Showing posts with label Street Photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Street Photography. Show all posts

Poles, Filth and Beer: Patong is a Paradise.


Everybody loves a skilled stripper, whether they're polishing a metal pole with their crotch or peeling paint off a surface, everybody can appreciate effort when they see it. 

I thought at the time that Bangkok was the seediest place in the world, but I was wrong, Patong outshines Bangkok in every sense. From Ping Pong shows to attractive women begging you to buy them a drink in the street to the lady-boys that wouldn't even register as anything but an attractive woman out of the context of a sordid Thai sex capital. 

We went to a strip club, walking into a room with a dozen naked Thai women barely moving is slightly surreal. We were the only people in the baron darkness besides a large group of clothed girls waiting to prey on men not accompanied by their spouses. We ordered an overpriced beer and sat down, the ladies grabbed their bras off the stage floor and were already half-wearing their underwear which they fashioned into a sort of garter-belt so it didn't stage floor grime on it.

Before we had taken our first satisfactory sips of beer, out came the ladyboys, they got into their favourite spot on the poorly lit stage and just stood and stared into a large mirror ahead of them, a dozen gender-hybrids awkwardly shuffling to the music, either contemplating existence or admiring all of the work they had clearly put into their bodies, staring into the void, dancing like nobody's watching was evidently optional. 

Objectively they were beautiful creatures, the only way it was certain that they were born male was because of their height in comparison to the tiny Asian creatures before them, that and the massive fake breasts. Simultaneously, without any sort of cue, they removed there bikini tops and did more of the same. The interesting part was when they removed their underwear, I instinctively expected to now be in a dark room, staring at a dozen jiggling penises but got no such joy, all of them had perfectly smooth Action Man crotches providing a hypnagogic sensation, my entire perception of gender and sexuality inflated and burst with the dropping of a small slice of lace fabric. These women were more convincingly feminine when they were completely naked than when they were fully clothed, I've seen more masculine looking women naked in the flesh. 

"These women were more convincingly feminine when they were completely naked than when they were fully clothed"


On a heavier night we decided to go to a ping-pong show, something that we didn't do in Bangkok thanks to hearing horror stories of bouncers demanding money from the clientèle as they tried leaving shows. I managed to get a picture of one of the menus that men and women carried along the main strip, showing to foreigners the delights that awaited them behind closed doors. 

Frankly the place was a pit, a depressing pit, and this was before I knew that the majority of ping-pong women are trafficked from neighbouring countries and don't have a way out of their predicament. We spoke to the guy holding a sign and we said "we won't go to a show that harms animals" he replied and said "they show what you want, no animals for you", whatever, we bought his pitch and went in, we were greeted with a woman holding three lit cigarettes in her vagina and blowing smoke like a distress signal from a desert island. 

Each "show" lasted a couple of minutes before the woman providing the entertainment would go back stage and another girl would come out with a new trick. One of the more entertaining of the bunch was the "Whistle Show" which had three women blowing whistles with violent queefs with a total lack of showmanship or synchronisation and I ended up creasing up with laughter (I was several
Changs deep so respecting human dignity wasn't on my list of priorities).


"One of the more entertaining of the bunch was the "Whistle Show" which had three women blowing whistles with violent queefs"


There were a couple of "shows" that were genuinely impressive, specifically the "Needle Show" and the "Razor Show" both of which involved a woman walking out, pulling on a string from their crotch pocket followed by razors/needles flowing out like a sordid magicians sleeve, they even popped balloons/sliced paper to show that they were in-fact real. The most impressive act was that of the balloon show, handing out some inflated balloons and having the audience members hold them above their heads (myself included) she would get into the birthing position, load a tube with a dart, insert it into her vagina, and blow a queef with such ferocity and accuracy that she would pop the balloon.

Unfortunately our request of not seeing any animals being abused wasn't ignored as it was never actually heard by anybody. As soon as a woman pulled back the velvet curtain, squatted on the stage and discharged a tiny turtle, we drank our beers and left.

Obviously, camera's weren't allowed in either the Ping Pong show or the strip club so the below images were all visible from the street, if you're heading to Thailand I recommend Patong for a fun weekend.




























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Street Cats & Street Dogs of Thailand

Before packing my bags to Thailand I was aware of the fact that I had next to no jabs, especially the rabies vaccine which can be pretty expensive, I told myself that I wouldn't touch any animals because I'd be screwed if they bit me. 

