What is missing are people. People of a certain age group, that don’t seem to exist. It is mostly young girls/women but also young boys/men. In an Isaan village there are always plenty of young children running around and playing. There are young teen boys and girls up to the age of 16 or 17, then you have the older people from 30’s-80’s but between these 2 age groups there seems to be a missing generation of the 18-30 year olds.
(Young kids playing in the village)
There are some of these age groups in the villages but not many. Why is this? Well most of these people have to go to the cities to find decent paying work to help pay for their families existence. There isn’t a lot of good paying jobs in an Isaan village most of the jobs are on the family farm or small business or working at the local market and restaurants or food stalls.
(some 13-20 year olds relaxing)So this is why so many beautiful young Isaan girls end up in the capital cities chasing work. Most go hoping to find real work but eventually meet someone who tells them about the big money to be made in the sex industry. So they weigh up the facts. Work 12 plus hour days for 6,000-8,000 baht a month or work in prostitution and if they become a superstar they can make money that they have only ever dreamed about, 50,000 plus baht a month. Even just an average Isaan girl can make 20,000 plus baht a month and have everything else given to them by their customers such as meals, clothes, phones, gold and so forth.
Not all Isaan girls end up in the sex industry, there are many working in good paying jobs for large companies that pay them a fair monthly wage and provide meals and also a place to live. I know of 3 such girls from an Isaan village who work for a company that makes little bottles of ‘chicken essence’ in Bangkok. They work 6 days a week 12 hours a day and have meals and accommodation provided. I went to their building last March when I was in Bangkok and it wasn’t too bad. A security guard is posted at the building 24 hours a day and the girls must be back in the building before 11pm or they will be locked out for the night and then face having the pay docked for not being home by the curfew time. They are very happy working for this company and send money home to their families every month.
So in an Isaan village you see these young children being looked after or raised by older people who look like they could be their grandparents and yes, often they are. This is very common for a young girl who has a baby. She will return to work in the city and her mum and dad or grandparents take over the role of raising the child. If you look next time you are in a village in the country and you will notice this.
I think it’s sad that it is like this but this is how many of the families survive and make it through life and has been happening for so many decades that it just continues to this day. I am 100% sure that if Isaan people could earn a decent wage in the area they wouldn’t go to the big cities as most I have spoken too really don’t like the cities. They don’t like the pollution, crowds, crime and so forth. They say they miss the village and the good clean air, their families and friends and animals running around everywhere.
I believe this as even I cannot live in Bangkok as it makes me go a little crazy and would rather accept 10,000 baht less for the job that I do teaching English in an Isaan school than living in Bangkok and having all the stress a big city brings with its lifestyle.
So to all the people who sit and judge Isaan people, especially the girls working as bargirls in prostitution. Sit back and remember that they are making money to feed an entire family of brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents. They are not there doing the job because they enjoy a big fat hairy farang laying on them squashing there tiny bodies while having sex. They are there for the money. So to every foreigner they manage to make so extra money out of be it from deception or what. I say good luck to them and hope they can do this many times so that when they have enough money saved they can return to their village and the lifestyle they long for and to the best people in Thailand. Isaan People. Brunty
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