all of Portland’s gems, haunted and otherwise!

The big Gay World Rainbow Hotels website won Best Hotel Website award - Whoop!

World Rainbow Hotels (WRH), www.worldrainbowhotels.com, the world’s leading collection of gay & lesbian-welcoming hotels, was named as the best hotel website at the Travolution Awards travolutionawards.co.uk www.travolutionawards.co.uk in London on October 17 2013.

The awards are unique in recognising companies, brands and individuals who excel in the fields of online travel distribution, digital marketing and technology. Judged by a panel of proven business leaders, experts and entrepreneurs, they are the UK travel industry’s highest accolade for innovation and excellence online.

The 1,200 hotels in 129 worldwide destinations displayed on the website have all been put through a rigorous set of screening criteria, including analysis of their current involvement with the LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender) community, compliance with non-discrimination policies and same-sex benefits for their staff.

Member hotels are encouraged to undergo LGBT-welcoming training and required to put together an “Out & About” information guide providing tips about their local gay & lesbian scene, which can be downloaded from the hotel’s profile on WRH’s website.

Sharon Wimborne, eCommerce Director, said, “We are delighted to have won Travolution’s Best Hotel Website award. We feel we have developed a unique online proposition as well as some innovative ways for the LGBT community to share experiences and contribute to the assessment and suitability of LGBT-welcoming properties around the world.”


Nicolas Wijnants, WRH Brand Director, said, “We understood that LGBT travellers needed more than just a web-listing of gay-friendly hotels and events. It was essential to build a strong community of hoteliers, customers and travel agents where they could share information, advice and travel tips relevant to the LGBT community.”

[Oh and in a side note - I also worked with them  - great team!]

Top Travel Websites - part 1 (some are gay too)

Gay travel information websites – getting the low-down part 2

Following publishing my favourite gay travel websites, I have been inundated with requests to add more to this list. And it is true, that list was surely only Part 1. So on Part 2, we expand our selection slightly.

Some of them gay, some of them just helpful if you are an independent traveler. So enjoy the list and let me know any others I should be visiting when planning.

Budget Travel

Some excellent advice and resources for the budget traveler. It covers a wide range of Destinations, as well as providing some guides on best travel and what to look forward too.

http://www.budgettravel.com/#!

Guiajando

This is for the Spanish, a great website with plenty of detail on destinations, each with their own pages. I know the editors and they are so passionate about providing quality content, that from this service they have achieved funding for Itinerium, which means if you can’t be bothered to do the planning yourself – one of their editors will do it for you.

http://www.guiajando.com/

PurpleRoofs

If you’re looking for gay travel, and help with all your accommodation needs, check out Purple Roofs selection of Bed&Breakfast, Inns, Hotels and even get your entire holiday booked with their referred Travel Agents and Tour operators.

http://purpleroofs.com/gay-travel-events.html

Shermans Gay Travel Blog
It’s all thing travel, but its great to see some articles featuring gay travel. It’s all pretty generalistic, but handy to get some ideas for your trups.
http://blog.shermanstravel.com/gay-travel

New Gay Travel Guide

Dedicated news service for gay travel, giving updates on where to go, where to be careful and loads of advice too. Good for reference material.
http://www.newgaytravelguide.com/

Gay Travel Information Blog

This is more advice for gay travel and good as a resource for when deciding the destinations you are heading.

http://gaytravelinformation.com/

Dream Euro Trip

Full of personality and truly focused on Europe and delivering quality advice. So check out his destinations, get an idea of the cost and travel as frequently as you can across Europe.

http://www.dreameurotrip.com/

Lisbon, Portugal - gay guy hanging out in the city: I love you Lisbon

Lisbon Lisbon Lisbon - I love you Lisbon!.

I didn't know what to expect before I made plans to go to Lisbon. Okay, I lie, I had started to develop some expectations. My friend and business partner, Flavio, has lived in Lisbon for many years - raving about it all the time. My university housemate was also living there for a few months, and perhaps her silence by email and Skype was enough of indication to know there was more to Lisbon than meets the eye.

