Is there a difference ?

[gummigut]

"but for the majority it is the best road towards a better life they can imagine"

 

It is that road for some, but I highly doubt the majority. For all those that I know who've "successfully" left, I've observed many more who've fallen by the wayside with little left to show except for the mileage on their bodies

 

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[Guest]

 

Gummigut, you are so right.

 

An entire industry has built up around these girls which is as skilled at relieving them of money as they are at taking it from the customer.

[HIGH_THAIED]

Hi Erawan,

 

>>>>>>>>>An entire industry has built up around these girls which is as skilled at relieving them of money as they are at taking it from the customer.<<<<<<<

 

What industry are you speaking of? Thailand is free-lancer heaven, for 95%. It's relatively free of pimps, and organized crime, as is known in the West. You've lived there long enough to know where the money goes. It's not to industry. It goes to family, and support of such.

 

What do you know living there for so long, that I do not? I'm always eager to learn.

 

HT

[gummigut]

The organized crime here is quite big, just institutionalized.

 

Take a looksee at GUNS GIRLS GAMBLING GANJA: Thailand's Illegal Economy and Public Policy Ry Pasuk Phongpaichit, Sungsidh Piriyarangsan, and Nualnoi Treerat.

 

But honestly, money does go back home, but I think much more is wasted on gambling (both her and parents), booze, drugs, and crap.

 

There's also institutionalized indentured prostitution with parents getting payments.

 

Pimps take many forms. Bar Owners provide that service. So do the MP's. Take a look at the pay structure. Bars. 7k or 8k for a dancer. 6 or 8 offs per month or else deductions. 15 or 20 lady drinks. That's 90% of the salary covered right there. Combined that with 1 baht fine per minute they are late and she's basically paying to work at the bar.

 

I think MP's are a better deal. Work when you want, but you have to buy everything from the MP including soap, tissue, condoms, blah blah blah, and they charge a hefty mark up.

 

I'm just glad that I'm not in their shoes!!!

 

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[David_66_UK]

I'm just glad that I'm not in their shoes!!!

 

Unless you pay extra

 

 

Will agree with you about the BG's losing their money, I think a lot of it is kinda like the situation with young footballers - where they receive so much more money than they could even have dreamed about a few months before, and proceed to piss the money away and make bad business decisions. Gazza a few years ago springs to mind and I would be very surprised if Wayne Rooney ends up at 50 with a pot to piss in ::.

 

Apart from the usual Drugs, Family and Boyfriends I think a lot of there losing money comes from "keeping up with Jones'", through conspicuous consumption - a game you can never win as you are always competing against people in there prime earning capacity - and each year you get older "they" all stay the same age.

 

You just don't fully notice those who fall away as the money stops coming in - until it happens to you. Coupled with the Thai attitude of not always thinking too long term and keeping up appearances / face it's often a financial disaster accident waiting to happen.

 

I dunno what it's like to be stuck in a village scratching around for 20B when you have pissed away a couple of million Baht in your career. ::

[Guest]

HIGH_THAIED said:

 

What do you know living there for so long, that I do not? I'm always eager to learn.

 

HT

 

Hi H_T

 

The two posters below you have some very good ideas about what happens with the money.

 

Gambling is a biggie. My former lady-friend could destroy Bht 100,000 in one evening. It was obvious when things had gone wrong. Various punters have given her over Bht 50,000 worth of gold in the past year and she would wander in at 4.00 am or later without it. The entire month would be consumed with replacing it after which she'd go and do it again.

 

Election night here was a disaster, there was a gambling session based upon the election result. She lost the lot and still hadn't got the money to buy it back a month later. Guess whose apartment got burgled....while I was at home asleep!

 

Then there are the Thai boys, especially katoeys, looking for money to have the necessary operations. They often relieve the girls of money, often for drugs.

 

Tied in with this is the role the mamasan plays. No prizes for guessing who introduced the ladyfriend to the gambling sessions. It's good for business. Get the girl in debt and she works harder - more money for the bar. I even had calls from the mamasan, sometimes at 3 am, telling me all manner of lies to try and get me to quit sponsoring the girl. She was supposed to have AIDS at one point.

 

As for money going to mother. My ex's mother has her own business. Madam works in a bar because she likes the money. Pure and simple. If you are daft enough to give her money for her sick mother when she asks for it then that's "up to you". She did ask me once, but she was staring firmly at the floor and her voice was totally unconvincing.

