Pagoda

My Thailand trip was not actually a pleasure trip. I worked for a few months to complete a project with JS Thailand. It was my first time to be away from family for a long period. I was both excited and nervous. I was deployed alone working with Thais, with different language, culture and food. I remembered my first evening at work; I stayed until 8:30pm and just ate skyflakes, because I didn’t like their spicy food. I didn’t know why they like hot & spicy so much and they were really not fond of sweets. However the place is the same with Manila but their infrastructures were ahead. And the people, they’re not far from the looks of a Filipino. Actually, they would think I’m a local at first time unless I talked.

There are few people I got acquainted with, mostly in the office. When I eat with them, I often talk. I had a lot of things to say though; I wasn’t comfortable speaking in English and whatever thoughts I had been kept in my journal. But my journal was lost before I left for Manila. That’s a different story. However, I got talkative later on, after a month, met Au and got close to Pong. I ate with them and traveled with them. Au takes over the project after my turnover, who had been my housemate for a month. She stayed with me during weekdays in my apartment in Chonburi, where the office of client located. Then on weekends, I have option to go back to Bangkok, so I went with Au sometimes. Pong also became closed to me; he took me to the nearest Catholic Church when I was looking and took me for dinner as a sign of welcoming friendship with me. Both of them eventually the closest people I’ve been in that place.

Thailand’s tourism was amazing. Bangkok was filled with about 70% foreigners. Tourist places were jam packed including hotels and their public transports. However, the tourist places weren’t astounding compared to ours. The floating market was not that great, though it’s not bad either. I also visited crocodile farm, snake farm, and a lot of temples, but these places are just so ordinary, yet tourists go for it. Anyway, the country had already established their tourism and they’re the most highly visited in Asia. Ayutthaya and Pattaya, the places I visited are not that astounding compared to Philippine’s Bohol and Pagudpod. But I know, there are more to Thailand.

My longing to go home extended because I have to stay for 2 weeks more. I hope to get home before my brother’s birthday and the birth of his new baby. Yet I thought it was still okay to stay, but at the end of the day, I felt I was in cage, yearning to be free. I can’t wait to speak in Tagalog and burst everything whatever was on my mind. I knew, there’s still a lot more travels to come for me, and there’s much better place to stay. Saying goodbye was taboo, I just pretended it was easy. The learnings and challenges I experienced while I was away from home were sanctified. I was all safe through out the journey. God simply let me be alone by myself to realize that I will have no want of others if I had Him. When I got back, my perspective in life had changed. There’s a lot more to do, a life waiting to live to the fullest and people waiting to be blessed as well through me. Thank you God for such an opportunity!

Pagoda. One of the historical pagoda in Ayutthaya kingdom. It was Siam before, the world’s largest city that time and Thailand’s old capital city; however the kingdom was ruined during the 18^th century by Burmese army.