Jomtien being raided as I type

[sglad]

He did not have a childhood.

Neither did Michael Jackson. Poor thing.

[sglad]

I met P. at Lucky 7 in 2004. He now looks back on his three years in various bars in Pattaya with nostalgia. He chose that life after trying to live in miserable conditions while working long hours for a paltry wage. As a go go dancer he had friends with whom he'd made the decision to go to Pattaya while in Kamphaeng Phaet, a decent room (not shared), money to go to Hollywood after the bars closed and enough falangs (more Japanese, he says) to pay the rent. Sometimes things were hard but when they were, the three amigos helped each other out financially. I can vouch for this; I saw it happen.

As far as the offs were concerned, he says he had fun. His stories about his experiences are often amusing. I assume that being gay helped; his two best friends were also blessed in this respect..There were exceptions- which still upset him in retrospect- but overall, he says he was treated kindly. He loved the comradeship, the relative freedom and the chance to live an interesting life outside time spent at the bar.

As a nineteen year-old labourer in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pattaya- he tried all three- he had none of these things.

By the way, one of the three amigos is now making very good money as a mamasan in boy bar that caters for ladies. He's nearly forty....and still looks good.

A lovely, heartwarming story, Oliver, one which I take at face value.

However, I do get the feeling that you are trying to paint a very rosy picture of the life of a sex worker. No drugs, no threat of disease, no emotional heartbreak, no excess in any form. Pattaya may be a whoradise but Disneyland it is not.

Secondly, it is not unusual for these boys to have sexual, if not, romantic relationships with one another. Three amigos, one of whom was and is still "looks good" as you say. I wonder...

[latintopxxx]

Despite what some of us pretend whoring is not regarded in a positive light in Thailand, at best its tolerated as an economic need. As has been pointed out ad nauseum on this and other boards a 100% straight soon realises that sucking cock and taking it up the rear is a lot less work and effort and much more lucrative to boot compared to the field/construction labouring options. The humiliation factor is not such a big step as they come from the bottom rung of society anyway and are used to being 4rd class.
a447 has had a great experience with one that obviously had inner strength and im sure there are more, but my guess would be that most squander their easy cash thinking it will never end, not realising that once age kicks in their appeal diminishes.
There was a short pony tailed performed at one of the gogo bars on soi twilight (first on the right) beautiful lithe lightly muscled body with a bubble butt, could maintain an erection with no help from rubber bands, would do the naked hula hoop routine and get fucked twice an evening on stage, and was always offed after the last show. Ten years later he looks like shit, lives on the street (at least loks and smells like he does) and used to hang around soi twilight begging.

[frequent]

A lovely, heartwarming story, Oliver, one which I take at face value.

However, I do get the feeling that you are trying to paint a very rosy picture of the life of a sex worker. No drugs, no threat of disease, no emotional heartbreak, no excess in any form. Pattaya may be a whoradise but Disneyland it is not.

Secondly, it is not unusual for these boys to have sexual, if not, romantic relationships with one another. Three amigos, one of whom was and is still "looks good" as you say. I wonder...

sglad’s 30+ years experience at the heart of Thai society is always worth heeding

[Oliver2]

Sglad's reservations are understandable. P is now nearly 36 and his mb life ended fourteen or so years ago; like many of us, he looks back at periods of his life nostalgically. The key - as sglad says at the end of his posting- is friendship. The three amigos, dancing together, sharing dinner, going to clubs, reliving often comical experiences with men like me, helping each other when offs were in short supply, having freedom-and being young- was a golden period, and, in retrospect, those are the memories that pertain a decade later. Good!

But sglad is right; there were periods when money was short. When I'd known him for a year or so and he was a regular off rather than a boyfriend, I remember financing his trip home at Songkran to see his parents because he didn't have the cash and his friends had already gone. He didn't ask, by the way, the decision was made when I suddenly realised how much he missed them and how seldom he was with them.

Then there was friend whom he lost to an alcohol-induced illness who was in his early twenties, one who retired with hiv ( I'm sure there were others) and some from Lucky 7 and Dreamboys who didn't make money and so returned to an uncertain future in Isaan.

I was amused by the reference to the amigos having sex with each other- as I know P. would be. When I first met him and he introduced me to one of them, I was convinced that they were more than" just good friends." I was wrong. He laughed when I intimated that possibility and explained how important it was for a gay Thai to have a life-time confidante. P claims- and others have said much the same to me- that he'd never want a long term sexual relationship with another Thai. He had been burned when he was eighteen and it made hims distrustful.

Not long ago, P and I were chatting about those days and I asked how many of his co-workers at the two bars he thought had settled-down down with a falang. He listed about ten. Of course, how "long-term" these relationships were neither he nor I know.

Finally, P isn't typical. He neither drinks, nor smokes, and is a regular at the DMC temple in Bangkok. He believes that the meditation techniques he has learnt have helped him through difficult periods, particularly a long illness ten years ago.

[BOY69]

Unfortunately many of the money boys when they are young , attractive and have lots of customers are leaving the good life and spending like there is no tomorrow without any thinking about their future once their golden era is finished they wake up to the brutal reality with no savings no occupation and no future.

[Nirish guy]

Unfortunately many of the money boys when they are young .... spending like there is no tomorrow .... they wake up...with no savings no occupation and no future.

Which is of course why they're Thai and generally living away there quite happily "in the moment" whereas we here in the West are busy putting money away into ISA's, Bond's and property and the like "for the future".

I suppose being somewhere in the middle of that curve is the answer, but kist finding that balance there is of course the key. I'm guessing though that if you asked a Thai would they like to swap to our way of living and thinking they would say "no thanks" - and the same for us in reverse.

Although somedays I DO perhaps question our whole "saving for a rainy day / old age" thing as just as an example of that I discovered only last week that a very rich and succesful customer of mine had been diagnosed with cancer at the end of May and didn't live to make it to the end of July even - leaving myself and several other business people that knew him collectively scratching our heads and wondering "what's the point" in all our long term planning stuff when tomorrow is of course promised to no one - so yeah, somewhere in the middle I guess - whereever that may be !?

[a447]

if you asked a Thai would they like to swap to our way of living and thinking they would say "no thanks

Actually, I think you might be correct here, Nirish.

There have been times when guys have told me how lucky I am to be so "rich" and how they'd love to be in my shoes, but I've always thought that if given the chance to swap lives, they'd run a mile.

As for them "spending like there is no tomorrow " let's not forget that these guys are young and suddenly find themselves with money to spend. Didn't we all look forward to going out and partying when we were young? I certainly did. And I still do.

[Newbie99]

How is Jomtien plaza after the raid?

[francois]

How is Jomtien plaza after the raid?

Business as normal; many farang and many lads.