A Trip to Thailand!
Dec 4, 2020 18:37:19 #
Sometime around 1997 or 1998, Jean and I decided to go to visit a friend who was living and working as a missionary in Thailand. We would go and celebrate Christmas with her in Pattaya, Thailand. While there we would also help in several of the missionary projects that she was involved.
Our trip included a stopover in Tokyo, Japan. I said I did not want to go and merely stop in a capital city’s airport without spending some time there. So, we chose to spend a day in Tokyo and do a little sightseeing while there. We were also carrying a lot of extra gear because Jean had agreed with Margie, our friend, to teach a class of “English to non-English speakers” for a group of Thailand English teachers in Pattaya.
Arrive late in the evening in Tokyo we took a bus from Narita International Airport to our hotel which was in the Ginza section of Tokyo. After taking one look at this almost midway, or carnival area of Japan’s capital city, we did not want to venture out to find a restaurant, but rather stay in the hotel’s underground tunnel and find a place to have dinner. After walking further than we really wanted, because we were already tired, we found a place that looked suitable.
We entered and are seated and begin to look over the restaurant’s menu which was unusual. The only thing offered was chicken, but not like anything offered by Colonel Sanders’ back in the States. This was a very unusual place, the different entrees were mostly raw chicken, or barely cooked! It much have also served as a type of club because there was a large cabinet with bottles of scotch for the members. That was all the alcoholic drinks available, held exclusively for members of the club. We had a hard time choosing anything suitable to order that we could eat.
The next morning, we check out and join a tour group for visiting some of the local sites. We first attend a meeting and lecture of a pearl jewelry manufacturing shop, then a bus tour in the downtown area, that included a visit to a tall radio tower, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris where we could see much of the city. Later there was a visit to the Imperial gardens and palace grounds of the Japanese Emperor’s residence. Late in the afternoon we return to Narita International Airport and fly to Bangkok. Our first stop there is to visit my tailor to purchase several suits and shirts.
We then take a taxi to Pattaya to meet Margie and check into our hotel where we will reside for the rest of our stay. This was chosen because it was also the hotel used by a lot of mainland Chinese who take their holidays in Pattaya, which is a coastal destination.
After meeting with Margie, she introduced us to several of her missionary co-workers. One was a young Thai minister who had both a store front church and did missionary work with various natives and children. To see what he did as a daily routine, we first went to a supermarket and bought a variety of treats, we then went to a section of the beach where he was instantly recognized and surrounded by many children. We passed out the treats and then had an abbreviated Bible study. It was interesting to be holding a bible study under a large banyan tree right next to a small statue of buddha. There was also an orphanage and a school for helping young girls to escape prostitution by learning a trade such as becoming a hair dresser. Pattaya is famous as a sex trade city around the world, and thus there is also a strong Christian effort to combat it.
Since there were a large number of mainland Chinese staying in the same hotel, we would rise early each morning, set up a card table and as the Chinese came to breakfast before they began their day’s tours, we would offer them a package of a Holy Bible, a CD on how to form a home church, and other similar items. I thought it interesting and wondered just how well we were understood, trying to communicate in Mandarin to these visitors. We would regularly give away a case or two of these packs, which was probably 50 or more.
In the evenings, we would set up at the end of a wharf. The purpose was to intercept the vacationing Chinese who regularly would have dinner aboard a ship just out in the harbor. Again, we would hail them in our version of Mandarin to offer them these packs of “start your own church!” This is a strange sensation to attempt to communicate with someone in a foreign language in a foreign land. It took all the grit that I could muster to attempt it, but somehow I was able to carry it off. I often wondered just how effective this really was, but it at least was an effort.
One of the resident missionaries learned I was a Rotarian and arranged for me to attend a night meeting at a new Marriott Hotel on the beach. The most memorable thing was I got to meet Manfred Rommel, son of Field Marshal Erin Rommel there.
We celebrated Christmas dinner with Margie at her townhome, in a gated community, that most of the residents were also expats from other countries. It was a fun time, and we had lots to eat, but one problem was Margie had ordered some dressing from Bangkok that came in a serving pan. When she had warmed it in her oven, it was hard as a brick and was totally uneatable. It was the joke of the day.
Because we were so close, Jean wanted to visit a friend who lived in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, whom we had known in Houston. It was arranged that we would fly to Singapore and cross the border the next morning. The border crossing was handled without ever leaving the cab. We were dropped off at a bus station and after having lunch with her, went back to the same location to return as we had come. The single amazing thing I noticed was the porifera of Hindu statutes all around in this city.
At one point, we were in a cab in Bangkok on the way to the airport around 5:00 PM. And along the express way, suddenly all the cars stopped, and our driver stopped and got out of the cab and stood at attention beside the cab. When he got in about two minutes, or so, I asked him what that was for. He said every evening at this time, they lower the national flag and play their version of Taps, all for the King of Thailand, as a sign of respect.
The next morning, while we were waiting for the departure from Bangkok Airport, I could not help but notice another guy who had on a pair of “roach killer” cowboy boots on. I had to ask him if he was from Texas. He replied that he was not from Texas, but Louisiana. But he was on the way to Russia to close a drilling deal there. You will never know what you might find until you venture out and begin exploring. It is really a small world. Just Sayin…RJS
Our trip included a stopover in Tokyo, Japan. I said I did not want to go and merely stop in a capital city’s airport without spending some time there. So, we chose to spend a day in Tokyo and do a little sightseeing while there. We were also carrying a lot of extra gear because Jean had agreed with Margie, our friend, to teach a class of “English to non-English speakers” for a group of Thailand English teachers in Pattaya.
