Fourth of July in Bangkok, Thailand! Thanks to a special allowance in our contracts called "Rest and Relaxation" we got to adventure to Bangkok for a(nother) fantastic "family" vacation.

Adam's favorite part of the whole trip was "leaving Sri Lanka." ha! No, really... we relished the opportunity to enjoy a new culture and some of the comforts of "home" (with only a 3 hour flight, as opposed to 32 hours of flying time)! This trip came at a time when our team was ready for a break, not just from work, but from some of the aspects of Sri Lankan culture that can be quite taxing.

We shopped in mammoth, air-conditioned malls; enjoyed Starbucks; had the best New York Steak of our lives and some phenomenal Cajun food (who knew?!); watched Superman 3 on IMAX; and tromped around a local "weekend market" that was so huge it took us 2 hours just to walk around the outside perimeter, and we weren't doing much lingering.

The founder of an amazing organization called Night Light (see www.NighLightBangkok.com for more info) agreed to meet with Mindy to discuss their work. So, we all went together and spent several hours learning about their ministry to women who have been prostituted. We were blown away by the professionalism of the business venture they've started and by the huge success it's generated in providing a way for women to leave a life of commercial sexual exploitation. (Sorry, no pictures of our time there, but it was a definite high point, and there are photos on their webpage.)

(Above) Traffic in Bangkok; orange-vested bike drivers are actually motorcycle taxi's. (Below) Fresh off our flight, ready for the big city.

Our goal was to spend as little time in our hotel rooms as possible... so, the free hotel shuttle (above) and the Sky Train became our home away from home.

There were enormous malls EVERYWHERE. Some were super expensive and others had some pretty good bargains. It was kind of a funny disappointment though that their largest women's shoes were 3 sizes too small for Mindy, and an XXL shirt fit as if it was stolen off a Cabbage Patch doll.
"Rest and Relaxation" at Dunkin' Donuts, after a loooong day of shopping.
Ferry ride...

A nice, romantic dinner... with all the boys. The spot really had ambiance... and we did have some time just to ourselves and a dinner without the boys.

We went to the Royal Palace... I think the Thai King was fond of gold...

The reclining Buddha:

... he was L-A-R-G-E.

Below, families would work together to run these little stands of food with grilled vegetables and meat, boiled corn, soups, etc. They smelled great and we were really tempted, but never actually sampled.

Pretty ingenious, I thought. This was the Thai version of "drive through" breakfast on the way to work. Sometimes, we'd pass by and there would just be a line of 15 backs facing us, where the diners were hunched over their bowl o' breakfast.

So, significant pictures that are missing from our experience in Bangkok are the ones of 1) the hotel where we stayed, 2) the unbelievable number of western, middle-aged men walking around with prostitutes, and 3) the owner of the chocolate cafe' where we went to celebrate Dave's birthday before catching our flight out. The most interesting fact is the link between all three. (You won't believe this.) We were halfway into our desserts, really pleased with our chocolate, our time in Bangkok, and felt like we'd even enjoyed the educational experience of visiting Night Light in our venture to continue learning more about human trafficking... when the owner/chef walks up to our table and strikes up a conversation:

"So, how was your time in Bangkok?" (Fine, Great, We loved it.)

"Great, where did you stay?" (The Davis Bangkok Hotel, right across the street.)

"Oh, fantastic. Yeah. That's a really nice hotel." (Yeah, we really enjoyed it. It was quite nice.)

"Yeah... do you know the owner of the hotel? Mr. Davis?" (No.)

"Well, he's a close personal friend of mine and he's a great guy. He's known as the Brothel King of Bangkok." (silence. several mouths fell open. someone said, "What's that again?")

"Yeah. Mr. Davis. You know, he owns most of the brothels in Bangkok. And he actually built that hotel with the intention of using it as a brothel, but the hotel is located in a residential area, which does not permit brothel licenses." (Really? we all put our forks down and can no longer stomach the fudge brownie.)

"Did you notice the huge bathtubs in your rooms?" (yes.) "Yeah, Mr. Davis is the largest retailer of bathtubs, those were a special feature for all the rooms, you know, because his intention was for it to be a brothel." (You don't say.)

"Sure. Yeah, he pretty much runs the whole brothel ring. And he ran for office to become the Prime Minister, but people just laughed at him. He's a great guy, really, and I think he'll probably run again in the elections this time around." (Interesting. That's great news.)

And that was the conclusion of our very last moments before leaving for the airport. We were absolutely dumbfounded. We learned a lot from spending several hours with the staff at Night Light discussing how their organization is running and the impact it's having on the lives of prostituted women... we were shocked by an equally important truth from a 5-minute uninvited (un-wanted!) discussion: generally, we as consumers have NO IDEA where our money is really going and what causes we're actually funding. And we as anti-human trafficking advocates are only just beginning to grasp the far-reaching implications.