Prostitutes, Lady Boys and Ghosts (Bangkok)

Bangkok has continued to function, despite the protests and I have not been extremely inconvenienced. I live far from the protests but work very nearby, but again have not been directly impacted. More harrowing was a recent visit to Nana, an area of the city which has a lot of ‘entertainment’. I went with some friends to grab a drink at happy hour and watch the older sex-pats come and browse for female escorts. Its quite a site, and I think given the recent lack of tourists, the ratio of women to men was absurdly high. We were able to avoid any direct confrontation while we were having drinks as there were several of us, but once that number dwindled to just 2 of us we were targeted.

Nana "Entertainment" Plaza

The lady boy phenomenon is quite interesting in Thailand. I could never beat Wikipedia, so I recommend you read up on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathoey
There have been quite a few instances of disappointed sex-tourists returning to there hotel rooms to discover they have brought home a lady boy.

Note: Walking around a red light district with professional clothes on during a relative recession is not a good idea if you are not interested in paying for something. We wandered around a bit, got groped, propositioned and offered ‘great happy hour deals’, but ultimately found some street food. I’m glad to see some of the things Thailand is famous for, but ultimately was more interested in delicious food and beer than anything else.

Thai Ghost Movie Poster

Another quick note: Thai people are a bit obsessed with ghosts. One of my coworkers just moved into a new apartment – after the first night he pronounced that he shared the apartment with a ghost. I’m not sure if its frightening or not, but most Thai people acknowledge being visited by ghosts or seeing ghosts. Our other coworkers scolded our friend for not checking out the apartment or sleeping there before moving in. During the course of this discussion, I found out that there is a headless ghost who occupies our office. Incentive to not work late at night!

All Seasons Place Floor 10: Headless Ghost