Today's song is: Nautical Disaster .. Lightfoot song sung by The Tragically Hip .. proudly Canadian
The lead singer of Tragically Hip has been diagnosed with terminally ill brain cancer. Canada Day has just passed along with memorials to the Canadians who died during WW1. This song reflects on WW2.
I video chat with Thavorn and Jaidan twice a day to say good morning and good night. Over the past couple of weeks I could tell that Thavorn was getting a little bit bored with the village and recently she started admitting it. I am not surprised as she got accustomed to living in Bangkok which is light years removed from her village life.
I explored my resort points and found I could book a week at the Marriott in downtown Bangkok for the week of August 1st to August 8th. Thavorn and Jaidan will arrive by bus on the 31st (Jordan's 2 year birthday) and we will celebrate with dinner and a visit to Toys R Us to let him choose his birthday present. This will give Thavorn a much needed break from the village and will shorten my remaining stay in the village to 3 weeks which is fine by me :-)
We have our old apartment rented in Bangkok from the 1st of September to the last week in April. We hope that all three of us our visiting Canada for Canada's 150 birthday celebration next summer. We are hoping Canada will grant Thavorn a multiple entry visa so that she can visit Canada each summer while Jaidan and I are accumulating our 153 days in Ontario to qualify for OHIP, our provincial health insurance. Jaidan is a Canadian citizen and already has his Canadian passport.
The Marriott is in the middle of Bangkok and is 5 star. Here are some pics:
Today's song is: Home .. Dolly .. I am missing Thavorn and Jaidan ...
My sister Ann just purchased a table for her screened in living area and it is a perfect place to sit and reflect on life and/or program, write a book, etc., while sipping a glass of red wine or drinking a coffee. Here are some pics:
The room features a 270 degree view with screens on all sides and twin skylights up top. I am not sure about what it does for my productivity but it adds a zen like experience to my programming.
Today is Canada Day in Canada (duh, kinda redundant) and I am enjoying being far away from the maddening crowd. Next summer is Canada's 150 birthday and hopefully Thavorn and Jaidan will be visiting Canada with me and I will take them downtown Ottawa for the music, celebrations, and fireworks. For now, I am happy to be where I am.
I spent yesterday learning some more Linux trivia and worked on installing some needed software into my Lubuntu image that runs on my AlienWare laptop with a Windows 10 host operating system.
I guess I should get down to actually writing some code, so
Today's song is: When You Kiss Me .. Shania .. missing Thavorn
I am at my older sister's log house in the woods overlooking a quiet lake in the wilds of Quebec, a province in Canada. It is a big change from my younger sister's house in the City of Ottawa. My younger sister has cats and my older sister has 2 rather large dogs. Here are some pics.
Every log house needs a wizard on guard
Idyllic place to sit
The lake in September
View from the back
Front view and garden
Big white dog .. Akbash breed .. Canna
Big brown dog .. Barbet breed .. Monty
Tonight for dinner we will be imbibing some red wine, tossed salad, my Thai spaghetti sauce and some fresh pasta. Does not get much better ...
I must admit I am a bit bored with Canada at this moment. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I miss Thavorn and Jaidan. I am also doing quite a bit of boring (monkey work) programming which is also not much fun.
I had a great night out with the two Mikes and we all laughed for 3 hours straight. The two Mikes are all on their second relationship and we have lots in common. The link was originally basketball with our daughters but now it is kindred spirits.
I met Billy for coffee at Timmy's and not much seems to have changed in his life. Time for Billy to take a walk on the wild side before he checks out of this world. :-)
I am not sure where a 65 year old goes to have fun in Ottawa. I see lots of them in Timmy's in the morning but they don't seem to be having much fun but seem to be 'putting in time'. Brent and Jeanine and Paul and Cathy live more exciting lives as they travel extensively and have taken delight in visiting their grand children. Jeanine has a small pillow in my room that say, "If I had known that grandchildren were so much fun I would have had them first!" . Kind of my philosophy as I made my own :-)
The weather in Ottawa has been beautiful over the past two weeks. June - August are always great months in Ottawa. My fitness routine continues unabated and I feel myself still losing weight despite eating dessert at suppers with Jeanine and Brent.
The dollar plunged today and I assume that it was due to Brexit. The British people voted to leave the European Union and I suspect it was to have more say in how their country operates in the world. I suspect that over the next 10 years it will prove to be a wise choice as the other European countries struggle with uncontrollable immigration. I think Angela Merkle lives in a dream world if she thinks it will all be roses.
