A Christmas to Remember

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The day before christmas the boys decided to do visit "Bang Kwang" Jail in Bangkok. It was quite an ordeal to say the least but they managed to see a prisioner for a short period of time. For those who didn't get the group email that Hodge and Grant sent out about their experience visiting the prisioner at The Bangkok Jail I have attached it in this entry, just view full entry and scroll down a bit. If you want to comment or hear more about it, email Hodge at [e-mail] or email Grant at [e-mail] and they'll share more details about it.

Fw: A Christmas to Remember

Hey everyone,

Can't say we are a huge fan of group emails, but we feel that this one is a necessity

To start off with a small update on our trip, We have been travelling around southeast Asia, having a great time and our plan is to head to Australia for the new year.

So the story begins..... after spending a few nights in Bangkok shopping and doing what you do in Bangkok, we decided to visit the well known "Bangkok Hilton" and give someone a Christmas gift. For those who don't know the Bangkok Hilton is actually just a slang term for one of the worst prisions in the world. It has been numoured to be a place where prisions have frequent accidental deaths every year. We didn't really know what our goal was by visitng the jail, maybe to make someone feel better around Chrismtas time, but we can confidently say that within the first minute of stepping into the visitors area we both grew up very fast.

His name was Blake Mitchell( not his real name of course, because according to him half the prisioners are under false names). He is a 39 year old white male originally from Australia. He has been transfered between nine different thailand prisions and has served 13 years with no idea of a release date. I guess you could call him lucky though, considering he was originally sentenced to death. The crime you ask? wasn't quite specific but was along the lines of smuggling/dealing/transporting kg's of heroin in thailand.

So what do you talk to a prisioner about?... Everything. he not only asked us about our trip and life ambitions but told us about his private school upbringing, his youth, his opinions on society, religion and philosophy, as well as his experiences in prision. Hearing about these experiences was the hardest part of the conversation and instead of getting into details we would just ask you to read the book called Damage Done written by a cellmate of Blake Mitchell's. Other parts of the conversation that we found shocking was Blake's qustions on this "internet" in which he has never benable to use. The most shocking topic was the things Blake missed about the outside world. It was quality. Not just quality of life but of everything. He explained how badly he missed listening to music, not pearl jam or anythign like that but true music such as classical music which involves finish and tone and pitch. He said he doesnt crave to eat fast food but instead wants to feel the freshness of vegetables and cut them up and eat them.. strange things. We found it funny how someone who has had their freedom taken misses things in which we take for granted on a daily basis.

We ended up talking to Blake for about an hour, but waiting around and the long ride out there took up most of the day, but it was well worth it. We aren't trying to say that he was not suppose to be in jail, he said it himself " I broke the law, and Im now paying for it"

So I guess this email is just to tell you about our experience and to say no matter where you are at Christmas make sure you are enjoying yourself and appreciating what you have.

Merry Xmas everyone!

GrantWalker and BrentHodge

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