“When I first came in 1962, the girls in the suburbs cost only 35 baht,” he explained. “Then it went down ‒ if they weren’t that good-looking ‒ to 20 baht. They had even cheaper, some girls for only 10 baht. I was curious, so said I’ll have the 10 baht. She had a towel wrapped around her hand, and after the deed was done, I pulled it off. She had leprosy."

His first assignment was going to a string of sailor bars in Khlong Toei, on the suggestion of another American expat.

“The ages of the girls, average age was 13,” he said. “The point was they were all prostitutes. They would open your trousers. I wasn’t used to this. Sex is one thing, but not that age and not that aggressive. Yes, that was my introduction to bars.”