Yes, Thank You... I'm Still Around!

If your month has been as good as mine has, you've been extremely fortunate. I'll hold that hope for you all. Even with losing a couple of favored people from our spinning blue marble I've had a wonderful October.  As I'd mentioned a while back: I have a life that reaches far beyond blogging, and for that I'm eternally grateful.

That said, it's probably only fair to at least check in and make some mention of what I've been up to since that last post on the first of the month.  I've even been a bit slow to answer email and messages asking me "what's up?", and I apologize... I do appreciate you asking.

My most consistently abusive reader prematurely celebrated the demise of this blog, and perhaps one day he'll get his wish. For now I'm enjoying the hundreds of visits a day from people who have discovered what I hope will continue to be a growing cornucopia of information based on my own experiences and not merely borrowed and reworded from elsewhere on the web.

Normally I'm a relatively private person, but let me share a little bit of what my life's like:

I have five books in various stages of production, a couple of family members who need regular care, five men who I meet with weekly as a mentor for about 90 minutes or so (in addition to daily phone contact), keeping in touch by phone, email and messaging with people I care about on different points on Earth, an exercise regimen of sorts, my own personal time for meditation, contemplation and enrichment, a house to keep and the time I spend reading and watching TV. Oh, right... and there's also eating, sleeping and the other minutiae of life.

I'm also asked to speak every so often on travel in Thailand, and that often requires some prep time beforehand - i.e. going through 45,000+ photos taken in Thailand but not well categorized - to assemble relevant photos and prepare speaking notes. Sure, I could just borrow pictures and present them as my own, but that's dishonest.

So, you see, I'm just plain old busy. Too busy for a retired person, that's for damn sure. While this was a nearly all-consuming addiction for me when I began it some 45 months ago, it's not now. I enjoy it, but it's become more of a guilty pleasure to "steal" some time and share with you all.  I'm not throwing in the towel, but - obviously - I'm not posting like I used to.  It's my hope that after this upcoming presentation I'll be able to get back to the list of posts in progress and be here more often.

In the meantime, don't give up on me. I DO answer emails, and consider those of you who've stuck with me as peripheral friends. I'm here if I can help.

So... why today to catch up? First, I'd like to be able to say I've at least posted a couple of times a month lately, and second, today is one of my favorite holidays... All Hallow's Eve. Second only to Christmas, in my book.

Hallowe'en (invariably misspelled in the U.S.A. today as Halloween), is something we've already covered - acknowledging some of how this odd holiday is observed in Thailand [Halloween: Drag Out The Feather Boas] and I've shared some about how I observe it here stateside [Ghosts, Ghouls And Goblins: It's Halloween]. It's a delightful holiday, so I thought I'd add a few postcards from a family scrapbook that commemorate the day.

These were all from around 1910, when they only required a penny stamp to mail.

Thai Smiles, Part 55: I Guess You Had To Be There

Giving a morning manicure along Beach Road in Pattaya

Maybe it's different with you, but it's often a mystery to me why some things that happen in the workplace are more amusing than identical things in a setting nearly the same in every other aspect.

How often have you heard something or seen something while at work and laughed out loud, but when you relate it to someone later it barely raises a patronizing chuckle?  I'll grant you that some folks tell a tale better than others and that - regardless of what they themselves may think - not everyone's even a halfway-decent comedian, but that doesn't really clear the issue up much.

All too often the person trying to salvage things lamely follows up the flopped anecdote with "well, I guess you had to be there", and, frankly, I think that has a lot to do with it.  No great debate point, but it livened up an after-dinner conversation I was a part of on Koh Samed a while back.

Seaboat touts taking a break

Part of it has to do with the element of surprise - the unexpected often being the easiest way to make this old dog laugh - but part of it also seemed to involve the regular tedium of many of our day to day tasks; in those cases humor on any level is an appreciated break, and that's where my money lies in the wager.

Running with that idea, my theory is that folks I meet while strolling around and people watching are willing to stop and smile for a picture because it's A) a break and B) it's sanuk (fun).  Of course, the less charitable might say it was just to get me to go away, but I've tested that theory often enough to be reasonably certain it's rarely the case. So there.

A local barber pauses during a client's shave

There are other examples of Thai folks finding some enjoyment or fun in what they're tasked to do while holding body and soul together here on the blog. If you're a newer reader you can learn some of the overall cultural view among workers in Sanuk Doesn't Just Mean "Fun" , among go go boys in Camaraderie On Soi Twilight and among prisoners in Pathumthani Prison "Chain Gang" At Work. 

