Sabbath with a Mountain Tribe

Sabbath has ended with the booming of thunder, an amazing lightening display in the heavens and rain on the tin roof above me. I'm all cosy in my bed, underneath my pink mosquito net - feeling very much like a princess - and I'm looking forward to lights out shortly, either by choice or storm related power cut. I'm lost somewhere in the mountains of Chiang Rai amongst the hill tribes. Pieter and I are the only farang here, which we're thrilled about and the place is totally breathtaking, photos can not capture the grandeur of the vista about us. It feels like the top of the world here - mountains lush with jungle and bamboo. Lychee orchards are prolific on the steep mountainsides, in fact it seems every tree we see are dripping with the small fruit, and this is the place to enjoy the sweetest offerings of this delicacy in all of Thailand, so I'm told, and we've travelled 1000's of km's to taste them - we were NOT disappointed!

My little hide-away under my pink mosquito net with the natural light from the outside taking away the total darkness of a day or two without power.

We're visiting our Thai co-workers family and village nestled amongst the hills. They speak their own dialect, so Thai doesn't really help but I say it all the same, when I remember a word or two. To my surprise both Pieter and myself were given a room each, such a privilege! I've been sharing not only a room, but a bed with Goi for 3 weeks. 

Walking up to church behind the house with a lovely view over the village

Today is the day we attend church, and yes, there is actually a church here and a Pastor. We've meet before, he's about my age, speaks English well, and really easy to talk with. I laugh to myself after we climb the hill behind our house to church, a small building with wooden window shutters - and no seats inside. My body is quietly rebelling at sitting on the ground - again. Mats are rolled out and we all sit on the floor. I tell my body to shush. This is the smallest congregation I've joined in with since arriving in Thailand - there are 11 of us, including the Pastor and Nana who is completely deaf and excludes the breast feeding toddler and the puppy who followed us. The Pastor can speak the 3 languages represented and does a fine job in including us all. 3 songs are sung in the tribal tongue, they sound really lovely. Prayer - I've not yet figured out what to do with myself while prayer is offered in a language I don't understand and I usually find myself talking to God also "I've no idea what they're saying Lord, but I say Amen". Off course the Pastor wishes both Pieter and myself to share our testimonies while he translates, that fills the next 20 or so minutes then we turn to the text he wants us to read and we all take a turn and read a verse in our various tongues, then he preaches - that's where he lost me... as he's speaking the local dialect again. But it was an experience to be sure. Everything is finished at 10am and we are asked if we wish to have lunch. No we didn't as breakfast was only a short while ago.

Our little get-together. The Pastor center showing us the church and preaching while sitting on the floor - Love what they've done with the furnishings. Nana who was deaf and the boys sitting together through worship.

We know we're welcomed as Goi's family are bending over backwards to make us feel at home. Goi tells us that her father has been cooking for us, which is very special and very delish. They seem to take great delight at my facial expressions and exclamations of the level of chilli I've just eaten. Goi's teased me this whole trip with my vocal level of "no chilli please" with "A baby could eat this!". I must say I am getting used to some chilli and it's most reassuring of the hospitality being offered as people run in all directions falling over themselves in getting me some water to drink as I've accidentally eaten something I wished I hadn't in the chilli line and my face is screwed up, tears are rolling down my cheeks and I'm making sucky noises. I think they find me rather amusing. Silly fergan. Still I love their food.

The lovely view over the village from the porch

The wonderful kitchen where the rustic open fire made our meals, even with no power and all things were completed while squatting. Though I loved the table with chairs to eat...sigh

Our outing for today consisted of us being driven over mountainous terrain to visit Grandma and her Lychee orchard in another village where there is only solar power... cool. 4WD trucks are very cool to stand in while driving the 14km to her village, something we can't do at home, so you'll always see Pieter and I standing on the back. Something grabbed at my mind - these Lychee orchards are on steep hillsides. Well, yes, and when we got to our one it was no different. Once the truck could no longer follow the path, we walked.... straight down! O boy. Going straight down meant only one thing - climbing straight up afterwards. I made it half way down, told everyone to go on without me, climbed back up - died - revived - continued - died again and made it back to the truck (so pleased no one saw the state I was in) and spent a wonderful time hearing nothing but nature. It was truly wonderful - once I'd recovered. Before too long everybody made it back all hot and sweaty. The young men were first carrying large sacks of Lychee and looked totally pooped but bounced back soon, as young men do. The Pastor had picked me a bunch of lychee... ummm yum.

