Bangkla: The Drive, The Hospital, and Home for the Next Two Weeks

One of my favorite things about my grandfather (though some family members don’t share my enthusiasm) is that he is a storyteller. With eighty years of life behind him, he has much to share with anyone who will listen. I don’t get much time to sit and listen to his stories but on our drive from Bangkok to Bangkla I am privileged to have the opportunity. As we drive west of the city I listen as he tells stories to Dui and then turns and translates the same story to me in the back seat. While listening I hear about how Thailand was when he first moved here and many of the changes that have taken place in the multiple decades since, with a short break to tell a story about his father, a Rice University track star and schoolteacher. When we arrived in Bangkla we go directly to the hospital a place of many stories of it's own.

I can’t articulate in words the significance and seeing the Hospital for the first time, it is considered hallowed ground on my mother’s side of the family (the equivalent of Bamalot on Dad’s). It is a place I have spent twenty-four years hearing about from my mother, aunts, and grandparents. What really is simply a clinic now, was once a hospital that my grandfather helped build. A place he and his family have served in off and on for the past fifty years. As we drive to the front of the building I immediately reach for my camera, wanting to document what I am seeing. We walk inside and meet many people whose names and faces will take a bit of time sorting out. As I hear my grandfather speak to many people in Thai, with the

smile of a six-year-old on his face, I hear the names Joel and Robin often in the conversation. More than once this is followed up with being told that I look like my mother. As I snap away pictures of the hospital and the people inside my grandfather participates in multiple conversations, taking breaks to explain to John Mark and I what is being said.

Behind the hospital is a row of townhouse type apartments, one of which has been set-aside for us to stay in over the next two weeks. The accommodation is older but I find myself partial to it. On the bottom floor is a living area and the kitchen. Upstairs are two bedrooms and a bathroom. John Mark and I put our stuff in the room with two twin beds and Granddaddy puts his things in the larger room that has a full size bed. While we are unloading our luggage from Dui’s van the woman living in the apartment to our right comes out to great us. She is older and I quickly find out that she was one of the cooks for my Mom’s family when she was growing up. We say goodbye to Dui, who is going to Singapore for a preaching conference, and make plans to contact Gift over skype. We make plans for dinner and decide to let the jet lag win the battle and take a few hours to rest in our home for the next two weeks.

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