วันอังคารที่ 28 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2553

Private Dicks Spying on Bar Girls: Ladies Account



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Let‘s consider the cases now of a bar girl who was hunted down by the private investigator for doing what comes naturally. I actually know people who were on both sides.

The first was an investigator who I’ll call Bert, who’d come to Thailand and had run out of money; largely having spent it in bars on booze and ladies. He was a cruiser of Bangkok venues like Nana Plaza, Thermae, Soi Cowboy, The Grace Hotel, Hard Rock Cafe, Novotel, Spazzo’s, Riva’s, The Soi 7 Beer Garden, and the beer and go-go bars in Patpong, so he was well versed in all the right places to find girls-on-the-game.
One day, bemoaning his lot, he was approached by a gay in a bar and asked if he’d like to spy on “errant girls” (his phrase) for their absent boyfriends who were sending money back to them from overseas. The idea was to find out if they’d kept their agreement not to return to the bars and if they went “off”. It was money for old rope, so obviously he agreed to become what he called a “ferret”, which is an animal that’s particularly good at hunting in secret places, so I’m told.
He apparently did 3 stages of checking-up. The first involved being equipped with a photo of the girl in question and then going around the bars she’d previously worked at and if she was found, actually visiting the girl’s bar in person to find out if she was bar-fineable. The investigator, let’s call him a Private Dick, goes back twice and takes photos with his phone to prove she’s working.
The second was for the Private Dick to actually pay the bar-fine and take the girl to a hotel. He told me they were supposed to make an excuse and leave before it came to sex, but quite often he did actually have sex. The Dick is also supposed to take photos inside the hotel, too.
The final stage was to discover whereabouts the girl lives and if she lived with anyone, not a friend which many do, but a Thai boyfriend, or even another farang. There are some around who are quite happy to live off the Thai girls and the money sent to them by the foreign lover, the same as Thai men. The Private Dick had a “whale of a time”, getting expenses, free drinks and sometimes getting sex for free by promising not to expose the girl to her foreign absentee boyfriend. He was doing what he’s always done, except this time he didn’t have to pay one baht. And he and the detective agency were ripping of their clients, charging on average about 15,000 baht a time. And they call Thai bar girls corrupt!
The next little story is about a very enterprising bar girl who had to “run the gauntlet” (a Private Dick’s phrase) of a private detective. Her name for this story is Daeng and she had a farang boyfriend from the US, Bill, who was sending her 25,000 baht a month to keep out of the bars, keep herself and send money home for her family. Daeng actually lived with a Thai man, Lek, who didn’t work himself, but lived off her earnings, any earnings. When her boyfriend Bill phoned her she’d make sure only she answered the phone and that Lek shut up when she was on the phone. However, Daeng had a heavy Yah Bah and Ice habit and effectively spent all her money, to the extent that she had to pawn her phone. Lek had already made her pawn all the gold that Bill had given her. Inevitably, when Bill couldn’t contact her, he started to get suspicious. She told him she’d lost her phone and would he mind sending her more money to buy a new one, which he did, but he then started to phone her at bar times from 7.30pm to 2am. Obviously, this was a slight problem, involving her having to go into a relatively quiet side room, put a blanket over her head and speak softly, making sure no one came in.
Daeng had heard of farang absentee boyfriends hiring private detectives to investigate the Thai girlfriends and she had a pretty shrewd idea of how they might operate. She happened to spy one, one night, thankfully he wasn’t looking for her, but he was very obvious. For a start he spoke very good Thai and was with a Thai lady that it was obvious wasn’t his girlfriend because they weren’t “lovey-dovey” at all. The Thai lady went round all the girls and kept showing the “victims” photo to all the girls, asking if they knew her. They all did because the girl in question was a favourite of them all, who wasn’t actually working at the bar that week because she’d gone to Koh Samui with another farang client. However, they were all loyal and didn’t give the game away.
Daeng began to take precautions in case Bill sent the ferrets out after her. She told all her sisters-in-charms not to speak to strangers about her and to tell her if anyone came in the bar asking after her. She even dyed her hair blonde, using a lot of make-up so she wouldn’t look like her photos that she knew Bill had of her because she’d given him several. Her life became a true ordeal where she had to interrogate all the guys that wanted to take her “off” to make sure they weren’t ferrets. If they were over-inquisitive, she just refused to go “off” with them. This meant her weekly average really declined and Lek started to get heavy, beating her up because she wasn’t bringing in enough money to support his drug habit. He’d already spent almost all the money Bill sent every month, leaving very little for Daeng to send home or live on. She tried to get rid of him, but he had all the characteristics of a leach, bloodsucking and was difficult to throw off; she didn’t attempt the tried and tested way, trying to burn him off with a cigarette-end though for fear of what he’d do to her.
One day, the inevitable happened and a guy came in the bar that actually looked like a ferret, so she knew right away he was a Private Dick. She tried hiding but the Mamasan told her to go out on the floor and despite the fact she’d tried to disguise herself, the ferret saw through her; there weren’t enough girls for her to hide effectively. She got a phone call from Bill two days after, accusing her, but after all the stress he’d put her through, she couldn’t maintain the pretence and told him the truth. Obviously, Bill dropped her, but then Daeng told me, there are plenty more fish in the sea, right?
Now you might be very righteous about bar girls who do this sort of thing, but you have to understand where they’re coming from. And Bert, the ferret, told me he’d also been hired to spy on farang men who were short timing around the favourite venues. They were total idiots when it came to trying to disguise their deceits. So, at the end of the day, let’s give them both, the bar girls and the straying farangs a bit of rope. They are only doing what comes naturally after all and if you’re foolish enough to lavish vast sums of money on bar-girls, what do you expect?
Written by Warina Punyawan

