I'm home

January 27, 2011 6:34 pm  EST

We landed in Atlanta at 9:35 am this morning.  This is where our group parts.  The Lancaster students are off to their next connection to Philadelphia while the Southeast Conference folks are either staying in Atlanta or flying off to south Georgia or Alabama or driving to Tennessee.

I am so tired but grateful for this experience.  It is funny how confusing my house has become.   I couldn't remember if I could or could not drink the water.  I almost fed Neema (our dog) cat food instead of dog food; laundry was even confusing.  I miss the clothes line already.

I have been trying to keep myself awake all day.  I goal is to stay up until 9 pm tonight so that I am not up all night.  I am back in the office starting tomorrow at 7:30 am.

Not sure how this blog will evolve next.  I still need time to process this experience.

Laying over in Seoul for the 2nd time

January 27, 2011 7:00 am Korea time

We are laying over in Seoul for our trip back.  This is a very long lay over.  We will be waiting for the next 4 hours before the flight to Atlanta.  We will finally land in Atlanta on 1/27/11 at 9:55 a.m.  That is about 20 hours from now.

Coming home

January 26, 2011

We are finally at the airport.  We are going home.  We fly to Seoul then to Atlanta.  Sometime in the next 17 hours I will be home.

In line for tickets at the Korean Airline desk in Bangkok.

Got the magic ticket to get home.

Jim Thompson House

January 26, 2011  afternoon

This afternoon we visited the Jim Thompson house.  He was an American who helped revitalize the Thai silk industry.  This home has been turned into a museum.  We could not take pictures in the house but I have great shots of the garden.

Reflections

January 26, 2011

Tonight we leave for home.  We are finishing up packing and gathering for final good-byes.  This has been a educational, fun, crazy trip.  I tried to give you all a taste of what we learned and saw through this blog.  Please forgive any spelling or grammatical mistakes.  It was quite a challenge to post and upload pictures every day.

The only thing that I might regret about this trip is really not understanding the story of my Christian brother and sisters in Thailand.  I felt that each Buddhist and Muslim that I met was clear about how their faith works for them and how it gives them peace.  I did not seem to get this type of information from the Christians we met with.  I know our experience could not be the same.  Just because we profess the same faith does not mean that our stories are the same.  I am not sure if I did not ask the right questions or if they thought that since we are Christian that we felt the same.  I hope that I can continue the conversation with the wonderful people we have connected with during this trip.

This blog is not quite yet done.  This afternoon we will do a little site seeing before leaving for our flight.  More pictures will be posted in the next 36 hours.  I will also posted again once we get to Korea.

In peace...

Sulak Sivaraksa

January 25, 2011 in the afternoon

This afternoon we met with Sulak Sivaraksa.  I personally felt his introduction was not adequate to prepare us for this meeting.  I felt that we were meeting a very important icon in Thailand but I was not putting the whole reasons why together.  We actually in the presence of a man who has challenged the view of the monarchy, gone to jail for his views but the whole time has been advocating for peace.

He gave us an overview of the red shirt/yellow shirt movement.  He gave us his views on poor and the mega Wat that we visited on last week.  To read more about him and his peace movement view his website http://www.sulak-sivaraksa.org/en/. 

Discussion between Sunni and Shiite leaders in Thailand

January 25, 2011

Today is my day to add the reflection of this wonderful trip.  Today started off great.  We had French toast with REAL maple syrup.  Score!  The few times we have had French toast it has been with honey.  After breakfast I am off to 7eleven to buy more minutes for the phone for Don.  I am it back in plenty of time to blog before getting in the van for the discussion between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Bangkok.

The mosque that we are visiting is across the street from the French Embassy (French toast/French Embassy – see the theme).  We walk through a narrow alley to get to our destination.  There are lots of cats along the way.  This mosque shares a wall with a Buddhist Temple.  In this area is the location of the cemetery for the community.  We were informed that the cemetery is about 80 years old. 

Last full day in Bangkok

January 25, 2011

Today is our last full day in Bangkok.  Today we are meeting with Muslim community in Bangkok.  Today is my day to write the journal for the group.  Each of us has a day where we are responsible for summarizing the day.

We leave for the States tomorrow evening.

Thai Burma Border Consortium - TBBC

January 24, 2011

We met with the Director of the TBBC to get another view on what is happening with refugees.  What I took from this discussion is how this organization is changing its strategy to help refugees.  Previous strategy was to deliver food while the camp leaders and organizational structures were responsible for distribution and storage of the food.

The new strategy is to make sure that the folks in the camps learn a skill since more than a 1/3 of the population in the camp were born there.  So now the focus is on creating sustainable jobs through weaving projects (I have benefited from this project.  I have bought more than a few items made in the camps.); agriculture programs teaching farming techniques; shelter which is a better and more sustainable way to build the homes in the camps - this skill could also be used outside the camps; and micro-loan programs to help people start businesses.

The phrase he used for the new strategic response is 'Instead of WAITING, we have to PROMOTE change.'   Their website is http://www.tbbc.org/.

For more information about the camps, read my entries on Mae Sot Day 1 and Mae Sot Day 2.