Fast forward a few days and I'm picking up every furry thing that moves, I like to think that I'm a good judge of character and that extends to our furry friends, if I see a dog that looks nervous I'm probably going to stay back. There are methods that I use to approach a new animal, it always helps to have food because you have an instant bond of feeder and feedie, but both cats and dogs appreciate being approached slowly and lowly, always make a fist low to the floor and with cats, squint your eyes and maybe yawn if you're wanting to go that extra mile, it shows that you mean them no harm. With dogs, they don't always appreciate being touched on their backs or even on the top of their heads,  it's a sign of domination so not a great move when you don't know them, behind their ears and under their jaws/across their chests are usually high scorers. 

I made many a bond with many an animal on my way across Thailand, each of them had their own personalities and backgrounds, each living in different circumstances, some of the lucky few had dedicated owners where as the majority were living off the streets, using nothing but their cuteness to encourage passers by to offer them scraps of food. 

Fortunately Thailand being 97% Buddhist means that the locals like to 'make good' and one of the ways to do this on a daily basis is to feed stray animals, so whilst they might not have dedicated owners, they often do get a regular meal if they know where to hang out. 


This little girl was on Koh Lanta living by a bar that had a friendly woman who clearly looked after her but denied being her owner, some Thai people don't seem to understand that if you feed a cat everyday and allow it to live in your building that it is in-fact your cat. She was one of my favourites that I met on my travels, I sat having a beer with her on my lap whilst I gave her a "cat massage" the bar owner told me how jealous she was of the cat, demanding that she be next. 


   

Through a settler village in a mountainous valley in Chiang Mai we found a beautiful group of puppies being looked after by locals, they were located on a path between a road and an idealic waterfall so it was pretty clear that they were an asset in attracting tourists to stop and look at their wares, much like a lot of other animals around businesses, a tool to capture farang (foreigners).






This little guy I liked to call 'Party Dog' simply because he was sat outside a loud nightclub on the beach of Koh Phi Phi, the music didn't seem to phase him, he'd clearly been fussed over by hundreds of tourists before us because he simply couldn't give a shite that we were drunkenly praising his fluff. 

  

This special looking thing was a dog we volunteered to walk at a local shelter on Koh Lanta, his legs were damaged in a fight with another dog so after about 10 minutes of walking he expects to be picked up, he had been adopted by a couple from New York and was simply waiting a week for his flight there, lucky bastard. 


The dopey looking dude above is "Dam" he was the pet of the resort owner we stayed at for two weeks on Koh Lanta, he was quite shy at first but after a few belly rubs he would limp up to me whenever he saw me, he along with the tiny yapper below were guard dogs, he always seemed to struggle walking until the little yapper would spot another dog, then he would sprint behind yapper and his legs would move so fast that you couldn't tell he only had three. 
  


 


This guy I met when I went to a golfing range, he barked the house down and was acting really tough until a little Thai lady came out and informed me that he's all bark and no bite, pulling away the curtain of fearlessness, much like humans, it's usually the loud ones that are the most fearful. 


I met this beautiful creature when I entered a gold shop, it was quite the picture, a room draped in red with real gold hanging from the walls behind glass,and the cat above sat on top of it, looking you in the eyes, judging you for your lack of expensive jewellery. 


1200 steps up a mountain with a 900 feet ascent, this dog was sleeping on top right next to a giant Buddha statue, I have to assume that the local monks looked after him but I can't be sure, I don't know if he ever descends the steps or he simply enjoys mountain life so much that he stays up there, either way he was really friendly, much like the Buddhist monks whom practise their faith on top of the holy mountain on a daily basis. 


I had to shout at a fat Thai kid for walking past this pregnant cat and not lifting his foot (on purpose) and kicking her, he knew what he had done wrong. The worrying thing is that later that night we saw him with a group holding a shoe box, coaxing the cat towards them, I only hope that he was trying to make good, we watched them for a short while and it seemed that they respected that she was a living thing, but can't be sure, we don't know if the shoe box was related or if we were being paranoid, my girlfriend still worries about her. 




When I stumbled upon this cross-eyed siamese cat I felt like Karl Pilkington on his trip to India "Have you ever seen a cross eyed cat?" He was hanging out near a bus station with a small food market accompanied by a bunch of kittens. He was super friendly and playful, jumping on my shoe laces and attacking them whilst I was playing with the kittens. 




   


And finally this beautiful creature was spotted as a kind of mascot at the front of a massage parlour, I was stroking his face, taking pictures of him and soaking in his friendly nature until one of the stunning Thai women pointed at the face of an even more stunning Thai masseuse and saying "what about that? Is she not beautiful?" I agreed and quickly went on my way before I ended up on a table being bent out of shape. 




If you're abroad and unsure about petting animals, you probably shouldn't, your nervousness makes the animals nervous and you'll probably be bit. 

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