วันอาทิตย์ที่ 12 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2553

Not all Thai-Farang Marriages do end up like the Cinderella Fairytale.

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A Word of Advice for Those Thais thinking of Marrying a Foreigner There has been several reports from Mr Niyom Watthamawuthi, Director in charge of the Thai Embassy overseas for the Health and Welfare of Thai citizens who are residents overseas.


According to the reports there has been an increase in Thai women marrying foreign citizens. These women hold the belief and hope that once they are married to a foreigner, their life will be happier and more fulfilled. Besides, they will benefit financially, but contrary to that belief, not all Thai vs Foreigner marriages end up like that Cinderella Story. The report also suggested that most Thai women who are married to a foreigner and have given up home in Thailand, emigrated to join their partners in their chosen home will soon find that they are being taken advantage of in area such as doing the household chore, working like a slave in their marital home in order to satisfy their husbands, or their elderly parents. The money that their partners had promised to give them had all been forgotten about. In some worse case scenarios, the husbands become fed up with their Thai wives and abandon them. This was due to their inability to communicate and also the differences in culture also pose another problem to their marriage life. Such incidence occurs frequently among Thais marrying to Swedish nationals, one of the most popular countries Thais are married to.

According to Mr Niyom, the reasons why many Thais chose to marry Swedish nationals was because there was a Swedish national who resided in Thailand, had set up an Introduction Agency business to allow Thais who wish to find their ideal partners. The conditions being that they must register their details on the company’s website and pay the fees of 3,000-3,500 Baht. These applicants must also pay another fees which is 3,000-3,500 Baht should they receive an email from an interested party. According to the report, there are approximately 2000 Thais who have uprooted and emigrated to set up their new lives in Sweden during the year 2003. About 80 per cent of these applicants were women who have met their potential partners who made their holiday in Thailand. According to the Director in charge of the Health and Welfare of Thais overseas, at the Thai Embassy in Stockholm, he had received many telephone calls from many Thai women ringing in to tell the Embassy similar problems about them being mistreated, sometimes like slaves, or in the worst cases they have been abandoned by their husbands for several weeks on end. Many women who could not stand the treatments of their husbands’ bad behavior even left home to seek a temporary shelter and assistance from The Women and Children’s Institute.
According to the Department of Health and Welfare for women and children out of the 22 of these places in Sweden, they have handled and given assistance to women who had been such similar conditions in the past two years.