The mountain vista, the road traveled while standing in the back of a ute and Lychee orchard

Then it rained. And rained, And rained some more. See Pieter washing his feet?

Later, after my much needed nana-nap, I found Goi and her mother around a small wooden crate with a plastic top which had two wholes cut out. It turned out to be a makeshift sauna for us to enjoy. They were prep-ing it, building a fire, getting it all hot and fed it while both Pieter and myself sat, sweated and cleansed inside. They'd also re-modelled the crate from one user to house two of us with a dividing wall and two doors. There was some special herbs wafting around us mixed within the smoke, something like sage, but not, and as the sun was setting and the lightening begun we enjoyed the unexpected blessing. It was amazing. Afterwards we both went and had a cold bucket bath which was freezing after such a hot experience. Then as we sat down to dinner this sense of being 'high' overcome both of us. I was all giggly and light headed while Pieter was asked if his camera was in his room and answered "I don't know what's in my room but I'm really happy right now" which set us off into fits of giggles again.

So here I am ending my Sabbath, under my pink mosquito net, enjoying the pelting rain, wishing I didn't have to get up to turn the light out as I'm all comfy. I'm feeling all internally cleansed, wholesome and sleepy.

Our treat for the night - a homemade sauna with the special 11 herbs and spices added

This part of our trip has been an absolute highlight. Tomorrow we're off to find some elephants.

Read about the exciting - yawn - of the next day also

Experiencing God

I love a good preacher, and I've been inspired by many over the years, but I do take them and what they do for granted. Each week I expect the preacher to ...well ...preach, without any thought what it has taken them to create something rousing, inspiring, challenging, heartfelt and a personal message to me from God. That's a lot to expect eh? But there you go, it's part of the nature of their job I guess with a great big dollop of calling from God in their lives. Every now and again I hear comments like "I could never do what he does". With such high expectations as mine, no, neither could I!

However I've noticed something interesting since I left home to be a volunteer missionary. It's not all that surprising really, as I've seen that God will use every bit of talent or gift that he's given you to use it for His purpose if you allow Him. One of the gifts He gave me was a sanguine nature, which comes with a handy dandy ability to not to be shy in front of a group of people (within reason). I have also noticed, when asked to 'preach', I get nervous with a douse of butterflies and although I've done it maybe twice 'officially' it sets my knees knocking and turns my solar plexus to jelly. But ask me to share just moments, or, at most, the night before, I'm totally at ease. This is where God is using me and it's been an incredibly uplifting experience.

I remember having a one-on-one with the Lord before leaving home where I said to Him, "If you'd like me to share anything about what You've done in my life and going through, I'd be happy to do so". And so it began, in being asked to share about how I came to be in Thailand, next it was a lecture about graphic design as a tool for the church, then sharing something encouraging at church, someone on the street who was a new Christian and wanted to talk and so on and so forth.

I love the art of spontaneity, and although I shouldn't be, I am totally amazed that the Lord chooses to speak to and through me in this way. In fact, even while writing this I'm reminded of the story of God telling Moses that He wanted him to go and be His spokesmen in Egypt to free His people, as they banter about it God finally says in Exo 4:12  "Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." This has been what I've been experiencing, maybe in a less than grand way as was Moses's commission - I've not yet spoken to the King of Thailand, but I've heard the very thing that the Lord wishes me to say next.

