Lavender Ladyboys

Yet another week has passed, and I have now been in Chiang Mai for a month. Time flies when you're having fun!

My work week was pretty average - we had a little birthday party for one of my co-workers, but that was the extent of the excitement. I still really love what I'm doing, and all the staff are really friendly. It's a great work environment, so I'm very thankful.

Big news this week: our new roommate arrived! Her name is Hannah, and the best way to describe her is 50% American 50% British; she's spent about half her life in each place, so she's a very interesting gal. We love having her, and it's great to have a full house again! Hannah is also doing Burma work, so she fits into our little world wonderfully.

The highlight of my week was definitely the ladyboy show. Allow me to explain. A brand new hotel that caters to the gay community called Lavender just opened up this month in Chiang Mai. It's incredible: it's an entire eleven story building that is not only a hotel for gay tourists, but provides services that can be used by the local gay community as well including, according to the website, "restaurant and bar, a hair salon, a men's massage and spa, a pool complex with steam and fitness, a tour desk, a nightclub with free shows, and a rooftop restaurant." The nighclub, called Powerboys, includes a ladyboy show, which is what my roommates and I went to see.

When we walked in, my roommate Marisa who has been in Chiang Mai for years was shocked at how packed the place was. Every seat was filled. This is apparently not common, so we were clearly at a top-notch show. It was pretty awkward for the first 20 minutes because the show had yet to start, so while sitting and waiting we had to watch the male dancers. This was nothing like what you would picture male dancers to be like in America. There were like 20 or 30 Thai and/or Burmese (not totally sure) guys on stage, not dancing but moving ever so slightly to the music, in the TINIEST white briefs you have ever seen, and their briefs had a little circle with a number on it. As we sat down, a gay guy came over and sat with us and introduced himself as the "mamasan," which basically means pimp/madam in Japanese. He proceeded to greet us and tell us that if we wanted to "buy" one of the men to let him know. This is a great example of the extent to which Thai authorities completely ignore prostitution; this place was a completely legit establishment.

As if being told we could "buy" one of the men on stage wasn't awkward enough, the male dancers then left the stage, and the ones who were "bought" or at least requested by some of the men in the audience came out and sat with them. In their underwear. In the row in front of us. Most of the gay men in the audience were white Westerners, and let me tell you that seeing a teeny tiny Thai guy in his underwear sitting next to a comparatively humongous white guy who has his arms around him is the perfect visual representation of the powerplay that goes on in Thailand between the wealthy male tourists and the Thai men and women who are willing to be their companions (either as prostitutes or as girlfriends/boyfriends/wives/husbands). I think the minute that you are not revolted by this power imbalance is when you've spent one minute too long in Thailand.

Despite the awkward male dancers, the show for the most part was pretty great. If any of you had walked in without knowing that it was a ladyboy show, you would have definitely assumed that the people on stage were women. Not only are the ladyboys convincing, but most of them are absolutely gorgeous. A few of them weren't so great at lip synching, but the fantastic male back-up dancers made up for it. Overall, I would give the show two thumbs up, except for one little number that involved full, male, viagra-enhanced, frontal nudity. That was a little much for me, but apparently it's not uncommon for the performers to have sex on stage during these shows, so I was just glad that there was none of that. The photo above is me in front of Powerboys, but I hadn't quite figured out my new camera yet, so it's kind of fuzzy.

On Sunday, Hannah and I went to the Sunday night market, which is a big tourist spot. It was super crowded, so I'm not sure that I would go again, but it was an experience. The second photo above is from the market. They sell those lights that are in the background all over the place.

It's time for me to head out to dinner, so I'm off!