Jack Dunford, Director

How the food distribution has changed from 1984 to the 2011 levels of food distributed per adult.

More random thoughts....

January 24, 2011

Here are more thoughts that have been going through my mind....

Bathrooms (yes, another bathroom thought) - ALWAYS look for toilet paper prior to walking into a public bathroom.  The toilet paper is usually on a back wall somewhere but not in the stall.  You will be sorry if you don't follow this practice.  Better yet, carry toilet paper everywhere you go.

Beds in Bangkok - the bed is so soft that I can barely sleep.  I have gotten used to the rock hard beds of Chiang Mai.

Men with receding hairlines and beer bellies of about the age of 50 or above --  Don't you realize you look absolutely ridiculous walking down the street with your 20 year old Thai girlfriend.

Thai soap operas - I watched many a soap opera in Thai with no subtitles while in the hospital.  Doesn't matter what country your in the soaps are exactly the same.  Beautiful young people with crazy dramatic problems.  Glad to be in Bangkok with national geographic channel.

McDonalds - do you know that you can not get an apple pie in Bangkok?  You can get a pineapple or corn pie but no apple.  (Another craving for food I don't normally eat at home.)

I would be remiss in not mentioning that on our trip to Mae Sot Jason Tamthai was our guide.  His father Mark is the Director of the Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace at Payap University.  Mark was called away to a meeting so Jason accompanied us to Mae Sot.  Jason is an artist.  You can view his work at his website http://www.tamthaigallery.com/.   I was unable to view his work in person since I was in the hospital.  I was told by those who were able to attend that his work is beautiful.  I did get to see one of his pieces that is displayed at the Seminary.

I know my random thoughts have been less than serious but I have a thought that is very serious.  I told you all that I was not the only person who ended up in the hospital on this trip.  Our friend Don is still in the hospital.  His release date is unknown at this time.  Please send up a prayer of healing for him.  He is surrounded by light and love but he could always use more.  Thanks

Church of Christ in Thailand

January 24, 2011  

Today we went to the headquarters of the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) to learn more about the church structure and history.

It was disturbing to me that we were surrounded by white Jesus’ portraits.   We went through a scripted service.  I don’t really care for written down prayers because I want there to be more room for the Holy Spirit to lead the prayer.  It basically was everything that I despise out the Christian Church. 

I had to try really hard to put my bias aside so that I could hear what we were being told.  CCT has been an independent church for the last 78 years.  There are approximately 100,000 members of this denomination.  Most of the church is made up of ethnic minorities (hill tribe’s people).  In the history presented to us the impact on the American Baptist tradition which is a large part of the ethnic minorities experience is largely absent.   In fact, we were told that within the church ethnic minorities are the largest growing segments of the church.

I asked the question of women in ministry because in an earlier discussion we were told that there are 19 ordained women out of 600 ordained ministers in the CCT.  I wanted to know if within the leadership is there a deliberate and intentional mentorship program for women who want to be church leaders.  My question was not answered at first.  I was told that it would be addressed further in the presentation.  With 20 minutes left in the presentation I brought the question up again.  Still I was not given a clear answer except to say there is very little mentorship of women.

We also got to meet the leaders of the church.  They ate lunch with us.  We sat with the Treasurer for the Church.  Even though the membership is small the Church has significant assets.  We were told that in property that the Church owns about 1/3 of Chiang Mai.  The church also operates many primary schools, a couple of universities and seminaries as well as many hospitals around the country.

While the discussion was informative, it also was sometimes frustrating because I got the feeling that institution of the church is more important than social justice issues.  I will need to continue to process this experience so that I may work in my our church experience to work with the challenges that we face in our own denomination. 

Leadership in CCT - gentleman in purple shirt is the moderator,  gentleman in the middle is vice moderator and gentleman all the way to the right was our presenter Mike.  I have misplaced his card and can't remember his title.

Entrance way to the headquarters.

This gentleman in the general secretary.

Kathy with her mom face.  She is trying to get us to line up for a picture.  This building is dedicated to Tim Downs (leader of the UCC SE conference) parents.  We finally did get a picture of the group.

I thought this picture was funny.  The translation to English is quite laughable.  This sign is across the street from headquarters.

Church in Bangkok

January 23, 2011

We decided to go to a Sunday evening that is held at our guest house so that we could visit the Grand Palace in the morning when it was cool (cool, meaning 85 with crazy humidity).  We worshiped with the International Church which is an expat church in the area.

This service was very contemporary.  There was lots of singing Christian music. There were no traditional hymns.  Their 'band' was two guitar players.  The minister is a white American.  The sermon is part of a continuing series called Jesus VS ...  The series is focusing on the everyday Jesus.  The scripture reading was from Luke 8:22.

This was the most lively service that we have attended thus far.  The service started at 6:30 pm and ended around 8:00 pm.  I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera.  However, there was about 50 people in attendance.

I really appreciated this service because after the week I have had I really needed an upbeat service.  Folks were friendly and the minister was warm to the congregation.  Not like Victory but it still felt good.

