Love for sale on the streets of Bangkok |
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The world’s oldest profession is being taken up by increasing numbers of foreign women in Bangkok. What’s the attraction and how do they get here? One former worker from Uzbekistan reveals all
Maxmilian Wechsler | Published: 08.07.2011 05:06
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By Maxmilian Wechsler
SOME customers in popular entertainment spots like Nana Plaza, Patpong, Soi Cowboy or the karaoke clubs and massage parlors that proliferate in Bangkok might be surprised to learn that prostitution is actually a criminal offence in Thailand, punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment. The law is rarely enforced, and it does little to deter local women and men from becoming involved in the sex trade.
In recent years an increasing number of foreign women have come to Thailand to engage in the world’s oldest profession. Most are from other Asian countries, as well as Africa and the Middle East. These women have more to worry about from the police and they are also more vulnerable to many kinds of exploitation. A high percentage of foreign sex workers are from nations that were formerly part of the Soviet Union.
You can see them walking along Sukhumvit Road, particularly the Nana area, after 8pm, their heavy makeup and provocative, colorful clothes clearly distinguishing them from normal tourists. They tend to congregate at a certain downtown hotel before dispersing to various bars, clubs and discos throughout central Bangkok.
One of these women is Vazira, a 35-year-old single mother of two from Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. She agreed to tell BigChilli about her experiences in Bangkok over the past six years.
Vazira can speak four languages: Uzbek, Russian, Arabic and English. She came to Thailand in 2005 on a tourist visa with the intention of entering the sex trade. “I was told by my friends that you can make good money going with Arab men in Bangkok, so I decided to try it. My family just couldn’t survive on my income back home.
“I can make about 45,000 to 60,000 baht every month. I spend about 22,000 baht for rent, food, make-up and clothing, and the rest I send to my parents. Some younger girls can make much more.
“I share a small, two-bedroom apartment in Sukhumvit with another Uzbeki girl. We pay about 9,000 baht each. The apartment is quite expensive, but it takes only five minutes to walk to one hotel and a couple of discos where I meet
customers. I could rent something cheaper in another part of Bangkok but then I would spend a lot on taxis. I don’t like to use public transport because from my revealing clothing – while going to work – the passengers would easily guess what I am doing. I am shy.”
According to Vazira, the only time when she gets time off from her work is during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, which will be held this year from August 1 - 29.
“Many Muslim clients return to their home countries. Some of the working ladies go home then too, but some will stay in Bangkok, looking mainly for Thai men. The business will be back to normal in September.”
Vazira says she’s very scared of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, and gets regular medical check-ups at a major hospital. She says many men, especially from the Middle East, don’t like to wear condoms.
“A lot of girls don’t insist on condoms, but if a customer won’t wear a condom, no matter how much money he offers, I will refuse. If I die, what will happen to my family? Unfortunately, most of the girls don’t go see the doctor for check-ups either. They only care about money.”
In the past, Vazira would go to Phnom Penh to update her visa, but the Thai embassy there has made it increasingly difficult for ‘workers’ like her to get an extension. Nowadays she either flies to Penang, where some travel agencies can apparently arrange a new visa without the passport holder even going to the Thai consulate, or joins friends on a visa run to Vientiane in Laos.
“We travel there in a minivan. After we arrive in Vientiane, the travel agency staff collects passports from everyone and brings them back the next day with the visa stamps. We spend one night in a cheap hotel. Sometimes three or four minivans go at the same time. It is not only sex workers as we are usually joined by people from Africa.” The trip costs 7,000 baht per person.
“If I fly from Tashkent directly to Bangkok, I can get only a 15-day visa at the airport here,” she says.
Many girls apparently don’t bother with visas at all, she says. They simply overstay and pay the fine when they leave the country. Most return later.
Uzbeki sex workers began coming to Bangkok more than a decade ago and their numbers are on the increase because the money is good. Except for occasional troubles with the police, they are relatively free to move around and conduct their business.
According to Vazira, about 500 foreign women mostly aged 19 to 45 ply their trade in central Bangkok.
It’s a truly cosmopolitan group, with girls from India, Lesotho, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Tajikistan Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and other countries. Many are now coming from Turkmenistan, she adds.
“In the past, many women worked the streets at the lower end of Sukhumvit, but today they prefer to operate in clubs and discos. They establish a network of clients so they don’t have to go to the clubs every night, but just make appointments on their mobile phones.
“Some girls ask for money in advance if they don’t trust the customer. If he doesn’t pay, we can’t do very much,” says Vazira.
She reckons there are three categories of foreign sex workers here: Those who work for organized gangs through a “mama-san”; those who have pimps; and freelancers.
Vazira explained how the Uzbeki gangs operate: Associates of mama-sans in Uzbekistan recruit the women, who are given airline tickets, some money and told how to obtain a visa and what they need to travel to Thailand.
On arrival in Bangkok they are collected by fellow prostitutes who take them to a guest house or apartment where they will share accommodation. Their passports are collected by the mama-san.