Transport

Prices during the summer were extortionate, EasyJet was the best deal all round, however at nearly £200 I knew I had to leave it until the kids returned to school, at which point October proved the best time to visit at just £100. The return flights on a Sunday are pretty late, so I booked space at AirParks for the car - and plus petrol, only worked out a few pounds more than going by train - and much quicker.

Lisbon Airport is connected by the developing metro station, and took me to Rato within 45 minutes.  Just West of the City, Rato is just a 40 minute walk to the centre, and easily accessible by the Tram number 28. Plus its spitting distance from the main gay scene. It's not long before you're in Bairro Alto to start your night, and then head to gay Rato and crawl home.

Exploring
Tram, Metro, Bus, Taxi and by foot. Lisbon isn't that big and you can really get around on foot, but be fit - as there will be a lot of hills to climb and its all on cobbled streets. When the cobbles get warm, their smoothness becomes slippery and you can find yourself slipping down the roads.

Visit the National Art Museum, walk along the river front and head to Centrale.  It's that simple.

You will however, get lost in Bairro Alto and surrounding areas, as the streets have no shape and order to them. So whether you have a printed map or a SatNav, I assure you, you will have navigational issues!

Food & Drink
It's so cheap! Whoop! Seriously! Look forward to that.

An average meal in the evening: expect to pay about €12 - 15.
This included for me, Grilled Sea Bass, Chips, Salad, 2 glasses of wine, beer, coffee

An average lunch: expect to pay €3 - 7
If you just want a basic sandwich, or opt for the famous Portuguese cheese and ham toastie, with a drink/coffee, this will set you back just €4.

I generally had breakfast at my friends apartment, simple bread, yoghurt and coffee to kick start the day.

You need plenty of water with you while exploring the city. It's pretty much always nice in Lisbon. It gets cold November - March but certainly nothing like Germany or the UK. In Middle of October the temperature was 28 degrees and blue skies for all days.

SuperBock - the most served beer. It's simple and easy to drink, but nothing to get excited about - but of course I did, since this was my first taster! Love discovering new beer!

Chapito - head to this multi-use venue. There is a restaurant overlooking Lisbon, with an exquisite sunset! We enjoyed a few beers and Green wine here. But the food looked excellent and there seemed to be no complaints from the diners. During the day you can find circus acts here who are practicsing, and it's apparently used by other groups of local people.

Traditional Portuguese Restaurant/ (cafe to the British).
Perhaps the best place to get food. They are small and squeeze a lot of people into the space, but the food is incredibly well priced, it's quick and very good!

Discovering the Gay Area
Don't do this by day. Do it by night, it is much easier to figure out where the bars are. It's all incredibly discreet during the day. The bars don't tend to open until 9/10pm, so have patience. Find out more in my Gay Guy Guide. Main bars include Les Marais, Woolf, Trump, Bar 106, Tres, Lux

Visit a Flea Market
I was told the flea market is open pretty much every day until 4pm. We arrived about 1.30pm to discover a large flea market. Some of the items were extraordinary, and probably could fetch a good price, and some items demonstrated the desperation of the poor. Portugal is suffering financially, and its residents are pretty poor.

Belem
Spend an afternoon in Belem. Here you can explore Jerónimos Monastery, its a real beautiful building!
Grab yourself a Custard Tart while here, it is worth the 15- 20 minute queue wait. Also, enjoy some ice-cream, the flavours are brilliant!






Costing
Flights - £100
Accommodation: Double room hostel €70 for 2 nights

The future of independent booking – as hotels and online travel agents (OTAs) see it

So I was privy to a presentation from Google talking about the trends it sees in travel and the forecast for the industry – the thing with Google is that 1) it sits on huge amounts of user data from our searches, our blogs, our reviews, our thoughts, our status updates and our videos and 2) it receives billions of pounds in advertising from the travel industry – so it definitely has an interest in the market…

Interesting trends:

43% people move between devices when researching travel

Desktop saw a reduction of searches by -6%

Mobile saw an increase in searches by +71%

Tablet saw an increase in searches by +131%

Admittedly I work across all 3 devices, but my tablet is only connected to WiFi so I do tend to end up working on my mobile or Desktop - I still love my laptop.