Canada has accepted 25,000 Syrians and they will all migrate to the same area of the country and elect their own members of parliament. Assimilation seldom occurs as like likes like. Just a fact of life.
I am hoping for a night out with Ashley and Mike (another 2 basketball buddies on subsequent relationships). They are lots of fun and sharing life's adventures keep all of us entertained. I move to my sister Anne's house on the lake around the end of the month. Ann and I have some great discussions trying to solve the world's problems but we come at those problems from different ends and seldom end up in the middle. It should be a good 4 or 5 days :-) Ann likes research based evidence and I prefer empirical evidence.
Well, enough chatting, time to find a good song ... Deb, I have not forgotten about you :-)
Today's song is: Times .. Dylan at the White House
Today is father's day in Canada. Definitely a day for reflection. Back when I was married, it was a day I was given a day of freedom to do whatever I wanted without family and kids. I am not sure how that came about and today I would question why I would want that. Maybe a bad dad would want that, but I would think bad dad's would avail themselves with free days quite often.
What would qualify a dad as a bad dad? I think the qualifications would have changed over the years. Back when my dad was alive, a good dad was a good provider who went out into the world and worked hard to bring home the 'bacon' so that mom and the family could lead a good life with out worries. He also may have played the heavy in terms of discipline but would be held in reserve and used only as necessary.
I think it is much harder to be a good dad these days. I think today's dads have many different roles to play and sometimes even end up trading places with mom and staying home as the primary care giver while mom becomes the primary wage earner. It is not unusual for mom to out earn dad these days. Given that female enrollment is pushing up over 70% in many universities I would think this trend will continue.
I think the above trend will lead to some gender role confusion. An ex basketball player that I coached for many years just committed suicide at the age of 28. When I new him he was a fun loving young teenager who enjoyed life. The late 20's and early 30's are prime suicide years for males. Here is an excerpt form: http://www.bcmj.org/articles/silent-epidemic-male-suicide
Suicide in men has been described as a “silent epidemic”: epidemic because of its high incidence and substantial contribution to men’s mortality, and silent because of a lack of public awareness, a paucity of explanatory research, and the reluctance of men to seek help for suicide-related concerns. A statistical overview demonstrates a shockingly high rate of death by suicide for men compared with women, and a need to focus attention on prevention, screening, treatment, and service delivery. Promising lines of research include identification of clinical indicators specifically predictive of male suicide and exploration of precipitating and predisposing factors that distinguish male suicide and account for the substantial gender disparity. Only by breaking the silence—building public awareness, refining explanatory frameworks, implementing preventive strategies, and undertaking research—will we overcome this epidemic. Suicide in men has been described as a “silent epidemic.”[1] It has a disturbingly high incidence and is a major contributor to men’s mortality. In British Columbia, suicide is one of the top three causes of mortality among men aged 15 and 44.[2] Among men of all ages in Canada, suicide ranked as the seventh leading cause of death in 2007.[3]
A teacher friend of mine committed suicide in Malaysia while in his early forties. He too appeared to be a fun loving guy who worried about being a bad dad because he left his adult children to follow his dream of becoming an author and business teacher. His children thought him selfish and often asked him to come back home to Canada.
The above, begs the question when do the obligations of being a dad end? Perhaps the birds have it right. When the time is right, the bird parent boots the bird out of the nest and the young bird had better be ready to fly as they are on their own. No more free snacks courtesy of mom or dad. I am not even sure dad is still around around at that time as his dad's duties may have been fulfilled much earlier :-)
My nephew also committed suicide in his early thirties. He had, much like me, fallen in love with Thailand, and had a bad experience of betrayal by a Thai woman, which I suspect, soured him on life and relationships. I truly do not really know and I wish I had taken the time to understand him. He was a fine young man.
My experience leads me to believe that most Thai men would fall under the label of bad dad for many reasons. Not surprising as may of them are raised by a grandmother in an environment where there is no father figure to model after. Many of the Thai women I know will have nothing to do with Thai men after having one of two failed relationships characterized by wife beatings and cheating partners.
I don't have much experience with hi-so Thai males other than I know there are many bars throughout Bangkok that cater to hi-so Thai males that cheat on their partners. It begs the question whether or not males were meant to be monogamous. Biologically, I think not.
The world is rapidly changing. There is a growing 'cougar' phenomenon, where financially secure women are seeking out younger men for liaisons of some form or another. I view this as not unlike the hi-so Thai males. As women become more and more financially independent from males I suspect this trend to continue. They even have their own meeting place on the net.
