Victoria and Opal in Laos

I was just organizing some pictures on my computer today and found some pictures of me and Opal when we went on a trip to Vientiane, Laos.

Opal went to live back in her village to help her old grandmother and we don’t meet so often these days. Still. She is my best friend. We had really big fun and moving around in Vientiane is quite easy for us because we have many Katoey friends over there.

Right on the first day we got us traditional Lao skirts and then spend the day screaming around the city and trying to be as chaotic as possible. The nights we spend with extremely good dinner and then hit the bars, where the boys would provided drinks and music. And of course we were dancing big time.

Opal is now in Korea and I really miss her. She calls every week but we are both pretty busy. Maybe I will visit her next month. Or at least I will go to her home town and see if everything is alright over there.

Opal in Vientiane

Victoria and Opal in our friends bar

Opal teaching a foreign girl traditional Lao dancing

Me, myself and I singing to the sound of the guitar

Opal pretending to be a bar girl

Technorati: thai thailand bangkok ladyboy katoey transgender transsexual victoria opal lao laos vientiane

Highschool Ladyboys

From next week on the school holidays start in Thailand. During many Thai schools organize holiday trips to national parks or the beaches.

During the holidays I am working as a tour guide tutor for these kind of high school tours. For me it is a lot of fun and I can get out of Bangkok. I love to entertain the teenagers and we are joking a lot.

Most of the tours have at least 100 students so the chance is very high that there are some Ladyboys amongst them. At the age of 14 this is not so obvious but since I am a Ladyboy myself I can quite easily spot them. Of course I don´t let them know, that I know and never treat them different. Just yesterday I came back from another tour to Samut Prakan province. I had two Ladyboy students who where 14 or 15 years old. They definitely showed Katoey behavior and they were very proud of what they are.

On the Bus I let all the students introduce themselves and the young sisters had big fun and would not stop their show until I took the microphone from them.
Later on the first day we visited some memorial site. The tour guide showed the around and then asked the students to pay respect to the site´s Thai national flag. He told the teenagers that the boys should salute and the girls should curtsy. This left the two Ladyboy youngsters in my group pretty confused and they asked what Katoeys should do. I did not hear what he replied because I had to do my curtsy then, but I guess they did a curtsy and a salute at the same time because all the other kids suddenly cracked of in laughter.

For the whole tour they were always in the center of the events and wherever they were it was always a lot of screeching and singing. I did not hang around with them to much because I did not want the other kids to believe that the Katoey students where priviledged only because their tutor was Katoey as well.
I am not a Bangkokian and where I come from there are much more Ladyboys in the highschools .

In the Thailand we have school uniforms and school haircuts. Girls are not allowed to grow their hair longer than to the shoulders and boys have to have short hair sometimes even a crew cut. But nobody can stop the Katoey students from wearing lipsticks and eyeliner which looks really pretty funny.

Technorati: thai thailand bangkok ladyboy katoey transgender transsexual school

Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand? Answer No. 3

Every month we get a couple of emails from our readers in which they ask this question: “Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand?”

On the net you can find lots of explanations, most of them are complete nonsense. Like “What do they have in the water, that makes so many Ladyboys?”
The answer is rather simple. In fact, there are three reasons for the “Ladyboy-Phenomenon”.

In the following days I will give all three to you. Today, I will give you the third reason.

The Traditional Reason

In Thailand and especially in rural areas the old traditions are still strong. There´s hardly a week whitout a religious ceremony, a wedding, a Ngaan Buat rite or a funeral.

At most of these events the village´s Transgenders play an important role.
While the Ladyboys in tourist capitals like Phuket and Pattaya are rather employed in gastronomy, Cabaret-Shows und in red light entertainment, in Bangkok you find them also connected to their original professions.
No film set without Ladyboys as make-up artists, costume designers or choreographers. The Tomboys, the female counterpart are rather involved in assisting the director or in the light crew.



Opal while organizing a celebration

In villages this is even more clearer to see. Weddings are almost completely organized by Ladyboys. The bride gets her make-up done by Ladyboys, gets her dress put on by Ladyboys, together with her groom she gets her wedding pictures taken by Ladyboys. Ladyboys prepare the food, arrange the flowers (doing that Victoria cut her finger big time the last time we did that ), they dance and sing on the wedding stage.



