Friday, October 15, 2010

Ladyboys in Phuket

I was just struck by the number of ladyboys that I saw in Phuket. Most of the time its pretty easy to tell. Some are more difficult to discern from women, and there are those few who are just stunning.

You certainly can't miss them if you walk on Bangla Road and go past Soi Crocodile. Before their shows, they gather in the road and solicit customers to take photos for a fee. There may be some other solicitation going on as well. I pay two to take a few photos.

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Another spot where there were a lot of ladyboys was on Beach Road. These individuals were not soliciting photos, but definitely massages and more. As I walked by, one quite striking individual propositioned me about a massage. When I politely declined, "she" asked me if I wanted "boom boom" (i.e., sex). Naturally I declined. I'll tell you though, if it were not for where this person was standing and the individuals around "her", I would have been sure it was a woman. I would hardly be shocked if some straight guys took her back to the hotel room only to find an extra "surprise" in that pair of panties.

Of course there were ladyboys at the Simon Caberet. The show was pretty good. The highlight of the show was an old fashion drag queen type. There was no mistaking this ladyboy for a woman. He did two songs, the first, Living in a Barbie World, where he was dressed in a pink outfit with fake breasts that looked the size of the orange construction cones. In the second, the performed I Will Survive. In both acts, he got involved with the audience and was generally hilarious.

It was pretty obvious that most of the Simon Caberet performers were not women. There a couple who looked fairly convincing.

Ladyboy from Simon Caberet

There were also a few ladyboys at the "traditional" massage shops. I became aware of this because there was one particular shop near the hotel. Whenever I walked by, this particular ladyboy would run out and offer her massage services. I must have told her know six times. Of course she asked seven times. Okay, not really. I politely declined each time.

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