What is worse is the fact that many women have actually been brought into the country by the same man.


The majority of Thai women who marry a foreign national come from the eastern part of Thailand as they have limited level of education and above all they do not possess the ability to be able to communicate in English. They rely largely on their husbands as the main bread winner. When they are abandoned by their husbands, they are faced with the need to defend for themselves. A word of warning to our readers then that not all Thai-Farang marriages do actually end up like that of a Cinderella FairyTale!

วันจันทร์ที่ 6 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2553

I’m going to fill my belly and have some money in my pocket again.

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I've always been a great reader. You can completely loose yourself in books. I?ve got a broad range of interests, but I particularly like literature, politics and philosophy. I suppose I really developed my interest after my mother died of cancer when I was 10.

Being a well-known real estate developer, my father was always out, at meetings, visiting sites and travelling to see my uncle in Hong Kong. I had to occupy myself for much of the time and in those days, Thai TV wasn?t much to write home about, so I started reading in earnest.
I suppose you could say I was spoilt as a child. My father obviously felt sorry for me after my mother died, so he indulged me, buying me virtually everything I ever asked for.
As I was nearly 11 when my mother died, I didn?t have long to wait before transferring to my secondary school. I went to an international school because they had a strong languages department and my father wanted me not only to improve my Cantonese, which I already spoke, but also to learn Mandarin and English, of course. The teachers really appreciated me, partially because they felt sorry for me being motherless, but mainly because I was a really conscientious student. I always completed my assignments before the deadline and I was creative in my approach.
I romped through school, forming many friendships because I?m a likeable sort of person and was always ready to help if any of them ever had a problem. I had no trouble with the exams and passed my IGCEs with flying colours and embarked on my A level courses.
Half way through my second year, everything changed again. My father met a glamorous young lady called Rung from Chiang Mai like my mother, but her family was slightly higher up the social ladder. I had problems with her from the very start. I was always a bit of a Daddy?s girl even when my mother was alive and I suppose I resented the fact that my father?s new lady monopolised his time and thrust me into the background.
Things got even worse when they got married and whenever we were together you could cut the air with a knife. Rung was hyper-critical of me, but not to my face. She used to wait until I?d left the room before she complained to my father about me. I suppose I also resented no longer being the young lady of the house as I?d enjoyed that position for nearly 7 years. I wasn?t the only lady of course towards the end, because my father?s mother had come to live with us.
I was almost ready to take my A levels and had a tentative offer from the Bangkok university, so my father decided the best solution was to set me up in my own place in Nawanakorn. He was even more generous than usual, probably because he felt guilty. Apart from the lavish condo, he also bought me a BMW 323 and gave me a driver and a maid. There was one drawback, however, because I was still relatively young, nearly 18, Thai middle class custom dictated that I had to have a chaperone, so my father persuaded my grandmother to come and live with me.
I had passed my A levels with extremely good grades, so the university was pleased to offer me a place. We all moved into the condo in Nawanakorn just before I went to university and things settled down for a while.
The next development was that Rung had really wanted to start a family quickly to consolidate her position and nine months after she and my father got married, she had twin girls. That didn?t really put me out as I was considerably more mature by then. What really upset the applecart was that my father collapsed in the bathroom one day. He was rushed to hospital and, after tests, the doctor informed us that he?d had a stroke and his condition was serious. Later that day, he had another, which paralysed him and left him unable to communicate.