Today's song is: Danny Boy .. Irish Rovers .. one of my favorite songs
June 17th was my daughter Jaime's 30th birthday and we are having a dinner party at Milestones at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. Not sure who all is going but I know both my sisters, Bill (Ann's hubby) are going. I hope Jordan and Stasa (Jordan's GF) will be there as well.
I traveled from my business partner's house in Orleans by bus to my sister's house and it took me about 2 hours which includes a 20 minute walk to and from Transit stations at each end. All in all, I am finding Ottawa's transit system pretty easy to navigate. Riding the bus is like being in the United Nations, definitely a multicultural experience. At times, I am definitely a visible minority while riding the bus :-)
I had a great chat with Thavorn via LINE video today. She is managing well but is starting to get bored. The past 2 days she has been visiting a friend who gave birth 3 days ago. Her friend has a 2 year old still in diapers and her friend's Thai BF is useless and refuses to change the 2 year old's diapers or cook meal. Typical Thai male. Thavorn had nothing good to say about him.
Thai women who manage to find a good farang are always amazed with their work ethic, politeness, and how well they treat women. Frankly, it is not hard to look good given the Thai competition :-)
The weather has warmed up considerable in Canada over the past week. For those of you who think Canada is always the great white north, you may be surprised at how hot it gets in the summer, although it is still officially Spring.
Milestones is a pretty expensive restaurant so I imagine the bill for my meal will be quite expensive compared to Thailand. The comparison I like to make is: my Thai meal (similar quality) will cost me the equivalent of the tip on the Canadian meal. In other words, the Thai meal costs 20% of the Canadian meal. That is why I prefer to live 7 months of the year in Thailand.
It is quite quiet in Ottawa and that just reinforces my belief that Bangkok is a more fun place to live. Thavorn seems happy and and Jaidan is changing daily. We communicate via video chat using LINE, an app preferred by Asian over WhatsApp. I was reading Stickman's weekly and came across a follow up interview he did with 4 Thai working girls. It is a fascinating glimpse into their lives and thought processes so I will include it here.
In previous chit chats we have talked about how you each got in to the business in the first place and what it's like working as an escort. I guess I expected most of you would be out of the industry by now but you're all still working! What's the story? You can't do this sort of work your entire life, can you!
Maria: I think maybe it will be another 2 more years for me. I still don't have enough money to stop working and when I stop I don't want to work again.
Bonnie: I have a dream for my future and that is why I continue working. My dream is to be the master of my own destiny. I don't want other people to choose how my life will be and the only way for me to control my own life is to have enough money. Money doesn't make us happy, but it gives us choices.
Maria: It's all about the money - the more money, the better your life.
Bonnie: I want to make sure the quality of my life is very good. I also have to take care of my family. I want to be sure that I have enough money for my life and their life to be better.
So you want out, but you stay because you need more money?
Sophia: I want to have enough money for my family and me.
So that begs the obvious question: What is your number?
<Blank looks all around, no one is quite sure, almost as if no one has actually thought it that far through.>
I mean how much money do you need? <Still a little reluctant to answer>
OK, let me tell you my number. For me, I need $2 million, or in your money, about 50 million baht. To buy a decent house in my country, furnish it and have a couple of cars is about $1,000,000. And I would like another million on top of that to invest and generate an income. Anything less than that amount and I would not be confident that I have enough money to stop working. I figure with a house and another $1million+ I can earn enough from investments to live comfortably, travel and still have enough to buy a few toys. More would be better and it's really not a lot of money these days, but $NZD 2 million is the minimum for me. So, would 50 million baht be enough for you? <Laughs all around as if what I have said is the most profound thing anyone has ever said to them!>
Maria: 2 million baht.
Is that really enough? It really doesn't sound like a big number to me.
Maria: Yeah, it's enough, I think.
You think? Think is not good enough, you need to be sure!
Bonnie: 5 million baht is enough. Cash. I am building a house already. A house and 5 million baht will be enough.
Sophia: 5 million baht too. I have a car to pay off. I need to pay off my car first and save more.
Cherry: 5 or 6 million baht. I want to buy a big piece of land, which will cost 3 million baht. It will be large, many rai. When I have that I can have a farm and run my own business from the farm and make money.
Julie: 3 million baht. Before I thought 1 million was enough but now I know it's not enough.
Bonnie: Everything is getting expensive now....even just bla-too, you know a small piece of fish costs much more than before.
