I had originally planned this as a super chilled-out trip. I had made the decision to go to Bangkok on impulse after bringing out the 3 Thai girls who were in town as their post-graduation trip.
Meeting them without Ick and Yo just seems so incomplete, and if I don't make it up within the fortnight, Yo would have gone back to university in Khon Kaen, and I would have to either wait another year to see him or go to the heart is Isaan to visit him. The latter is something I don't mind at all, but not without some semblence of fluency in the Thai language.
So I promptly booked my Thai Airways tickets for the following weekend. I decided on Thai Airways because it didn't make sense to pay the same amount for budget flights if I could get full inflight service for the same price.
In the end, the first thing I did after touching down was to leave my wallet in the cab to my inn, and the rest as they said, was history. I shall spare you the details, but after a wild goose chase, I got my wallet back -- with every single thing intact.
As it turned out, my exam results was due the morning after I lost my wallet. I wanted to take it all chill. I had imagined myself going down to an internet cafe, and casually ordered some breakfast, with my wallet and belongings all with me, as I checked my results.
But on hindsight, who was I trying to bluff...right?
It was critical that I did well that semester if I were to hit second-upper honours. I was all prepared to fail after failing in my previous three attempts to hit 4.0, or just to miss narrowly again -- nothing could have prepared me for the near-perfect score i scored that semester.
I was so tense, that when I saw the screen, I let out a huge shriek that alarmed all the other backpackers around me. I nearly choked on the papaya I was having for breakfast.
xxx
Subsequently, at Ick's mom's insistence, I moved to their place. I spent 3 of my 4 nights there at their home in Bangphat, a Bangkok suburb across the Chao Phraya; and I was really blessed by the hospitality of his parents and their church. I was very privileged to have experienced and witnessed familial love at its finest.
Because I traversed the breadth and depth of Bangkok in getting my wallet back, I saw a lot of things and got a greater feel of what life in Bangkok life might be like.
In fact, I ended up losing all desire to shop after the exhausting wallet chase, so much so that I only made a whistle stop at Chatuchak just to get something for mom and the sisters at home.
Instead, I accompanied Ick and Yo to worship practice at their church, which turned out to be something I would never forget. I gave my first pulpit testimony ever at their church that Sunday about our cross-city adventures.
My Bangkok trip in May takes top spot this year simply because the 5-days I spent there positively changed my life forever. I had left with a distinctly heavy heart, not just because of the strengthened friendships but also for the Thai people.
It set me up for my return trip to Thailand barely a month later -- albeit to a different part. After the disappointment of not being able to do anything constructive after my failed Reuters internship application, I guess my two trips up north kept me busy for the most of May and June.
Other than preparation for the launch of Campus Observer when the new academic year started again in August, I had pretty much nothing else to do. And I guess on hindsight, I badly needed to do nothing and rest, considering how I never really rested after I ORD-ed in June 2004.
I interned on a film and relief taught again before I started my freshman year, and I did a two-month internship with Straits Times in the summer after my freshman year, so this last summer after my sophomore year was pretty much my first real holiday in a long while.
So maybe this Bangkok trip was part of the rest He had intended for me.
xxx
So there you have it, the full list of my top-10 moments of 2006. Thank you for reading this blog and growing with me all this while. Have a blessed new year and a groovy 2007. =)
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