That was when the grim reality really began to dawn upon me. For the first time in my life, I was forced to catch public buses. A complete nightmare as I?d never even travelled on one before and had no idea even how to pay. The people on the bus were completely unsympathetic, assuming I was fresh from the most remote village in Esarn.
The next day, my world almost fell to pieces. It was 14th May 1997, the start of the East Asian Financial Crisis. Over the next few weeks, things went from bad to worse, until one day, my step-mother came round to my condo looking very grave. Apparently, my father?s assets had suffered a complete catastrophe. He was effectively bankrupt and all his developments were impounded. Rung, with tears in her eyes, told me that we would have to sell the car, the condo and virtually everything I owned.
The next week was my graduation, at least one thing had come right. Celebrating later that day with some of my friends, I looked into my purse to discover I only had 20 Baht. Going to the nearest ATM, I inserted my card and punched in my requirement of 5000 Baht. My card was rejected, I only had 2000 Baht in the account and that was the only money I had in the whole world!
We sold the condo the following week, but my step-mother took most of the money top pay my father?s medical bills. I was forced to borrow money from friends to pay the necessary 3 months? deposit on a very small condo in Ekkamai. The next few weeks were among the most unhappy of my life, until a ray of sunshine banished my gloom.
I received a phone call from my uncle in Hong Kong who had heard of my sad plight and as he had promised my father he would take care of me in the event of anything bad happening to me, he was eager for me to come to Hong Kong right away and he would give me a job in his company. He transferred enough money into my account to pay the airfare and buy some new clothes and off I went to start a new adventure.
Uncle met my plane at Hong Kong Airport and took me straight to a condo he?d rented for me. It was very nice, but no frills. As there was no maid service, for the first time in my life, I had to do my own laundry, clean my room, make my bed and basically live like ordinary people. My uncle said it would do me a power of good as I had been living in a dream world and needed to come down to earth. I started work with my uncle?s company full of optimism.
My luck had only marginally turned, however, and bad luck was still haunting me. I caught pneumonia which rapidly developed complications due to my depressed state, so much so that I had to return to Bangkok for treatment. Thankfully, my uncle paid all my expenses and medical bills. He gave me an allowance which allowed me to rent a small condo in Sukhumvit Soi 33 and even to hire a nurse to look after me while I recovered.
After a month, I had sufficiently recovered to contemplate going back to work in Hong Kong. The date was February16th 1998, I was about to phone a local travel agent to book my return flight and went over to turn down the TV where I had been watching CNN when a breaking news item caught my attention. China Airlines Flight 676 from Bali to Taiwan, carrying 182 passengers, had disappeared from the radar screens, presumed crashed. I don?t know why, but a chill dagger of fear ran down my spine. I couldn?t understand it. I didn?t know anyone who lived in either Bali or Taiwan. No inkling of the significance of the news registered, until later that evening my uncle?s secretary called me from Hong Kong and told me my uncle had been on the plane, returning from a business meeting in Bali. There were no survivors. My uncle was dead. The phone just dropped from my hand as I stood in stunned silence, the implications slowly sinking in.
That was the longest day of my life. I had lost everything: my favorite uncle, financial support, prospects for the future, effectively my whole life.
We attended the funeral, but it was one of the saddest occasions I have ever experienced. They didn?t even have a body to bury, just a photo. Uncle hadn?t included me in his will and I was left nothing. I had 20,000 Baht in the bank. I felt dreadful. Would nothing ever go right for me? Would this train of bad luck ever end?
I decided to go and visit my father in Chiang Mai. I felt the wings of the Angel of Death hovering and determined to get up there as soon as possible, before he died, too. When I got to my father?s house, I was astounded by the condition of the house and especially the state of my father. He looked pale and wan; his hair was lank and bedraggled. His clothes looked as though they hadn?t been changed for a week. Rung was really neglecting him. So much for true love, when the money went, so did Rung?s care and attentiveness.
My father?s nails were long, brittle and dirty. I decided the least I could do was cut them for him. When I started cutting and looked closer, I was appalled to see that at least half of my father?s nails were already dead. I turned to Rung and really laid into her, accusing her of being callous and uncaring. ?How could you leave my father in such a dreadful state? You?re just a gold digger, a heartless bitch,? I shouted at her. She for her part wasn?t about to take my criticism lying down and we started a full scale argument. Eventually, I just stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind me. Totally drained and despondent.
Still livid, I went back to Bangkok to my condo in Soi 33. When I got there I went straight into the bedroom and just collapsed on the bed and cried my eyes out. I was totally exhausted, no family, no money to talk of, and no-one to turn to. I had to stand on my own two feet. I had to get a job to support myself. I had a degree; it couldn?t be that difficult, could it? But it was. It was the aftermath of the financial crisis and no firms were hiring. I went from one interview to another, feeling worse after each one, until I was virtually suicidal. Then my luck turned, a friend told me about a PR job paying 12,000 Baht a month that was vacant at a hotel at PluenChit area. I telephoned and rushed over, feeling that this was my last chance.
As luck would have it, the interviewer was a farang in his late 40?s who didn?t seem at all interested in my qualifications; he just kept looking at me slyly from the corner of his eyes. He asked me to start the next morning and I went home feeling the happiest I?d felt for ages. My happiness didn?t last though. I worked for the first week all the time with the feeling that the boss?s eyes were boring into my back and mentally undressing me. He flirted outrageously. I had an awful time trying to stop him groping me at every opportunity. Then in the Friday after work, he asked me out to a nearby bar for a drink. My fist instinct was to decline gracefully, but in Thailand employees don?t refuse their bosses? requests, so what could I do but go?
I should have known better, but I was so naïve, never having drunk alcohol to any great extent before. My boss kept plying me with Marguerites, telling me they were slightly stronger than beer, when in fact they were loaded with tequila. By the end of the evening, I didn?t know whether I was coming or going. I couldn?t focus, slurred all my words, couldn?t think straight at all and could hardly stand up.