Opal at a beauty contest

Bei religiösen Festen sind die Ladyboys immer mit am meisten von allen involviert, schmücken die Festwagen und organisieren die obligatorischen Schönheitswettbewerbe.
Ladyboys und ihre Talente sind somit ein bedeutender Bestandteil im dörflichen Leben und in Thailand und entsprechend werden sie und ihre Arbeit geschätzt.
At religious celebrations Ladyboys are most often fully involved, decorate the parade floats and organize the mandatory beauty contest.
Ladyboys are hence a important part of a village´s daily life in Thailand and are respected accordingly.



Opal trägt während eines Umzuges den Gong


Technorati: ladyboy thai thailand reasons transsexual katoey kathoey katoy tradition bangkok phuket pattaya transgender

Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand? Answer No.2

Every month we get a couple of emails from our readers in which they ask this question: “Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand?”

On the net you can find lots of explanations, most of them are complete nonsense. Like “What do they have in the water, that makes so many Ladyboys?”
The answer is rather simple. In fact, there are three reasons for the “Ladyboy-Phenomenon”.

In the following days I will give all three to you. Today, I will give you the second reason.


The religion reason

94 % of the Thai population are Theravada Buddhists. Together with Buddhism Thai people also believe Animism and Spirits a belief that is thousands of years old and had been there already before Buddhism came to Thailand.

Animism was believed in all over the world. Europa, America, Africa and of course Asia. In all of these ancient animist cultures a member of the “Third Sex” was someone special. Many of them where fortune tellers, shamans and highly spiritual people and therefore well respected.

Only when the monotheistic religions became more powerful, the animist belief lost their influence.
In the new religions, there was no place for a “Third Sex”.
Since Buddhism is not a theistic religion and most tolerant, the Buddhism did not overpower but mostly integrate the old animism. Also, in Buddhism there is no prohibition to a “Third Sex”.



Opal dressed like a nun during a religious festival in her village

So the animist culture with their dancing, spiritual transgender members became Buddhist and still kept the “Third Sex”.

In Thailand and there especially in the rural areas where the animist belief is still strong, modern Ladyboys are as much members of the religious community like everybody in their village too. In fact, many of the Ladyboys get even more involved in the daily religious life. They then of course behave like all the other females.
I found the information that “Buddhism is tolerant to Ladyboys” on many sites on the web. But this is only half of the truth.

Buddhism is tolerant to other religions, also to those that have transgender people as part of their spiritual community.

Technorati: ladyboy thai thailand reasons transsexual katoey kathoey katoy, animism, buddhism, religion, tolerance

Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand? Answer No.1

Every month we get a couple of emails from our readers in which they ask this question: “Why are there so many Ladyboys in Thailand?”

On the net you can find lots of explanations, most of them are complete nonsense. Like “What do they have in the water, that makes so many Ladyboys?”
The answer is rather simple. In fact, there are three reasons for the “Ladyboy-Phenomenon”.

In the following days I will give all three to you. Today, I will start with the first one.

The economical reason

Other than in the West the bonds between family members are much stronger. If somebody in your family is in trouble (i.e. debt, hospital) the other members of the family have to help them out.

Also, there is no kind of public old age pension. The younger family members have to support the old as much as they can.

But if a boy grows up, he will have his own family that he has to provide for and who can therefore spend less money on his parents and grandparents.
But if a boy grows up and becomes a Ladyboy, he who is then a she won´t have a family. They will just work for their own livelihood and are able to support their parents much more than their brothers.

So it is sure now economical disadvantage for the parents if their son becomes a daughter.
In addition, many young Ladyboy students learn languages much easier than the boys at their age which enables them to work in business or tourism later where they have a higher income.

And even if they stay in their home, they can still work in the rice fields like the other women and men do too. But other than their male siblings they won´t spend their money on fast motorbikes and whiskey.

This means having a Ladyboy daughter is not the worst deal for Thai parents.

Technorati: ladyboy thai thailand reasons transsexual katoey kathoey katoy, economy

Solidarity among Ladyboys

I just came home from work and when I walked into my apartment building I saw another person way in front of me. Still, when I arrived at the elevator this person was waiting and kept the elevator´s door open for me. She was a ladyboy, too.
Of course, this is not real solidarity by the true meaning of the word but rather a favor.
And I find this kind of favors pretty often among us ladyboys on many occasions where other people just don´t care. Like guarding the toilet door in a club, when the lock is broken and helping each other.
I really enjoy and appreciate these small favors and I try to help other sisters out as often as I can. And I am not talking about close friends but about strangers who just happen to be of the same sex (the third sex) like I am.

