Sexy Pattaya

Kathy Hornbach
August 1, 2004

Pattaya, Thailand, Feb 2004

You probably won’t “find yourself” here — but you could lose yourself, pretty easily.

rent boy

Pattaya, Thailand… Billed both as an “International Resort Destination” (restaurant menus in Thai, German, Russian, Greek…, plethora of choices, shops, sports, bars… everything) and the sleaze capital of the world (“You want lady?”, STD clinics, “Viagra! Erectile Dysfunction specialists!”, “No Child Sex!” posters. Prostitutes, drag queens, ladyboys). Pattaya seems to have a bit of identity crisis. Tourism authorities are trying to redefine it as a family resort (it has a way to go) — but money interests favor keeping it largely the way it is — and money talks especially loudly here.

The closest “resort city” to Bangkok, it is easy and cheap (by Western standards) to get here, and also inexpensive (again, relatively) to stay. It seems to attract some of the stranger tourists we’ve seen in our travels, like they came here after the Vietnam war (Pattaya got its start as an “R&R” (rest & recreation) center), and never left. It is full of Germans, Brits & Aussies, plus an apparent community of Arabs (sections of South Pattaya are labeled in Arabic), and Russians. There’s also a fairly large gay section to South Pattaya (Pattaya is split up sort of into North, Central, and South, even though it isn’t that big), and we’re staying right smack in the middle of it — an area called, appropriately, “Boyztown”. Why here? You could say it’s the whole reason we’re in Pattaya — Pattaya isn’t a place either of us would go out of our way to get to:

Boyz Town sign

Kathy seemed a bit “off balance” at first. After Scott pointed out that a straight girl probably could not be in a safer place, and that she would be surrounded by hot young Thai boys in very short pants… she relaxed, and now kind of likes the place. Scott is worrying about the competition, though. “What have they got that I haven’t got?” he thinks. Youth. Hair. Twenty-eight-inch waists.

We went to a couple of local shows, one sort of “skinny-boys-doing-acrobatics-underwater”; one drag show. Both pretty tame. Kathy scoped out the boys, while the boys scoped out Scott — for his wallet, not his body, as a guess. We also had dinner nearby and the Proprietor had recommended these shows and said “You know, probably 80% of the “Bar Boys” are straight — they’ll be the ones checking you (Kathy) out when you come in”. And so it was. 

Last night (Thursday, if you’re keeping score) we stayed up way past our middle-aged bedtimes, to take in a Drag Show that started at 12:30 in the morning (so OK, I suppose it was actually Friday if you’re really keeping score). The show part was really fun — song-and-dance routines with hunky men and quite attractive ladyboys (i.e. these are “all boy” shows, but some of the boys are more ladylike than others.

It is hot here — mid-90s with humidity that just clings in the air. Going out “into the noonday sun” is pretty taxing, so we’ve tried to limit our outdoor activities to “gentler” times of the day/night. That having been said, Scott went out walking around noon today for about 3 hours. Go figure.

Visiting with Peter & Vincent

Peter & Vincent, a wonderful couple we met on our 2003 cruise (they live in Vancouver, BC and Scott ended up renting their apartment for Culinary Arts school there) are, as we write, on the Cunard QE II “World Cruise”, headed for Laem Chabang, a port city about 25km north of here. We “negotiated” with them about their coming up to Bangkok to meet us there, but they decided (wisely, I think) to come down to Pattaya to check out the entertainment. Their time in port is limited (they arrive tomorrow at 8:00 am and depart the next day at 7 pm). Peter recommended the hotel we’re at (Le Cafe Royale). We checked it out on the internet — “way Gay but OK”. Kathy was a little concerned that “her kind”, err, gender might be disconcerting to the other customers, so we emailed the hotel reservation and received a prompt and affirmative reply: “Thank you for the consideration but there will be no problems whatsoever. Our staff will be more than happy and our other guests will accept you without any problem whatsoever.” With that, we hired a taxi to drive is from Hua Hin to Pattaya (about 5 1/2 hours; about $50 + tip) and… voila’! we’re in Boyztown.