One such time I was sitting in the congregation having no idea I was about to be called upon. Apparently I was the 'special' item as someone else didn't show up. The church was packed! About 30-40 people. As I approached the front I still had no idea what I was to say. Smiling I introduce myself and ask everyone to pray with me, in prayer I silently ask the Lord in my heart "What do You wish that I share?" And like Moses of old arguing about the duty he's been commissioned with, the Lord actually tells me to share about what He's just revealed to me about an aspect of my life. All within the space of the short prayer I struggle with what's been asked of me. It was so fresh, only days old, I was feeling rather vulnerable and was still processing the new information given me. But God asked that I share it. So upon saying Amen, I begin, and each time I pause for air, the Lord would tell me what to say next. At the end of talking - maybe 15-30 minutes later. Woman were wiping their eyes and men were sitting on the edge of their seats. So something that was shared God used to touch them to heal them and love them. I am awed and humbled that I am used in this way. What's more, it continually shows me that God is real and cares about everything in my and others lives. That He would actually speak to us! How amazing is that?!


To date the hardest, or rather, the most unusual situation I was placed in was a men's prison in central Thailand. My video production team had been granted permission to visit and film as we were interviewing an ex-inmate who had found God while incarcerated and we were filming how his life had changed since. We needed b-roll (the story part) and hence being in the prison he'd been in. We expected to be flies on the wall, but little did we know what was expected of us. We walked into a hall and sitting in front of us waited 50 men wanting to hear us speak! We didn't realise this until the Pastor, who brought us, had gone to the front to introduce what we were there for first, then turned to me asked me to share something encouraging with the men. !!!. I was stunned. What could I possibly say to them that didn't sound like some sort of Christian glib generic encouragement, I mean here I am, a white woman from a different country and culture, a mother, having no point of reference with these men, who didn't even understand me. There was no trust between us, some of them looked board already and I became concerned with my attire of shorts and t-shirt - very causal but necessary for the heat. So I asked God on the spot to help me. And immediately the answer was given, "Tell them of the time you were arrested". So I did. While that was being translated I was told the next thing to say. In a nut shell it all basically covered all the mistakes I'd made, habits I had etc and why I finally turned to God in life and how my life has changed in knowing Him. The board faces turned to smiles, nods, and laughter in the right places with a few hearty Amen's and Hallelujah's from a chap in the front row. Afterwards, when the others had also shared I was invited to come up again and offer prayer and 3 men came up for special prayer for healing.

Jail - being searched, and taking a couple of sneaky pics (shhh). The men waiting for us, can't show their faces
due to protecting their privacy on line. The inmates respectfully always kept their below their the heads of the guards (and us) other than walking by. Note 2nd row left pic of an inmate talking with a guard - That was a strange experience.

My reaction afterwards when I was on my own? I cried - being totally overwhelmed with what had happened. I felt honoured, in awe and humbled that not only being a blessing but felt I was given a blessing also. My God talks to me, far out!

I am a conductor in-between the God of the universe and the translator... to Him be the glory.

So I'm excited to wonder just what he'll do next. 

If you'd like to share this I invite you to do so. 

Impressions and Images of Laos

Scattered throughout the quarters of Lao I've seen so many once stately, beautiful, french influenced homes, now with a unequal different ambiance - dirty, unkempt, yet with hints of rustic romanticism - then on 2nd looks the grime and mold certainly removes the rose coloured glasses. I like the familiar European feel though as I bike pass but they they do deserve some major TLC.

What Dam and French Villa

The Lao people are different than the smiling respectful Thai, their demeanor being indifferent and even snaring as you walk by and shopping is rather nightmarish. Then again I'm not used to shopping with someone small almost pressed up against me (unless a child which I'd rather leave at home while shopping). I dear not show any interest at any of the contents inside shops or stalls because. I became aware of how much I value being given room to shop back home. This 'attention' totally put me off shopping altogether - their loss. However one woman literally kicked me out of her shop with "You go, You go!" as I made the mistake of actually looking at 3 tops she had but didn't like them. To her  was committed - then I realised this was a major culture issue. 

No sooner had I jotted down the above thoughts my bike chain fell off and I got all greasy trying to reattach it. I prayed for help and I started hearing workshop equipment and headed for it. Sure enough I found a small work-site on a private property and before I could string any badly spoken Thai together (Lao can understand Thai - sometimes) the men figured out my hand signals to mean screw-driver (clever eh?) and they fixed my bike quick-smart and were all very good natured about it. Over all I had a couple of lovely experiences but mostly people were harder to talk with as they seems to look at me as if I had money to spend. So it got frustrating fast.