Being left to tend the family cart can make for a boring morning

Speaking of work, I have a project strewn about my house that I've been trying to avoid for days now so I ought to get back to it... but first, would you like to hear something funny that happened while I was setting the thing up?

No?  Hmmm... didn't think so!  It was funny if you were there, though.

Enjoy your morning/afternoon/evening, depending on where you are when you're reading this, and thanks for checking in.

Working It: A Bar Boy's Collection Of "Walking ATMs"

Silom Soi 4: one of Yod's old fishing holes.

Yod leaned back in his chair, locked his strong arms behind his head and forcefully exhaled a column of cigarette smoke into the early evening air.  A bird sitting amid one of those fine examples of wildly creative Thai wiring above him chirped - perhaps in protest - and took off, dropping a generous dollop of bird shit onto the ground next to the stylish athletic shoe on the left foot he had sticking out in front of him.

"You see?" he smiled "I'm lucky!" I couldn't disagree with him. Yod was lucky; a survivor of a club life, and, as he figured it, possibly set for life.  At least as far into the future as many young people tend to look nowadays.  He knew he wasn't anything close to a spring chicken on the club market; he was, in fact, pushing the boundaries of twinkiedom. He was stunningly handsome now in his early 30s, and one can only imagine what a gorgeous figure he cut at college age.

It didn't bother him in the least that he was nearly finished with the active nightly work of being offed and having to make it seem as though he was attracted to - or interested in the slightest - in the person who had rented his attentions. In fact, it was a great relief. Granted, sometimes there were women who came into the club and offed him for his services ("big!" he said, pointing to his crotch), but he'd very rarely been interested in the men he'd been with. He could "do it", but he knew what he preferred.

Not Yod's complex, but a
good example of the type:
simple,but comfy

Some were younger and somewhat attractive, but most were nearly twice his age; faking enthusiasm or performing acts he didn't care for in the interest of a tip was often a challenge.  If he hadn't needed to be too intoxicated to agree to the tryst he could almost always "rise to the occasion," but sometimes he was merely an object to penetrate, and some customers were rough.

"Act like man, but they not," he said. "Just feel like man if they treat me same dog."  More than a couple of times he'd called the event to a halt, dressed and left, even though it meant no tip. A few times he'd had to struggle to leave, and once he'd had to fight his way out. What he said about those customers doesn't need to be repeated here.

Yod knew he was being used, and he treated his job as just that: a job. As some guys do, he also ran his own "business". Early on he'd been advised to encourage repeat business - a sound practice in any business, come to think of it - and he put great effort into what a friend had done, which was build a clientele who would send him money after they'd gone home.  Regularly.  It was then he promptly left the bars he freelanced in and started to take things easier.

It's a common story those who rent admirers hear early on, if they're listening, be they customers of of either sex.  Anyone who's known someone who has dallied overseas while in military service has probably heard the story in one form or another; the ship leaves Subic Bay in the Philippines and two weeks later the letter arrives: "I'm pregnant and it's yours".

As I said, Yod didn't work the short-term market all that long, preferring to tap the Walking ATM market instead. His rent and basics were paid, but his business was of the longer-term, better income type. As an example I'll cite a common story: "I'll leave my club life and wait for only you if you can help me with Bt ____ a month until you come back to be with me."

Yes, it's dishonest - probably fair to say morally reprehensible - so save your comments. It doesn't excuse his lies, but there are countless examples of farang saying "I want to bring you to my home country to be with me" (or variations on the theme) and then disappearing after the evening, too, and that's pretty crappy behavior, too. You hear that sort of story nightly if you eavesdrop for any length of time in lots of gay and straight bars where a farang is making their moves on a Thai.

Yod had built his business well. He currently had seven guys who regularly sent him money, thinking Yod was their Special Boy and waiting for them to return to visit him, and none knew about the other.  Two from the United Kingdom, two from Germany, one from France, and two from the USA. There were three others who were irregular contributors - Bt3,000 for his actual birthday and the likes - but these were added bonuses, as they rarely visited.

