Red light district

Last night I met up with Travis, a contact Colleen gave me. He is a teacher in Bangkok and was out with a few buddies. We met at a nice pool bar and then went to a dance club. In transit they decided they wanted to stop at a go-go bar and asked if that was ok. There is a big prostitution scene here and I think it's concentrated in one area. It's not very blatent, or maybe I'm just oblivious. But as we walked down the street men stood in doorways, or approached us and invited us to come see a ping-pong show. There are lots of venues that have naked women showing their vaginal talents. We did not take anyone up on a ping-pong show.

We did enter a go-go bar where there were about 20 women in bikinis on stage- each moving, with different degrees of enthusiasm, next to a pole. There was music and it was on the dark side, but it was not an uncomfortable scene. Unless someone had told me I wouldn't have known there were women there who could be taken home for money. I definately felt sad for some of the women. Some actually had small numbers pinned to their outfits so customers could request someone from the stage. Some looked bored silly. Some looked like they were having fun. One girl I spoke to looked about 15. She said she was 20 and had worked there for a year. They were all very friendly. And I don't mean that in a pick-me-up kind of way.