Word: bangkok
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...often, when you see a pretty woman sitting alone at a cafe in Bangkok, it's easy to assume she's a hooker - even though it often turns out that she's a lawyer or an investment banker or a software executive. But in this sex-saturated city, where the red-light district is not a district as much as a web of go-go bars that covers the entire city, the rush to judgment is understandable. No modern capital is as open about its flesh trade as Bangkok is. Nor does my gender preclude me from generous offers. Touts...
...Bangkok's industrial-strength sex trade first developed during the Vietnam War to cater to American soldiers on R&R. Since then, it has mushroomed, luring both locals and sex tourists from around the world. Viagra has enlivened the industry, bringing a whole new generation of men to the Bangkok night scene. A survey by a leading Thai university estimated that between 1999 and 2002, 2.8 million Thais participated in the sex business - this in a country whose entire population is 65 million. Roughly 800,000 of those sex workers were underage; most came from poor farming households in Thailand...
...unveiled economic measures that have left foreign investors distinctly uncharmed. In December, to combat an appreciating currency that was irking Thai exporters by making their goods pricier overseas, the central bank briefly instituted harsh capital controls, precipitating the worst one-day drop in the 31-year history of the Bangkok stock exchange. Then, last week, Thailand's Cabinet began tightening foreign-ownership laws, closing loopholes that had made the country one of the region's most welcoming destinations for overseas investment. At the same time, the government is clamping down on the thousands of foreigners who work in Thailand without...
...ring true in Davos, but in Thailand, ground zero of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, economic protectionism is on the rise. "There are several members of the coup Cabinet who believe Thailand is too dependent on foreign investment," says Supavud Saicheua, head of research at Phatra Securities in Bangkok. "They believe it's their duty to fix things before global economic trends negatively affect Thailand." In a country where the King is widely revered, the junta's Cabinet has shrewdly tied its closing-door strategy to an existing royal mandate. After the regional financial meltdown a decade ago, Thailand...
...Thai public doesn't appear too rattled. Although a local poll showed the junta Cabinet's popularity plunging from 90% to 48% since October, that's largely blamed on a mysterious New Year's Eve bombing campaign that killed three people in Bangkok-not on economic nationalism. "I think there is a growing group in Thailand that believes business here should belong to Thais, not foreigners," says Sukhbir Khanijoh, senior analyst at Kasikorn Securities in Bangkok. That sentiment was stoked by Thaksin's controversial $1.9 billion sale last year of his family stake in telecom firm Shin Corp. to Singapore...