His regular monthly income was in the neighborhood of - get this - 45,000 baht per month, and he had no actual job. That's $1,500USD, or 1,100 Euro.  It might not sound like a lot where you're reading this, but in Thailand it's pretty darned good money. In addition to this regular income, two had believed they were the ones who had built the handsome home he showed pictures of where his mother, father and two brothers lived. They hired help now for the rice and cassava planting and harvesting, and his brothers attended good schools.

He said the easiest ones were the ones who came to visit on a set schedule, because the others could be scheduled around them. Only once over seven years had he needed to beg off or re-arrange a visitor's time in Thailand.  Some of the men he really did feel an affection for, and once he'd felt so sorry for a Dutch man who had fallen hard for him that Yod made up a story to end the relationship to avoid hurting the man too deeply. If he had wanted to settle down with a man, the Dutchman would have been the one. "He very very kind to me and act like Thai way," he said, but that wasn't what Yod wanted.

Yod spent a lot of time at his real home in the agricultural area outside of Bangkok proper, but also had regular stretches in Bangkok and other tourist areas where he managed his bank accounts and kept in contact with his guys from a variety of internet shops. Although he was out of the club scene, he figured he could always make room for one more farang; besides, he enjoyed time with his friends there. His one regular remaining vice was smoking tobacco.

Unlike many Thai club/bar/sex workers he spoke of, he'd dodged the drink/drug/gambling webs and had salted away a small fortune. His family was well taken care of, and he was considering settling down with a woman and making his own family.

After three hours of chatting we called it an evening. Yod wouldn't let me pick up the tab for himself, my translator friend and I. I look forward to following his story.

A Close Shave At A Thai Barber Shop

A young Thai man gets his sideburns trimmed in the shop I visited

There's a saying I've used over the years about will power (or the lack of it) that goes "if you go to the barber shop often enough, eventually you're going to get your hair cut." Although I'd walked past a lot of barber shops on my first visit to Thailand years ago I was hesitant to go in with my limited Thai skills. Nevertheless, I'd passed them plenty of times, and eventually I went in.

This local shop is still there, but the barber I saw for a few years isn't - he opened his own shop on the other side of the Chao Phraya river.

I don't mean a fancy shop in a tourist area with the signage and price list in English, I mean a neighborhood shop, where the only familiar words would be brand names and where the prices next to the Thai script mean nothing. Still, I was curious, and when I saw the familiar cylindrical glass jar of blue "sterilizing" liquid in it - the same I'd grown up with while visiting the barber - I figured "why not?" and sat down in a row of chairs to wait my turn. It felt much like a neighborhood shop from my childhood: conversation between anyone inside (who spoke Thai), photos of discreetly seductive ladies on the wall and a TV with a sporting event on.

My regular barber knew two
words of English: my name,
and "okay"

Of course, short of using an autoclave or some other such device there is really no true sterilizing barbering tools, but I saw myself that they opened and clicked a new set of razor blades into the handle for the guy inside getting a shave and weren't re-using the same straight razor over and over.

When I arrived, one of the barbers was bent over a man in the window-side chair who had his head turned left ear up, and the barber (!) was doing something deep inside it.  Puzzled, I watched for a couple of minutes. Soon enough the barber stood upright, smiled and triumphantly held up a pair of fine tweezers. Between the tips of them was a flat, rounded piece of dark golden brown something that I soon realized was ear wax.

My friend later that day told me it was a common thing for some barbers to do such a procedure, and it was as safe as they were skilled; no more and no less.  I haven't tried that one yet. The man who'd had it removed shook his head a couple of times and gave the impression that his hearing was better, and seeing what came out of it I'm sure it was.

As it turned out, when the man who'd just had the haircut, shave and ear job done paid and left I was next up to sit in that same chair. I could see a price list in Thai and some numbers, and some quick figuring let me know they were a pittance compared to prices back home. A cheap haircut in my neck of the woods is $12USD (about 360bt), but that's unusual... usually it's closer to $20. A haircut and a shave here was about $3USD.

I'd just started a walk from the Asia Hotel, which meant I had only showered a half hour before, so I didn't add the shampoo to the package, but I have since.  Not too many commercial places you can be fully pampered for less than $5USD.

Using all of the pantomiming skills I could muster I let the guy know how I wanted my hair cut and that I wanted a shave. He, in turn, mimed digging in my ear, but I smiled and politely let him know I wasn't interested in that today.  He shrugged his shoulders, draped a towel across my chest and fastened it behind my neck with a clip. He went about his work while humming quietly to himself, pausing a few times to look at the television in the "reception" area behind him when the other barber would hoot about the football game in progress.

