The Journey Pen: Ruins and Radios

Waterfalls in Lan Sang National Park

After leaving Lan Sang, Heather and I went to eat at a restaurant. We asked for food but they shook their heads and pointed in a different direction. It was early so we assumed they opened later and continued walking. Then a young girl called us back saying they’d cook for us and they sure did. We enjoyed two fantastic omelettes. Afterwards, we went to pay but they wouldn’t accept it because we weren’t actually at a restaurant... we were at someone’s house! So instead they took pictures and laughed at us.

Sukhotai

It was about a 10 km bike ride from the ancient city of Sukhotai to the present city which has a population of 37,000. We biked along the highway. Now in Thailand they have a tradition that when you see a foreigner you honk the car horn as loud as you can. I no longer like that tradition...

It was Sunday so we biked to the only church in Sukhotai. The convenient thing about having only one church in town is that you simply type in church under destinations on google maps and you have directions to church.

The congregation had about 15 adults and a whole bunch of children. The only person who spoke a little broken English told Heather and I that they've set up a Christian radio station and are broadcasting to the people in Sukhotai. I was quite impressed as that is a large undertaking for a small church.

Then came my startling radio experience in Tak. Heather and I were at our favourite restaurant when all of a sudden the Christian song Dare you to Move by Switchfoot started playing on the radio. I was thrilled and without thinking ran to the waitress and asked in English what radio station was playing. The waitress burst out laughing because she thought I suddenly had the urge to buy a radio and happily told me hers was a Sony.

Sukhotai was the first Thai kingdom, and where one of Thailand’s four great kings reigned from. His name was king Ramkamhaeng. He spread Theravada Buddhism throughout Thailand and also commissioned the creation of the Thai alphabet. There is a large statue of him at the world heritage site. I arrived at the statue and was looking at it when a few other men arrived. Then the men got down on their knees and started worshiping this dead king. They left and more adults started worshiping this statue and bringing their children to teach them to worship it as well. These people truly worship man made statues. Quite glad that my God cannot be contained in a statue, or even a temple as the song “Cannot Keep You” by Gungor so powerfully expresses.