I think it's important to remember this thread was about Soi Pratuchai, and by implication go-go bars/boys. For those boys it's not just about money, it's about the whole lifestyle thing including family social issues and Thai culture. Things that cannot be easily measured or understood when viewed from a western perspective.
Being a go-go boy now is more about lifestyle than money. Effectively the bar owns you. Don't turn up for work and you get fined. Don't want to go with a customer - fined. Don't want to do the show -fined. No where to live - don't worry we'll rent you a room. Yes, it's a shit life, so here's a little something to make it easier.... Oh you liked that did you? Well, the next one ain't free. And so the downward spiral begins..... Anyone who thinks that boy in his tighty whities on stage is a completely free agent just there for the money is being extremely naive. Especially in this modern age.
Soi Pratuchai, and other bar zones in Thailand, will continue for sometime yet, but will rely increasingly on foreign guys as they can't find Thai's to do the job, anymore than the construction industry can, or the food processing or fishing industries can. The business will turn increasingly to the dark side as more human traffickers move in.
I do agree with other posters that prostitution is not dead. I'm sure, as others have stated, in Pattaya there are plenty of hard core money boys waiting for you online - at least there they are free agents. And there are definitely lots of boys all over the country who are not hard core but do it discreetly to make extra cash. This will continue as long as the supply and demand economics support it.
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