Monday, March 22, 2010

BANGKOK

Early this morning we flew NOK Airlines (appropriately meaning "bird") from Trang back to Bangkok. While the rest of the team decided that they wanted to do some last minute shopping in Bangkok, I decided that my luggage couldn't fit even a credit card into their bulging sides.

The one suitcase that I had left home with a month ago with I believed to be extra space in it, had now become two fully loaded suitcases. The gifts that I had received from Thai Rotarians, individually small in monetary value, but with a lot of sentimentality attached to them for me, challenged my packing skills. Framed objects covered with glass had to be carefully wrapped in towels that I normally would have discarded. Gifts that I had purchased for family and friends, which seemed small enough when I bought them, seemed to take on lives of their own as I tried to find room for them.

Since we had to get up at 2:30 the next morning for our 30-hour flight from Bangkok to Tokyo to Chicago to Roanoke, I decided to use my time in Bangkok to reflect on the past month, during which we had journeyed some 2,000 miles in Thailand .

We had traveled from Bangkok to Suphanburi and seen the wonderous old capital of Thailand, Ayutthaia. We had been to Kanchanburi, saw the River Khwae and re-lived its infamous history.At Ratchaburi we inched our way through the longboats at the Floating Market and then, suffered the discomfort of our nine-hour "sleeper" train down to Surithami. We lounged on the lovely beach at Koh Samui At Nakhon Si Thammarat we went from having our feet massaged by fish to, the darkness of the bird's nest warehouse to the serenity of the Wat Mahatat and at Songkhla we witnessed a little piece of Europe with the statue of a mermaid in the harbor.

We had visited municipal offices, schools and universities, hospitals and engineering projects. We had shared our lives with the lives of people half a world away, with neither they nor we having a firm grasp of the other's language yet each having a better understanding as to who we all were.

We had visited with Rotarians from twenty-nine Rotary clubs, shared their marvelous food and laughed, danced and sang with them, and in doing so met the First Object of Rotary -- the development of aquaintance as an opportunity for service.

Finally, the past month has brought five strangers from different backgrounds together as a Team. We worked hard together and played joyfully together. We took care of each other if the exhaustion of the pace and the heat caused spirits to sag and pulled together to make the GSE experience successful. To Amanda Compher, Brooke Conover, Jennifer Green and Kip Mumaw I owe my gratitude for making my job as Team Leader so very, very easy.

I would also like to thank Ernie Bentley and Quanchai Laohaviraphab, the respective District GSE Chairs from Districts 7570 and 3330, for all their hard work, preparation and assistance in contributions to the success of the GSE trip to Thailand. They are accomplished professionals and a joy to work with.

And lastly, I would like to thank The Rotary Foundation, without whose inspiration and support the GSE program would not have been possible. The program is an important cog in the Rotary wheel -- bringing people together to promote a world of understanding, respect and, hopefully, peace.