Cialis, Viagra and Valium - available on the street

I don't like this side of town.  It is uncomfortable for a middle aged white male to walk down the street by himself - unless you have your 1,000 yard stare down pat (and I do), you can be accosted, with the assumption that you are in Thailand for what many other white middle aged males are here for.  Reading glasses are a big seller over here (I'm a 2.0 guy, myself).  Viagra and Cialis (most certainly knockoffs, but still) are for sale on the street.  Prostitution is all out there.  I've never been on this side of the city before, and it certainly isn't pretty.  I kind of get it - the old men get the hottest women you can fathom - it's a transaction.  As a German woman I traveled with back in the '80's said, the men get what they want - sex and companionship, the women get what they want, clothes, jewelry, running water and the potential to get the hell out of their country.  I expected her to have an issue with it, but she didn't have a problem with it at all.  I still don't understand it.  What could you possibly talk about after the sex is done - and that's what it's all about it for me, the connection,  you have to be able to connect and talk with someone.  I can ask my wife where she was during the bicentennial and not only will she NOT ask me what the bicentennial is, she'll be able to tell me where she was and what she was doing.  The little things.

But that's where we are - Bumrungrad International Hospital, one of the most advanced medical facilities in the world happens to be right around the corner from one of the biggest sex trade corners in the world.  Quite the juxtaposition.