Photo by Nattu

Back to Basics

On the weekend I had a lovely outing with the kidlets watching our favourite Footy team play (Go Dragons)

On the way to the game I was happily sitting in the back seat of the car discussing my up and coming Thailand adventure and the ins and outs of my proposed u-beaut Travel Blog, when number 1 grandson piped up and asked the unexpected question: “What’s a Blog?”. Since I’m rather new to the blogosphere and far from being a digital native,  I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer this excellent question.

What is a blog anyway?

I guess for my purposes this blog is a kind of a tour, a journal of sorts, available on the web, a way for me to share my holiday with family and friends whilst in the very throes of my adventure. However blogs can be all sorts of other things too. Watch this space and I’ll attempt to provide some links to some blogs that might be of interest to you.

“Life is a series of moments. To live each one is to succeed.” ~Author unknown

When I was exploring blogging possibilities, I got to thinking about my Bucket List. A fairly high priority on my bucket list is learning to play the ukelele.This is a YouTube clip of my favourite ukelele player, Jake Shimabukuro. Isn’t he fantastic?

“Every man dies – Not every man really lives.” ~ William Ross

Alex and I in front of Step Ahead Bangkok

On our second day in Bangkok, Mr. Quinley showed Alex (another intern) and I the Micro-Enterprise Step Ahead center in the located in the largest slum of Bangkok, Klong Toey. It looked like a small center sandwiched between neighboring shops but that was before I realized it had about 3 stories, including classrooms, meeting rooms, and offices. Not surprisingly, on our way to the office it completely down poured. The rainy season in Thailand offers no warnings to any pedestrian and this was the kind of rain with water drops the size of small grapes at an intensity that would drench you in seconds if you didn’t run for cover soon. So we ran for cover under a huge concrete building which housed several small apartments.

While we were waiting for the rain to subside, we sat with a client of Step Ahead. Mam is 60 years old but one wouldn’t know by looking at her. The corners of her eyes crinkled when she laughed or smiled, her head was topped with soft greyish, white hair and though her body was small and aged with time, she still moved with a youthful agility. Mam had been with Step Ahead for a long time and was a proud example of the type of progress Step Ahead envisioned for Klong Toey. As I sat on a bench listening to the incomprehensible Thai dialogue between Mr. Quinley and Mam, he laughed at something she said and then turned to me to translate. She had stated jokingly that we were sitting at her table but not ordering anything and furthermore, that he rarely ate her food whenever he stopped to chat with her on his way to the office. To deny a bowl of soup after that would have been a mistake, especially since all I had eaten in the past 20 hours was mostly airplane food. No way! I said, ‘let’s get some!’

Mam's Noodle Soup, Klong Toey Bangkok

Ever since I slurped up that bowl from Mam, Alex and I have literally been trying to find a bowl just like it here in the south of Thailand in Khao Lak. It recently dawned on me why finding a substitute bowl has been a challenge. Perhaps it’s been so hard because it was served with a dignity, a kindness and a heartiness that met more than my physical needs. A bowl only Mam could create. She had no enclosed restaurant, only a small space under a building in an open area which very much resembled a concrete parking garage. I wondered to myself knowing she was a micro-loan recipient, ‘how can this small area be a sustainable business when cars are blocking her noodle stand and she’s located in Klong Toey, the biggest slum in Bangkok?’ Yet, as Mr. Quinley put it, “people come here to eat her noodle soup and they know exactly where she is.”

My brother calls me a ‘bottomless pit’ because I eat so much. That meal, I definitely hit a bottom. My eyes was bigger than my stomach and I could barely stuff our real lunch of Phad Thai down 20 minutes later. It was amazing to see Mam’s work environment, one that she created for herself and all the meals sold were prepared by her hands alone. It was incredible to see a client, someone who I had only read about only in books from Global Health class, create a sustainable small business that she could call her own. To see the kind of dignity, self-empowerment, and happiness it provided Mam. Attributes that charity cannot fulfill and that are only the unique power of micro-finance and its beauty of creating an opportunity for the less fortunate to improve their life even in the seemingly worst situations.

Mam's Noodle Soup, Klong Toey Bangkok (courtesy of Step Ahead)

I remember eating my bowl and not talking to Mr. Quinley or Alex at all and completely forgetting the fact that it was raining buckets two feet away or that I was sitting under a building of apartments in an open concrete area that was dark, damp, filled with motorbikes, puddles, and stray dogs. All I could think about was my steaming bowl of noodles. If a person can forget an environment like that, you know the food is pretty darn good.  And get this: it was only 20 Thai Baht, the equivalent of 66 cents. My first bowl of noodle soup in Thailand that I will never forget and that came at an invaluable worth. What a day. What a meal. Welcome to Thailand.