I am off to bed.  We have a jam packed filled day tomorrow meeting with leaders from the Church of Christ in Thailand and meeting with staff at the Thai-Burma Border Consortium.

Grand Palace

January 23, 2011

Today we visited the Grand Palace.  From the booklet received from the tourist center - the Grand Palace was established in 1782 and consists of not only the royal residence and throne halls, but also a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  There are tons of pictures.

Side note - I had to put on the skirt that I was wearing because I was breaking dress code.  My pants were not long enough to get into the Palace.

Enjoy.

Raylena, Bryant and Greg

This was on a scooter on the inside of the Grand Palace.  You never know where a bunny will show up.

Bryant, Jowanna, Regina

Emerald Buddha

Elephant stand

This kitten was on the street just hanging out.  Someone decided to put this coat on with a bell.  It was just chilling in the heat.

Red Light District

January 22, 2011  evening

We were are staying is right in the heart of Bangkok.  We are two blocks from the sky train and about three blocks from the red light district.  We decided to take a tour through the district to see what it is all about.  There are two famous streets where the red light district resides.  We walked on both.

It was the usual fare of men and women trying to get you to go into their establishment to see the different types of dancing.  From what I could observe it was go-go dancing on the first floor and topless dancing on the 2nd floors.  Most of the women working looked very, very young.

One thing about Thailand that rubs me the wrong way is seeing old guys (mostly white) with really young Thai women.  It is so obviously wrong.  I took no pictures during this excursion because I did not want to look like a tourist.  You will have to book your own trip to Bangkok to see these images.

I ended the night at The Balcony.  It was supposed to be ladies (lesbians) night.  However, there was nothing but the boys.  It was a great time sitting outside, chatting it up people sitting near us.  We met Sean from Montreal who has been traveling in SE Asia since the end of November and two American brothers from Kentucky (one now lives in Florida).  It was a good time.  There is a big gay community about one block from our guest house.

Women Monks

January 22, 2011

Today we went to Song-tam-kay-ya-nee Temple where we got to meet Bhikkhuni Thammanandha.  She is part of the woman monk movement.  She was such a dynamic speaker that I was tempted to say sign me up for temporary ordination I need to study with you.

She spoke about the unique problem in Thailand because the government has a hand in control in how religion (Buddhism) is set up.  The current constitution states that men can be monks only.  There is a petition to get the language expanded so that women are included (need 10,000 signatures).    

She was such a powerful and motivating speaker. She was so good that I forgot to take a picture of her.  Her words were so positive about what Buddhism is about and how it could work for you.  She told us how women monks came about with Buddha’s stepmother deciding to follow Buddha around following the monastic lifestyle.  I am totally simplifying the story but you get the idea.

What was beautiful about this temple was the healing blue Buddha.  I have pictures.  It was such a tranquil space.  Enjoy the pictures.

The next three pictures of Our room at the Christian Guesthouse.  

View from our window.  Tall buildings instead of a huge mountain.

Story of the first woman monk in Thailand.

Discussion about the grounds.  They are in the process of building a new building to house women monks and guests.

Group photo in front of the healing Buddha.  This Buddha sits in full lotus position.  The women stand near these monks. The men have to be farther away.

This is a view of the ceiling.  

When I say Bangkok, you say HOT…Bangkok…HOT

January 21, 2011

(I will add pictures later today.  We have to leave really early this morning.  Traffic!  UPDATE: The pictures are now added.)

It is really hot in Bangkok.  Upon leaving the airplane you can just feel the hot, smoggy air.  It is completely overwhelming after being in the quite temperate Chiang Mai.  Our flight was delayed for about 45 minutes so we are a little off schedule.  We depart the airport for the afternoon activities.  Our luggage is sent ahead the Bangkok Christian Guesthouse where our new home base will be.

We are attending one of the largest Wat’s in the area.  We go to the Dhammakaya Wat.  This Wat can hold up to 300,000 people for mediation.  They are currently expanding so the new area will be able to hold up to 1 million (yes, million) people for mediation (this expansion is to be completed by April 2012).  This is truly a Mega-Wat.  As you drive into the parking garage your car wheels go through a bath so they are cleaned prior to entering the parking garage.  The complex is beautiful but overwhelming.  Building community in this type of environment must be a challenge.  

This is the view as you drive on the extensive compound.

Bathroom sign:  Monks, Men, Women

These little Buddha's are on the roof (the gold part).  There are 300.000 on one of the roofs.  Hope to have a million on the roof by time construction is finished.

Dining hall.   Can sit up to 1,600 monks.

Monks racking leaves on the compound.

Ordination building.  It is very beautiful inside and out.

Water lilies are everywhere.

Buddha sitting in half lotus position.

Rooster running around on grounds.  There were lots of peacocks too.

Pathway to nirvana.

This is me 6 hours out of the hospital.  See I am getting better.

This monk took us through an exercise to help us learn to mediate better.  It was wonderful.

Group photo time.

This is outside where we are staying.  These are the dirty dishes for the night.  This street restaurant was so busy it was hard to get down the street.  Food stalls are everywhere.