**** WARNING **** This is my version of parental control.
THIS STORY MAY BE A LITTLE DISTURBING. IF YOU ARE TROUBLED BY THE TEENAGE SEX INDUSTRY IN ASIA (or for that matter any part of the world), YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ ON. IT IS NOT GRAPHIC AS THIS IS JUST A CONVERSATION, HOWEVER, SOME OF THE SCENES SHARED BY THE DRIVER MAY BE VERY DISTURBING.
This conversation happened in a mixture of English, Mandarin and Hokkien (a Chinese dialect). It was conducted in primarily Mandarin and Hokkien and I am trying my best to translate the entire conversation to English. In the process, the punch of the conversation is actually somewhat lost.
I get into the cab from my Parent's home to go meet my Mother-in-Law to pick up her car. My MIL is attending a funeral and the drive in the cab is going to take me about 20-30 mins. Some cab drivers in Singapore will try to strike up a conversation with you when you are in the cab. Many times, the conversation will eventually lead to them bitching and moaning about the Singapore government. It is almost a norm, so much so that, if they don't bitch about the government, the conversation is actually refreshing. Unfortunately, this driver did not bitch about the government but the conversation was not refreshing. It was enlightening though.
Remember, most of the conversation did not take place in English.
Cab Driver: "Not working today?"
Me: "No, on leave."
("On leave" is the Singapore version of "taking a vacation day off" (this portion of language description is specially for Mr Tom!!). I have grown tired of trying to explain why I am not working on a weekday when I get into a cab. So, my favorite answer is that I'm off, on vacation.)
Cab Driver: "Didn't go anywhere?" (Somehow, when Singaporeans "take leave", they are expected to go somewhere. I guess it's the syndrome of being cooped up in this tiny island.)
Me: "No, just taking a few days off to rest and relax" (practically unheard of)
Cab Driver: "You should go to Manila."
Me: " Why?"
Thinking to myself, I have been to Manila when I was 12 yrs old. Manila is not often mentioned as a tourist destination in Singapore nor in the US. I know some friends who do go to some islands in the Philippines to dive, but not Manila. At the moment, an ideal vacation is not another hot, humid and crowded place. Preferably, it has to have 10 ft of snow and the temperature below freezing with close to no one present!!!
Cab Driver: "Nice place, everything is cheap." (a definitely plus for Singaporeans!!)
Me (wanting to end conversation): "My wife and I will go one day."
Cab Driver: "Cannot go with your wife."
Me, already sensing where this conversation is going, but interested in what direction the conversation is taking: "Why? You said nice place, everything is cheap. My wife likes to go shopping."
Cab Driver: "Everything is cheap, especially the girls."
Me: " You go there much?"
Cab Driver: "Once every month, once every 2 months."
Me: "Wow, that often. You just go there for the cheap girls?"
Cab Driver: "Something like that, but I don't patronize the prostitutes." (again, the punch of the conversation is not there because of the translation)
Me: "Then how do you get cheap girls?"
Cab Driver: "There are a lot of street vendors near my hotel. Some years ago, I saw this really cute girl. She was selling "national flower" (this was what he told me but I have no clue what he is talking about). I asked her how much does she make a night selling "national flower". She says 150 pesos (US$1 = PHP40.63. In 2004, it was US$1 = PHP58. S$1 = PHP28.78. Therefore, this girls makes an equivalent of about S$5 a night). So, I tell her, I give you 150 pesos right now, you stop working and then I give you another 500 pesos and you go back to my hotel with me. The girl says she will have to ask her parents."
The cab driver, when he makes that last statement, gestures with his head to the effect that this girl was saying her parents were behind her.
Cab Driver continues: "I tell her to go ask her parents. She goes asks her parents and comes back and says ok. So, I pay her 650 pesos and she goes back to the hotel with me."
Me: "Just like that. It's that easy. Why does she have to ask her parents?"
Cab Driver: "After she leaves, her parents will be the ones selling the "national flower".
Me: "Why are her parents behind her?"
Cab Driver: " Someone has to look after her."
Me, now thoroughly surprised: "Look after her? Why?"
Me, suddenly in realization: "How old is she?"
