Sex Tourism.

I visited Bangkok last year with the (now ex) Korean boyfriend...

It was my first time in Thailand...

...and even though my younger brother loves scuba diving in Thailand and has visited a few times...

I have generally avoided Thailand because I feel uncomfortable about a few issues...

Firstly...

... I am generally under the impression that a lot of Australians (or Europeans, or Americans, or Japanese) go to Thailand to drink too much and go to clubs and to enjoy sexual services.

Am I being too judgmental?

Secondly...

I feel that these 'activities' compounded leads me to believe that most tourists don't generally visit Thailand to;

a) interact with Thai culture

b) learn about Thai customs, OR

c) understand the history of Thailand

I am aware of the fact that a lot of honeymooners and couples travel to Thailand to enjoy beaches and food etc...

...but the part that bothered me seriously in Thailand was the fact that every couple that I saw in my Bangkok Hotel was compromised of ...

...one obese 50 years (or over) white man with a seemingly 19-year-old Thai woman.

Even though I cannot fully interpret the nature of their 'relationship'... somehow this made me depressed...

These large white men peered over at me suspiciously...

...as if they were offended by a white woman having an Asian boyfriend...

...while I was more offended by the fact that they seemed somewhat disrespectful of Thai women and Thai culture in general...

I know I am oversimplifying this sex tourism issue a lot...

... and I know I am absolutely stereotyping what is going on between old European Grandpas and young Thai students...

but...

I do have negative feeling about foreigners engaging in sex tourism in general...

because;

a) Travellers must respect the traditions and the residents of the countries they visit...

AND

b) Negotiating paid sex which is not necessarily consensul and is possibly with minors/children does NOT constitute 'respecting traditions or respecting the nation's residents' (as mentioned in 'a')...

The reason why I thought about this issue again recently was because I was introduced to some foreign businessmen last week who came to Seoul for a weekend...

...they were under the impression that Seoul was similar to Bangkok...

...and they asked if they could find 'cheap pussy' in the streets of Seoul...

I was startled (and offended) by this comment because I know that many foreign businessmen like to generalize about how 'all Asian cities are the same'.

I find this incredibly irritating...

...as Seoul is different to Shanghai, which is different to Hong Kong, which is different to Manila, which is different to Bangkok...and so on and so on...

So just to make this clear...;

...if you a foreign business person in Seoul...

Seoul is NOT the place for sex tourism...(nor should such an industry exist in any country...*in an ideal world*)

...and foreigners need to adjust their attitudes when travelling to Korea for business...

...as Korea and all countries in Asia are very very different...

(...it is also very insulting that so many foreigners appear to have clearly absurd and severely misguided opinions about Asian women...)