Day 89
We had a rest day and I learned a little about the sex trade in Thailand. From Wikipedia I learned that the sex trade is seen as necessary because of the view that men have insatiable sexual appetites and it’s better that they get it out of their system in an impersonal encounter rather than a long emotional affair with a woman on the side. There is also the problem that in poor rural communities women are expected to help provide for the family and prostitution is considered an easy way to make some money. The inferior social status of women, coupled with an acceptance of prostitution, leads to young women being forced into it. There have been campaigns directed towards changing social acceptance of the sex trade. But with continued poverty and the popularity of Thailand as a sexual tourism destination, the campaigns have done little to stop it.
I often wonder how people see Cher and I. We only have hiking clothes to wear when strolling around town, but we still receive some long looks in many small towns.That coupled with the amount of signs, in English, in many local hotels where no one speaks English, that say you are not allowed to bring prostitutes into the hotel has led me to believe that not all of those looks are of the curious sort. Cher has been mistaken for being Vietnamese, Lao, Thai, Filipino, and Japanese. So every where we go she’s a local girl with a white guy. On the other hand I could be completely wrong and the only time that we could understand what people thought of us, a woman in southern China asked if I was her father.
