Wednesday, April 29, 2009

More Manila/Faith Academy Pics



As promised, a few more shots from our week in Manila...


The city skyline as seen from Faith Academy- it's grown quite a bit in the last 20 years!












But some things don't change - Still the land of Jeepneys!


Robby and Deanna Nichols in Faith Academy's stunning new "auditorium" - really more like a symphony hall - one of the best in Manila at this point.




Andrea with long time legend but still young (that's what happens when you start teaching at age 20 something!) art instructor Dave French in the school's new high school art room. Again another great facility but the soul of Faith's art program and the one who has inspired so much creation and creativity over the years is Dave. Though I never took art at Faith(!!) it was great to see the class of 90's former class advisor.


And finally, on the way to the airport, another amazing sight! In an attempt to prevent (or help) all the men who so flagrantly disregard the 'Bawal umihi ditto' signs painted all across the city, Manila has installed these - well it speaks for itself - male urinals in various places. This called for a quick U-turn and photo opp. Inside, a urinal like thing with a pipe going straight into the ground. And this is literally the first thing you see as you leave the airport!!
Duncan



Monday, April 20, 2009

Yellow Shirts...Red Shirts, Songkran and Manila

The streets of Bangkok during the latter part of last week were back to being jammed and congested, in sharp contrast to Monday through Wednesday when they were largely empty and quiet (except where there were ongoing protests). Whether this was because of the protests and violence that occurred or because of Songkran (Thai New Year) we are not sure. Many Thai people would say it was because of the protests and blame the protesters for preventing a fun Songkran.

Much could and is being written about the ongoing political turmoil that has entangled Thailand for the past three to four years. If you want a good summary of the players and which color shirt supports who, go to the following BBC site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7584005.stm

You can also read much more detail and stay current at: www.bangkokpost.com

And for another scathing no holds barred editorial by Voranai Vanijaka who we have previous quoted here click on:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/15267/where-thaksin-went-wrong

Though the government has managed to diffuse the latest tension (not without some extensive embarrassment, pictures of tourists running to the airport and hotel room vacancies instantly skyrocketing) there are still continued challenges that need to be faced and solved. What do you do when a popular and populist freely elected former prime minister of a country, but one who was steadily changing the laws to benefit himself, putting more power in his hands is overthrown in a coup, has since been convicted of corruption charges but is overtly doing all he can to get back into power even though ‘free’ elections were held after the coup? What do you do when those subsequent elections put back into power most of the former prime minister’s fellow governing party members (under a different name since his party was banned) and then the ‘middle class, educated, elite’ (yellow shirts) largely located in Bangkok decides this isn’t right and they protest and take over the country’s airports ultimately bringing down the party of the former prime minister (as well as continuing to degrade Thailand’s reputation) only to be replaced by another party and prime minister which now the red shirts are protesting?

Easy huh?

In past years when Thailand experienced coups, either ordered or sanctioned by the military, that put someone new into leadership there wasn’t necessarily a large opposition to it. Life carried on. Now the situation exists where there are two groups that both feel very strongly about certain issues and who are fiercely opposed to what the other group is doing (hmm, sounds like another place we know). Both groups bear blame for recent actions and certainly the former prime minister has revealed his true colors as he is willing to bring down the country in his pursuit of power and ego. There are many who do wish for his triumphant return as there are definite issues of justice and economic inequality that need to be addressed. Complex! And though the latest crisis is over there is danger that the power struggle will now become less overt. Last week, after the protests were over, the leader of the PAD ‘Yellow Shirts,’ (but not the current prime minister)experienced an attempted assassination on his life.

The protests did put a bit of a damper on Songkran – although as you will see from the pictures, not too much of a damper. There is enough water spread around during Thai New Year to keep everyone cool! Songkran/Thai New Year occurs during the hottest time of the year – and what better way to celebrate than douse everyone with water. For three days or so almost the entire country participates in a water fight. Of course there are cultural and religious symbols as part of this. (Traditionally water was thrown as a symbol of good luck for abundant harvests. Later the focus became more associated with the yearly cleansing of the Buddha statues which still occurs. Many stores will have a Buddha statue at the entrance which customers pour water over.) But mainly it has become one big party/three day national holiday (although this year it was extended an extra two days so the government could finish dealing with the remaining protesters) and is meant to be a lot of fun. Literally, wherever you go, people throw water on you. Sit down for a meal and your server might pour a glass of water on your head and down your back. Walk down the street and you will be a target of young and old with Super Soakers, buckets, hoses and white paste that is smeared on your face. Ride in a bus – same deal. Many will get together with their friends and drive around in the back of a pickup full of barrels of water and have water fights with those they pass on the road. It is fun, often bedlam and often dangerous. Each year hundreds are killed in accidents usually involving alcohol but also as a result of the water throwing. Imagine you are riding a motorcycle down the street and a bucket of water is thrown at you. Maybe you get wet, maybe you get knocked off!

