EXPOSURE TO YET ONE MORE COUNTRY - THAILAND

 Hopelessness every where we looked

The last five days of our missions trip were spent in Bangkok, Thailand.  Our experiences there were similar, yet quite different.  They were similar in that we met more Alliance missionaries.  Different in that a strong Buddhist presence was evident.  Everywhere we went, we saw Buddhist temples, Buddhist monks, men and women giving an offering of fruit, etc. and bowing before an idol.

Some of our tour group, which numbered around forty, got to stay at the Alliance Guest House in Bangkok.  The rest of us were in a hotel a block or two away.  Since our stay in Thailand included a Sunday, we attended the International Church, which was in English, for the Sunday morning service and in the afternoon we were able to sit in on one of the national church services.

A highlight of our days in Thailand included a one day trip to a Khmer Rouge refugee camp.  We left about six in the morning, with a five hour bus trip to the camp.  The refugee camp was near the Cambodian border.  There had been some shooting in that area in recent weeks, coming from Cambodia, so the trip was optional.  A few of the seniors stayed in Bangkok. The majority of us went on the trip, which we will never regret.

Khmer Rouge refugee camp site

What an eye opener to see these refugees, 40,000 of them, living in their huts.  We had our lunch there and a tour of the camp, including their hospital, dental clinic, etc.  We found the maternity ward of the hospital quite interesting.  The husband and other children in the family were with the new mother and they were the main care-givers, which also meant providing the new mother with food.  Under the mother's bed was a little heater which was was supposed to drive away evil spirits.  Imagine a heater under your straw mat when it is about 35C (95F) or more degrees outside.  This maternity ward was basically outside with just a roof.  The floor was the ground and there were no walls.

 Maternity ward of the refugee camp

Our trip back to Bangkok proved to be another interesting experience.  The bus had a flat tire and with no spare, we had to wait along the way for about two hours or more while the bus driver went into a town to get the tire repaired.  While we waited, we wandered about looking at one thing and another.  One of the things that we noticed was the remaining tires on our bus.  God was with us, for sure.  These bus tires were as bald as the top of a table, absolutely no tread. Thankfully, we made it back to Bangkok for a late dinner.

We were taken to a restaurant, built over water and billed as the world's largest restaurant.  We were told that it seated 2,000 people.  There were individual dining areas, each area with its own host or hostess.  Each dining area was basically a floor, roof, railings and of course, tables and benches.  The weather was hot so the openness, over the water, helped to make it a comfortable setting. The food was delivered  by fellows on roller blades, skating on the walkways, with a tray of food in each hand, handing the trays over to the host or hostess stationed at the dining area.  The host or hostess then set the food before the patrons.  A separate stage was out on the water, where there was entertainment for all to see.  We were one tired group of tourists when we finally made it back to our beds that night. 

When our days in Thailand ended, we all had our last dinner at the Alliance guest house, flying out later that evening, heading back to the hotel at the Narita airport in Tokyo, where we had spent our first night.