Hunting holidays for Cougars: the importance of being farang

I said earlier that my friend Lloyd was married to a Lao girl. I need to rephrase this: he is married to a Lao woman, not a girl. Her name is Lana and she’s roughly my age. Lloyd is quite a few years younger than both of us. I tried to assess if this was unusual for Laos, and it is a bit. As in Thailand, there is a fair share of foreign older men here marrying local young women.

But despite strict laws surrounding sex and marriage, the actual culture seems pretty practical and down to earth.

No one looks down on “working” girls for instance, not even their family. Siblings understand and approve, when they are not working themselves, and parents turn a blind eye. Practical, down to earth and relaxed: anything kind of goes, in Laos.

There are working girls and working lady boys, also known as “katoys”. Katoys mostly cater for men, although I’m told that should I feel like it, I could probably negotiate service. But that won’t be necessary. The country is only recently turning into a tourist destination, and as a result young Lao men still seem to crave experience with Western “farang” women. And, lucky me, they’re happy to date them for free. Not that I’d have a huge issue with a more financial kind of deal. Either way: the hunt is on!