Breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, botox injections and hormone treatment are
among the basics a guy must undertake to begin the transition. For those who
take the final step, there is the sexual-reassignment surgery with the
necessary vaginoplasty procedure to make them "whole" as a female.
Yet there is sometimes still some "fine-tuning" to perfect the lady. This may
include hair removal, more botox and silicon as needed, scraping of the Adam's
apple to hide its prominence, and even a tweaking of the vocal chords to raise
the tone of the individual's voice.
Indeed, what it is often left over as a product of these transformations is a
"woman" of significant beauty who many of those unfamiliar with Thailand would
not guess was anything but a stunning female beauty. In fact, Thai women when
asked about how to identify ladyboys will often say you can spot a ladyboy
because she is "too beautiful" or "too perfect".
One natural and sufficiently attractive Thai female commented with a sulk, "I
could be just as beautiful as a ladyboy if I could afford half the surgeries
he's had."
Then of course there is the daily primping and preening, hairstyling, makeup
and attention to fashion that complete the package. And this is where the
water-cannon-aided fun becomes the bane of a katoey's existence.
During Songkran, the streets of Bangkok's red-light district, Patpong, become
nearly impassable without being drenched. Several of the clubs in Patpong are
exclusively ladyboy gogo bars, most prominent of which is King's Castle on
Patpong Soi 2 and a crossroads that connects Sois 1 and 2.
King's Castle might be one of the top ladyboy gogo bars in Bangkok as all of
the "women" are only those who have gone through the sexual-reassignment
surgery - and thus able to have intercourse with customers, should it be
desired.
The location, though, proves to be quite unfortunate on Songkran for the
working "girls". Trying to leave the bar with their customers, they become -
like everyone else - an instant target of the water-soaked celebrations. Much
to their chagrin.
Indeed, even as the evening draws to a close and the bars shut down, a dozen or
so ladyboys huddle a safe distance from the oft-drunken party-goers looking for
a chance of safe passage. Some will plead their way through with a respectful wai
(respectful prayer-like gesture of the hands), to make their way down the
streets with their hair and makeup intact.
On one such occasion, as the party wound down a huddle of ladyboys decided to
make a go at it en masse and started down the street. Only a few drunken
revelers remained, but as one the farang (foreigner) raised his water
gun and took aim at the approaching ladyboys, a young Thai women stopped him,
saying, "Hey, they work hard to be beautiful!"
Copyright 2007 Asian Sex Gazette.
