Patpong girls

A term used to describe an epidemic of very, very young prostitutes in urban Thailand who are sold into prostitution by their families, usually to pay off debts. This class of prostitution is set up nearly exclusively for tourists and many people, particularily American, British, and Austrailian men, will actually take sex vacations for the ability to have sex with these girls, some of whom are as young as 13 years old.

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Yeah, and Teiresias, the sick thing is, it's been constructed for the benefit of the Western tourist. And, it seems, the majority of them are more than happy to oblige.

The Patpong is no longer really the centre of this trade, as it has turned into a total tourist trap, complete with tacky market selling knocked off clothing and tourist tat.

There are still loads of live sex shows down there though. In fact you can't go further than about ten metres along the pavement without being grabbed by a tout who thrusts a menu in your face listing the activities that go on during the night at their bar (such as hookers putting razorblades in their vaginas, and shooting ping-pong balls out of them). I got hassled by them all the time, and I was walking along hand in hand with my girlfriend.

The area is worth going to just to see what it's like, but the sight of all of these prostitutes lined up outside the clubs in evening gowns, with numbers on their chests like they were on a menu reminded me of some sick and twisted takeaway.