The UK, according to Deloitte, is one of the most advanced for using mobiles, with smartphone penetration at a height of 72%.

It must people pointed out, however, that if you do a search on Google for most regular terms it is likely your results will be the big online travel agents, therefore to filter these out, you should consider long-tail key words that focus on Location, Season, Events, Interests etc…so if you’re looking for a hotel

AVOID:

-       Hotel Munich

USE

-       3star, hotel munich, boutique, special Oktoberfest events, towards the north of city

If you have interest in a particular event or location in the city, name it in your search term, this will give you an array of new results that will include independent hotels.

What the hoteliers on the panel did note, is that the OTAs do offer travelers the ‘Distressed’ inventory – this is rooms that have not yet been sold. Therefore a greater opportunity to get a good deal on these rooms.

Another place to look for checking hotel rates is meta-search website http://www.hipmunk.com/ that offers the Discomfort factor…how much are you willing to lose out on for the sake of a good rate at a hotel…give it a test run and see if it suits your needs. An alternative is http://trivago.com/ offering comparison in products for you.

What all this shows us, is that the way we may soon research travel is going to change. The hotels are fighting the OTAs, the OTAs are buying new companies to stay ahead, and the technology is changing fast. Furthermore, the way, we as travelers must interact with Search Engines has to change to give us the results that we want.

So – are you ready to make a change in the way you buy your travels?

Judging India in Jaipur

It's to the north west of the country, in Rajasthan, Jaipur is the capital - a large city. Rajasthan was the last state to agree to be part of India.

 

It is the land of kings. It's part of the desert, and this wealthy part of India delivers one final resounding cultural insight to the country for my trip here. As I head from Delhi on a local bus that takes 6 hours stopping at every town along that way I see the change from central India to Rajasthan. More fields of corn, yellow fields being harvested by women in incredibly bright saris of multiple colours, carrying towers of gatherings a-top their heads. A few horse and cart help transport the harvest and then there’s the rare tractor. I've been transported back in time.

A highway is being built between Delhi and Jaipur, slicing through the middle of towns, cutting buildings in half as locals continue to try to operate businesses and homes that have been part-demolished. Pavements are made of the demolished rubble as kids and shoppers clamber their way along the road. The bus jaunts over and aside large potholes - it's a construction site on a massive scale.

I arrive in Jaipur and the atmosphere is instantly different to Delhi, the architecture more unique and original, it feels like there is a real heritage here that belongs to Rajasthan, my hotel - Umaid Bhawan Heritage Hotel - reflects the style of palaces in the region: it's ornate, slightly extravagant, visually rich.

The Pink City: painted to hide the cheap materials used to construct the inner walls. The heat of the day sets in early as I walk to the palace. The streets are lined with food markets that open early, and local shops begin to set up for the day. I stop at a temple and enter a conversation with the man on the door.

He asks me about Britain, I ask him about Jaipur, we exchange stories. Things are changing fast and it's having a cultural and social impact that is challenging and full of fear and strife. The recent rape cases in India purely highlighted the huge issues the country faces. Families that killed their first born, if a girl, force the country to now pay the price. There are less females, more males and therefore not enough to go around. Men cannot find wives and this is a social situation they don't wish to face - to be an unmarryable man! If they haven't found a partner by their mid-twenties sexual rage sets in. These men are virgins, now becoming desperate like a dog on heat. Men are now paying dowries instead of the girl’s family. Men are going on search for women from the city to the depths of the countryside. And women are taking advantage of this - marrying and taking all valuables and disappearing, then remarrying.