]]> http://romaniansongbird.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/last-days-in-thailand-jungle/ Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:25:59 +0000 romanian songbird http://romaniansongbird.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/last-days-in-thailand-jungle/ I thought to share with you my last days in Thailand. The last posts were about the 1st place we went to, Mae Sot, but then we headed to the jungle for 6 days, then to the island of Phuket, which is considered the red light district of Asia to minister to prostitutes (more on that in the next post).

But first things first, i will share pictures about the jungle.

It was hot and humid during the day, and cold and humid during the night. The roads to get to the villages we ministered in were what some consider extreme off road. The sights were incredible! The rice fields on the side of the mountains, the bamboo huts and the sounds we heard in the jungle were nothing short of a National Geographic experience. We visited 3 villages of the Karen tribe in total, 2 of which we stayed in. In all these villages they’ve never seen white people before, so we were the highlight of their year i think The coolest thing was that we got to witness a baptism of a native older couple. It was so awesome to see these Christians testify to the rest of the village about their faith through baptism. What a powerful testimony of God’s transforming grace! Personally, i felt privileged to be apart of it!

We didn’t go on our own though. We would not have been able to do it without the Karen team, that’s for sure! The leader of this mission was a 75 year old man, a native Karen, who he had a team of 5 people with him. These men and women were the most humble people you’ll ever meet. They have left everything behind to do one thing: serve the Lord by preaching the gospel to the lost and broken.  I’ve learned so much from how they lived their lives before God. One person that i want to mention is a man, 73 yr old evangelist, who would travel by foot in the deep jungle sometimes 5-6 hours one way to reach remote villages. The only things he owned were a small children’s backpack and a shepherd’s purse. This man might not have many things now, but he sure has riches in Heaven!!! I was amazed by his simplicity! He was a man of a few words, but when he spoke he was full of wisdom.

What can i say other than we saw God do miracles, touch people both physically and spiritually, and transform lives. It was truly a privilege to be there!

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a walk in the park. Every one of us had our battles, but the most important thing is that God kept us safe and we made it out victoriously!

All you could see was jungle forest:

When we arrived to the 1st village the villagers came to see us. It was fun to try to communicate without any of us knowing each others language. They were laughing, we were laughing, it was so much fun

This is the famous bean meal. We called it the bean miracle. We had packed up and left the 2nd village to return to the 1st one since the weather got bad (got stuck twice), and i had started the fire to cook them. By the time the beans were done there were about 15 kids who came to visit us, so we served them too. When they were done and had left, 10 other kids and older villagers came and we fed them too. Our team had eaten by then too so we were worried we didn’t have left over enough for everyone, but we went along and served them. After they finished there was one more bowl leftover. Then Wright Dee desired to have some and we gave him the last one. He ate his fill and there was still left over one more bowl!!! Yep, it was a bean miracle , Because 1-1 does not equal 1 ))

This is the 1st round of children enjoying the bean miracle. Stacey was my accomplice in this!

We were praying for a sweet little girls foot. She had twisted it and she couldn’t walk because of the pain. Her parents didn’t have money to take her to a city and get treated. By the end of our stay there the mom had told us thather foot was getting better. Praise God for His mighty power!

In the second village before the open air evangelism. Wright Dee would show a video in their language, then our team would preach the Good News.

Doing children’s ministry at the second village on the porch of our wooden house.

One of the Karen girls from the other team let me borrow her traditional dress:

Looking through these photos i am reminded of the amazing love of Jesus! He is such a humble God and all He wants to do is love. He is close to the brokenhearted, wanting to give life to the dead.  What an amazing opportunity to serve a God like that!

For His sake,

Cristina

p.s. for security reasons i cannot post pictures or names of the team members

This morning we got the privilege to join the pastor and his church for the Sunday service. It was so awesome to minister alongside his church! The girls sang so beautifully, and everyone was such a blessing. The cool thing is that after church they hang out, have food and talk. It was such a drastic contrast to what is happening in the West.

