New Kids On The Block

Greeting, readers. It’s been a month since my last post. After getting off the plane in Bangkok in early Feb we spent a week near the heart of the business district where we attended training and met folks at the Australian Embassy. Having grown up off Sathorn Rd and attending Bangkok Christian College up the road, I have always wondered what it was like inside the Embassy. 2 things came to mind as I walked inside its faded-yellow tiled shell. Security. And James Bond Set From The 70′s.

Speaking of bond, we had a bonding experience with our fellow volunteers trying to fly domestically to Chiang Mai with baggage in excess of 35+ kg each on Air Asia. Without prior notice. We stood at the check-in counter embarrassed like lambs trying to negotiate with the slaughter-house receptionist. In the end, after calling numerous colleagues and repeatedly fiddling around with a calculator, pen, paper, and keyboard for what seemd like hours, our handsome Air Asia dude said, ‘Okay you can board, no need to pay. I will let you fly this time’. Then he points his finger at Mali (our 2-year-old) and says with Christlike grace , ‘I let you because of this one’. Amen, brother.

Mali continued to be a hit in our next few weeks. From getting free fruit & sweets from vendors, entries to the AWESOME Chiang Mai Zoo & swimming pool, to just having random passers by squeeze any part of her body in reach. She has always been an assertive little person when it comes to personal space, and ‘No’ would be a very big on her word cloud right now. BTW Attention is not hard to get when you’re the only bicycle rider with a helmet on, with a red bike, with the only child in a child-seat in probably the whole of Northern Thailand. Same goes for being a Thai man but wearing long-sleeve shirt and shorts with sneakers AND socks, and a bit of a beard. And a dress hat.

I used to hate Chiang Mai. After staying there for 3 weeks we actually grew to love it. Yes it is touristy and, in parts, extremely sleazy. But it’s hard to find a town where you can get an AMAZING full body Thai massage for A$5, and eat some of the best Mexican/Thai/Italian/Burmese/Organic/Vegetarian food (even authentic American style burger and single origin coffees) all within a 30-minute ride. And sure, the old town (surrounded by moats and walls) is polluted and trampled to the max, but you can sneak your way through the small secret-passage-like laneways and get some peace from the streets, or even chill at the mini-Lumpini park in one of the corners. I know this park well because it was daddy daycare from 8-12 every morning while Rachel studied Thai with the rest of the crew. And the expats there, as opposed to backpackers, tend to be quite thoughtful, considerate and lovely. There’s even a funky co-op jazz venue with a jam night frequented by locals and farangs.

It was really good to meet some of the current volunteers in Chiang Mai. The message time and again is to take things slowly, don’t panic, don’t rush, don’t freak out. And that has certainly been helpful advice for my first week in Mae Sot. Not unlike starting at any new workplace, my first 5 days at work has been slow and kind of confusing. I am thrown into 2 new territories at once: hospital setting & Asian work-politics. The central pharmacy staff have been really nice to me. Too nice, almost. They don’t want me to lift any boxes or not sit on a chair. Ever. I know I’m supposed to be observing for now but how do you that without getting in the way? On the plus side, I feel welcomed eventhough people aren’t sure why I’m there, and I’m not able to do much yet. There has been a constant flow of foreign volunteers looking happy to see me and telling me their medication wishlist and concerns already. I can see why people would get disillusioned pretty soon if they think they can ‘fix the problems’, and/or fix them quickly.

So far my efforts towards being cool include not leaving my helmet on while riding inside the clinic compound (coz NO ONE (not even foreigners) wears helmets in Mae Sot, even on a motobike, unless you’re a cop or motorcycle-taxi dude, sometimes), chewing betel nut with the pharmacy dudes (yuk), saying medication expiry dates with my badly-broken Burmese, and asking about the afterwork soccer games that no one in the central pharmacy cares about.

Out little YouTube vid

And before you fall asleep from this rather long entry, I will just tell you quickly that we have found a couple of swimming pools to cool down at, awesome cafes & restaurants, and a lovely wooden Thai house on stilts with plenty of living space and shaded areas for outside chilling. With a spare room for overseas guests. (Yes. Hint Hint.) Photos will come after we move in next week, for now please enjoy the teaser from my full-length documentary about our trip to be launched on SBS in 2014. Or maybe just uTube.

