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SEA Field Trip: It's Called Bangkok for a Reason

June 24, 2008 at 9:46 AM | by ced138 | 1 Comment

Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.

We lied. More common than spicy street food and heavy foot traffic in Bangkok is the sight of a balding, middle-aged man with a pockmarked face, potbelly and ponytail striding alongside a beautiful young Thai woman.

Their arrangement is apparent and immediate. Rather than get horrified, saddened or disgusted (and at times, my boyfriend, who co-wrote this travelog, and I felt all of the above), you'll have to accept if not embrace Bangkok's most common trade in order to enjoy the city.

Though we can't endorse such an exploitative industry--hell, we don't even eat veal because we pity baby calves--no trip to Bangkok is really complete without a visit to Soi Cowboy, Bangkok's most famous red light district.

Women on the street in platform, patent leather heels and short lycra dresses coo at men walking past. "What a handsome man!" they exclaim to said ponytail-clad degenerates. It's a challenge to discern who's more pitiable: The beautiful Thai woman selling her body or the white dude who flew across the globe to pay to get laid. (Maybe it's us: We strolled the place and even stopped into a strip club.)

Strippers crowded onto the stage wearing nothing but thigh-high boots. They stood awkwardly, nodding their heads to the music's beat, gingerly covering themselves with one hand as they held the pole with the other.

Gone was the sexually liberated guise of Western strip clubs. Instead, women with limited options stood before a crowd of ogling men, as Johns pointed out their choice and bought their companion for the night.

Related Stories:
· Bangkok Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Southeast Asia Field Trip [Jaunted]

1 Comment

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  1. saharat

    Jaunted Member

    What?

    Just a couple corrections about your little field trip review.... For one,sex is not Bangkok's most common trade.It is obvious after reading only your first sentence,that your less than adventuress "field trip" was limited to the common tourists routs,therefore Bangkok's sexy side would be more apparent for obvious reasons.To say that sex is the most common trade is just idiotic. Second,"Soy Cowboy" is not the red light district.The name of the red light district is "PHAT PONG"."Soy Cowboy" is but one street in "Phat Pong".In the Thai language,"SOY" means street or side road.Phat Pong is much bigger than one street.There are many more activities to enjoy there other than "SEX".The shopping is great,The restaurants are plentiful and diverse,and it is home to some of the best night clubs in the country, which have nothing to do with the sex industry. I guess now,by way by of the internet,anyone can be a critic and give a review.In this great country of the United States,we are blessed with the right to express our opinion.But,with inaccurate,misleading,hurtful and just plain wrong information incorporated into that opinion,the opinion then ceases to be opinion,and is then just plain slander. I suggest that you travel back to Thailand and spend more time there.I am sure that you consider yourself a traveler.You probably brag about the places you have been,and offer(or push) your "opinion" to anyone with half an ear to listen.I'm sure that physically you have been to many places,but,it is obvious that mentally you have never left hometown USA. To slander a whole city in which you have never really been to (a few days doesn't count) makes you "THAT GUY" YOU ARE the American that everyone at the guest house runs away from....The "AMERICAN IDIOT" And by the way..I'm sure that your boyfriend didn't have much input in this "review".I'm sure you are much too overbearing and opinionated to let him have a say...I'm sure he just agrees in order to avoid your wrath... I can also guarantee that if he ever goes back to BangKOK,it will be alone or with a buddy....But he'll never tell you that... GOOD LUCK,and HAPPY TRAVELS...YOU GREAT TRAVELER YOU!!
    May 16, 2009 at 11:12 AM
    #Permalink

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