National Geographic Nov 2002

[shotover]

Not Bkk nightlife related, but I found it an interesting story:

 

Sakon Wisetwongsa ran away from home 40 years because he hated school. He grew up in Yasothon Province, 330 miles northeast of Bangkok. After working as a gas station attendant and then at other jobs, he started driving a tuk-tuk, one of the swarms of cheap, handy little vehicles for hire that are basically motorcycles that want to be rickshas. Now 56, Sokon, a heavyset man with a round face, an underslung jaw, and small, very round ears, was waiting for work at the stand outside the Grand Palace. I climbed aboard and we roared off.

 

"I don't notice the noise," Sakon shouted over the traffic. "I love to talk to passengers!" Thirty-three years at exhaust-pipe level has not dimmed his enthusiasm or his strength, astonishing when you consider that until recently he drove from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. "Now I work from 6 to 8, he said, because I am getting old."

 

He pulled over near the flower market so we could talk a little more easily. "I worked as a cook for a while, then I became a monk," a not uncommon Buddhist interlude. "Later my father got sick, and I went to my hometown, I stayed with him until he died, and when I came back, I saw the tuk-tuk drivers, and I thought It looks like fun, I'll try it. And it is fun. I love it! At first, when I was younger, it was really exciting! you can go anywhere. Now it is a little less exciting, and it is more difficult because of the traffic, and there are strict regulations."

 

Sakon and his wife Suay raised their three sons and a daughter on the two baht fares he used to earn (now up to 30 baht or 60 cents). But 20 years ago, his father in law became blind and Suay went home to take care of him. Sakon stayed on in the city, living with his third son. He goes back to help her when he can.

 

"Actually, I really like being a tuk-tuk driver," he repeated. "I do not drink, I do not smoke" -- with all the traffic, he would not need to -- ; and he makes a good living, some 17,000 baht ($420) a month. "But my son tried it for a year, and he complained about the traffic, the noise, the pollution."

 

[pattaya127]

LP also points out that Patpong perhapes the "first" red zone in BKK so to speak, was established around the late 40's, and the main customers were foreign airline crews.

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it is true that countries like Thailand have a long history of catering to foreigners, and offering services in a way that fits their tastes, still i think the article is right if what is meant is the advent of mass sex tourism, and the industrialization of prostitution (if i may call it so). The vietnam war brought a lot of cash in the thai economy, and when it was over, it sure made sense to the governing authorities at the time to help keep the farangs coming and the cash flow thru tourism, including sex tourism.

[Redbaron]

2 very interesing pieces shot, well done. 17K a month isn't too bad considering tuktuk drivers are supposedly the lowest class of Thai society. He's making more than the nurse's aide, and I suspect more than many (most?) bargirls.