whoo, back
bangkok was fun
typical day's schedule

wake up
wash up
breakfast
SHOPPPP-
break for lunch
-PPPPING
dinner
back to hotel

haha, this trip has helped to build up my shopping stamina
from 8 hours to 10!
see? training!

anyway
MOST IMPORTANT PHRASE IN THAI
"Tau rai?"
translation: "how much?"
2ND MOST IMPORTANT PHRASE IN THAI
"Heng!"
translation: "expensive!"

and then there was my hotel, and its address I can recite from heart
"soy see, sukumvit, nana station, omni towers, near nana hotel"
(taxis in bangkok are seriously cheap, a trip that would cost $10 in sing dollars costs about 3 in bangkok)

on the first night though, we didn't take a cab back, we walked from the train station
the block of buildings that the hotel was in formed a perfect little rectangle, with the train station at the opposite end of the rectangle
which meant walking to the hotel meant walking along the block of buildings

for those of you not familiar with bangkok or thailand, it is notorious for its... freedom, acceptance of anything and everything.

Our hotel soared a full 40 stories from the ground, towering over the 2-or-3 story buildings that made the block.

down that road we walked, shopping loot in hand, turning towards the final stretch before the hotel

as we passed that turn, something in my spirit got very very uneasy, and I soon realised why

'ladies of the night', as one poet put it; 'painted ladies' as a less-tactful clerk said; 'prostitutes', the more coarse workman would put it

all will admit, you've heard it before, but you don't understand the full gravity of it until you walk those streets, depraved, lecherous men holding out wads of bills, young women walking around in barely-there clothing, shop-owners at the side of the road with a table of discs and a sign that proudly screams "HAVE PORNO"

"how far they have fallen, they cannot and will not get up"

I rebuked that voice

"they cannot reach out to God, He doesn't love them

I casted out that lie

"it hurts me Gid. Every night, they do this, every night, giving parts of their souls away. I weep for them."

and my heart went out to them

surrounded in this place of depravity, my soul cried out for someone to dare to reach out to this modern-day Sodom

But I know, my God saves
and so long as the people are willing, He will move
All things are possible with Him

need sleep, serving for father's love tonight, will see how it goes