Day One (Continued)

It has been difficult finding time write, so I apologize if these next posts are a little too hurried and piecemeal.

So, after taking the girls to the amusement park (now a couple days ago), we returned to our hotel for a quick dinner and then headed out to visit two of the more popular red light districts in Bangkok: Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza. 

We were led by an Aussie named D----- (aka Mike), one of the Destiny Rescue guys who rescues girls and organizes and participates in raids with the police. Mike is badass. He recently arranged a raid at Nana Plaza (dubbed the world’s largest adult playground) with the police and managed to successfully shut down an establishment that was employing under-age girls. But just trying to get a cab to take us to the infamous Soi Cowboy (“Soi” is Thai for “Street”) was an ordeal. I watched Mike flag down at least four cabs whose grinning cab drivers just shook their heads and drove off.

Soi Cowboy

Cowboy 2 on Soi Cowboy

It would be difficult and a little painful to try to describe these places. Perhaps because of my own naivety, or because I have never been to Vegas, I wasn’t anticipating all the glitz, nor the absurd “uniforms” the young women wore, eye candy for countless older white men all wide-eyed and drunk. We were instructed not to enter any of the bars, which were basically strip clubs attached to the high rise chain hotels behind them.

Nana Plaza

The most harrowing experience of the night, however, was the mile walk from Soi Cowboy to Nana Plaza where there were more prostitutes but in greater desperation, and countless street vendors peddling their wears—kitsch, DVDs, pipes, rifle scopes, sex toys, you name it. Most troubling of all were the utterly destitute—women with their children asleep on the sidewalk, children who will likely be sold in a few years to the brothels. And then there were the two men lying face down on the concrete, both missing limbs. 

The only comfort I found (dropping change in their cups offered none) is a passage from Psalm 12 my friend Doug sent before we left: 

    In the hovels of the poor
    Into the dark streets where the homeless 
    groan, God speaks: 

    "I've had enough; I'm on my way
    To heal the ache in the heart of the wretched.