What Was The Ladyboy Scene Like 15-20 Years Ago?

[Guest]

I have been going to Bkk since 1987 ..

at the time there were some LBs, but certainly not like now

the first time I got there, (there is a longer story, but will keep this brief).. I went out on the street in front of the Grace (at that time, not so muslim oriented) and was approached by what I am pretty sure was a LB .. at the time, had no interest, so passed..

As noted by other Casanova was the first, but even before they became a LB bar they had a couple in there.. never took one, but did do a bit of groping in the bar ..

There used to be a bar on the second floor by the escalator (Foreign Intrique) and they had an openly TG working there, did a mean Tina Turner lip sync .. but not attractive

My first experience with a LB was in the Nana Hotel . about 1990

I was going to my room and as I got off the elevator on my floor a LB was about to get on .. she followed me to my room .. I was not really all that interested, but let her come into the room

she put the hard sell on me.. needed money, yada yada yada

she finally convinced me that I needed a BJ.. so I said OK, she took off all but her panties, she had a boob job that was not good, uneven, the girls who got boob jobs back then often did not get good ones, not like today

I got a bit curious, so got her panties off and watched her jerk off while I did the same..

got me started on LBs..

[Eazy_Sleazy]

Makes you wonder...in 20 yrs what will Pattaya be like. In the future, we'll look back to 2008 and laugh at the hairdoos and the bars like we do at the 80's.

Attitudes, in general, have changed...i remember those days as "fun" without the "profit margin". Who cares, it's all good.

Here's my prediction... how will the LB evolve more in 20 yrs? I think the LBs will takeover completely, eat all the GGs (and a few fat/drunk Euro falangs)...then develop an advanced species of LBs. The GGs will become extinct...but later invented as synthentic robots by SkyNet (rogue LBs scientists and engineers from the late 70's). The GG robots will exterminate the new species of LBs and return Pattaya back to order--readjusted to the 80's, or mid 90's. The Killer LBs that are taken as POWs during the revolultion, will be repatriated--only on the terms they proceed to the Philippines to eat fat Filapinas. The GG robots will be de-militarized and takeover as Baht bus/motorbike drivers--reprogrammed to terminate Indian suit tailors. It's Alien, Predator, Terminator--Pattaya style, baby!

[Drift Spunk]

I was only 4 years old!

[DexterH]

I dont know if people here have read Michael Herr's 'Despatches' on the Vietnam war -didn't he refer to ladyboys in Bangkok as the girls with a big 'process'? I never understood what process meant. My recollection from afar in the 60s and 70s is that Bugis st in Singapore was the centre of the [Asian] Ladyboy universe. vide the film St Jack with Ben Gazzara..New York, San Francisco, Paris and other places had revues and more for decades...

[jimslim]

(Drift Spunk @ Nov. 04 2008,15:18) I was only 4 years old!

You started early

[Guest]

My experiences from the 70s: In Singapore Bugis St was the place! Lots of 'shims' as they were called then and many good lookers. This was the pre bolt-on era and they were rarely 'chopped and channeled' (as we used to say). Back in the room they were reluctant to show their cocks, they usually covered it with a towel. They would always make sure you understood that you weren't with a female.

Penang had a good sprinkling of shims, mostly hanging around late at night in sections of the main street - there were no lookers then.

Bangkok - hard to find and I had no exoperiences with them back then. There were no ladyboy bars in any place those days that I was aware of. Being 'topped' was unheard of.

[jonstroud]

Things have definitely changed since the internet became popular. Before about 1996, the only LB bar in NEP was Casanova. There were a couple in Patpong and some in Patpong, but nowhere near the prolieration you see now. The only entertainment area where there's been a decline in LB numbers is Soi Cowboy.

Back then, a lot of the LB hookers relied on customers mistaking them for girls initially then getting hooked on what was on offer. Now, there's a steady stream of tourists coming to Thailand primarily to meet LBs and they know where to go. What's more, the LBs have a much better idea of what their customers want than they did 10-15 years ago.

I've noticed a big loss of enthusiasm among most of the LB hookers in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya in recent years. This may be a general attitude change among most Thais as the country gets richer or it may be a case of familiarity with tourists is breeding contempt.

There was a time when sex with a LB hooker would probably be cheaper than with a GG. Not now. This is definitely down to increased demand and the use of internet to find out what others are paying elsewhere.

A more recent issue is that Japanese expats and tourists have discovered NEP (Patpong has always catered to Japanese and westerners) and the LBs have adjusted their looks and mannerisms to suit these clients. Prices have risen accordingly.

In conclusion, there is more choice from LBs who are more aware of what their customers want, but they are generally a lot less concerned about customer satisfaction and charge a lot more than before the advent of the internet. More style, less substance.

[jimslim]

Interesting , anymore guys around before the internet days care to expand on this

[jonstroud]

Back in 87, I was wandering down Patpong late one night (back in those days it was possible to wander as there was no night market obstacle course) and a tout offered to show me a great bar with lots of lovely girls. We walked down Surawong - away from Rama IV - and took a right turn after a few minutes. He escorted me to a large bar in a side street. All the girls turned out to be LBs. Some were lip syncing on stage to the their favourite songs and others were getting on with the job of finding customers.

Just outside the bar there were a couple of staff sitting by a table. Any customer who took one of the girls out paid 500 baht at the table. This was supposedly the only payment they had to make and was for all night.

In those days, I wasn't interested in that sort of thing, so I passed. I've not seen the bar since and surely it's long gone. I wonder if there are any similar bars in town. Somewhere a little off the beaten track and that offers a slightly different experience. If such a bar does exist, I suspect it's most likely location is in a soi off Silom or Surawong. I'm travelling a lot for the next couple of months, but when things have calmed down, I'll do a bit of exploring in that area. Maybe let a tuk tuk driving tout find me and let him know what I'm looking for.

[Guest]

I don't think that there is any question that the internet and the easy access to porn has made a huge difference

LBs have been a part of the Thai landscape for a long time, but they were not something that foreigners came to Thailand to see .. as I noted in my earlier post, when I first started coming to Bkk there just were not many around.. they were there, but almost no bars had any

PP had them hanging around.. and there were the caberet shows back then too, but they were not that available in the play for pay scene

I think another thing that has made a difference is the much more available plastic surgery that exists now

it is cheaper than before and the results much better.. anyone that saw some of the early boob jobs that LBs in Thailand got knows this .. some of them were just awful

also, all the other types of surgery, get rid of the adam's apple, chins, cheekbones, etc ..

not to mention the ultimate .. in the past, conversions just didn't happen often, now Bkk is a place to come from around the world to get a dickectomy ..

[Tomcat]

KC3 used to pass itself off as a GG Bar. The LBs would never admit that they were Ladyboys and just gave blow jobs to the mongers unless you were one of those in the know. The old trick of red paint on a Tampon used to suffice as an excuse not to get the knickers off...

I remember seeing Nune ( remember her!) and could not believe that she was a Ladyboy...she was a Superstar and surely in the Pantheon of the all time Greats. This was just about the time when internet LB Porn was taking off i think.

[andyroma]

To everybody..