What's a ladyboy? Short answer: transsexual. Long answer: some poor little Thai kid who got abducted by gangsters, pimps or whatever and then forcefully given a sex change operation. These "ladyboys" are all over Thailand but the scary thing is that you can't really tell who they are. Even scarier, they are beautiful, the prettiest girls in Thailand are the ladyboys. The operation is done at such a young age that the end result looks like a real woman.

Don't let that deter you. I had a blast in Thailand when my girlfriend and I went. We took a short one week vacation from the stressful city life in Seoul. We flew into Bangkok which is a more polluted, dirtier, poorer version of Seoul. Right when you stepped off the plane you could feel the humidity drowning you. We stayed in Bangkok one night and got a chance to see the Palace (not sure of the official name), and we went to Kaosan Road. At first I felt a bit aprehensive because I didn't speak a lick of Thai and the Thai people weren't much better with English. Kaosan Road was like a breathe of fresh air. I've never felt so relieved to see a bunch of white faces. It's full of European tourists. I met more British and Germans than Thai people in the whole trip. After Bangkok, we took a small plane to an island called Ko Samui (spelling?) where we spent the remainder of the trip. The beaches there were so beautiful although people say that the beaches of another closeby island, Phuket, are much nicer.

Actually, if you're planning a vacation and want to go to a beach then Thailand's a good choice. Be prepared to spend virtually nothing once you get there. The only costs will be transportation. My flight from Korea was about $400, so one from the states will probably be twice as much. But food and especially lodging are really really cheap. We paid $5 one night to stay in a little bungalow on the beach. Kinda buggy so we moved to a motel with AC and a nice bathroom the next night for $20.

Anyways, enjoy the pics.