The haircut was quick and just what I'd wanted. He handed me a mirror and turned the chair so I could see his handiwork.  I smiled and nodded as he leaned my chair back and tucked the towel up around my neck.  I confess I did look up to make sure he was putting a fresh blade into the shaver, but I don't think he noticed my distrust. I'll risk a few things while on holiday, but hepatitus C and HIV aren't among them.  I was needlessly worried, but I'm glad I looked.

The tiny brush you can see being used below on another man was filled with foam which he then spread on my cheeks and neck, as I'd expected. His touch was light, and he worked faster than some barbers do. What surprised me was that he also shaved the light fuzz from both my ear lobes and my forehead.  I've had lobes done before, but never my forehead.  When he was finished my entire face was as smooth as... well, as a baby's butt.

I'm sorry that I couldn't visit with the man, but just closing my eyes and relaxing for a while was really nice, too.  It wasn't as good as a nap, but it was nice. Did I mention he also did a five-minute neck and shoulder massage when he was finished? I should have.

Getting up I thanked him, swiped my face with my hand and smiled "smooth!" and he laughed behind his mask.  The girl behind the counter said "100 baht", and at that price I thanked her, too. I asked the barber for a picture, and he agreed. Now being spoiled I've visited the shop five or six more times each time I've been in the area, even if only to avoid shaving myself. I tipped him Bt20, but I didn't ever notice a Thai customer tipping them.

The shop is a couple of blocks behind the Asia Hotel at Ratchathewi, but the barber himself has opened his own place on the other side of the river. When I first noticed he was gone I ended up having a friend ask about him for me. The receptionist called him on his cell phone and he told my friend where he was. One of these days I'm going to find my way to his shop.

I've had good haircuts and decent shaves at other local spots in Thailand since then, but I've never found another "hole in the wall" place quite like it.  Still, I keep looking.

The "Sick Water Buffalo" Story

Water buffalo in Northwest Thailand

"My family needs a water buffalo," lamented Tum, a reasonably new friend I'd met a few years ago. "The old one was sick for months and died four weeks ago. My parents didn't have the money for a veterinarian and neither did I, and they'll need him for the rice fields soon. Now my family is really in trouble." He looked down at the plate of food  in front of him and was quiet.


[Note: Although Tum speaks in the somewhat halting, broken English some Thai do - as many of us casually learning a second language might well do ourselves - I've taken the liberty of changing his words in the interest of readability and respect.]

If you've read many of the Thai forums, done much research on tourist experiences, rented many "admirers" or had conversations with Thai from several levels of society you've most likely heard a similar story. If one's to be cynical about it it goes on the same list a few others already occupy: "my mother (or another family member) needs an operation", "my brother (or another family member) was in an accident" and "I'm short money for my room rent" topping the list of regulars. 

I was mightily surprised to hear the "Brother in a Motocy Accident" story once and then learn that, sadly, it was true. That story from April 2011 is here, if you'd care to read it.

Of course, there's also the basic "I need money for food" story, and that's usually the easiest to remedy: walk with the person to the nearest food vendor's cart and buy them a meal. At least they will have eaten for the day, even if they continue to panhandle as soon as they're finished and use that money for - ahem - less desirable purchases. 

Getting back to Tum, though. The water buffalo story looms large in the legend of Thai-Farang relationships at some levels; the top one or two, I'd say.  Others may have had different experiences, but it's one of the two I've heard most often while doing research on another project. I almost always manage to show some sympathy and get off the subject as gracefully as possible, but since I had someone to help translate for me I allowed the conversation with Tum to drift into what I was fairly sure was going to be a request for funds... and I was correct. 

Tum, the oldest of four kids, was a club worker with four years behind him, and he hadn't been doing well the past few months. He'd changed places a few times, gone out of his way to stay on the good side of the mamasan when necessary and been a willing companion to those who showed interest in him, but his luck with the number of offs and the tips from them just hadn't been on his side. Now he - and his family off in Isaan - were in a pinch. 

Like a number of other club workers he'd built up a support network of customers over his four years on the market, but he was tiring of the grind and longed to be back home where he wanted to start a family and settle down. He said he didn't lie to the farang he'd been in contact with - he didn't play the "you're the only one and I'm waiting for you" game - so those who had helped him in the past were already tapped out. 

