We are traveling soon
to Thailand with the small group tour company Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT).
As part of their service, they send us a pamphlet that goes over our day-to-day
itinerary on the trip. Hotels, meals, travel arrangements and description of
sights and activities are covered in the booklet. Although subject to change,
the booklet gives us a good idea of what to expect on the trip, and in the case
of one afternoon in Bangkok they will hold an optional discussion about LGBTQ+ and
transgender rights and lifestyles in Thailand. That item was unexpected. I
thought we were only going to wash elephants while whistling the theme to the
Bridge on the River Kwai and later swim in the Andaman Sea. I guess I’m really naïve.
NOT THAT THERE’S
ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT
Turns out Thailand is
one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly countries in Southeast Asia and, according to
the OAT booklet describing the meeting, “the country has a complicated
relationship with its thriving transgender community.”
We will be joined by, I
guess, a Kathoey, who “will share with us some of the obstacles faced by
members of the transgender community including areas such as healthcare and
discrimination in the workplace.”
PACKING OR LACKING
Kathoey is the Thai
term for a transgender individual, a “ladyboy” if you will. Some consider being
a Kathoey a “third” sex. Some already androgenous men have fully “transitioned”
to women or had operations like breast augmentation to appear more feminine.
Whatever. Evidently Bangkok
is a Mecca for sex change surgeries with one clinic, the Preecha Aesthetic
Institute performing 1,500 MTF (male to female) procedures yearly. Preecha is
just one of many such clinics. Sex reassignment surgeries in Thailand are
cheaper than in the United States and the clinics not only service Thais but
foreigners too.
Despite the “popularity”
many Kathoey can only find work in “entertainment” and tourist centers and in
feeding a thriving Thai sex industry that had its beginnings during the Vietnam
War when US soldiers would go to Bangkok for leave.
Not all sex activities
revolve around ladyboys in Thailand, I think.
I don’t want to find
out.
INDOOR PLUMBING
Dear reader, at the
risk of coming off as intolerant, I want to tell you all I prefer indoor plumbing.
I’m not even curious. Yet, a simple online search for sex tours to Thailand and
you’ll be greeted by an eye-opening array of straight and Kathoey options. Even if
I thought I was brave enough to venture out to find indoor plumbing entertainment,
I’d be too afraid to have an outdoor plumbing “surprise” waving at me! I know we like to travel to experience different cultures...but that would be taking things too far.
Janet, stay close.
Thanks for reading.
LIVE TRAVEL LOVE
Bridge on the River Kwai is my kind of entertainment.
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