Sex Tourism Practices on the Periphery (reprinted and revised 2006) (original) (raw)

2001, Ethnographies of Contemporary Culture

On a sweltering afternoon, so hot you can almost hear the sidewalks sizzle, grandmothers fan sleeping grandsons under the palm trees that line south Nationality Road. As fat black pigs rest on the dusty market tarmac, chainsmoking hooligans (liumang) laugh, joke, and watch plumes of blue smoke rise. As night falls, quietude disappears and motorcycles and red taxis filled with finely dressed tourists race to discos and bars blaring Japanese karaoke and American rock and roll. In this liminal time, subtle changes are taking place in terms of who occupies the streets. By day, locals go about their daily affairs; at night the 1.5 million tourists, who flock to Sipsong Panna every year, emerge from their air-conditioned hotel rooms, bringing with them a taste for a blend of commerce, capital, and commodity fetishism.