Day 8 - The Final Word

After a restful sleep, I woke up in the familiar confines of my room in the Town in Town Place Hotel. Of course, the room is familiar to me since I have stayed at this hotel so many times during my 7 years of mission trips. One tip: I am usually quite lucky with my room - no bad smells, everything works. Room with me (guys of course) to improve your chances of a good room. Ha.

We would be checking out at 9:00am so I called each of the rooms to make sure everyone was awake. Then I went over to the room where all the logistics things were to help with the packing. Then it was time so say goodbye to my room, not before I watched a bit of the ending of Mars Attacks. The show had been telecast the night before, and I had watched a bit of it then. The thing is, the show was dubbed in Thai so I had to try to follow the Thai dialogue. Considering I have never seen Mars Attacks in English, it was quite easy to figure out what the characters were saying.

9:00 came, and it was time to check out. I went downstairs with my things and waited for the rest to come down. Room by room they came down, leaving just one room. I realised that Karen Yap and Christina had not yet come down. So I called their room and found that they were only just packing up as they had overslept. By the time they came down, it was 9:30. While waiting, I asked the others what they had done during the no-curfew night. They told me about the night market they had visited. I would have gone too if I had not been so tired, but then again I've seen my share of night markets.

By now, the unclaimed suitcase from the previous night had come to my attention again. Checking the baggage tag, I realised that the tag number was quite far away from the tag numbers that had been issued with our own baggage. That meant that the suitcase did not belong to us! We had taken someone else's bag from the luggage claim belt when we arrived on the 16th and had brought it with us on our 7 day journey. I shook my head as yet another logistics failure came to light. This would have to be resolved at the airport.

The receptionist then called me to the counter. The staff who were conducting the check out of Karen Yap and Christina's room had notified reception that two cans of Heineken beer from the minibar had been consumed. I was incredulous and asked Karen Yap and Christina about the beer. They said that they didn't drink the beer and that they had no idea why the beer would be missing. Oh well, Robert paid for the beer so we wouldn't have to include a receipt for beer in our mission trip accounts.

Stepping outside, I was startled when I realised there was a cool breeze blowing. In fact, the weather was strangely cool. December is the cool season, but in Bangkok, the urban environment and pollution often means that Bangkok is always warm, even in December.

We had hoped to have breakfast near some roadside stalls a short walk away from the hotel. We had eaten there on a previous trip. However, with so much change in the area, the stalls weren't open that morning. So we went back to our coach which had come earlier in the morning, and on which we had loaded our belongings, and proceeded with our plan to go to the Siam Square area to do some shopping. On the way, Vivien led the last worship of the trip. It was good to see that she had really planned out what she was going to say, to the extent that she had written down a script that she could follow.

The coach trip took longer than expected. It was more than an hour before we reached Siam Square. On the way, I was talking with Stacey when she saw a homeless lady sleeping under the staircase of a pedestrian overhead bridge. I've seen plenty of homeless people on my mission trips but I've always thought of it as a reflection of society. Yet I was pleasantly surprised when Stacey suggested that we pray for the homeless, specifically for the homeless lady under the bridge. So it was that I led us in prayer for the poor and homeless, that they might be lifted out from their poverty, through the concern of the state, as well as the church who are called to have the same compassion for the poor and oppressed that Jesus has.

Now, I said I would say why this trip reminded me of my first trip. For starters, this was the largest and youngest team we had brought to Thailand since my first mission trip. I was pleased with how the young people in this team responded to the challenges of going on the road and living rough while doing their best to represent God's kingdom. Also, this trip saw us using a coach for the entire duration of the trip. In recent trips, we've often used vans in the middle part of the trips. This time, using a coach for the entire trip allowed for closer interaction, just like on my first (and fourth) trip. We were even taking the coach to Siam Square, just like on the first trip. On top of all this, the weather was just like it was on my first trip, even at lunchtime in Siam Square. A cool breeze continued to blow even as the weekend traffic jam built up.

Back to the narrative... Arriving at Siam Square, I told the team that we didn't have much time to shop. As we hoped to leave the area at 1:30pm to go to the airport, that only left us 90 minutes to do whatever shopping we needed to do. After settling on the meeting place, we all split up to explore the area.

I went straight over to Siam Paragon as I wanted to use the toilet. Siam Paragon is the most opulent shopping centre in Bangkok. Many of the shops there are for the well-heeled of Bangkok, such as Cartier and Mont Blanc. Still, it's a nice place to walk around, even if you're not going to buy anything.

Now I was looking for something to eat (we hadn't had breakfast yet) but I wasn't sure what to eat. As it was already noon, I figured I could actually eat lunch so I looked at some of the restaurants in Siam Paragon. I was almost tempted to have lunch at Tony Roma's but I figured I wouldn't have enough time. Eventually, I decided to settle on McDonalds. Now, I should have gone to the one in Siam Paragon, but as I was at the wrong end of the building, I thought I would go to the McDonalds that I thought was in Siam Centre next door. So I went out of Siam Paragon and went to Siam Centre. But that outlet had been closed in a redevelopment of the place. So I went on to MBK where I knew for sure there was a McDonalds. On my way, I received an SMS from Joan asking me to join herself, Karen Lim, and Lum. As they were at MBK, and I was on the way there, I said I would see them there.

Karen Lim was looking for a LeSportsac bag. Naturally, she was looking for a counterfeit one, but it had to be a top grade counterfeit. So it was that she led us on a fools' errand as we brought her to various shops where she rejected several versions of the bag she was looking for. I managed to get something to eat, a Samurai pork burger meal from McDonalds.