Now he was still short about $150USD. While that may not sound like a lot to some of you, I can put a student through school there for an entire year for that amount. To keep things in perspective, though, it's about what I'd spend for two or three nights in a room on holiday there, too, so everything's relative, I suppose.

Tum excused himself to use the toilet, and I - knowing full well it was a foolhardy idea - turned to my friend and quickly (before he could ask "are you crazy?") asked him to see if Tum was agreeable to a repayment plan that he (my friend) would be OK handling for me, and he reluctantly agreed. Tum said it would probably take him a year to repay the money, but that he would agree to do so. My friend shrugged his shoulders and gave me that "up to you" look, and I looked Tum in the eye, shook his hand and said "OK".

I had to go to an ATM to withdraw the cash, and although some of you are most likely sitting there saying "you moron... that's just what he did with you, the walking ATM" that's not how things turned out.  I was flying on a hunch and not more than a bit of faith that he'd ever be heard from again, but he was. I'm in regular email contact with my friend, and every so often I'd get a "P.S. - Tum stopped by my work and brought me money again this week", and when I next saw my friend he had the entire amount for me.  I didn't ask if he knew how Tum had gotten it - from tips or other Walking ATMs or whatever - but there it was, in the envelope my friend had kept it in.

I had a photo of Tum, and we went back to the club I'd found him in, where several of the guys there said "he finit, go home". My friend talked with a couple of them and found out that he had indeed left the club circuit, gone back into the Great Northeast, and had plans to soon marry the young woman he'd dreamed of returning to.

Now that's a real happy ending.

Thai Smiles, Part 54: More Thai Folks At Work

River raft guide near Chiang Mai

Ahh, Friday! The weekend opens its arms with the promise of the guilty embrace of sloth, and although I can't speak for any of you I'm ready for a couple of days of as close to nothing as I can manage. It's been a busy week for me and I haven't felt in top form, so it's been a bit of a challenge. Nothing enough to complain about, mind you; I'm just making mention in acknowledgement for the posts that have been somewhat, shall we say, thin?

While I'm not really what you could call "retired" - I do have daily obligations away from this blog - I get to pick my own hours, am able to work from home and honestly love what I do. That alone ought to be enough, I'd say. It makes me smile, and while doing just that a few minutes ago it seemed apropos to look in the folder of prepared "Smile" images and see what was ready to be shared.  I found a few, and here they are today.

The guy up top had ferried a friend and I down a river near Chiang Mai, and I think he, too, was heading off on a break as I called to him from our drop-off point on the opposite shore to take this picture. Very pleasant fellow, via my interpreting friend.

Monks arriving to bless a new building and business

While walking in the late morning early one trip I turned down one of the nightclub soi to see how construction had gone since my  last visit and saw that the club was now nearly finished. As I peeked inside the line of monks above came along and went inside for the traditional blessing of the new business. Yeah, only the one up front was smiling, but I liked the image.

The young men below had just made a sale to me - something I've found to usually encourage those who wouldn't normally pause to pose do just that. I'd noticed a guy sitting on the sidewalk ahead that looked like he hadn't eaten for a while, so I bought some sticks from these two and then passed them along to the street guy. Win-win and win, the way I see it.

This last image has been sitting and waiting in the folder for some time. There's a story behind it, and I may get to telling it some day. Today isn't that day, but the short version is I'd managed to get the guy to smile for me (despite his grumpy father) by doing a rough impression of a caged monkey - throwing all dignity to the wind.

You're all welcome to join me this weekend and do the barest minimum of activity.

Trip Report, Part 29: Oyster Farming In Chantaburi

A panoramic shot of a grouping of fishing homes near the waters of the Gulf of Thailand, taken from a bridge 

Raise your hand if you remember the last installment of my trip report about my visit to Thailand.  Hmmm... I didn't think so. The last installment was at the end of October last year, so it's been a couple of months.  I'd feel guilty about that but I did mention it may or may not ever find a proper conclusion, and it's a collection of stories and observations so it's not as if it's going to spoil, I suppose. Nevertheless, here's part 29 - the oyster farmers of the Chantaburi area.

The oysters grow mainly on the poles standing out of the water, but they're not fussy...

The Chantaburi area is home to nearly 1,000 oyster breeding farms; about half the number of the largest area, in Chonburi. Those figures are old, so those figures are undoubtedly larger now. There are over 6,000 in Thailand, mainly on the gulf areas, but also on the Andaman Sea side.