Arrive late in the evening in Tokyo we took a bus from Narita International Airport to our hotel which was in the Ginza section of Tokyo. After taking one look at this almost midway, or carnival area of Japan’s capital city, we did not want to venture out to find a restaurant, but rather stay in the hotel’s underground tunnel and find a place to have dinner. After walking further than we really wanted, because we were already tired, we found a place that looked suitable.
We entered and are seated and begin to look over the restaurant’s menu which was unusual. The only thing offered was chicken, but not like anything offered by Colonel Sanders’ back in the States. This was a very unusual place, the different entrees were mostly raw chicken, or barely cooked! It much have also served as a type of club because there was a large cabinet with bottles of scotch for the members. That was all the alcoholic drinks available, held exclusively for members of the club. We had a hard time choosing anything suitable to order that we could eat.
The next morning, we check out and join a tour group for visiting some of the local sites. We first attend a meeting and lecture of a pearl jewelry manufacturing shop, then a bus tour in the downtown area, that included a visit to a tall radio tower, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris where we could see much of the city. Later there was a visit to the Imperial gardens and palace grounds of the Japanese Emperor’s residence. Late in the afternoon we return to Narita International Airport and fly to Bangkok. Our first stop there is to visit my tailor to purchase several suits and shirts.
We then take a taxi to Pattaya to meet Margie and check into our hotel where we will reside for the rest of our stay. This was chosen because it was also the hotel used by a lot of mainland Chinese who take their holidays in Pattaya, which is a coastal destination.
After meeting with Margie, she introduced us to several of her missionary co-workers. One was a young Thai minister who had both a store front church and did missionary work with various natives and children. To see what he did as a daily routine, we first went to a supermarket and bought a variety of treats, we then went to a section of the beach where he was instantly recognized and surrounded by many children. We passed out the treats and then had an abbreviated Bible study. It was interesting to be holding a bible study under a large banyan tree right next to a small statue of buddha. There was also an orphanage and a school for helping young girls to escape prostitution by learning a trade such as becoming a hair dresser. Pattaya is famous as a sex trade city around the world, and thus there is also a strong Christian effort to combat it.
Since there were a large number of mainland Chinese staying in the same hotel, we would rise early each morning, set up a card table and as the Chinese came to breakfast before they began their day’s tours, we would offer them a package of a Holy Bible, a CD on how to form a home church, and other similar items. I thought it interesting and wondered just how well we were understood, trying to communicate in Mandarin to these visitors. We would regularly give away a case or two of these packs, which was probably 50 or more.
In the evenings, we would set up at the end of a wharf. The purpose was to intercept the vacationing Chinese who regularly would have dinner aboard a ship just out in the harbor. Again, we would hail them in our version of Mandarin to offer them these packs of “start your own church!” This is a strange sensation to attempt to communicate with someone in a foreign language in a foreign land. It took all the grit that I could muster to attempt it, but somehow I was able to carry it off. I often wondered just how effective this really was, but it at least was an effort.
One of the resident missionaries learned I was a Rotarian and arranged for me to attend a night meeting at a new Marriott Hotel on the beach. The most memorable thing was I got to meet Manfred Rommel, son of Field Marshal Erin Rommel there.
We celebrated Christmas dinner with Margie at her townhome, in a gated community, that most of the residents were also expats from other countries. It was a fun time, and we had lots to eat, but one problem was Margie had ordered some dressing from Bangkok that came in a serving pan. When she had warmed it in her oven, it was hard as a brick and was totally uneatable. It was the joke of the day.
Because we were so close, Jean wanted to visit a friend who lived in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, whom we had known in Houston. It was arranged that we would fly to Singapore and cross the border the next morning. The border crossing was handled without ever leaving the cab. We were dropped off at a bus station and after having lunch with her, went back to the same location to return as we had come. The single amazing thing I noticed was the porifera of Hindu statutes all around in this city.
At one point, we were in a cab in Bangkok on the way to the airport around 5:00 PM. And along the express way, suddenly all the cars stopped, and our driver stopped and got out of the cab and stood at attention beside the cab. When he got in about two minutes, or so, I asked him what that was for. He said every evening at this time, they lower the national flag and play their version of Taps, all for the King of Thailand, as a sign of respect.
The next morning, while we were waiting for the departure from Bangkok Airport, I could not help but notice another guy who had on a pair of “roach killer” cowboy boots on. I had to ask him if he was from Texas. He replied that he was not from Texas, but Louisiana. But he was on the way to Russia to close a drilling deal there. You will never know what you might find until you venture out and begin exploring. It is really a small world. Just Sayin…RJS
Dec 4, 2020 18:58:13 #
Robert J Samples wrote:
Sometime around 1997 or 1998, Jean and I decided t... (show quote)
indeed it is. I was in the Tennessee bar on gate 2 street in Okinawa, a street that had a bar name for every state and many US cities. A gentleman sitting at the bar kept staring at me and finally came over and said "not going to say hello?" I used to date his sister! next evening the two of us are having some scotch and.................in walks one of my longtime childhood friends! WTF, three of us from the same street in a small rural town in a bar 10,000 miles away that has nothing to do with Massachusetts! just sayin (right RJ?)
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