My corn lady...Mmmmmmm!
One of my favorite restaurants!
Motor Bike Taxi men
A local Loco Farang (Crazy Westerner)
My best friend...SPY CLASSIC

Christmas Eve by the beach
Christmas in Pattaya
Happy place at night
On Santa's sleigh with Simon, Jim and Reena
Simon and I...Reunion after 3 years!

One of my happy places...over looking the beach
$6 dollar shoes anyone???
Jomtien Beach at sunset
Fresh fruits
Christmas Eve by the beach

Ladies of Siam Massage (Phi is mine (in orange) and Pan is Reena's (2nd from Right)
Jomtien Beach
One last island day on the eve of Christmas Eve
Reena and I at the CANDY SHOP
Chillin on Santa's sleigh

Sadness...

Little girl from Thepperasit slum...yes it is a girl!

The water well at Thepperasit slum

Makeshift homes surrounded by garbage

Lady we lent money, so she can start her little restaurant at the slums

Song of the Day : Collective Soul "The World I know"

This morning I walked to the closest International telephone booth at 6am so that I can book an early flight back home. I've never been up that early. It was actually rather pleasant. It was quiet. The sidewalks were clear of slow walking pedestrians, so there was no walk rage for me! People slowly setting up their food stands. No sounds of the hundreds of motorbikes/scooters whizzing by. I heard about this but never thought about actually waking up to witness it....but there were so many monks walking the streets. It was a sea of orange! Early in the morning they would walk the streets and people would give them food. It was so unreal and very lovely!

I almost got attacked this morning by a little dog. As I approached the phone booth he started barking. The dogs here don't usually attack people and I never feared the stray dogs. So I continued to walk towards the phone booth. Then the little pup got up and started running towards me barking. As he approached I could see that his eyes meant business. So I slowly started to walk backwards, ready to kick him if he jumped on me. He kept running towards me so I turned around and made a mad dash. Luckily for me, he was tiny so I was able to out run the damn dog and walked another few meters to the next International phone booth!

I was finally able to reach my travel agent and book an earlier flight back home. We've been playing phone tag for days. I knew the day was coming, but to actually confirm the date makes it official. I feel really sad to be going home. Especially after hearing it's been the worst winter yet. It's like I will soon be going to the major extreme from HOT! HOT! HOT! to Cold, dreary, snowy and depressing. The funny thing, is that when Reena told me that her mother will be flying from the Philippines to Montreal on Christmas Day I thought it was totally unheard of. That it would suck BIG time to fly alone on Christmas. The funny thing is....is that I will be flying solo on Christmas Day! We are 12 hours ahead so in reality my flight at 6:40am on X-Mas day is really 6:40pm X-mas Eve. The good thing is that I will arrive on X-Mas day but at 7pm.

It's funny because it's been over 2 months here and we are finally discovering so much about the city that we haven't due to our weekends of laziness. So now I am totally dedicating the little time left I have here, to live it up. Reena and I will hit the bars tonight to see "our" girls and to finally pull an all nighter. Da Big J encouraged us to do an all nighter to really see what the city is all about. We will be stepping into the darker side of Pattaya. We also decided to pay for a girl's bar fine and really unpack her. So last night Reena walked around Walking St in search of a GO-GO SHOW to tap. Reena wants to find the worst of the worst. I don't know if I can handle it. I am still traumatized about the first GO-GO Show where we encountered Laht!

Reena also has this fixation of re-visiting our "Mangirls" (Girls who want to be Boys) Mike & Goon. I don't know if you recall but they were the ones we thought were young men so I decided to practice my picking up skills on them, but we later discovered they are girls! Anyways, as much as I do not want to see them it will be fun to take pictures with them so that y'all can see what we were dealing with.

Walking the streets is kind of sad and hard because I am slowly telling people I am leaving. I don't want to tell them all in one BIG BANG coz I know for sure my "ALLERGIES" will start. I miss the tightness of the community and I feel even sadder thinking about the people in the slums. There are 2 little girls that I sooooooo would love to adopt but I know for sure my mom would give me 2 swift kicks in the arse because she claims I am not "responsible" enough. I can only agree with her 40% so I guess the timing ain't right to start adopting kids. I would still love to do what I can to continue helping the slum project, even if it means coming back again within the year (hahahahahaha!).

So with that all said and done, I will get on off of this chair and enjoy what Pattaya has to offer! I still can't believe I traded my beach shorts for snow pants! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Trading In My Beach Shorts For Snow Pants!

(Left to Right) Mita, Reena, Wanna, Ratanna, Me!
(Left to Right) : Ben, Matt (Mita's husband), The BIG J, Luke

Song of the Day : Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation"

I've been so bored these past few days, that I actually caved in and went to work yesterday. As a matter of fact I am in the office right now! I won't go into detail about the internal issues going on but I know for sure I let the "team" down for going in. Let's just say the once happy OPENaid family is now divided! So when I say "team" I mean, Wanna, Reena, Mita and Luke. I feel bad for going in despite our lengthy times of UNPACKING and agreeing we will no longer go to the office. The only reason why I went in yesterday was because Ratanna had invited me to visit and I couldn't say, "no". That and I wanted to also say goodbye. Yes, I am thinking of packing it up and packing it in. I find there is so much work that needs to be done here, that 1 or 2 extra months won't be enough. In order to be a volunteer for this organization, 6-12 months is more ideal to make the work more effective. Right now, I am not mentally or financially prepared to do so, nor able to commit for such a longtime. Perhaps in the future, but right now it isn't possible.

