Free Thai Girl by Andrew Hicks Page A

… not like the working girls in London who really are on the skids.’
    â€˜How do you tell the difference?’ asked Ben.
    â€˜I pass through Kings Cross on my way back to Hackney and you see real despair … drug dependency and that. The girls here just want to make a fast buck. They even look like they’re enjoying it.’
    â€˜Yeah, the English hookers are as miserable as hell, aren’t they,’ said Ben, shooting himself in the foot. ‘Who wouldn’t want the Thai girls!’ Emma glowered at him.
    â€˜Trust you to lower the tone,’ she said, angrily pulling out a packet of cigarettes and lighting up. Ben looked away and grinned at Chuck.
    There was a brief pause, but Maca had not yet finished sparring with Samantha.
    â€˜Generalisations are dangerous, Sam. Most of the sex workers you see in the farang bars are from Isaan … that’s the rice farming region in the North East which is dry and very poor. Thousands of men and women from there leave home and come to the cities to make a bit of cash.’
    â€˜But they don’t have to be prostitutes do they,’ broke in Samantha sharply.
    â€˜No, though they may have little choice. Some are sold into prostitution when they’re very young. Or the job agency gives the parents a cash advance which the girl can only pay off by selling herself. And there’s kids to feed.’
    â€˜But I bet it’s not always like that,’ said Samantha, cradling her bottle in her hands.
    â€˜No, maybe some of them just want to get on in life. But don’t forget, they’re not all Thais. The illegal immigrants from Burma, Lao and Cambodia are the most at risk. If they’re run across the border and tricked into prostitution here, it seems hard to condemn them as sluts.’
    â€˜Exactly,’ said Emma. ‘Don’t stigmatise the women, blame the men who buy them. Why’s it a disgrace to be a prostitute but macho for a man to shag’em?’
    â€˜Yes, Sam, don’t be so judgmental. It’s all because of poverty,’ said Nadia, nervously speaking up for the first time.
    The surprised silence that followed was broken by Clarissa.
    â€˜Nadia’s right. Can you imagine poverty and what you’d do to escape it. I’ve just given up my job because I’ve done okay, but think what it’d be like for a Thai peasant to have steady money. Some of them are so poor. You should’ve seen the hotel porter’s smile when I gave him a twenty baht note.’
    â€˜Dinkie die,’ said Maca. ‘When I think about sitting here on my Aussie arse drinking all day, I nearly die of guilt.’
    â€˜Have another beer to deaden the pain then,’ said Ben.
    â€˜Well I’m as dry as a dead dingo’s donger, so I don’t mind if I do. But seriously, Ben… Thailand’s rich compared to Laos or Cambodia. And in rural Thailand the family’s still everything, even if people do have to leave home to find work.’
    â€˜So you’re saying rural poverty here’s not so bad then?’
    â€˜Not really … in Thailand there’s still a poverty of opportunity. Back home you can get up and go, but here there’s so much under-employment and wasted talent. Even if you’ve got enough to eat, what sort of a life is it selling noodles from a roadside stall when in the West you could be a teacher or doctor.’
    â€˜Like we’re all going to be when we go back home,’ interjected Ben flippantly.
    â€˜And take America where our Chuck comes from. Anyone can start an internet company aged twenty five and bugger off and tan their ass in Thailand for a year or two before getting back on the merry-go-round.’ Chuck ignored him and said nothing.
    â€˜All this breast-beating’s making me hungry,’ said Clarissa. ‘I could eat a horse.’
    She called for menus and they all ordered red and green curries, noodles and