Thailand's Sex Workers Don't Want To Be 'Rescued'

[Thai at Heart]

Blaming poverty is rubbish. These girls are lazy and greedy. In many counytries much poorer than Thailand there are very few prostitutes.

Yes, I agree with that.

With many they see this as an easy alternative than by being under the pressures of employment in the legitimate industries. This I believe in the main reasons these girls enter into prostitution.

Just take a look on the Internet and see for yourselves how many women are willing and eager participants of the porn and sex industries. There is certainly no shortage of them. They appear in all shapes, sizes, ages, races, nationalities and from all walks of life. I would very much like to see some official statistics of how many women worldwide are involved in the flesh business.

The media and certain organisations would have us believe that the majority of these women are victims of abuse, come from underprivileged backgrounds and the victims of the sexual desires of men. This is simply not the fact.

To call them greedy and lazy is absolutely ridiculous. Go and look upcountry where these girls come from and realise there are very few well paying jobs for them to do in their locality if they are from rural areas.

Then throw in a pretty ropy village based education, and they are faced with moving away, so then it comes down to 9,000 baht in a chicken factory if you are very very lucky, or 30k plus going into a bar. It is nothing but a purely commercial decision, now you can call that greed, in other countries they call the being smart. You can moralise about it till the days come home, but being lazy has nothing to do with it.

[TackyToo]

Haven’t we forgotten something here? I know a couple of girls in my neighborhood I consider long overdue to be rescued:

from their greedy, always demanding, lazy bone, sluggardly comfortable living, pimping relatives in Isan! ! !

[ericthai]

No doubt some will always enter this industry. However, if you asked how much salary per month they would "quit" for, I wonder how high it would be.

50k, 80k, 100k?????

Thus, they aren't doing for "pleasure" of the job, but the money, but then how many people work for the pleasure of the job????

Exactly right Thai at Heart, what is the alternative that is offered to be "saved" from their well paid job. Everytime I hear about these poor exploited girls/women I have to smile. The majority are not as stupid as a lot would like to think.

Of course, there certainly are those who are being abused and forced against their will, and these are the people that these organizations should be concentrating on. Give the girls a choice, with a safe passage out of the life if that is what they want.

Go out in the villages and look at the average age of the people out there (probably well over 50 average), and wonder what the opportunities really are for a kid educated in the local village school. Of course, some will get out to go to university, and hopefully onto some kind of decent job, but then when I got a family friend (city living,educated overseas) into a job in a very decent job in a multinational, I was astounded to see that he starting salary was only 14k. Salaries in Thailand are still low even for well educated people, what hope someone who is faced essentially with minimum wage?

I don't blame these girls one bit for doing what they do, but after a long time here, it saddens me that there are so very very many of them, and that situation isn't likely to change one bit in the next few years. The whole attitude has to change to take time to educate all young people to a higher standard, but then there is little point if the economy cannot provide them well paid jobs, and the Thai economy isn't going to open up properly any time soon. Look at what Korea or Singapore have achieved economically in 40 years and see the wealth creation, but it is all based around focussing on educating their people to the highest possible standards.

Your friend is only making 14K? Tell him to start looking around, the girls in my office get paid 15K my engineer is getting 40K, I know other companies paying their engineers 70-80K or he could get a job in a bar taking care of gay old men..LOL

[sfbandung]

The biggest problem I see is that many of the bar-girls enjoy the high life of their trade so much that they forget that it is only temporary. The smarter ones put some away for the inevitable time when the competition gets to be more attractive.

I have a good (and once VERY close) friend who retired at 40 and returned to the home village where she is quite the little capitalist, with a nice house and a couple of businesses. Who should sneer at her success through hard work?

Not me.

A lesson here for many Thais. She got off her back.....eventually.... and worked hard for an honest living.

Who's to say she wasn't working hard for an honest living before? Being morally judgemental is risky business. Why is prostitution any less an honest living than say selling cars? Or being a lawyer? Or running a shop and buying something for 10bt and selling it for 15bt? The list goes on.

[Thai at Heart]

No doubt some will always enter this industry. However, if you asked how much salary per month they would "quit" for, I wonder how high it would be.

50k, 80k, 100k?????

Thus, they aren't doing for "pleasure" of the job, but the money, but then how many people work for the pleasure of the job????

