to never, ever go to the Maldives on holiday

[Sallyingforth]

after reading this report...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21595814

Koh Samui is absolutely vile and I have informed my endless friends who choose to marry there that I will not be attending any more weddings there. The Thai government, being an entirely corruption free and prgressive liberal one, is of course doing everything they can to stop prostitution....hee hee

I think the local area governments are leading the clamp down mainly. They are definitely doing so in both Chaing Mai and Koh Lanta. Tee hee.

I agree about Koh Samui and I would never go back there.

I didn't want to go there anyway, but that's horrific.

Eye opening info. Thanks OP.
Poor girl.

There is plenty of very obvious prostitution in Bangkok - it is truly horrible to see.

We also know someone who is recently divorced, so now goes to Thailand for a month each winter to take advantage of the cheap prostitutes. He sees nothing wrong in it because he says the women like the friendship of the western men, and he takes them shopping also. Obviously, he is a wanker.

I saw lots of obvious prostitution in Bangkok but nothing in the resort. However i have heard that pattaya is notorious for the sex trade.

And if more non sex tourists and families go to Thailand then maybe that will encourage more to go where as now some people think it is only a sex destination.

We only used Bangkok as the hub for flights so saw very little of it. I deeply dislike large cities so I only did one tourist trip to a temple on the river and one bit of nightmare shopping in a building with infinite floors and escalators which I am sure I will have nightmares about for years to come. In fact I did ask DH if we had died without noticing and were in purgatory when we were in the mall!

Koh Lanta is full of Nordic families, it was very nice.

I dont visit Thailand and I wont now visit the Maldives.
While I agree that they need normal tourists in Thailand I could not go and have any enjoyment out of a holiday there. I would rather send them the money than go.

Theo, I can't believe the hassle you are getting on this thread. Distressing to witness THEN come on here and be doubted.

She wasn't doubted, can you read?

Is there a petition against this?

petition

Signed.

According to Amnesty this is not a one-off case but a routine punishment mainly for women. It makes me even more angry that people go there on holiday /honeymoon and subsidise a cruel regime.
Yes I know it's not the only country like that. But that's no excuse at all for supporting them.

There will always be the odd fruit loop on the internet, luckily they are outweighed by the majority of really nice and reasonably normal people.

There will always be the odd fruit loop on the internet, luckily they are outweighed by the majority of really nice and reasonably normal people.

Er i did not accuse you of being a troll Theodora. It was a genuine question, which you didn't actually answer but that's your prerogative I suppose. I have been to Thailand, Bangkok, chiang mai and Ko lanta. As I said in my previous post you do see prostitution and sex tourism. However I picked up a very interesting book called Sex Slaves on a recent trip to Vietnam which shows that actually the biggest customers of the south East Asian sex trade are South East Asian men. So boycott all you like but that market will still be there, until the attitude to women and children there changes. In Vietnam I bumped into a western man frequently, always trailing a young local boy with him and saw the same in Thailand with young women and older western men.

I can't sign it, it keeps telling me my postcode and phone no are invalid

I saw much evidence of the prostitution of obviously underage girls in Thailand. I also mistakenly paid for the services of a young prostitute one evening because I was talking to her and bought her several drinks (non-alcoholic)... I didn't realise that was how these transactions are carried out. I was with my boyfriend, we told her to take the night off instead, then her madam came over and got angry with us. We explained that we didn't want to take her for sex, so several others were trotted out in front of us, as the madam assumed we just didn't fancy the one we'd been talking to. My boyfriend was pushed and our camera was taken, but we got away. I always wished we'd taken the girl with us and just treated her to a nice meal instead... I was worried about her after we'd left. We went back to the area the next day to see if we could see her and check she was ok, but she wasn't around. That was 20 years ago...I hope her life improved .

I have encountered so many British men married to young Thai and Fillipina girls in the last 5 years or so, I recruit for the oil and gas sector. Men from their early 20s up to their 60s, it's definitely something I see more and more. I am not completely comfortable with that either, however, I am not surprised that the few hundred men who marry young, subservient women are not the issue, the info about South East Asian men is really interesting.

The book is by Louise Brown, well worth the read.

On the subject of Thai brides my dad has one (yuck) she is a lovely woman but I cant help feeling sorry for her and hate my dad for doing this.

She obviously really wants dc but my dad wont as she will ruin her figure and he has raised his child.

He didbt raise me he lived abroad and I saw him for 4weeks a year. Just in the interest of failrness am I be too sterotypical by assuming she is a Thai bride? and not someone who genuinely fell in love with my dad.

Thanks badger, am going to track a copy down. Crawling, I don't know if you are or not but it must be a really hard situation.