Then we came home and had lunch, rested for a bit. After a few hours we went to visit this incredible orphanage. This experience changed my life! I have to tell you a short story before I go on with this. A few years ago I helped sponsor an orphanage in Romania but it turned out that I was scammed. It was totally fake. I also involved a dear friend who had a heart for orphans, which was even more shameful for me. I decided from that point on that if I ever support any ministry I will have to see it for myself. So I became very skeptical about everything that involved my money. This all changed today. This orphanage left us all crying on our way home. Our hearts were broken for these children. And the lady who runs it is amazing. She is from China, and she is such a kind person. You could see it in her eyes that she loved these children. Before we went there we didn’t know what to expect. We got into the courtyard, but it was really quiet. Then our translator went to see where they were. We followed close behind. We got to the steps of the house, and you could see all these little shoes. We walked up the steps and it was such a pleasant thing to see all of them sitting at the table, some of them on the floor because the table wasn’t big enough. What was shocking to me was their age. Half of them were under 5 years of age, only 2 or 3 over 10. Just to see them it was heart warming. After they were done, they had their toothbrushes lined up, so they all came downstairs to brush their teeth. There was only the lady who runs the orphanage and 1 more teacher there, and so the kids helped each other. I cannot describe what it felt like seeing all of them. They were so so sweet. I wanted to take all of them, one by one, home with me. We played with them, sang songs, did puppets, danced, and just had fun. The youngest girl, one and a half yrs old, had such a tragic story. I saw that she had scars all over her leg, so I asked what had happened to her. The lady said that her mother threw her down the toilet because she didn’t want her, and because she didn’t die she gave her away, so this lovely chinese lady got her when she was 1 day old. She spent 10 days in the hospital caring for her. My heart broke just hearing that. Right before we left, we all gathered around in a circle. Out of nowhere I started singing “Yes, Jesus loves me” and the kids all started singing along. It was such a touching moment, that we just couldn’t hold our tears back. We would look at each other asking through our looks: “How can we leave? We cannot leave!!” We said our goodbye’s and got into the back of the truck, being silent. Our words were few to express what we had just experienced. The house they were living in was rented, and they were all sleeping on the floor. The house was very clean and ordered, but you could tell that they were living in very poor conditions. This chinese lady was so humble. You could tell that she really loved these children. Love was written all over her. I took her hands, looked into her eyes and told her that she is going to be crowned by Jesus Himself with many crowns because of all she is doing for these kids.

We asked Stacey if we could go back and spend more time with them, so hopefully God will open that door again. This was such a privilege! To see the heart of God on display in this lady and the kids. I was definitely more blessed than they were.

This day was probably the most challenging to me so far. I couldn’t sleep because of the heat, then when it finally cooled off at 5 AM a muslim (Jesus bless his heart) was blaring his prayer music, so no sleep for me. The pastor we were serving under thought that we needed to experience the water festival on the last day when it’s even more intense, so he put us in the city parade. They are pretty much like the ones in the States, where businesses, churches, radios, etc. put up a float and go down main street. We were part of a Burmese radio station float, and we all had to wear flowery shirts, and a typical Burmese bamboo hat. There were people dumping water on you from literally everywhere. You could imagine that the fire department had put up an entire truck on the side of the road with a hose with which they were drenching the people in the parade as they passed by. It felt like a waterfall had moved to the middle of the street. The businesses on the side of the road would offer water, drinks, food and ice cream to the people, while other people would walk around with tubs full of that powdery stuff I talked about in my last post, putting it on people. The first 2 hours were heavenly, but the last 3….  were, how can I say this nicely … character forming! I was freezing but my skin was burning because of the sun (water resistant sunscreen, uhu), hungry, tired, soaking wet,  and my feet were aching bad. I decided I would sit in the back of the truck with Brooklyn, but there wasn’t any better either. We had louder music, so that was an added bonus to the madness.  I had to make ear plugs out of paper tissues, because my ears were almost close to bleeding. After 5 hours, it was finally over. Hallelujah! Don’t get me wrong it is SO much fun to participate in this festival, and people were having fun all around! But for me, i was glad it was over after 5 hours

Later in the day we went to a neighborhood of the city, where we went around and called people over to participate in the program we put out (Evangelism). Stacey had asked me to preach the message for tonight, so i was excited to share the Gospel! Some kids came and sat in the front, but I could also see some people a little further in the back. We waited a bit longer to see if there’ s more people coming, but because it was getting late we decided to go ahead and start. After I was done some of my team mates came up to me and said that there were people hiding around the street corners listening, which i thought it was so encouraging! It was cool to know that even though they didn’t come right  up front because they were ashamed, they still listened. I also got to pray for a lady and her child, which was an added blessing for the night. She was so receptive and kind!

