Tim the Sex Tourist - Tawau to Semporna, Malaysia

With a glint in his eye, one of Tim's first questions, "How were the chicks in Indonesia; did you see much prostitution?" seemed at first like normal traveler smalltalk. I flew across Malaysian Borneo this morning to a small town called Tawau on my way to catch a dive boat in a coastal town called Semporna where I'm currently waiting.

"Unfortunately" I told him as I grimly recollected, "some creep offered me a local girl's services while I waited for a bus in Kuta, Bali." Tim's body language didn't agree with the 'unfortunate' part.

Tim (I wish I had his last name and picture) came from Orange County, California to have sex with Asian women. Upon first glance you might think he was an architect or pharmaceutical rep in his mid to late 30's on extended vacation to get out of the office. Tim didn't look like a creep. He had the complexion of just an average, somewhat thin white guy. He came off as introverted (at first), intelligent, and had a knack for turning the conversation to sex, massages, and his liberating vasectomy. Sure I've heard about the booming sex tourism industry, but I've had enough luck to never meet it's target market.

For 1.5 hours Tim confided in me his organized destinations and intentions, taking phone breaks to coordinate with his exotic mistresses. He would go on to explain that girls in third world countries will sleep with westerners, "especially Americans" just for the faint chance of bagging a one-way ticket out of their life of poverty, crime, and disease. Basically, Tim uses his nationality to get laid. After hearing about the creep's lengthy trial and error pursuits of special massage parlors in Bangkok I exited the car sickened, disheartened, and somewhat angry. Not only is he further smiting his country's already damaged image to the rest of the world, people like Tim carelessly degrade and destroy the lives of women (and maybe boys) who had the unfortunate luck to be born into a vulnerable lifestyle of few options and little opportunity.

This is the saddest day of my trip.