Exactly right Thai at Heart, what is the alternative that is offered to be "saved" from their well paid job. Everytime I hear about these poor exploited girls/women I have to smile. The majority are not as stupid as a lot would like to think.

Of course, there certainly are those who are being abused and forced against their will, and these are the people that these organizations should be concentrating on. Give the girls a choice, with a safe passage out of the life if that is what they want.

Go out in the villages and look at the average age of the people out there (probably well over 50 average), and wonder what the opportunities really are for a kid educated in the local village school. Of course, some will get out to go to university, and hopefully onto some kind of decent job, but then when I got a family friend (city living,educated overseas) into a job in a very decent job in a multinational, I was astounded to see that he starting salary was only 14k. Salaries in Thailand are still low even for well educated people, what hope someone who is faced essentially with minimum wage?

I don't blame these girls one bit for doing what they do, but after a long time here, it saddens me that there are so very very many of them, and that situation isn't likely to change one bit in the next few years. The whole attitude has to change to take time to educate all young people to a higher standard, but then there is little point if the economy cannot provide them well paid jobs, and the Thai economy isn't going to open up properly any time soon. Look at what Korea or Singapore have achieved economically in 40 years and see the wealth creation, but it is all based around focussing on educating their people to the highest possible standards.

Your friend is only making 14K? Tell him to start looking around, the girls in my office get paid 15K my engineer is getting 40K, I know other companies paying their engineers 70-80K or he could get a job in a bar taking care of gay old men..LOL

Well, she has moved up the ladder now, but considering she was educated overseas for University, i even scalded my mate for their low salaries. And this was a very well known multinational firm, and if she hadn't had a lot of family assistance there is no way she would have been able to live in Bangkok.

[kerryk]

Blaming poverty is rubbish. These girls are lazy and greedy. In many counytries much poorer than Thailand there are very few prostitutes.

Yes, I agree with that.

With many they see this as an easy alternative than by being under the pressures of employment in the legitimate industries. This I believe in the main reasons these girls enter into prostitution.

Just take a look on the Internet and see for yourselves how many women are willing and eager participants of the porn and sex industries. There is certainly no shortage of them. They appear in all shapes, sizes, ages, races, nationalities and from all walks of life. I would very much like to see some official statistics of how many women worldwide are involved in the flesh business.

The media and certain organisations would have us believe that the majority of these women are victims of abuse, come from underprivileged backgrounds and the victims of the sexual desires of men. This is simply not the fact.

To call them greedy and lazy is absolutely ridiculous. Go and look upcountry where these girls come from and realise there are very few well paying jobs for them to do in their locality if they are from rural areas.

Then throw in a pretty ropy village based education, and they are faced with moving away, so then it comes down to 9,000 baht in a chicken factory if you are very very lucky, or 30k plus going into a bar. It is nothing but a purely commercial decision, now you can call that greed, in other countries they call the being smart. You can moralise about it till the days come home, but being lazy has nothing to do with it.

When I first got to SEA Taipei and Bangkok were roughly equivalent in prostitutes per Farang. Now Thailand is the hooker hub of the world; supplying ladies all over Asia, the Middle East and Europe. If you go back 40 years Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan were not that much different in earnings per capita. So what happened?

[DocN]

And here we have a man, being fed wisdom by the spoon!

"A man with so many questions and so few answers.

Why do they not consider themselves prostitutes? Because they have the right of refusal, and to take those and how many they are willing to accept.

why keep it from their families? Because they want to move home sometime, and in Thailand (as elsewhere) a man who has many partners is a butterfly or a stud, whereas a woman is a slut or whore. Do you know what a rethoric question is?

Why don't you know one bar-girl not drunk or stoned nightly? The class of bar you frequent. Some in Patpong! In EVERY bar I frequent drugs are banned. And prostitution is illegal in Thailand! Young people with money in a bar, being offered free drinks - you expect abstinence? Does it happen in the village?

Some girls wear swimsuits, but they are expensive. None fancy sunburn or a tan.THAT is your explanation? Really?

Are you that old that you dislike shagging 4 times a night, or are you suggesting 4 customers @ B500 up? The decision is HERS.Is it? With an abusive bf/pimp at home, you gives you a nice round of slaps, if you don't come home with enough?!

Premature aging from burning the candle at both ends. My mum warned me about that. "

I see: the decission is hers, it is easy money, they are just greedy and lazy!

Stereotypes are a great thing, aren't they!?

