My 2 girlfriends and I decided to go to Thailand in 2004 after the Tsunami and help them clean the island of Koh Phi Phi as we were offered this assignment by our local Uni. Everything was fine and we helped clean things all over the island. We usually take turns with the other volunteers (from all over the world) to take off days. When it was my turn, one of my girlfriends, Joey decided to take it with me as we really wanted to go shopping.

We were recommedned a hotel by the locals as we wanted to save money on lodging and spend more on shopping. It was a gloomy hotel but its the same everywhere at 11pm in Phuket,(we reached by boat from island) so we checked in n left immediately for shopping, returning only around 3am. Our room had 2 single beds with a side table in the middle and a telephone on the table. There was also a picture of a regal looking lady above the table. Her look was very stern and fierce. Aa we were comparing about our buys and giggling away, I suddenly noticed the face of the lady – she had a full grin on her face! Joey followed my gaze and was stunned herself. We carried everything by hand, without bothering to pack and ran out, checking out. Only after reaching a coffeeshop, did we pack our stuff and waited for dawn with many cups of coffee to keep us awake.