Julie: Sometimes we have a big dream and we have to revise it with a smaller dream but I think 3 million baht will be enough.
<I find myself multi-tasking, asking questions + scribbling answers while also doing the maths in my mind to estimate the number of customers the girls have had to save this amount of money. Most escort agencies in Bangkok split the fee 50 : 50 with the girls. So, from a 2-hour liaison @ 5,000 baht the girl gets 2,500 baht. 5 million baht divided by 2,500 baht is 2,000 = meaning 2,000 customers - and that's just to save 5 million baht. I decide to keep this thought to myself.>
So when you have reached the point that you have saved enough money, what will you do with it?
Maria: Put it in the bank and buy gold.
Julie: Buy my land.
Sophia: Put it in the bank and earn interest and just use the interest to live on.
Cherry: Once we have enough money, for me it's 5 million baht, we can run a business. I will go back home and work on my farm. I will grow fruit and vegetables and sell them in the market. We can grow food for ourselves and sell the excess at the market. If we're lucky we might be able to export some to other countries and sell it at a higher price.
Alice: If I have enough money I will move home, buy land and start a business too.
So when you have made enough money to stop working you're going to go home?
Everyone: <A very resounding> YES!
So does that mean you don't really like Bangkok and that you're only here for money?
Sophia: We are only here to make money. That is the only reason to be in Bangkok!
No one is here for the fun or excitement of a big city?
Everyone: NO!
So ultimately you don't really like it here?
<I am looked at as if this is another incredibly stupid question.>
Julie: I want to go back to home and be with my family, stay with them and be close to nature.
Maria: If I am with my family in the countryside, even if I just sit and gaze at a canal all day long I'm happy. Being home with family beats living in this city any time. I don't care what I do when I am at home, I am happy there.
So tell me about your dreams, the dreams you had when you started this work and the dreams you have now. Have your dreams changed? No one has said they want to settle down with a foreign guy / customer which I find a little surprising.
Bonnie: It's very hard to find a good guy in this business. It's hard to find a rich guy for marriage, or even just find a good guy who isn't rich. It's better to buy a lottery ticket. There's a better chance of getting lucky that way.
Maria: If we meet someone, that would be good. But if we don't, hey, no problem.
Sophia, I know you better than the other girls here. You used to work in the UK, for a number of years as I seem to recall. You've been back working in Thailand a good few years now. You must have met some good guys over the years, surely?
Sophia: How many years have I worked? Oh, I don't remember but it's a long, long time. If I was going to meet a guy and he was going to marry me, it would have happened already. It isn't going to happen.
Cherry: I have been with so many handsome men. I have taken care of many smart guys, high-class guys, rich guys. Many of these guys were very desirable to be a husband. I have met so many guys already, so many who would make a good husband, but it wasn't to be.
Why is that? Are you all super fussy? Are you waiting for that one guy who is both super rich and super handsome?
Julie: That's not the problem. Most guys we meet are not single. Most have a wife and family in their country.
Sophia: We're not lucky to meet a guy for life in this business. It's only for a short time, only to make money.
Alice: For me it doesn't matter. It's only about money and was never about anything else. I never had a dream to meet a foreign guy to marry. Honestly, I never ever thought I would meet a guy for a relationship in this business.
That's very different to how things used to be. <I tell them briefly about the history of this website, my time in Thailand and how for many years Western guys visiting Thailand got involved with working ladies, relationships flourished, they got married, kids came along and some lived happily ever after. They seem genuinely surprised.> So do you see foreign guys only as a source of money?
<She'd been tapping away on her mobile, seemingly in a world of her own, but obviously she was tuned in to what was being said because before anyone has a chance to answer the manager interjects quick fast and stops the girls before they answer, with the Thai equivalent for the English "inappropriate" used.>
Bonnie: So many guys we take care of say they love us. I have heard those words so many times! I have to try so hard to feign happiness as if I believe them, but it's hard when you have heard it from so many guys and know it's not true! How can they love us after a few days when they hardly even know us?
Julie: We can only hope for so long that Mr. Right is going to come along and when he doesn't, we must face reality. Eventually we lose any hope at all that this business will be about anything more than making money.
Bonnie: Since I have worked as an escort, I have learned many things and seen things I would not otherwise have seen. A lot of people tell me what I have to do – do this, do that....but I do what I want to do. One thing I know it is very hard to make people like me and love me.
So has your idea of Western men changed? What were your general thoughts about white guys before you started and how have they changed?
Maria: Farang are more polite than I thought they would be.