We didn’t venture out too much partly because it was a little more quiet which let us study more, partly because an insulin pump even though well wrapped to keep it dry doesn’t fit in too well with Songkran activities. But we did take pictures from our building of some of the fun below us in the street.

We had a great week in Manila the week before Songkran began, leaving Saturday, April 4 and returning Saturday the 11th. We needed to leave the country to renew our visas and thought what better way to take advantage of this than by going to the Philippines so Andrea could see Faith Academy (Duncan’s high school) and spend some time with our friends Robby and Deanna Nichols and their three great kids. (Robby and I graduated from Faith together almost twenty years ago! Deanna graduated the year before us.) The week started off well as we were bumped up to Business class for the flight over. (For all those who used to dread flying Philippine Airlines (PAL) back in the day, they have done a great turn around from when they completely shut down a few years back! I’m officially a fan!)

The Nichols Family were great hosts and much fun to be with. The highlight of our week was just hanging out with Robby, Deanna, Ellie, Douglas and Patrick. Andrea and I had planned to go spend a night on Corrigidor, (famous WWII Island) but after spending five hours one day on public transport just getting to Fort Santiago and back we decided we were done with trying to get anywhere in Manila and decided to just hang out with the Nichols in and around Faith.

It had been nine years since I was last at Faith when I was part of a group that spoke at the high school’s Spiritual Enrichment Week. Since that time the school has experienced a massive building spree that most Faith alum know about so we won’t bore you with details here. But let’s just say – the new pool (or Aquatics Center) and the new auditorium (more like a symphony hall) are amazing. The Southern Baptist pool and the long narrow auditorium of yesteryear are distant memories.

In addition to physical changes there have also been changes in the student population. Now, 30 percent of the students are from Korea. Where 20 years ago, 15 mission groups made up 60 percent of the student population, now there are over 150 mission groups.
Due to the many increased opportunities in other countries OMF (my parent’s mission) closed the last of their dorms several years ago. There are still a handful of OMF MK’s at Faith but certainly not 4-5 dorms full. (Andrea and I went and looked at the old OMF Double dorm which is being used as the home of a family who have a large orphanage across the street next to the old dirt basketball court that used to be there. It was really cool to see how this family and the teams they host are so invested in the immediate barrio/village on the street. And they are still raising chickens there – a gracious note to one who was wacky enough to start rearing chickens there a couple decades ago!)

There are many other changes – email if you want to know more details. (Faith alum...there is a Jollibee at the entrace to Valley Golf now - right opposite the Golf Ball!!) Faith however is at a unique turning point in some ways. Though they have expanded their physical facility incredibly, attendance is down a little. This is bound to happen if just one mission closes all their dorms! Yet the school is also being given amazing other opportunities like hosting teachers from closed access countries in Asia and the Middle East who get to come to Faith and take back what they learn and see to their countries!

It was interesting to be in Manila again for holy week and Good Friday which is such a huge thing there and then back in Thailand for Easter where it is largely nonexistent. On Maundy Thursday evening Robby and I jumped on his motorbike and drove out to Ortigas Avenue along which were walking hundreds of thousands of people making the annual all night pilgrimage to Antipolo and a revered shrine/statue. And then to be back here where many Thai Christians were on vacation at the beach on Easter Sunday. No special service, music, hardly a mention of Easter in some places.

One last highlight of our time in Manila – reconnecting with Nick Clarin a long time Filipino Faith (former OMF) employee who I hadn’t seen for 19 years – And he remembered my name with no prompting!! Faith continues to be a special school with some special people there!







Look for more Manila and Songkran photos to be posted shortly.