Of course there are also others who take every chance to take advantage of others, but they are for sure a minority among the minority that we are.
Almost everytime I meet people somewhere and they have another ladyboy in company we feel some kind of connection to each other even though we have never met before. I think this is because we know that nobody understands us and our feelings and lives better than another ladyboy.

This sometimes leads to the situation that we start surrounding us only with other ladyboys and isolate ourselves from the other “normal” people. But we should not do that since we are normal, as well and part of the society. Distinguishing between “us” and “them” puts as in a position where we certainly don´t want to be as we as the minority only create an unnecessary disadvantage for ourselves.
But I have to admit I did exactly that when I was younger. Maybe just because I was young then and the solidarity among other ladyboys was comfortable and made me feel more secure. Now I don´t do this anymore. In fact, all my friends are no ladyboys and have no connection to that. I am accepted and I feel pretty normal and as secure and comfortable as I felt before with my sisters.
Just once in a while I miss it to meet other people of my kind and behave and talk more ladyboy style and about ladyboy stuff. But that is alright and I can allow that to myself.

Technorati: solidarity ladyboy katoey katoy thai thailand friendship

Phet Ti Saam – The Ladyboy Blog goes 2.0

Wow, it´s been a long time again since our last post. Sorry for that. But we really appreciate the many emails that encouraged us to keep our project going.
We spent some time thinking about how to publish post more regularly. We reduced the number of team members down to basically only me and Victoria. But still we will have all of our friends and even more Ladyboy sisters on our page.
We will keep the posts shorter but will add some “twittering” to the site. With this booming Web 2.0 tool we can update our blog much quicker and keep the promise to authentically report about the life of Ladyboys.
Victoria will start to twitter and if we get enough followers and feedback, I will join her, as well.
Have a look on the right side of this page. You will find her twitter update there. Or you can check out all updates on her twitter page.

Twittering now: Victoria

Of course, we will still write “old fashioned” post as most things in life are too complicated to tell them in only 140 character.

Have fun!

Technorati: Bangkok Victoria ladyboys thai Thailand katoey katoy transsexual transgender twitter web 2.0

Ladyboys and Drugs

At least once a week one can read about another Transsexual arrested in Pattaya for drug possession. Of course, this does not put the Thai Ladyboys in a good light and makes it look like Ladyboys and drugs inevitably belong together. Certainly, this is not true by no means. Almost all the other Transsexuals that I know, aren`t like that – they don`t even smoke cigarettes. But of course, I also met some that are not like that. But I don`t have any connection to that. Drug possession is punished very hard in Thailand, so you better stay away from anybody related to drugs.
But why are Ladyboys in connection with drugs so present in the daily press?
First of all, to refer to Pattaya: Everywhere where many people are around and where a lot is happening also crime and criminals are much more present. Accordingly, the number of involved Katoeys is higher, too.
Another reason might be, that a lot of Ladyboys are involved in prostitution. And of course, the environment of prostitution is generative for crime, violence and last but not least drug abuse.
Poverty and self-doubts also contribute to Katoeys trying to flee the dull and seemingly hopeless everyday life into inebriation.
In the past the common widest spread drug had been an amphetamine, which is called “Yaa Baa”, the “Crazy Medincine” in Thai. Recently, also “Yaa Ice” is spreading in Thailand. A nightmare, because it is nothing else than Crystal Meth, a drug that displaced the already demoniac crack and which has even more devastating side effects on its consumers.
“Ice” creates addiction quicker than hardly any other drug. The damages on the organism show up much earlier than with other drugs. The body is detoriating rapidly.
Over here in Thailand rehabilitation is almost not available. And stopping on one`s own is almost impossible.
Still, the problem is rather the surrounding than the people. The Ladyboys living in the poor north eastern part of Thailand, Isaan, are poor, too. But they still don`t smoke “Yaa Baa”. Society over there accepts them and they are highly integrated in the social structure. Hardly someone is alone and lonely with his problems over there. Unlike the girls in the streets of Thailand`s tourist cities.

