I made it to Bangkok at 1 a.m. Going through the new airport and securing a taxi was a breeze as several FT posters indicated it would be. I would guess it's in the lower 90s today.

I'm seeing lots of extremely good looking Thai women walking down the street. They seem rather aloof and don't really look at me. (Not that I'm anything special to look at mind you). They seem to look right through me as though I don't exist. Is this their nature or is it because I've always had a rather intense look about me and it's scaring them away? How does one approach these women?

Also, I'm seeing a lot of American men in their 50s with messy beards and large pot bellies walking arm and arm with some of the aforementioned good looking Thai women. May I suggest they are paying for the privilege? (Either that or Thai women like this type of guy?)

This is a really nice city.

Also, I'm seeing a lot of American men in their 50s with messy beards and large pot bellies walking arm and arm with some of the aforementioned good looking Thai women. May I suggest they are paying for the privilege? (Either that or Thai women like this type of guy?)

Did you check for an adams apple on those sexy ladies? :) Should the local ladies just gush over you? When I've been in Thailand, I've been told that the size of your belly indicates your wealth. So a big beer belly means you're rich! I'm not sure if this is Thai or Chinese in origin.

While there are many 50-ish American men there with Buddha like bellies, don't be so sure the fellows aren't possible Australian, British, or German, too. Especially in Pattaya but also in Bangkok.

You can do a google search on any twist of phrase on Thai girls or Thai women and start to understand the overlapping cultures of corporate office secretaries and the like, retail store attendants, beauticians and other services like barber shops and hotel staff, and the many varieties of bar girls, massage girls, etc. etc. Plus loads of freelance streetwalkers in some of the major bar areas like lower Sukhumvit Road.

Thais are very tolerant of homosexuality and transgender operations, so as the other poster here has mentioned, some of the women you may see or encounter especially during the evening hours in bars, etc., may be sex-changed former fellows. Normally these "girls" are taller and fairly thin, compared to the real thing. Voices also are pretty much a give away, the "katoeys" as they are called cannot come out with a normal female voice, so you get husky voices instead. And sometimes there is a noticeable Adam's apple that is a giveaway. But plastic surgery can and does do wonders with the chests of these women, and maybe with the actual sexual organs, I can't comment!

In some of the bars with bevies of dancers, the katoeys are largely the ones who are more aggressive and much more forward with Caucasian customers, seeking his quick consent to adjourn quickly to the short time rooms on the upper floors of the premises.