New kids on the block (1)

Dek waen on the prowl

...and after police have caught them

What does a teenage motorcyclist do when he runs out of money to do up his motorbike? He asks his girlfriend to sell her body.

In a long article charting the rise of a new Thai social ill, Kom Chad Leuk newspaper says teenage motorcyclists (เด็กแว้น, or dek waen) move into Sanam Luang every night with their girlfriends, aged 14 to 17.

Dek waen are a social phenomenon in their own right. They modify their motorcycle engines to make them noisier, and race up and down streets at night.

They acquire the name dek waen from the sound of a motorcycle engine revving - waen! waen!

Their girlfriends - who sit behind - have their own name. They are called dek skoi, (สาวสก๊อย, เด็กสก๊อย) and are often spotted wearing extremely short cut-off jeans. The name, according from my dictionary of newly-coined Thai words popular among the young, comes from the name of an animal in a Japanese cartoon.

It's not a flattering-sounding name, but nor is the image which these young women earn if they hang around teenage male motorcyclists. The dictionary comes with an example, appropriate in this context: 'I just ride on the back of a man's motorcycle - I don't sell my body!'

Some do, however, sell themselves for sex. They are taking over the Sanam Luang grounds, close to Pin Khlao, and can also be spotted by the Pin Khlao bridge, Thammasat University, and close to Wat Pra Kaew.

Their boyfriends start arriving with their girls in the early evening. It is not unusual to see a group of 30 motorcycles or more, parked in a row.

The boys perform the role of pimps. Some station themselves at strategic points of the route around the park, to signal the others should they see police approaching. After their girlfriends have found a customer, the boyfriend will accompany them to a hotel.

The customer usually takes the girl in his car, and the boyfriend follows on his motorbike. He waits outside the hotel until she has finished, to take her back so she can sell her body again - and to stand by as 'protection' in the event the customer tries to get out of paying.

Postscript: Here are two news video clips of motorcycle teen racers. In the first [link harvested- it died], police attempt to round up dek waen racers around Phra Ram 2 motorway in Bangkok. Some get away, and are seen speeding off down a darkened motorway. One hits the back of pick-up truck. The boy following him can't see either, and also hits the truck, or maybe swerves to avoid his friend. He, or maybe his friend, dies. You can hear the sound of the collision. Later, cameras capture loved ones at the scene, crying over the their loss.

In the second (link harvested - it died) video, police have rounded up about 150 motorcycle racers in Bang Yai, Nonthaburi, to the applause of passing motorists. According to the television hosts, dek waen often ride Harley-style bikes, wear flip-flops (one colour each foot), and dirty jeans.

now, see part 2