[Thai at Heart]

Blaming poverty is rubbish. These girls are lazy and greedy. In many counytries much poorer than Thailand there are very few prostitutes.

Yes, I agree with that.

With many they see this as an easy alternative than by being under the pressures of employment in the legitimate industries. This I believe in the main reasons these girls enter into prostitution.

Just take a look on the Internet and see for yourselves how many women are willing and eager participants of the porn and sex industries. There is certainly no shortage of them. They appear in all shapes, sizes, ages, races, nationalities and from all walks of life. I would very much like to see some official statistics of how many women worldwide are involved in the flesh business.

The media and certain organisations would have us believe that the majority of these women are victims of abuse, come from underprivileged backgrounds and the victims of the sexual desires of men. This is simply not the fact.

To call them greedy and lazy is absolutely ridiculous. Go and look upcountry where these girls come from and realise there are very few well paying jobs for them to do in their locality if they are from rural areas.

Then throw in a pretty ropy village based education, and they are faced with moving away, so then it comes down to 9,000 baht in a chicken factory if you are very very lucky, or 30k plus going into a bar. It is nothing but a purely commercial decision, now you can call that greed, in other countries they call the being smart. You can moralise about it till the days come home, but being lazy has nothing to do with it.

When I first got to SEA Taipei and Bangkok were roughly equivalent in prostitutes per Farang. Now Thailand is the hooker hub of the world; supplying ladies all over Asia, the Middle East and Europe. If you go back 40 years Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan were not that much different in earnings per capita. So what happened?

Ummmm. Education and a very strong focus on industrial and economic development perhaps? A willingness to enter knowledge instead of high labour intensity industries that rely on cheap labour? A willingness to open one's economy to the outside world instead of cowering behind protectionism? A willingness to actively encourage investment from all over the world? A willingness to try to stamp out corruption?

The list can go on and on.

[kerryk]

or maybe Thai women like sex more!

[DocN]

or maybe Thai women like sex more!

...with 60 year old drunk smelly ill behaving tourists?

You are joking, right?!

[sfbandung]

And here we have a man, being fed wisdom by the spoon!

"A man with so many questions and so few answers.

Why do they not consider themselves prostitutes? Because they have the right of refusal, and to take those and how many they are willing to accept.

why keep it from their families? Because they want to move home sometime, and in Thailand (as elsewhere) a man who has many partners is a butterfly or a stud, whereas a woman is a slut or whore. Do you know what a rethoric question is?

Why don't you know one bar-girl not drunk or stoned nightly? The class of bar you frequent. Some in Patpong! In EVERY bar I frequent drugs are banned. And prostitution is illegal in Thailand! Young people with money in a bar, being offered free drinks - you expect abstinence? Does it happen in the village?

Some girls wear swimsuits, but they are expensive. None fancy sunburn or a tan.THAT is your explanation? Really?

Are you that old that you dislike shagging 4 times a night, or are you suggesting 4 customers @ B500 up? The decision is HERS.Is it? With an abusive bf/pimp at home, you gives you a nice round of slaps, if you don't come home with enough?!

Premature aging from burning the candle at both ends. My mum warned me about that. "

I see: the decission is hers, it is easy money, they are just greedy and lazy!

Stereotypes are a great thing, aren't they!?

You speak of yourself. A stereotypical judgemental tosser. You've taken an incredibly narrow focus and insist it is the norm.

Your argument holds no more water than me calling you lazy and greedy. Why? Because I don't know you, but you cast the "lazy and greedy" tag on thousands of people you don't know.

[Jayjay3880]

I was in Pattaya last week and decided to have one last beer at a place on 2nd road at 2:30. I struck up a conversation with the hostess. Found out she is married to an American in Hawaii and that she visits him there every 2-3 months. I asked why she didn't stay there with him and she said she missed Thailand too much. Then she smiled and asked if I would pay her bar fine... Goes to show that some of the girls just can't get enough of being exploited...

[kerryk]

or maybe Thai women like sex more!

...with 60 year old drunk smelly ill behaving tourists?

You are joking, right?!

No, of course not. 95% of the hookers in Thailand never meet a tourist.

[4evermaat]

Blaming poverty is rubbish. These girls are lazy and greedy. In many counytries much poorer than Thailand there are very few prostitutes.

There are many adjectives for prostitution: marriages, polygamy, mistress, friends with benefits, etc.