My favourite place in Laos: Hophtakeo Temple built in 1565

Images of Laos

My little hotel room at 500B a night - round $20NZ

Typical street view

Wild and dirty and different all at the turn of the head

The water front

Well there you have some of the best pics of my week in a communist country, a fact that was lost on me until I left. I have a new visa giving me 3 months in Thailand before I visit a new land.

Visa Runs, Laos & Patience

Typical scene in Laos

What was meant to be a quick and easy visa run turned out to be an adventure. Not as glorious as Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom - I'm yet to walk into any temple and find this 'doom', and unlike Indiana, I'm not bush-whacking through jungles, nonetheless, I found myself using my God-given power of patience.

It started Thursday night, when I was expected to be at the designated pickup point for a 7pm departure. I was booked and traveling with an 'Agent Tour' the 9 hours to Laos. The idea is, the agent is the middleman who makes it easy to get my returning Thai visa. Makes perfect sense and the tour is packaged to include hotel, food, visa (sorting out the messy fine print) and travel, returning within a few days with a new shinny holographic visa pasted into my passport. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

So being a typical westerner with a slightly organised and task orientated personality I arrive 20 min early. At this point my patience button is fine, as we all know that it really doesn't start working till 10min before an event is supposed to happen. But you can begin to feel it warm up.

No sign of the van. 

Start talking to self in mind. Mentally going over the instructions - yup, in right place. Calm self down with extra reassurance in checking my written instructions also and reminding self that they still have a 10 minute window. Button explosion aborted - phew!

7pm - Still no van. Patience drains from me! leaving me trying to reason with self again. "It's a busy night, there is always delays." I internally implore. Appeasing her a little more, we give it another 10 minutes. I'm all eagle-eyed now at every vehicle that enters the parking lot and even follow one promising looking van round as written on the back window was 'TOUR'. But he pulled into an auto shop - so much for that, I return to my perch.

The phone number I have on me for the driver didn't work. Obviously a miscommunication between it being recited and being written down with only a verbal check. Time to call the boss - my earthly one. Aware of my expectations I ask if I need to be concerned or give it more time (this could be a culture thing). He reassures me that time will reveal all and tells me they're praying for me (our friends have meet to eat dinner - that I'm missing waiting for this van!).

I realise I hadn't given prayer my greatest attention. So in doing so now a calm relaxed state came over me and I was in the space to just chill and enjoy the evening. It was OK to wait - for all of 5 minutes, then self started ranting between the ears "does this company not care about it's business?!" 

Praying again. Calmness again. New thoughts started entering my mind. "This time in 24 hours this will be in the past." "You'll look back and laugh about this, it'll be over soon". 

I started feeling as if the whole situation was taken care of and I sort of felt like a kid again waiting for my parents to get us where we're going, trusting them, yet asking 'are we there yet?' a few times during the process.

This went on for an hour. But now I was relaxed and not pent up with anxiousness. I call the boss again, "Um, I'm still here - I think there is a problem" I state. This time he's rather perplexed to know what to do. But one of the dinner party told him what was happening as she'd previously been on the same tour. In short, I was given the wrong time to meet, in fact I was 24hrs late!

My Lao visa and Kip

Now perplexed, mildly dumb-founded and amused two boys from the mission compound popped down and helped me nut out what the next strategy would be. I was very grateful for their help as one had made the trip himself and the other was so laid back in personality it became a fun adventure that he wanted to come on to, had it not been for work the next day he would have, just for the fun of it. Our negotiations took a further hour and the new plans had me away for a further few days.

Ready to go, the boys thought they'd travel across town with me to the bus station, to see me off and because we were having so much fun laughing about the absurdity of the situation. I'm so pleased they did, as just when we were talking about the time of night we were at and the likelihood of the availability of a bus at 10pm - the unthinkable happened - our taxi broke down on the motorway overpass! Murphy's law came to mind as we paid the driver, got out and legged it while laughing along the median strip for half a kilometer until another taxi pulled over with a kind-hearted passenger and took us the rest of the way.