27/10/08

I had an amazing morning today. After a bit of a drama I got dropped off at the bus stop nearby and sent in one of those white vans that are the new buses.. new, comfortable, expensive and fast compared to the big bulky buses. No complaints here. I got to ‘Future Park’ and walked over to the ‘Beer Factory’ restaurant thing and was met by a well-dressed man.. At this point I’m thinking that my relaxed attire (ie retro pal blue polo, brown flare and sandals) may not be so appropriate.. for this visit to a Thai prison.

Yes I was on my way to a prison. It was a kind of a prisoners’ village where they raise chicken, grow vegetables, make umbrellas and walk around with t-shirt, shorts and sandals.. sometimes with no shirt on, coz it’s pretty hot. It’s located about 1 hour out of Bangkok.. but there are 5-6 in Bangkok itself I was told.

I met this pastor guy yesterday at Church of Joy on Sukhumvit 14. He doesn’t work there usually, but was just there speaking that week. He mentioned this prison visit thing that he does, and that he had started a church – whose congregation was made up of 50% ex-prisoners. So there I was this morning in one of those places he goes to regularly to minister to people.

Anyway this guy who met me was another pastor. He used to be a janitor at a church, where he stuck around and 14 years later became an elder there.. what a cool story. He thought I was the best thing since sliced rice bread.

So we went in. Surely enough there was a quick talk about my sandals.. I mean it IS an official government place after all. He managed to get me in (just this once, he said) to the prison with another helper dude who brought a guitar with him and met us there. It was hot. We went through 4 gates after leaving anything of value, especially cash, in the lockers. It was a big place and no way as depressing as Bogga Rd Gaol in Brisbane. I mean there was plenty of trees and bushes nicely trimmed in the well kept gardens along the pathways. It really felt like a mini town, which is clean and tidy, and would have been a nice place to hang out, except that it’s a prison and you don’t get to do whatever you want or eat whatever you want. In fact there are serious rules you had to follow like Dont Do Drugs, Dont Have Sexual Relations, You’re Not Allowed To Possess Anything Valuable, Dont Steal, Dont Use Force..etc. And apparently the food is horrid, and is rarely enough, let alone tasty.

So we got there, and we were greeted by an enthusiastic ‘Sawasdee Krub’ from the crowd of about 40 men sitting nicely on benches in the cool shed of the meeting place building hut thing, surrounded by about another 40 guys working on their umbrellas. Someone was playing Amazing Grace on the Keyboard and there were immediately 3 glasses of cold water placed on stage for us. We started singing some songs – and to my surprise these guys had good voices. Harmonies were sung on some songs and as I found out later on they actually sing in a choir of about 400 people! I told them they sounded better than the professional singers i heard the night before at P’ Pu Unchalee’s THIS IS LOVE worship concert at Siam Paragon – coz that’s what i really thought!

Then our pastor dude got up to share from the bible.. and his experience. Some of what he said made me uncomfortable, but the main massage was that we ought to have faith. In a world where things are all a bit crazy – we have to have faith. The birds in the air don’t grow rice, but they still have plenty to eat… the worm in the ground.. God looks after his creation, so have faith that God will look after you. In the context of where we were I could see that it was hard to believe that there could be hope. To have faith i think you have to have hope. I wasn’t sure what people were thinking as they listened.

Anyway my turn came to share. I had this passage from Matthew 5 or 6 about loving your enemy, but I started singing Amazing Grace because I think the pastor ended his sermon with a prayer. Having been built up by the pastor to be a bit of a rockstar from Australia.. I felt a bit strange.. and was pretty nervous especially since I haven’t done any public speaking in Thai for years.. But words kind of just came to me. Sentence after sentence. I felt like I was speaking in Brisbane in between songs. I even managed to throw in some smart remarks and funny comments that made some of the guys smile and some even laughed. (The part about my brother and I driving down the freeway chasing some girls in another was a favourite.. the ed of that story was us hitting the side of the road and writing the car off.. and realising God’s grace that we didn’t get injured and that our Dad was concerned about one thing: that we were safe. Not the car. Not the cost. Not even our dodgy driving. I think he could tell in our eyes that we were pretty sorry)

I told them how my dad came to know Christ from a Bhuddist up-bringing in Thailand. I told them about my week in Pattaya at the Micah Network Conference.. about my new friends who are living with HIV and some who used to be injecting drug users. I told them about what I thought of God. I told them about the Jesus that I follow. I told them that I have experienced God’s love in my life and blessing in my life, and that we are loved and blessed by God to be a blessing to other people. I told them that Jesus wants us to love. To love our friends and families. To love all people. But most of all I told them that we ought to love our enemies.. that’s what Jesus said. I said that it is the only thing that has the potential to change our country and our world. That the circle of violence and destruction and selfishness can be stopped. Loving your enemy is easy to say, but extremely hard. I told them that we are called to a happy, content and blessed life, but that it is also a difficult life when you want to follow Christ.

