While this entire trip belongs in the record books, the last couple of days were extra special. From visiting fantastic local organizations to experiencing the sights with this great group of people, it’s been just awesome. The final 48 hours topped the charts on all aspects. And all along the way, the Thai people were SO sweet and met us with a smile at every turn.
At risk of losing my readers who may not be prepared for this (skip ahead if that’s you), I want to start by telling you about an organization called Nightlight. It was started by an incredibly inspirational leader, Annie, who was born in the US and spent her childhood in Congo and Asia. She came to Thailand and started getting involved in work to prevent and protect women in prostitution. She came to realize just how large of a problem it is in Thailand.
Get this – girls are meant to be the source of funding for their parents, brothers, and entire families in Thailand. To do so, many of them get swept up in working at bars, clubs, strip clubs…and worse. If they can’t financially support their family, they are shamed by their parents and their village. One woman’s village threw a celebration when she sold her virginity and brought her family $2,000. Why girls, you ask? Well, Thais follow a Buddhist belief that women did something wrong in their past life and are “punished” by coming back as a female. Their hard work to provide for their families could be interpreted as a type of penance.
It was really sad to think of all the girls who are raised to think that prostitution is just what they have to do to keep their families. If they don’t provide, they would be essentially banished for dishonoring their families and community. They then end up with all the problems that come with prostitution: expensive abortions, unwanted children, substance addictions, and an incredible amount of mental and emotional damage.
Annie is taking a really innovative approach to tackling the issue. She’s building a company that employs women who were formerly prostitutes to give them an alternative. They make products such as jewelry and silk screen t-shirts that generate real revenue. Her goal is that the business meets actual customer needs, instead of customers only buying their products out of pity. She wants the women to feel empowered and establish self-worth, along with learning tangible job skills.
Annie intercepts women who are prostitutes while they’re at work and is able to perceive who is ready to take action to change their lives. She also works with the government and employers of prostitutes to take action. Another strategy that I think could use a power boost is educating men, or the consumers of prostitution. Annie says 80-90% of Thai men regularly engage in the sex trade industry, and that they frequently take visitors along with them. Tourism is such a major industry in Thailand that foreigners often also engage in the booming sex trade of Thailand. I may be naive, but I firmly believe that if Americans and Europeans knew where this women came from and why they feel obligated to be prostitutes, they may think twice before participating.
For our cohort, there was hardly a dry eye in the room as Annie was speaking. Note that our group is 20 men and 7 women (and I wasn’t one of the cryers ;)). From our reflections afterward, it opened up our eyes and minds to the challenges that women face both in Thailand and around the globe. It gave us the opportunity to start the conversation. For that, I thank Annie and UST for educating us and encouraging us all to do and be better humans.
There is so much more to this story. If you want to hear it, give me a shout or check out Nightlight’s website here. As an aside, Annie is a rockstar and deserves the penthouse suite in heaven.
HAPPY STUFF STARTS HERE! You can exhale now. Please.
We spent the weekend in Bangkok when businesses are mainly closed, which means lots of sightseeing and class bonding! Our fantastic tour guide Ann brought us to the Ayutthaya ruins, which was the palace and capital city of Thailand in the 1300’s. If you’ve been to Chichinitza or other ruined capital cities, it was very similar but with a Buddhist flair. Meaning tall temples, feng shui, and sweltering heat. (I learned that even my kneecaps can, in fact, sweat.)
We also toured the summer palace of the royal family. It was originally built in the 1800’s, with a house for each of the king’s wives. Been to Versailles? Like that, but with an Eastern flavor. Such as the story that one of the king’s wives and her three kids fell out of a boat on the canals that swirl around the buildings, and because it’s illegal for anyone to touch the royal family, they drowned. Geez! On a happier note, we all took the opportunity to wear our elephant pants and buy more in the souvenir shop.
The palace also had some Western elements because the king visited Europe around the early 1900’s, came back and made some big changes. He introduced forks and spoons, and said no more chopsticks. So, to this day in Thailand, there are no chopsticks. It feels almost wrong to me to eat classic Asian food and destroy it with a fork. I say “destroy” because the king must’ve forgotten to bring knives into the picture, so at every meal I have to do the fork-side-cutting-turns-to-mashing maneuver. First world problems, I know.
Have I mentioned the malls in Bangkok? We visited the mall just across the river using the handy-dandy hotel shuttle boat. It just opened in November and it is spectacular. I think it’s the third mall in Bangkok that is chock-full of the highest end stores that exist. And then multiply a regular quantity of those stores by ten, and you have this ridiculously large and spectacular mall. The reason I went was for the pad thai, which was an outpost of a famous pad thai restaurant, and only cost me $5 for a big ol’ plate of noodles.
View from the mall 
Your average mall entrance. Right? 
Hanging out on the mall lookout deck
A memorable meal was spent with a classmate at a local Indian place. Bangkok is known for lots of great Indian food, and this restaurant didn’t disappoint. It was me, Jane, and many Indian families eating dinner. The owners doted on us to no end, including spicing our food to suit each one of us and then cutting it in half and serving it to us. It was so sweet. The food was delicious, reminding me of our time in Bangalore eating on a banana leaf, and definitely authentic.
Our final shebang for the trip (it’s already over! I can’t believe it!) was a fun boat cruise down the Chao Praya river at night. The highlight for me was the most amazing fruit spread EVER. I thought I knew fruit, but I was wrong. Best eats, in rough order but don’t hold me to it:
- Mangosteen. Tastes like a plum and looks like a lychee. So sweet and delicious, I think I had 5 or 6 and I know others had more.
- Coconut pudding. The base were tapioca balls and taro root. Nothing like good coconut and a little surprise of bobas.
- Red bean “fruit”. Okay, I was completely duped on this one. Somebody mashed up red beans (the kind that are used as dessert filling for Asian pastries) and formed them into cute little fruits. Dipped in gelatin and painted pretty colors, they almost didn’t look edible. The nice woman who satisfied all my fruit dreams told me “Red bean!” So, silly me thought this was actually how red beans grew! In cute little shapes that look like cherries. Wrong!! Ugh. Oh well, they still tasted great.
- Mango sticky rice. You know my devotion to mango sticky rice.
- Sapodilla. Brownish fruit that had a similar texture to a pear, but incredibly sweet.
- Papaya. So ripe and carved so pretty.
- Watermelon, oranges, pineapple. No offense but I can get you at home (but with less flavor)
- Jackfruit. Just not a big jackfruit girl.
I wish I had skipped dinner and instead stolen entire plates of this fruit. Definitely the best food of the trip for me.
Okay, I can’t sign off without getting a little sappy. This trip has given me the opportunity to really get to know people I never would’ve expected to know. We all come from such different industries, families, backgrounds that it is quite a melting pot. I also want to give massive kudos to the group that we had not an ounce of drama, and I attribute that to our level of respect for each other. Everyone brings something unique to the table. Each person is passionate about their thing. I have so much to learn from each person, and I think many of us feel that way, which results in a group that lifts each other up. Our administrators have admitted that this was the best trip that they’ve ever taken with an executive MBA group (though you didn’t hear it from me). I am really, really honored to spend the last twelve days with this crew and to have experienced everything alongside them. I got to see things through not only my eyes but theirs, and multiplied by 27, that’s a lot of learning. Thank you, Cohort 69, for being so spectacular.
Back home for a good while now, though you know where to find me on my next trip!
Love,
Melissa