A beautiful Burmese lady

This is us in our funny shirts and hats

Another gorgeous Burmese lady

The pastor we are serving under wanted us to take part in the water festival. He had 3 karen (burmese tribe) refugee boys join us, to show us how it’s done. Basically what it looks like, there are people on the side of the road with big barrels full of water from where they scoop out the water or hoses, and they dump it on any passerby-er. There are also people in the back of the truck with big barrels of water dumping water on anyone on the streets. It is so hot outside that it was refreshing. For 1 hour only though, because after that you just felt cold. Because we were white people, they made sure we were immersed in their culture really well. You should’ve seen the satisfaction in their eyes when they dumped water on us. Some were trickier than others, because they put ice in theirs, so it would yield more shock. But Alex, our white master water dumper got many thai’s so well that even they were saying, “Whoa” and then showed thumbs up. Another thing they were doing is they mixed baby powder in water and put on people’s faces. I don’t know what it all means, but it looked interesting.

Two hours later of having fun dumping water on people we drove to the border of Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) because the pastor wanted us to see something. Little did we know that what was coming up was going to be shocking. See, burmese people can come over to Thailand whenever they want, and usually for this festival, which is also celebrated in Burma, they come over to buy food, party, get drunk, and so on. There’s a river that is used as a border landmark, and many kids, young and old swim in the river just to have fun. I thought to myself this is so much fun, these people know how to celebrate. As we got closer and closer to the river I could feel the oppression in the air. I saw beggars on one side, food cooking on the other side. Women with children begging, kids sitting on the rails smoking away. The more people I saw the more convinced I was that either they were drunk or they were drugged up. Many were putting that powder on our faces, touching us. I could look into their eyes, and all I could see is hopelessness. I don’t think I can describe it into words what we’ve seen. Stacey, our leader thought that we saw enough, and so we headed back to the car. I look to the left and I see this man kneeling and holding a man in his arms, doing something. I went further a bit to see what is going on and I realized that he was in an alcoholic coma. My day had turned from fun to a dramatic wake-up call. I was so naïve to think that in a buddhist culture there would be more peace than oppression. I should’ve known from the Word of God that where Life Himself isn’t present, death is. And I saw it in one of the ugliest ways possible. Lala, one of the karen boys told us that in Burma the majority of teenagers, because they don’t have an education resort to drinking and drugs. I have seen drugged up and drunk young people, like 15 and up, but never seen a 10 year old smoking away like he’s been smoking for his whole life, and most of the people drugged. My heart is starting to break over Burma and the people there.

Then at night was our first outreach. We went to a Burmese village, out in the country. It was the most simplest and poorest i’ve ever seen. Every house was made out of bamboo, very small ones. One of the skits i’m in needs a chair as a prop, so the guys took a rock to use it because there weren’t any chairs around. When they lifted it, the people were saying something we didn’t understand, then the translator said: “Snake!”. We got a little scared, not gonna lie. But we kept going like nothing had happened. This was our introduction to missions in Thailand

We left for the bus station at 6:30 in the morning to go to Mae Sot, our next outreach location. I entered into the bathroom at the bus station just before we left and as I looked down I saw this hand sticking out on the floor coming out from one of the rooms. I immediately thought that someone had collapsed, so I waved quickly to a thai lady to go and check what is going on. I look in the room (handicapped stall) and this lady is laying on the floor with her eyes wide open, resting. I think I was more shocked to see her in this state than I would’ve been if I had seen her dead. I pulled myself together and continued on without therapy. Half an hour later as we were waiting, I noticed that everyone is getting up from their tables and is very silent. Then I looked to our translator to see what is going on and she is motioned to us to also stand because the national anthem is being played. Wow, I thought, this brings back memories. In the communist times, every morning they used to play the national anthem on the radio and tv, while everyone had to stand and show respect. It was such a random thing for us, kinda threw us in the loop. I just needed to pull myself together again. It was time to get in the bus and so, normally, we each took our assigned seats, except for Stacey. We realized that we had 1 less ticket. I was wondering if this is going to be the end of my day, because I didn’t know what more I could take. So she quickly ran to the ticket office, but to our shock, again, she came back empty handed. We were all thinking: God must surely have this. Stacey called Chris, our contact person here in Thailand, and he got to talk to the bus driver (since they couldn’t speak any English) and then hung up. We still didn’t know whether she had a ticket or not because they couldn’t communicate that to us. The bus driver talked something with his colleague in thai language, while Stacey had this great idea to give the bus driver a chocolate bar. The bus driver looked at the chocolate, nodded his head which meant ok, and showed her to get on the bus. The colleague escorted her to a seat, and we were set to go. Whew. What a roller coaster ride, all in 3 hours: thought that there’s a dead woman in the bathroom, thought that there’s a national emergency or something, and that we are leaving without our leader 10 hours away!!

