Orientation Day 1

Dear Friends,
After 20+ hours of traveling our group made it to the TK Palace hotel in Bangkok, and most of us went straight to sleep. We were met the next morning (around 6 hours later) by Dang (CWEFT director) who took us to the LCMS/CWEFT office down the street. There our group met 2 other staff members, P La and P Yung as well as Deaconess Christie Nelson who is on holiday in Thailand. They gave us a brief introduction into the history of CWEFT in Thailand and shared a little bit about their experiences working with the Thai people.

Following this we loaded up in our vans and traveled to the area of Bangkok where the Grand Palace is located. After stopping for a bite to eat at the typical open air Thai restaurant, we found our way to the crowded and beautiful Grand Palace complex which is also home to the famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is quite an impressive place and give visitors a very vivid picture of Buddhist culture and how much it intertwines with the Thai way of life. There were so many people there and it was incredible to see them all there for so many different reasons. While we were there to learn more about the culture and see how Buddhism is practiced, we weren't like many if the other tourists who purchase offerings or other gimmicks to earn merit or participate in a Thai experience for good luck or just to experience the culture.

While we were there, Marshall had his first experience with having strangers take pictures with him because he was a blond 11 year old. He took it in stride though, and even though he thinks it's weird, he realizes that he's kind of a celebrity.
After we toured the Grand Palace, we took a quick visit to see Wat Pho which is the home of the enormous Reclining Buddha. The size of this Buddha is so big, it takes up the entire temple it is built in.


By the time our temple tours were over, we were all quite hot and tired, so we went to an air conditioned mall near the Chao Phraya river and mall walked until we all found a place to sit down and amuse ourselves with games. We had to wait an hour until our dinner cruise was ready to sail off at 7pm. Even though it was early jet lag was claiming a few casualties. I am sure that I was the first to doze off followed by at least 3 others. This created a lot of entertainment for my dinner table mates as I apparently would fall asleep in mid sentence and then suddenly awake with a start. The cruise was still very nice. We were served 3 courses of delicious Thai food and treated to Thai dance performances. Scotty was chosen to dance one of the last dances, so now he can teach the rest of the group how it is done. We all want to be able to bend our fingers like they do!

Overall it was a great first day in Thailand. We were kept busy all day which meant almost everyone slept soundly! Much more excitement to come on day 2! Stay tuned! ~ Deac Bets