In the beginning...

On my flight from Berlin to Bangkok, the German man sitting next to met tells me that Thailand is a beautiful and wonderful place, but everyone is out to get your money. That's all they're concerned about.

Now, that may be true, but I've found the Thai people to be incredibly friendly and helpful. I haev felt no animosity towards us farongs (foreigners), despite our massive influence on their curlture, beaches, day-to-day life, and even their employment (in the case of the sex workers). Smiles, friendliness and general good-intentions. Sure, taxi and tuk tuk drivers like to pester you to take their vehicle, and then they start off at ridiculous prices, but if you've figured out the system, you're ok.

Unlike in Latin America, I don't feel that the men see (especially foreign) women as a piece of meat. I was originally surprised to see all of the roles that females take here in Thailand. Sure, I expect them to be street vendors selling food and clothes, I expect them to work in laundry places, and even at hotel reception. But I didn't expect to see them in as many travel agencies, or working as guides, or doing as many things as they are. Perhaps the removal of the idea of machismo is what gives the women so many possibilities. Perhaps that is also why fathers and husbands allow their daughters and wives to leave for the big city to become sex workers.

I am on the beautiful island of Ko Phi Phi at the moment, and sex tourism is either not here, or it's not obvious to the general public. However, it's pretty obvious in both Bangkok, and it's pretty damn hard to avoid in Patong, on the island of Phuket. In most bars in Patong, your server is also there to please you in other ways, if you so choose. Several of the popular bar streets are lined with ladies who are available to you.

I walked into a bar in Patong with a couple of Aussie guys I'd met, and when we sat down at the bar, our server came over to us. It seems that each customer was assigned a girl... now, our girl seemed very happy to see a non-working girl in the bar. She said hi to the Aussie boys but stopped in front of me and asked where I was from, told me she liked my hair and thought I was pretty. Now, I don't think she was trying to hit on me... I just think she's got a limited vocab and wanted to converse with me. She got out a Connect 4 board and a dice game and invited one of the guys to play Connect 4. (I guess if there's a communication barrier, you've got to do something to pass the time.) She didn't seem to quite grasp the concept of Connect 4, but the guy continued to play despite winning 3 or 4 different ways. I think she noticed that we were more interested in talking to each other, rather than her, so she backed off. That particular night, I'd only had about 1 or 2 drinks by the time I walked down the main drag, and the sights were appalling. 20-something Thai girls grinding on white men anywhere from ten to forty years older than them.

I had a conversation with one of the Aussies, and both sides of the picture are quite disturbing - both the degradation that the women put themselves through and the circumstances that have brought the men looking for those women. Thai women are very attractive, but the whole situation is a big cycle that can't be positive for either side.

Anyway, enough on that.

I'm on Phi Phi right now, which is one of main places that was hit by the tsunami back in December 2004. All memories of destruction have basically been erased and tourism is bigger than most places I saw in Central america. It is beautiful here; it's where they filmed parts of the Leo DiCaprio movie The Beach.

But I'm leaving this afternoon... I've decided to splurge on a diving trip that will hopefully be amazing. For the next 4 nights, I'm going to be living on the Manta Queen II (more info here) and will be diving in the Similan Islands, which are meant to have some of the best dive sites around. We shall see! I'm very excited.

That's all for now... kudos for making it this far!