Ingenuity and creativity
Last night the home group I am part of went out to eat together. It was a really fun time had by all. But there was a downside. It took me 45 minutes to get to the restaurant. I could have walked in 30 minutes! This is one of the challenges of living in Bangkok. It's not just that traffic can throw you for a loop, but it's really unpredictable. People that left from the same part of town but five minutes earlier got there in 10 minutes.
The upside to the traffic jams is you get to watch as the motorcycles, pedestrians and everybody in-between seeks to navigate through the jam. In a car you are stuck. But there are things moving between the cars. Motorbikes weave their way through. Often with two, three and sometimes more passengers. Street vendors continue to push their carts along. The sidewalks become a mix of motorbikes, walkers, bicycles... I even saw two skateboarders last night.
One of the scariest scenes from last night was a bicycle. There was a guy on the seat with a woman standing on two metal bars which had been welded onto the back wheels. You see this sometimes on trick bikes. The ingenius (and really scary part) was they had two kids. The two year old was sitting on a modified seat that sits just in front of the handlebars. A dangerous as it sounds (and is) that's not uncommon in BKK. The other child though was sitting on mom's shoulders. Remember - mom is standing on the two metal bars that have been welded to the wheel. And my wife and I complain about our four-door car being too small?!
One of the things I love about city life and Bangkok has this going on in a big way is the pulse. There is always something happening. The craziness, the ingenuity, the creativity. To me all that's inspiring. I meet people who try to insulate themselves from that. They want a neat, clean, five star existence.
I heard from a friend yesterday that there were fires in Klong Toey Slum and that 300 homes burned. Pray for the people who lost their homes. Pray also for all the families of four that have to travel by bicycle. It's not safe. And finally, pray for those of us who have the means and are tempted to live lives insulated from the chaos - Jesus would have never done that!
The upside to the traffic jams is you get to watch as the motorcycles, pedestrians and everybody in-between seeks to navigate through the jam. In a car you are stuck. But there are things moving between the cars. Motorbikes weave their way through. Often with two, three and sometimes more passengers. Street vendors continue to push their carts along. The sidewalks become a mix of motorbikes, walkers, bicycles... I even saw two skateboarders last night.
One of the scariest scenes from last night was a bicycle. There was a guy on the seat with a woman standing on two metal bars which had been welded onto the back wheels. You see this sometimes on trick bikes. The ingenius (and really scary part) was they had two kids. The two year old was sitting on a modified seat that sits just in front of the handlebars. A dangerous as it sounds (and is) that's not uncommon in BKK. The other child though was sitting on mom's shoulders. Remember - mom is standing on the two metal bars that have been welded to the wheel. And my wife and I complain about our four-door car being too small?!
One of the things I love about city life and Bangkok has this going on in a big way is the pulse. There is always something happening. The craziness, the ingenuity, the creativity. To me all that's inspiring. I meet people who try to insulate themselves from that. They want a neat, clean, five star existence.
I heard from a friend yesterday that there were fires in Klong Toey Slum and that 300 homes burned. Pray for the people who lost their homes. Pray also for all the families of four that have to travel by bicycle. It's not safe. And finally, pray for those of us who have the means and are tempted to live lives insulated from the chaos - Jesus would have never done that!