[MUYTHAI]

Personally I think that NGO's and Christian missionaries want to be rescued by sex workers. Look around and wherever you see the soft sector boys one women they lead a comfortable life off the back of sex workers. They eat in fancy restaurants they drive good cars and live in big houses were the work is done by rescued "girls". For those who are not convinced, there is a great documentary out there called children of a white god or simply have a look at the list of fake orphanages and rescue centers at: http://www.akha.org/...ons/index.html. Be careful though, the rescue Mafia is quite powerful, they protect hundreds of millions of dollars on income in donations and cheap labor.

There are numerous rescue centers in which they lock up minors without the knowledges of the courts or their parents, all in the name of the greater good.

Correction >> The documentary is entitled 'Prisoners Of A White God'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_of_a_White_God

I agree with you concerning the subject. I highly recommend that all who read this look at the wiki link and watch the movie! Many of the missionary groups, anti-traffiking groups, etc. in SE Asia are predators themselves. It is an easy way to earn money and live in a beautiful tropical country on the financial donations from donors who don't have a clue concerning the real facts 'on the ground' in the given location.

Almost all the woman I have met who are prostitutes in Thailand are happy, funny, enjoy life, earn a very good income, and all are in the profession by their own choosing, etc.. Anti-traffiking group employees, etc. have to exaggerate, lie, etc. in order to create 'a problem' so that people will donate to their charity, org., etc., and thus, they can have an easy job and pull in a good income from the donations. With that being said, I do support those who do legit work by trying to stop the real Human traffiking.

[DocN]

And here we have a man, being fed wisdom by the spoon!

"A man with so many questions and so few answers.

Why do they not consider themselves prostitutes? Because they have the right of refusal, and to take those and how many they are willing to accept.

why keep it from their families? Because they want to move home sometime, and in Thailand (as elsewhere) a man who has many partners is a butterfly or a stud, whereas a woman is a slut or whore. Do you know what a rethoric question is?

Why don't you know one bar-girl not drunk or stoned nightly? The class of bar you frequent. Some in Patpong! In EVERY bar I frequent drugs are banned. And prostitution is illegal in Thailand! Young people with money in a bar, being offered free drinks - you expect abstinence? Does it happen in the village?

Some girls wear swimsuits, but they are expensive. None fancy sunburn or a tan.THAT is your explanation? Really?

Are you that old that you dislike shagging 4 times a night, or are you suggesting 4 customers @ B500 up? The decision is HERS.Is it? With an abusive bf/pimp at home, you gives you a nice round of slaps, if you don't come home with enough?!

Premature aging from burning the candle at both ends. My mum warned me about that. "

I see: the decission is hers, it is easy money, they are just greedy and lazy!

Stereotypes are a great thing, aren't they!?

You speak of yourself. A stereotypical judgemental tosser. You've taken an incredibly narrow focus and insist it is the norm.

Your argument holds no more water than me calling you lazy and greedy. Why? Because I don't know you, but you cast the "lazy and greedy" tag on thousands of people you don't know.

I am not casting exactly THAT on them!

Read what I wrote!

[hawker9000]

or maybe Thai women like sex more!

...with 60 year old drunk smelly ill behaving tourists?

You are joking, right?!

Yeah - they check you at Immigration now. If you're a guy travelling alone, and not at least 60, not drunk, not verbally abusive, and don't smell bad, they don't let you in anymore.

Edited March 6, 2012 by hawker9000

[barrybankruad]

Regulation is the answer. From regulation comes protection. And as several people have pointed out, why would a pretty girl work in a factory for 10 hours a day for 200bt, when she can earn many times that for a few hours "work" a week? As long as they are protected from exploitative bar owners and violent Johns, then where is the problem?

If 'regulation' is the answer whay are so many members so against the minimum wage? Would being paid 300baht a day deter many girls from becoming prostitutes? No way! In the many years that I have been coming and residing in Thailand I have met thousands of bar girls. Many of them may not particularly like doing that kind of work at times, but what most members tend to forget that Thais treat sex as FUN, its a pleasant thing most of the time even if you condescend to go with a fat elderly farang. No one forces them, at least I've never seen it, and even if theydon't particularly like being in the 'trade' their sense of SANOOK (all important) gets them by.

[tropo]

or maybe Thai women like sex more!

