Bangkok vs. Udon Thani

This week I went to Bangkok for a couple of days and then went immediately out to a village when I returned. I was surprised at the contrast between urban and rural, developed and not quite so developed, rich and poor, crowded and wide open. In Bangkok they have built mall after mall surrounding the sky train, you can walk from one to the other on sidewalks along the skytrain, you don't even have to go down to the road anymore. In one mall I found a 3 floor bookstore, complete with a Starbucks inside and people drinking coffee and reading books without paying for them (just like in the US!). I can't resist the opportunity to look at English books and usually go to the movies in English while I'm in Bangkok. But this trip I didn't even drink Starbucks coffee, but just had instant Nescafe at the home of my pastor's wife, Uut, who I drove down with. I guess I'm adjusting to Thai culture, where Nescafe is much more popular than real coffee! It was fun to drive the 6 hours to Bangkok with Uut and to stay at her family's home, which happens to be on the same street I lived on when I first moved to Bangkok 10 years ago. So, we laughed at how many times we had probably passed each other without even realizing it.

Upon returning to Udon, I went out to a village church, the one in Na Khun Yai that is growing rubber trees and raising fish, with Norm and Dorie, my coworkers who are about to retire. They went to say goodbye, which was hard for them, but they were great. They will be really missed and have been a good example to me of the importance of taking the time to build relationships, to visit and listen to people and to spend time together, even when it doesn't seem like "productive work". It's amazing how essential this is in such a relationally oriented culture. Nothing you do has any value without being built on a solid relational foundation, and this can take a lot of time to build trust. Without this, it's almost impossible to find out what people really think, what they want and need. If someone comes in with an idea or a project, the Thai's will simply agree, they are too polite to express their true views if they are dissenting. However, once the person leaves they will change or fix or abandon the project and continue to do what they were doing before. This is one of the reasons why I'm so thankful for my "forced" language learning/culture learning time before I begin my "real work". It's allowing me to understand more of the culture here and begin to develop relationships. I find that many times already I have really misinterpreted people's actions and thoughts and misunderstood many things that I've seen and been exposed to. Will I ever get it?? I pray for the humility to keep learning and growing in this area!

Anyway, in the first picture above you see the sky train in Bangkok, with a new fountain next to one of the malls. In the second picture I'm being stared down by a water buffalo who wants to cross the road that we are driving down. Needless to say, we yielded and he won. If you have ever seen the damage that hitting a deer can do to a car, just imagine what marks a water buffalo will leave. That alone will make you yield everytime!