But God definitely had everything under control! Elijah, our 2 year old team member threw up on Alison while riding the bus, because it was so windy, so we had to make a human wall so she can change. The people on the bus were so kind and helpful. They gave us napkins and plastic bags, whatever they could find to help us. Austin felt sick too, so he waited for the next stop to throw up, but our contact person was waiting at the bottom of the bus stairs and asked, “Are you Romania team?” Austin looked to the sky and said “Thank Jesus, we are!”. We thought we had 2 more hours left of the trip, so this was such a pleasant surprise, after so many unpleasant ones. Jesus knows our frame!

This morning we went for a prayer walk around the temples. The water festival was still in full force, so we had to pack our stuff in plastic bags so they won’t get wet. It was so cool to see people everywhere with water guns, pistols on scooters, buses, in cars, literally everywhere. I saw some water guns i’ve never seen before. One has 4 parts to it:

1. water holder backpack made out of plastic, and it usually is in the shape of a cartoon character
2. hose that connects to the pistol
3. water pistol
4. a little umbrella attached to the front of the pistol, probably for protection from the opponents water attack

As we were riding the bus from one temple to another we would get splashed with water from the passersbyer’s.

The water festival experience was very fun, but going to the temples and seeing how they worship idols who cannot speak or hear, move, do anything for them was heartbreaking. I saw many people going and buying flowers, oil, incense and putting the on a platter to offer them up to Buddhas to earn his blessing. Some of them even put money too. I just wanted to grab them by the hand and tell them that they are already loved by God, they don’t have to earn it.

Some of the things we prayed for were:

• for Godly values to be taught in the thai education system
• for thai young people to be reached with the gospel while they are still in the thai education system
• for young thai Christians, that they will grow in their walk with the Lord, that they will stand firm in their faith and that they will be bold in speaking to their friends about jesus
• that the Thai people would meet the God of life, turning away from the spirits of the dead
• that the city of Bangkok would be free from idolatry and corruption, and would turn towards the one true God
• that even as they worship in the temple, the Lord would reveal Himself to the people in a vision or Word.

We ended the day with dinner at the market, then rest.

Since I last blogged, I have done so much, but I’ll keep it short and sweet. Kanchanaburi, Heart’s hometown, took us just northwest of Bangkok. We spent a day with elephants (Chang in Thai), riding them like bulls in the river to bathe them. The sacred animals are incredibly humbling and surprisingly really hairy (who woulda thought?). Our 8 level waterfall trek here was beautiful and slightly dangerous – I may have almost accidentally axed myself jumping off a tree into one of the super refreshing pools of water. Thank God for Tony, who sort of caught me mid air, just before crashing head first into a giant rock, and body slammed me into the water. Besides the winding and minor bruising of the ribs, I survived. I think he’s always going to hold me to that one though…saving my life. I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much about that though.

Back to BKK for our favorite Indian food at Bombay Blues, a ridiculous day of waterslides and roller coasters at the amusement park, a drama filled last night of partying on Khao San and several rounds of tears and hugs as half our group made their way back to Canuck land…and then there were 14. Those of us who were left hopped on a night train up North to two places that I instantly fell in love with: Chiangmai and Pai.

What can I say of the North? It feels like home for me. There is a sign (or used to be a sign) just around Radium as you drive to Invermere that said “mountains bring peace to the people”. I’ve always been humbled, in awe, and most comfortable around the mountains…they have always brought me peace. Thus, being up North, surrounded by trees and mountains was kinda like getting the chance to sleep in my own bed. The old city in Chiangmai, where we stayed, is surrounded by a moat and bits of a crumbling fortress wall, once built to keep out the Burmese. Tony and I spent an amazing afternoon on a motorbike, riding up to the King’s Palace and Doi Suthep temple. The view of the entire valley was so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. For dinner…real Italian wine and pizza, followed by Sangsom buckets and live music at Roots Rock Reggae. We finished our day with a jar of PICKLES from the Amazing Sandwich, which are impossible to find anywhere in SE Asia (and for anyone of you who know me, you know I love pickles). There also might have been a 3am McDonald’s binge that occurred shortly afterwards. This was undoubtably one of my favorite days of my trip.

7 bikes, 7 girls, 7 guys and 720 something hairpin turns later…we’re in hippie, romantic, Pai. The 14 of us spend only 2 days here (definitely not near enough), chilling out at the local bars, eating amazing Thai food, hanging out at the pool, and appreciating mother nature. We admired the mountains from the top of Pai canyon, and climbed down into a giant crack in the earth, created by an earthquake some time ago. After falling in love with the little town, I vowed I would make it back again before I left SE Asia (to be revealed in a later post). I left with one new bracelet on my wrist, custom made by a wonderful man who sells his work in front of a 7-11, and a refueled soul.

