Thai Ministry To Take Action Against Sex-Trafficking In Chachoengsao

[oldsailor35]

hmmm, wonder what bail for all nineteen girls would be?

Split it nineteen ways its cheap ------ Put me down for two

me three ............i don't mind taking the odd one.

Edited May 22, 2013 by oldsailor35

[bri1guy]

Definitively time to visit this province !

:-)

Sure LETS ALL go to Chachoengsao (InThai: <Thai language removed> is a town in central Thailand, capital of the Chachoengsao Province! I bet all the Karaoke bars are Cheap to show support!!

Edited May 22, 2013 by metisdead
English is the only acceptable language, except within the Thai language forum, where of course using Thai is allowed.

[lowushatin]

Thai men are attracted to Laotian women , for them it is like doing it with a foreigner.

This will never end.

Actually, Laotians look better in my opinion. I find that 99% of thais that look good come from Chiang Rai. (speaking of girls, working or not)

Edited May 22, 2013 by lowushatin

[Johnniey]

 

Definitively time to visit this province ! 

 

:-)

Sure LETS ALL  go to Chachoengsao (InThai: ฉะเชิงเทรา is a town in central Thailand, capital of the  Chachoengsao Province!     I bet all the Karaoke bars are Cheap to show support!!

Commonly referred to by the locals as "baet liew". I like going there for fishing. I sure don't want the place full of mongers vulturing for cheap prostitutes, God forbid.

[atyclb]

With so many Thai girls willing to enter the sex industry, why do they need to import girls fromm Laos?

I suppose it's all down to the money. They can pay the Lao girls a pittance and they are scared to speak up. But a Thai girl would not keep quiet if she were stiffed.

Can you change that last sentance please ...................

Sadly you must check the pulse of some Thai girls while getting stiffed to know if they are still alive.

[Thongkorn]

225 Karaoke bars, damn, now I know where I'm going for my next vacation!

And this statement says it , This is the reason these girls are being abused. The problems is sex tourist not the girls,

Edited May 22, 2013 by Thongkorn

[lowushatin]

225 Karaoke bars, damn, now I know where I'm going for my next vacation!

And this statement says it , This is the reason these girls are being abused. The problems is sex tourist not the girls,

you made me laugh. thanks.

[Bluespunk]

Definitively time to visit this province !

:-)

Erm, say what? These are trafficked women who are being forced into prostitution. Not all of them I agree, but how are you supposed to know those who are there out of "choice"? Edited May 22, 2013 by Bluespunk

[harrismac]

Thai men are attracted to Laotian women , for them it is like doing it with a foreigner.

This will never end.

Actually, Laotians look better in my opinion. I find that 99% of thais that look good come from Chiang Rai. (speaking of girls, working or not)

Yeah, love the gold neck ring look.....said most no man from an area other than Chiang Rai or Africa.

[Wombat6]

I have been hearing this since I came to Thailand in 1966. All talk no action. SSDD!

I didn't notice in this article how many of the karaoke bar operators were charged with sex Trafficking >>>>>

[EyesWideOpen]

No need to beat a path down to Chachoengsao. This is an old story ,the Laos girls are everywhere. I crossed the border at Nong Khai a few years ago. From the bridge a older Thai woman in a van picked me up for a ride into Vientiane. She spoke excellent English, and was very engaging. When I asked her what she was doing in Vientiane, she told me she owned a karaoke bar in Bangkok, and she had come to Vientiane to pick up some Laos girls for her club....

Edited May 22, 2013 by EyesWideOpen

[EyesWideOpen]

225 Karaoke bars, damn, now I know where I'm going for my next vacation!

And this statement says it , This is the reason these girls are being abused. The problems is sex tourist not the girls,

Been here long ?? Sex tourist ?? Hmmm, let me think. I wonder who most of the patrons would be in a karaoke bar in Chachoengsao ........ Could possibly 100 % be Thai men ??