Julie: Before I was scared of foreign guys, but now I am not scared at all
Bonnie: African guys really are big and some are scary.
Maria: Some guys don't let us sleep!
What?
Maria: Some guys want to have sex all night and never stop.
Bonnie: They want to use all the time they have paid for, the entire night, kind of like they have paid for “full option!”
Alice: Some guys think they can do anything they want to us because they paid money for us.
Cherry: But when they're good, they are really good.
Maria: Some guys are so good. Like the customer I had last night. They make us really happy.
Sophia: When I meet good guys I am happy to keep working but when I meet bad guys it puts me off and makes me think about leaving once and for all.
So it means your work is changeable depending on the customer and never the same?
Maria: Yes, it is like an up and down graph. <She waves her finger up and down, as if drawing a graph.>
Bonnie: Up and down, up and down, that's our life!
For me, Thailand feels like it is changing fast. Some older expats are leaving while younger guys are coming in even greater numbers. Have you seen any changes in this business or is it business as usual?
Bonnie: I think more expats come here for work. I see more farangs here and many live here.
Julie: I think customers have changed and they spend less money. Before my customers liked to go out and take me to really nice places, expensive hotel bars and restaurants, but now most stay in the room and play with their laptop when they're not playing with me. Bangkok is expensive and a lot of people just play online because they don't have money to do things. Just eating basic food is much more expensive than it used to be.
Sophia: Many farang live here now, more than ever before. I think a lot them are poor. They always complain about money. So do you still get the same number of bookings as in the past? <The manager interjects and pointedly says that there are still a lot of bookings but the girls take more time off these days and any drop in bookings is due to the girls' availability - or lack of it - more than anything else. She doesn't say it explicitly, but I get the feeling she is not impressed that these particular girls, all of whom have been with the agency for some time, some for approaching 5 years, are not as hard-working as they used to be.>
Sophia: Before we got a lot of long bookings, like overnight or multi-day, but now it's mainly short bookings. We used to get overnight regularly, but now most bookings are just 2 hours.
You make A LOT of money in this business. Is the money so good that it's hard to walk away from?
Sophia: 9,000 baht is what a lot of people get paid for one month. We can make that in one day. Even if we earned 30,000 baht a month which is a high salary, that would be a huge drop in income for us. Just my personal expenses can be more than 30,000 baht a month.
Cherry: We're getting older every day so we have to make money while we can. We cannot make this sort of money doing anything else.
You make good money – what do you do with it? Do you save it?
Sophia: I send a lot of money home. I am always buying this and that. It depends on our family. Every family is different.
Julie: There are four areas of expenses each month. First there is rent. We all have to pay rent. Next are the things we buy for ourselves. Then there is the money we send to our family. Finally, there is the money we save.
<Everyone nods in agreement.>
Cherry: My number one priority is sending money home. I try to save. That's about it. I don't have a lot of expenses so I can save a lot.
Bonnie: I send some to my family and the rest is for me.
Has anyone bought a home?
Everyone: <Yes, everyone is either building or has already built / bought a house.>
Sophia: Buying a house is the biggest expense in life. What do you say in English? Easy come, easy go? That's what happens with the money we make. We have to be sensible and buy things that are important like a house and a car.
Julie: We need to save a lot of money for any medical care or hospital expenses too.
Sophia: With assets like a house, land or car, if we need money in the future we can sell these things. When we stop we might not be making money so we need to be careful to plan now.
I know you make very good money already and probably earn more than most of my readers, but have you considered working abroad where the money is even better? Singapore, for example? A lot of Thai women are on the Bangkok / Singapore circuit and I understand they make several hundred dollars a day.
Sophia: There are many young ladies there and we are not young. And in Singapore they like white-skinned girls so we cannot compete with them. But there are lots of expats in Singapore and they will go for your look.
Julie: It's easier here. We know how everything works. Everything is easy here. This is our home, our country, There are no problems working here. If we have a problem with a customer here, we can easily sort it out. In Singapore or in another country if we have problems with a customer it can become a big problem and it's not easy for us. We should not be doing this work there and that would always in the back of my mind.
Maria: I love Thailand and I want to stay here.
Bonnie: We cannot get som tam there or other places!
Cherry: I hear it's not easy to go to Singapore for us any more. It's risky these days.
Looking good is a big part of what you do. What sort of effort do you make to look good?
Bonnie: I spend a lot of money on the way I look. Filler, vitamins, Botox once a year. Supplements are important too. I try to be healthy.