Yesteday I talked with the Ratanna and the new girl Noi , just to get information about what is going on and what not. Then they asked if I wanted to go to the slums with them. We went to 2 of them. Many tourists and even Thai people do not know about the slums because they are usually hidden behind the bushes. When we explain to people what we do, they look at us strangely and ask, "There are slums in Pattaya?". There are a total of 38 slum communities in Pattaya which consists of 30-80 people per slum. I think on the outside Pattaya looks good. The miles and miles of beaches, the newly constructed condos and homes and shopping malls, but deep in the bushes there is a lot of sadness and poverty.

While I was there I felt enlightened and realize that what is going on internally does not matter at all because the cause is so great. It was really sad being at the slums. I really do not know how they do it. To live amongst the trash. No electricity or running water. To top it all off, one of the slums we visited is right by the go-kart track, so you can hear the roaring of the cars as they whizz by. The houses in the slums are made with a mix of materials mainly of cardboard, and scraps of cotton material. The more "prominent" homes are made of tin, slabs of wood with cracks in between to cover as much ground as possible, and with broken glass as windows. There was one old lady who was in her late 80's who is paralyzed and hasn't moved from her "bed" in 15 years! The family can not afford to take her to the hospital for further examination. Only recently was she able to lie on a mattress that OPENaid has donated. It was hard to imagine she was lying down on an old carpet used as a mattress on a wooden plank. When we said, "Sawadee!" (Hello) She cried. She had tears rolling down and Ratanna told me she is thankful for the mattress. I felt bad because as soon as I walked in, I took a deep breath because I was exhausted from the heat and my eyes started to water and I felt like hurling. The old lady hasn't bathed in I don't know how long so she reeked. Again, I blamed my tears on allergies. I tried so hard to hold it in, and to calm myself so that I don't hurl. I was told that everyone in the community takes turns keeping her company. Talking to her. Giving her water. Turning her over to prevent getting bed sores. Her "house" consists of a tin roof with no walls. They used plastic tarp as a wall to shield her from the elements. The other side of her home is open.

We also met up with a lady named Jintana who has HIV. It was sad to see her frail body, but she was smiling offering us water and snacks. The new girl Noi felt uncomfortable being around her. She comes from a rich and educated background and think it is a poor person's disease. Many people in Thailand are not educated about AIDS and HIV. They think if they touch someone with the disease they will be affected. Hopefully, Noi will soon learn and understand that it is ok to touch someone who is affected. Ratanna said that Jintana feels sad many times because when she tells someone she has the disease people run away or say mean things to her. So to lift her spirits whenever we visit we always hug her, shake her hand, touch her arm so that she doesn't feel like a monster and that not all people are ignorant.

For a moment yesterday and even today and I guess from now on, I will only think about the cause and not about the internal bull-ish. I think what OPENaid does is amazing. I like the fact that they support the needs that most organizations here don't bother with, or even think about.

The BIG BANG!

Song of the Day : Mattafix "Living"

Our program has now ended for the holidays. We were going to renew another 2 months after the holidays, but with all the stuff that was going on, we decided to end it on a good note. We are still in search of a private investigator but that's another story! We definetly ended our volunteer experience with a BIG BANG. When I mean BIG, I mean BIG. The "BIG J" aka Justin took Ben, Reena and I to a GO GO SHOW. We heard stories about those kind of places, but to actually witness what goes on in there is really quite frightening. The reason why he took us there, was because there is a girl named Iio (Eye-yo) that we are trying to help. She is 2 months pregnant and HATES working at the GO GO Show but has no other choice due to financial difficulty. We always question why go through that when there are jobs at stores or restaurants, but they don't pay enough. The pay is ok if you are supporting yourself and no one else, but if you have a baby or babies and your whole family up North to support the pay is nothing.

The Big J gave me a warning before entering and I was scared to go in, but I thought I'm in Thailand and I will never see or experience anything like it, so I decided to move along without fear and just go in. From the moment we walked in my jaw dropped. It was like a live porn. It was so disgusting and really degrading. The men in there were so disgusting. They were like kids in a candy store. Doing everything and anything you can imagine (except actual intercourse) to the girls in plain view of EVERYONE! Eagerly awaiting their turn with the girls. It was the nastiest thing I have ever seen. I am so naive to think I had already seen the worst Pattaya has to offer, but this was by far THE worst! There was the shower station, with bar stools surrounding the jacuzzi-like tub where men can sit and watch 2 girls showering and soaping eachother up. Then there were couches and bar stools surrounding a big table with two girls fondling, humping and spanking eachother with big foam sticks. The men around the table were loving it, and even participated in the fondling, touching and even licking.

