Being up the brown stained creek without a paddle can be fun. I spent last Saturday with a bunch of the local lads deep in a massive swamp in the middle of Bangkok.

Up to my neck in brown water covered by palm fronds, explosions of water and bodies falling everywhere accompanied the shouts … and laughter of a fruit fight. Capsized kayaks and paddles floated around as the boys ducked from then returned tennis ball sized fruit. For most of the teenagers this outlet in the middle of the jungle was their highlight of the day.

We were located an hour’s paddle from anywhere, along the canals that cover Bangkok’s Papadaeng district. This green tree covered area located in an arc of Bangkok’s Chao Praya river that turns back on itself is virtually an island. The south side is accessed via an isthmus by the only road. The remote northern end happens to be opposite the port and accessed by a small ferry that leaves from a temple attached to the slum.

Some of the guys were at my door at 8am ready to go. 14 teenagers and I made our way through the slum and crossed the river to wait for the kayaks to arrive. After an hour’s wait the pickup from the factory arrived with 6 Feelfree triyaks. The boys were eager and raced off. However the twists, turns and dead ends of the canals can cause disorientation quickly. After spending a day exploring them the week before I needed a compass.

The guys soon learned to paddle straight after a few dunkings. They followed and raced each other down the narrow tunnels of jungle growth scarring all wildlife away. I only saw a couple of monitor lizards this time. Last week by myself, there were a few basking or swimming about, the size of small crocs. As I’d already been down most of the overgrown dead ends there were fewer spiders this time too.

We stopped for lunch at a temple on the west side before making our way right across Papadaeng to the eastern most side. This included carrying the kayaks 100m along elevated walkways to avoid a section partitioned off by a temple for raising fish. The west to east trip also took us through a floating market with shouts of surprise. I’m guessing it’s the first time anything like this has been done.

In the end we were pushed for time and were picked up under the main road that accesses Papadaeng. Too much time spent on the fruit fight and other fun bits. Sharing this journey with the boys from my neighbourhood was a great experience. With the challenges and laughter we faced together over the 7 km we all got to know each other a bit better.

In the future I need to find an adult neighbour who can help. As 14 to 1 was a bit much. There’s also the possibility of taking small groups in a hundred year old canoe that’s owned by an old gran I met who still gets around the swamp. The eastern most end of our trip is just opposite a youth prison I visit regularly so there could be a chance of combining this to their day release program. There’s plenty more ideas that this trip brought up. Which ideas that end up happening, will depend on the resources and opportunities. Stay tuned to what happens next.

I was ordering at a coffee shop and a farang (Foreigner living in Thailand) lady, with a big scowl on her face was handing over half a sandwich asking for it to be replaced. The staff couldn’t understand what she was saying so I translated. Her son had eaten the first half of the sandwich and when he started the second half they found a few long black hairs sitting nicely on top of the ham. It was truly grosse. The staff opened the sandwich to look at the hair and starred blankly at it. Yes they agreed to make another one but no ”I’m sorry” or “How awful”, or anything else to indicate that they actually cared.

The woman of course continued to feel disgusted and expressed that to all of us standing around her. The sandwich was remade and everyone went on about their usual business.

 I realize that as a farang, the lady just wanted someone to empathize with her and say, “sorry that shouldn’t have happened. Here let us make you another one”. If that had been said she would have lost her scowl and said “No problem” and gone away feeling heard and comforted and it would have ended there.

Instead she will probably never go to that shop again and she thinks that the staff couldn’t have cared less about her, and the grosse sandwich. She will then tell others about how Thai people are careless disgusting and slack.

The flip side is that after she left the two guys who were making the sandwiches were called into the manager’s office and the incident was treated very seriously. Probably the manager and the staff were highly embarrassed and grossed out themselves. Someone may have even been fired. To show any of that to the customer would have seemed wrong and inappropriate for Thais- but for us it is exactly what we need to hear.

I felt God saying that apparent silence and lack of interest does not necessarily mean that. The world view of Thais and farangs is just so different that we may just never, ever be able to bridge that. The daily misunderstandings and stresses are not necessarily ours as individuals but a collective cross cultural divide that thwarts our steps. 