Finally seated and the boys fare-welled my bus left the terminal at 12:20am. I was the only farang on the bus and apart of being stared at and touched a couple of times through the night (lady behind me seemed fascinated with my pretty face - her words, in Thai) all went well. The rest of the trip went without hitch, though 12 hours long and a bus transfer somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the wee hours. And best yet, the silly opposing antics stopped once I got to the boarder.

So here I was, less than 24 hours later chuckling to myself and thanking God that my first real Thai adventure (the hard parts at least) were behind me. The rest of the trip with the hotel getting, food buying, visa application all went smoothly with a great few days biking round the sleepy rustic town of Vientiane.

Check out my images and impressions of Lao 

Hope for Bangkok

Part of my 'job' description while in Thailand is to visit each of the 28 church plants to get to know and interact with the people. I participate in church and any afternoon program they have and I share when I'm asked, which is every time I'm visiting with either my testimony, and/or my design ministry and how it can be effective to a church. On top of this I'm asked to write about my experiences, so starting to do so. 

What do you do when you have 20 people, one fine day and a van?
The team at Hope for Bangkok’s Nawamin Church Plant had a great Sabbath idea a little different from most. The focus is on their Family Ministries initiative, where they encourage families in the community to take time out together through a monthly ‘Nature Discovery’ outing. 

Totally enjoyed the little delicate flowers in the water pots, 

Now, I’m all over that idea like a rash. I’d just spent my 3^rd week in Thailand and all I’d seen till this point was the urban life of the inner city; so to be invited to come along with the promise of countryside and trees totally appealed to me.

So here we were; 10 adults with a gaggle of children, a push car, guitar, bags of subsistence, and water out for a lovely jaunt into the country. Destination? Kaset University, heading that-a-way about an hour and half. We were booked to have a tour to learn about all things creepy-crawly, and visit their agriculture farm. In short, the University is a credit to Thailand, beautifully landscaped and presented, we were not disappointed. Trees offering dappled shade, small lakes, and grassy plains for expelling the energy of our pint-sized sojourners awaited us.

We explored the Butterfly enclosure and its accompanying museum where the first ‘family’ task was given - to explore and document their favourite ‘families’ of any of the creepy-crawly displays presented. It was a delight to see little groups of parents and children working together. Next, the happy crew explored the vegetable farm and learnt about some of the innovative and healthy ways the university grow their produce. Being typical tourists as we were, no trip to the country is complete without the clickdidy-click of photo-hungry people, in particular children, who photographed everything they could to the utter exhaustion of camera batteries in a few instances.

At the butterfly enclosure

Now to this point, as we enjoyed the hot sun-shiny day, I was involved in an activity that was very ‘familiar’ to me. My upbringing in New Zealand was full of wonderful memories of family outings, such as this, and camping holidays. But, I learned that to my new Thai friends, this was a unique experience. Families don’t spend such time as this together. Nana, whom I’ll introduce in the next paragraph, in her 65 years, had never ever been on an outing such as this in her life! So I looked upon the picnicking party with new eyes and marveled at what I saw. 

She never told me her name and it is respectful
to call an elder grandmother or father, I called her Nana

I watched a couple of mothers feeding their brood, one of their teens included the two young teens accompanying us solo (as girls do), a mat was laid down for the kiddies and I heard all sorts of mouth-filled banter from who had the latest Angry Bird keepsake to other very important subject matter. I watched the community’s grandmother, Nana, being included by another family. This lady and I had bonded earlier in the day. She shares the same age as my parents and spoke English very well. Best of all she totally complemented me on my Thai and reassured me it wasn’t said in flattery, this gave me the confidence to try it out throughout the day and she was both my instructor and translator. In fact, technically she is not yet a Nana, her two sons have not provided her any little angels to call her own, so this wonderful woman became Grandmother to her neighbours little ones, and she is loved and included by all. 

On my right were our hosts and church planters, with their visiting parents from the Philippines, two sisters and a brother brother-in-law as well as three children between them.

the family that stood out

The family that stood out to me the most were a lovely warm Thai brood of Dad, Mum and three young ones, all in green. Up until this day, only the mother and her three children had chosen to come along to anything the church-plant has offered, but today the husband and father joined in. In a country where men are preoccupied with all things manly, like work, and seem to do their own thing, I saw this man being totally present with his family with genuine warmth and enjoyment. They laughed and had fun throughout the day. 

