I understood what she meant after I spotted her tipping the Lao border police 20 baht. I asked her how she did it, and she simply said that she understood how things work in Laos. That was, until I found a Lao girlfriend who was always able to whisk me through quickly. When I entered Laos from Thailand, I used to hate the long waits in obtaining a visa on arrival that I sometimes encountered. Laos has more of a corruption problem than does Thailand. Why would the Lao government screw up a lucrative business for them by busting its customers? I haven't visited the establishments suggested by the prosecutor, but I believe that they are safe, because the mere fact that they are in business means that protection money has been paid to the right authorities. I'm certain there are other similar cases. A Thai guy was caught living with his Lao girlfriend, and it cost him a 40,000 baht fine. I've heard of only one guy being busted, and it wasn't P4P. I did, and he pointed out the places to go for heterosexual P4P. He warned me to stay away from Lao girls, and that cohabitation with a Lao national was illegal. He said he worked as a criminal prosecuting attorney at the People's Court (not the one on TV). I had an interesting conversation with the Lao boyfriend as we drove to Vientiane and went past his place of employment.
MALE GAY MASSAGE IN LAOS DRIVER
The driver sat in front, I took the middle row by myself, and the two lovebirds sat in back. Fortunately for me, because I'm not gay, we rode a van with three rows of seats. This guy turned out to be gay, and was meeting his Lao boyfriend at the border. He asked to share a cab to Vientiane ostensibly to save money, and I agreed. On my first trip to Laos several years ago, I was approached by a friendly farang from San Francisco just after leaving Nongkhai in the no-man's land before being granted a visa to Laos. The P4P places are generally frequented by Thais or Laos, but not farangs. It's available, though probably not at that particular massage parlor. It's a common myth that P4P is unavailable in Laos. I thought perhaps I should wait until I limped back to Thailand before I commenced physical therapy. I feared that the Lao doctors might decide that my foot couldn't be saved, and amputate it. Like most Lao who can afford it, he came to Thailand for medical treatment, upon which he was told by a Thai doctor that he was perfectly healthy. I considered getting medical care while still in Laos, but then I thought about my brother in law who was told by a Lao doctor that he had heart failure, and possibly liver cancer. I left that shop with a badly sprained angle that would take about 3 months to completely heal. She looked equally surprised, and said in Lao: “You said you wanted a hard massage.” I screamed in pain and asked my masseuse from hell what she was doing. No, the shot that rang out was the sound of cartilage tearing as she twisted my right ankle. Was the establishment being raided by the Lao police? Was I being arrested in an entrapment sting vice operation to extort money from farangs? Suddenly a sound like a gunshot interrupted the stillness, and I felt someone grab me violently.
I decided to make the best of the situation, and I quietly lay back in my chair, in a dreamy state with my eyes shut, as she worked my lower body. I had only wanted a foot massage, and I didn't realize that I would be breaking in an inexperienced young farm girl. As she plied her wares, it became apparent to me that she was totally new to the business. What ensued was totally unexpected, and this was unlike any foot massage I had ever had before. From her manner of speech I knew that she was a country girl, not from Vientiane. I replied “hard.” Nothing special anticipated. It appeared that I was the only customer.Īs I sat in a reclining chair, my masseuse, who looked to be about 20 years old, coyly asked me if I wanted a hard massage or a soft one. Inside, I found a group of about 6 eager girls, and one of them led me into an empty dark room. I entered through its sliding glass doors, and requested a foot massage. Just around the corner from That Dam, I found a charming little massage parlor. Last time I traveled to Vientiane from Thailand I walked past the massively thick walls of the U.S.