The empty alleyways and stools tell tales of broken nights. Over closed doors hang pictures and silhouettes of eroticized women. The big white walls over tinted-window clubs still conceal the pain that goes on behind the scenes. Everything is silent, dark, slightly peaceful; a glimpse into the future and what Bangla Road will one day look like.
On the main road, the big lights are turned off. Nobody is inviting us over and over and over and over and over again to sex ping pong shows. Lost tourists wonder where they can find alcohol on a day when Thailand shuts down its booze consumption. Along the road, broken women desperately try to find business and temporary fulfillment for the night.
We walk down a road that is usually flooded with sex ads, prostitutes, drunk tourists, blaring music, and bright lights. Tonight Bangla Road is closed. It’s a Buddhist holiday, a breath of fresh air, and a hopeful night. We walk down to the beach and back, and decide to go into one of the alleys to sit at an empty bar and pray.
We’ve hung out at these bars before and we’ve talked to the women who work here. They are beautiful and lively, always eager to talk and share their smiles. They open up quickly when they realize we are not there to use them. Most of them have children that they barely see because they live far away, and they are here in Phuket trying to make enough money to be the providers that Thai culture expects them to be. They all admit to not liking their job without even a moment of hesitation.
On this quiet night we decide to do something special for them. We cross the street to buy a notebook, pen, and tape, and we spend the night writing encouraging notes. You are loved. You are beautiful. You are cherished. You are valuable. We tape them to the inside of the bars, and we pray for the people who come to Bangla Road.
We hear promises of restoration, we pray for the women to realize their worth and to be blessed with a better job. We pray for the men to not treat the women as objects for their own satisfaction, but that they would realize that true masculinity offers respect. We pray for a wave of peace to wash over this place and we pray for pure hearts and pure souls.
Bangla Road is going to change. The people who walk through it are the vessels that are going to change it.
We see glimpses of the future tonight.
