Business proposition

Thailand: To persuade women to leave Bangkok’s sex trade, ministries look for economic incentives along with spiritual care | Paul Chesser

BANGKOK—By day Patpong is relatively quiet, but at around 4 p.m. its main thoroughfare closes and young men in tank shirts start to piece together the pipes and plywood that form booths where vendors sell their merchandise: watches, clothing, electronics, music, videos, crafts, jewelry—nearly anything you can imagine. When night falls, the merchants serve as only a weak buffer from the surrounding red-light district's constant beckoning.

Go-Go bars, massage parlors, and brothels line the streets of Bangkok's most famous sex tourism quarter. Club names blitz visitors in neon—"Queen's Castle," "King's Cloud" (with "hundreds of girls") and "Safari Disco Go-Go" are a few of the less vulgar names—while pitchmen try to flag passersby and lure them to take in a show.