Before leaving Chiang Mai I contacted friends in Bangkok to say I was on my way. I would be staying in Ramkamhang my old stomping grounds. I hadn’t seen many of my Thai friends for over 20 yrs! Kew very kindly met me at Don Muang Airport to make sure I would get on the right mini-bus heading for Ram. It was so nice to be met and so well looked after. I caught up with her again two days later on Fri 29 May for half a day’s sight-seeing in Bkk. I was taken to see places I hadn’t seen during the 3 ½ yrs living here. We started the day by traveling down a khlong (Bkk canals) by boat for nostalgia sake. The khlong boat took us to the Bangkok Flower Market (Pak Klong Talad) which is the biggest wholesale and retail fresh flower market in Bangkok. I’m always amazed at the arranged 
bouquets, flower garlands and floral accessories that the Thai make for all sorts of occasions. From here we walked to the Yodpiman River Walk, to catch a river boat then up the Chao Phraya River jumping off (literally) at Seodedprajaotaksinmahalad Bridge (Yes that is the name I copied it from the Google maps.) Here we took the sky train. This was the first time to travel by sky train as it’s only been built for 15yrs. It certainly beats taking the bus on these congested roads! Changing trains once we alighted at Victory monument where Kew had me safely seated on an aircon bus returning 
to Ram. It was an amazing day. We snacked on fried chicken, sticky rice, lychee, lungsat and durian and yacked all day.
That afternoon my old roommate, Wan, caught up with me at the BigC on Ram Road. There was so much to catch up with. So much had happened, she and Pae had left Bangkok Liberty Church in Seri where we use to fellowship and planted a church moving six times before settling into the old Ekkamai Church building.
The previous day I’d met up with Ya and Ae after work for a lovely Thai meal while we caught up with the past 20 yrs of news. The three of us are still single, Ya works with her family and is doing well making men’s shirts which are sold at the markets and Ae is in the process of changing jobs.
Saturday was a work day, catching up with emails and 
starting to working on the training manuals. I started reading through them, changing things to help make them more culturally acceptable. I hope to eventually leave the manuals with the team so that it can be added to their training curriculum.
That evening my close friend P Papah picked me up. We battled the Bkk traffic to the other side of town where I stayed the night as I was sharing at her church in the morning. It was so lovely seeing her and hearing her struggles and journey which has brought her to plant a church in an outer suburb of Bangkok. The church, Ramintrah Siam, was started in 2009 from a small house meeting of 3 which grew to around 20 members. She has 
a split congregation as some members work on a Sunday. For these she has a week day service which she takes to them. These members have contracts with the Mall and must open their stalls every day, her service here starts before the stalls open for business. Another family has moved out of Bangkok onto a small farm. Papa also visits them once a week and holds a service under a tent in the field.
In 2011 Bkk experienced severe flooding. In Papah’s area the water was over 4 foot/122 cm, trapping many families on the second floor of their homes. Papah and her church members bought a boat, cooked food and distributed it to those who were unable to leave their homes. She mentioned there were sightings of a crocodile as well as snakes in the water which put people off venturing out on their own. She has continued to assist the poor and is well known in her community, supporting herself by teaching English during the week and offering free classes to those less fortunate on Saturday. If you are looking for a holiday helping others or to do a stint overseas Papa is looking for someone to work alongside her. Drop me a line and I’ll introduce you.
Papah’s son was only 3 when I last saw him and now he is playing drums with a well-known Thai Christian band, W501 ( Worship Ps 50:1). I remember he was always playing on his father’s drums.
After Church we had lunch with some of the church members followed by more durian… I have to make the most of the durian while I can as it’s far too expensive in Perth! Papa drove me back stopping at the Bangkok Liberty Church to see the changes there. They had expanded the building and were holding 3 services on Sunday and were about to move to a new premises. As we started to look around I was greeted by those who remembered me. What a lovely surprise! I caught up with Pastor Anupap and his wife and met their son wh
o is now 27yrs old! All these grown up children make me really feel my age!