Duncan

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Transportation in Bangkok

Transportation in this city is...I don’t even know how to finish this sentence. The variety, the options, the stifling madness is never ending - depending on the time of day and where you need to go. Bangkok has over 5000 buses that run on hundreds of different routes. The buses can be in any sort of shape, have air conditioning or not and come rush hour are usually standing room only. There was a recent article in the Bangkok Post that discussed the condition of many of the buses lamenting the fact that perhaps a third are long past their expiration date but the law of the land allows them to keep going. There is apparently one bus that has been on the road now for 54 years!!! That’s almost twenty years longer than I have been around. I sure wouldn’t have lasted that long on the streets of Bangkok! Many others are in the 30-40 year old bracket! But buses are cheap and plentiful so they are used.






Another cheap and plentiful mode of transportation is the motorcycle taxi. Thousands of men and their motorcycles hang out at end of streets and sois to take you where you need to go. Cheap, plentiful, sometimes a little scary. Many foreigners choose not to ride on them as they think it is putting your life unnecessarily into someone else’s hands. I always say that it’s survival of the fittest. Those who aren’t good drivers aren’t around anymore to put me at risk!


Also plentiful and sometimes cheap (actually always cheap compared to fares in the west) depending on where you need to go and whether you get stuck in traffic are Bangkok’s eye catching taxi’s. As one article I read recently states “Bangkok taxis have dyed themselves into a catalogue of candy hues to stave off the capital’s traffic blues. They come in shocking pink, lollipop yellow, lime green, ruby red, deep ocean blue, aubergine purple and tooth-aching orange.” How many taxis can you see in the line up of cars in the photo below (third one down)?

Then there are Tuktuks – Thailand’s famous three wheel…well it’s a tuk tuk. Enough said –Google it if you don’t know!

What has saved this city (or at least many of the people who live here) in the last decade or so is the advent of the Skytrain elevated mass transit system and the MRT (underground subway) that quickly and conveniently zips people from one end of the city to the other passing either above or below the congestion that everyone else is sitting in. Both are cool and clean in contrast to many similar systems around the world but identical in that they carry easily and efficiently thousands of people plugged into their ipods and phones. Both the Skytrain and MRT are great but if you know anything about Bangkok and Thai ways, the MRT is really really impressive. The Skytrain is elevated. While that is complex in and of itself knowing that Bangkok consistently floods and is sinking at the rate of an inch a year or so (or so they say) and knowing that there are 50 year old buses still running because the laws are funky – it is amazing that an underground (and not ten feet underground – but a long long way underground), very modern and well built subway system exists. The first time I went on it I thought “This is impressive for anywhere let alone Thailand!”

And for those who want to keep up on what is going on in the Kingdom, the new elevated line out to the new Suvarnabhumi Airport (there’s another reason the MRT is impressive – it was clearly not a rush job unlike the embarrassment that the new airport was and continues to be) runs right behind us and is scheduled to open August 12 – Here only, on the thewilsonswanderings blog is a sneak peak of the trains that will run on it!



But our favorite, well perhaps most interesting mode of transport and one that we seem to use the most is the Khlong Boat. Bangkok is a city that was built on the edge of the Chao Phraya River (River of Kings) and has continued to spread out. Often called the Venice of the East it spread out not based on a road grid but along canals or khlongs as they are called here. Many of these canals have been paved over now but there are still a few that are used for daily transport. One of these is the San Saeb Klong which runs east west almost all the way from the Chao Phraya River on the eastern historical side of Bangkok out to the edges of the city in the west. It is cheap, incredibly convenient and the most interesting ride you will take in Bangkok. So much so that we are going to give it its own post soon!

I think that all readers of this post who have lived or traveled in Bangkok at any point in their lives should post a comment with a story or at least one word to describe transportation in this wonderful city.






Duncan

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Duncan's Favorite Things, Part 3

Finding Green Spaces – In a city this big, this congested and this hot, finding any quiet green spot is a fabulous thing. Whether it is a park, walking in the quieter suburbs or the top of our building with its pool and potted plants, without these places, I probably wouldn’t survive too well. (And yes, the pool on our roof is a definite favorite. Most mornings I am up there to ponder and pray before taking a swim before anyone else arrives on the scene.)