[johnnycthedog]

225 Karaoke bars, damn, now I know where I'm going for my next vacation!

And this statement says it , This is the reason these girls are being abused. The problems is sex tourist not the girls,

Damn I just recently drove through that area . Thought all there was to see was the main Wat in town.

I'd suggest that sex tourists aren't an issue in Chachoengsao. I don't really know - but I'd suggest that all these Karaoke bars are for Thai men only and if a foreigner walked in and wanted a piece of the action he'd be shown the door real quick.

Whilst we think of all the bars for foreigners in Pattaya, Phuket, Bangkok, Chang Mai etc they are far less in number then all the Karaoke bars for Thai men in every town around Thailand and foreigners are not welcome.

[khaowong1]

With so many Thai girls willing to enter the sex industry, why do they need to import girls fromm Laos?

I suppose it's all down to the money. They can pay the Lao girls a pittance and they are scared to speak up. But a Thai girl would not keep quiet if she were stiffed.

You think.. IMHO this is what it's all about.. it's similar to Thailand not wanting to import US pork products.. They don't want any competition. Like you say, there are plenty of Thai ladies willing to work but they want a somewhat decent wage. Some one isn't playing the game. so arrest them and make a big stink about it. The government don't really care that sex is available everywhere, but lets keep our own people working first. When we run out of little brown cuties from Issan, we'll bring in some lao's to fill the void.

[bangkokstick]

Thai men are attracted to Laotian women , for them it is like doing it with a foreigner.

This will never end.

They are foreigners!

Not really abuse, i'm not so pervert !

[JoshuaCaleb]

A lot of people are making jokes about this, but this is a serious issue. For some of the Laotian girls and women, there are people that go to the parents and offer "a better life" for their daughters. The girls are then forced into prostitution. It is usually not their choice.

This is the same for others trafficked from Cambodia, etc. But also, unfortunately, some parents knowingly sell their daughters into this.

There are cases when some think that they can make a better life for their family. They really don't know what is going to happen to them or what they will do. They end up working as prostitutes and it affects their lives negatively in the long-term.

Many who are in this, especially those trafficked, often are not people who chose to be a prostitute. They are somebody's children, and their lives are stolen from them, and only when they are rescued to they have a chance for a future.

In my country, there are people that they lure girls through offers of modeling, acting, etc. They end up getting kidnapped and forced to work as prostitutes. Some of them never make it out alive.

This action taken in Chachoengsao is a big step. It will be a greater step to enforce it throughout Thailand,

[monkeycountry]

As always the Thai police and journalists find it necessary to take and publish pictures of the people they claim to be helping, even though they clearly do not want their pictures taken nor published. Perhaps some of you remember the movies and pictures, taken by a bunch of eager thai male officials, of the naked and burned girl who was rescued from her abusers a few months back.

Maybe the police believes if they have rescued a girl from prostitution, then the best thing to do is to make sure everyone in her village knows about it right before she is sent back home. This should do wonders for her future life, social status and marriage prospects in the village!

I suppose taking and publishing pictures of unwilling victims is just another part of Thainess!

[gemini81]

There'll always be unregistered ones working in this industry as long as the economy and country remain along the lines of what it is now. There is great demand, its hard to stop it when boys wanna spunk a bun in the oven of a nice looking gem for a low price. Can't stop the world's oldest profession can you? Could offer these girls registration though as a foreign 'enetertainer' or masseuse though, to track them and improve conditions.

[NanLaew]

Karaoke bars are almost exclusively for Thai patrons. The amount of farangs that indulge their sexual proclivities therein are a very, very small minority. Even the more traditional outlets for farang wishing to indulge in P4P are becoming smaller, more localised, more 'regulated', with diminishing returns, etc.. Beyond existing, well-known tourist-centric enclaves, there are no farang-specific outlets for P4P.

