Jakarta's Working Ladyboys
Ade Mardiyati | March 16, 2011
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/jakartas-working-ladyboys/429495It is a few minutes past eight in the evening on Jalan Blora in Central Jakarta and nightlife revelers are starting to trickle onto the street, still wet and muddy from the downpour earlier in the afternoon. A piercingly loud dangdut tune pours out of one of the street's shabby clubs, where women in tight, brightly colored outfits stand and strut by the front doors.
Just a few meters from the club, some 25 people wearing sarongs and peci , the traditional Muslim cap, sit on the floor inside a 3-meter by 10-meter vacant kiosk, chanting Islamic prayers led by a cleric. More than half are transvestites who make ends meet as sex workers in Taman Lawang, a nearby red-light district famous for its ladyboys.