Where to next? A jar of pickles for the road, a Valium to bear the overnight ride in a minibus, and we’re headed East…to Laos.

This is us leaving on Sunday morning, except Lia, who was joining us at another stop

April 12, 2011

This was our 2^nd day in Bangkok. We had an orientation meeting with a YWAM Thailand staff. He talked about the do’s and dont’s in thai culture, and helped us get a more detailed information about Thailand and its spiritual needs. The funniest part was when he showed us how to use a squatty potty by having Ovi model it. We laughed so hard.

Songkran is Thailand’s biggest holiday, which is their News Years, and instead of having snow fights, they have water fights. Four full days they throw water at each other, so basically you are wet all the time. Alex thought that it would be a good idea to experience it, so he surprised Brooklyn and I by dumping a bucketful of water on us as we chatted in the hut behind the building. It was so hot outside that it was actually quite refreshing. We spend the night relaxing at the local market where we had dinner. I had the most amazing coconut milk and eucalyptus soup with seafood for only 1$. It was probably the best soup I ever had in my life, no joke. It was like a flavor fireworks explosion in my mouth The fun part was when Elijah’s diaper needed to be changed and there wasn’t a restroom that was child friendly, so they had to do it on the floor. It is funny how you have to adapt to certain situations and do the best you can with what you have.

eucalyptus seafood soup

Little children playing with water at the market

their markets are full of fresh fruits and vegetables, no wonder they all look so healthy

these are flower arrangements that they put on spirit houses (each thai house has one, a little house in front of their house, business, etc. where they place offerings)

the weirdest fruit i’ve ever seen in my life, but it’s pretty good

People eat out almost every day, because it is cheaper

Rather than write a long  text for you to read, I thought I’d just show you the pictures with just a few captions. I’m not being lazy, I’m just a believer in the expression “pictures tell of a thousand words”.

I was lucky to be given a week off from my internship so I could enjoy myself. It was awesome and the more I went out the more I wanted to stay. With just a week left I was pretty determined to make the most of my only avaialble free time during the whole of my stay.  I couldn’t write anything when I got back because of a job I got given by my old man.

So here it is –  enjoy.

16th March 2011: The gnome bar

The Gnome Bar inside Mansion 7

Got the chance to hang out with my 2 colleagues from the office in cocktail bar after work. It was awesome. Unlike the last cocktail bar I went to ages ago in Camden, I was served quick, the drink was awesome and the bar tender got some slick moves. I got home OK. Just.

18th March 2011: The Selfridge’s of Thailand

Siam Paragon - The Selfridges of Thailand.

Jealous much, ladies? This is the mother of all shopping malls. Crammed full of designer labels and outlets, this is the place to get your Gucci’s and Versace’s. It was my one and only visit. The only thing I could afford was a book >.<

24th March 2011:  Last day at the office:

.

Not quite the office here, but the park close by. Grey morning but damn hot. At this moment, I was pretty nervous because of an upcoming test on what I’ve learnt during my stay. Thankfully, it never came (probably forgot or was busy) and I was free to leave just after noon so I could sort myself out to leave for Trat – a village located in the south east of Thailand.

26th March 2011: Trat

My dad’s home town. I must admit I wasn’t particularly keen with leaving the capital. I just didn’t see anything to do there. Turns out I was very wrong. It’s actually beautiful and much cooler than the capital.

Dont know the name of this beach. But its beautiful every time I come. A hidden gem only known to locals..

28th April 2011: Food, food, food

Korean Grill

Amazing food in Thailand. The only problem with that I can’t stop. I know I won’t be able to eat like this for a long time. So what the heck, I stuff myself to the point where I can’t even get up from my seat. It was like this everyday. If they had this in London, they’d be making a fortune from me.

30th March 2011: The temple

Temple

Thai temple. It’s pretty :)

4th April 2011: The end

The end of my Thai adventure

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. The last week was pretty all about trying to stuff myself as possible. My attempts to curb my eating was pretty feeble. I did work out in the gym, sauna and pool but that hard work was pretty much down the drain as soon as I had breakfast.

Stay tooned!

As we go into this land,

Let us take the Father’s hand

God is always with us

In all the places that we go,

We pray your grace would overflow

God is always with us

By plane, bus or train,

We are still in God’s domain,

God is always with us

As we travel in the mountains,

May your love flow like a fountain,

God is always with us

If our stomachs are upset,

May we not begin to fret,

God is always with us

Though we go into the jungle,

And may fear something fungle,

God is always with us

As we go into the camp,

May your love shine like a lamp,

God is always with us

If mosquitoes buzz and bite,

And we get no sleep at night,

God is always with us

When we’re hot and when we’re sweaty,

And our arguments seem petty,

God is always with us

As we travel to and fro,

May our team in unity grow,

God is always with us

We will serve You in Phuket,

Where sex is like roulette,

God is always with us

In the bars or on the beach,

We are still within Your reach,

God is always with us

Lord give us Your heart for this place,

In all we do may they see Your face

God is always with us

Amen.

Here’s some photos from the shoot

Aren’t they beautiful together? I am so happy they found each other!!! Their big is May 22, this year.  I will miss it unfortunately because i will be on outreach. In any case, i wish them God’s blessings over them for the rest of their lives. Love you Bia and Dani

We will leave to Budapest by small bus at 10 AM Sunday morning for a 8 hour ride, to take our flight to Bangkok. We have a stop in Vienna, then we will arrive in Bangkok at 2:20 PM on Monday. There we will have a 2 day orientation time to learn about the culture.

Our first outreach location will be in Tak village, close to the Myanmar border (the region of Mae Sot and Chiang Mai), to which there is a drive of about 7 hours from Bangkok, where we will be ministering to the Myanmar and Karen (tribe in Myanmar) refugees.

http://vimeo.com/16548078 <– this is a must watch

http://www.persecution.org/2011/03/01/httpwww-asianews-itnews-enthousands-of-karen-refugees-in-thailand-risk-hunger-20879-html/

The ministry we will be working with is called “Morning Glory School” lead by Pastor Michael, a thai citizen, who has a heart for these refugees. He has also begun small community development projects on the school property (fish ponds, a mushroom farm, gardening, etc.) which help support the people. Ministry opportunities will include village evangelism, children ministry, speaking at refugee camps, physical labor, Bible school teaching and church ministry.

After this we will move on to the region of Chiang Rai to different villages as Mae Chaem, Tee Kay Kee, Nong Tau and Mae Ramaung (it’s ok, i can’t even read them and i am bilingual ). In these villages there are children hostels, a bit different from orphanages in that the kids come to live there on their own, and we will have the opportunity to take care of them “hands on”, or “love in action” as Wright Dee, a missionary there likes to say. In one of these villages the hostel is home to 130 kids!!! That is just insane! Many of these kids suffer from skin diseases so we will have times when we just take care of their skin sores, cooking, and spending time with them. We will also be involved with church activities.

The next and final ministry location will be Phuket, the largest red-light district of the world. This tiny island is known for it’s sex slave trafficking. The ministry we will be ministering under is called SHE and it stands for Self Help Empowerment ( www.shethailand.org ). SHE is a Christian charity and it’s purpose is to “helping women and children at risk in Thailand, many of whom are trapped in the commercial sex trade. SHE is dedicated to providing employment, vocational training and counseling for women who want to help themselves out of this industry.” We will do that by joining directors Mark and Sharon in visiting bars at night and building relationships with the women caught in the sex trade, after which they share the vision of SHE to help them know that there is a way out. I believe it is such a great way of doing ministry, because most of these ladies are afraid to leave this trade because they won’t be able to support themselves financially, so to preach the Good News to them along with a practical solution will bring a great impact among these women.

Then we will we heading back to Bangkok to take our flight to Budapest, then back to Cluj.

As i was writing this information i was thinking about the need this country has for a savior. I encourage you to check out the links i added. You will see that this country needs  Jesus so bad. You could even say a short prayer for them, God will surely listen and act on their behalf. Thank you for reading!

Some of the missionaries who have been on missions there before wrote an evaluation on what the spiritual atmosphere is like, and they said that the people’s primary physical need is healing. This is so crazy because i am ready to see God move in power among us. I want to get a higher vision for ministry, and i believe that God is going to blow our minds! I truly think that.

I have less than a week left, and what i desire the most is to quiet my heart before the whirlwind, sit at His feet, and get a focused vision for what the Lord wants me to do in the next 2 months. I will let Him search me deeply in the next week, totally abandon myself to His will. I am scared but excited at the same time. I don’t know what awaits me, but i trust His leadership over my life. Psalm 23

Please lift my team and I in prayer. We still have a lot of things to get done before we leave, and these times can be really stressful. We want to have wisdom on how to steward our time, money and relationships. Some prayer requests are:

1. Rest – many of us are tired spiritually and physically, and we need to be rested for the long travel that is before us. We need to be refreshed and strengthened both physically and spiritually

2. Protection over us – both physically and spiritually – we have a 2 year old with us;

3. Finances – we still need money for outreach

4. Impact of the Gospel – Healings – we want to see the power of God displayed in signs, wonders, miracles and healing so that the people might turn to Jesus

Thank you so much being apart of this journey. May God bless you as you live your life with Him. Until next time, hasta la vista

But quite extraordinarily, temperatures in Bangkok have plummeted to a cold 19 degrees celsius. Yeah, that’s right, cold. It’s just like London.

I’ll be honest. I like it. To the Thai’s back at the office where I’m taking my internship, it’s unprecedented. I’ve always thought Thailand would never be cold. Obviously being a tropical country, it’s humidity will always be there. A few years back, I was even surprise to learn they had a word for snow in Thai. I wasn’t even sure if they knew what snow was. But now my world has been turned upside down. If Thailand can be cold, I now believe in things like flying pigs, talking animals, Harry Potter is a true story and so was Alice in Wonderland. What next? Snow in Thailand?

Unlike my fellow Thai colleagues, I embrace the decrease in temperature. For now. Always good to take a break from a heat. It’s like someone installed a giant air con for the whole country.

What’s uncool was when I got home. Showers is probably one of the most enjoyable time of the day for me and given the heat here, it’s always a cold shower. But just when I needed a warm shower for once, the bloody thing doesn’t work. I’m thinking the plummers and architectures in Thailand probably put the “warm” features there to put it in line with the every where else. They probably never in their life imagine that someone in Thailand will ever need a warn shower. To be honest, I would probably think the same.

Quite extraordinary. I don’t even need the air con to sleep at night. This might not be such a big deal to you guys out there. But to me, a guy who’s quite familiar with this place now, I never thought in my life that Thailand could turn this cold. And I kinda like it.

It was going to be very exciting….

The first part of the trip involved being picked up in an old pick-up van and taken to a crappy market to buy essential things like bottle water carriers and pig bums???(You’ll have to look at the pics later). The journey almost left a couple of the group behind after the hinge on the door mysteriously opened….

There was around 10 of us, some French, some Chilean and some English (i.e. us). It was probably the first time that we’ve been in the minority but made the best of the situation. It didn’t stop Rach from practicing her French which was quite enjoyable for me.

After an hours drive, we bailed out and boarded the Elephant river express. It was a very amusing experience…..we got to feed it bananas, and as we did it seemed to work much better. As soon as we ran out though, the elephant went on strike and stalled half way up a steep hill….causing total grid lock. It was a real tourist trap and we both felt a little guilty afterwards but saying that the elephants looked in good shape. We sat down for lunch which believe it or not was rice. The group all got on well and the ice had been broken. It was now time for the hard trek up hill to the hill village through the jungle. We were ready…….or so we thought.

Looking at the group, it became obvious that we were in the top 3 oldest and that the whipper snapper’s were leading the chase. The humidity was a real problem. Sweat was streaming and my pants were soggy too but we soldiered on and made it to the hill tribe village where we could shower and prepare for the evenings food and entertainment and watch the sun set with a cold beer. The villagers were very friendly and offered us massages at the price of about 3 pounds…..this however was only for 30 minutes but what the heck, it doesn’t get much better than this. The food was delicious and our guide who was called Nam, got on his guitar and played a traditional song called DA DA DA DA TA TUM which had us all singing along. A couple of us also chipped in with a few songs and that helped make the local whiskey go down a treat. The night sky was absolutely clear and the stars were like diamonds which made this a very special night. The bedroom was just a bamboo hut with mattresses but very comfy.

We arose early, had breakfast, and set of on our way down hill to where we would be doing rafting. The jungle trekking was interesting. The trees had vines hanging so I quickly did a Tarzan impression and collided with a tree, ouch….there were fallen tree trunks, slippery slopes, all which had to be combated…..tsome of the slopes I found easier sliding on my bum……his was not a trek for the beginner. Along the way we stopped off at a beautiful water fall. Rach and I decided it would be a good time to swim in the ice cold water…..it was very refreshing.

A few hours later and we arrived at the place where the rafting was going to happen. It as however out of season as the river was low but we tried our best. We kited up. 6 in a raft plus the skipper who shouted the orders….this was important because it took all our effort to get the thing to move over the first rock. But once we’d freed we went down the rapids at high velocity….or maybe it was at low velocity…….I know we’ll be doing this again in New Zealand and hopefully it will be more scary than the Teapot ride at Light Water valley. It was still good fun because we were racing the other raft with the young lads in it. We won, but for our victory we got thrown out at the end. To finish the day we did a slow cruise down the shallow part of the river on a bamboo raft with a pole…..Lunch was included and what??? RICE again.

If anyone wants to do the trekking I would definitely say do it….great value, about 25 pounds each and a good way to keep fit. Make sure you have good shoes though. Not like the guy who did it in flip-flops and mangled his toe….