Bangkok, 26-29 December

ประเทศไทย <3

The last time I was there it was May and the sun was warm, the fields were a shocking green and everything shouted growth. That was the first time I saw rural central Thailand and I thought the rice paddy fields looked beautiful. I’ve never seen such a bright, real green before. (no photos to show though, unfortunately) This trip, I had the fortune of seeing the same fields from the same vehicle (thank you, Blink and parents) and it was winter. The green was all gone and everything was swathed in shades of blue, grey and dark green instead; and yet, though it was a different season, everything still looked wonderful. Not beautiful in the same way, but certainly no less beautiful than before. Is it possible? Perhaps creation was made to display God’s majesty, year-round.

Anyway, my thanks really goes out to all my friends in Bangkok who were so gracious and kind for the three days that I was there. What I was expecting was just a bit of shopping and catching up, but not overwhelming hospitality from so many people so often. And certainly not trips out of Bangkok! Such generosity. You guys are the best. Come to Singapore, I’d gladly give up my bed again.

This was really fun. I thought the Go-karts you get in Malaysia and Indonesia were good, but this was even better. The track was long; but even then we had only taken the "short" route...

Beautiful.

This too; though it's slightly misleading. The house is a replica of what a typical village house would look like, but no one lives inside. The little boy's Thai, but he was a tourist like I was.

Another replica, but nice architecture.

The view from the hotel.

Christmas 2008

Happy Christmas!

On wonders, and Advance 08

Last night, I was lying on a rattan chair by the poolside on the island of Batam, looking up into the night sky. It was a wonderful experience because each star was so beautiful, but beside that, they seemed to remind of the greatness of God. Just them being there and filling the sky in their countless hosts is something to gape at. But wait! – that’s not all. Some stars measure millions to billions of light years from earth, meaning that if one were to travel to a star at the speed of light, it could well take a million years to arrive. That’s brilliant, but what fascinates me more is that, conversely, light takes a millions of years to travel from stars to our gazing eyes. So as we look up into the night sky, it isn’t the present we see, but a reflection of the past, years and years before. And each point of light is a different part of that past. One star might be light that came from a thousand years ago, and the star next to it could well shine light that came from a million. Awesome, isn’t it?

I was at Batam for the annual camp for church leaders. We stayed at Harris Resort for five whole days, and never stepped out of it. It might have been nice to go out for a while, but it was alright keeping to the resort: the food was good, the activities were plentiful and the hotel even accepted Singapore dollars instead of Rupiah. (smart) And of course the teaching was excellent and God’s presence was so strong those few days it felt almost tangible. But what made our stay fantastic was the incredible service of the resort staff. Most seemed genuinely pleased to serve us, and one or two even went out of their way to serve us better. Take Maria, each time someone left the resort she was right there accompanying them. She even sent us right to the ferry terminal on the last day, full of smiles. Besides her, I once met a guy in uniform who looked like the cook, and he brought me on a walking tour through all the buffet items. He looked zealously proud of his creation, and only left me when we reached the sauces – “that one quite nice”. It was. What excellence! What joy, even in work! I want to adopt that attitude. It makes the world brighter. And I’m sure Jesus had that same attitude, too.

Another great thing is that this short trip has restored a love in me for the body of Christ, God’s church. I’ve learnt that church doesn’t have a perfect environment. Far from it, people get hurt there sometimes; I’ve been hurt by it myself, too. But in Batam I caught a glimpse of what God would want it to be – an environment where people love each other and love God – and I’ve come to desire to stay and contribute to such an environment. It’s awesome knowing all you guys at church.