Sex For Sale: "Not Your Business"

Taking photos one afternoon at the intersection of Silom Road and Soi Yipun I noticed a middle-aged Thai man approaching me, a wide smile on his face. Not expecting to run into someone I know at 15:00 in the afternoon, I tried not to make eye contact so as to encourage him. It didn't work - I was his next sales target.

"Hellooo, my friend!" he gushed. His clothes weren't fancy or new, but they were neat, as was his appearance overall. Again flashing the wide smile and extending his hand for me to shake he followed up his greeting with "How you?"

"All of my friends here are either working or asleep, but I'm fine," I replied, still walking; trying to avoid being drawn into a conversation and knowing full well he wouldn't understand my answer. Two or three steps further his hand was still reaching towards me, as if I were to stop and shake hands with him. I didn't. He walked along one step ahead of me; turning back to face me as best he could as I went along.

"You want girl?" he asked, eyebrows wiggling up and down in a sly fashion he may very well have learned from farang in the past. "Ah," I sighed, "Now the business part of this conversation begins." Again I got a puzzled look, but only for an instant, before he want back into his pitch. "I have girl. Young girl. Very young girl." This last was spoken in a low tone, as if anyone else could hear us above the roar of the afternoon traffic nearby.

I stopped, looked him directly in the eyes and said "No. I do NOT want a girl." Before I could even turn my head and begin walking again he countered with "Ohhh, no like girl. I know - how about boy? You want boy?" "No, nothing," I said again. "What you like? Boy? I have young boy for you. New boy." I stopped again, agitated and more than a little disgusted and said firmly "No." He tried again: "What you want?" "I want you to stop bothering me, that's what I want," I muttered and started walking away again, but then I stopped and turned to him.

At first he looked as though he'd gotten my interest and maybe made a sale, but before he could launch into his sales pitch again I asked him "Why do you do this? Do you think it's OK to sell children to farang for sex?" He thought for a moment, shrugged his shoulders and said "It my job." "Not good job," I said, pleased to be keeping a calm tone to my voice. He bristled a little, stopped smiling and said "Not your business." It wasn't, but for some reason I continued the conversation.

"Do you have a wife?" I inquired. "Yes, have," he replied. "Do you have children?" "Yes, have. Five." "OK," I said cautiously, not knowing if this was such a good idea to bring up "Would you sell your children to a farang for sex?" He understood my line of questioning and got a little red in the face, saying sternly "If I do, is my business!"

Even I knew it was time to drop it, but I wanted to make the point, even if I had to make a feeble attempt to make a run for it, and even if it fell on deaf ears and was ignored. "It is your business and not my business, but it's a sad business. I hope your children are always safe and never part of this business."

He heard me and understood. He stood with his arms hanging loosely at his sides, then put his hands in his pockets and looked down for a moment. When he looked up, he quietly said "Thank you" and turned to walk away. I sincerely doubt it made him change careers, but it gave him pause to think for a moment. That was something, and more than I'd expected.

The whole encounter haunted me for the rest of the day.