Despite overwhelming views to the contrary on this forum, Thailand IS a developing country, moving from agriculture to manufacturing and assembly. The 'tradition' of impoverished, uneducated Thai womanhood migrating in large numbers into the sex trade as the 'only option' is also in decline. There are more opportunities, particularly among the huge manufacturing industries along the Eastern Seaboard (includes Chachoengsao Province), for young Thai women, single mothers or otherwise, with little more than secondary or vocational education, to get reasonably well paid work that doesn't entail selling their bodies.

What has not changed is the Thai cultural norm for Thai men to get frequently laid outwith the constraints of a monogamous relationship. Over the past 20 or 30 years, the stark and horrible reality of the traditional Thai brothel where young Thai girls were kept in captivity (sometimes in chains) has become increasingly socially unacceptable. Hence the boom in the more public, outwardly more friendly and aesthetically acceptable karaoke bar. These are increasingly staffed by Lao girls who are younger, cheaper and arguably more willing than their Thai sisters to service the Thai male's need for sex.

Laos is an impoverished socialist country and Lao womanhood probably has the same opportunities as poor Thai womanhood did around 50 years ago. The other regional socialist 'star' is Vietnam where their girls and ladies pretty much exclusively service the P4P industry in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The article quoted in the OP where, "Reungsak said that the Chachoengsao's biggest problem with human trafficking was in the form of hidden prostitution at karaoke bars." Since nothing has really ever been done about the not-so-hidden prostitution of massage parlours where the patronage is mostly Thai, or the Patpong's and Walking Street's where the patronage is mostly farang, then there's little real hope of any radical reduction in whore houses masquerading as karaoke bars and more importantly, how they acquire workers. Thai male demand mandates the supply.

[EyesWideOpen]

Karaoke bars are almost exclusively for Thai patrons. The amount of farangs that indulge their sexual proclivities therein are a very, very small minority. Even the more traditional outlets for farang wishing to indulge in P4P are becoming smaller, more localised, more 'regulated', with diminishing returns, etc.. Beyond existing, well-known tourist-centric enclaves, there are no farang-specific outlets for P4P.

Despite overwhelming views to the contrary on this forum, Thailand IS a developing country, moving from agriculture to manufacturing and assembly. The 'tradition' of impoverished, uneducated Thai womanhood migrating in large numbers into the sex trade as the 'only option' is also in decline. There are more opportunities, particularly among the huge manufacturing industries along the Eastern Seaboard (includes Chachoengsao Province), for young Thai women, single mothers or otherwise, with little more than secondary or vocational education, to get reasonably well paid work that doesn't entail selling their bodies.

What has not changed is the Thai cultural norm for Thai men to get frequently laid outwith the constraints of a monogamous relationship. Over the past 20 or 30 years, the stark and horrible reality of the traditional Thai brothel where young Thai girls were kept in captivity (sometimes in chains) has become increasingly socially unacceptable. Hence the boom in the more public, outwardly more friendly and aesthetically acceptable karaoke bar. These are increasingly staffed by Lao girls who are younger, cheaper and arguably more willing than their Thai sisters to service the Thai male's need for sex.

Laos is an impoverished socialist country and Lao womanhood probably has the same opportunities as poor Thai womanhood did around 50 years ago. The other regional socialist 'star' is Vietnam where their girls and ladies pretty much exclusively service the P4P industry in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The article quoted in the OP where, "Reungsak said that the Chachoengsao's biggest problem with human trafficking was in the form of hidden prostitution at karaoke bars." Since nothing has really ever been done about the not-so-hidden prostitution of massage parlours where the patronage is mostly Thai, or the Patpong's and Walking Street's where the patronage is mostly farang, then there's little real hope of any radical reduction in whore houses masquerading as karaoke bars and more importantly, how they acquire workers. Thai male demand mandates the supply.

A fairly insightful post, except for the part about manufacturing being a reasonable financial position for an Isan girl from the farm. I have spoken to countless Thai girls sitting on a bar stool, who were former factory workers. The pay is 7 or 8 thousand baht, barely enough to get by. The girls realize soon enough that the only thing are getting, is getting old. So jump on a bus, and head for Pattaya in the hopes of hitting the farang jackpot. Every Thai girl from the villages knows the story of a girl from their village hitting it big ,with a new house, new truck, and a new farang sponsor.

