Bangkok, with its friendly SDA Chinese church pastor, easiness to get a visa, freedom of religion, SDA college, and proximity to all the other SE Asian countries, has become a base for my travels in SE Asia. There is a brand new airport (Suk???) situated a bit out of town, but bus 552 takes me close to Rama IV road. 551 takes you to Victory Monument. The ticket girl on the bus tries to cheat me out of 5 baht (15cents usd), but i don’t let it pass. She tells the bus driver about it, and they have a good laugh. It is great coming from areas of the world where cheating is a common pastime, but done in a gruff, aggressive manner, so the cheating done here with its laugh and smile is much more appreciated. I was told at the bus station near the airport that i would have to transfer to another bus, so wait about 15 minutes getting my blood thinned out quickly after being in cold climes for awhile. No bus. So i start walking to Rama IV road, lugging my two-good-wheeled suitcase behind me and up and down stairs. I was given two tickets at the station, so thot i should give one to the bus i transfer to, but am told i have to pay again, so i get down. Finally someone helps me to understand that i have to pay again, so i do for the next bus, a total of 32 and 11 baht for the 2-hour, traffic jammed ride. Even after just being gone 7 1/2 months, it seems like Bangkok has become richer. The inner city is definitely cleaner and richer looking than all the countries travelled to since Italy.
Pastor has allowed me use of the room that the Filipino English teacher/missionary used to occupy, so after a quick shower, i take a much-needed 1/2 hour nap. I head out into the twilite city looking for food, and eat a 10baht corn on the cob while sitting on a closed shop’s steps, pondering and praying about what i need to accomplish on this trip to Thailand. This country has been the absolute hardest to get a translator. I have met nearly all the top SDA translators and those interested in SOP work, but those who ARE interested, are too busy, and several were not interested at all, with one even saying that this book is exactly the same as the current, 1911 edition. One interested student at Mission College agreed to translate it, and got up to chapter 6 before she found a job with ADRA, so she cannot continue with the translation work….. What to do?
What i have dreamed about, starting especially around June in India when my computer stopped working, is to get back to Pantip Plaza in Bangkok. The next morning that dream is fulfilled, and i leave my beloved, dead Toshiba at the repair shop that fixed it last March before leaving Thailand. It only worked properly for about 3 weeks, even tho it had a 3 month warranty. But being in India, it is not possible to bring it back for the warranty work – ha! So i bot another used Toshiba in Holland in July, and lugged it around until i sold it to a young volunteer/missionary in Georgia. Being without a computer for over 2 weeks is cruel and inhumane (and probably helps save my eyesight!). The variety of makers of USB flash memory drives and SD cards seems to have shrunk – Kingston has definitely become the king of them all. I notice some shops have signs showing 1gb SD cards for 490thb (13usd), but they all show it scratched off too. I can imagine that someone got into a shopping frenzy when they saw that price, and gobbled them all up. There are a lot at 590, and i even see 512mb usb drives for 390 (under 11 usd).
Today i meet one of my best friends, and go to his home where he has kindly spared some time for me, before he gets on the airplane tomorrow. We have a good talk, not quite as deep as most before, but it is good to see a friendly face. May you make the truth number one in your life, and follow it no matter the heavens fall, and be baptised into God’s remnant church. Back at the central train station i eat another corn-on-the-cob with some p-nuts on a bus bench for lunch, and catch a bus to Victory Monument so i can get a mini-bus to Mission College. The driver is not the “bat out of hell” type i had on my first 2-hour trip up here, but the price has jumped from 100thb to 130. Progress i guess. I get to campus in time to see my friend perform in a piano recital. It is interesting how God works it out, that the son of the Cambodian translator for the 1858gc greets me at the recital, and excitedly tells me about evangelism in Cambodia. He really seems to have had a deep experience in things of the Lord since i met him last, and praise God for putting a fire into him.
