The unexpected ladyboy

"No GB," says boyfriend K, "it's the woman over there that is O's brother!"

We're at a large house in a small village to the west of Bangkok in Thailand. It's the 60th birthday party of O's father, and all of O's family are here. Judging from how busy it, everyone from the village are probably here too. O is the eldest and only daughter and I'd been told that she has two brothers, so I'd been trying to work out who they are.

"Umm, brothers are normally male," I say looking confused, "or am I missing something?"

"He's transgender," says boyfriend K laughing, "and that's his twin brother over there, the guy with the white shirt with the purple collar."

Looking at the beefy guy that boyfriend K is indicating, it seems completely implausible that he's any kind of twin with the woman on the stage.

"Born 5 minutes apart," says O, joining the conversation.

Both boyfriend K and O nod at me, so I have to accept the truth about what they're saying.

"But not identical twins, surely?" I ask.

"Actually yes, they're identical twins," answers O calmly, "although they don't look much like each other now. When they were growing up, only family members could tell them apart!"

Over the years I've met several transgender people, including a male colleague who eventually became female. Nonetheless, I feel slightly stupid that I had no idea the woman on the stage had been a man.

"So was he a ladyboy before he became a woman :-)?" I ask, trying to sound knowledgeable about ladyboys and transgender people.

"He still is a ladyboy," says O laughing, and she holds her hands in front of her, palms facing each other about 8 inches apart. "It is this big!" She says grinning at me.

I burst out laughing, amazed that O knows such an intimate fact about her brother. I want to know how she can be so confident about her brother's size, but I decide not to ask. I've had enough surprises for one night!