Dear Hillary,
I have been told by someone who has been here a long time that all the girls from the bars have Thai boyfriends who live off their earnings. Why would this be? The girls make plenty of money from the foreigners, so why would they support a Thai boyfriend, when they can keep it all themselves. I told him that it doesn’t sound right to me, these girls aren’t that silly, surely.
Wondering
Dear Wondering,
Wonder no more, my Petal. The ladies of the night generally do have a Thai boyfriend and there are plenty of good reasons for this. The liaisons with foreigners only last as long as the foreigners holidays, generally a couple of weeks. Foreigners speak a foreign language, so it is not all that easy for them to communicate. Girls working in the industry don’t have language qualifications from a university, do they? So, with a Thai boyfriend they get a companion who talks their language, and is there 12 months a year, not here today and gone tomorrow. He also works as pimp and protector. The girls are not silly, they live off their wits and take the best options available to them. Yes, they have Thai boyfriends. Your friend was right.