Lunch in Pattaya with Peter and Vincent

We connect with them around 11 am (we’re just having breakfast, having been up till 2 am the previous night) at the cafe just outside our hotel (the hotel is called Le Cafe Royale, after all…). Peter’s got definite ideas about how to spend their limited time: he wants to visit local gardens (“Nong Nooch”) and a professional drag show at a venue called “Alcazar”. Scott’s not so keen on the garden visit but would like to enjoy the show. This complicates the day a bit but gives Scott another opportunity to bake his brain in the sun — and take care of the logistics for Phitsanulok, our destination for Friday afternoon when we leave Pattaya.
Kathy, P & V enjoy the gardens, and we rendezvous at Alcazar. Its an elaborate and very well done show; sort of Broadway-meets-Thailand with transvestites, and worth the $15 or so the tickets cost.

I won’t go as far as to say Pattaya only exists for the sex trade, but its certainly a large part of it (or at least, it was in 2004). Enough so that there are guides for how you hire a “boy” while you’re in BoysTown. Here’s somewhat of a description:

Insights into the Commercial Sex Trade

Welcome to Boyztown. As we were headed back to our hotel from dinner, the touts (who are all hanging in the same street, vying to get you into their bar) chat us up. There aren’t that many mixed-gender couple in this part of town, so I guess we’re a novelty. As we’re talking, scantily-clad boys wander in and out of the bar. Kathy is starting to enjoy this way too much. After standing in the street for about half an hour, we decided to have a drink at Boyz… to watch the world go by. We stay for about three hours.

This is the sort of thing where “a picture is worth a thousand words”, but photos are “highly discouraged” even outside the venues, and prohibited inside. Why? What’s going on is not exactly hidden from view?

It’s a Living, but…

On the surface it appears that the avenue is filled with flamboyant gay men — but as our restaurateur has told us (and I’ve heard it before) — perhaps 80% of the “Go Go Boys” are actually straight. Doing this is a living, by rural Thai standards it is quite a lucrative living. But the boys (and female CSWs [Commercial Sex Workers], for that matter) aren’t especially interested in having their pictures taken under these circumstances. Thais, like most Asians, are quite modest  and to be in the sex trade… isn’t “something to write home about”. When these rural kids — practically — age 18+ leave their village and head for places like Bangkok or Pattaya, and start sending home cash, what the kid is doing really isn’t discussed. It is one of those “I know, you know, I know you know let’s not talk about it“, things. It doesn’t carry quite the stigma it would in North America (“What’s your kid doing these days?”, “Oh, he’s prostituting for gay men in Bangkok. His girlfriend works in a bar too”) and the trade is regulated.

As the world goes by

The touts are bored — they work from about 8pm to about 3am trying to attract customers, and it has to get pretty old pretty quickly. They work 28 days per month, 7 days per week — two days off per month. One guy is falling asleep while standing in the street. Says he got to bed at 3am (this would have been the previous morning, it’s now around midnight the next day) — and couldn’t sleep. This guy is running on empty.

We’re a novelty (most “mixed” couples are just walking through the neighborhood to gawk) — they’re not hanging around. Thais are naturally inquisitive, so we exchange the usual pleasantries (“Where you from”, “Hold old”, “Any children?”). Kathy asks one of the guys if he has any kids. He beams — Thais love kids — their own; everybody elses. He goes and fetches his wallet, shows us the kid’s photo. Its an intimate moment with a complete stranger in a strange land. Later, one guys purchases a couple of champoo‘s (they’re a waxy fruit that is sort of pear shaped with a slightly tart flavor and consistency of an apple). He brings one to our table and gives it to us. Another touching moment.
Speaking of touching, the baby-photo-guy is getting increasingly “familiar” with Kathy. Thais believe that the head is the most reverent part of the body (you would never touch a Thai’s hair, for example). He walks by, gives Kathy’s knees a little rub. This continues through the night. A knee, a thigh-touch, handshake, shoulder. In a North American setting, the typical husband would invite the guy outside for a fight. But this seemed innocent albeit a bit flurtatious; one stranger reaching out to another.

No, we’re not that sociable

What happens next is initially a bit scary but ultimately ends up somewhere between annoying, and entertaining. A tall, wild-eyed foreigner walks up to our table (its a table for four) and promptly sits down. Doesn’t ask, just sits at our table and engages us like we were old friends. We try to be cordial; he has an accent that suggest Germany or Holland, we ask. “Originally? From Japan”. OK fine, here’s a Netherlander who happened to be born in Japan. Could happen. But every question we ask solicits an off-the-wall answer. “Your skin is light”. “Yes, I’m Indian”. “You know Indians?” He is manic, we’re guessing — and we hope he leaves as spontaneously as he arrived. And soon. He stays around 10 minutes. The touts see our predicament — we’re pondering whether to leave, ourselves, to get away from this nut. The touts make the universal “crazy person” symbol (a finger rotated around the temple). This is a sort of signal to us that he’s harmless — but he is annoying. One of them comes to our aid — the champoo guy — and escorts him into the bar (we’re outside). We don’t see him again.

