Retreat

It’s has been the King’s Birthday w/e here, and a public holiday.
We have been off on a retreat to the Redemptorist Center in Pattaya, on the gulf coast.
While there we visited the Orphanage started by one of the Fathers.
Sad, but lovely.
Isn’t this the cutest pair?

They had a 4 day old baby in the baby section of the orphanage heartbreaking really. They do adopt out a lot of babies which is good. This child however had something wrong and I doubt if he will be adopted. They all love to be picked up and played with but cry when you put them back in their cribs. Dave was very sad but I could tell they are well looked after and much loved, it is a very big and happy place, far better for them than the life they were born into. They can also stay here for ever if they want. A lot of the orphans from the 70’s still return ‘home’ for holidays and some of them work at the place.

We did go into Pattaya on the Sat night to sample the night life, it was everything we had heard about and more. Lots of old (and not so old but ugly) and fat ‘farang’s’ (European) males with young Thai girls. Also lots of very young girls looking for clients. I had been in the day time before and it hadn’t looked so bad. But it is not a place I would like to revisit.