I seriously wanted to punch those jerks out. Reena and I had really violent thoughts swirling in our heads and needed to turn to our favorite alcaholic drink SPY CLASSIC to numb the pain as we knew we couldn't do anything to stop what was going on. Justin said he spoke to a few of the girls there and they expressed how much they hate what they are doing, and hate Western men for keeping the industry alive. We learned that the way they are at work is not how they are outside of work. It's hard to look at them and think of them doing "normal" things. After "settling" in, I decided to grab Iio aside to sit with Reena and I to talk. Justin looked really impressed and asked who our friend was. I got confused and said we are talking to Iio, and he laughed and said that the girl I grabbed is not Iio. Big mistake on my part because the girl I grabbed thought Reena and I were interested in taking her home. Her name is Laht and she is 30 years old, but looked like she was 22 years old. She spoke pretty good English so it was easy to converse with her. She initially sat next to me because I grabbed her and I felt shy and awkward because she kept stroking my back and my legs up and down. Reena had a good time seeing me in pain. Luckily the girls had to rotate stations every 15 minutes. So Laht had to run off to the shower station. As she was being scrubbed by another girl from behind she would wave and blow kisses at Reena and I. We would wave back at her, then look to eachother at how wierd the night is turning out to be. I think I had the last laugh because as soon as the 15 minute rotation sound rang, Laht ran over to us all wet from her shower and I quickly switched seats with Reena. She ended up next to Laht and it was her turn to get stroked up and down. The night turned out to be a game of musical chairs as Reena and I were fighting every 15 minutes for the "safe" chair.

After that go go show, we needed to go to our happy place. So we hit Walking Street so that I can hit our favorite Ice Cream shop for 3 scoops of heavenly gelatto on a homemade waffle cone. Reena's happy place was the street meat man, for some fantastic MOO KOW (COW)! It's funny because MOO = PORK and KOW (COW) = RICE, so we always have a good laugh when we order Pork and Rice. Wanna would always say we must love it so much because our eyes twinkle when we order it.

We will soon be evicted from our hotel room real soon. Our last day was December 9 but we were able to extend it until December 23. How lovely! We will be homeless on the Eve of Christmas Eve! We searched high and low for hotels but they are either really ghetto or too expensive. We actually find the most amazing place near the nicest beach area in Pattaya. It is away from the sex and corruption and it is close to the Princess's house so the area is completely safe with all the security guards and police in the area, but the place is just too damn far! It is high season so finding a place is really difficult. It is making me wonder wether or not I should just come home already. I've been battling the idea for awhile now. It's hard to believe that I am in beach city and I am bored. There is only so much heat and sun one can take. You must be thinking I am insane for saying that since the 514 is buried in snow! Hahahahaha! (Sorry!). Doing absolutely nothing for the past few days and waking up at 2 or 3pm everyday has been tough since I am usually such a busy body.

Last Wednsday it was the King's birthday. Reena and I woke up really late (as usual) to the sounds of whistles, marching bands and chanting. We got ready real fast excited for a fun filled day. We were advised that we had to wear Yellow (King's color) because it was his birthday. We didn't have anything yellow that was clean so we ended up wearing purple. We were planning to buy the King's shirt at the mall. We ate LUNDIN at our favorite cafe. A fusion of Thai and Western food. They have the best cheese burgers! We decided to splurge on a $3 meal as it was the King's Birthday. We then walked towards Walking Street and the Pier hoping to see action. You would think that there would be a crazy party for His Majesty, but the streets were empty and pretty quiet. The only people you see on the streets were some street vendors, and tourists. Apparently, whenever it is the King's birthday loud music or drinking alcahol is not allowed. People drink alcahol but not outside. That night we decided to continue with our own festivities and tapped a Mexican restaurant on Beach Road. Walking there was really eerie. Usually the streets are crowded, different music blarring from the bars, and the bright lights flashing but this time it was if there was a power outage. No bright lights or music. There were a few bars open but there were only about 6-8 people in there staff included. We thought the portions would be small like in Japan, so we ordered a lot of dishes. The waitresses were shocked at our order and perhaps thought we were cows. It makes us laugh when we go to "expensive" restaurants alone. When we enter a restaurant they usually wait a few minutes for "our men" to follow suit. We look Thai so people look at us wondering how we are able to afford a "pricy" meal. We enjoy battling the stereotype of how Thai women need Western men to support them. When we got our daquiris and our meals they were so HUGE. We had an amazing dinner and the alcahol got us tipsy real fast. They didn't mess around in that department. We walked home feeling really happy. Unfortunately, we heard bad news shortly after. Reena's grandmother had passed away that night.

So Reena left for the Philippines yesterday for a week and I am alone in Pattaya yet again. Before it was fine because I had work and Luke was here, but now I have nothing. I have the friendly locals that I say hi and shoot the breeze with, but they work such long hours that chilling is not an option. I think I will hit the beach tomorrow and just think things through.