Chris Burrows

Bio: Although Chris Burrows was born in England, his family emigrated to the US shortly after his second birthday and it was only when he had just entered his early teens that he returned to the country of his birth.   During his teens, various trips to Scandinavia, Europe (Holland, Germany and Italy) and, once, to the 'mysterious' Far East (as it was when Chris was young), definitely whetted his appetite for travel. Shortly after graduation, Chris was able to secure a job in banking which took him, firstly, to London for a year and then on to Hong Kong.   Twenty or so years ago, Hong Kong was an 'eye-opener' for a young graduate and, initially, Chris struggled to balance the hard working, dynamic, 'no-holds barred' environment of Hong Kong's business world with the burgeoning, eclectic, erotic lifestyle of the night--on the face of it, certainly to a young graduate, far racier compared with some of the tamer things he'd seen in London and elsewhere on his travels.   Chris was always particularly fascinated by the lesser known aspects of Hong Kong's nightlife -- he went exploring some of the 'underground' cabaret type clubs and bars, seeing drag queens and transgender persons and also the less salubrious bars and clubs frequented by many of the young, female Filipinas and Indonesian expats, usually working as domestic helpers. The American military, with their extensive R&R leave in Hong Kong were beginning to be a thing of the past and bars and clubs were evolving to compensate for the reduction in service personnel visiting the British Colony (as it was then). Around this time, in view of his enduring love of writing, Chris developed a keen interest in documenting what he was seeing and penned a few articles and short stories----mainly relating to ladies of the night and other creatures who inhabit the twilight world that many suburban people never know about or, when they do, understand.  Chris had also maintained his penchant for travel and, over his early years in Hong Kong, had taken trips to, amongst other places, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur plus, of course, Bangkok. To a young man with an established, serious fascination with Asian ladies (and other varieties' thereof), Asia was the place to be and, after one particularly exciting trip to Manila, Chris made a mental promise to himself that he was not, under any circumstances, going to live or work back in The West.   The young, relatively established business professional that he, by now was, had also realised that he was becoming more and more mesmerised by the 'third sex' and undertook extensive research into the matter, learning about transgender people in India, Indonesia, The Philippines and several other main countries in the region. He was continually surprised at how the roots of transgenderism could be traced back centuries into 'old' societies and how liberal many of the Asian countries were about the idea of gender being non-specific, especially when compared with views held in Europe and the West. Like many other, Chris had always known that homosexuality had been widely practiced and accepted in ancient China, for example, but the extent of transgenderism and it's tolerance was still revealing to him.   After a couple of years in Hong Kong, (and many visits to Asian capitals seeing first hand the diversity of the various gender societies), Chris was given the opportunity by the bank for whom he had worked since first arriving in Asia to relocate to Bangkok--he was asked to undertake a regional role which meant, of course, that he could also continue his travel adventures The decision was 'no contest' in Chris' mind and he made his mind up instantly--probably quicker than any other candidate had made a decision in the Bank's history - primarily to make sure that no-one else had the chance to get the posting instead of him.   A few months before this opportunity had come along, during one of his regular visits to Bangkok, Chris had met Porn - who was later to become his close friend, flat mate and, to an extent, his mentor on transgender issues. Porn and Chris had literally bumped into each other in Pattaya, one of Thailand's top resort destinations, on a fine spring day. Chris had been standing outside the premises of one of Pattaya's largest cabaret, and best known, transvestite (or ladyboy) shows admiring some of the billboards, advertising one of the new stars, when Porn had physically collided with him. As usual, she was late for her regular make up sessions with several of the 'girls', was talking animatedly on her mobile phone and, generally, not watching where she was heading.   After that auspicious start, they had quickly become firm friends and, on one or two occasions, Porn had introduced Chris to some of the real 'superstars' of the transvestite cabaret world -- and real stars they were, far more sensuous and beautiful than any other women the banker had ever seen. Chris, needless to say, was enthralled and became friends with a number of the girls, even though his spoken Thai was not fluent at that time.   Over the first few months of their friendship, Porn had encouraged Chris to explore his own feminine side, always maintaining that every man was part female anyway (and vice versa for women) and he had had several enjoyable sessions with Porn applying make up and dressing him up like a woman -- even, two or three times, taking him out and about on the town with her and several of her friends (but that's another story, to be told at a later time!).   According to Chris, he has never really been that comfortable being cross dressed, although occasionally still indulges, especially when Porn is instigating it. He views it as ancillary to his fascination and empathy with ladyboys. Despite spending many years meeting and becoming close friends with a large number of members of the 'third sex' Chris has never tired of his drive for knowledge and understanding of this, oft misunderstood, 'species'. Even now, he still finds many ladyboys unbelievably attractive (in his view, physical perfection personified) a view he shares with thousands upon thousands, if not millions, of other males around the world. Chris has continued his interest in writing and recently penned a series of short stories concerning some of his experiences with ladyboys in Thailand. Needless to say, there are dozens of other stories still to be told, all drawn from his own adventures in Asia.