As these stories become more well known in Laos, I think you will see an increase of girls from there, unless there is some kind of real crackdown on them.

I can also add, I am a big fan of Laos girls.....

Prettier, thinner, and a great attitude without the burnout of the Thai bar girls. I can fully understand why the karaoke bars are going on recruiting trips to Laos.

Edited May 23, 2013 by EyesWideOpen

[NanLaew]

A fairly insightful post, except for the part about manufacturing being a reasonable financial position for an Isan girl from the farm. I have spoken to countless Thai girls sitting on a bar stool, who were former factory workers. The pay is 7 or 8 thousand baht, barely enough to get by. The girls realize soon enough that the only thing are getting, is getting old. So jump on a bus, and head for Pattaya in the hopes of hitting the farang jackpot. Every Thai girl from the villages knows the story of a girl from their village hitting it big ,with a new house, new truck, and a new farang sponsor.

As these stories become more well known in Laos, I think you will see an increase of girls from there, unless there is some kind of real crackdown on them.

I can also add, I am a big fan of Laos girls.....

Prettier, thinner, and a great attitude without the burnout of the Thai bar girls. I can fully understand why the karaoke bars are going on recruiting trips to Laos.

But the OP isn't about Thai girls, it is about Lao girls and other non-Thai's being trafficked for sex.

By your own admission, you must agree that there are far, far fewer young Thai girls behind the bars as a first choice and the ones you are encountering are older and either following up on some anecdotal tale of 'local girl turns princess' or returning to the 'easy money' they knew before. But they too will have to admit that there are slim pickings these days. The truly hansum man is a rare breed, young men don't monger anymore and they have to put up with older, more cynical guys with a distinct lack of jai dee but benefiting enormously from ED medication.

If the Thai ladies are not making the factories their first choice, then where are all those sleepy-eyed Thai ladies in crisp uniforms riding in the back of 6-wheel songtaews on the roads around Plaeng Yao and Hua Samrong going to at 6.30 in the morning or 5.30 at night? Who is running the production lines, making hard drives, making shirts, bottling food stuffs? They seem to be doing alright financially; maybe not exactly rolling in the one-night windfall they may get from a bar fine but certainly enough for a roof over their head and the daily noodles.

However, the amount of Thai girls seeking farang partners in farang bars is miniscule in relation to the demand from Thai men for short-time sex and a beer after work on a Friday night.

[KonKorat]

Just curious if these girls wanted to be rescued.

[gemini81]

Just curious if these girls wanted to be rescued.

Doubt it. Maybe conditions are rough, but better shot of sending the family money and buying that I phone than to find no employment in Burma at the moment.

[atyclb]

Karaoke bars are almost exclusively for Thai patrons. The amount of farangs that indulge their sexual proclivities therein are a very, very small minority. Even the more traditional outlets for farang wishing to indulge in P4P are becoming smaller, more localised, more 'regulated', with diminishing returns, etc.. Beyond existing, well-known tourist-centric enclaves, there are no farang-specific outlets for P4P.

Despite overwhelming views to the contrary on this forum, Thailand IS a developing country, moving from agriculture to manufacturing and assembly. The 'tradition' of impoverished, uneducated Thai womanhood migrating in large numbers into the sex trade as the 'only option' is also in decline. There are more opportunities, particularly among the huge manufacturing industries along the Eastern Seaboard (includes Chachoengsao Province), for young Thai women, single mothers or otherwise, with little more than secondary or vocational education, to get reasonably well paid work that doesn't entail selling their bodies.

What has not changed is the Thai cultural norm for Thai men to get frequently laid outwith the constraints of a monogamous relationship. Over the past 20 or 30 years, the stark and horrible reality of the traditional Thai brothel where young Thai girls were kept in captivity (sometimes in chains) has become increasingly socially unacceptable. Hence the boom in the more public, outwardly more friendly and aesthetically acceptable karaoke bar. These are increasingly staffed by Lao girls who are younger, cheaper and arguably more willing than their Thai sisters to service the Thai male's need for sex.