...with 60 year old drunk smelly ill behaving tourists?

You are joking, right?!

No, of course not. 95% of the hookers in Thailand never meet a tourist.

There's exactly the same misconception in the Philippines. People believe the business is mainly aimed at "tourists" whereas even the smallest little barrios have working girls plying their trade. We recently had a family crisis on our hands when it was discovered my wife's father was seeing one. There you go - you support and when their bellies are full they find other ways to spend it.

[onthemoon]

But the anti-trafficking law regards sex workers as victims, so those who enforce it believe they are "rescuing" the prostitutes. That just makes things worse, say the sex workers.

The purpose of this is largely public relations, not to help women. The western world sees all sex workers as slaves in need of rescuing, especially ones in Thailand. It doesn't matter if they are making tons of money and want to be there. This is especially true foreign women, so for image reasons those caught working as prostitutes must be 'rescued' and sent back to their homes in Lao, Burma, or Cambodia where they can continue their life as impoverished dirt farmers.

The Western world? All of the Western world?

[newermonkey]

Prostitution is ILLEGAL in Thailand, why are seeing a report about a subject that by the law of the land does not exist and is controlled by the corrupt police farce.

We could start talking about the rights of thieves, the rights of drug dealers, the right and conditions of people selling knock off goods.

When there is a round up of Prostitutes they are paraded around in the press for all to see of course they will "go along" with whatever the police want to say to save face, especially if they are under the legal age for consensual sex.

In short my point is - legalize prostitution, and whilst your at it legalize marijuana and make tobacco illegal.

Why make tobacco illegal? That'd make a lot of sense, not..... every time someone wants a smoke they get smashed. May as well make alcohol illegal as well then, only that didn't work either once, did it?

Because tobacco is a very harmful and addictive drug and it stinks and affects other peoples health, the government is reluctant to ban tobacco only because they make so much money out of the lethal drug - whereas marijuana does not pose any health risks to users or second hand smoke unless taken in excess.

Alcohol can be very beneficial to health ie. one glass of red wine per day is good for most people and drinking alcohol does not directly affect others..

Alcohol should be banned to those that have a bad reaction to it ie. uncontrollable violence. (there seems to be a switch in some peoples heads that turns them into morons when they drink)

Knowledge base:

http://coedmagazine.com/2010/09/02/10-major-health-benefits-of-marijuana/

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/red-wine/HB00089

[onthemoon]

Who wants to work for 100 baht a day in the rice paddys and chilli fields when you can give an old German pensioner oral sex for 20 minutes for 500 baht.

No offence to Germans but I'll take the rice paddy!

That's what I'm supporting: Choice. You make yours, others make others.

[DocN]

Ok...so I guess, I am wrong.

Most of the bar girls or GoGo's woke up one morning and though "Oh, my life is brilliant! I have an excellent education, a careing husband for my kid and a supportive family...I think, I will go to Bangkok and become a hooker!"

All the stories about poverty, Thai-men knocking up everything that is not behind locked doors by the count of three and than leaving for the next shag, girls that have seen the inside of a classroom for the last time at an age of 10, society looking down on single mothers, families making the daughters responsible for feeding the whole lot, abusive boyfriends turned pimps, drug and alcohol addiction...myths, nothing but myths!

Welcome to Lala- Land!

[MUYTHAI]

or maybe Thai women like sex more!

...with 60 year old drunk smelly ill behaving tourists?

You are joking, right?!

I don't know what area(s) you hang out at but I see many many falangs (Anglo Caucasians) and other foreigners who are in the 20 and 30 and 40 year old range. Every time I am in the Pattaya, Phuket, and BKK party areas ('red light areas') I see many many young guys from many countries, of many races, etc.. It looks like a Spring Break party or Mardi Gras party in the USA... with many 20-40 y.o. guys partying with the bar ladies. Maybe you hang out at a bar(s)where there are a lot of older, smelly, and badly behaving guys. Maybe you should change your location.

[Beetlejuice]

Blaming poverty is rubbish. These girls are lazy and greedy. In many counytries much poorer than Thailand there are very few prostitutes.

Yes, I agree with that.

With many they see this as an easy alternative than by being under the pressures of employment in the legitimate industries. This I believe in the main reasons these girls enter into prostitution.