 

Then there's the question of what mother does with the money. These people can live comfortably on Bht 10,000 per month. Two or three daughters sending Bht 10,000 per month to mum simply feeds a gambling habit. Take a trip out to Poi Pet sometime and see all the middle-aged Thai women spending your money.

 

Yes there are some poor families out there, but most of the money isn't going to them. It goes on card games, drugs, booze, gold, clothes (worn once and thrown away) and even cars.

 

I can't walk into a gogo bar now. I don't see a bunch of pretty girls offering sex, I see a load of con artists plying their trade.

 

As for "pissing away" Bht 2m in a career. My ex has managed more than that in two years and all she has to show for it is a television that cost Bht 10,888, a DVD player, and a long queue of low-lifes all waiting to see how much money she gets tonight. I cannot begin to imagine how much money she owes now, or what she is doing to repay it, but if you are really lucky you could be the guy taking her back long-time tonight. Don't forget to help pay for the sick mother's operation will you?

[thalenoi]

Supposedly not all thais are like that.

 

My gf's Issaan parents sent 3 daughters out to Bangkok as maids (after working the fields and taking care of buffallo at younger age 12 to 18) to finance the land, then the build the house, then the water pump followed by the TV etc.

 

Besides the rice they cultivate they have nothing. The food they eat consists of rice, leaves and fish caugth in the pond. I dunno how they pay for electricity and basic needs.

 

They don't have any money for booze or illegal lottery.

The gf got fed-up with working for the parent's sake and she reluctantly send a few thousand baht every 3 months.

 

I think there are more than some poor families out there.

But yes, I also know of card games for money going on late in the night a few doors next to my place.

[Old Hippie]

Erawan,

 

You raise many good issues here, have seen a lot of it in cases I have known well over the years. But a few things you left out...other families in the village arranging accidents to get paid by a family they know has more money, or a farang in the family. Also, the family in generel sucking all the money up. Cousins, aunt, uncles, nephews...parents...there is a never ending list of people all after the money some of these girls earn. Part of the problem is the way a lot of these girls show off when they go home "plenty more where that came from" attitude, which the family sees and believes, until it all runs out...

 

An interesting note, I was talking to my Ex today, a nurse from the PI. Still working here and trying to plan retirement. Her big concern is, her family eating up everything she has earned here. She sighted several cases we know well of Pinoys who went home, with decent savings and retirement incomes, only to come back to the USA broke, and needing a job...her take on this was the families, immediate, distant, and some not even really family, all trying to put their hand in the pockets, instead of the earners cutting these leeches off, they come back and work to give them more...seems to escape education/income levels, comes down to a desire to give, and one to take...

[Guest]

 

Actually Thalenoi you have helped to make my point.

 

There are girls out there working as maids and supporting families, or at least ensuring they are no longer a burden on their parents.

 

The ones in the bars are there through choice.

 

My present g/f earns Bht 10,000 a month in a respectable job. No gambling, no drinking, no katoeys, no gold, and she has enough money, with her other sister, to supplement her parents' small income.

[David_66_UK]

The couple of million was my conservative estimate, at least for some ::

 

 

 

Was with a BG for six months in Samuii a few years ago, would gamble on absolutely anything - quite scary.

 

Took me a few months to realise that the phrase "I win" meant that she HAD won during her card games, but had eventually lost her stake money! Something along the lines of "I win win" apparently meant she had ended up ahead - did not hear this a lot ::

 

I have never been a gambler but often would join in games of cards I barely understood, Farang always welcome in these situations! - never lost big money (for me) - during these games she would usually do ok as the other Thais would concentrate on fleecing the Farang and forget about her. Playing as a team did help her (if not always me!), especially with Dominoes ::

 

Still, she did buy a couple of washing machines at the end of our "relationship" to go into the laundry business - but this thinking ahead was no doubt helped by her being late 30's (I know this makes me a pervert - in LOS terms!) and until I arrived on the scene with six month steady money (even if not spectacular money day by day) she had already discovered the hard way that her good earning times were well over.

 

The one "success" story I recall is that of a Mamasan in NEP who sends her daugthers to university - known her for years, she has no reason to lie to me (apart from maybe the usual "face" thing) - but watching her operate over the years I can see that this is well feasible (although I assume not solely financed by her earnings as a Mamasan) because she is so switched on - surprised she does not actually own NEP by now!

 

Obviously I am not trying to say that all the BG's are the same with money, plenty of those with their heads screwed on (in my / Farang terms) - I am very happy to find those who are doing ok, just not (IMHO) a majority and usually not those I end up knowing :D .