Loi Khro

Loi Khro; also known as Hook Row. The name gives the illusion that it is a road of brothels and bar girls, and that is exactly what it is. It is dangerous for a sane man to go on this road without a female body guard, as he will 100 percent of the time be grabbed at, groped and prodded by hundreds of bar girls dressed in barely anything, looking to make some money. Their plastered smiles make less secure men feel wanted, their eyes show something else entirely.

That night was my first night on the job. We walked to a small restaurant owned by a Texan man and his wife. His restaurant was the most popular one on the street, he sat at the table next to us as we ate dinner and he was getting ready for his night out with his wife’s son. After a brief conversation we discovered that while most of the other restaurants and bars were sparse with customers, his was on a waiting list, and it wasn’t because the food was good. It was amazingly because on this soi known for prostitution and bar girls, his had none. We would spend hours on this street every night. The women having to walk directly in front of the men as we passed the famous bars where women and lady boys would grab and advertise their services. We would stop at the bars and listen to the music and wait. As long as you ordered something, anything, you could stay. Within ten minutes at each place we stopped, children would show up to sell flowers. It was a school night, between the hours of 10pm and 3 am. Each child had a specific area they were required by their parents to work, selling flowers and jasmine wristbands until they were gone or made a certain amount of money. If they returned home short, it was a brutal beating. My friend that I was traveling with, having previously lived in Chiang Mai, knew each and every one by name. He used to give them free English lessons in the bars afterschool under the scrutinizing eye of their parents. They hadn’t seen him in 7 months. They would approach us and he would stare at them. Their eyes were blank, you could tell this was a routine, it was if their little bodies were present, but their shut down overwhelmed minds were somewhere else entirely. Their feet barefoot, for effect, and dirt strategically placed on their faces, after a few seconds of my friend staring at them and not saying anything, they snapped back into reality and looked at him. A huge grin appearing on many faces we encountered, some becoming shy, and a few even throwing their arms around my friend as if seeing a parent after another child made fun of them at school. As long as we stayed on their “turf” they stayed by us. Playing games, joking, having arm and thumb wrestling competitions between the casual circles the children would routinely make around the restaurant to appease their parents before coming back to us and taking a place on a lap. We would take them to the store nearby and buy snacks, toastys and coffee. It was the drink of choice for 8 year olds; having to stay up late until the flowers were gone, then putting in a full day at school and going out to the streets again. One boy, at around 1230am, realized he had made enough money, but still had 6 flowers left. Instead of trying to sell them, gave them to us and ran off to finish his homework.

The next few nights we would buy the flowers from certain children we knew we could trust. It’s normal to not want to purchase the flowers because you know their parents ill intentions with the money but really? What is ten baht so this kid can get some sleep and hopefully do something better with his education? We would give the roses to the bar girls, just walk up, give them a flower and smile, or tell them they are beautiful. This earned us some weird looks, especially when the boys wouldn’t separate from the girls, but instead insisted on the curious ones sitting with us all as a group. Some realized we were not going to give them any money, so ignored the rose, the compliment and moved onto some middle aged European who would, and others decided they wanted to chat.