Here in Malaysia,
you can get some really great food for a really cheap price.
Penang is the capital city in Malaysia for food.
It’s been said that if you ate 4 meals a day,
it would take you 2 years
to get through all the different types of food here
and all the different ways that places make it.
Part of that is thanks to the cultural and ethnic diversity that is here.
Some of it is just good ole street vendor food. Some of these street vendors only sell one thing, but that is because is is family owned and that family has perfected the art of making that one particular dish through the generations.
Most of the local food here you can get for about 3.50RM or 4RM (Malaysian currency is called a ringgit. 3RM to $1USD.) American restaurant food a little more expensive, but still cheaper than in the States.
You can get a special Malaysian treat,
for a little bit more money,
but such a much better deal!
so if you ever come visit Malaysia, it is really easy access.
Most people pay about 20-30RM ($6-$10), but if you don’t need special accommodations, you can get it for about 10-15RM (ONLY $5!!!)
So what is this special Malaysian treat???
You can just get your own
middle-aged, Malaysian prostitute for only 5 US dollars.
ONLY $5!!!
Just follow the curve that motorcycles seem to turn town at least every minute (and I’m not even joking about that).
Prostitution is illegal here,
so it takes on a very different face than it did in Thailand.
In Thailand, prostitution and sex was explicit. Just walk up to almost any given bar, and you were sure to meet some girl that was working that spot. Or if you didn’t want to go bar hopping, you could always just go check out a brothel.
In Thailand, a family might just need some money, so they would sell their little girl (or boy) to someone else for money, just for a night. Then, maybe, after several more encounters, they might get an offer to go work in the big city where they could make a lot more money to send home to their family.
So when I heard that I was going to to the red light district here in Penang to reach out to some of the people there, I had a certain expectation of what that would look like.
But here in Malaysia, things are quite different. Prostitution is illegal, so the red light district isn’t a strip of bars and brothels. Instead, it is an alleyway of old, middle-aged women needing a little extra cash, or lady boys who are often rejected in society and so this is part of the life they must lead.
This was a dark alley dotted every 25 ft or so with a chair where a woman sat. Some where out there because they desperately needed some cash to survive to get food or pay for necessities. Others were there to pay for an addiction they had, or their husbands had an addiction so their husbands sent them out to get money to feed their addictions. And yet others were just rejects in society.
These women could be my mother, they could be my aunt. This women could be pouring into my life speaking from their wisdom and experience. But instead they are reduced to nothing. Just $10 and you can get a somewhat private room just off the alley. But for only $5 if you don’t need the privacy, you can just do it in the alley.
As we were talking to this one woman, I saw a man approach from behind. I kept an eye on him just to make sure that the women that I was there with were safe. But here I was, literally standing in the gap between this woman and this man. We were here loving this woman. And here came this man approaching from behind us. I knew what he was there for, and I started to get angry at him for what he was there for.
But after a few minutes, I realized I needed to have compassion on him as well. Those men are just as much entrapped by their addictions and longings of their bodies AND hearts, that they end up in this alley too–
just as broken,
just as hurting,
just as much in need of a Savior.
