Stickman Readers' Submissions January 17th, 2019

Idiots Messing Up The Thai Experience

This is my first reader’s submission. Didn’t plan on writing one, but after reading the most recent article from Jan. 15 “Married Guy wanting a good girl as a girlfriend in Thailand”, I had to add my 2 cents.

I have been to Thailand seven times, ranging from two to six weeks each time. My first experience was in 2010, when I did a tour of Bangkok, Pattaya, Koh Samui and Koh Phangnan. The way Thailand, but especially Pattaya, has changed since then is amazing.

He Clinic Bangkok

Now, and I am going to say this straight even if it means coming across as a negative stereotype: Americans, Indians, Japanese / Chinese tourists, and Russians are messing up Thailand for the rest of us. For the record, I am American, which doesn’t mean I have any special rights to complain about fellow Americans but I will voice my opinion regardless of that.

While the site as a whole includes plenty about Thailand in general, the specifics seem to be about women, sex, finding love and whatever combination you can think of. Here are my thoughts:

Prices have gotten out of control. While short time at the beach in Pattaya used to be 500 baht in 2010, with very few women daring to ask for 600, knowing they would be left standing there all day long, the price has doubled for short time with long time going for 2000 baht at least. Meanwhile, the prices of food you eat has barely changed and the hotel I usually stay in “Intown Holiday Hotel” on Soi Honey hasn’t changed prices at all, meaning a night at the hotel is cheaper than short time with a girl from the beach.

CBD bangkok

Prices for sex are in no relation to the rest of the experiences you have in Thailand. A Thai massage can be had for 100 baht if you know where to look, or 200 at other places. Yet, short time is 5 to 10 times that price. Giving a Thai massage for an hour is exhausting, and five hours of giving Thai massages are a lot more exhausting than short time. And the girl at the massage parlor has to split the income while the girl at the beach does not. So, it is safe to say that a girl can give massages all day long and will end up with less money than a beach girl for short time, let alone all the other girls who work at higher-priced places. Why is there such a discrepancy? Mostly because tourists have been dumb enough to go along with it, using the “still a lot cheaper than what I would pay at home” mantra. Here is my hit list of the people most at fault:

Americans are fxxxing up prices in many ways. Example: I am enjoying Chicken Green Curry at Soi Honey (Price: 90 baht), when an American walks up and asks me what I am eating. I tell him, he orders the same thing and hands the woman 200 baht. She just looks at him, unable to process what the hell is going on. He just waves and says, “It’s ok.” Then he tells me he just came from one of those happy ending massage places on Soi Honey. Sex could be had for 700 baht only a few years ago, plus another 200 for the massage, or if you negotiated well, 700 in total. Naturally, the girl asks 1500 and he told me he just gave her 2000 and said “keep the rest” even though he was in there for only 20 minutes. The same applies to tourists giving the driver of a baht taxi 50 baht each instead of 10. “So cheap here”, they often say. They also tip in ways that might be customary in the US but have nothing to do with Thailand. The biggest douche I can remember is the guy writing the article I mentioned above. Giving a woman 30,000 baht for one week next to covering all expenses? What an asshole! Plus, add the costs of the flight and all the money he spent, and you know he spent a fortune, thinking he got a bargain. If he spent half as much back in the US, on his wife for dinner and flowers, he could get as much sex as he can handle. What is it with those guys thinking they should date a 20-year old? Those stories get around Thailand. You can be sure she is telling all her friends about how much money she got out of this idiot and there will be an army of gold diggers dreaming about that kind of compensation for spending time with somebody. Next: Indians.

The Indians who show up in Thailand are about as nasty an experience as you can imagine for Thai women. Showing up by the busload in front of soapy massage places, with their fanny packs, body hair to no end, sometimes even bringing their wife along while they sit there and pick out girls. They travel in packs, roaming the streets, with about as much a sense of entitlement as one can find. Given that most Thai women prefer white Farangs, it is no surprise that prices go up because they also have to put up with those guys. Next: Japanese/Chinese tourists.