More detail of the growing area

You'll see groupings of them growing on square cement posts in more professional farms, but you'll also see many areas with them growing on bamboo posts (or anything else that stays still enough) where the river waters intermingle with that in the gulf of Thailand. They can produce around a ton per rai (.4 of an acre) per year, if it's done right; the average farm in this area being about 2 rai - just over 3/4 of an acre.

The oysters you're likely to see there are of the crassostrea (true oyster) genus, a part of the rhizophorae family, if I've been advised correctly. These are "eating" oysters, and not "pearl" oysters. The two most abundant types grown here are the crassostrea belcherie and the crassostrea commercialis.

Other nets rest above the farming areas

While I'd seen them growing naturally in areas of the slightly brackish waters of mangrove groupings they're abundantly harvested by fishing families in the open waters near Chantaburi. Any time you're heading over a bridge or happen to be near any water flowing to the gulf you'll see boat tie-ups and/or shacks and homes where the poles and nets are set into the bottom and the shellfish grow.

My guess is it's not easy work - not much of the fishing industry is - but it's honest work, and that's what counts, I suppose.  These pictures were taken in a couple of different spots as we rode around one afternoon.

The Ladies And Clubs Of Walking Street

There. THAT'S where I wanted this photo from yesterday to be.

For the very new among you, Walking Street is a nightly phenomenon similar to the night market area along the streets of Silom Road and Patpong in Bangkok; assembled and jolted to life at dusk but sleeping by day. Not that there aren't plenty of touts along Walking Street in the daytime trying to pull you into a tailor shop, but the street is open to vehicular traffic, too.  At night it's pedestrians only. The main difference is not having to snake through a thousand other visitors between stalls on the sidewalk on Walking Street.

Probably not the "Living Doll"
Cliff Richard sang of, but
there she stood one night.

While Walking Street is only one of many areas in Pattaya to find a grouping of bars, go-go clubs and discos it's the one more tourists are likely to experience. You won't find as many families with small children along the other slightly darker sois where ladyboys and girls nearer their expiration dates wait for someone to off them, for example.

Walking Street is worth a post of its own, and I'll get to that soon. Today's post is for "Paul", who emailed me to ask where he (as a straight man) might go as an introduction to Pattaya Night Life. Paul said he was recently divorced and going through a renewed stretch of sewing his wild oats and was taking a trip with friends to Pattaya as a self-professed sex tourist. Just to be clear: I don't judge anyone who's fair and respectful of other humans, so while I feel he's likely to miss out on 99.5% of the other things Thailand has to offer, it's entirely up to him.

Not being an aficionado of females as romantic partners on any physical level for decades I was somewhat at a loss, but then it came to me: Walking Street!

Yes, I'm aware that a person could be taken - in more ways than one - in most any bar setting, but I figured this way he could at least get a nice dinner and be measured for a suit before being fleeced, drugged or assaulted (just kidding there - we often have some control over the direction of our own fate if we use a modicum of caution and good sense).

Girls tout for clubs along Pattaya Soi 1, not far from Walking Street

A man looking for a Rented Admirer of the female variety won't want for choice along the main stretch of Walking Street, and some of the side sois, also. There are dozens of clubs with some stunningly beautiful women there, some at the opposite end of the spectrum, and most everything between. Some have more between their legs than others, but that takes us into an area I'd rather cover another day.

It's not all "pay for play" - you can merely enjoy the company of a desirable person for an evening of companionship and drinks in the club, too, so don't get the wrong idea here.

We've covered Rented Admirers a couple of other times, and although the genitalia differs, the idea behind it doesn't - so maybe check those articles out here and here. (I don't judge anyone who's fair and respectful of other humans, just so you know).

"Hallloooo, hansam man!" A common siren song you'll hear as you walk along Walking Street. Well, that and "Hello, my friend! Can I interest you in a suit?"

Some clubs are beginning
to cater to those who wish to
rent a falang

That said, here are a few shots of lady and ladyboy clubs along Walking Street. They're not reference points for specific people - they were taken some years ago, and workers tend to change jobs/clubs/professions as often as money and whim dictate (kind of like many places in the West), but it gives you an idea of what some of the clubs look like.

For those of you wondering, the bar fine or off fee to have someone accompany you off premesis for any amount of time varies, just as it does in a male club. I'm advised the fee is between 300-500 baht for the club (depending on the desirability of the worker on one level or another) and a tip of around 1,000 baht to your admirer.

