We arrived at the gleaming, soaring, glass airport of Bangkok shortly after midnight, and after well more than 24 hours in transit from Louisville to Chicago to Seoul and now here.
A small mishap with our luggage meant that the first hour on the ground in Thailand was watching seemingly hundreds of people claim luggage, wrestle it into carts and disappear past Customs and through the door. Actually, it was quite entertaining because I observed a fashion of young Korean couples - dozens of them - which is to wear matching shirts and sometimes whole outfits.
There were couples in preppy striped shirts, logo-laden black ones, bright pink, slogans, patterns, the gamut. And yellow. As we sat, Insik Kim, our PC(USA) area coordinator for Asia (who by this tidbit confirmed my impression that the extent and depth of his knowledge of the region is extraordinary) explained that each day of the week in Thailand has a color in which people dress, and that Monday is yellow, the color of the King, because the King was born on Monday. (I added to Insik's cultural observation by pointing out this couples' dressing thing, something neither he nor our other travel companion, my husband, Chris, had noticed, until it was pointed out to them.)
Outside, we are greeted by Banchong Chompoowong, Vice Moderator of the Church of Christ in Thailand.
Since it is now 11:30 p.m., I will continue this entry tomorrow. We had a wonderful and inspiring day meeting church leaders, hearing of our historic connections and desires for more, learning of ministries of health, education, and church planting, and making new friends. The day was long, sleep was short. More tomorrow.
Thanks for inviting us on the journey with you Linda. One more way our church can take advantage of technology to "take us all there" and still be good stewards of resources. Grace, peace and health to you, Chris and Insik.
Posted by: Don Lincoln | October 16, 2007 at 11:34 AM