The business in my Soi

Thailand, Pattaya,
01-04-2010.

Whenever I walk down the Soi Honey-Inn - the Soi where my hotel the New Star Guest House is located - I get solicited by the ladies from the Club Massage - or one of the many other massage parlours in my Soi - for simple massage, oil massage, all-body massage - well, I am reasonably sure you get the idea - for a meagre 100/200 Baht though I have been told that once inside the plain and simple massage plan will turn into something much more intimate with a couple of hunderd Baht on top of the original street price...no big surprises there though...

The ladies congregate early afternoon on the back of motorbike taxis taking their place outside on top of huge stone tables which during my breakfast walk down to the beach are being swept clean by the early arrivals and on my way back to the New Star late at night are covered with typical female paraphernelia like lipstick, make-up material, platform shoes - high heeled lady's shoes and very popular in this part of the world -, food remnants, empty Coca Cola bottles, Chang beer cans with the straw still sticking out, water bottles, Thai cartoons and the like...

Whenever a male Farang walks by the girls call at them the inevitable "hey, sexy man, come inside please, me make good for you" and whenever a Farang walks out of the place - usually with a big satisfied grin on his face - the motorbike cabbies will call out to them hoping for some transport business...

The numerous bars in this Soi are another source of high pitched female voices whenever poor Moi or any other unattached Farang male has the blo*dy nerves to walk by...a game of four on four with the poorly educated Isan female bar ladies whose English is nothing to write home about but surely sufficient to explain their desires to spend the night elsewhere, enjoying an overpriced lady's drink on the Farang acount...when the client's pockets have been professionally emptied of Thai dough, the bar fee paid for his nightly companion, the motortaxi cabbies will smell business once again...

The Intown Hotel across the Soi from New Star is busy too with male Farang guests dragging back the ladies of their choice, one after the other and I seriously wonder if that little blue wonder pill called Viagra - or maybe the cheaper Asian version called Kamagra - is included in the room price...any one way, when the ladies come back out, maybe half an hour or so later, unattached this time but with at least 500 Baht more in the lady's wallet, the motorbike cabbies will call out again...after all these ladies of the night have just made their money and are doubtlessly unwilling to walk back to the boulevard on their high heels...a brisking trade is in full swing here in my Soi 24/7 with me often sitting outside the New Star gulping down cold Ancha beer...

Sh*t, my beer is almost empty and once again I too will have to brave all the aforementioned "dangers" on my way to the Family Mart or the Seven/11 in this mad and lively Soi, for another cold Ancha, or maybe a cold Leo though they are 7 Baht more expensive...