Each time I visit Jomtien over the last 12 months, I notice the number of Cambodian boys greeting passersby, out the front of these two bars. Numbers of boys are down in front of almost all bars, but not here.
I mentioned to my dinner companions ,and it was wiped away as
"they all come from Siem Reap, and want to gossip in their own language"
I did not mention this was not what I had seen.
My friend who is using a stick to assist his slow walking was staying at Poseiden. Next night we walked to Dolce Vita for a few drinks and noticed the Home and Sun boys did chat but in the main stood in the path or sat on plastic stools. From where we sat there seemed to be 20 boys between the two bars plus boys upstairs we could not see.
At dinner several nights later at Poseiden we met as a group again and I raised the subject . Same guy dismissed the story and said the owners pay all the boys every night.
Doing the sums that did not make sense.
We figured about 4 boys a night being offed. Maybe after 11 when we left, there may be a few more.
So we went to Home next night for a few drinks. The boy that looked after us was pleasant, not restuarant standard but good service. Later we later asked how he got paid.
He does not get paid but there are boys who do and they share the tip money left in folder paying the bill. We found out he gets the tip if left on top of the folder.
He also qualifies for an off fee upstairs or leaving for outside. All boys must charge 300 baht for off.
It started to rain and we missed a few nights but went back again to find out more. There are two rates 100 baht a night if arrive at 4pm or nothing if come later. Rates vary but could not get more info,but some boys go off almost every night.
Between just these two bars we counted at 10pm 32 boys. As we walked back to Poseiden the number of boys available was less than over a dozen bars.
This was coming into monsoon season. We noticed when it started to rain all the boys shifted the tables chairs or cushions, inside without being directed. After the rain pased away out they came and reset.
It will be interesting to see if the numbers grow much more in high season
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