 

If this is how it is for the straight set what about gay Indians. Where does it leave them in social acceptance? 

India is still socially conscious. You must marry someone of a similar cultural standing. Women are still second rate and money and riches still mean a lot.

As I tour the city and visit the palaces and forts surrounding Jaipur you see much of the immense wealth the state has had. The investment in huge constructions that bare the mark of quality together with technical focus like water delivery, plumbing and toilets. This made me wish I had visited the more rural and smaller cities like Udaipur and beyond - the tales travellers had told me drew my imagination to the history and richness of the region. 

I explored the forts and palaces like a kid; running up and down staircases, winding in and out of alleyways and trying to get the most from my visits - I clicked away on my Cannon trying to get used to manual photos! 

I stopped by Monkey Temple, spending nearly 3 hours just watching the monkeys jump and dive into the algae filled water holes. It was kind of magical - but these were much less hassle than the people and kids below who just continually demanded money or items to sell to me. 10 days into my trip I had enough of this. I succumbed to a life beyond lone travel - I could only wish to be with a travel companion, not just to share this moment with but to throw them into the gauntlet to deal with these tourist touts so I could just hide.

I wanted to go home now! And it was certainly time to go back to the hotel with a pit stop to buy my final goods - some silk neck scarves and a final silk bed spread. With that...I was done.

I left early on the Thursday morning, back to Kolkata. I grabbed my things and headed home - dear home...

TOP TIP – when booking a coach make sure it is authenticated. Unfortunately I was sold a fraudulent ticket and the ‘said’ coach did not turn up. Do your best to use the local Tourist Information Centres, these are commercial, so not like Europe or USA where they are run by the local government, but at least there is more guarantee for legitimacy. Trying to finally get a bus to Jaipur was hard work and I ended up on a local public bus service…it should only have taken about 3 hours without stops to any other destination.

Do we understand the power of Travel social media?

So many people travel, it’s an escape…So many people love mobile phones, it’s a connection – to an escape….So many people love to share, it’s a connection, is an escape…

Therefore we should not underestimate the power of social media in all our lives, we should not under estimate our own insignificance in all of this. We after all are 1 of over several billion people who love sharing their travel stories; by mouth, by text, by postcard, by phone, by photos, by video….by tweets, by status updates, by blogs….

Dr Peter O’Connor states: This has formed Generation C – the Creative, the Connected, Conversation obsessed, Cash driven, Content hungry. And businesses are ever more listening in to the noise that is created, to get a snapshot of what is being said. We have to remember this is no different than the “Old days” of customer surveys, focus groups, cold calls, feedback forms.

Remy Merckx of CarlsonRezidor Hotel Group said that as consumers they “want their own moment of fame”, and this certainly is not far from the truth as we parade our lives on Facebook, prance in front of YouTube and paparazzi ourselves on Flickr.

And you know the other funny thing – most of what we officially say is positive. According to Severine Philardeau of TripAdvisor, the average score is 4.5 / 5, which means that we’re all being incredibly generous with our scores.

A new technology coming to our hands soon is TripTease, the founder, Charlie Osmond talking of the necessity to “curate a life online” and through TripTease people can ‘enhance their personal brand’.

So we are being given more tools to use to share and create conversation to stay connected, while giving more secrets and information away – but failing to be proper critics because we love everything so much…Apart from the odd B**ch our friends scream on Facebook or through Forums, it really is quite true…we show our lives as perfect and what makes them perfect

– in my opinion – it’s because we want to make people envious of us, we want to show our so-called “friends” that we are happy and successful.

So what is the real truth in the data we share on social media, and how valuable is it really?

Gay Travel - Interviews with Gay Indians in Delhi

Rohit

-       Just arrived at the party. We found out through email.

-       This is in Noida, in the far west side on the blue line.

-       Do they mostly happen here?

-       Yes, every Saturday night. In the M Lounge where we are now.

-       Its really got started loads of people here, what time does it go on until?

-       It finishes at 2am

-       And then what do they do?

