Stickywrites

My last week & weekend in Thailand was somewhat chaotic and busy as we rushed around this city of 14+ million ppl and spent alot alot of time in taxis in the infamous Bkk traffic, but was also punctuated by the last thiaw I was able to take with some of my Thai friends that I met in St. Louis this past year, who are now back living here.  We went to the Ancient City, which is a place that has replicas of all the famous buildings in Thailand all over the country: temples, structures, monuments, and landmarks.  It is pretty incredible that they basically re-built these famous structures for Bangkok tourists.  The entire grounds is shaped into the shape of Thailand.  We rented bikes to ride through & see the different sites, and for a Thai architecture and art-lover like myself, I had a photo heyday.  Idyllic.  

The old style long boats now only used for very special ceremonies

Sitting old Thai style in front of one of the beautiful temple windows...

Taan and I with the umbrellas famous in "northern" Thailand

A beautiful temple replica, stark white and silver (unusual colors for temples in Thailand)

The three of us (Jin, Taan & me) inside the white temple

Me on my touring bike at the Ancient City complex w/ Taan & Jin

Now Andrew and I are descending into St. Louis (first time ever used free wi-fi on a flight!), our 3rd of 3 flights to get here and I must say we’re pretty glad to be getting back here even despite how hard it is to say all the same goodbyes again in Thailand, not really knowing if we’ll be back there or not.   Please continue to pray for us and our calling, as well as our Thai friends who do not yet know the hope that we know.

Thailand has been all in a flurry about “The 2009″ which is what the Thais call the Swine Flu.  There are antibacterial hand sanitizer dispensers at every mall or shopping complex and employees freely give out the face masks at movie theaters, subway stops and skytrain stations.  I heard recently that at some swimming pools they are forcing people to wear full body suits that cover the arms and legs rather than regular bathing suits because this supposedly protects against contamination and spreading of the virus.  I also have seen promotional TV commercials and new signage on the busiest roads & public places promoting covering your mouth when you sneeze and cough, as well as what to do afterwards – wash your hands with soap, all displayed by friendly looking cartoon characters.  We can’t help but call it paranoia a little bit, although I’m sure there are some great things about having a national call to better hygiene.  Maybe I should be more worried, but I have all my Thai friends here to worry for me, as they are constantly shocked at how flippant I am about entering a movie theater or public transportation without wearing a mask.  Hope I’ll be okay on the airplane!

We have one week left of our time in Bangkok, so we are spending our days with last lunches, dinners & meetings with people before heading home on Monday.  We spent all of last week out of town in Nong Khai, and then Hua Hin, so we are catching up and trying to do all of our ‘lasts’ before Sunday rolls around.

W/ the Atlanta team for last night's dinner. After we got the Atlanta team off, we headed to Nong Khai.

The view of the church in NK w/ a beautiful rainy season sky...

Me & Nari, the church' leader, in front of the Nong Khai church's sister church near Udon Thani.

A bustling street in downtown Hua Hin

Some fun English bloopers always make me smile. I think they meant "chute"?The ever-present water buffalo that the daughter church near Nong Khai keeps for sustaining the church.

Some of the animal figurines under a spirit house which "guards" a museum near the NK's sister church.