We woke up at around 6AM and arrived at the MRI Center by 7AM. Today, we had planned to take a longtail boat to one of the local islands near Koh Yao to go snorkeling. However, it rained the entire morning so we didn't end up going.
Before it started raining...Kio did his quiet times at the MRI.
We waited out the storm in the MRI Center. Some of us decided to catch up on some sleep. The rain had stopped at around 12 noon, however, by this time it was no longer high tide so we didn't make the trip.
We headed back to Halavee for lunch and along the way, we bought some sarongs.
We had a 3PM ferry to catch to Phuket. Here are some last pictures I took from Koh Yao.
The beaches are so beautiful.
Here is a picture from the ferry to Phuket.
We arrived in Phuket at around 5PM and took a shuttle to Patong Beach (30 mins away) where our hotel was.
We arrived at Patong Beach just in time to catch the sunset. This beach is one of the more popular tourist destinations in all of Thailand.
I'm going to miss the beautiful sunsets.
After we checked into our hotel we walked around to find a place for dinner. At these local seafood restaurants, you pick the seafood and the chef cooks it right in front of you. Here are some of the lobsters that the MRI is trying to grow. As you can see, they sell for 200 Baht per 100 grams ($1 US dollar = 33 Bahts).
Patong Beach is also rampant with prostitution and human traffiking. After dinner, Fadi and I spent the evening walking around a 5 block radius. Everywhere we looked, we saw drug dealers, prostitutes, and "ladyboys" or men who undergo female sex changes. It was really disturbing seeing the older foreigner men walking around with young Thai women more than half their age. These businesses are controlled by the mafia and most government officials are paid to look the other way. Historical patterns show that when the surrounding Asian economies struggled, Patong continued to flourished. During the night, Fadi would tell me who he believed was a ladyboy...if I didn't believe him, we would walk up to them and ask them. This was a good way to initiate a conversation. We talked with one ladyboy named Lass. What an interesting way to end the night. We also got massages (Kio and I got massaged by ladyboys). Myles was sick and spend the night in the hotel resting.
Day 10 - Sunday, July 29, 2007
For Sunday Morning Service, we headed to the Phuket Christine Centre where Fadi attended church. He would take the ferry from Koh Yao to Phuket each weekend to attend church here.
The pastor of the church was also the worship leader.
My guess is that about half the congregation are locals and the other half foreigners.
Suzie and Fadi taking in the message.
There was also a child dedication ceremony during the service.
The leaders of the church also prayed for Fadi as this was Fadi's last week in Thailand. After 5 months working at the MRI, Fadi will be returning back to the Orange County seeking God's direction for his life.
Since we travel everywhere in a pickup truck, I took many pics from the back of the truck.
After church, we went elephant trekking (this activity was paid from our own pockets)
Kio and Suzie on their elephant.
After trekking around for an hour, there was also an elephant show. Fadi volunteered to get a message from the elephant.
I also volunteered, but I didn't get the same massage as Fadi...I got the special massage. Nan took video of this massage, hopefully, she'll post it when she gets back. Many of my team members believed this was the funniest thing they experienced on the trip (all on my expense).
Kio and I saw this truck and we had to take a picture since it combines our last names.
After the elephant trekking, we went to the night market to do some shopping. It's pretty much a huge swap meet. There had to be about 200 vendors selling knock off brand name apparrel.
Here is Kio shopping for Quicksilver t-shirts.
Sometime during the night, it rained hard. One thing about Thailand is that it rains alot. Sometimes it rains for a few minutes and then it stops and other times it can rain for hours.
The night market also had about 50 food vendors. Once again, $1 US dollar = 33 Bahts. This means that most of those dishes are less than $1 US.
Different colored pork shiu mai.
Lots of fried food.
Mango with sticky rice. This was my favorite dish. So good.
Ok, this was really gross. Some guy was selling crickets, locusts, silkworms, and larvae.
Nan, Suzie, and Kio eating a huge locust.
I still can't believe I did this, but I'm glad I did. It wasn't that bad.
At the end of the day, we headed to an Internet Cafe where I got to blog. Here is Suzie using Skye to call friends and family back home.
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