Technorati: katoey thai Thailand ladyboy transsexual drug pattaya yaa ba ice

Ladyboy Immigration

Usually you don`t need your passport too often. In fact you only need it at the borders and immigration offices. As I don`t hold a Thai passport I spend some time of the year with immigration officers. Most often - though it`s a little complicated – it is fun: my passport says something different than my picture. And also all those who wrote the reference letters for me did not know what I am. So this leads me almost every time in the situation where the offices get really confused with my passport. Strange thing is, that they are really willing to believe rather what they see standing in front of them and on the picture rather than in the entry for “Sex”.
I just came back to get me a Visa and also the clerk at the Thai embassy would not believe in my passport. But Thai people are very easy going and even when they ask me directly in my face I don`t bother because they don`t mean it in a bad way. Actually, I should let them do what they think is right but I am scared that I will get trouble at the border s the visa stuff is the only thing where I write what my passport says.

Once I was travelling from Hong Kong to Macau and also got in a little trouble with the immigration. The lay behind the desk resolved the case and told me that I had to check my passport at home as it obviously had a misprint.
I year ago I was travelling with my friend Opal to Europe. Of course she had to get her a visa. I went with her to give her a little backup because she thought it was impossible for her to get the visa.
At the embassy I was informed by the clerk that my friend`s passport said that she was not a born girl. “So am I”, I said and we got the visa. Sometimes I think it might be a little advantage to have a discrepancy in your passport. It confuses the officers and they forget to think of how they can trouble you this time.

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Kate at the river

Techorati: katoey ladyboy transsexul thai thailand kate pictures

Ladyboys and Education

A couple of months ago I read in an enlish language blog about an english teacher who described her experiences with ladyboys in class and their attitude towards education. The teacher wrote that most of the ladyboy students picked up the english language much quicker than their born-female or male classmates.
Her explanation for that phenomenon is that even though Thai society is quite liberal concerning the "Third Sex", ladyboys have still to struggle hard for recognition and jobs. Therefore they have to be tougher and better educated than others, says the teacher.
I am not so sure if this is a sufficient explanation. In fact, I think there are some more factors to it. But it's somehow true - more often I am impressed by knowledge,discipline and attitude of a "sister" than by anyone else.
One of the factor leading to this surely is talent: Everybody knows about the two halfs of the brain, one of which provides talent for logic thinking i.e. maths and technology. This part of the brain is better developed with men. The other part of the brain supports fine arts, emotions and language etc. That part is rather prevalent with women and of course - ladyboys. This means we might be just talented with learning languages. People who have already traveled to Thailand might have recognized that many transsexuals working in tourism speak quite good english.I also have a ladyboy friend (Her name's "Am". I will introduce her in a couple of weeks - she's really cute) who can learn a new language in only a week so far that she is able to communicate with native speakers.
To give a balanced view I have to admit that I also know sisters who don't have any language talent at all and hardly speak a word other than Thai although they have been working in guesthouses and restaurants in tourist areas for years.
Another point might be that ladyboys are already at a young age pretty aware of their tasks in life. They start much earlier to be responsible for themselves and develop a disciplined lifestyle earlier than other kids. Of course this works prettty good in school. It is just that we learn early in life how to work towards a goal that will be achived later.
And of course most of us are pretty smart anyway :-)

Technorati: thai thailand katoey katoy transsexual ladyboy education school

Porn Offers and Media Request

I don`t know but for some reason, some people completely misunderstand what our blog is about. As we mentioned in one of our earliest posts, this blog is not only about sex and definitely no porn. Still, every day we get emails asking us to act in porn movies and even ask to take part in our porn productions (which we of course don´t have). Also some people are "nice" to offer us jobs as their "maids" in western countries. But thanks, we are pretty fine over here. Maybe those people just don`t get it, that we are real people and not only characters in a sex movie.

Instead, we are actually very happy about all the requests we get from the media about everything related with "Being Ladyboy". For the last couple of months this happened quite regularly and we had quite a many opportunities to talk about our point of view on things. And as far as I know, we have always been quoted right in the press and everybody thought good about our blog project.

So, thanks for that. But all those other guys. Better think twice and don`t send your invitations to the world of porn.