After we ate our lunch under the, before mentioned, dappled shade of the trees, scripture songs were sung by guitar in Thai. The children particularly enjoyed this and I was called upon to help sing one in English, which we did twice – gotta love kids action songs! Then I was up, in leading the group in a game applicable to the day’s outing. 

Giving the parents a little breather from the wee ones, I instructed (through Nana) for the collection of leaves, bark, seed pods, and any flowers (already off the plant) to be gathered and brought back to the pathway next to us. Once done, the parents joined in and everyone had to create a tree from what was scavenged, every family unit working creatively together. For me, this was the highlight of the day. Afterwards, I spoke to everyone of God being the Creator of all we’d seen today, and although we can be creative at what we put our hands to, only God can create something as amazing as each of us and all we can see. It was short and sweet and in easy English for Nana to relay it.

And the winning families are.... everyone

After a prayer we packed up and headed for home. A longer journey than coming out due to traffic, but a great day was had by all. 

A little fact realised at the end of the day. Of the 20 of us that enjoyed the outing, only 7 were Christians, the remaining 13 were Buddhists families.

Trains, Boats and Tuk Tuks

The gander from the top floor (15 stories) not at all disappointing

Wanting to get my bearings around Bangkok's colossal network of acreage, I decided to throw myself in the deep end - not literary! those waterways are dirty enough to embalm a cat! 

My 3rd morning found me keeping up with my co-worker down the busy street to catch an over crowded bus to an even more over crowded train to cut across the city to the language school he was finishing up at and I would be begin starting in a few days time. Our boss calls this 'Orientation'. 

Registration for Thai classes all done and dusted and Pieter in his final exam, by 8:30am I'm left to my own devices in a city far away, in a section of town I can't pronounce, in a heat I've not acclimatised too, with no idea which way is north and having a hard time figuring out the money. Perfect timing for sightseeing, might as well just get on with it.

First stop an overview - I snuck up to the topmost floor to take a peek.
L: Union Language School, where I will wax eloquent the Thai tongue
M: City scape with school treed compound and sky train in foreground and water canal in the distance
R: A close up of the water canal and city, they crisscross the city

Today I decided to play on as much of the transportation system Bangkok could offer me.

 Welcome to my new everyday life

This is bus # 71 I catch in the morning to the train station. In a city of 12 million people you'd think they'd put in double seats, but no, it's good to stand. The driver likes to travel about 80kms/hr, stop suddenly and impatient to leave and often is at least 30kms/hr before the passenger has fully alighted on/off the bus. Oh, and he likes to travel with the doors open! A bus driver often stops at random places and calls to a seller of flowers to add to his collection at the front of the bus, while at the lights he will pay homage to Buddha or the King, I'm not sure which or both. Then light up a smoke if he so inclined.

This is the chap who collects your money, he roams the bus speaking Thai only and holds a metal cylinder full of coins and tickets to give out. He points to seats or the back of the bus and often can be seen calling to the people on the street while stopped (for the seconds necessary to allow more people on or off). Air conditioning on this bus was the open windows and maybe an overhead fan. A ride on this will set you back 6.5BTH or $0.25cNZ

Pretty snazzy view. This bus takes me the 2.3km to the train station. I've taken to walking it in the mornings, there is only so much over crowing one can handle. This bus wasn't very crowded.

This is a typical morning or afternoon train ride on the BTS: Bangkok Mass Transit System

This morning wasn't that bad, but usually at 7am expect to have between 4-6 bodies pressed against you. Personal space? Oh that's whats going on between your ears not the bubble about your body. This is the sky train (mono-rail) with proper air-con. My train takes about 15min to arrive to school. Riding this baby cost me a month pass for 840BTH (40 rides) $33.15NZ. It takes 2 rides off you at a time, so on a given day going to and from school it loves eating 4 rides equaling to 84BTH a day $3.31NZ

Pulling out my trusty tourist map and throwing caution to the wind I boarded the next available train. I now rode in another direction to further places unpronounceable. It was loads of fun, viewing the city from a giants perceptive in the skytrain. Taking mental notes of the parks, shopping centers and temples for later perusal we soon crossed a bridge and a whim took me to get off and see about a boat traveling upriver. 