I woke up the next morning in his bed. I was shocked and blazingly angry. I had been taken total advantage of by an unscrupulous bastard. I had only had one steady boyfriend before when I was in the 2nd year at university. We?d had furtive sex a few times, always hurried and nervous about being discovered. I wasn?t a virgin, but I wasn?t a bad girl either. My boyfriend, however, didn?t stay the course; he beat a hasty retreat when he discovered my father was bankrupt. He said that he couldn?t cope with my depressions and all the problems I was having.
I?d always thought love was beautiful, probably from reading too many romantic classics, but now I don?t know what it is anymore. I was totally disillusioned at the time. But there was no love involved with my farang boss. He?d just raped me when I was incapable.
I quit the job that same day. The boss tried to find me to apologize. He wanted to be my regular boyfriend, he said. But I was having none of it, I could have taken him to the police for forced intoxication and rape, but I didn?t. I just wanted to forget he ever existed.
It was then that I started to drink and smoke. I?d never smoked before and I should have known better, but I just didn?t care. I just lazed around my condo for a week, watching TV half-heartedly, but not really taking anything in. I was in a real state. I woke up with 500 Baht in my pocket, the rent of 6000 Baht to pay and absolutely no means of paying it.
It was then that my friend Tammy, who worked in an escort agency, came to the rescue. She brought round a video called ?Madame Beverley Hills? about the life of high class hookers. I watched it twice and finally understood what was involved in Tammy?s job. It was an impressive movie, not in the least bit sleazy, quite a work of art, actually, even though it was essentially about prostitution.
Right, I said to myself, I?ll do it. I?d been shocked quite frankly when Tammy had told me what she did, but now my circumstances had radically changed, I was no longer a poor little rich girl toying with the perimeter of life. I decided to forgive myself for my naiveté and parochial attitude. I was beginning to appreciate Maslov?s theory. No food, no money, clothes, but no means of washing them. I couldn?t even afford washing powder. I?d had enough of poverty and destitution. No matter what I have to do, I?m going to fill my belly and have some money in my pocket again. And that was how my descent into the maelstrom began.

Story by: Snookie
Translated by: Warina