First of all some reading this may wonder why me and Mel have come to Thailand for nine months. Well Thailand is a stunning country but our main reason isn't to do the normal tourist trail but were actually here to learn Thai and teach people about the bible and the questions it answers about life. Questions such as if there is a God why does he permit suffering, why do we grow old and die and what does the future hold. Its questions like these that many people cannot answer. This link explains it better than I can in a video called Why study the bible? http://www.jw.org/en/video-why-study-the-bible/.
Ok .....
We arrived in Bangkok just over two weeks ago now and spent three nights in the most stunning hotel I have ever stayed in. It was a suite with a bedroom, kitchen, living room and massive bathroom ... it was called Oriental Residence and was the perfect place to go after our journey.
The first day we arrived Bangkok it was very overwhelming! Lots of tuk tuks trying to con you, traffic, smog, smells, fried cockroaches, pick a mix frogs, a completely new city and the thought that we had to arrange a bus journey to Phayao without speaking a word of Thai or knowing where the right station was.
After a couple of hours sleep in the afternoon we went into Siam for an evening market. Siam is very impressive but as with most of Thailand the contrast between the rich and poor is everywhere in front of you. On one side of the street you have a shopping mall selling designer clothes, cars and the best restaurants and on the other side you have a cheap market selling clothes and food (fried chicken 8 baht, less than 20p a piece) with blind people led on the streets, people with no limbs, kids sleeping on cardboard and even one man who literally had no face trying to collect whatever money they could.
That night we decided that we wanted to go to Bangkok Bethel the next day (its like the HQ for Thailand Jehovahs Witnesses) but the problem was I had E-mailed them 3 weeks before and not heard anything back so that night we prayed about it and woke up to an E-mail from the Brothers saying that they had been away the last few weeks but we are more than welcome to go that day!! We left the next morning and despite first of all getting in a taxi with a driver who kept driving despite not knowing where Bethel was, we finally made it. Everyone was so nice and the tour of the branch was really good, it is a simple but beautiful branch, the kitchen staff were making chicken nuggets for lunch which I found quite amusing.
At the moment they are working on a accelerated Thai Language course for people to help with the preaching work. They gave us a sheet that we could study and use which has been brilliant for learning the language. Its amazing that all the people there are volunteers and just happy to be there. At the moment there are less than 4000 Witnesses in Thailand and it has a population of 70 million (thats 17500 people to each publisher and yes I did use a calculator).
Laos is a neighbouring country to the North of Thailand but Witnesses are banned there .... no problem though as the witnesses have built a congregation right on the border so the brothers in Laos can still go to the meeting ... very impressive!!
It also has a very nice garden with a Bethel dog for security ... apparently they had four a few months ago but cobras are common in Thailand ... I wont say anymore as we know quite a few dog lovers.
The third day in we decided to do the tourist route. A cruise down the river, a look around grand palace, reclining buddha, chinatown, and few taxi and tuk tuk rides and dinner in the market. (few pictures below but if anyone wants to follow us on instagram you can add us its simonmark85 or miss_hornby, i add more pictures on mels than mine).
That evening we went to the bus station to book the bus to our next stop and destination ..... Phayao, the nerves begin!!
