A Kateoy Show

Just walking around in Chiang Mai, I see many ladyboys. They're cashiers in stores, students and teachers--just an everyday part of society. It is interesting to see how well one can blend in, especially when the second annual gay pride parade was canceled due to protesters.
Because ladyboys, or kateoys, are an aspect of Thai society that does not seem to appear the same way in our culture back home, most of the Thai Studies students have been asking to see a kateoy show pretty much since we arrived in Chiang Mai. We figured that Bangkok would probably be our best chance, and we did, in fact, get to see a kateoy show.
On Friday night, around ten, we all met in what appeared to be a rather new club. We had been told by a few of the students who went to the same club the night before that the show was going to start at ten, but since things so far hadn't usually started on time, we thought arriving around ten would probably be earlier enough to get good seats.
It was.
We got a couple couches on the floor by the stage, and we waited.
We waited some more.
Eventually, (I think around eleven) the show finally started.
The show consisted of males dressed as males and males dressed as females. I think this may have been one reason why several of us found it hard to believe that all of the females were (or at least had at one point been) male.
I have been to a few drag shows in the United States. My college has a "gender bender" every year, and drag queens and drag kings perform. The kateoy show was a slightly different atmosphere.
Instead of just lip-synching like the shows I've seen at home, the performers had several numbers that were just dancing, and there was one skit. We had been told that the show was a fashion show, and that was what the first half of the show mainly consisted of, but there were also many acts that were more like different types of performances. At two points in the show, a man descended from the ceiling on a large piece of fabric, in a somewhat gymnastic manner.
The show had an intermission. This were a bit difficult to sit through since we had waited so long for the show to start, but we were excited to see more, and it was worth the wait.
The second half contained the skit and a rather risky act in which several men danced wearing only towels wrapped around their waists. I thought this half was a bit more upbeat and interesting than the first half, though the first half was definitely interesting enough to make me want to stick around for more.
I would love to see another kateoy show if I have the chance.