Speaking of Cold/Cool things - Anyone who has experienced heat and the tropics knows how good the first refreshing icy blast of air conditioning can feel (and smell!). Add to that a cup of cold water, a fridge that keeps things cool and a cold shower – all luxuries that many many people don’t have in this city and for that I am very grateful

Our apartment – We remain so thankful for our two rooms, three counting the bathroom. While not exactly cool, for the past month it has stayed a balmy 86 degrees inside which may be warm but compared to the oven outside when the sun is baking down, is really quite manageable. Somehow, due to how the building is designed the temperature stays remarkably consistent – although it has started to go up a degree or two in the last couple days. The hot season is truly coming. Anyway, we are thankful for it and can we just give a shout out to great Asian tiled bathrooms! (Ok this may be a mystery to those that haven’t experienced nice tiled bathrooms in Asia!)

And finally one of my favorite things here in Bangkok - closely related to finding green spaces (and which again might only mean anything to someone who has been here – but I know there are a few of you out there reading this!) is walking as dusk settles and smelling the sweet fragrance of frangipani/plumeria and other flowers as the day comes to an end. Often this exquisite scent is mixed with the other special Bangkok scents ( a little garbage, some klong water, incense) but for whatever reason frangipani in Bangkok calms my soul. Again you probably have to have experienced it!



Duncan

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Duncan's Favorite Things Part 2

More Simple Sweet Pleasures…so many to list – an endless variety of cold drinks – all sweet – usually from sweetened condensed milk, from numerous stands and carts – Cha Yen (Iced Thai Tea), Cha Dum (Iced Thai Tea – no milk), Kaffee Yen – Boran or Nes (Iced Coffee the ancient way or Nescafe), Coco Yen (Iced chocolatey something!), Cha Khiaw (Iced Green tea with Milk), Nam Takrai (Iced Lemongrass – really good, we have started making our own too), Nom Yen (Cold milk with Sala or Crème Soda flavor)…the list goes on. As does the list for all the Thai khanoms and sweets – sticky rice and mango, bananas in sticky rice, deep fried bananas (deep fried lots of things!) There is a grace and art to so many things Thai people do including what they eat and drink. A few more favorites…Banana Roti, Real rice cakes for breakfast, and of course Sticky Rice and Chicken (and Somtam if you like – green papaya salad).



















Sweet Desserts!














Sweet Banana Roti!


















Rice Cakes for Breakfast!














Someone enjoying a typical sticky rice and chicken meal. Everything is served in plastic bags. (These last two photos were taken when we were staying at Roy and Bonita's before we moved into our own place.)

Duncan

Friday, April 10, 2009

Duncan's Favorite Things, Part 1

We know that we have had several heavy posts – that’s the nature of what we encounter here much of the time. But lest you think it is all gloom we have a couple lighter posts coming beginning with a list of a few of my (Duncan) favorite things in Bangkok at this time:


Street Food Vendors – No other country does ‘Gin Len’ (literally ‘eat-play’) as well as Thailand does. Thais will eat three meals a day – usually rice or noodle based – but they may eat several other small meals or snacks throughout the day ranging from coconut/sticky rice creations to fresh cut up fruit to a variety of deep fried creations, you name it. We eat most of our meals either at or bought from stalls/vendors on the street. Whether it’s a spicy stirfry or Gway Tiaw (noodles – like Pho in the US) or sticky rice and grilled chicken most of it is created in little push carts with the particular chef/vendor specializing in a couple dishes. And the best thing about great tasty Thai food off the street is that it is usually under $1US for a filling healthy meal! (Initial three pictures show one of our favorite vendors and Andrea having lunch with Pii Oo, our Thai tutor.)


Vendors (of food or whatever) that make it easy on a farang (foreigner) whose Thai isn’t that good at times - Some just make it so easy to engage with while others are so thrown, discombobulated and uncomfortable with a farang speaking thai that they miss everything that is said – or maybe our thai really is bad. But then these others disprove that and completely put us at ease and understand everything we say.

Building relationships - Becoming a regular with a vendor is a great thing. Love getting a smile each day. It’s much cheaper to become a ‘regular’ here at anything than in the US.
It’s also great to build relationships with the people that we pass every day. Most apartment/condo buildings have one or more security guards that are on site every day. Much of the time they are sitting around bored and more than willing to engage with us which can be super helpful when needing to practice Thai.