One last thing: for those newbies who don't read the posts about gay clubs here, or who found this by a search, be advised that renting a "freelance" admirer from the street is often riskier than renting from a club.  A club has a reputation and usually at least some standards and reputation. A freelancer in the shadows of Beach Road may have an agenda... and nothing to lose.

Repeating an image to illustrate a warning that bears repeating

Next: a few more Walking Street club photos

Thai Smiles, Part 53: Some Verticals For A Friday

This interviewee (#257) was really a hoot.

First of all, thank you to those who sent messages to ask if I have been OK this week. The short answer is yes, I have been... just overbooked.

Unlike some sites I think it's really lame to merely flesh out things found out there on the web (i.e. Wikepedia) and call them my own just to fill space, so with the exception of a few posts - such as the Thanksgiving posts - I've written all of them myself, and believe me: that takes time. Come to think of it, that may be part of why the art of writing letters has edged so close to extinction. Our e-World hasn't done meaningful communication many favors. Especially that "tweeting" thing.

A sailor - during a brief visit while we
waited for our buses in Bangkok

But getting back on track, the holiday season is a magnificent one for me, although I tend to go a little overboard with plans, leaving me little time for some of my regular obligations - this being one of them.

Students who called ME over to try out
their limited English. 

That said, posts may brief and sporadic for the next couple of weeks. I'd rather do that than pad the thing out just for the hell of it. I'll be around, though, so check in when you can. Here are a few more examples of Thai Smiles, taken around the kingdom. All vertical shots today, and all but the students workers of one form or another.

See you on Monday.

Filling bags of crushed ice near Chantaburi

I think she was just smiling about the sale,
because she was pretty dour
the rest of the time.

Same Same, But VERY Different! Pt. 12: Businesses

A simple BBQ stand in Bangkok

Costco is currently a large chain of warehouse stores with over 600 locations worldwide (including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan for you "Asiaphiles"). It's the 7th largest retailer in the entire world, and conspicuous consumption for the masses in it's finest form.

The other day I was pushing my cart away from the check-out area and happened by a computer monitor displaying some sales figures for the location I was at. Being curious, I looked at it, and saw sales goals for the unit and the results of goals vs actual sales: the day's goal of $743,000 USD, and actual sales (an hour before closing time) of $689,300 and change.  That's one hell of a lot of sales. If you extrapolate those figures out for an entire year that comes to roughly (entirely my guess here) $255,000,000.

Shoppers pushing oversize carts from a Costco checkout area. Internet image, not mine.

While wheeling my cart to the car I couldn't help but think of a family I'm acquainted with in Pattaya who operate a little shop on wheels, offering those little sticks of BBQ chicken and beef for sale. The single mother who runs the cart business buys roughly 200 baht's worth of raw product daily, cooks it on the street and - on a good day - sells enough of them to make a meager profit that helps keep a humble roof over the heads of her and her three children.

When her husband was around for the first handful of years they were a family they lived with his parents in a simple home a short distance from where many of you would probably stay while visiting Jomtien, an area adjoining Pattaya.

The father used to collect recyclable items from the streets and dump areas, but his alcoholism and penchant for other women finally got the better of him and he walked away from his familial responsibilities a few years back, leaving the mother to make the best of things.

To compound her misfortune, when her husband's family learned that their son had left they blamed her, and decided that she and their three grandchildren didn't belong under their roof any longer, and put them out onto the street. They stayed with friends briefly before she found shelter for herself and the kids, and after working some odd jobs here and there she managed to scrape together enough to buy a cart and begin her own business; a trade learned from her own parents in another part of the country decades before.

Now, I realize it's an extreme stretch to make the comparison between the cart she wheels about to wherever she feels the sales are for the day and an enormous warehouse location, but a business is a business, and if you do the dollar-to-baht conversion that brings us to a daily sales comparison of roughly $700,000 vs $12.

Same same, but VERY different.  Chew on that one a while the next time you think you're not doing well financially, and thank your lucky stars - or whatever - that you're living the life you've been graced with.

While you're at it, pass me that ten pound bag of mini-pretzels, will you?