Boys come, boys go

There are maybe 50 or 75 young men (they’re 18+ and this is enforced, but they’re all referred to as boys, not men), parading around in short, white, skin-tight pants. There is little left to imagination; their short pants extend perhaps four inches lower than their underwear, which are entirely apparent. There’s no question as to which boys have the “assets” and which don’t. Some have cell phones tucked in the back — looks kind of silly but it a status symbol. Many have tatoos. Some are flamboyant; most not.

Inside, there’s a stage where the boys can “dance”. They’re more or less parading around, they rotate; each boy is on the stage for maybe 10 minutes. During this time, he hopes he’ll catch somebody’s eye; maybe the customer will take him home. This is called “Offing” and we’ll get to it next. So here are these guys, most of whom are not gay anyway, trying to look appealing while being literally “on display” — they’ve got number tags on their shirts or shorts. “I want #77 for 2 hours”, perhaps a customer tells the Bar Manager. The boy is “Off’ed” from the bar. Incidentally, I’ve been in the “Girlie” bars too — its just the same. More on this later. Very few of the boys look like they’re actually having a good time. It’s sad; kind of pathetic.


There’s limited seating in the bar, and of course, the objective of a bar is to sell drinks and boys — the manager tries to optimize the number of potential customers and their “prospects”. The boys may sit in the bar, but if a customer needs a seat, the boy gets ousted. Or maybe they’ve got a break time. In any case, there’s a continuing stream of these scantily-clad boys going in and out of the bar. They come outside, use their cell phones, have a cigarette perhaps. One attractive woman shows up, says something to one of the bar staff. A cute boy comes out and she gives him some money — we’re thinking its his girlfriend — they seem close. It’s surreal.

“Offing”

Neither of us has any first-hand experience with this… what follows is a description thoughtfully provided by our hotel. Secondly, we’re describing a procedure here — not particularly making value judgements about it. At the bottom are photos of the actual instructions left for us in the hotel.

Offing” is the term applied to the financial transaction that occurs when a customer decides that he wants some “off-bar” interaction with a Go Go Boy (the procedure is the same in straight bars). The boy and the prospect discuss the potential interaction (we’re trying not to be too graphic here). If they agree, the customer must pay the bar a fee — between about $5 and $7 — to allow the boy to leave the bar. If the boy merely interacts with the customer for any length of time in the bar, the boy will ask the customer to buy him a drink. Drinks are typically in the $3.50 to $5 range, so this is a fundamental way that the boys make money for the bar.

Once the “Offing” fee has been paid, the customer and the boy go off, do whatever they do — and the boy returns to the bar. If the customer wants to keep the boy all night, the charge is higher. Multiple days? Return to the bar and pay an extended fee. Negotiable. Many bars provide rooms by the hour for the convenience of the customer.

According to the guide in our room, the “tip” given to the boy for his services is at the discretion of the customer. It might be as little as B800 (about $20). Doesn’t sound like much of a living, but if the average income for a rural villager is $200/year, and the boy services 5 men a week at $30 each — that’s almost $8000/year.


So there you have it. How to get an eighteen-year-old for a night of reckless abandon. Or two. This is not slavery, this is not child prostitution. Its a business transaction, authorized and regulated by the government: “dancers” (Go Go Boys and female equivalents) get weekly STD tests, and monthly AIDS tests. They are educated in safer-sex techniques. At least the ones working “above board” in bars are protected, to an extent.

Ref: Travel/Asia/Thailand/ThaiIndia-0104/PitsanulokSukhothai.html”>Pitsanulok
Ref: Travel/Asia/Thailand/ThaiIndia-0104/Pattaya.html

Photo highlights

May September romance
Negotiation
Ladyboy show
Pattaya sunset

Hotel instructions for renting a guy for a few hours, or the evening.

Next: Pitsanulok & Sukothai
Also: An Evening around the Commercial Sex Trade

Copyright(c) 2024 Scott Blessley & Kathy Hornbach
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