Without even getting out of the van, you could immediately see what was going on all the way down the street of Patong beach. We pulled up, parked the van, got out, and then we broke up into two groups, six in one group and seven in the other.
Mark, our contact told us that one group would walk down the left side of the street and the other group would walk down the right side. So we began walking, and we began praying.
Right as we started walking, we were bombarded with men and women shoving these laminated cards in our faces with pictures of women and different options of things that they do. As they tried to show us the cards they would ask if we wanted to go watch a “Ping Pong” show. We would look them in the eye, smile, tell them “no thank you”, and keep walking.
We would pass a gift shop, then a tattoo parlor, then a strip club, the restaurant, then a bar with half naked women dancing on the bars. Lights, music, tourists, light up toy vendors, sports on every TV, and the smell of food do a great job at masking what is really happening down there.
You could see as you walked down this street ally ways. And in these ally ways were more and more clubs, and windowless, dark buildings that people on the street were inviting us into to buy a woman. We would look into their eyes, smile, say “no thank you”, keep walking, and continue to pray for the area and for the women held up in rooms literally less than 25 yards away who are forced to have sex for money.
After for walking down the street for about 30-45 minutes, we finally made to the end where the beach is. The beach is where all of the women in the sex industry work during the day, so we prayed for that area too. Then the groups switched sides of the road walked back up.
There was an outside dance floor with tables around it. On the dance floor were about 4 “lady-boys” which is a term used to describe men who have turned themselves into women as best as they could through surgeries, medications, or simply dressing up as woman. Sitting down at the tables were men, women, and even children. Families were standing at what was basically an outdoor strip club watching these lady-boys dance in almost nothing and receiving tips from the tourists watching. I remember a little boy specifically, about 5-6 years old with his mom and dad sitting at the table that was closest to the stage, as the dancers danced, and walked around collecting tips. It sad that this little boy’s family was exposing him to this at such a young age.
As we walked back up the road, we passed women holding signs that read “Russian Girls”, more ping pong shows, more bars with women dancing women in almost nothing on the bars, and people offering us women to buy for a few hours of the night.
The cops do nothing, many of the tourists are oblivious to the reality that is right in front of them, and others are on that street looking for exactly what we are praying against. It is a crazy reality that people are actually down there to pay a prostitute for sex or a woman who have been trafficked and are trapped. People are making that decision to do that.
Don’t stop reading…
Now reading all of this may make you angry, it may make you sick to your stomach, it might even get you pumped up and give you the desire to punch a pimp in the face, or travel half way across the world to help fight this battle.
But there is a deeper issue…
There is more that we as followers of Christ must take into consideration. I don’t want to make this blog too long, so there is a part 3. Please keep reading and maybe we can get to the root of the issue together.
Walking the Streets: Part 2
