On Gaybutton Board there has been a good discussion about bars which included posts about in impact of technology, Gay Romeo, Grindr etc.. is making on the bars and available boys that led to comments that boys don't need the bars so much as things have changed for the better in Thailand with more opportunites than previous years. Also with the political situation at the fore again there are various claims by both parties that their policies offer better opportunities to young Thais for work and living conditions, but while it seems middle class thai do have a better lot nowadays has the situation changed much for gay lads from poorer Issan/North East backgrounds?
Just some musings and observations from recent visits with regard to my Thai bf and our gay friends and the lives they lead, and also to make note that not every gay Issan lad heads to Pattaya for easy money. I would be interested to see what other's have experienced with younger Thai friends. I have friends from both middle class Bkk and the less well-off Issan.
What are the options for gay lads now compared to a decade ago? For middle class there is definitely more opportunites as their parents can afford further education and Uni places but for the Issan lads not much has changed I don't think. Maybe the next generation might see better times but for now I think they are still stuck with the same options as 10-15 years ago. Maybe different regions have different options.
My bfs village in Issan is part of a small collection of 4 moo-baans/small villages very close to one another and a small town about 4-5 kms away. While I have seen growth over the 6-7 years I have been visiting the area, not much in the way of decent jobs have been created in that time. Sure the daily wage for agricultural work has gone from Bt150 a day to Bt300 a day but parents still cannot afford the further education for a decent long term job.
So the main options for a gay lad in bfs Issan village are still the same as a decade ago. Work on the family land/family enterprise, pick up a good shopwork job with a steady income (Bt7-10,000 per month) in the area, move to an area with factory work (Bt10-Bt15,000 per month) or consider trying your luck in Pattaya/bkk bars/massage. Bf has 3 very close friends, I've kown them for all the years I have been visiting, they are nice, cute, attractive gay lads who could easily do well in the bars, only one has tried his luck in Bkk bars as his home circumstaces were dire when his father suddenly died and he is the oldest and only male. He only lasted a month or so. The other two just didn't think they could hack working bars and anyway simply didn't want to, but they never bad-mouth gay lads who do choose bar work, whereas I note that my Higher-So Bkk gay friends can be very distainful about gay boys and their peers who work the bars.
So about the only real option (apart from the bar scene) for them and many gay lads from Issan who don't like to be in their family's lives 24/7 and have a life of their own is to move away to an area with factories. All three of my bf's friends recently decided to move to Navanakorn, an huge industrial centre on the outskirts of Bkk. They work 12 hour shifts, have 1 day off per week as well as other holidays here and there. All earn about Bt12,000-Bt14,000 per month, a typical room for about Bt3500 a month shared between 2, in a modern purpose-built apartment complex, in fact the area is so vast that each identical block of flats has a huge number painted on the side from 1-40 for easy address recognition. But accommodation is excellent in these brand new blocks, with a large main room and kitchen area off incl balcony, a bedroom and toilet/shower room with western toilet. Many Pattaya expats on a limited fixed pension would probably be delighted with it despite no aircon.
On a Sunday, the main day off for factory workers, Navanakorn transforms into a massive bustling, busy town. It is self-contained almost a in parallel world, the sois are packed with furniture shops, white goods shops with top brands, high-end technology centres for iPhones, large screen TVs etc... all available, of course, on long term buy-now-pay-later deals to supply the apartments of all these workers who have a reasonable but guaranteed income. The amount of workers moving in and out of apartments creates a huge industry on it's own. There is even one (very busy central) soi with about 10 karaoke bars with females available every night of the week for single males with disposable income. 285Blend whisky sets available in all bars at about Bt500, folk pubs, dance clubs and huge outdoor restaurants without virtually a single western face to be seen. Street food is ridiculously cheap compared to the likes of Pattaya, with dozens and dozens of food outlets all twinkly lights and buzzing every night. Great atmosphere.
Their lives are pretty hum-drum most of the time, slogging 12 hour shifts followed by sleep and another 12 hour shift. Most nights though depending on shift times they do manage to squeeze in at least some leisure time and socialise in groups with beer/whisky set or even LaoKhao, plenty of other gay lads, manly and femme types, as you find all over Thailand but I see most femme boys are straight-acting and not as obvious and flamboyant as their Pattaya equivalents, so plenty opportunity for having boyfriends, giks, casual sex if the stars align. They all send home a regular decent fraction of their wages, as unlike their Pattaya counterparts they don't really have much lesure time to spend it and apart from essentials rent, food, transport, iPhone and TV needs are modest. One or two very close friends may share the purchase of a motorcycle on credit, but the area is so compact and motorcy taxis are ALL only 10 baht per journey there is hardly a need to.
Given the lack of weekly/monthly highlights they really appreciate a visit to the local folk pub like Tawang Daeng equivalent called Sen Jan and it's not an expensive night, a bit like a night at Tam Nan Issan in Pattaya but the evening starts at 9pm and most are getting drunk by 10-11pm unlike Pattaya where most places don't get going till 1am, but workers who finish shifts 7pm get home and get out early. And the places are bouncing at 10pm! packed to the rafters electric atmosphere, again never see another white face in the crowd and plenty of interaction from the thai guys but mostly gals and there is a surprising amount of them with good English skills which I expect is due to the fact many work for multinational firms where English would be the common international language. So young Thias here do not need the wallets of foreigners to fund their sanook time, they just share the fairly modest bill where bars and food outlet profits are based more on huge turnovers with small margins.
When I go to these venues I find it's mostly girls who approach, or 'chink' the glass, with many invites to tables on way to/from toilets for a drink, especially after 11pm. I really need to practise a mincing walk a bit more!, although there is no lack of gaydar moments. Live music interspersed with DJ sets and massive amounts of sanook!
The gay guys we know tend not to "think too much" about their lot in life, and just get on with it. Friends become their surrogate families away from home but many have known their friends from birth, and in my BFs village straight, gay and katoey boys are recognised and labelled at a very young age but with absolutely no prejudice just more as a matter of fact. In my bfs village gays/katoeys/straights are given equal respect with attitudes depending on the type of person they are as opposed to their sexual preferences.
It's interesting that while all three friends don't want to work the bars or to enter the entertainment/massage industry none would turn down the possibility of a western boyfriend, even a sugar daddy, but are not prepared to sleep their way around to find one. All agree and have said their families would probably be delighted if the chose that path, and in the village with traditional and modern villagers alike there still tends to be an attitude of...."isn't X so fortunate to have a western boyfriend to improve his/her life". "Prospects" still being as important as "love" when it comes to relationships between Thais themselves and relationships with westerners a step up the social ladder.
A rather rambling post with nothing particularly controversial or enlightening and no doubt of little or no interest to many, just some observations of the mundane lives many gay lads lead outside the sex-industry and a change from Pattaya bar reviews, perhaps a bit more relevant to those reading the boards who have moved-on over time from a Pattaya-centric visit/life In Thailand. I used to enjoy cdnmatt, smiles and other's snippets of life outside Bkk/Pattaya as the time split between Bkk/Pattaya sanook and normal life during my month-long visits to Thailand is about equal nowadays so I'm interested in both.
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