PREPPING AND EQUIPPING FOR THE MISSION

As some of you may know, my older Minolta DIMAGE X camera was stolen in Manila recently, it contained some wonderful pics that disappeared forever. I was seriously bummed about that and assured myself that it wouldn’t happen again. I bought a nice replacement camera, a new DIMAGE Xt ($340) version which is smaller, lighter, and has a few more whistles and bells, including a decent video clip function which I would employ on this trip, God willing. I will staple this camera to my person and have it with me at all times. I also purchased a small hip pack for the camera, lots of batteries, and 2 SDRAM chips of 256MB each from Pantip Plaza. I had to be disciplined this trip, so I wrote a little message on my hand to remind myself that I would upload all pics each day into my laptop and email them to Hombre as time permitted.

I know that many posters have their unique loyalties to their brand of cameras, but I love my Minolta for its small size and versatility. It’s discreet, and the size of a small cigarette box so I can put in my pocket or inside a Terma bathrobe and no one would know. For its size, it also has a decent camera lens size, with automatic flash. From past experience though, the optimal distance when photographing a person is about 6-8 feet.

What’s also good about this camera is that it looks so innocuous and innocent, almost like a toy. I can guarantee you that if you whip out a big camera with a zoom lens in your room, the girl will be automatically taken aback and reluctant to pose. The innocuous looking camera helps to put the girls at ease.

BRAINSTORMING FOR DISROBING STRATEGIES

I’m certain that every girl that I photographed in Asia initially refused, especially when I asked for nudie pics. This is particularly true these days because Thailand is so wired and every girl knows about pics are being posted in the internet (by the way, if the girl tells me not to post, I don’t). By no means am I the authority on this topic and I’m sure others will have better ideas. I picked the brains of some fellow travelers I met at the Dynasty to compare notes. The consensus was that nudie photos are possible only when the stars are aligned just right (the perfect storm for photographs) – i.e. a bit of sheer luck, syrupy sweet talk, good intel and thinking quickly on one’s feet. More specifically, here are some combat tested ideas that I’ve used, which may not work for all.

1. Sweet talking: cannot overemphasize this point. Learn the words “Swaee Mak Mak” (“You’re very very pretty”), “Chop Khun Mak” (“I like you a lot”), “Khun Sexy” (“You’re sexy”), etc. etc. Learn to pantomine deep interest/infatuation and remember to occasionally point to your heart. Asian working Girls, like girls anywhere, love to be reassured at how pretty and sexy they are. And like anyone else, the sound of hearing their own names repeated helps. During my R&R, I made an earnest attempt at practicing my Thai with the beer bar girls.

2. Knowledge is Power: I make it a habit to scope out the girls and get recs from the papasans or mamasans. I obviously target lookers with “Chai Dee” or good hearts and shy away from gals that do not smile or look approachable.

3. Gifts or Purchases: When I was in college, I recall a reading about a sales/marketing study, where it was found that a simple technique used by salesmen actually helped them sell more cars. The technique was brutally straightforward, when they sat down with customers, they would ask if they could buy them a coke or something and they did before making the sales pitch. The simple act of ingratiating themselves to clients with a small gift or gesture actually works for me in this context. Thus, whenever I go to LOS, I’m sure to stock up on some panties, chocolate or other small gifts for the girls.

4. Photograph the girls with the promise of emailing them. Some reluctant girls eventually came around after I took their picture and showed them the results. I told them that I would email them with the picture, which I always do. A variant of this is to actually take pictures of temples and other beautiful things and tell them you’re taking pictures of everything beautiful Thailand, Costa Rica, or Cambodia.

5. I’ve often found that getting drunk with the girls always helps. I always keep a good bottle of cognac or something in excess of 14% alcohol that is not readily available to the girls in my room.

Thus, with strategy ideas and an arsenal of photographic items, I’m off on a mission….




(Message edited by merlin on December 01, 2003)

The term used for girls with a good heart is "Jai Dee"....good to see you are learning some Thai. I agreed completely about telling them you will email the pics and they love that. I also like to complement them on their skin if they have brown skin(most do). They will think you are crazy as white skin is upheld in Thailand but they will love you for it. My approach has always been to complement a girl on the thing you think she is most insecure about. The other big problem with pics is that it sometimes interrupts the spontaneity of the session and she could be put off by it and things can turn sour. She may have looked at you as a good catch before but will think of you as any other monger when you break out the camera.

Blazers, finally learning key Thai phrases, and using these few words as efficiently as possible. The point about focusing in on their insecurities are a good one. I'll make a note of that.

Hey man, sorry to hear about your camera, that sucks hard! I have only tried to take pics of 3 girls in Thailand. Everytime it was ok, however with one, it took a few nights. I just started with sexy shots in her panties, then eventually she let me turn the videocamera on and leave it that way...

Best of luck!

ThaiMar