Orange/Tangerine Juice – I know there’s a theme so far in this list, but one of the many options of refreshment on the street are the vendors who spend their day squeezing and/or selling fresh Tangerine juice which hits the spot every time – and again, you can’t beat 10-20 Baht per bottle! (35 baht to $1US)


Marian Plum/Ma Phrang – Twenty years ago I spent six months with my parents here in Thailand instead of being at boarding school. It was during the same time period we are here currently. ( Jan/Feb to July) At that time we were in Chiang Mai at the old OMF mission home/guest house which was a beautiful decaying home that formerly belonged to a Thai princess. On the grounds there was a Ma Phrang (Marian Plum)tree. Ma Phrang fruit come into season in February and March so this was the first time I had ever been in Thailand at that time since I was usually off at boarding school. Thailand has spectacular fruit of all kinds and shapes and flavors, but I had never experienced the delight of a Ma Phrang. It’s almost as if a Mango and a Kumquat were magically combined – about the size of a plum but with a tougher skin, you bite into it and hmmm, it’s an explosion of all things good in your mouth. For the month they were in season that year I ate and ate but it’s been twenty years since I have tasted one again. I knew they would be coming into season right as we got here but I was shocked to see them being sold for 200 Baht a kilo. I thought at some point the price has to come down – and sure enough after a few weeks, boom – 60 Baht a kilo – and twenty years later the tongue experienced it again. You have no idea what you are missing!







Duncan

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Tell me what to do???

"I saw their temples and I lived in their cities
And I could not believe what took place all around me
I walked the streets and I rode their trains
And everywhere I went I could not escape the pain"

My old pal Sheila Walsh has an old song called Dorai Sani which starts out with the lyrics above. In many ways it is our experience as well. Really, no matter where we are in the world, if our eyes are open, this should be our reality. But this sentiment is very acute for us as we go about our daily lives even if we take away all the sex trade/human trafficking issues that are so overwhelming. Poverty shows itself in many forms. The least, last and lost are all around us. Most days when we walk to buy our lunch we cross an elevated pedestrian bridge across the busy road we live on. There are often three or four older people (seniors) who sit and beg there. One man disfigured and scarred by leprosy raises his tin cup to us as we walk by, his eyes drooping like a sad but hopeful beagle. Another woman has her leg amputated at the knee. She has an artificial leg but it is hard not to be moved by someone with a stained sock on her stump. I see her and often think of how my late Aunt Mary would have survived in this situation after she fell and could no longer walk. There is another man who isn’t scarred physically but his mind bears deep wounds. He appears comical at times but his jitteriness and awkwardness betray something deeper.

I don’t give money to people anywhere. There are too many people working a scam, too many having to work for someone who doesn’t treat them well. Many kids are trucked in by pimps to beg. So money for me isn’t an option. I will buy them food and I have for each of these three. There’s nothing heroic about it. It costs me less than a dollar. But it assuages my heart that wants to do something but doesn’t know what. I’m not the only one that buys them food. Other Thai do and many Thai drop coins into their cups they hold.

But is that it? Should I buy them something every time? Now can I walk on with a somewhat clearer conscience? I don’t know.

Tell me what to do???

And while you are at it, tell me what to do with the thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of women who are prostituted in this city?

And maybe you can tell me how best to love the men both tourist and local who buy their services. I love the Chesterton quote – “Every man who enters a brothel is looking for God.” It rings true. I’ve sometimes joked that I want to start some sort of outreach to the customers here – I would call it “Anonymous Johns” Catchy huh? Actually one of the YWAM missionaries here has started an outreach to Male Sex Tourists here in Bangkok – ironically named…MST. It is done quite well and they have a good response. But this is just targeted at the foreign sex tourists, who, though they receive all the press, make up only a small percentage (10-20%) of the customers here in this country.
Tell me what to do in a culture and country where it is expected and accepted that many men will have multiple mistresses and where the sex trade related income makes up such a staggering amount of Thailand’s operating budget. While no one can put an exact number on it, we have heard that up to 60% of Thailand's budget comes from this.

Tell me what to do with this?

One of my favorite things to do in the morning before we have our Thai lessons is to go up to the top of our building by the pool to pray and ponder and then take a quick swim. There have been several mornings where visibility had to have been less than a mile due to the smog and pollution. It’s not great for the lungs but makes for some fabulous sunrises and sunsets. One day it was particularly bad and I told Andrea around 6pm that it was going to be a great sunset, which it might have been had we actually been able to see the sun…set. Usually the sun hangs like a red ball in the sky. That evening we never even saw the sun it was so smoggy.

