On the Road with Brent & Erika

The last few days have been spent around Thailand's huge and bustling capital, Bangkok. We arrived here from Krabi at around 5:30 on a Sunday morning and were greeted by monks receiving alms and drunk backpackers calling it a night on legendary Khao San Rd. Quite a scene. We found a nice guesthouse, freshened up and headed to the local Church of Christ where we heard the sermon via headphone translation. I had been here 8 years ago when I interned for missionaries in Thailand. Here we met up with an old Thai friend from '98, Air, and her new husband and son, Ray and Corinth. After lunch with them, we picked up Ricky, Erika's brother, from the airport and met back up with Air plus another friend, Bee, an expecting new mother now. It was great to catch up with them and see their new families.


Me with Bee and Air

Now that we have Ricky with us, we have been seeing all of the sites around Bangkok This includes many Buddhas and temples, Wat Pho, .Wat Arun and Wat Phra Kaew to be specific ('wat' means temple). The ornate and colorful decor surrounding all of these is impressive. We're also trying to hit all modes of Bangkok transport - the cheap local buses, the sometimes frightening taxis, the open-air smog filled tuk-tuk, the shiny new Skytrain elevated subway and river taxi. The only one left is the white-knuckled excitement of a motorcycle taxi.


Erika and I in a 'tuk-tuk'

We also met an amusing little shirtless man near the temples, Kosol. I initially wanted to simply snap a photo of his interesting shop, but Kosol dragged us in to view his entire family lineage for several generations for about an hour. The entertaining little tour included shots of his many world travels and shots of his family with the king of Thailand. He showed us and explained pictures on the wall, family albums and a neat stack of photos of himself that tourists have sent back to him. I believe we'll be the next to contribute to this stack.


The picture Kosol will receive in a couple months

The floating market is just outside of Bangkok, so we headed that way Monday night for an early start the next morning. We took in this iconic, colorful tradition via our own personal teakwood boat. We got there early enough that the tour groups from Bangkok were absent, so it felt more relaxed.





It was here, however, that I fell ill. Luckily, we were out of the boat for Erika to buy a purse which gave me opportunity to throw up. It was quite a disgusting and violent display. I was feeling better until we headed to our next destination on a non-airconditioned bus. This prompted me to help myself to a local merchant's tile floor to cool off, eat crackers and generally look and feel pathetic. Unfortunately, after the next short bus my mouth became a vomit factory again (for the record, Erika doesn't approve of this description), this time with a helpful Thai woman handing me napkins and water. I'm pleased to announce that that ended my mysteriously intense and short illness, and I'm feeling back to normal now.

On the afternoon of the floating markets and following my bout with the up-chucks, we lastly visited what is known as the 'Tiger Temple.' The story goes that a monk began to take in orphaned tiger cubs to raise them in a safe sanctuary. These tigers have never hunted so are not suited for the wild. They are suited, however, to have travelers pay money to pet them. This frustratingly short and organized process gave us a short moment to engage with a wild beast. However whirlwind the process was, it was still really cool to touch a tiger.





We're headed to Chiang Mai tonight. This is about half a days drive north into the mountains and where I spent 10 weeks in the summer of 1998. I look forward to reconnecting with old friends and witnessing the growth of the Chiang Mai church and minstry. Thanks for all of the comments! We love to read them and feel connected with our loved ones back home! Until next time...


street pad thai on Khao San Rd. - roughly $.50



...go Mavs! --Brent