So there's no alcohol? No drinking?
Cherry: Haha! We drink a lot but we try to eat well too. It's important to eat nutritious food.
Maria: We need to get enough sleep. That is really important, but it's not easy in this line of work.
I've got my opinion on this, but why do you think so many Thai women work in the sex industry? Is making money from your body natural for Thai women? OK, perhaps that's not such a nice way to put it. Let me try to put it a more palatable way....do you have fewer hang-ups about sex for money than other cultures may have?
Maria: Working like this is the easiest way to make a lot of money fast. We do it for the money. We don't think about it too much. The money is for our family.
Cherry: Many Thai ladies take the responsibility of taking care of their family seriously. To do that you need money, sometimes a lot of money, and this is the best and easiest way for us to make a lot of money.
Bonnie: It's Thai culture. We cannot leave the family behind or abandon them. Never. It's the last thing we can ever do. <Everyone is nodding in agreement.>
Tell me honestly, do think this business has changed you?
Bonnie: I feel it has made me grow up. I have seen more than I ever would have seen had I not done this. It has forced me to grow up. I think I have learned a lot and it has made me consider different ideas and look at things from a different perspective. When we're young we just want to have fun but when we do this work we feel like we have grown up in our mind. We feel that we have a duty to our family and honestly, I feel I have fulfilled that duty and I feel a great sense of pride in that.
Sophia: It has made me stronger through all of the experiences I have had.
Cherry: If I worked in a factory I would have a small salary. Working here I have made good money and I have been able to provide for my family and that has made everyone at home happy. Whatever they want, I can give it to them. If they want good food, I can provide it. I don't know if you know how important that is to us. Do you send money to your family?
Umm, err, no, I don't. It's not part of my culture. But then my parents have enough so it's not like they need my help. They just prefer that I live close by. That's more important to them than money.
<Everyone nods.>
Bonnie: I have learned a lot about time and how important the concept of time is to foreigners. I have learned to rush and do things fast. Time is important. It's not like that here. One day I will not be as beautiful as I am today and my looks will have gone, so I must work fast now to make money while I can.
Maria: The most important thing is that my family's life is so much better because of what I have done. I bought a house for my mother. I send money to her every month without fail. So what happens to me doesn't matter.
Julie: Same as my friends. It's all about family.
Alice: Same same. More money is better for my family. It's as simple as that. What good can working in a factory do? Overtime? An extra 50 baht? That won't help much!
Julie: Even if you work in a good job and you get overtime you just cannot earn the sort of money we have been able to. It's a no-brainer.
I tell my readers that older ladies are better. Am I right? Why should my readers choose you, and not an 18-year-old gogo dancer?
Sophia: Service levels are not the same <said with a sexy grin>. Service is very important!
Alice: We are higher class.
Cherry: Honestly, I am confident that we are better at what we do. I truly believe that.
Maria: There is the safety issue. We come from an agency and if there is anything that you're not happy with you can contact the agency.
Bonnie: Do you really think a young girl is better in bed than us?! <She grabs my arm and starts stroking it and stares directly at me, holding eye contact. Everyone bursts out laughing!> OK, so what about your sexual health?
Bonnie: I have had some customers who are quite vigorous during sex and I always go back to see the same doctor. Now he always says the same, "Oh, it's you again, is it the same problem as last time?!" The doctor has told me that this work is not good for me even if I use a condom all the time. I think my pussy needs to take a holiday because she works so hard!
<It's a question that ultimately the other girls don't want to answer and the interview peters out as the girls lose interest and start chattering amongst themselves, answering that very question in hushed tones, all rather cagey and nervous that I will transcribe their conversation. I tell them that we're done, they seem relieved as general chit chat follows.>
A couple of the girls show me photos of themselves and their family up country. It looks like it's a million miles from Bangkok. In those photos the girls are not dollied up, they have minimal makeup and in one shot Bonnie is wearing a straw hat and looks nothing like she does now. It's not just another province, it looks like another world. It's hard to believe that these elegantly dressed ladies come from a world so different to the upmarket shopping mall we're sitting in. But then, I wonder to myself, are these girls really all that different to me? I came to Bangkok, did my thing, made some money – in the very same industry as these girls - and then returned to where I had come from for much the same reasons as these girls – I wanted to be close to family and a natural environment, well away from the stresses and strains of Bangkok. Maybe we're all not as different as we like to think we are?
The Stickman weekly has been running for years and is an interesting historical perspective into life in Thailand for Farangs over those years.
