A Monkey's Tale

Meet Dexter the Miracle Monkey.  I met him this afternoon while New and I were visiting Khao Yoi Cave near Petchaburi,  The cave is swarming with monkeys, but this one caught my eye and it's a good thing.  I nicknamed him Dexter for no good reason, and as for the "Miracle Monkey" part, well... you'll see.

Dexter REALLY wants to join his friends and family in the ledge above.  He could find good hand holds on the textured wall, but here at the wide smooth rim of the ledge, he is just not big enough to reach up.  He cried for help, but no one was listening and his arms were getting so weak and....

He fell.

To make matters worse, no one seemed to care.  Not even mommie, who just sat there with her back turned to him and her long old tail hanging down and ,... hey!  Wait a minute.  Mom?  Are you suggesting???  Hmmmm....

If I climb up on this little bush like this.  And I jump with ALL my might....

Got it!  Oh yeah!  Oh!  Help!  Somebody help me here!

Oh...  Thanks mom!  You're a life saver!

Hence the Miracle Monkey!  

More on this great part of my trip tomorrow.

Doctor Supparerk Ruckchart

About seven years ago, a young man showed up at Immanuel Baptist Church, looking for answers in his life.  He and I quickly hit it off.  He was a senior at Chulalongkorn University, considered to be pretty much the Harvard of Thailand, and I came to recognize that he was the most intelligent person I had ever met. Over the years, he became like a son to me as he continued his studies to obtain first a Master's Degree and now a doctorate in Educational Research.

To celebrate his doctoral graduation, his family held a party for him in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, over the weekend and they invited me to come speak at the event.  That is the reason I am here at this time.  I had to be here for this celebration.  And what a celebration it was!

When I arrived at Rerk's house Friday afternoon, women from the village were already busy cooking and preparing for the party. Rerk's family lives about 15 kilometers from Chiang Mai proper, in a village where most folks are related.  The entire village was involved in this celebration.  This was a much bigger deal than I had expected!

By the time we got going, I counted sixteen tables of eight set up.  There was a pair of giant speakers blaring Thai country music all day and into the evening.  Thankfully, they had brought in musicians to perform live music and they did more Thai and American pop music.

Two or three years ago, Rerk appeared twice on a popular national game show on television.  The second time, he won it.  I thought it was a cool touch that they showed highlights from the show as we ate dinner,

Rerk had a table for his closest friends.

I have spoken in Thai at a few weddings here, but made no attempt to do so this time.  Instead, Rerk's buddy, Jojo translated for me.

Supparerk's parents called me up to the stage to present me with a special gift as a thank you for the impact they said I had on their son's life.  I was surprised and very touched,

These will find an honored place in my house back in the US.

With Rerk and his parents.

With Rerk and his sister, Aom.  She is so sweet and she loves her big brother!

With Supparerk's dad.  He is head of the Thai Health Department for the province.

With his two best friends, Dom and Jojo,  The first time Rerk was on the game show, he finished second... to Dom.  That is how they met.  They became remarkably close friends.  Jojo has been his buddy for many years,  Both Dom and Jojo have been great friends and I am so grateful for their impact on Rerk's life.

In a Thai tradition, Rerk's grandmother gives him a blessing that involves tying a piece of string around his wrist.  It is believed to bring good luck.

Proud of the kid...

"What?  You really did it? You graduated???"

Doctor Rerk

The evening ended with hours of karaoke.  Rerk and his buddies doing a Thai pop song.  The older folks were not shy and ran up to belt out Thai country music.  It is a good thing the whole village was there because the music kept going loud an strong until well after midnight.  

No, I did not sing, but some young ladies did come drag me up in front of the stage to join them dancing during one song.  There was a moment when I realized that I was the only westerner in a group of well over a hundred Thais doing Thai country karaoke and here I was dancing with these girls in front of the stage area.  I live a pretty terrific life.

A Gang Tradition

Every time I come to Thailand, the Gang gathers for delicious ramen at Bankara Ramen shop.  This trip was no exception.

Left to right, Mic, C, Hope, Sam, Chut, X

Love this stuff!!!!!

