Phuket is an island with lots of beaches and attracts many tourists–families and singles. The weather is gorgeous, the heat is intense and the scenery is stunning! I am LOVING all the green palm trees, the lush fauna, the mountains, the water and the beautiful flowers after being in the city of Phnom Penh and lots of cement and noise! The view out of our window is like this calming balm to my heart–pure beauty.
Bangla Road probably has no meaning for most people. It sure didn’t for me until I saw a video from another team that had been here previously and then walked it the first time just a few days ago. It is a place I never could imagine, never could believe could exist. It is a street that extends from the beachfront to the mall…maybe 200 meters long (but then again I’m horrible with distances so give or take a few meters!) There are tailors, a Starbucks, Subway, tailors, shirt stores, souveniors that line the street. A typical beach, tourist scene for the most part.
But there is a very ugly and evil side to this place. How could the beauty of this place and the people be distorted and exploited? I don’t think that I will ever understand it–nor do I want to. Amongst the normal tourist shops on Bangla Road there are little side streets that have over 200 bars. In each bar there are an average of 6 women…you do the math.
The other day our team went to Bangla Road to see it for the first time in the day so it would not be so overwhelming. I saw men, women, families, small children, teenagers wandering up and down the street from the beach to their hotels or some other destinations. We wandered down the side streets so that we could have an idea of what the set-up of the bars and what we be entering into.
I saw something that I will never forget as we started down Bangla Road. We stopped at the first side-street and the first plethora of bars. I glanced down the street and saw this stand that I recognized from the video I had watched. This stand is outside a bit from one of the bars and in the video a woman was dancing on it. When I saw this stand for the first time in person it was not a woman that I saw on it but a little girl of about 5 or 6 “playing” on it…basically re-enacting what she has probably seen dozens of times and what is “normal” for her. My heart broke. This little child–so beautiful, so precious, so vulnerable, so trusting in such a dark and ugly place. I didn’t speak to her or approach her but just watched her for a while. She continues to enter my thoughts and I will look for her the next time I’m down there.
Tonight will be my first time on Bangla Road at night when things are much different. I will probably see that same stand and see a young lady on it. My heart will remember the little girl and my heart will break for both the little girl and the young woman.
