Thailand has been a kingdom since the 13th century, has the longest reigning monarchy, and never been ruled by a Western power.  Thailand is a Buddhist state but they do have freedom of religion.  Only one percent are Christian, but it is growing.  The Thai culture is tolerant and relaxed, and I found the people to be very polite on my visit there.  The young people like American things – music, clothes, shopping, but there are not many American women who visit there, and so my female co-workers and I quickly became a tourist attraction on our visit.  People were eager to ask us about American movies, especially Elvis and John Wayne, and they asked my co-worker, who is African-American, […]
Before leaving on my trip to Bangkok, Thailand, I asked God to show me His people while I was there (“I have many people in this city”).  Bangkok is a Buddhist city of 8.5 million people and less than 1% are Christian.  A couple of days into my trip, I wandered into this shop.  I had found the 1%. I asked the young Thai girl in the shop about the Jesus picture hanging on the top shelf.  With very broken English, she told me she was Christian. Wanting to know more, I asked her if she attended the Catholic church I saw down the street. She said no, she was Christian (probably indicating Protestant) and she gave the name of her church but I couldn’t understand.  […]
My first experience after arriving in Bangkok was the taxi driver who was taking me from the airport to my hotel, at 1 AM, after having been in an airplane for 24 hours.  He got us lost.  We wandered through the dark and narrow one-way streets of Bangkok, circling around and around, looking for my hotel.  It is supposed to be a large, well-known American hotel chain.  How could he not find it?  “It must be on a main road,” I said.  “I’m sure there is a large entrance sign leading up to it…”, my voice trailing off as I look around at the streets that appear to be nowhere close to where we should be.  That was my first cultural surprise.  I was expecting large […]

Subscribe to Blog

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive new posts by email.

About the Author

Sue McCusker is a writer, Bible teacher, and web developer who loves to share the stories of life, hope, and faith she sees around her every day. She has written for Guideposts and Angels on Earth magazines, and teaches the story of God in women's Bible study.