A Chinatown Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, but I got to celebrate MY Thanksgiving twice yesterday.  First, I was able to spend the evening with my two favorite people in the world, my buddies Prasert (Supersert) and Nan, in Chinatown.  Chinatown is one of my favorite places to visit.  It is so vibrant and full of life and the food is wonderful.  In fact, when they asked me where I wanted to go, I quickly told them I wanted to go to Chinatown and eat guay jub, a Chinese noodle soup that is one of my favorite foods in the world and is really hard to find outside of Chinatown.

Afterward, I returned to my room at my church (more on that in a later post) and Immanuel Baptist Church was still wrapping up their annual Thanksgiving Dinner.  I had not known it was last night until long after I had scheduled my evening with Supersert and Nan, so I missed the service and the food there, but still got to see many old friends.  A double Thanksgiving for me!

By the way, for my American friends, Thailand will be in a year long period of mourning for His Majesty the King and most here will be wearing black throughout the year...

My (unofficially) adopted daughter, Nan.

There are few things more fun to me than walking around Chinatown with my bud, Supersert.

My Dream Trip buddies.  We have taken road trips together various places and even traveled to Singapore a couple of years ago.  Last night was almost like a mini Dream Trip for me.

A busy crowded night market

Fresh roasted duck

Ah!  The prize I was seeking!  Guay jub.  A rich, delicious broth with super wide curled noodles that are labor intensive to make, along with slices of pork meat and pork entrails.  And, as you can see, an egg.  I love this dish so much, and this particular location is know for the best guay jub in Bangkok.

A sort of sausage made with minced crab meat.

Fish maw soup, made with the air bladder from inside a fish.  This is a dish served at almost every Chinese style wedding party I have attended and is my favorite dish at those parties,  Delicious!

Noodles with pork and stir fried mimosa, a sort of water plant.

Feeling full of good food and feeling soooo grateful for another great adventure with Sert and Nan, it was time to hop the MRT (subway) and head back for the evening...  More lifetime memories have been made!

Back at my church, the party was still going strong.

In the center are Gan and Brian, the daughter and son-in-law of my pastor.  They live in Atlanta and arrived the day after I did for a long overdue visit with family and friends here.

I have SO much to be thankful for.  The most wonderful friends anyone could ever wish for and a life filled with new adventures around every corner.  Happy Thanksgiving friends!

The Gang (or part of it) Does Soeng Sang

Handing out shirts to the villagers was an unforgettable and very rewarding experience, but there was more that that to our weekend...

Stopping near Khao Yai on the way to Soeng Sang for lunch.

I have wanted for so long to get to visit Note's gold shop.  The gold trade is a major business in Thailand.  Every town has a gold shop.  Most have several.   In Soeng Sang, Note has one competitor nearby,

Note left DST to get his master's degree in finance and then spent a long time traveling around Thailand to many provinces, looking for the best location to open this shop.  He needed a good location with fairly high traffic, minimal competition, and where he could purchase a building inexpensively.  He has been here, I believe, about three years now.

The gang inside the shop.  Lots of necklaces, bracelets and rings.  Actually, you buy the gold by weight with a small fee added for the craftsmanship involved in shaping it into jewelry.  They originally sold only gold, but have added a little silver and that has increased their traffic slightly.  I believe Note's hope it to one day own a chain of shops, but for now he is focusing all of his attention on this one.  He explained to me a long time ago that he wants to build this shop's success by building a reputation for honesty and customer service.  Note is a pretty special guy.

I forget that the gang is all made up of city boys (and girls) and so much of Saturday evening was new experiences for them.  I grew up driving a pickup truck and riding around in the bed of trucks.  When Note's friends showed up with their pickups and told them "climb in!" it was another new adventure.

They insisted that the "Boss" (me) sit in the cab with the driver.  lol

Stopping to wade and splash in a spillway that actally runs right over the main road here.

We gathered beside a lake to enjoy the sunset.