Those guys might be the worst of all, paying a fortune for Russian hookers which, in turn, “inspires” Thai women to raise their own prices. I am walking by Moulin Rouge in Walking Street when a Russian woman is trying to hand me a flyer to check out the place. I ask “how much for a Chang Beer” and she says “300 baht.” “Why so much?” I ask. She points at her hand and says, “White skin.” I told her “If I want white skin, I can stay home. Who the hell comes here for white skin instead of Thai women who are built much better down there with tighter pussies?” Well, guess who: Japanese and Chinese tourists, who think nothing of dropping 3,000 baht for an hour of “escort” services, which don’t include sex but include them walking hand in hand up and down Walking Street with Russian hookers, taking a few photos as a souvenir. Finally: Russian guys.

wonderland clinic

About as bad as the typical German tourist who walks around with his gut hanging out, no shirt, looking like he would never get laid in his home country, those guys are horrible because they really take it to the next level when it comes to money spent on women. I remember talking to a gorgeous ladyboy after my friend, who at that point has never been with a ladyboy but said he couldn’t turn that one down and told me if he would go that route, it would have to be somebody who looks like her. I approached her and asked her “how much?” and she said “for you and your friend, 10,000 baht.” “Ten thousand baht???” I asked, incredulous. “Honey, I’m a porn star,” she answered. I shook my head and she simply said “it could never be you,” turned around and before I was able to sit back down, two Russian guys were talking to her already. Sure enough, they paid her asking price. Bad enough, they along with buyers from Israel, drove up condominium prices like there is no tomorrow, but they also helped driving up prices for girls. It seems none of them (not just Russians, but tourists from all over) are willing to put a lid on this and negotiate with women – as you mentioned, prices in Bangkok at Soi Cowboy can go up to 6,000 baht plus 3,000 bar fine, which allows prices to reach levels that make this beautiful country less of an attraction.

If guys worked on themselves and invested half as much time and money on improving their looks, work out, dress well, and learn on how to deal with women in daily life, they wouldn’t have to fly halfway across the world to shove down – what amounts in this country as insane amounts of money those women’s throats. There has to be a serious change taking place because if this continues for another ten years at this pace, the country won’t offer enough incentives for people looking for female company to come and visit. There are already much cheaper places but Thai women have a special allure. But that cannot continue indefinitely. Short time for a thousand baht with a beach girl in Pattaya is one thing, spending five times that much for a girl from a go-go bar is another. Another recession is coming, and when people are cash-strapped, as they will be when that happens, those prices will go from comparative bargain to unaffordable for the average Joe. Add the fact that the Thai baht has increased in value especially compared with the British Pound and other currencies as well, and there will come a time for a sticker shock for tourists and the Thai women who will see their negotiation leverage drop significantly.


Stick
‘s thoughts:

Are you really an American? One thing with Americans I have found is that they tend not to complain about prices. They either pay the asking price or they don’t. Americans, in my experience, get the idea of business / making money better than anyone else (and I mean that as compliment).

Once upon a time I would have agreed with you and complained about this sort of dramatic price increase, but my views have changed. Let’s remove the “labels” for a moment…remove the job title and just think of the people here as someone selling their labour. You, I and everyone reading this article wishes to get as much as they can for their labour. If your usual rate is $25 / hour, but someone comes along and offers you $50 / hour, you’ll probably take it, especially if you don’t particularly like what you do. What then, if you notice that there is a subset of people who wish to hire you who are all willing to pay $50 per hour? Would you still be willing to do a job you don’t like for $25 / hour if you have a lot of potential customers willing to pay $50 / hour? It’s natural for us to want to earn as much as we can for our labour, especially if we don’t like what we do – and most of these girls don’t like what they do! And at the end of the day, 1,000 baht / $US 30 to have sex with someone is super cheap, in my opinion!

I get it that many feel Thailand is getting more expensive and I DO agree with that. I feel a lot of the complaints about pricing are valid, but when it comes to working girls, I absolutely understand why they won’t drop their knickers for 500 baht. And let’s consider inflation. In the late 1990s the asking price of working girls on Beach Road was 500 baht. That it was still 500 baht 10 years later really is something of an anomaly given inflation should have seen the price shoot up. If there are ladies charging 1,000 baht these days then that would seem to be roughly in line with inflation over that period.

Finally, I keep hearing the argument that there’s a recession coming and Thai women are going to get a shock and have to drop their knickers for 500 baht. Nah, it won’t happen – and the reason for this is simple. Visitor numbers to Thailand are soaring and the demand will far outweigh the supply. As the middle class surges in number in developing countries and more and more people travel, where once the customer base was American, English and German, perhaps soon it will be Indian, Russian and Malaysian. 

The author of this submission cannot be contacted.

nana plaza