A Reader's Research Request

This mophead hydrangea (hydrangea macrophylla) in Bangkok has nothing to do with today's post whatsoever, but it's a nice image, I suppose.

A request came in a little while ago from reader Kai Jonas, a doctor looking for gay men willing to participate in a survey of travelers and expats being run from Amsterdam in the Netherlands as part of an ongoing project, so I figured I'd put it out there for anyone who wants to participate. I personally have no connection with this research, and while I've completed the survey you're all (naturally) free to make up your own minds if you wish to participate or not. It's not just internet spam... this is a legitimate research project, done with the cooperation of the Amsterdam Health Authority.

What's it all about?  In a nutshell, it's about gay travelers and expats having sex while traveling or living abroad.  There.  THAT got some of your ears up. I'd question their thought that "having sex while travelling or while living abroad has become normal", but maybe that's just me... for the traveling part, anyway.

Since I run a reasonably family-friendly site here I'll offer you the (almost needless) cautionary warning about sexual images in the survey, but the very few you're asked about are clinical in nature and not prurient in the least.

Read the explanatory introductory letter below from Dr. Kai Jonas, the man who sent it to me, and then make your own decision about taking it yourself.  They say it takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete, but I'd say that'd only be if you gave the questions a LOT of thought, and I'm guessing most answers will come to you faster than that.

If you want to see results of the survey at some point in the future you have a chance at the end of the survey to provide an email address to receive them.  Seemed worthwhile to me.

To take the survey, click HERE, and I've added the doctor's introductory letter below. As usual, the link should open a new window for you.

Thanks for asking, Kai. I hope you get some helpers from this post.

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Survey on Sexual Health Risks for Gay Travellers To and Expats Living in SE Asia

In modern societies, having sex while travelling or while living abroad has become normal. Yet, there are certain health risks (sexually transmitted diseases or infections = STI/STD) related to this. Little is known on how gay men deal with these risks and how prevention and medical treatment can be improved for this group. 

In this project, in cooperation with the Amsterdam Health Authority, we want to gather data in order to tailor information and prevention for this group. Why do we do this from Amsterdam? There are two reasons. First of all, we are gay ourselves and open to the issues of gay men worldwide. Secondly, Amsterdam is an international hub and often sees gay travellers and expats with STIs and STDs. 

In this study we are seeking information regarding your time in Thailand or Southeast Asia. When we speak of Thais or Thailand in this study it is an example, you may think of other countries, like Laos, Cambodia, etc. too. You are also going to see sexually explicit images. But it is going to be fun! 

The study takes, on average, 15-20 minutes. Your answers are fully anonymous. We are not interested in single cases, but want to investigate trends across many participants. 

If you have questions regarding the study, please get in contact with the principal investigator of the project, Dr. Kai J. Jonas, k.j.jonas@uva.nl The study has been approved by the ethics commission of the University of Amsterdam (CE 2013-2835)

New Feature: A Blog Translator

At the top of the column to the right is a new feature Google offers: a drop-down menu you can use to select the language you'd like any specific page of the the blog to be translated into.

Since so far there have been readers from over 50 countries I thought we'd give it a try. Google is saying it'll work in 40 or 50 languages.  It won't correct my punctuation, but you can't have everything.

I'll be the first to say that the service is far from accurate, but it's free, and it's a start. Sometimes the translations are amusing, to boot.

If it's a help to you, please leave a comment on this post. I'm curious to see how those of you around the world feel the service works overall. Thanks.

What Do YOU Think? - Poll #1

Beng Melea, in the jungle outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia

While going through photos from a previous visit I ran across images from a five-day stay in Cambodia - and got to wondering if maybe it would be a pleasant change for people out there if stories and photos from other places were added to the blog here.

I know I've already posted a couple of times about shopping at the Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei Taiwan (here and here) and about cruising on passenger ships, such as the posts on glaciers, ship crew members, as well as another about on-board health (The Norovirus And You) and an intro to cruising, but there's so much more to share.

I didn't have much luck with Google's add-ons, SO... We're going to run an informal poll here.  If you'd be kind enough to vote via the comments whether you'd like to see only Thailand posts, posts from other Asian countries or posts from anywhere I roam, I'd appreciate the input. I'll leave it here and running for a while, and then maybe just delete the post to save the clutter.

Thank you in advance for participating.