The Land Where Dreams Come True

Imagine a guy, let's call him Joe. He's 50 years old. He works a “low skilled” job, say he's a truck driver. He's divorced. He's not particularly attractive, say he's just average looking. He's put on some weight because he's fond of beer and that greasy food they serve at truck stops. He slaps his belly and jovially jokes that "a large nail needs a heavy hammer" but privately he's not proud of being fat, nor is his nail really that large.

Say Joe feels horny, or lonesome, or both on a Friday night and would like a soft, sweet, sexy 20-year old girl to get blown by and to lick and to fuck and then to cuddle till she falls asleep in his arms and to maybe fuck again in the morning, a most natural desire that most of us can surely sympathise with. What are his odds at accomplishing this in England or in America or in Sweden? They are bad. This is close to an impossible feat for a guy like Joe regardless of how nice a person he may be. It just doesn't happen. He'd not even be let in the door in places where such girls party and look for possible mates and if he was and he approached one she would call him an old pervert and tell him to fuck off. "Fuck off you old pervert", she'd say. He couldn't even get an ugly girl there, let alone one of the sexier ones.

This is natural. We are animals after all, and our natural instinct tells us, both men and women, to seek out the most promising partner to mate with. Joe is not deemed a promising partner by young girls in his own country. They don't need him for what he has to offer in terms of supporting them or providing them with security. They can do better than him and they have a safety net provided by their society anyway. They are not attracted to him physically but instead they are attracted to boys around their own age with toned, muscular bodies and flashy clothes and cool hair styles and similar interests to themselves. And they are free to base their choice on physical and emotional attraction and on the man's perceived status. Joe ranks so low he's not even considered.

But halfway around the world, in Thailand, for a mere pittance Joe can have just that which he wanted. He can have a girl younger than half his age who is a nine or even a ten on an "oh god I must fuck her"-scale. He can have her for an hour or for the night or for weeks on end and he can have sex with her to his hearts content. That which is impossible for Joe at home is not only possible in Thailand but even easy. How come?

We need to consider the unfair world that we live in. Joe the truck driver would pull in the equivalent of about 120,000 baht per month in Sweden and likely something similar in other Western nations, minus taxes but those taxes also provides him with social security and one day with a pension. This is for working a basic 40 hour week without overtime. What does Somchai the truck driver pull in in Thailand? 10,000 baht? Less? I don't know, but I know that a basic labourer earns maybe ten times more in the West than in Thailand for the same kind of work, perhaps up to twenty times more.

One hour of work for Joe is rewarded ten times, or twenty times, higher than one hour of work for Somchai is. For doing the same work. In fact Joe earns more than many well paid professionals in Thailand. He also has higher living expenses, true, but he can still put aside enough to fly half way around the world and treat himself to a nice vacation with lots of sex with hot, young girls. Something that Somchai could never do. It's got nothing to do with Joe's skills or charm or intelligence, it's because he had the luck of being born in the right part of the world, the rich part. Fair? No, but it’s the way it is.

We need to consider the non-natural system we humans have created for storing the outcome of our work in the form of money. What exactly is money anyway? It's the value of goods or services stored. In Joe's case he stores the value of his truck driving in the form of money. It's not even coins or paper bills anymore but simply numbers in a digital account. This means Joe can save up the fruits of his labour and they are portable. He can drive his truck all year long and store parts of his rewards for this work in the form of money and he can withdraw this money in Thailand and use it as he sees fit, in his case to buy pussy. A fine system it is, and it rewards the ones able to accumulate large sums of money with an almost endless variety of options in life.

We also need to consider the special circumstances that make Thailand a very welcoming place for a guy like Joe. First it's sufficiently poor so that many young girls have very limited opportunities and are easily attracted to the sex industry with its promises of easy earnings. Second it's got a very relaxed attitude towards the selling of sexual services. The sex trade is not exactly looked upon with admiration but the stigma a hooker faces in Thailand is considerably less compared to what it would be in most other places. Third, also non-hookers may be interested in a guy like Joe because of his perceived wealth and the security he can offer to a woman in a country with no social security. If she's got a kid or two to support, and aging parents to look out for, and is the sole breadwinner, then Joe's beer-belly is of little significance to her.

