Where Have All the Betel Nut Beauties Gone?

Written by Marcus Tuesday, 05 May 2009 14:39

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Is Taiwan Losing a National Treasure?

 

      The directions when scootering from Kaohsiung to Kenting are quite simple—go south till you hit the water. But after driving southbound for a bit, there comes an area that starts to befuddle even the most proficient navigator. This intersection of roads looks like it goes east and west, and especially when you don't know the difference between 北 and 南, it feels like a guess of which way to go. But the reason for all the perplexity at this crossroads doesn't have much to do with directions or unreadable. It's more about thongs, g-strings, bikinis, wonderbras, long legs, revealing tops, and sacks filled with nuts.

      If you have been outside of Taipei, then you know something about the betel nut beauties that hawk the small stimulus fruits by the side of the road. These lovely (mostly) young women try and lure men into stopping at their stands by dressing as skimpily as possible. It has worked, and now betel nut is Taiwan's second largest cash crop, making at least NT$11.5 billion annually.

     At the aforementioned corner, seven years ago, this street was filled with sexy girls prancing, posing, and filling bags with betel nut. Trying to figure out which way to go with the abundant amount of milky thighs and garter belts was nearly impossible. But it did give the driver a reason to stop at each booth and yell, "Kenting?" while pointing in both directions. But this past year on the way to Spring Scream, the street was nearly empty. Was it the economic hard times that forced the beauties to cover up or something else? I figure that maybe the times have changed. Instead of being bored or harassed by blue truck drivers in their glass cages, betel nut beauties have found new jobs as dancers at clubs. They can basically wear the same skimpy outfits, drink for free, and be the star of the show instead of a looked down upon outcast of society. Plus, the hours are probably better.

     To test my theory, I turned to documentary filmmaker Tobie Openshaw, who besides having one of the coolest names ever is also Taiwan's foremost expert on betel nut beauties. As a matter of fact, Openshaw will be publishing a book of his photography tentatively scheduled for the end of June, and he frequently hosts other photographers who are interested in taking photos and getting to know more about the betel nut girl culture. Openshaw starts off by saying, "The business has definitely undergone a shift. Stalls are more professionally decorated, girls are better dressed, and regulation has largely removed the gangster elements, illegal stalls and the use of underage girls. I see more and more girls who are doing this to make money while studying. More and more of them report that their parents know what they are doing and are OK with it. Many of them do the job for a while, graduate, and move on an upward rather than a downward trajectory."

When pressed about the disappearing betel nut beauty oasis down south, and the theory of nightclub dancing, Openshaw replied, "I don't get to the south much but I also drove from Kaohsiung to Kenting the weekend before Spring Scream, and in fact also noticed that there didn't seem to be many betel nut stands at all. I reckoned it was because of the economy—there's not so much traffic down south anymore and the betel nut girls cater largely to the trucker population. But up here in the north they are definitely still as prolific as ever, with the aforementioned improvement in standards. I guess you'd have to find a few go-go girls who will admit to being former betel nut girls in order to test the theory that this is now an alternative employment for them."

While we haven't quite come up with a definitive answer to our question, we will keep searching for the answers by going more in-depth with Tobie Openshaw when his book is published.