Thursday, June 24 "Group 3"

Today we broke into three groups and went out to see the city. I was a part of a group with Jim H., Bret F., Ben J., Zack F., and Dave Veldhorst. We began by taking the bus and skytrain to downtown Bangkok. The air conditioning in the skytrain was the first highlight of the trip! We then walked for 5-10 minutes to the dock where we got on a boat on the Chao Phraya River which we took to a Buddhist temple containing the reclining Buddha (46 meters long)-which translates to "really big". A tour guide took us around the temple area and explained the sights. He also explained that Buddhist monks are required to obey 220+ commandments. Do you think they read all of those in church every Sunday? Next we went back up the river on the boat to the skytrain station and headed back to downtown. After finding a restaurant with American food (hamburgers and fries), we rode a tuk tuk (three-wheeled) taxi to the Bangkok Bible College and Seminary. Then we walked through downtown to a mall, where we wandered around the shops for a short while, before returning home for pizza and Pepsi. We had a wonderful time seeing an amazing city (and enjoyed some American food for a change). God has blessed us in many ways during this trip, and the day away was a real treat. Thanks to Dave and the staff for entertaining us for a day!

Myron Bolkema