Just take a look on the Internet and see for yourselves how many women are willing and eager participants of the porn and sex industries. There is certainly no shortage of them. They appear in all shapes, sizes, ages, races, nationalities and from all walks of life. I would very much like to see some official statistics of how many women worldwide are involved in the flesh business.

The media and certain organisations would have us believe that the majority of these women are victims of abuse, come from underprivileged backgrounds and the victims of the sexual desires of men. This is simply not the fact.

To call them greedy and lazy is absolutely ridiculous. Go and look upcountry where these girls come from and realise there are very few well paying jobs for them to do in their locality if they are from rural areas.

Then throw in a pretty ropy village based education, and they are faced with moving away, so then it comes down to 9,000 baht in a chicken factory if you are very very lucky, or 30k plus going into a bar. It is nothing but a purely commercial decision, now you can call that greed, in other countries they call the being smart. You can moralise about it till the days come home, but being lazy has nothing to do with it.

I don`t agree.

If one cannot make a living locally, than they have to seek work elsewhere.

Everyone has to start from the beginning, the objective is to work up to a career by hard work and determination and make they’re lives successful. It`s called: ambition. And that’s the problem, that many of these prostitutes have no ambitions in life, but only to get rich quick with the minimum amount of efforts. I agree that life can be unfair and some from more underprivileged backgrounds have the tougher time, but it all depends on the will of a person to succeed.

Getting involved with prostitution is no smart, because they are exposed to practically all diseases known to man, there are also the emotional side affects and all the other crap that goes with it. After a while many become almost institutionalised into the sex industry and unable to give it up however much they try.

The theme of this thread is, Thailand's Sex Workers Don't Want To Be 'Rescued' And this also pertains worldwide.

[onthemoon]

Like in every country in Asia, girls in the sex trade in Laos, Burma or Thailand are part of extended families. These families are struggling with lack of income and are naturally happy to receive the money and presents provided by the girl. But questions are not asked regarding where the money is coming from and more often than not the truth is kept from older persons in the family, who would be too hurt or would find the humiliation unbearable. Such a profession is regarded as one more of the indignities and degradations imposed by poverty.

Many would find it more degrading to work in a factory for 48 hours a week at THB 300/day minimum wage.

[onthemoon]

Why do you think most of the girls in the bars get so drunk! They have to get drunk or they would not do it. Most are forced into the sex trade because there is no wealthfair state and a very poor education system, and some are mothers who are left to bring up their children alone. What would make a big difference is if the education system changed, making it as good as the private sector (sorry better) and free, taught sex education at school with all its problems and make all the absent fathers pay maintenance.

There should be DNA register for all children and everyone it should be part of your ID that way fathers would have to live up to their responsibility, (maybe one day)

Wow, where did you get all this knowledge! The people who actually work with the bar girls, Empower, say the exact opposite, so you must know them even better.

[OzMick]

The biggest problem I see is that many of the bar-girls enjoy the high life of their trade so much that they forget that it is only temporary. The smarter ones put some away for the inevitable time when the competition gets to be more attractive.

I have a good (and once VERY close) friend who retired at 40 and returned to the home village where she is quite the little capitalist, with a nice house and a couple of businesses. Who should sneer at her success through hard work?

Not me.

A lesson here for many Thais. She got off her back.....eventually.... and worked hard for an honest living.

I'm not sure that you got my point. The lady earned her money through prostitution, invested it wisely, and now lives a life of leisure from the proceeds. Behind every fortune there is a crime - Belzac.

[onthemoon]

Instead of the "legal" sex wokers they should focus on the underage sex industry instead,

So many underage prostitutes are being taken advantage of by both Thais and foreigners , its a

shame . They are strong people but starting life as a sex worker when you are 12 is destroying their life before it starts,

No money can heal that pain.

This is not what the topic is about. Feel free to start another topic about the underage sex industry.

[onthemoon]

"The biggest problem I see is that many of the bar-girls enjoy the high life of their trade so much that they forget that it is only temporary. The smarter ones put some away for the inevitable time when the competition gets to be more attractive."

I wonder what the % of smarter ones there are. 10%? The "high life" becomes an addiction in itself. I always wondered how I'd wind up if I was a young, attractive Thai girl. Probably, I wouldn't reach 30. What happens when a 40 year old working girl hits 45?

I know some who opened clothes shops in market areas, such as Chatuchak or MBK. Others open restaurants. Some marry and become housewives, and a few stay in the trade (yes!) or become mamasans.