So what are we to do when the visibility is so bad we don’t know what to do? When we can’t see very far ahead literally or metaphorically? I guess we will try and simply focus on what and who we can see. So I will continue to pray and ponder in the mornings but if you have any ideas, tell me what to do.


Duncan

Monday, April 6, 2009

Marriage Encounter

It’s kind of random and kind of cool that on each of the three continents that we have wandered, we have been able to attend a conference of one kind or another – AND largely for free which we are super grateful for as well! (If you missed the first two – Youth Compass in Italy and the Ujamma Center in South Africa, Click on the Meina and Ujamma Center labels on the side of the screen.) Our latest conference was the ALMA Marriage Encounter usually associated with Christian Missionary Alliance denomination/churches. If you google ALMA Marriage Encounter you won’t find too much information as they really want everything to be somewhat of a surprise for the participants. I think ALMA weekends are being presented in over 20 countries including the US and Canada – as well as here in Thailand where it has been held for perhaps the last 8-9 years. Throughout the weekend there are presentations given by 4 couples who share their stories, then time is given to the participants individually and as couples to reflect on what they have heard. We want to honor their request to not give too much information away but it was a fascinating 48 hours.

We were actually invited by our Thai teacher Oo and his wife Nu, who became our ‘sponsors.’ They are quite heavily involved in it after attending a weekend three years or so ago. We weren’t sure what we were going to encounter but we could tell Oo really wanted us to go and we were encouraged by our friends Iven and Kashmira (who had also been previously) to attend if we had even a slight interest in seeing and experiencing a marriage encounter weekend from a Thai perspective. While we do have a few reservations and concerns about context and how some of the stories were presented, we both feel it is a vital and worthwhile tool here in Thailand where not many tools exist (let alone a toolbox) to help anyone’s marriage. The weekend encourages couples to talk about difficulties and challenges in their lives, of which there are many here in Thai society and culture. Andrea has already written a little on the overwhelming nature and prevalence of the sex trade in previous posts. While it is often the foreign sex tourists that receive the most press, the reality is that 80-90 percent of the customers (those buying sex) are Thai men. It is accepted and almost expected reality here that many (I’m trying to be careful with my words here – perhaps the majority of) Thai men but of course not all, will “explore” both before and after marriage.

We walked away from the conference realizing that this is also true within Thai Christian culture even among pastors. While it may not be accepted, it is a reality that it is not surprising to any if not expected. This was startling to us. But to hear the presenting couples during the weekend share as candidly and frankly as they did was even more startling. Such open sharing just does not happen within the culture here especially within a Christian setting where even more so than in the west, there is the desire and expecation of needing to have it all together. The stories that the couples shared and the conversations that came from them would be difficult for many of us who have grown up in a self reflecting and sharing kind of world. To see this happen here was pretty amazing, but as mentioned earlier, not without concern. But given the overwhelming statistics and issues of adultery, abuse and AIDS and the silence that often greets these issues, we are glad ALMA is here and doing what it is doing!

It was good for us to see and experience it and despite the intensity of the weekend (not much down time) it was a gift for us to be away at a hotel – and run the air con the whole time! (We just turn it on in our apartment before we go to bed!) Oo and Nu were lavishly generous with us as sponsors giving us all sorts of edible treats(as you can see in the picture) throughout the weekend!

Duncan

Friday, April 3, 2009

The Lotus and the Cross

Ravi Zacharias has written a short little book called The Lotus and The Cross, Jesus Talks to Buddha. The prologue to the book is a good set up to our experience and some of the issues encountered here in Bangkok…

"It is the first blush of dawn as I step into this long-tailed boat after haggling with the boatman for a suitable price. He has agreed to take me on a journey along the famed River of Kings. We wend our way through back canals that teem with life, dotted by the corrugated iron rooftops along shores that house a large part of this megacity. The morning air is fragrant with aromas ranging from lemon grass to fish sauce, all being prepared for the day’s consumption. Yes, the food here wins the palate of virtually every traveler. It’s people are among the most winsome in the world. The smile, the graces and the charms exude as in no other land. A carefree attitude toward life is writ large in the cultural ethos, and strangers make you feel very welcome, even when one may have just cheated you into buying a fake name brand watch or a pirated copy of the latest movie.