It seemed every other foreigner visiting the city thought just like me and now I was being pressed into a line and being pressured to by a 100BTH/$4NZ all day pass. But I only wanted to go one way and I was disappointed it wasn't one of those fast zippy express boats I was looking for. I had my wits about me to ask what the cost of a one way trip and was told 30BTH/$1.20NZ so I took that. It was a great tour to get an overview and something I'll return to should family and friends visit.

The Chao Phraya River cruse with all it's sights which I'll go back to another day, great to see them in 'real life'

The one way boat ride was really long and enjoyable, even though the water was not inviting, it was fantastic to be on the water nonetheless.

Can you guess what my next ride was? rottuktuk - in phassaathay (Thai language) I've since learned. This is where I started really enjoying  the adventure. But in fact I was totally sucked into a tourist scam which I got the better end off. I'll try and make it brief... I wanted to make my way to the express boat on a canal and as I was reading my map - totally tourist - I, with a few other tourists, was 'helped' to understand the map. I was told that the express boat doesn't operate till 2pm, and as it was now 12noon I was offered a TukTuk ride for only 10BTH/NZ$0.40. That appealed to me, but I also caught something about visiting a tailors and gem shop along the way. It was totally missed on me that this was a set up. So I happily boarded my ride, as you can see.

Even had a bit of excitement when a car cut us off and this poor bloke went straight into the back of us - well me actually. Man the tuktuks are sturdy wee things. The offending car had his license number taken down as he sped off and this army guy came on over to assist, it was all over in a few minutes with just a few scraps on both bike and person. Wow my first accident in Thailand.

So I was dropped off at before mentioned tailors, then gem shop and went in and enjoyed 5 min at both to appease my driver - "Oh you didn't buy anything." he said, "no I wasn't interested in spending" says I, then happily continued enjoying the sights, not at all bothered we had to stop, I also was given a free cold water in the gem shop where dozens of other sucked-in tourists were sending big. We drove round for an hour and he was about to take me to some other place "I must see" when I said, "no, it's OK thanks, I'll get off now" as I thought I'd walk round a bit till the boats started working. I thought it strange his countenance changed as soon as I said this but he stopped where I wanted to go and before I could pay him he was off! Weird. I turned about and found that the express boats fast at work, then it dawned on me what had happened - totally given a 'line'. I was pretty thrilled I got the better end of the stick and enjoyed an hour touring round at no cost and had a refreshing cup of water to boot!

Now my next ride awaited me immediately so I boarded and enjoyed a thrill ride down the canal, or chong (ch pronounced as 'ka'). When you board, you board with HASTE, and I mean HASTE! Same with docking... phew this country make you work to get on board anything! This ride took me back to where I began in the journey, a 10/15min ride for 10BTH.

A little eating place beside the canal, you can see the dock on the opposite side

Inside the boat - hang on, as he motors. The blue tarp is hoisted up as passengers tend to get water sprayed, not an ideal desire, pretty grimy water.

The 'conductors' on held on and walked round the side of the boat gathering money, at least they were waring helmets

Tis myself thoroughly enjoying the ride

Docked and about to take off at high speed

 

Sky train knot - great way to travel

My ride home

The express boat crisscrosses all over the city and it's amazing to get off that and then onto this (skytrain) in the matter of a few minutes.

Once at my homeward-bound stop I caught a motorcycle taxi. I couldn't take photos as I was busy trying not to get my knees swiped against a bus while hanging on... they weave... what an adventure!

So that covers most of what I see on any given day while living in Bangkok, lots of fun and variety.

My first day of sight seeing was satisfactory and I have a better mental image of direction and where I was meant to be. The adventure continues as I go through my 'Orientation' and will only stop when I leave this country, so I'm told.