The women are given a mobile telephone. They have to report to the mama-san to tell her what they are doing and where their customers take them. They must contact her before and after each sexual encounter. The sex workers are given a little spending money but must give the mama-san all the money they make until their “debt” is paid.
Vazira says most of the young girls now coming to Bangkok are brought by mama-sans who themselves are usually aging prostitutes who can no longer easily find customers. “Before there were only a very few mama-sans, but now there are many. Some have three or four girls, some more than ten and some over 20.”
She said the mama-sans have a good life, making lots of money by only talking on the phone day and night.
The customers are mostly tourists from the Middle East, especially Dubai, Oman and Qatar. Iranians used to be highly visible as well, but only a few come here nowadays.
“Some locals like foreign girls too, especially the young ones,” she notes.
In the past, it was mainly divorcees with children who operated here. Today, the opportunities to make money are attracting more and more young, single girls.
“You will see them hanging out at the hotels every night from about 11pm. Most are linked to a mama-san, often from Uzbekistan, who live in nice condos on Sukhumvit. It’s not unusual for them to have boyfriends from Uzbekistan staying with them. The mama-sans don’t care if the girls wear a condom or not. All they only care about is the money,” says Vazira.
She reckons that the girls generally avoid staying all night with one man “because they can sometimes have two or three customers a night and therefore make more money.” Indian women often ask for the highest fee, and they can get it, she says.
“Some women hang around the streets and approach men from the Middle East, asking them for 200 or 500 baht. They often get it because the man just wants to get rid of them. The women can be very persistent and noisy, and the men pay to avoid attracting attention.
Inevitably, this kind of lifestyle lends itself to all kinds of problems. “For instance, some women working for mama-sans try to cheat them and ask other girls to send money to their families on their behalf. If the mama-san finds out, she will beat up the woman who helped to send the money.
“Girls have approached me for help, saying they want to send money to their mother, sister or someone else, but don’t know how to do it. I always refuse because I don’t want trouble with the mama-san. Some mama-sans stay with Thai men, and I’ve heard that some claim to be officials. Maybe they lie. Whatever, they could make trouble for me, so I stay away from other girls, just to be safe. I work on my own.
“One mama-san said that she had some problem with money and borrowed 16,000 baht from me and some other freelancers. Then she refused to pay me and threatened: ‘If you make too many problems I will tell the police to arrest you and throw you out of Thailand.’ What could I do?”
Girls working for a mama-san must hand over all their earnings. After “expenses” are deducted, the girls are given some money back, perhaps 500 baht per day. “I heard that some mama-sans promise to transfer money to the girl’s family and then don’t send anything. That’s why the girls are forced to ask someone else to send money to their families. When the girl complains that her family has not received money, the mama-san simply threatens to turn her over to the police,” says Vazira.
Working hours for these girls start from 11pm, when the discos open. Some establishments stay open until 6am.
“The smarter girls will try to look for a regular boyfriend, or more, telling them they hate this kind of work. But this is just a ploy to get money to go on shopping sprees.”
Mama-sans make sure their girls have valid visas. “They also try to keep the girls off drugs and stop them from cheating customers or stealing from them.”
Most sex workers from North African countries prefer to operate independently, she says.
Arrests are on the increase. Police raids are almost daily. And girls who are stopped by officials complain that they are fined for no reason.
“The police know who the sex workers are,” says Vazira. “They won’t pick on a normal foreign tourist.
“All the girls pay. They don’t have a choice; they are afraid. Then have to find more customers to make up for the loss.”
Vazira believes that drugs are widely used, especially marijuana and “ice” the girls buy from African dealers. “Some of the girls end up fighting other girls. They make many problems – with me as well. I don’t like drugs.”
Another problem is blackmail. “One man from Pakistan who took some foreign sex workers to his apartment was very friendly and asked for their mobile numbers and other personal information. He also promised he would look after them. A few days later he called and told the girls that he had made a video of their encounter and would put it on the Internet unless they paid him 20,000 baht.
“Several girls paid up because they feared friends or family back home would recognize them. They were also afraid to contact the police.”
Suddenly Vazira looks tired. “I’ve seen many bad things…Enough is enough. I want to go home, see my parents and children, and spend time with them.” She thinks she can get her old job back, working at a grocery store.
“When I left in 2005, I was earning about US$40 a month, but now it’s gone up to about $100. In Taskent, everything is expensive, and $100 is just enough to buy food. Luckily, I was able to send a lot of money back home in the past years, so we should be all right financially for a while.
“Even if I can earn only a fraction of what I could in Bangkok sleeping with men, I will have peace of mind and not be afraid of the police, extortionists, fighting with customers or getting a sexually transmitted disease.
“But if the money isn’t enough to look after my family, I might have to return to Bangkok and bring some girls to work for me. I am getting old and it is getting more and more difficult to find customers who will pay me what I want.”
As long as there is money to be made on the streets of Bangkok, so the cycle will continue.
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