The couple i stayed with before allows me in again. The cat who ate nori (seaweed) is dead now, and the wild tomcat who was tearing up screens and even trying to scratch thru the roof is spayed and much tamer now. I hope the little one growing in mummy’s tummy will be healthy and strong.
The elementary school is practicing their annual Christmas play, so i’m given free run of the internet – yea! This is the first time to have fast internet, and not feel restricted by time since back in Germany in August. Air Asia has a promotion on tickets from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching, so after buying my Bangkok – KK ticket, i purchase the KK – Kuching one. Can’t beat 10myr (2.8usd). How can they fly you over an hour in a big jet for less than 3 dollars? I don’t know. But word of mouth advertisement is huge!
At the cafeteria i see the Egyptian man i met in the Greek Mission headquarters. He was preparing then to come with his wife to Thailand to Mission College, and here he is! He greets me warmly, and introduces me to the elderly man and woman across the table, who i find out later is the president of the college and his wife. After the couple is gone, i ask him about the spiritual life of the school. He informs me that it is just like i had told him back in Greece – mostly dead with a few dedicated souls scattered here and there. I go to the dorm to see the Iraqi man who promised to translate the Arabic 1858gc. He is very friendly and talkative and full of debate as ever 🙂
The library has lots of stuff to read, and after not seeing any international newspapers or TV news for several months, it is a quick dose of medicine, one that makes me see that not much has happened, except for the election in America, and the pope going to Turkey. It is painful to see that in the “New Selections” section, nearly all of the religious books are authored by Sunday church authors. When are we going to learn that we have been called OUT of Babylon, not to go to Babylon for instruction?!
The next day there i meet lots of students, even one of the Japanese ones that i had met before. It was great talking with him, and hopefully i was able to have a good influence on his decision to keep the Sabbath. After the Christmas pagaent, i have a good talk with a girl from the Burmese border area, then have a great study of the 1858gc book with 3 young men in the dormitory. One of them is Thai, and when i explain that i’m looking for a Thai translator, tells me that he knows of a missionary group in Chaing Mai that may be interested – great! a lead! This even helps make up for the very disappointing prayer meeting by the elementary school people, where they just played a tape by Joyce Meyer. What are we thinking by imbibing in the errors of Babylon, when we have so much pure light given to us – God’s chosen people?
The mini-bus ride back costs only 100thb, so next time, at Victory Monument, go to the right looking for a ride to Mission College, instead of to the left. I high-tail it over to Pantip again, knowing the prices of things now, i buy up stuff – a 2 dollar SD card reader, three 512mb usb drives for 11usd each, and a 1gb SD card for 16usd, and a 1gb usb drive for 18usd. For some reason, money just flies thru my hands here in Thailand, whereas in other countries i’m quite stingy. What’s with that? Anyway, the 512mb drives are to be presents for people when i travel. I find out later that the 1gb drive is made of plastic, and has no lock on it – just super basic, not exactly what is necessary for a traveller. The repair shop says they can repair my Toshiba again for 150usd, so i tell them to go ahead with the repairs. They can’t complete it until after i have to leave for Malaysia, so i walk around looking at the used laptops, and am led to one little shop by a lady. they try to get me to buy a half-broken Dell, but i’m not interested at their price. When i tell them i only want to pay around 5,000thb, they pull out an old Hitachi, 6gb drive running Windows ME, and i purchase it after exchanging a couple of Fukuzawas. Sure am glad that Japanese money is desirable here, as my American and European supplies are scraping bottom.
Church is interesting with the arrival of an elderly man who used to be the Thai Mission president back in the 1950s. He tells of taking a plane ride in 1946 from Hong Kong to Bangkok, stopping here and there, and then of getting to Bangkok and there only being one light bulb in the airport. wow. I’m sure he saw the new airport, the one that claims to have the second largest single airport building in the world, strangely enough, just below the size of the Hong Kong airport – interesting! In the evening, after sundown worship, i have a good talk with a Thai man who went to Cambodia this past summer to do evangelism. Seems that some Koreans also came to Cambodia this year, and gave all the churches laptops and LCD projectors (later found out to be not true – only one church was given these things).