Monday was a public holiday. 9am was a planned Skype chat for some of us westerners who had worked with the Seri church in 1993-5. Min-Min from the Philippines (now in the US), Ron from the USA, Daniel from South Africa (who is still here working at Pattaya) and me for Aust. Just before connecting, my wifi went down! Grrrr! It seems wifi continues to be unpredictable wherever I stay. Fortunately just before our rendezvous time it was up and running again. Yipeeee!!
It was such fun connecting again and although we all had limited IT knowledge and were not able to work out how to split the screen so we could see and hear each other. Ron, who was visiting Min -Min, had Daniel on his iPan and Min-Min had me on the big screen TV. I then rang Daniel on facebook messenger so I could hear him and Ron held up his iPad so we could see each other on the screen. It must have looked rather funny but it worked and that’s the main thing.
I couldn’t talk long as I had to move from one guest house to another, both of which were generously paid for by my friends. I am really blessed to have such lovely friends and feel very spoilt. After our chat I booked out and walked across the road to a lo
vely little coffee shop with great cappuccino, aircon and wifi. I frequently dropped in after 10am for a coffee and to use the wifi which was far better than at the guest house where I could go online with the tablet but not my phone for some reason. It was here I met a lady and started chatting about her son of 3 yrs old who was a fussy eater. I gave her a few tips and suggested she read through some of the articles on my website. She suggested I take my training to the childcare teachers.
I’m going to miss this coffee shop, so convenient and friendly. I took a taxi to Ram Soi 33 and unpacked before meeting up with P Papa to meet her kids, Praise, Prayer and Bless together with one of the church members we went out to eat.
Tuesday I decided it was time to trim the locks again it was bothering the back on m
y neck, getting hot and sweaty. The shorter it is in this hot weather the better. I hunted around for the best price and found a salon in my soi, even though the woman spoke very little English I got the message across with a picture and a few instructions and let her do her thing which usually means it ends up very short and all my curls straightened. Why do people think I don’t like my curls? I do!
In the evening I met up with Ya again who found a great Esan (Eastern Thai) eatery where we enjoyed Thai beef salad, fresh spring rolls and papaya salad. This trip seems to be all about eating and I must admit I have thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful, well that is excluding the blood larp!
All this week during my free time I have been going through the parenting manuals, adapting them where possible to the Thai culture. This is quite tedious and borin
g. Rereading all my own notes isn’t what I call fun! I’d rather read someone else’s work. I have felt a little cooped up in my room – cabin fever – at least its air conditioned. I am released twice a day sometimes 3 times. Of which I’m grateful. Firstly around 11am for my caffeine fix with a cappuccino. I’ve been trying out a few places since my move and found that Thai’s have VERY strong coffee and a cappuccino is usually a black coffee with froth on the top! Not my idea of a cappuccino. I usually have to ask for more milk! I’ve thought maybe I should take my own! This caffeine fix usually lasts me till 2 or 4pm when I go out for lunch/dinner or meet up with my friends to eat.
Well I’d better make the most of Bkk while I can as I will be flying back to Chiang Mai on 10th June to start a brand new project. Please pray for the Lord’s enabling as I’m very nervous having never done anything like this before.
Pictures: 1. Flower wreath 2. Khlong Ram 3. On khlong boat 4. Kew and me looking over Bkk 5. Flower market Bkk 6. Papa’s family 7. Seri church members 8. Cafe 9. Hair dresser 10. Ya and me 11. Ee visiting my room Ram 33 12. Skytrain
Prayer & Praise Points:
As mentioned please pray for the Lord’s enabling to help me with the teachin
g material and to impart my knowledge to local women as parenting coaches so that they may fill a gap here in Thailand to assist parents with children from 0-5 yrs.
Please continue to pray for all the Lord’s workers here both the locals and the missionaries who are faithful to His calling.
I continue to praise Him for all the open doors since coming to Thailand and all the places He has lead me, for all my friends and their generosity towards me, it has truly been as blessing.
Praise the Lord for ongoing good health and safety while I’m here in Thailand.
Please continue to pray for my mother’s ongoing health.
Thank you all for standing with me in prayer as I continue on my adventure.
Papah’s church distributing food during the Bangkok floods:
