BANGKOK

We got a taxi into the city – no bartering this time with a flat rate receipt to our location from a taxi kiosk. Bangkok appeared to be evolving into a scene from the movie Blade Runner with concrete every where. Most of the main roads were either under construction or had already grown large concrete trunks to support wide expressways overhead. Between the smog, expressways and many of the tall buildings that had been built, light at the street level was dim. Our driver was friendly and saved us 70 Baht by not taking the upper roads and sticking to ground level.

Debbie Corbridge, a friend who had been here on a mission and here just a few months before, had recommended a hotel called the Fortune Blue Wave. I found it on the Internet and by registering online the price dropped from $87 to $29 per night. The staff was friendly and a uniformed bellman in a safari had greeted us at the door and took our luggage. We were on the 16^th floor in room 1607 – just a couple of floors above the pool with a view to the east.

We settled in and walked the few blocks to Soi Asoke where the Church headquarters was when we had been here. In the short walk, so many of the Thai impressions returned to stimulate the senses and memories. The Bangkok traffic with fumes and waves of engine heat, a klong (canal) with its still water and stagnant smell, sick and diseased dogs, and the whiffs of Thai food from the street shops.

The quiet lane to the church had been transformed into a foot traffic thoroughfare. The dead end alley was now a through street to a large school or university on the other side. Large, glass and concrete buildings had been erected in all directions and there were no open areas anywhere. The church itself looked the same but was 20 plus years older in this harsh environment which takes its toll on anything metal, painted, or clean. We walked around for a few minutes and as we were leaving talked to a young man named Doon that was just entering the gate. He was a member and introduced us to another (Suchada) who was selling food snacks to students in the alley. He told us where all the other buildings had been built in Bangkok and how the Church was growing in that area.

Back out on the main road we waited at a bus stop. I asked a couple of students what the cost for the bus was and they said 3.5 Baht (a dime) for regular bus and 6 baht ($.27) for air bus (air conditioning). Bus #38 still runs down Soi Asoke and they could still be the same buses that were running in the seventies. This one had no windows, wood floors and the same type of krabow (ticket taker) with his little round metal money tray that he shook to get your attention to pay him. Once you paid, he would pull out a ticket from the roll and then cut it several times at different angles on the tray lid and hand it to you.

We got off on Sukumvit road and crossed overhead on a pedestrian walk (something we hadn’t seen in early years but which had sprung up all over) to head the other direction towards the new World Trade Center. This bus had air. We walked through the new WTC and then over the klong towards Pratu Nam. We found a noodle shop and sat down for our first good bowel of kwatio in a long time. The shop owner was very nice and had lived in Minnesota for some time so spoke good English. Of course he wanted to know how we could speak Thai and we had a good talk about why we had been there.

We walked on, watching the crowded klong boats filled like busses emptying and loading their cargo of humans at Pratu Nam which means the water gate. Nearby we found the fish market and then wandered into the computer center – a several story building with mostly computer goods for sale. I was amazed. We found any kind of software I had ever seen for either 100 ($2.78) or 200 ($5.56) Baht depending on whether it had one disk or two. You just picked a title and they would copy you one in less than five minutes. Novell and Microsoft were there and so was every game, application, and educational piece I had ever seen. They also had full movies (some out only a week or two in the states at the theaters) and music CDs with not just one but 10 albums in computer format on one disk.

The noodles weren’t enough to last all night and with so many foods to get caught up on we stopped at another food market and had a couple of plates of good old Thai-style fried rice. Something about the seasonings, the fresh lime juice, cucumbers and green onion combination with a taste of shrimp that is really good.

The next morning we filled up on an ABF (American breakfast) at the hotel and headed out to see some Bangkok sights. We bussed and walked to the Jim Thompson house which was situated just off one of the major klongs. Mr. Thompson was a foreigner (British I think) who had made money organizing the Thai silk trade. He had an army of Muslims making silk and him a good living. He had brought several ancient Thai buildings together to make a traditional home which today is a museum of sorts. Very tastefully done and comfortable. He mysteriously disappeared in the hills of Malaysia and the house has been turned into an art center and outlet for the famous Jim Thompson silk.

Outside we caught a tuktuk (three wheeled scooter-taxi like thing) over to Sanam Luang (the yellow field) near the National Museum. My language seemed to be coming back better and it was easier to barter for the ride.

The economy seemed poorer now in a way. Bartering was usually a pleasant ritual in which you found where the point of pain was and then bumped the price to cover cost plus give some profit. Now however, most bargaining seemed to be almost at the point of pain to begin with. Needless to say, with the high price of the dollar and this new environment we didn’t bargain too much. If they did drop the price, we usually made up the difference with a tip.

The museum, although I had seen it before, was fascinating. Knowing more of the history and timelines it was exciting to put architecture, kings, art, and events in the proper period. The whole god-king thing has me perplexed. How can a nation of people elevate a human to such a status when he is only human to begin with? Between a nation’s allegiance to a king and the Democrats allegiance to Clinton I can’t help but wonder what happens to people’s minds when they get in groups.

After the museum we walked a couple of blocks to the mighty Chaopaya River. There was a cool breeze coming off the water and as we stood there cooling off we were approached by a man asking if we were interested in a ‘long tail boat’ ride through the klongs of Bangkok. He lead us through a market maze to a dock where several boats were tied up.

Long tail boats are called that because of the motors. The boats are long and narrow and the source of power is a large engine that is mounted on a pivot point on the back of the boat. The engine is usually a six-cylinder and extending out of the rear is a long shaft with the propeller on the end. To turn the boat, the driver uses a handle on the forward end of the engine to push it to one side or the other or sometimes pushes down, raising the prop out of the water, and then cranking it to one side. There were many models. Some were only lawn mower size engines; others had transmissions with reverse. The boats move along at quite a clip shooting up a rooster tail of spray.

It was a relaxing ride with just Al and I in the boat. We went from the wide river to a narrower tributary and then finally to a canal that wound through the back parts of Thonburi, the city across the river from Bangkok. We caught glimpses of the royal barges, Buddhist temples, schools and lots of river front residences that generally were built of wood and tin on top of stilts. This time of year many of the flowers were in bloom and the clumps of bogenvelia’s (sp?) along walls and waterways were beautiful reds and purples.

We had been looking for a travel agency to get us information on how to get to other parts of the country and were directed to a street called Khaosan. Once there I recognized it as the area where Ben, Steve and I had stayed on our trip in 1985. The place was saturated with farangs (foreigners). We talked to a travel agent that said she could get us to Cambodia by minibus or plane. The plane was expensive and the minibus didn’t sound appealing especially after my phone call to the US Embassy.

I had called the embassy to find out what the recommendations were as far as land travel into Cambodia. I was passed to a native American who listened to our tentative plan and then said, "I think that sounds like a great adventure. I don’t want to throw cold water on the idea but the only way that I would enter Cambodia by the overland route was if I were being followed by an A1 military tank to protect me!’ Apparently there were bandits along the road and often there were incidents.

We picked up a tuktuk and headed to the Ratchadamnan stadium to see our first Thai boxing match. In all the time we had lived there as missionaries, we had never gone to a real match. As we stepped out, a woman with an official badge spotted us and spoke to us in English about getting good seats. Apparently this was a big fight night and there would be standing room only but we could get ring-side seats from her. Standing didn’t sound appealing and if you are going to go, you might as well be up close – we were on the front row.

Thai boxing is unique in two aspects. First, there is the ritual associated with a fight. There is homage to gods, the tracing of the ropes, praying in different directions, and the choreographed dance to stretch. Each opponent wore a headband into the ring which he removed before the actual fight. Second, with Thai boxing you have four limbs – and you use ‘em all! Feet and knee kicks to the side and legs are ok. Also, foot kicks to the chest. This plus the punches to the upper body with the gloves. We reasoned that it was probably safer than regular boxing because the abuse was spread out over the body and not just concentrated on the head where brain damage is likely to occur. During an entire fight, there is a trio of musicians keeping time with the strains of Asian drums and a flute.

I sat next to a British man who was in the process of returning to his home in Grenada. He went home to England for Christmas each year and then took several months to travel back. From Thailand they were going to Bhutan which although expensive (hundreds of dollars per day just for the visa) was supposed to be as beautiful as Nepal but without the tourists and commercialism. He had retired at 45, bought a sailboat and spent several months each year exploring the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, or sailing back and forth.

There were ten matches and some of them sparked off wild audience participation. Everyone there (although it wasn’t full) was standing and the noise was equally divided for each contestant. For every hit there was ooohhhing and aaaahhing and cheers when a kick or punch connected. In the audience there were hands in the air and all kinds of signals and I realized that most of the intensity and participation was according to where bets had been placed. They were all gambling on the fighters. I watched for quite some time but couldn’t tell how bets were made and with whom but there was money flowing at the end of each match.

One match was particularly intense. The fighters, although they had to be at least 18, looked like they were 13. One young kid, after several punches, erupted a spew of vomit into the ring. No one even blinked – he continued to fight as did his opponent and the ref didn’t stop them.

After the match we walked for a ways and then caught a bus to the fish market where we had a large bowel of seafood soup. Fresh crab, lobster, shrimp, and fish – all in a tangy broth.

Thursday, we dressed, had breakfast, packed and were just walking out the door when the movie ‘The Game’ came on HBO. I had seen it on an airplane and thought it was intense. We were, after all, on vacation so we sat down and watched it. We then checked out and caught a metered cab to the train station. The taxi meter eliminates the bartering when it comes to travel in Bangkok which is probably good for both drivers and riders.

Sathaani Rodfay Hualampong had changed some. Bangkok’s main train station entrance area has air conditioned shops, food stores and there were English speaking tourist officials to make sure you made it to the right platform. The trains, though, were exactly the same. We climbed in a car with wood benches and open windows and watched the crowded city go by as we rolled north.

For some strange reason, I had had a dream a couple of nights before that we were going from Bangkok to Lopburi and it was city all the way. The city limits used to end just a few minutes from the central station but not anymore. It was practically urban sprawl all the way to Ayudhya. Two mothers each with a little boy, sat next to us. The little boys were so well behaved and sat quietly through trip.

In the old capital city of Ayudhya, we left our bags at the train station and grabbed a tuktuk for the grand tour. For the major sights and all afternoon, the older gentleman charged us 200 Bhat ($5.50). We started off at a ‘working’ temple with a giant sitting Buddha. It was enclosed in a new building and the statue was stickered with gold leaf. Across the way was an old temple with three pagodas that were built to hold the remains of a king and his sons.

The Thai temples and statues are made of brick covered with stucco and then painted. At Ayudhya you see a lot of brick. In many places there were Buddha statues without heads – thousands of them. When the Burmese attacked Ayudhya, they smashed off all the heads as part of their ransacking of the city so in every place we visited there were headless figures.

Ayudhya was one of the early Thai capitals and the area is rich with ruins. We visited a large reclining Buddha – a reclining Buddha represents having achieved Nirvana or a state where you had done enough good that you didn’t have to be reincarnated again. We visited several other sites, all of them with stupas, rows of columns, walls, and headless Buddhas. We climbed to the top of one stupa and entered the stone chamber at the top. The smell of bat urine was so strong it forced us out in a hurry.

We ended our tour at the temple that had been built as a monument to the victory over the Burmese. This one was in great shape and the hundreds of statues that lined the walls all had heads on.

The train to Lopburi didn’t leave for a while so our driver dropped us at a riverside restaurant near the train station and we ordered a couple of plates of fried rice and some curry. It was a rather large restaurant but we were the only people there. The staff were a young friendly group and several of them stood around us while we ate, asking us questions and wanting to know how to pronounce things in English. The restaurant catered to tour groups and they said they didn’t know how to describe the fruit drinks that were ‘blended’ in a blender. Blended was a hard word for them to say and I don’t know if our giving it to them will help much.

At the train station we visited with a young policeman while we waited. He was very friendly and we talked about how we knew Thai and the tenants of our beliefs. He made sure we got the right train; his courtesy and friendliness were unusually cheerful.