Laos is an impoverished socialist country and Lao womanhood probably has the same opportunities as poor Thai womanhood did around 50 years ago. The other regional socialist 'star' is Vietnam where their girls and ladies pretty much exclusively service the P4P industry in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The article quoted in the OP where, "Reungsak said that the Chachoengsao's biggest problem with human trafficking was in the form of hidden prostitution at karaoke bars." Since nothing has really ever been done about the not-so-hidden prostitution of massage parlours where the patronage is mostly Thai, or the Patpong's and Walking Street's where the patronage is mostly farang, then there's little real hope of any radical reduction in whore houses masquerading as karaoke bars and more importantly, how they acquire workers. Thai male demand mandates the supply.

It is reassuring to have so many experts in the area of Thai culture dealing with prostitution. Perhaps there is a graduate degree offered at some university?

[finnomick1]

With so many Thai girls willing to enter the sex industry, why do they need to import girls fromm Laos?

I suppose it's all down to the money. They can pay the Lao girls a pittance and they are scared to speak up. But a Thai girl would not keep quiet if she were stiffed.

Yes, I hear some are screamers.....

[itchybum]

Definitively time to visit this province !

:-)

?? Do you mean you would willingly further abuse these women who have been forced to prostitute themselves??

And you know they are ALL forced right?

And all are abused right?

[NCFC]

Karaoke bars are almost exclusively for Thai patrons. The amount of farangs that indulge their sexual proclivities therein are a very, very small minority. Even the more traditional outlets for farang wishing to indulge in P4P are becoming smaller, more localised, more 'regulated', with diminishing returns, etc.. Beyond existing, well-known tourist-centric enclaves, there are no farang-specific outlets for P4P.

Despite overwhelming views to the contrary on this forum, Thailand IS a developing country, moving from agriculture to manufacturing and assembly. The 'tradition' of impoverished, uneducated Thai womanhood migrating in large numbers into the sex trade as the 'only option' is also in decline. There are more opportunities, particularly among the huge manufacturing industries along the Eastern Seaboard (includes Chachoengsao Province), for young Thai women, single mothers or otherwise, with little more than secondary or vocational education, to get reasonably well paid work that doesn't entail selling their bodies.

What has not changed is the Thai cultural norm for Thai men to get frequently laid outwith the constraints of a monogamous relationship. Over the past 20 or 30 years, the stark and horrible reality of the traditional Thai brothel where young Thai girls were kept in captivity (sometimes in chains) has become increasingly socially unacceptable. Hence the boom in the more public, outwardly more friendly and aesthetically acceptable karaoke bar. These are increasingly staffed by Lao girls who are younger, cheaper and arguably more willing than their Thai sisters to service the Thai male's need for sex.

Laos is an impoverished socialist country and Lao womanhood probably has the same opportunities as poor Thai womanhood did around 50 years ago. The other regional socialist 'star' is Vietnam where their girls and ladies pretty much exclusively service the P4P industry in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The article quoted in the OP where, "Reungsak said that the Chachoengsao's biggest problem with human trafficking was in the form of hidden prostitution at karaoke bars." Since nothing has really ever been done about the not-so-hidden prostitution of massage parlours where the patronage is mostly Thai, or the Patpong's and Walking Street's where the patronage is mostly farang, then there's little real hope of any radical reduction in whore houses masquerading as karaoke bars and more importantly, how they acquire workers. Thai male demand mandates the supply.

A fairly insightful post, except for the part about manufacturing being a reasonable financial position for an Isan girl from the farm. I have spoken to countless Thai girls sitting on a bar stool, who were former factory workers. The pay is 7 or 8 thousand baht, barely enough to get by. The girls realize soon enough that the only thing are getting, is getting old. So jump on a bus, and head for Pattaya in the hopes of hitting the farang jackpot. Every Thai girl from the villages knows the story of a girl from their village hitting it big ,with a new house, new truck, and a new farang sponsor.

