greetings from asia
I just got back from Thailand last night. My grandma is sick (dad's mom), so my parents got me a ticket back to Taiwan. We couldn't coordinate our travel plans very well because my sister had classes, but I only get to see them on the last two days. So, my other grandma sent me to Thailand with a tour group to spend the time until the rest of my family gets here. Long story short, I spent six days in Thailand. I have a few more days in Taiwan before I return to Swaziland (just in time for the camp). I'll post pictures when I can... some of them are... interesting.
On the last day in Bangkok, the tour guide took us to see a transvestite cabaret show. This ended up being one of the most disturbing nights of my life. My seat was in the front - my first mistake. In the first act, one performer walked in front of me, sat on my lap, and shook "her" fake boobs in my face. I've never felt so unattracted to such beautiful "women."
These "women", said the tour guide before the show, begin as men but have the hearts and minds of women. They work for tips, spending all they have on surgeries and hormone therapy. They usually end up living only to about 40-50 years of age, and all they live for is to be beautiful. Some of them pull it off, affecting feminine mannerisms that would make real women jealous. Sadly, the uglier ones get caught up in a vicious downward spiral. The uglier they are, the less tips they get (because no one wants to take photos with them), the less money they have for the medical alterations and they become uglier yet.
The second mistake I made was volunteering to be part of show. The first two guys they invited up refused, but I figured what the heck, might as well be a good sport. So they took me to the side and the transvestites and the petite gay dudes (I think they were on their way to becoming women, this was probably some sort of transvestite internship for them) crowded around me. They made me take off my shirt (for the sake of the show, they insisted). The "woman" started speaking to me, and "her" deep voice really freaked me out. Some of them can keep up their charade of being very sexy women -- until they open their mouths and start talking. "Tips, tips" she said in her Thai-accented Chinese. Then all the other performers started in on me too. One of the little men started grabbing at my crotch. At first, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt because it was crowded. But after the third time, I got pissed. Looking back, I should have punched him in the face, but because I was a little off-guard, I just shouted, "whoa, back off" and pushed back toward center stage. Before I could escape back to my seat, the two performers gripped my arms and made me kiss the "pretty" transvestite and then the "ugly" transvestite. It could have been worse -- there could have been tongue. Still, it was pretty gross and I was shaken for the rest of the night.
It's like that Tucker Max story -- be careful about those hot one-night stands, maybe one of them used to be boy. The other lesson is, never volunteer for a transvestite show.
At first, I had wanted to keep an open mind, that they are people just like the rest of us. But then, they started harassing me backstage and I got a little angry with them. But now I figure, everyone probably treats them like freaks, so it's no wonder that some of them end up being assholes. I bet transvestites don't really have a very easy life.
There's another weird thing I saw in Thailand -- the interracial couples. I'm all for them. I think they produce beautiful children. But here the dynamic was creepy. It was often old, huge white men with young, dark, short Thai girls. The darker and uglier, the better. I didn't believe the tour guide when she said this at first, but then we got to Pattaya beach and I saw that it was true. The tour guide warned the women in our tour group not to walk out alone or drunk "Old Foreigners" would harass them. "And on the left," said the tour guide at Pattaya, "you'll see one of these couples I was telling you about." It's not often that the other tourists become one of the tourist attractions because of how they act.
Amy, a nine-year-old girl in my tour group, summed it up best for me after we left the transvestite cabaret show. She asked, "How can Thailand be like this?" Kinda disturbing for me at first but I'll get over it. Like the tour guide said, sometimes you just gotta see the things that are out there in the world, just to know that they are out there.
On the last day in Bangkok, the tour guide took us to see a transvestite cabaret show. This ended up being one of the most disturbing nights of my life. My seat was in the front - my first mistake. In the first act, one performer walked in front of me, sat on my lap, and shook "her" fake boobs in my face. I've never felt so unattracted to such beautiful "women."
These "women", said the tour guide before the show, begin as men but have the hearts and minds of women. They work for tips, spending all they have on surgeries and hormone therapy. They usually end up living only to about 40-50 years of age, and all they live for is to be beautiful. Some of them pull it off, affecting feminine mannerisms that would make real women jealous. Sadly, the uglier ones get caught up in a vicious downward spiral. The uglier they are, the less tips they get (because no one wants to take photos with them), the less money they have for the medical alterations and they become uglier yet.
The second mistake I made was volunteering to be part of show. The first two guys they invited up refused, but I figured what the heck, might as well be a good sport. So they took me to the side and the transvestites and the petite gay dudes (I think they were on their way to becoming women, this was probably some sort of transvestite internship for them) crowded around me. They made me take off my shirt (for the sake of the show, they insisted). The "woman" started speaking to me, and "her" deep voice really freaked me out. Some of them can keep up their charade of being very sexy women -- until they open their mouths and start talking. "Tips, tips" she said in her Thai-accented Chinese. Then all the other performers started in on me too. One of the little men started grabbing at my crotch. At first, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt because it was crowded. But after the third time, I got pissed. Looking back, I should have punched him in the face, but because I was a little off-guard, I just shouted, "whoa, back off" and pushed back toward center stage. Before I could escape back to my seat, the two performers gripped my arms and made me kiss the "pretty" transvestite and then the "ugly" transvestite. It could have been worse -- there could have been tongue. Still, it was pretty gross and I was shaken for the rest of the night.
It's like that Tucker Max story -- be careful about those hot one-night stands, maybe one of them used to be boy. The other lesson is, never volunteer for a transvestite show.
At first, I had wanted to keep an open mind, that they are people just like the rest of us. But then, they started harassing me backstage and I got a little angry with them. But now I figure, everyone probably treats them like freaks, so it's no wonder that some of them end up being assholes. I bet transvestites don't really have a very easy life.
There's another weird thing I saw in Thailand -- the interracial couples. I'm all for them. I think they produce beautiful children. But here the dynamic was creepy. It was often old, huge white men with young, dark, short Thai girls. The darker and uglier, the better. I didn't believe the tour guide when she said this at first, but then we got to Pattaya beach and I saw that it was true. The tour guide warned the women in our tour group not to walk out alone or drunk "Old Foreigners" would harass them. "And on the left," said the tour guide at Pattaya, "you'll see one of these couples I was telling you about." It's not often that the other tourists become one of the tourist attractions because of how they act.
Amy, a nine-year-old girl in my tour group, summed it up best for me after we left the transvestite cabaret show. She asked, "How can Thailand be like this?" Kinda disturbing for me at first but I'll get over it. Like the tour guide said, sometimes you just gotta see the things that are out there in the world, just to know that they are out there.
posted by Mark at 12:13 AM
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