[66paptroump]

Yeah, the friends I went with were mostly femmes, and they were all uber cool about letting me walk in with my arms 'round their hips, thusly pushing my pimp-meter through the roof.

I was (and actually still am) pretty gun shy in Thailand until a certain Brasilian instinctively started slipping ice cubes into my mouth, much to the shock and jealous awe of the Thais around me. I'll agree with you on the male bodyguards in North America; I go to clubs mostly for people watching (yeah, one of those guys) and always laugh my ass off when I see a group of 18 something first-time club boys get shot down by much more experienced, much older women.