As these stories become more well known in Laos, I think you will see an increase of girls from there, unless there is some kind of real crackdown on them.

I can also add, I am a big fan of Laos girls.....

Prettier, thinner, and a great attitude without the burnout of the Thai bar girls. I can fully understand why the karaoke bars are going on recruiting trips to Laos.

I have no doubt that the Thai girl sitting on a bar stool will tell you that she will earn 7 or 8k in factory. However, I know for a fact that general assembly line work for an unskilled worker pays between 15-17k per month based on a 12 hour 6 day shift pattern which is the norm in most large factories.

[EyesWideOpen]

A fairly insightful post, except for the part about manufacturing being a reasonable financial position for an Isan girl from the farm. I have spoken to countless Thai girls sitting on a bar stool, who were former factory workers. The pay is 7 or 8 thousand baht, barely enough to get by. The girls realize soon enough that the only thing are getting, is getting old. So jump on a bus, and head for Pattaya in the hopes of hitting the farang jackpot. Every Thai girl from the villages knows the story of a girl from their village hitting it big ,with a new house, new truck, and a new farang sponsor.

As these stories become more well known in Laos, I think you will see an increase of girls from there, unless there is some kind of real crackdown on them.

I can also add, I am a big fan of Laos girls.....

Prettier, thinner, and a great attitude without the burnout of the Thai bar girls. I can fully understand why the karaoke bars are going on recruiting trips to Laos.

But the OP isn't about Thai girls, it is about Lao girls and other non-Thai's being trafficked for sex.

By your own admission, you must agree that there are far, far fewer young Thai girls behind the bars as a first choice and the ones you are encountering are older and either following up on some anecdotal tale of 'local girl turns princess' or returning to the 'easy money' they knew before. But they too will have to admit that there are slim pickings these days. The truly hansum man is a rare breed, young men don't monger anymore and they have to put up with older, more cynical guys with a distinct lack of jai dee but benefiting enormously from ED medication.

If the Thai ladies are not making the factories their first choice, then where are all those sleepy-eyed Thai ladies in crisp uniforms riding in the back of 6-wheel songtaews on the roads around Plaeng Yao and Hua Samrong going to at 6.30 in the morning or 5.30 at night? Who is running the production lines, making hard drives, making shirts, bottling food stuffs? They seem to be doing alright financially; maybe not exactly rolling in the one-night windfall they may get from a bar fine but certainly enough for a roof over their head and the daily noodles.

However, the amount of Thai girls seeking farang partners in farang bars is miniscule in relation to the demand from Thai men for short-time sex and a beer after work on a Friday night.

I have noticed that the beauty level of Thai bar girls has fallen to abysmal levels. Not really why, maybe the hot girls are married to Germans or working in Japan. As I suspect the average Thai man would not so much as bother to glance at the Thai girls currently on offer at the bar beers , thus the karaoke industry may be forced to look elsewhere for young beautiful girls. Hey, Laos is close and they speak pretty much the same language !!!!

And yes I am fully aware there are lots of Thai girls who work factory jobs. But I have spoken to countless bar girls who realized that it was in essence a dead end for them. With the salary of 7 to 8 thousand baht, after all expenses were paid, there was not much money to send back to Isan. So after about an year, they move onto a bar job where at least they have the possibility of hitting the jackpot. For the Laos girls, I am pretty sure that there are no factory jobs, since in essence Laos does not have a economy. So for them to come and work in Thailand in a sex job may be a very easy decision......

For NCFC:

15 to 17 thousand per month ?? For an unskilled farm girl??

Not buying that. PTP for a campaign promise said everyone would get 300 baht a day. Thai businesses were screaming bloody murder saying they would have to lay off a lot of people at that wage level. So even if the workers were getting 300 baht a day for 26 days of work a month, that is 7800 baht a month. You had better recheck your numbers....

