January 2, 2006

It's a New Year in Bangkok and I sit transformed in another place, a place where the streets bussle with a Thai rickshaw, bright lights, loud noises, modern phones ringing from here to there, temples depicting a quiet, spiritual and wealth of religion.

Everyone smiles, everyone is helpful, everyone thanks you for coming.

Bangkok is a shopping MECCA....where the signs stand out amongst the street vendors of food and souvenirs. Where along the canal a high rise sits just inches away from a wooden alley of houses and poverty. The housing is not visible from the street but from the water, the unfortunate go undetected in their humbleness.

Bangkok where the motor highway is replaced by large speedboats packed with tourist, commuters and school children. From the waterway you see specs of gold from temples and men with orange robes and bald heads, shyly ask for passage.

I've landed on a new continent where English is not a second language but kindness is well understood. I've landed in Thailand.