[newspetty]

Yes. If I had a friend of mine say "Oh, I'm going on vacation to Bangkok for a weekend.", I would jump to the conclusion that there was some freaky shit involved, because that is Thailand's reputation. In the United States, at least.

Weeeeell...that happened to me. At first I believed that person telling me it was all about kick-boxing and the beaches...but after further investigation, I found some really graphic photos and let's just say that traumatized me. A lot.

To be honest, if I heard a guy tell me he's going to Bangkok again, I would definitely think there will be some freaky shit involved, even though he wasn't planning to.

---------- Post added 2010-08-05 at 13:08 ----------

Historically, Thailand’s prostitution has existed since the Ayuddhya period (1350-1767) and it becomes flourished especially during the Vietnam War in the 20th century and afterward to the present day.

The prostitution has now become the part of Thai society in both culture and economic development and politic which Thailand cannot survive without it. However, sadly the prostitution is not legalized and the prostitutes who most of them are from the poor family are being viewed as an object and have been looking down bythe Thai elites as dog, the sub-human and the ignorant and with this it makes their dignity becomes less valuable and respected in Thai society.

This daring statement proved to be right because if we reasonably look closely into their contributions to the Thai economic development and political stability by the prostitution, we can understand that it is critically more important.

Comparatively, the prostitutes have more value to say about them due to their sacrifice for the well-being of their families and the economic development in the country compared to Bhumibol, the king of Thailand, because their sacrifice makes tourism in Thailand contributes to about 6% of the national economy.

In the past their business was legalized and taxed. However, it is considered as illegal under the prostitution law 1908, but it has even contributed more to the Thai economy. Especially, during the Vietnam war it injected some $16 million into the Thai economy annually through this sex tourism and it is remarkably increased to, as one estimate published in 2003 placed the trade at, US$ 4.4 billion per year or about three percent of the Thai economy. It is estimated that the number of prostitutes in Thailand has increaed from 400,000 in 1964 to to 2 million today. Among which 20% of Thailand prostitutes are 18 or younger. According to research by Chulalongkorn University on the Thai illegal economy, prostitution in Thailand in the period between 1993 and 1995, made up around 2.7% of the GDP. It is believed that at least 10% of tourist dollars are spent on the sex trade.

http://sokheounpang.wordpress.com/20...c-development/ It's amazing how prostitution has contributed $4.4 billion a year to the economy with over 2 million Thai prostitutes.