Arrival and first day in Bangkok.

Our flight arrived about twenty minutes early on Saturday evening. Mike had driven up from the islands in the south and Judy was flying in from Chiang Mai to welcome us. Well, the best laid plans did not work, Judy's flight was late. So Mike met us, the three of us ate, and exchanged U.S. currency for baht, and waited another hour for Judy to arrive. That night we went to the KT guest house, a nice Asian-style place that Mike and Judy use often when they are staying in Bangkok for ministry meetings, to go to doctor appointments, and to welcome guests. KT House, typical of most public areas in Thailand was not air conditioned in the lobby or dining room, only our sleeping room, and we were to turn that off when we were not in the room. We were thankful for the air conditioning to sleep because it is hot, humid rainy season.

The plan was to spend two nights at KT, and in the day in between, Mike and Judy wanted to keep us busy and awake until bedtime that night, to overcome jet lag. I had not slept well the two nights before our flight, and then had only a few hours sleep on the flight, so I was numb with exhaustion. They did a good job dragging us around Bangkok the next day, and it really was a good plan, as we have done really well with overcoming jet lag. The day was good, I just felt like a party-pooper, knowing all they wanted to share with us, and how tired we were.

So that first day began with breakfast at KT house. Khao Phad again, along with a banana mango shake. I told Judy I would be happy with Khao Phad every meal! (Since then I have altered my thoughts on this dish!) After breakfast, we took a taxi to the sky train in Bangkok.
I need to stop and explain traffic in Thailand. Wildness, chaos, pandemonium, dangerous, lawless, fast. I may think of more, but that is a fair start at explaining it. Oh yes, and driver sits on the right, driving on the left side of the road. The key thing that adds to all of this is bright orange, pink, yellow Toyota taxis in major abundance and a kazillion motorbikes plus buses and automobiles. The motorbikes have entire families on them, or furniture, or bags of rice, or food to sell, or just ANYTHING! These little bikes dart in and out like a lizard that never seems to get caught. Weather is not a factor, hard rain just causes them to wear plastic rain ponchos and keep the accelerator pressed!

We took the sky train down town, we were on it quite a while, going way into the city. Once downtown, our first stop was at the river going through town. We hired a driver on a longtail boat to take us through the city. Below is the boat coming in to get us.This was a great exposure to the lifestyle of native Thais. Homes built out over the river's edge, some crude, some nice, along side Buddhas, temples, and businesses. We stopped at a floating market where everything was sold, from every kind of cooked food, to handcrafts, to fresh produce. It was very cultural. Below is a woman selling items on the big river.

There are shrines all over the city that people worship. This is the back of Buddha (I did not see the front!)

Temple of the Dawn
We came upon a corner lot; Erawan Shrine (above), a Buddhist worship site. Women danced, people bought leis, fruits, birds and incense to burn and lay at the feet of the shrine. They bowed and prayed and left the gifts for a sacrifice. It was quite sad to see the intensity with which they spent money to buy the offerings to earn merit. Then the garbage man would go around and scoop all the flowers, fruit, etc into a garbage can and throw it away. He was very busy, as the shrine filled so fast with the offerings, and he was always making room for more. The air was thick with incense smoke. It gave me a headache. This was difficult to see. We don't see such blatant false Gods in America. They exist, but this devoted worship was hard to watch.

We shopped at a couple malls. The malls are more like flea markets, in that the open areas are lined with vendors of everything from electronics, to tourist keepsakes, to clothing. Judy and I did some Grandma shopping, and I bought some patio lights. BUT, the funnest part was when the four of us all had foot massages. One hour. We all slept through part of them. Kyle swore he would never have one, but you know what? He enjoyed it and I think he will do it again!

We ate at Outback, Mike and Judy like to go there whenever they are in Bangkok. They lived in Bangkok for 6 years before moving to Chiang Mai, so they have a lot of memories there. It is where Mike led the GCTC Training center. When we got back to KT that night, we were so exhausted. We went to bed and slept until 6:00, which is really good for jet lag.

The Asian culture is just so foreign to anything Americans know. I am still wrapping my mind around the practice of 'making merit' to earn the favor of their gods.