Edited May 23, 2013 by EyesWideOpen

[Neeranam]

Definitively time to visit this province !

:-)

?? Do you mean you would willingly further abuse these women who have been forced to prostitute themselves??

And you know they are ALL forced right?

And all are abused right?

I'd say they are all forced, yes. Do you think they willingly choose to be in this situation?

Of course they are abused. You obviously don't know much about Thai men and Laotian prostitutes.

[Neeranam]

A fairly insightful post, except for the part about manufacturing being a reasonable financial position for an Isan girl from the farm. I have spoken to countless Thai girls sitting on a bar stool, who were former factory workers. The pay is 7 or 8 thousand baht, barely enough to get by. The girls realize soon enough that the only thing are getting, is getting old. So jump on a bus, and head for Pattaya in the hopes of hitting the farang jackpot. Every Thai girl from the villages knows the story of a girl from their village hitting it big ,with a new house, new truck, and a new farang sponsor.

As these stories become more well known in Laos, I think you will see an increase of girls from there, unless there is some kind of real crackdown on them.

I can also add, I am a big fan of Laos girls.....

Prettier, thinner, and a great attitude without the burnout of the Thai bar girls. I can fully understand why the karaoke bars are going on recruiting trips to Laos.

But the OP isn't about Thai girls, it is about Lao girls and other non-Thai's being trafficked for sex.

By your own admission, you must agree that there are far, far fewer young Thai girls behind the bars as a first choice and the ones you are encountering are older and either following up on some anecdotal tale of 'local girl turns princess' or returning to the 'easy money' they knew before. But they too will have to admit that there are slim pickings these days. The truly hansum man is a rare breed, young men don't monger anymore and they have to put up with older, more cynical guys with a distinct lack of jai dee but benefiting enormously from ED medication.

If the Thai ladies are not making the factories their first choice, then where are all those sleepy-eyed Thai ladies in crisp uniforms riding in the back of 6-wheel songtaews on the roads around Plaeng Yao and Hua Samrong going to at 6.30 in the morning or 5.30 at night? Who is running the production lines, making hard drives, making shirts, bottling food stuffs? They seem to be doing alright financially; maybe not exactly rolling in the one-night windfall they may get from a bar fine but certainly enough for a roof over their head and the daily noodles.

However, the amount of Thai girls seeking farang partners in farang bars is miniscule in relation to the demand from Thai men for short-time sex and a beer after work on a Friday night.

I have noticed that the beauty level of Thai bar girls has fallen to abysmal levels. Not really why, maybe the hot girls are married to Germans or working in Japan. As I suspect the average Thai man would not so much as bother to glance at the Thai girls currently on offer at the bar beers , thus the karaoke industry may be forced to look elsewhere for young beautiful girls. Hey, Laos is close and they speak pretty much the same language !!!!

And yes I am fully aware there are lots of Thai girls who work factory jobs. But I have spoken to countless bar girls who realized that it was in essence a dead end for them. With the salary of 7 to 8 thousand baht, after all expenses were paid, there was not much money to send back to Isan. So after about an year, they move onto a bar job where at least they have the possibility of hitting the jackpot. For the Laos girls, I am pretty sure that there are no factory jobs, since in essence Laos does not have a economy. So for them to come and work in Thailand in a sex job may be a very easy decision......

For NCFC:

15 to 17 thousand per month ?? For an unskilled farm girl??

Not buying that. PTP for a campaign promise said everyone would get 300 baht a day. Thai businesses were screaming bloody murder saying they would have to lay off a lot of people at that wage level. So even if the workers were getting 300 baht a day for 26 days of work a month, that is 7800 baht a month. You had better recheck your numbers....

The last time I walked down Soi Nana in Bangkok I couldn't believe the change from 15-20 years ago.

I wonder if I have changed or they have. The girls/women I saw from the street were aging and not attractive in the slightest - I'd see better lookers down the fish market in Khon Kaen.