Here. Safe. (Sometimes I’m REALLY tempted to write a simple blog like that! J )
We all didn’t really know what to expect with Thailand, but so far I really love it. We arrived super jet-lagged on Thursday afternoon. From there we had a little bit of orientation and several meetings regarding our upcoming ministry here. On Saturday, in lieu of an actual “race,” we had the opportunity as teams to take a “Temple Tour” of some of the major Buddhist temples here in Bangkok.
I’ve always been interested in other world religions, so it was fascinating to see the temples up close and learn about the history of the religion. We ended up visiting three temples – Wat Arun, Wat Po, & Wat Saket. We were going to visit one other temple which is connected to the King’s Palace, but our guide informed us that we weren’t dressed “appropriately.” Ha. Imagine that …. The clothes we’ve been living in for 7 months weren’t nice enough to enter a temple in. I Love it. The entire day was so fun though – I’ve included some pictures.
While most people here “proclaim” Buddhism, it’s much like the majority of Americans who would consider themselves “Christian,” but aren’t necessarily practicing. Still, those that do practice Buddhism – even in part – are extremely devoted to the religion and its teachings. Block after block surrounding the temples were hundreds of shops lining both sides of the streets … each practically the same – thousands of the statues of Buddha and all of the other paraphernalia the Thai people use in their worship. Fascinating.
After the Temple Tour, we had the chance to go out to dinner for Morgan’s birthday. We ended up going to a place in the mall called Prestige Hot Pot – so good! Chinese, Japanese & Thai food … buffet style! Hey-yeah! We had an hour and a half time limit … so funny. We had everything from sushi to spring rolls to dessert! They had a stove top on each table and you were even able to pick out your own fresh ingredients and cook them right there at the table! All for a whopping 8 US dollars! It would have cost us a fortune in the States to eat what we did that night! I love Thailand!
The rumors are that Bangkok is a city of almost 10 million people – it is literally the biggest city I’ve ever seen. I’ve always said that I’d like to live in a big city for awhile. Let me re-phrase …. I’d enjoy living in what American’s consider a “big city.” Cities in the US are miniscule in comparison to Bangkok (and probably most other cities in Asia! crazy!) Either way, I really like it here! I definitely look forward to getting our ministry started this upcoming week. I will try to give more detail about that later – we will be hanging out with a group here that has a prostitute ministry in downtown Bangkok called “The Well.” Hopefully once I have more information I can fill you in, but for now – please please start praying … it looks like we’re going to be involved with some pretty hard stuff. I would really appreciate it.
Thanks for reading …. Until next time! Blessings my dear friends! Michelle