At 1:15pm or thereabouts, I said that we should be heading back to the rendevous, but Joan and Karen Lim said they would buy some last minute items before going back. I said ok and I went with Lum back to the meeting point.

At 1:30pm. the agreed meeting time, the coach came by but nobody else had arrived yet. So I told the coach to make another round and come back later. In the meantime, I tried calling the rest to see where they were. I was getting a little upset because it seemed that they had flagrantly ignored my instructions about meeting at 1:30pm. By 1:45, 10 of us were there, leaving another 7. I managed to get in touch with Junwei and asked him what what going on. He told me of a bungled rendevous for the people in MBK and how Shawn and Ziping had gotten lost. I told him to hurry up as the coach would have to make another round which would take another 15 minutes.

Just as the coach was leaving to make another round, the magnificent 7 appeared, and we could leave for the airport. I expressed my disappointment and told everyone that we had better pray that we would make our flight home. That's one thing about a team of young people. Disicipline is not always easy to maintain.

Fortunately, traffic was relatively light and we soon arrived at the airport. When you travel on the road to the airport, you can see how large the airport complex is.

We unloaded our belongings and proceeded to the check in counter. There was a long queue of people lining up for our flight, and we took our place at the end of the queue. While waiting, I took the suitcase which we had discovered to be not our own, and brought it to the Swiss ticket counter. When I told the officer there what had happened, he was quite upset that we had taken so long to report that we had taken the wrong bag. He told me that we might have to pay compensation to the bag's owner. I told him that if that was the case, we would comply.

While we were waiting in the queue, some of the mission trippers went around taking photos with each other. I wasn't taking any photos, feeling a little old for that kind of thing. But it didn't feel too bad when Vivien, then Stacey, asked me to take a photo with them.

Before long, it was our turn to check in. I realised why it had taken so long when I saw the officer writing the boarding passes by hand. Apparently the ticketing computers haven't been working too well in the 3 months the airport has been open. Anyway that meant that our check in went really slowly, especially with all the baggage that we had. The officer was sure we'd be overweight but we made it with 10kg to spare. As for the mistaken claimed bag, the officer told me that it would be returned to Singapore with no charge to us. I made special mention to logistics that there were 31 items checked in.

Check-in complete, it was already 4:15pm. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 4:35 so you can imagine how rushed we felt. Yet we still had to go through immigration, and we had no idea how far away the departure gate was. It turned out that it was a long way away. I told them to proceed independently as the signs to the gates are clearly marked.

After a long walk, I got to the gate first and proceeded to board the plane. I was shown to my seat whereupon I stowed my hand luggage away and waited for the rest to come. I asked a stewardess if they would wait for all the passengers to board before taking off, and she said yes. Bit by bit, the team came on board and soon everyone was on the plane. Take off finally occurred at 5:05pm, one hour later than the original scheduled time of 4:05pm.

The flight home was uneventful, thank God. I spent some time talking with Doreen about the trip, and about life in general.

Touching down at Changi, I led the team in prayer to thank God for bringing us safely home and for leading and guiding us during our mission trip. Then it was on to immigration, duty free, and baggage claim.

Some of the trippers left right away, taking their belongings. By the time I got to the luggage claim belt, everyone more or less had their personal belongings. Some of us would be taking a hired bus back to church, the same bus that had brought us to the airport the week before.

Those of us who followed the bus had a nice ride back to church. Once there, we unloaded the bus. Acaan Jaey had come back earlier on a different flight, and she was there at the church to receive some bags which she had asked us to bring back for her.

Suddenly, Acaan Jaey asked me where her black bag was. I looked around and realised that we were one bag short. Another logistics failure, though in fairness it was impossible to do a luggage count at the belt given that we didn't know who had taken what away. I called the airport to see if it was there, and I was told that I had to check with Lost and Found. As my mum was at the church with the car, having sent Junwei to his auntie's place in Pine Grove, I drove with mum, back to Changi Airport where I tracked down the bag. Then I drove home.

End of Part Eight

Postscript:

Now, I know that I might have missed out mentioned some names, or that some names might have been mentioned only in passing. So now I will take soem time to talk about them.

Crystal was in my English teaching team. She also played guitar during the concert for some of the items. She's now been on 5 mission trips and now that she'll probably be going to another church, I hope she will still be able to join us for I believe she can take up bigger responsibilities in the future.

Yiwen was in the mime, and she also came up with the concept for the bookmark. It was nice that she came along this time as I haven't really been on many trips with her before.

Shawn had some difficulties during the trip, and also displayed some eccentric behaviour. But he made it through and if God calls him to go again, I'm sure he will.

Karen Lim was the medic. She performed this task reasonably well.

Nicholas was the much maligned logistics IC. I sometimes forget that this was only his second trip and with that in mind, I can forgive some of the mistakes he made. I am confident that he will continue to be an integral member of the new mission team movement in our church.

Ziping was helping the logistics crew. He was also a defacto guardian for Shawn during the trip. I was glad that Ziping came on this trip as I can see how he could play a role on future trips. He has been thinking about the logistics and how it could be improved. I will ask him to help me draft some standard operating procedures for mission trip logistics.

This mission trip was a really fruitful time for me. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to lead this team and I pray that God will use each of the team members to testify about how He is working in Thailand, that other church members will continue to be encouraged to join us on our mission trips. I also pray that God will continue to work in the lives of the people he has touched in Thailand, that people like Samakkee's wife, Gif, and Naam, will be built up in their faith, and that the many students to whom the Gospel was preached will one day have an opportunity to come to know the Lord that we know.

To God Be The Glory!