So far enjoying the ride(s)  ;o)

Apartment at the end of Soi 32

My street sign - Pridi Banomyong is my 'suburb'

At the end of a narrow lane, that kinda looks like an ally-way, sits my apartment block. It's rather new and clean compared to some of the options round about. Mind you, I've been both well kept and disarray sitting side-by-side. The advertising flier for my building states: Good location, quiet environment (true, can't hear the main road), 150m to main road, comfortable room, big bathroom, energy efficient, (air con), bed, cupboard, dressing table, high speed internet and 24hr security officer, along with CCTV entrance-key card system - nobody's getting into this baby!

my apartment circled in red

I've been given a room on the second floor, and I must say I'm pretty pleased I don't need to climb to the 4th like my work colleague, there are plenty of stairs to climb in Bangkok let alone having to do so just to get to ones room.

My little haven is owed my a church member and gifted to me for the duration of my stay rent free. In turn I pay for the monthly utilities of net, water and electricity. I've since learned that the rent on such a place starts at 3900B/NZ $155 a month. I've no idea if this is indicative of other rents here about, I assume, but you know where that led me in my last post.

my room in all it's glory, a great size for me, but I've seen whole families living in this space!

my bed is slightly better than sleeping on the floor, with practically no 'give' in it.

I arrived to my apartment with it set up for living in. The furniture comes with the room, but the rest were gifted to me, giving me such a blessing. The theme seems to be pink, so pink sheet, cases, blanket, towels and rubbish bin. The other farang's (foreigners) I'm working with are Americans and seem to be tickled with my kiwi naming of things. Its all in good nature and I enjoy it also. I've found that the only soft thing about my bed, is me in it! But I sleep, and that's the most important thing.

I was also given other items useful for living like a fan, ironing board and iron, plates, cutlery, some food and water, toilet paper, broom, washing basket, a folding table and a small computer desk and chair (not pictured) given to me a week after I arrived. Having all my needs meet, I don't want for much else - in my heart I'd love a recliner, but it doesn't seem to be something people have here... lol... ok needs meet, with a wishful hope on the side. O I'm such a westerner. Though, I am content and very grateful with what I have.

You'll notice there is no kitchen here, neither is there a communal one in the building, you see everything is on the street. It's the communities dinning room and food is cheap. I don't even have a fridge. But this doesn't concern me. I'll write about the food in another post, as it's a story all on it's own.

my wardrobe and bathroom

It was a good feeling to unpack after a few months living out of my travel bag, as you can see it doesn't take up much space. My bathroom is great, everything all in one. The toilet amuses me. There is a little hose attachment to the right of the bowl. Upon 'finishing' you're to use it to wash/squirt (whatever) yourself then dab dry with paper, then put said paper into the rubbish bin next the the loo. Hmmm, takes some getting used to, but everything is in working order with no mishaps. Just so you know :)

The water is cold, which is great, as it's hot all the time. But sometimes first thing in the morning you kinda wish for a little heat as it takes your breath away - weird. Mind you if you return for a midday shower you'll most likely find it hot, when you actually wish it to be cold. The sun warms up everything... sigh. Such is life. Once I realised I had hot water, I did my dishes, it's weird doing them in cold water.

Oh - the light switches are the opposite from home. Down is off, up is on.

This is the cool view form my balcony window - I love the Mosque

From my balcony I get this awesome view of other homes down the Soi and the Mosque that fronts onto the main road. At night the two towers light up with green lights. The absolute highlight living here is the call to prayer at 5:15 every morning. I'm not often home in the afternoon to hear it, but it's so soothing. I've called my family at that time so they can hear it also.

The balcony is where everyone dries their clothes, it's great to have them done over night. I've done one wash in my first week, the building has 3 washing machines at our disposal for small (20B/NZ$.80), med (30B/NZ$1.18), and large (40B/NZ$1.58) washes.

For now this is my home away from home and I thank God each day for the privilege of having this space to make and call my own. I'm enjoying my interaction with both the day time and night time guards. They only speak Thai and we chat away not knowing what the other is saying. The night guard and his wife are funny, she practices her English on me and I draw pictures to try and talk to her... until I can practice Thai on her, and he tries to teach me Thai... making friends is fun.