Catching up...

My time in Chon Buri was short and oh-so-sweet. I had some great conversations with the missionaries there and they gave me vision, and much to pray and think about.

Early on Saturday morning, into the wee hours of daylight, I crawled into a van destined for Bangkok. They tend to over air-condition these vehicles, so I shivered for about 2 hours, arriving in the vast city roughly around 6:30am. My friend came and picked me up and took me to her house…this beautiful oasis amidst the confusion that is Bangkok. We ate, I changed and then we headed on our way.

Our first stop was the King’s Palace…this was apparently home for the 5th King of Thailand (and I believe that the current King is the ninth). This place was absolutely massive!!! There was so much more to it than just his palace. There was a temple and funeral houses, and museums. There were an abundance of foreigners all mocking and mimicking the poses of the idols and decorative statues. I was embarrassed to be white.

From there we headed to the river, which joins up with canals that flow all through the city. We decided to take a long tail boat tour. This was such a highlight of my day!! Yui and I had our own boat, with this fantastic and sweet driver (who let me drive the boat a bit myself), and we got to feed an unbelievable amount of fish. There were schools and schools of them all flopping and slipping over each other! Apparently the temple protects these fish, and people are not allowed to catch them or eat them around that area. The unfortunate and stupid fish that finds himself outside the protection of the temple also finds himself on someone’s plate. It seems that the majority of the fish in the canal have claimed “sanctuary” as it were.

That night Yui’s parents took me out for supper to this beautiful restaurant, and ordered obscene amounts of food. All of it (even the scary looking fish) tasted amazing! We wrapped up supper with a little bit of dart throwing. If you could hit 4 balloons you could also win a stuffed animal…if you hit 3, you only get a pen. I think we walked away from there with 6 pens.

There is this incredibly famous road within Bangkok referred to as Khao San Road. If you come to Bangkok, it is kind of a must see…not because it is awesome, or beautiful, or anything of the sort, but plainly because it epitomizes what tourism has done to this country and to the Thai people. This street is rampant with white men with Thai women, copious amounts of alcohol, and an unbelievable amount of disregard for Thai culture...the “everything-is-for-me” attitude is prevalent there in Khao San. It was actually quite disgusting to me. Yui turned to me at one point and said, “I hate this place more and more every time I come”.

So last night I said goodbye to Yui and her family (who were incredibly gracious and took great care of me) and boarded on yet another night bus…this one headed for Khao Lak. There weren’t many people on this bus, so we had loads of room and I think I got a pretty good sleep. I arrived in Khao Lak at 7:00am…my friends Gaan and Byrd there to pick me up!

I can’t even begin to express what I’m seeing. My heart is overjoyed at the change that has taken place. It truly is a transformation! I walked down to the beach and there are huts and resorts starting to take shape. There are people walking along the beach, and there are houses in places where there were no houses before. Khao Lak is being rebuilt! There still remain remnants from last year’s tragedy though, creating a vast contrast to the ever changing landscape. There is much work to be done here, but it has been so encouraging to see the difference!

I am renting a motorcycle (yes, I will be careful, and yes, I will wear a helmet) and will be scooting myself around to different work sites and to see people that I know from last year. This gives me a lot of freedom. I think Gaan and I might head to work tomorrow…we will just play today…volleyball, go for a run, and a nice swim in the ocean.

Anyway, love you guys…I’ve posted more photos on my online album, so click here if you want to check them out!