The true natural state of things would prevent Joe from having a young, sweet, sexy girl. If all countries were equally rich or if portable wealth had not been invented he would not have been able to get such a girl. He'd still want one but he'd not be able to get one. They would choose others before him. But the way the world works has put the natural state of things out of commission. Joe's luck, in being born in the right part of the world with its high wages, gives him an unnatural advantage when he comes to Thailand. His money gives him an edge. He's like a hyena that has found an Uzi and now gets to mate with all the lionesses. It's not natural, but it's great for the hyena – or so I would imagine.

* * *

Is there something evil and morally wrong about this? That a guy like Joe can go to Thailand and live his dream, having sex with younger women? There sure are those who would tell you that is the case. There are two main arguments why Joe is a morally corrupt man and why the circumstances, as outlined above, that allow Joe to go to Thailand and have sex with younger women, are evil. There’s the “feminist” viewpoint that is concerned mainly with preaching the evil of the buying of sexual favours, as long as a woman is the seller anyway. Then there is the “leftist” viewpoint that is concerned with preaching the evil of the rich world when dealing with the poor world in general.

The feminists who are concerned mainly with preaching against the sex trade are the same ones who like to portray that trade in the worst light they can. Often while having little insight into what they are portraying. They will tell you that girls are trafficked and sold into the trade, something which is actually non-existent, or close to non-existent, in the farang-oriented sex trade in Thailand. They will try to make the case that paedophilia is rampant in Thailand while the truth is that it’s very rare today. They will tell you that purchasing sexual favours is simply evil because it dehumanizes the poor individual who is forced to use her body for someone else’s well being. Yet they, themselves, would be perfectly willing to go to a masseuse for help if they have a back problem.

Think about that. A regular massage is about someone using their hands and body on you to treat you for an ailment or simply for providing you with relaxing pleasure. You pay someone to use their body on your body for your physical well being. Does that ring any bells? As long as they touch any other part of your body – head, legs, back, arms – this is perfectly in order. But should they happen to stroke your cock then it’s suddenly the vilest form of oppression imaginable and you’re the oppressor. Is this really reasonable?

OK, I know there are differences. Genitals are different from the rest of the body and sexual acts are more emotionally charged than regular physical contact. If I was a masseur and an ugly, fat woman came in the door it wouldn’t be the same thing for me to rub her lower back and to put my head between her thighs and lick her to an orgasm. I’d want way more money for the latter. I was about to say I’d refuse it all together, but everyone has their price and for the right price I’d probably do it.

The thing is that even while recognizing that sex is intimate and emotionally charged I still can view the selling of sex as just a service sold from one person to another. I can’t get why it should be inherently evil. As long as trafficking, pimps, force and abuse are not part of the equation I don’t see why it should be so terribly wrong.

And to tell you the truth I really don’t think the western feminists are that much concerned about young Noi having to sell herself to Joe. Their problem is not Noi working on her back with her legs spread in a short time room adjacent to Nana Plaza. Their problem is with Joe getting some action that they deem him unworthy of. It’s not about saving poor Thai girls. It’s about restricting the Western male. It’s not she that has to be protected. It’s he that has to be attacked.

On to the second reason Joe is evil. This is an argument most often found on the political left in democracies and semi-democracies and it is about the western world exploiting poor countries economically. In principle it’s irrelevant if this exploitation is Joe using his earning-advantage and the strength of his native currency to buy sex from poor Thai girls; or if it’s a Western family who buys loads of toys for Christmas that some poor Chinese is working fifteen hours a day and six days a week to assemble for a crap wage. It’s an argument that says that we rich exploit the poor.

And sure, there is a point to be made. Rich people do exploit poor people, always have and always will. I’ve already recognized that it’s not fair that Joe has all the advantages he has just because he happened to be born in England or America or Sweden. It’s good for him, but not fair. There’s much that’s not fair. Some people are born and grow up to be beautiful like gods and goddesses while others are pig-ugly by nature. That’s not fair either. The fact that many in the world are poor only benefits Joe more as he then can buy their labour, or the products of their labour, at a nice and low cost to him.

