An Amazingly Humbling Day.....

Today we are heading off with Tamara to look around and also visit a friend of hers (Sue) near Phuket Town. She picked us up at 9.30am and we found some breakfast on the way. The friend of Tamara's is a Thai lady that she met a long time ago through Soi dogs when she took her sick dog there and Tamara was volunteering. They became friends and Tamara helps her whenever she comes here by buying her some groceries & clothes, putting money in her kids school lunch accounts and taking them out. She has 2 boys who she told us are 7 & 8. When we arrived where Sue lives, which is down a few back roads in the middle of a very poor area, the kids came running out and were hugging Tamara like a long lost sister. It was really sweet but when Sue came from another direction it was a very emotional reunion as she was so overwhelmed and happy to see Tamara it was hard not to shed a few tears. Sue did not let go of Tamara for ages and spoke a lot but she doesn't speak English so was a bit hard to work out what she was saying although Tamara speaks Thai quite well and filled us in most of the time. She asked us to come into her house, which was down a lane and on a swamp. We walked across a makeshift ramp and past a lot of rubbish and entered not what we would consider a house. It was like a tin shed with about 6 rooms and a walkway in the middle. Each room was where each family lived. Sue & her 2 boys live in one together which is one room with a small separate room at the back with a toilet in the ground and a tub for bathing. The whole space is smaller than a single car garage. There is a single mattress on the floor that they all sleep on. I can not tell you how overwhelmingly saddening walking in there was. Sue's job is recycling and she earns about 6000 baht ($200) a month and has no husband to help her as he was killed in an accident several years ago. We all sat on the bed & floor and Sue showed us pictures of her dog and kids and just kept hugging Tamara and thanking us for coming. The kids sat on the floor with 2 of their friends, eating donuts that Tamara had bought, and they were so well mannered and beautiful. As little as they have, Sue still sent someone to the shop to get us a bottle of water each. Sitting there with this family was probably one of the most amazing experiences that we have encountered for a very long time and we felt privileged to be spending time with this beautiful family. After living in Alice Springs and working closely with our Indigenous people on remote communities, I can not help but think how shit house our government is in giving so many handouts and how abused our system is. These people get absolutely no assistance at all and if they don't work they don't eat....simple. The conditions they live in are appalling and poor does not begin to describe their lives. But still they smile and would give you the shirt off their back. Our lazy dole bludging society, black or white, need to see how other countries governments treat them and maybe they might be a bit more grateful. Please do not be offended by what I am saying and if you are reading this then you should know me well enough to know I am not being racist at all, just realistic. Rant over.....So we spent about an hour there and then took them to lunch in Phuket Town at The Pizza Company.....somewhere they would never be able to afford to go to normally. The eldest son disappeared so he didn't get to come so it was just the 5 of us. The youngest one was so well behaved and quiet while we were out it was amazing. Both of them did not eat much as Sue said they were too excited. So many leftovers were taken home for Sue to have for dinner with the kids. We stopped off at a large wholesale supermarket on the way back to Sue's to get some things for her and then headed off to drop them home. After many hugs and more tears we said goodbye to this beautiful family and her pet pig.....lol. We spent the next few hours driving around looking at some lovely spots near the beach and went to a restaurant for a look that overlooks the ocean which was absolutely breathtaking. It was time to head home as we need to get ready to go out for dinner. Tamara came back to get us at 7pm and we amazingly found our way to a really cool restaurant in Phuket Town called "The Natural Restaurant" which is a bit hard to explain so just Google it and you will be able to read about it plus I put photos on Facebook last night. We had a beautiful meal which consisted mostly of seafood and met the owner who was really nice. We left there and headed into Patong as we wanted to take Tamara to a lady boy show. We were a bit early for the Kiss Bar so we went into one next door that was starting and ended up staying there for a couple of hours. Let's say that even though it was a male gay bar, Tamara was still very popular and had the attention of a few of the dancers although they are also prostitutes so it made for some amusing antics. Also see pics on Facebook :) It was after midnight and as we all had to be up early decided to call it a night. On our way out of the car park Tamara and the security guard had a bit of an argument about paying for the parking but it was only because he didn't understand what she was asking him but we did get a bit worried for a minute imagining getting arrested for not wanting to pay....lol. I got to have my first car driving experience in Thailand which wasn't half as scary as I thought it would be and in no time we were all home safe and sound. We are moving on in the morning so till the then....goodnight. Alvo xoxo