-       People will walk talk and gossip after, they will have fun because it is Saturday night.

-       You’re not originally from Delhi, how long have you been here?

-       4 months

-       You discovered the gay scene already, if you’re a gay man, what do you do?

-       Come to the centre part in Connaught Place and there are gay people here  on a Sunday where you can interact. If your’e away from home and need friends, it’s a place to socialize for a bit.  Meet people and make friends. Sometimes if I want sex I go to Planet Romeo and it’s very popular here in Delhi. I meet very nice guys here, very classy.

-       You came from Bombay?

-       Yes I was in Mumbai. Mumbai being Bollywood, you get very nice, posh, fashionable guys, models, girls, nightlife is more happening here. Fashion models go here, and I partied a lot on the east side. Many international performances and music. I prefer Bombay to Delhi.

 

Melissa

-       You have spent a lot time in Berlin, Now you’re here in Delhi. What is so great about Delhi

-       Well it is very colourful. It’s the capital of India and most of the gay perople are staying Delhi. I am lving a colourful life and I am having lots of fun

-       You’re wearing a beautiful Sari

-       People are really friendly, you can wear what you want.

-       This is one of the best nights out.

-       Yes it is, people give me loads of attention.

Mahindra

-       PlanetRomeo is very popular, it’s the number one cruising app?

-       Yes it is, but this park in Delhi is much better. We just come here to hangout with all our friends and to meet people. Mostly we see a lot of the young queens around here. Some are maybe sexual discriminating but not much. We hardly speak to the strangers though, we also organize parties where we get together and invite new friends and mix.

-       You spend a lot of time in London, how do you compare to Delhi?

-       The thing is, I am in modern life. Its not easy to accept yourself you are gay. I can proudly say I am gay, and I never had a problem. And hopefully you are confident and it will not bother you. In London I can be comfortable fully gay holding hands in the street, kiss someone, and there are so many parties and bars. You can be who you like. Here I have to behave straight, I have many straight friends, we all talk about girls and things, unless someone asks me I don’t show off I am gay.

-       Do you feel it is getting easier here?

-       Yes it is improving. You see more young guys coming out, and this park. Everyone has smartphone using the gay sites, it’s easy to communicate, and therefore not afraid to look at people and talk.

-       There are many groups of guys here in this park who are probably gay?

-       For you as a foreigner, they make eye-contact and they smile, that may not mean they are gay. Just being friendly.

Bisexual - Anon

-       What Is life like?

-       I like nice guys and also honest guys.

-       Is that difficult?

-       If you have friend or contact who can introduce you.

-       How long have you been a bisexual

-       10 years

-       You’re also an escort?

-       Yea

-       And you have your own agency?

-       Yeah

-       When did you set that up?

-       Not confirmed

-       You also use Planet Romeo to meet people

-       It’s not the best place. There are so many fake people there. You can find people in Yahoo, Facebook or Skype

-       Do you have tips for foreigners meeting gay boys in Delhi?

-       Don’t trust anyone easily!

Rashid

-       What’s’ great about Delhi

-       The gay scene is very open now. We can wear as we wish, I wear clothes which I cannot do in my home town. I can meet with guys, and go anywhere and any places. Here I found myself, which I cannot do back home. I don’t want to live a dual life that I used to live in my home town, I had to pretend to be a straight guy. Here I can do what I like, which I love that.

-       Does your family know you are gay?

-       Not at all. It’s a secret I have to keep from them. Never ever can I tell them

-       In Delhi your straight friends know you are gay?

-       All my straight friends in College know I am gay. They are okay with that .

-       Do you think culture is changing with younger gay people?

-       I can’t comment on the culture. But I guess minds are changing. Gays are ok, just ok. But families and society will never accept us ever. In Delhi we are normally gay, but we can be open. But socialize we are not accepted until now and not in coming years.

-       But you can at least hangout?

-       Yes, I do always, since I have been in Delhi, I have been doing this openly.