Colorado Burma Roundtable Network

Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2008 4:39 AM
Subject: Thailand Report #2

Hello from Thailand, the land of many sticky keyboards. I can guarantee that there will be many typos in this email because I am either too tired, or too lazy to correct the mistakes caused by non-compliant keys. My fingers only have a limited amount of patience :-)

Just now Panya, Ratraphi & I just finshed a Bible study/church service in my hotel room... We are staying at the Mountain view guest house in Chiang Mai... they came down to see me off at the airport tomorrow... It was a special time of sharing. We'll go eat diner in a couple of hours... Earlier we went shopping a bit, but mostly we are enjoying each other's company.

Let's see; my last report covered the trips to the mountains. Since then, we went to Mae Sot and stayed a night at the Mae La refugee camp... Lindsey met us in Mae Sot after an unforgettable experience in trying to get there from Bangkok. After landing in Bkk, she spent the night in a nice hotel near the airport... then she flew to a city named Sukothai which is about a 4 hour road trip to Mae Sot if it were uncmplicated. Unfortunately, nothing in Thailand is uncomplicated! Her trip to Sukothai was relatively uneventful... but after that it was anything but... She somehow got to the bus station from the Sukothai airport at about 5:30 pm... at 6:30 it was getting dark and they turned the lights out at the station. Her plan was to take the main bus from Sukothai to the small city of Tak and then rent a mini-bus to Mae Sot... All fine and dandy, except the bus to Tak forgot to show up... But God had a plan! A good Samaritan Thai lady who just happened to speak nitnoy (a little) English appproached Lindsey and informed her tht it was not particularly safe for a lone foreign woman to be traveling alone at night... so she took Lindsey to a nice hotel after first taking her to an unacceptable guest house in a dark part of the city. The next morning Lindsey made it to Mae Sot after being crammed into a smal minibus with 15 Thai people who spoke no Engish. We're not done yet! Upon arriving in Mae Sot the bus driver let her off in a congested, busy part of town and after pulling her bags off the top of the bus, took off... so there was our Lindsey on a street corner with all of her baggage,surrounded by Thai signs, a mass of busy people and breakneck traffic without the slightest idea how to get to the DK Hotel. Again, God held out his hand... This time in the form of a Thai man who had come in on the same bus as Lindsy who just happened to have a motorbike nearby (Thailand has a jillion motorbikes, all weaving in and out of traffic and perfectly willing to commit mayhem). He put her on the back of his motorbike with her 3 pieces of luggage and put his own suitcase in front of him and off they came to the DK where we met her.

The next day Panya and Ratraphi accompanied Dr. Diane back to Chiang Mai on the bus, and Lindsey and I went into Mae La for the night. She got great interviews from a great pastor, Dr Saw Simon who is the Dean of the Karen Kawthoole Bible college and schools (KKBCS). Simon is a world figure who has been offered refuge from many countries around the world, but has refused in order to stay and lead his people. He has also constructed a Bible school that has full credentials from the (?) Baptist orgainzation.

The next morning we went to church and as usual, I gave the message to about 400 Karen from the refugee camp... Dr. Simon translated. I have no idea what he said, but the people looked attentive, so he must have spiced things up a good bit.

Following church services, we took a bit of a tour. Simon had provided us with an English speaking guide named Gladdy. this is unusual because Gladdy just happened to be the fellow that had built the structure for the 16 solar panels that Evelyn and I retrieved from Sadonia, and shipped UPS to the Free Burma Rangers in Thailand. I think Thailand is a very mysterious place. It doesn't end there of course! As I was talking to Gladdy, his cell phone rang. After talking in Karen for a bit, he handed me the phone and said, "It's for you". It was Steve Dun from World Aid in Seattle. He just happened to be in Thailand and wanted to say hello. Go figure!

Lindsey worked like a trooper and has gotten many great interviews... She has interviewed Pastor Robert who leads 3 major Karen organizations who work on both sides of the border. Then after an endless drive to Kanchanaburi she met a wonderful woman named Sharon Porterfield who drove us all over the southern part of Thailand to meet with Karen ministries, and enter the Tham Hin refugee camp, where many of our Denver Karen have come from. I didn't go into Tham Hin because it would have made an incredibly difficult drive back... nearly 600 miles of thai highway in one day. We both were too exhausted for that, so she went in and spent the day interviewing while I drove part way back to Tak. I came into Chiang Mai yesterday and have been recouping and waiting for Panya and Ratraphi to show up. Sharon has taken Lindsey to Bangkok.

I have one meeting left, and that is with Pastor Robert... He is here in Chiang Mai to see the eye doctor. We will meet at 1 pm tomorrow where he will give me a report from the Nargis area, and then Panya & Ratraphi will take me to the airport to come home.

My special thanks to all who have been praying. We've had a few close calls on the many miles of off-road, and highway driving that we've done... I'm sure that you have saved our bacon more than once.

Blessings, Jack

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