I learned a new song form a lady called Musa from South Africa last week, so i thought it to the group. They dug it, and will try to sing it again after I’m gone. Then I spoke some more about having faith… and somehow I managed to finish my time by singing John Lennon’s Imagine in a Thai Prison. I didn’t the finked-up version though.. just straight.. so they could all sing a long to the ‘Yoo Hoo.. Hoo-oo-oo’ in just before the chorus. It was beautiful. I translated the chorus for them.. and I could see that they got it. They were with me and we were all with Christ, at least for that one moment. They understood that we were all have done wrong things in our lives. They knew that we can all change. And they knew that Christ’s way is the way toward that change.

They were all believers – they’ve even been baptised. And they love singing praises to God, both in Thai and English. And most of them are recovering drug-addicts who have been in jail for years and probably will be in there for a long time. One of them was getting out this week, but many will be there still. I got to shake the keyboardist’s hand and another dude who paid extra attention to my ramblings and laughed at the appropriate moments. He told me quickly about their next gig which is the opening of the church. He was pretty excited because the King’s daughter is going to be there to open the church. Very cool. (You have to be a Thai to understand this!)

I was told to say a closing prayer.. I prayed that they will become strong people who are kind and loving and that they will have faith that God is with them anywhere they go,.. and that God loves them more than anything in this world. I wish I could have shaken all of their hands and hugged some of them.. but like many times in Bangkok I feel that my Thai culture was holding me back.. like if I showed too much affection to people they will be freaked out. (Especially with children.. my beard apparently makes me look like a scary giant.)

The pastor said he hoped I could come again. I thought ‘Ofcourse I will’ and I’ll bring someone else with me.

Then I went to our favourite Thai Massage place to get a foot massage and convince them to teach me.. They did! So I’m going back tomorrow and the next day to practice foot massage!

Then dad and I went to buffet dinner with our cousin and his wife and son. It’s the first time I’ve met my nephew. He is talkative and shy. And he reminds me a lot of my cousin when he was young, except not as fat or spoiled His wife was lovely and smart, and spoke well to her son. It was cool to think back to our time in Brisbane together and all our friends most of whom are married with children. I love my cousin’s easy-going attitude and his accommodating presence. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated his company so much before. Might be because I haven’t really talked to any thai peers properly lately. We ate lots and I’m hoping to go and see some jazz tomorrow night with my cousin and a few old friends.

I’m totally buggered but it’s been a good day. Felt like time stood still and I things just kind of happened.

Leavin’ Bris Vegas

I had some friends over lastnight for a few drinks for my ‘going away’ to Thailand for 2 weeks.. it was great fun. My partner said that the trip is not long enough to really qualify for a ‘going away’ drinks.. she’s right, as always, but that doesn’t often affect my decisions.

Speaking of going away, I heard a DJ called Dools on Triple J talk about his usual ritual before catching a plane. He said that people who die in a planecrash usually gets their last message publicised on the news.. and they’re usually something like : “take care, I love you forever”.. or “I’ll see you soon, you’re my only love”.. bla bla, you get the idea.. So the other day he sent this to his girlfriend:

‘Better eat that pizza in the fridge, it’s getting old’ – just before he boarded his plane…

His rationale is this: If you send a nice love-y dove-y message then you’ve sealed the deal – you’re likely to crash.. but you never see mundane messages published in the news about someone in a planecrash.. I think it kinda makes sense.. I mean if your love ones need to have a romantic SMS everytime you go away then wouldn’t you start to ask why they don’t feel loved when you’re around?!?!?!?

Anyway I better get back to packing.. there’s a real art to packing light so as to leave ample room for all the stuff I’ll be buying on my partner’s shopping list