It is really encouraging to see that Filipinos are busy evangelising this huge metropolis. Just this year, 9 new Seventh-day Adventist groups have been formed, and there have been a number of baptisms. It seems like before one evangelistic series is over, they are already planning the next – that is good work! I tell the one at the church here that if i hurt him with what i said in April, to please forgive me. He readily forgives me, and says he knows i didn’t mean it. I assure him that i did mean what i said about the Qu’ran, and that we must call people to worship Jesus Christ, not the god of the Muslims. He was quiet, but i hope will speak more and more boldly about the need for everyone to come to the foot of the cross to be saved.
The next day is year end big cleanup day at church, and i’m told by one member that one of the biggest mistakes of past SDA administrations here in Bangkok, is that the original place where the headquarters were – the current Chinese church location, was never purchased, just always rented. Now the university next door is pushing, with new high-rise buildings going up all around. If the land was ours, we could either stay and make a nice city centre location, or sell for a lot and buy a huge spread out in the suburbs, but now, we have nothing. I help in cleaning a little, but spend most of the day playing with some of the neighbor kids. Their grandpa is happy to contradict everything this foreigner says or tries to do, so i leave it to him. Don’t worry, be happy 🙂
My nice pair of quick-drying pants, bot in Japan a little over 1 year ago, have been unusable since about Germany. They tore in India, and repaired the normal way, by pulling together the surrounding fabric and stitching up, but that doesn’t work well with this petroleum-based fabric, so the hole quickly grows. But ironing a patch on in London really ruined it, as it got too hot, and melted a bit. Disliking to shop for clothes, i go to Siam Square and all that huge shopping complex in one of the hearts of Bangkok, and find a nice pair at a camping-style store. They are even impregnated with some mosquito repellant, so should be nice. I don’t like the zippers below the knees that allow one to unzip to make short pants out of them, as the zippers are heavy, and the buttons will catch strings and maybe rip, but they look good. 60usd is a lot of money for one pair of pants tho! Can’t think of any other money spent on clothes this year, except for the 3euros for the second-hand pair of pants bot in Holland. Even socks were presented by someone concerned about the holes in mine. God is always good, always providing what is necessary, even if not what is luxurious all the time. We will have enough time in eternity to live in luxury!
The shop doesn’t honor their Siam Square discount card, as they’ve already given a 40% discount they say. It isn’t nice to lie to the customer, but they don’t seem to mind too much. The Siam Square representative doesn’t care much either. I take the overhead Sky Train to the end of the eastern line, E9, and wait for a bus to the airport. A bus comes with “Airport” written on the side, but am quickly told that i need to get off, as this bus does NOT go to the airport. After waiting a few more minutes, and getting a bit anxious that i may have to catch an expensive taxi, a bus comes with “Airport Express” written on a sign in the front window. No one is riding the bus, only a driver – and it is a large bus, probably seating over 30 people. so i get a taxi-like bus ride to the airport for 100thb. When we arrive, there are many cars lining the road. “What’s going on?” “That new jumbo Airbus is supposed to land at 1pm”. It’s 12:50 now. I line up at the check-in counter, but afraid to miss the big plane, leave the line and go to the observation deck. Here it is the same as in Kathmandu, even tho it is a brand new airport – the signs don’t really point in the proper direction. Upon reaching the observation room, and seeing all the Chinese travellers spread out on the floor, it is cool to see the wave of yellow that all the Thai people are wearing. No, it isn’t a tour group, today is the King’s birthday! So to show respect, probably over half the people are wearing yellow today. The plane touches down soon, but is so far away as to not look much bigger than a lizard. Oh well, i was part of it.
Thank you again Thailand and Thai people for letting me stay in your country another week. Hope to open the New Year back in your country again, and hope to find a translator for this 1858gc book soon.
NOTE: Post written March 11, 2007