Cab Driver: "She says she is 15."
I'm thinking to myself, this 15 yr old's parents just pimped her. OMG!! They just pimped their daughter for the equivalent of US$12.30/S$17.37!!! There is something wrong when you need to get your parents' permission to have sex. There is something REALLY wrong when your parents agree!!
Me: "So, for 500 pesos, you can have a teenage girl for one night?"
Cab Driver: "Yes, but I don't."
Me: "Why?"
Cab Driver: "I go down (from hotel) and get another one."
Me: "So you have more than one teenage girl (and I am intentional in mentioning "teenage") in one night?"
Cab Driver: "Yes, sometimes 3 or 4."
He goes on to add: "I'm only there for about 4-5 days, have to make the best of it."
Me: "Are they always this young?"
Cab Driver: "Yes, sometimes even younger. I try not to get anyone over 16 yrs old."
Me: "Younger? How young?"
Cab Driver: "You can get 10 yr olds too."
I'm in complete shock at the moment. Not necessarily at the topic being discussed, but that I'm sitting in the back of the cab of a fucking pedophile!!!
Me: "10 years old?"
Cab Driver: "Yes. Same price."
Thank you very much for telling me that they are the same price. I REALLY needed to know that. But he was not done.
Cab Driver: "But they just play with you."
Me: "Play with you?"
Cab Driver: "Yes. "
Me: "What do you mean?"
Again, after I asked the question, I realized what he was saying.
*** REMINDER, IF YOU ARE ALREADY DISGUSTED, IT IS IN YOUR BEST INTEREST THAT YOU DO NOT READ ON. ***
Me: "So, no intercourse?"
Cab Driver, the PILLAR OF MORALITY: "Oh no, how can you have intercourse with a 10 yr old? They don't have intercourse with you, but they will masturbate and/or give oral sex. You can even ejaculate in their mouths."
My thoughts at that moment are mixed. I am very disgusted. However, I am very amused at the cab driver's thinking that it is wrong to have intercourse with a 10 yr old but it is totally fine to have oral sex with a 10 year old and have the deed performed to the end. I cannot comprehend how an adult human being is able to separate the 2 acts but at the same time not separate them fully. I am not stating an opinion on the child sex trade here because I'm not sure if there is an opinion to state. What I mean by this is, I am against children being exploited for the sex trade, however, when the child's own parents agree to using them for sex?????? I have no idea where the line is drawn here. Ok, I'm confused.
Me: "So, you go there every few months for sex with 10-16 yr olds.
Cab Driver: "Yes."
Me: "Why Philippines? Is it the only country you can find 10-16 yr olds?"
Cab Driver: "No. But I know one girl who sells "national flower" very well and her parents even invite me to their home in the village for a meal."
Me: "And then you eat and take her back to your hotel?"
Cab Driver: "Sometimes. Sometimes I just have sex with her in her house. Her parents are very nice. Sometimes, when I go look for her and she is not around, they will bring her to my hotel when she gets back."
I really have no more to say. The girl's parents pimp her out and feed the person she is being pimped to. What else is next? I was actually going to ask if he was also able to do the girl's mom and have a threesome but refrained, partly because I was afraid to hear what answer was going to be.
We are about to reach my destination and a part of me would like to find out more, but another part of me has just been completely disgusted by this cab ride. I have to give him some instructions on where we are going, so, the conversation switches topics for a moment.
Cab Driver, just before I pay him: "You should go. Very nice young girls."
Me: "I will think about it."
I have thought about it and when you can have oral sex with a 10 yr old, you are a sick old man (by the way, he is 60 yrs old). I can understand, and again, it's not that I'm condoning it, having sex with a 16 yr old. However, I absolutely cannot understand nor comprehend the pleasure of having oral sex with a 10 yr old. I guess it does take a certain breed to do that.
I had intentions on taking down the cab number, not necessarily to report him since he did not do anything to me. I have no idea what I was going to do. It is his private life. However, upon reaching the destination, I was already running late and my Mother-in-Law was waiting for me. I completely forgot and now only have this story to tell.
I am not going to give any more personal opinions about this conversation. Re-living this conversation by writing this blog has made me disgusted once again.
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