Sunday Ae came to my room to collect me for church. We went in a taxi to Ekkami where Pae and Wan have birthed and grown the Bangkok City Church. It was started in a café, moved several times as it grew and is now in the old International Church building in Ekkami. I had been here once many year ago and recognised the building. Pae preached a great message while Wan translated for a missionary who has recently arrived in Bangkok. After church was fellowship lunch then a grand tour of the premises. Pae and Wan had done many changes to the old building which looked fresh and clean.
Ae had left shortly after church to help Ya, at the market, who wasn’t well so I needed to find my own way home. Wan suggested I take a taxi but I wanted to travel by bus like I had 20yrs ago.
My dear friend Wan has grown into a lovely talented and
very gifted woman, unfortunately one of her gifting’s is not in giving clear instructions. Now it is not entirely her fault that I got lost. I should have clarified her directions which seemed clear enough, take this bus till it stops and all the people get off then turn left and there will be another bus stop where you take the 71 bus to Ram. So I boarded the bus and relaxed. I reminisced how I use to ride these old non air-conditioned red buses around Bangkok taking in the pollution as we jostled along the crowded roads, weaving in and out of traffic as we dropped people off and picked others up. We seemed to be picking up and dropping off for quite some time, we had passed busy intersections, market places and now it seemed we were heading further and further out of Bangkok. I didn’t think I needed to come this far! Still the bus hadn’t come to a stop and it seemed other than the driver, conductor and one other woman I was now the only one on the bus.
The conductor approached me and asked where I was going.
I told her I wanted to catch the 71 bus to Ramkhamhaeng. The look on her face said everything! She told me that I should have got off a long way back. In fact Wan later told me she might have left off that the stop I was getting off at was before the bus turned left! That was about 5mins into the trip. I was now over an hour on the bus! The conductor instructed me to get off the bus and cross the overpass bridge where I could take another bus going in the direction of Ram. I was way out of town at a place called Bang Khao. The pedestrian bridge took me across 12 lanes of traffic to a fairly deserted spot where motorbike drivers where awaiting passengers. I asked them which bus would take me to Ramkhamhaeng University. I was asked which one? Campus one or two? Ekkkk how was I to know there were two! Hmmm, it’s the one in Ramkhamhaeng I explained. Oh the 
one near Haumark? Thank God I knew there was a Haumark where I was to differentiate the two. Within minutes I was back on another rattly old bus heading back towards Bangkok central. I passed names of suburbs I remembered which reassured me I was on the right track and finally reached familiar landmark – the university. The conductor calling out Na Ram which meant front of Ram I asked her if the bus stopped at the BigC she said no so I disembarked and walked the rest of the way, stopping to get some dinner on route. I was very glad to get back to my little air conditioned room after 2 ½ hrs on the dusty, dirty, hot road to nowhere!
Monday 8th of June, after a night of tossing and turning and very little sleep I dragged myself out of bed with a stinking headache which had persisted even after having two Panadol at 3am! I was 60 today and I felt 80! Friend’s birthday greetings had already started flooding in and I really wasn’t in the mood to celebrate! What’s more the SIM I used to call mum I’d left in CM. I chatted to my sister Kath who cheered me up and then headed for a coffee and a special treat – chocolate mousse cake. What’s more I received a 50 baht discount ($2.00) where would you get that in Aust? I
veged out here till 1pm then headed back to my room. At 3pm I took a taxi to meet Wan at the church and together with Pae and son Theo, we went to a local food court where I was given a feast! I felt so spoilt! I couldn’t eat the durian they had given me till the next day as we were so full. It was a lovely time. This time Pae took me on his motorbike down a soi to where I caught the number 71 red bus to Ram. There was no way I’d get lost this time! When I arrived I bought some water and soi milk with all sorts of nutritious goodies to add to my muesli and headed home to the cool of my aircon room. It had truly been a blessed day.
Tuesday was my last day and I decided I’d take it easy as I have about 6 weeks of teaching ahead of me. I met up with Ae in the evening for dinner. She blessed me with an amazing white chocolate cheesecake which I ate when we returned aft
er our dinner. Yummm!
The guesthouse caretaker Pohn and her boyfriend, had been very kind to me during my stay and had provided me bottles of drinking water and helping me with my wifi problems. She told me she was from Cambodia so I greeted her in Khmer instead of Thai, which she loved. The night before I left I gave her a little gift of thanks. She was so surprised. She brought me 3 more bottles of water for my travels and refunded the deposit that night, which was strictly against the rules as it isn’t usually given till the room had been checked just before the guest leaves. Pohn couldn’t do this in the morning as she was leaving before me to renew her Thai visa.
I was up early anyway a
s I wanted to clean up and leave by 9:30am to catch the minivan to the airport. I was so blessed, as I arrived with my heavy bag at the main road the van to Don Muang pulled up, I was the first on so took the seat behind the driver where I could store my bags out of the way. The trip took just under an hour. Arriving very early for my 1:55pm flight, I booked my bag in so I could just relax, drink all my water and enjoy a cup of coffee. Actually I saw some Canadian girls sitting on the floor at the airport and asked if they would like another bottle of sealed water. They were so surprised I was offering and told me they would love it as they had to wait there all day for their connecting flight. I was happy I didn’t have to drink it before going through customs! I’m glad I was early for the first gate I was waiting at was a long walk away from where the flight finally departed. Fortunately I also asked early enough to race down the hall ways to where I was redirected.
Pictures: 1. Pad Thai 2. Bus 71 Ramkhamhaeng 3. Ramkhamhaeng overpass 4. Chocolate mousse cake 5. Birthday dinner 6. Pad Thai with Ae 7. White chocolate cheesecake
Prayer & Praise Points:
Please continue to pray for the Lord’s enabling to help me with the teaching material and to impart my knowledge to local women that they may be able to assist parents here in Thailand.
Praise the Lord for the wonderful time I had catching up with so many of my friends in Bangkok and for being so thoroughly spoilt on my birthday.
Praise Him for all the open doors I have walked through since coming to Thailand and all the places He has led 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.