Technorati: Technorati: thai Thailand katoey ladyboy porn blog blogging media

Businesswoman Opal

Yeah, she looks tough in that business dress, but be sure. She is as nice as ever. Looks like a really Bangkok business Girl, doesn`t she?

 

 

 

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Thailand`s and the World`s most important Ladyboy Beauty Contest Cancelled

Found at The Star Online, edited by Nong Duu


Thailand’s international transgender beauty pageant this year has to be postponed to 2009 as the ongoing political standoff in Bangkok continues to keep visitors away.
This year Kangsadan Wongdu­sadeekul a 21-year-old katoey beauty queen was supposed to represent her country in Miss International Queen 2008 (Thailand’s international transgender beauty pageant) after she was crowned Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2008 (the most sought after beauty pageant title for Thai ladyboys) in May.

However, the on-going battle between the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the People’s Power Party-led coalition government has indirectly trampled on her dream to compete against aspiring transvestites around the world including Malaysia – echoing the Thai proverb which says, “In a battle between elephants, the ants get squashed”.


Miss International Queen 2008, which was due to be held in October and then deferred to November, has been cancelled (or in PR-speak postponed to 2009) as the political turmoil in Bangkok takes its toll on tourist arrivals.


Alisa Phanthusak, whose family owns the world-famous Tiffany show, a katoey cabaret show in Pattaya, is the organiser of Miss Tiffany’s Universe and Miss International Queen, admitted feeling “terrible” that the international pageant had to be “postponed”.


“But we had to take this painful decision because international tourist arrivals dropped after the government declared emergency rule (on Sept 2, after a Thai was killed when anti and pro-government groups clashed on the streets of Bangkok) and several countries advised their citizens not to travel to Thailand,” she explained.


At first the organiser postponed Miss International Queen 2008 to late November this year thinking the political struggle between the PAD and the government in the Thai capital would end by then.


But after two PAD supporters were killed and nearly 500 injured when the anti-government demonstrators clashed with the police outside parliament in Bangkok on Oct 7, Alisa realised the political instability would continue even through Thailand’s high tourism season (October to March).


To paraphrase the Thai proverb, in a battle between political elephants, Thailand’s tourism industry (not exactly an ant as it contributes 14% to the country’s GDP) gets squashed.
Take the example of the Tiffany Show. The audience for Pattaya’s must-see transsexual cabaret show (usually attracting 2,000 guests a day) has dropped by 50%.


“This is the greatest crisis for tourism in Pattaya since I’ve been in the business for the past 10 years,” the 34-year-old businesswoman said, adding that the downturn was unfair as Pattaya was a long way from the epicentre of the political turmoil in Bangkok.


Technorati: Kangsadan Wongdusadeekul Miss International Queen 2008 2009 Tiffany’s Universe Bangkok Pattaya ladyboy katoey katoy thai thailand

Insulted by Post

In Thailand it does not matter if you already have had your sex reassignment surgery or not. Nobody cares how much you are a women and how long you lived that way. You could be a female top model and a women since your late teens with all surgeries that are possible – still you would have a male Thai passport. And this will mean that you will have all you documents issued like for male.

And every month you will get your phone and electricity bill send to a “Mr.”
I cannot tell you how much that sucks.

So when I have the Chance I will fill out all forms for new contract myself an clearly write “Miss” as my title. But if you just have to send a copy of your I.D. card to the one you are making a contract with, there will be a “male” on your I. D. and therefore you will be male on every bill that you receive.

That is so incredibly degrading for me. Also last time I stood next to somebody who wrote my name into some book that was something official but not THAT official. He asked me what to write and I pointed to the title of another girl whose name he had written before – “nangsao” (Miss).

He just ignored that and that hurt me a lot. Some time ago, I read in the press that someone proposed to address us ladyboys officially as “Miss”. That would have been so nice as it shows that we are accepted also s part of the society and not only as beautiful doll in Thailand`s Cabaret shows and rather clownish characters in TV shows.

Technorati: law rights ladyboy katoey katoy thai Thailand Bangkok

Ladyboy Sex Workers

Just very recently I have been interviewed by two journalists who wanted to hear my opinion about different topics connected with ladyboy life in Thailand. Of course I was happy to help them, as telling how we really are is the major reason for publishing this weblog. Some of their questions also targeted the issue of transgender sex workers in Thailand and while preparing myself for the interview I spend also some thought this:

Of course, Thailand has still it`s reputation for attracting sex tourists, though a lot of effort has been spend by the concerned agencies to get rid of that image, but I am not so sure if this can be done that easily if ever. Still, it`s a matter of fact that the incomes of those who worked in that business in the tourist areas of Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and others, contributed a lot to the improvements in Thailand`s rural areas. Nevertheless it is clear that the life of a sex worker is certainly everything but easy and fun.

As I mentioned in several other posts before, I know about a dozen ladyboy sex workers and some of them I even would call my friends though with some reservations. That way I got a lot of insights into their “working life” - sometimes even deeper than I wished I had.

For them there are two ways of getting in touch with their potential suitors. Going to clubs and pubs, getting a drink and after some eye contact walk up to the men, address them and try to get into some small talk. After something like a conversation (most of them have very limited knowledge of the English language) they will ask them rather direct if they want to have sex with them. As far as I know the fact, that they are not born girls is seldom revealed at that point of time. I am not sure how and when they tell it but somehow it has to be done. I could not imagine to go to a guy`s room and only there tell him about myself. That can end up in pretty dangerous situations.

I know that not so few bars and clubs in Bangkok don`t allow ladyboys to enter as they had bad experiences of ladyboys pushing themselves to obscene and aggressive on male guests which might give the shop a bad reputation. Fortunately, that restriction has never been applied on me. Good for them because I would give them a rather big scene. Also I guess that the bouncers know me and know that I am harmless (at least I hope so).

The other alternative for transsexual sex workers is to address men on the street. Just a couple of days ago I sat down on a table set up on the street where ladyboy prostitutes gathered and watched the men walking past. I sat down because they invited me and I had nothing better to do. For me there is no question that this way of getting in contact with customers is much harder and much more humiliating. It was hard to see how these nice dressed girls would start from that table and talk to even the ugliest, oldest and drunken men, walked some meters with them and after getting half a dozen rejections to their offered services they would turn away and try their luck with another man. The worst thing to see was, when groups of three or four young drunken westerners started to make fun of them, touching them like pieces of meat and insulting them in the middle of the road. It was then that I decided to leave as that scene started to get me sad.

Some of them endure this live for many years already. Just on that day I asked one of them for her name as we just had a nodding acquaintance together before. When she told it to me I remember having met her already four years ago. Since then her appearance as suffered a lot and she seems to have aged at least the double. Also her nose looks like it had been broken which it did not at the time we met first. As mentioned above: You can get in dangerous situations.

Of course such a long time in that business does not leave your heart and soul untouched. When I sat on their table that night the whole language they used was strongly obscene. Once in a while I like to talk that lewd ladyboy language in Thai for fun but they are using it as the usual way to communicate. It`s easy to imagine what kind of impression this will leave on other Thai people as the Thai language is in fact overflowing of politeness and discretion.
Also, they weren`t shy to flash their boobs and even show their lower parts in the middle of the road. A behavior that I know from other drunken ladyboys but yet I can`t stand it as it embarrasses me. Call me prude but I can`t appreciate that.

When they started to touch my boobs I made my excuses and left.

It´s obvious that it had been their tough environment that made them that way and I wonder how they can take that night after night after night. It makes it quite traceable why so many of those ladyboy slip into taking drugs and stealing. Nevertheless it´s useless to try to blame someone directly for that as it had been their choice. Still, too many ladyboys in Thailand and transgender people around the world are pushed into prostitution to make a living because they are not accepted in other jobs.

If there would be improvement, sure fewer ladyboys would accept sex work as their profession.
Technorati: sex work prostitution ladyboy ladyboys thai Thailand Bangkok katoey kathoey katoy transsexual transgender

Lesbian Ladyboys?

A nice anecdote of an occurence that happened to me already a year ago:

I went to the island Ko Chang in the Gulf of Thailand to meet some friends. But the night I arrived there, I was told that my friends were still on the mainland and would only come to the island during the next days. As I did not knew how to spend my time I sat down on one of the bars along the road that runs all along the western coast of Ko Chang. The girl behind the bar was a Ladyboy, too so I started chatting with her in Thai as casual as we do among each other.
I ordered a beer and asked her when her shift would end and if she wanted to go out for party later as I did not have anything else to do. But for some reason she was exceptionally reserved and refused to go out for dancing.I could not get my head around that as I never seen a sister that would not start immediately chatting and laughing with me.I finished my beer and went off to another bar.The next day my friends arrived and at night we went out to party at the clubs on Lonely Beach.The taciturn Ladyboy from the night before came with us but this time she was just the wy everybody else was. We danced, laughed, drank and chatted in Katoey language.
It was only then that one of my friends told me that she had though I was a lesbian girl as she had not recognized me as a Ladyboy and of course was confused about my talking to her. Then it dawned on me that the night before I had just worn my hair hidden under a baseball cap and my dress and make up was just the way I had travelled all the way down from Bangkok.
Still, I am not sure if this was a compliment or not. I mean it is nice if even my fellow sisters thinks of me as a girl but somehow there remains a bad taste with this. I guess I will keep it like it like what it is: A nice anecdote.

Technorati: ladyboy katoey katoy thai Thailand stories story ko chang lonely beach lesbian

Pictures from Ladyboy Nueng

I have already introduced her a little earlier. My friend Nueng a 18 year old Ladboy living in Bangkok. Last week we were taking some photos of each other and why not post them here:







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Going Ladyboy and back

As I blogged some time earlier, the concept of what the word Katoey means in Thai is not the same like Transvestite or Transsexual in western languages. For some it ist the urgent wish to become a women, others rather have it as their way they want to live their lives. The word „gay“ does not exist that long in Thailand – actually just a couple of decades. And meanwhile being gay has become more trendy than the old-fashioned Katoeys.
Also in Thailand there are many people around, who are actually just a kind of feminine gays, but just because it is so easy and common to live as a ladyboy they try that out first. Later they will find out, that they are no girls and don`t want to live their lives that way. They just want to be boys loving other boys.
I have two friends of that kind. Both lived their late teens and early twens as ladyboys, wearing their hair long, fancy clothes and make-up. Then they changed quite abruptly to live as boys again. „I just am not“, one of my friends told me. „It`s boring to put on make-up.“ Now he has beenn living as boy for serveral years again and you can clearly see, that he never actually had been a ladyboy like me and my other friends are. We still call him „Katoey Pom Sun“ – „Short Hair Ladyboy“. And this term fits as of course he is still quite effeminate.
And that`s actually the reason why a psychological examination is mandatory before a sex reassigning surgery is done. A trained psychologist would have found out from the very first time he had talked to my friend and told him that he was going the wrong way.
The example of my other friend makes the reasons why people become ladyboys and then come back even more clear. He had been a ladyboy, too and came back to be a boy. Still for him there is no clear border between being a ladyboy and being gay. I have been knowing him for some years right now and I definetly know that he is nothing but gay. Still, on his birthdays he celebrates in a dress. And also in everyday`s life he applies a little eyeliner and wears fancy unisex clothes. I guess that is nothing so special in Europe and the US. I know that there are a lot gay people over there living just that way I described my friend. So maybe the whole idea of putting yourself, your sexual orientation and your way of life in drawer is wrong.
Of course for us transsexual Katoey our way is clear and there won`t be anything that can change us. But for all the other ones – why not? There are no frontiers.

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Ladies and Gentlemen: Kate!

Time again to introduce another friend of mine: Kate: I have been knowing Kate only since the beginning of this year, but during that time we have become close friends. I guess that from all my friends she is the most loyal one who will never let me down. She comes originally from Udon Thani province in the northeast of Thailand but lives right now in Bangkok. During the last weeks she has been commuting between her home there and Bangkok as she is doing a training as a professional masseuse.
Kate has some fetish about tidyness. A couple of weeks ago she came over to my place on Sunday and helped me to clean my room. Up to that day I had never seen somebody cleaning even the walls with the vacuum cleaner. But I can`t complain. After one hour my apartment was as clean as an OR in the hospital.
As she lives close to the party center, she is almost always alvailable for a fun night out.

It`s always good to have her coming with you as she is one of the most loyal friends I have and she would never let me down. For a ladyboy that might be even more important than for other people. Going out together as some kind of team watching each others back, hair and backup is important. Sometimes when weg go out together and meet foreign men, sit down with them and chat I feel kind of sad, that her ability of speaking English is rather limited. That`s sad because her jokes are great and in Thai language she has a lot to say and a really surprising knowledge about the world and how things work in it that a lot of other people have not.

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