Shrimp Farming In Chantaburi (Trip Report, Part 26)

Water is aerated in a small shrimp / prawn farm in Chantaburi

There are roads through the coastal areas of Chantaburi lined with large ponds that look a little like rice paddies, but there isn't any rice sticking up from the water. Instead, they're filled with shrimp - more black tiger prawns than other varieties. The water is aerated by axles extending out into the water, turning paddle wheels that agitate the water, sending a spray up into the air.

Detail of one of the aerating paddles

Shrimp farming is a big money maker for Thai farmers in the coastal areas of both the Gulf of Thailand and the lands bordering the Andaman sea.  We drove by hundreds of these shrimp or prawn farms in the Chantaburi area, and stopped to walk in and look at a few of them.

In the areas along the Andaman sea there are almost too many farms like these; large portions of mangrove groves have been demolished to make room for them, where crab, jellyfish and small fish previously thrived in the same brackish water now used for farming the shrimp and prawns.

Lines form a netting above many of the ponds that helps keep birds from diving in for an easy snack

In the 1980s Thai harvest nearly 90% of the shrimp directly from natural sources, such as the Guld of Thailand. Now some estimates say as much as half of the mangrove swamp areas along the Eastern and Southern coasts have been destroyed to create farms for them, due mainly to a rise in demand for the tasty crustaceans that exploded in the 1990s spurred by government subsidies, a demand from Japan and other countries and the rising prices that came along with it.

In an attempt to save some areas, notably near Trat, the government again subsidized the planting of sago and nipa palms, which would have normally thrived in the mangrove areas. Nipa leaves can also be a cash crop; easily woven into baskets and other items, and sago meal is a traditional part of the local's diet. Both allow the natural mangrove swamps to remain where nature intended them to be.

Some locals realized that by destroying the mangrove areas - and dumping pollutants from the ponds back out into the bay or ocean was causing an imbalance that effected them directly: less fish and crab for them to harvest for their own regular consumption.  

With luck, sense will win out over greed and the Thai will reach some happy compromise, allowing at least a partial restoration of the balance.

Thai Smiles, Part 51: Chantaburi Weekend Smiles

Father and daughter in Old
Chantaburi Town

I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was a little overbooked, but some things (like the memorial service and gathering for a family friend) aren't possible to put onto the back burner in lieu of others.

That said, I had quite a few friends and family staying here in town for the past few days, and that's put me a long ways behind schedule for my usual rounds.  While I was hoping to get a post up about another part of the Chantaburi weekend getaway, that's not going to happen.

Instead, here are a few shots I took while away for that weekend, adding another installment to the Thai Smiles series.

Hey... at least they're my photos. All too often trolls with blogs troll the internet for images they alter slightly and claim to be theirs (part of the reason for the watermark on mine, although I've still found a few on other sites with the watermark cropped out - HA!)  Anyway, I'll take another stab at a post tomorrow.

The first three of these were taken on the long Chantaburi weekend, and the last is a leftover from Friday's post about killing time at work.

Couple on a cycle in Old Chantaburi Town

Proprietor of one of two small stores in Laem Singh

Guys on Soi Twilight, filling a slow time

Working Boys: Killing Time On Soi Twilight

Sharing the news in that day's paper

All of us have had those times at work at one point or another: there's really nothing to do for some period of time, and we either have to look busy - in case some supervisory figure comes lumbering by - or are left to fill that dead space in the day by ourselves in one way or another.

Group dinner before work

As one example, here where I live you're likely to see state road crew workers clumped together at a site in their brightly colored safety vests often standing idle, watching one person working with a shovel while they simply lean on theirs. I usually say to myself "there's my tax dollars at leisure," but I know that's not always the case. I feel fairly confident in saying this happens at workplaces around the world.  Sometimes it's borne of laziness, sometimes not; it's not for me to judge, I suppose.

Road workers in the USA (Internet image)

One early evening in Bangkok I noticed just such a group of guys waiting for something to do and filling the void. What they do for a living and where this was isn't important, so I'll leave that unsaid, but it reminded me of the times I'd go to the water cooler or away from my own office just to kill a few minutes.

Something seemed to be holding their interest in the paper

Since it's Friday - a time when many of us are looking forward to "our time" on the weekend - I thought it might be a fitting opportunity to share the thought and a few of the pictures I took of those workers.

"Look at what I've downloaded here..."

While putting this post together I realized it might just as well have been put under the "Same Same, But Different!" category, but so it goes.  Enjoy your weekend, all.  See you here Monday.

Lost to their cell phones, filling some dead time