During the recent airport closure stressed out passengers that were stuck unable to leave Thailand found that they were unable to get through to Thai Airways. In the end Australians that had tickets with Thai were rescued by the Australian embassy and put on Qantas flights out of Phuket. The Australian and other embassies put on extra staff even on the weekends to field calls and comfort their citizens. Even after 4 days, people who rang Thai airways were unable to get through.  Passengers took this as the airline being totally disorganized cold hearted and various other non-flattering things. In actual fact because the Thai staff could not actually do anything to help the passengers leave Thailand it was deemed better not answer the phone at all rather than insult people by not being able to tell them what they want to hear.

Again as a westerner I would say this is crazy- yet who am I, as a visitor staying in someone else’s country , to say that my way of organising and communicating is better than theirs. I bet my Thai boss could write many pages about how strange I am to work with.

I really sense God saying, that what we think we understand we don’t – We have to fight with all our strength not to impose our western world view on the situations we face here each day. The stress is an internal one, as even after 7 years we are still right at the beginning of trying to understand a complex and very different culture. We know that any good that happens is almost in spite of us and that God’s powerful all knowing Spirit is at work drawing people to him.

G’day friends,

Happy New Year!

May your deepest dreams and hopes for this year be guided and encouraged into reality.

In this update there’s a few things that might guide your prayers for my neighbours and I.

Our Christmas eve celebrations were a blast at the end of last year. The pre-school kids showed their appreciation by whacking the pinyatas I made to pieces then rotating to a bunch of fun activities, pockets stuffed with lollies. The youth sat around our soccer courtyard in groups barbecuing  bits of meat in between competitions and games. The unplanned power failure left the kids in the dark huddled around glowing coals telling stories until a fuse was found. Please give thanks that these celebrations went well despite the difference to previous years.

Our neighbourhood house church also came together for a feast of good food and laughs. Just have a geez at my donkey getup to get an idea of the silliness we love in and out of the festive season. Our house church meets weekly in different homes and every time we seem to crack up over some joke or story. Most wouldn’t be printable! Please thank God for this vibrant space that allows people to share their faith in community where they’re at.

Amongst the laughter are the tears - of joy and sorrow. Recently, Meow, one of my nearby neighbours and teacher at the community center, has been sharing the background of how she came to faith. This only makes her impact on the community more remarkable. I thank God for her compassion for neighbours and her go-get-em attitude to transforming people’s lives. I’m grateful for the role she’s taken in introducing me to the neighbourhood.

As a result I was able to be involved in taking a couple of neighbours to the optometrist and a world class hospital. My neighbours often resist going to a hospital that’s provided for the poor as they’re chastised and treated like as ignorant peasants. One of the neighbours I took had been stabbed in the eye with scissors by her husband. She was too afraid of the consequences to go to a hospital and it wasn’t until her good eye started having problems that she spoke up and asked me for help. Unfortunately after the expert diagnosis (that only cost $10) nothing can be done about the bad eye. However the good eye just had dust from her work at the port and can be healed with care and protection by glasses. Please pray she’ll be able to find a sustainable routine to keep her eye protected and clear of dust.

After the optometrist I made my weekly trip to a youth prison to visit one of my neighbourhoods teenagers. I take his gran too as she’s too affected by her addiction to amphetamines to go by herself. Please pray that we could get into a routine that helps her remember to go. Please also pray the teacher for the vocational training he’s set to receive will be able to turn up regularly. The prison is set to move to upgraded facilities also nearby next month. Please pray that if God would have me in some sort of a role there the right opportunities would happen.

This time last week I was involved on the border with a bunch of refugees to start making cards for a Burmese Handicrafts project. At the moment there’s a shortage of paper supply. Please pray the cards will be ready for their Australian launch next weekend.

Please pray as I continue to develop my discipleship time with Jim that we’ll be able to seek the authentic Christ of Klong Toey together.

This last weekend I’ve been recovering from a cold so your prayers for healing are much appreciated.

Thanks again for your prayers and commitment to spend your time wrestling with God on behalf of my neighbours and I. Of course if God happens to throw anything back at you, let me know or even if you’re just up for a chat.

Your bro in Christ,

Rod.