There is a reality here that compels me to ask some hard questions about life. Within this culture, the most reverent of expressions mix with the most unashamed abandon for the sensual. I see a monk walking in the distance, a bowl for begging in his hand, but I also see a man who spends most of his day waylaying tourists and seducing them with pictures to come visit a nearby brothel. He does that from dawn to dusk, seven days a week. It is quite a juxtaposition: the monk, austere and in pursuit of nirvana; the man, with a roguish smile, promising a different kind of bliss.

Here a cultural immersion would be impossible without visiting a host of temples – the Emerald Buddha, the Reclining Buddha, the Golden Buddha and a long list of others. But here, too, the newspapers sound a somber tone. The income from prostitution, they declare, exceeds the entire national budget. Here, drugs and AIDS have ravaged the population, and sincere politicians are trying desperately to deal with it. But this very city is exploited by money-hungry opportunists who bring in planeloads of men, promising them orgies to fulfill every imaginable craving.

And so as I sit in this sputtering boat, smothered in a misty spray, I feel nearly drowned in a sea of emotions. How does one talk about the eternal when both religion and riotous living argue that nothing is permanent? An odd mix of the glory and the shame of humanity within this microcosm ignites a series of difficult questions.

As we make our way down the canal, I cannot shake the memory of a newspaper article on the front page the previous day. It told the story of a young attractive woman who left home to earn a living, only to pay the heaviest price of all. At seventeen, young and beautiful Priya decided to head to the big city to work. Within hours of her arrival, the very friend who had enticed her with the promise of big money mercilessly raped her. Thus began a fourteen-year stretch of untold heartache and tragedy. [. . . ] She was soon being used and abused to deviant ends, only with a new twist – she was paid for satisfying their perverse pleasures. By the age of twenty-three she had become a full-fledged prostitute, managed by a handful of thugs who shared in the spoils.

She discovered that she was HIV-positive. She could not discontinue her lifestyle, for she needed the money to treat her disease and hang onto life. Hardened, calloused and almost vengeful, she continued to sell her services to hundreds of customers, including bankers, businessmen and doctors, of whom she kept a detailed record. She knew she was signing each man’s death warrant, but she was drowning in despair, and her life had lost all value.

Eventually she could no longer hide the disfiguring marks of her disease. Blisters blanketed her body. She resorted to desperate methods in search of a cure. She made numerous attempts to kill herself, only to fail each time. Finally Priya poisoned herself once more, and this time she set the house on fire and lay down for the last time, enshrouded in flames. Her once beautiful body was reduced to ashes. No one would even come close to her charred remains for fear of infection. She died alone. And not far from her others played the same deadly game, thinking that this same end would never be theirs. "

He goes on to ask the question – What Lord Jesus, would you have said to Priya, had she brought her decrepit body and aching heart to you? And what would Buddha have said to her, this being a land where 95% of its people are Buddhists?

It’s a small book, published in 2001 if you want to find a copy. I thought the introduction laid a good foundation for the beauty and devastation that we see in this city.


Duncan

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

12

Andrea has written a couple posts about the ‘Massage Parlor’ Brothel next door to us. This isn’t a tin shack by the side of the road but a large windowless three story building with a footprint about 100 x 60 feet. Its parking lot holds 30-40 cars and there is plenty of room around back to park although many men come in taxis. This is one of the smaller of the ten massage parlors/entertainment venues within a mile of us on the road we live on. Here’s my take on what we see outside our window.

"12"

Morning
An older woman washes the clothes
Treated with such care
Always the same clothes – sun dresses and short shorts
Flags flutter in the breeze
The sign reads
Always cheap – Always Good

A fruit and vegetable truck pulls up by the back door, barred and locked
A girl in a red dress reaches through the bars to buy some oranges

Inside
the fishbowl
the girls wait

12 Noon
The gates are unlocked and opened and the first cars pull in
The dresses and short shorts are dry and pulled off the rack
So are the girls

Another shift

12 Midnight
Taxis wait to take the customers home
Dogs wait
A six year old boy waits, legs swinging from a chair outside the back door


Psalm 52:1-7; 58:1-3; 83:1-3; 62:11-12


Duncan