On the Road… – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Bangkok Trip–Friday

I spent the day from 7:50 AM to 3:40 PM at BNH Hospital today, going through all the tests and procedures for a medical check-up program. They are thorough!

In a taxi going to BNH Hospital early in the morning, I saw a familiar scene–the masses of overhead electrical wires on all the streets, just like Phnom Penh.

After a morning of tests, one after the other, I was in Dr. Irene’s office for the actual physical exam and she got called out for a consultation. That gave me a chance to look out her window at the surrounding buildings. They are fortunate to have a lot full of trees next door, on the grounds of an Anglican church.

Dr. Irene and Charlie. She is a fantastic doctor and a really good friend!

Bangkok Trip–Thursday

For almost 25 years I have been having an annual medical check-up at BNH Hospital in Bangkok and today I flew to that city for an appointment tomorrow. Immediately after passing through passport control, the new arrivals encounter this display set up to honor the King of Thailand.

I took a bus from the airport to the Victory Monument and then got a taxi to the Maryknoll house where I am staying. I was trying to keep track of the taxi meter but the driver had so many Buddhist amulets and medallions hanging in front of it that I could almost never see it.

Fr. John Barth is living and working from the Maryknoll office in Bangkok. He and I used to live together in Phnom Penh when he was assigned to Cambodia. Today we had a meal together and caught up on all that is going on in the Maryknoll world.

A commitment

Today Sr. Bernadette Pheng Sreymom professed her perpetual vows as a Salesian sister. The ceremony was in Kampong Cham, her home province, and many people from Phnom Penh and other provinces came to show their support and appreciation.

For the ceremony large tents were set up to accommodate the hundreds of sister colleagues and friends from the north and south of Cambodia.

I believe Sr. Bernadette is the second Cambodian young woman to become a Salesian sister. She is assigned to the Tuol Kork community so I have known her there where I go for mass on Monday mornings.

A very joyous group gathered to be with Sr. Bernadette as she took her final vows.

Bishop Suon Hangly, the prefect of the Kampong Cham diocese, received Sr. Bernadette’s vows for the church.

Priests Retreat — Day 1

Today about 60 priests from Cambodia gathered at the Catholic center in Sihanoukville on the coast for a week of retreat.

Four of us drove down together but before we left Phnom Penh we had lunch at an NGO restaurant where we ran into some lay missioners.

Arriving at the center at St. Michael Church, our group checked the room list to see which building they would sleep in.

At 5:30 PM we had a short opening ceremony which featured a musical group composed of quite young children who played traditional instruments and danced.

The three bishops and retreat leader and our host priests sat at a head table for the music and dancing and introductions.

The young women in black and white are students from the food and beverage training program at the Salesian school where I have mass on Monday mornings. They are getting practical experience working this retreat.

Still growing….

When I first started flying to Bangkok in 1980s, the old Don Muang airport was a bit dowdy but served well. Then the new Suvarnabhumi Airport was build, relegating Don Muang to a domestic and no-frills airport.

Coming back from Bangkok last, there is now a no-frills S terminal at Suvarnabhumi and it is top-notch. It’s got all the shops and glitz and gardens. Just no people. It just opened and the carriers haven’t moved all their flights there.

It’s nice but it took almost twenty minutes to get there, even with a train ride, from the main Suvarnabhumi terminal.

Panthip Plaza

In the past, a must-do on every trip to Bangkok was a visit to Panthip Plaza, a large multi-storey mall filled with computer vendors. Covid basically wiped out Panthip Plaza, though, and like so many other businesses, it has not seen a return of all the former vendors nor the former customers.

Previously five floors of computer, printers, and every imaginable accessory attracted customers like me looking for gadgets. On my trip to Bangkok last week, I made a trip to Panthip Plaza where now the top two floors are partially refilled with computer shops while the bottom three floors are vacant.

Before, many of the shops were just open areas with cardboard boxes full of all sorts of accessories spread over the total floor area. Now more of the shops are more formally arranged and there is not nearly the foot traffic there used to be. I was able to find what I was looking for, though–an extra power supply for an Asus laptop.

Back in Bangkok

I’m sorry for the week-long hiatus! The first part of this month has been crazy. Last Sunday I flew to Bangkok for my annual physical exam on Monday. They saw a spot on my lung and that required going back for more tests on Tuesday, but in the end the lung specialist said it’s probably an old infection and just check on it in a year.

Adding more complexity to the week was my seeming to have the flu while there and feeling miserable. That finally started turning around Wednesday morning and today (Thursday) I feel just about normal.

At BNH Hospital, I had to take the elevator to the 4th floor several times and noticed this admonishment on the elevator button panel, telling people not to bring durian fruit into the hospital. For those who don’t know, durian is a large Asian fruit with a thick prickly hull. It is noted for “Tastes like heaven, smells like hell,” and is also banned from all Asian airlines because of the sharp pungent odor.

Lost Things

1. This week I lost Wednesday. I got on a plane in New York at 8:00 PM Tuesday night and flew to San Francisco to change to a plane to Taiwan. I left San Fran at 00:25, a little after midnight, the beginning of Wednesday, and when I got off the plane in Taipei it was Thursday morning at 5:36 AM. I was on terra firma for 25 minutes on Wednesday. Due to 550 MPH ground speeds and crossing ten time zones, the rest of that day was in the air.

2. I had an impressive visit to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City the day before I left and want to feature that here but somehow in transferring the photos from my laptop to the desktop, they disappeared. I have hopes of recovering them for you to see.

New York #7

Most of the time I travel around New York City by subway but occasionally I’m in a bus where you get a whole different perspective. These are some photos from a bus as I was leaving Tuesday afternoon.