Bizarre Thailand Tales of Crime, Sex,and Black Magic by Jim Algie

Author:Jim Algie
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Thailand - Social Conditions, Sociology, Social Science, Southeast, Travel, Asia, General, Religion, Thailand
ISBN: 9789814302814
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corp/Ccb
Published: 2010-12-01T06:00:00+00:00

One of the contestants for the annual Miss Tiffany Universe Contest held in Pattaya bares her ‘claws’ at the press conference. The four-day event features a number of different awards for the Media Favourite, the Friendship Beauty Queen and Miss Silky Sexy Skin.

Tina, who said she has lost jobs as a graphic designer when clients found out about her ‘sexuality’, said her best offer so far came in early 2010 when a German theatrical director came to Thailand to stage a play called Ministry of Truth at the Patravadi Theatre in Bangkok. The play was based on the reality show Big Brother. “The show centred around a mixed group of Thais and foreigners who shared days and nights together in a house, with one to emerge as the winner. My role was to express my thoughts on being a transgender woman. I found it fascinating for a show to dig deeper into the issues of gender, going far beyond the usual portrayal of ladyboys. As my first professional acting role, it was a great challenge but I was so glad to be part of it,” she said

After a successful run in Bangkok, Tina and the rest of the cast traveled to Berlin where it was restaged under the name On Air. Through her experiences working with the director and foreign cast members, she is hopeful that the third gender will find more mainstream acceptance abroad. “While working on the show, I learnt to appreciate foreigners in the way they respect you for who you are, regardless of your gender. If you have good ideas to share, they will listen to you.”

The high-society domain that the members of Venus Flytrap and Shade of Divas inhabit is a penthouse above the seedy streets where many gender-blenders work. Around areas like Patpong, Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy and Lumphini Park, they cater to the world’s oldest obsession. Their reputation, however, has been blackened by tales of thievery and violence. Some practice unsavoury tricks such as coating their breasts with sedatives or spiking the drinks of their customers. After the client passes out he is stripped of all his valuables. Even Aunty Nong complained to us that some younger ladyboys who use drugs and steal have given the third gender a bad name.

On the so-called ‘Boys Soi’ off Surawongse Road, rammed with go-go boy bars and fronted by shirtless men pumping iron outside clubs to the tune of cavity-loosening house music, we sat with Bee, a young streetwalker, at the subtly named Dick’s Bangkok Café. Bee often stops by a couple of beauty salons at the end of street where sex workers congregate before their shifts.

Strikingly beautiful with long glossy black hair and skin the colour of bone china, she was dressed for work in tight jeans and a cleavage-revealing top. Like many Thai youth, she wore fashionable braces with traces of pink. When she was growing up in northeast Thailand, Bee said she was a normal boy with no feminine or gay urges whatsoever.

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