 It's a Soeng Sang Saturday Night.  I can not explain how much this evening reminded me of my high school days.  Friends gathered along the lakeside in their pickup trucks, car stereos turned up playing country music (in this case, Thai and American), most drinking a beer, and just talking and laughing.  This could just as easily been Hamilton, Missouri, where I grew up, as Soeng Sang, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.  And it was fun!

Back in the room, X explains the finer points of bourbon to Note's friend, Benz.

Great food.  Great friends. Great trip. 

To Honor His Majesty

If you have followed my Thai adventures at all, you know that there is a group of DST associates (and former associates) we simply call "the gang."  They all started here in the Bangkok office, fresh out of university, the same week I started here back in 2008.  Since that time, we have remained incredibly close.  Each time I go back to visit, the gang gets together.  Sometimes, it is just for dinner, but when we can, we schedule a weekend outing together.  They are always among the most fun and memorable moments of each visit.

For this visit, we had a special trip planned.  One of the guys, Note,  now lives several hours Northeast of Bangkok in Soeng Sang, Nakhon Ratchasima province, where he and his mother run a gold shop.  Note can not always join us for our outings and we miss him terribly when he can not.  This time, instead of asking Note to come to join us on our outing, we decided to take the outing to him!  We planned to travel to his home town, to see his shop and to just relax and have fun together in his home area.

But that plan was before the passing of His Majesty, the King.  With the country still in mourning, I was not sure it was the best thing for us to just have a crazy fun time together like normal.  I told the guys that we might want to reconsider and do this outing the next time I came back.  They agreed and Note said that this time, he would drive to Bangkok and we would just have dinner together or something.  I felt much more comfortable about that.

But then I had an idea.  I contacted Chut and told him that if my idea was crazy just to tell me, because I have many crazy ideas.  But what if... what if we DID go to Soeng Sang, but instead of the normal outing we usually do, what if we used one day to do some kind of community service project together as a way to honor His Majesty?  We'd still be together and having fun, but we'd be doing something meaningful in a way that the King would have definitely approved.  Chut loved it and immediately contacted Note to plan something.

What they came up with was brilliant.  Thailand is going through a full year of mourning.  Most people are wearing black clothing each day.  Not all can do so.  It is very hard to find black shirts, etc. and some poorer people just can not afford to do so.  Chut and Note suggested that we get a hundred black shirts printed with the Thai number 9, symbolizing King Rama IX, and go to a small, poor village near Note's home town to give a shirt to everyone, and serve ice cream to the children.  I was SOOO proud of them for thinking to do this!

Now to add to this, Note has a good friend in his hometown who, with his mother, owns a home center with electronics, appliances and furniture.  His friend, Beer (yes, that is right, his name is Beer), has a tradition where every year near his birthday, he goes to a poor community and provides the whole community with  meal.  They decided to combine efforts and we would join Beer and his friends and family.  Note's mom wanted to help out, also!  It turned into an amazing, wonderful experience.  We could not get black tee shirts, but dark gray was fine and the people of the village loved them.

Sadly, Hope, Sam, Bomb, and Natt could not join us on this trip because they had previous commitments.  We missed them greatly, but Chut, Note, Mic, X, Pong and I had a wonderful time.  I always joke with the gang about "Let's make memories!"  Let me assure you that we made memories to last a lifetime in Soeng Sang!

Lining up for lunch.  We served well over a hundred people.

X and I served up soup.

After everyone was fed, we ate, and this was delicious!

Mic and Pong preparing noodles

Chut's turn to make the noodles

Add some dried chili and fish sauce for flavor!

I was asked to tell the villagers about myself and why we were there

Handing out shirts to the villagers

Chut handing out a shirt

Showing off her new shirt

Beer and Note.  Great friends and great hearts.

The flag pole at the edge of the community center.  Proudly patriotic.

Mass transit?  This tractor and wagon pulled up, filled with people ready for lunch

 A bit oversized, but hey,   55555

The gang with Beer's family and friends - and Note's mother, at the end of the day.  What a great experience!

(Thanks to Chut for letting me steal his photos.  I didn't want to be the American walking around taking photographs like that was why I was really there....)