Life as a migrant ‘host’ in the red-light district of Chiang Mai, Thailand

This article, written by Wanna Taemthong, was published by Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand. An edited version has been republished by Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.

For migrants, particularly those from Myanmar, Thailand can be a land of opportunity. One such migrant worked as a sex worker in host bars, drinking with customers and going out with them in Chiang Mai’s Santitham district, known as a budget-friendly red-light district. However, this sector can be tumultuous, and just before the New Year, he lost his job after contracting a sexually transmitted disease. It was not HIV, but it meant he became unemployed.

For his safety and privacy, he is referred to as “04” throughout this piece. At many host bars in Thailand, workers are given numbers that they wear pinned to their outfits. He was number 04 at one of his previous jobs.

04 is a member of the Shan people group, the largest ethnic group in Myanmar. He originally travelled to Thailand to earn money for his family.

After almost a month of unemployment, 04 contacted a Chiang Mai resident for help with his medical fees. The resident reached out to sex worker and migrant worker rights groups in Chiang Mai for assistance and took him to a hospital on January 3rd. He was examined and treated, and told to return for a follow-up appointment a few days later.

We met 04 at the hospital during his follow-up appointment. The 20-year-old has tattoos along his arms and legs. His hair is dyed bright orange.

“I think I’m going to dye my hair a new color,” he told us. The young man was not talkative, but still had the conversational skill of a host. Fortunately, the doctor told him his condition is treatable. The resident paid his own hospital bill because no organization has taken his case so far.

04 spent all day at the hospital — such is the nature of public hospital visits in Thailand. While waiting for his ride, he told us that he was not trafficked (an ongoing problem in Thailand) and started working as a “host” of his own volition.

Living in Shan State, 04 was ordained as a novice monk when he was just nine years old. At 18, as the oldest son with two younger brothers, he left the monastic life to work and care for his family. Soon after, his father was drafted into the army.

04 came to Chiang Mai and found work in the service industry. He worked as a server in a grilled pork restaurant, where he was required to work from 4 in the afternoon to 1.30 the next morning for THB 260 (USD 8.2). After three or four months, he quit his restaurant job and started working in host bars, where the pay was better and the work lighter.

In the bars, he worked from 10 pm to 5 am. The men are paid by the number of drinks their customers order. 04 said he has worked at several bars in Chiang Mai. At some, he only stayed a few months. At others, where the pay is good and paid on time, he stayed longer.

Before he got sick, 04 worked in the Santitham district. Among Chiang Mai residents, it is known that white tourists go to bars on Loi Kroh Road, while Thais frequent the budget-friendly bars in Santitham, where drinks are cheap, and most workers are migrants trying to make a living.

04 was not considered a formal employee at these bars because the owners did not pay his wages. Instead, he made money from the drinks his customers bought, and the bars took a cut. If a drink costs 250 baht, the bar takes 50, and he takes the rest. He could make as much as a full day of work at the grilled pork restaurant from one drink.

At the grilled pork place the work is harder. Working at the bars, if you ask me if it’s tiring, it is, but working there is better. At the restaurant, I get two days off, but the bar gives me five days off and I can take them whenever I want. The work is also a different kind. I have to observe the customers to see if they like to play games. If they do, then I would take them to play. The most drinks I ever got was 30 in one hour, and the customer wanted to keep going, but on any day I don’t get a drink at all, then I don’t make any money. like working for free. Living in Thailand, if you don’t have money, you can’t go anywhere. It’s like migrants need to have money all the time.

He said that working at the bar is more flexible. Customers sometimes contact him for “entertainment” gigs, where he is paid THB 500 (USD 15.8) per hour, but sometimes, these gigs put him at risk of sexual assault or harassment. He said he was once hired to entertain a group of Thai men with a group of other workers. That night, a customer tried to drag him into a room and pressured him for sex, but he refused, so the customer did not pay him. At another gig, a Chinese customer told him he would receive an additional THB 2,000 (USD 63) if he used drugs with him. Another time, a customer made him drink until he passed out and only came to when another worker woke him up and called him a ride home.

By working at the bars, 04 said he was able to send THB 5,000–6,000 baht (USD 158–189) home to his mother. He said that before he got sick, he was considering going to Bangkok, as he was told that a Shan sex worker who wants to make good money should go to Bangkok or Pattaya, where there are a lot of Chinese customers. Now, he plans to go home after completing his treatment. His work permit has expired, and he has to go back to Myanmar to renew his documents. He also said that if he returned to Thailand, he would no longer work at a host bar. His mother doesn’t like him being involved in sex work, while he feels that he has been drinking too much and doesn’t like being harassed by the customers.

On January 9th, his youngest brother died suddenly. He said that his father was allowed a four-hour leave from the army for the funeral and did not have enough time to even stop by the family’s home. With his middle brother ordained as a novice monk, his mother is home alone. He plans to go home immediately after seeing his doctor for the remaining two follow-up appointments. The sex worker rights group Empower Foundation has found some funding to cover part of his medical bills. The Chiang Mai resident who took him to the hospital covered the rest, as no NGO in Chiang Mai currently works directly with male sex workers.

When asked if he is worried about being drafted into the army if he goes back to Shan State, 04 said, “They already took my father. They probably won’t take me too.”