But what should Joe do about it? Stop going to Thailand because it’s unfair that he earns more money than the Thais working similar jobs? And how would that help those Thais? Should he stop buying imported goods from poorer countries because it’s not fair that he works an hour to pay for something another person worked a week to produce? And then what? How would that help?

In reality tourism, including sex-tourism, perhaps especially sex-tourism, contributes to the local economy in a very positive way. Buying assembled goods imported from a developing country also contributes since it provides local jobs in that country as well as the income from selling the products. Both these forms of purchases are way better than just importing raw materials and do all the value adding production back in the west, something that really strips poor countries of the chance to catch up.

Still it’s the buying of other people’s labour that somehow can be portrayed to be the worse transaction, because the unfairness is so easy to point out. And when that labour is sex, then it really can be portrayed to seem evil. But in reality both involved parties, the buyer and the seller, the only two people who actually need to have an opinion on the matter, might be perfectly content.

* * *

Damn, I got all serious there for a while. Sorry about that. What do I want to get at here? I think I want to make the case that we should just feel free to enjoy the best of Thailand without any guilt or remorse. I don’t think we need to listen to anyone who tries to tell us otherwise. As long as we do not intentionally harm someone and as long as we treat people we come across with respect we should not feel ashamed that we are privileged and have opportunities and that we take advantage of that fact. And boy oh boy, what opportunities there are!

For me Thailand is the perfect place to holiday, and to let the little voice inside my head have its way. You know that little voice I’m talking about, right? The one that sometimes late at night says “I want a pepperoni pizza” and you reply “No-can-do, we’re on a diet so we don’t get fat.” or it says “I’m bored, I want to go out and get drunk!” and you say “Yeah, but we have to work in the morning so that’s not happening, now shut up and watch Seinfeld.” or maybe it says “I want to shoot heroin” and you might say “Nope. The withdrawals are a real bitch so we’re not getting strung out on that shit again.” You normally have to talk back to your little voice and not let it get its way too much because it always wants stuff that, while they might be nice for the moment, are not always the best for you in the long run.

But on a holiday in Thailand it’s the time and the place to let the little voice in your head call the shots. At least for me it is. My voice basically only ever bugs me about three things: sex, food and alcohol. And in Thailand those are all above the board and nothing you need to deny yourself. So I let my voice have its way.

My voice might say “I want to have a steak for breakfast. With bacon! And fries!” and I go “Why, sure buddy, that sounds tasty.” or the voice goes “I want to get laid. I want a girl. No, two! I want to screw two girls!” and I go “Ok pal, we’ll head straight over to the Eden Club and sort that out right away”. You might have to take charge sometimes though. Say in a gogo bar when the voice goes “I want her. No her. No her and her. No wait… her!” You might have to be firm and go “Take a pick for crying out loud. The next one you point to is the one and that’s final!”

It’s really great to just go with your instincts and do fun stuff that you really enjoy without worrying about it or feeling guilty for it. How often do we not have to deny ourselves pleasure? We do it all the time. But here’s the perfect place to just do what you want. Anything you want. As long as you pay your dues and you’re not aggressive or fuck with people there’s not much you can do wrong. Well, you might want to stay away from heavy drugs as well, that’s kind of frowned upon. But myself I only use alcohol and getting drunk raises no eyebrows.

I say Thailand is a great place to live out your dreams. It’s a place where your dreams can come true. Or where the illusion of your dreams coming true is real enough to feel great. It’s a place where a guy like Joe can get to experience that which only famous people or really successful and attractive people get to experience back in his country. He can walk into a freelancer disco like Angels in Bangkok or Tony’s in Pattaya and feel like a rock star, despite being a 50 year old average guy. He can get a smoking hot young gogo dancer with an angel’s face and a body to die for to go home with him to his hotel room and fulfil his wildest dreams. Or he can find a woman who wants some security in life and provide her with that and get love, or the illusion of love, in return.

And that’s just great!

//Mac