15: missions accomplished

When Laura was in Bangkok, she became friends with a girl named Carter, who introduced her to two ministries: Second Chance Bangkok and Antique Cafe. I had never been, although Claire and Laura were big proponents of both. Today, Steph and I decided to try to find both of these locations and simultaneously knock out some Christmas shopping!

I wish I could take credit for our accomplished missions of the day... however, they would have been a complete failure without the many Thais who stopped to help, walk, talk and escort us around (sometimes in circles!) but eventually to where we needed to be. A big thank you to the lovely nationals, all 17+ of them, who helped us find these places.

Mission #1: Second Chance Bangkok- a ministry in the Klong Toey slums

Today was a comedy of poor directions. First there was our taxi driver who got us to the general vicinity of Second Chance, but said the address we had was for a region rather than a place. He gave up trying and dropped us off at this lovely green building, instead. The bright side? He gave us a discount on our taxi fare because he couldn't get us to the right location.

Inside the building (it seemed to be like a Thai-DMV), a team of no less than 5 green-shirted employees looked at our map, called numbers, and tried (with no success) to help us get to Second Chance. Finally, one of the men drew a map and started talking in Thai to the women. I couldn't understand much, but he did say "not correct" three times... which of course, didn't inspire any confidence on my part. After that, two employees took us down to the street, (and, after talking with two women on the street) loaded Steph and I on the back of a moto (yes, all three of us on one moto) and off we went. He had to stop approximately three times to get directions... and eventually dropped us off in front of a building in Klong Toey that was not Second Chance and drove off. 

The two guards there tried to help us, too. By God's provision, one of the guards mentioned "Helping Hands" which is the parent ministry of Second Chance and name-dropped Poo (short for "Chompoo"), who works for HH in her ministry, "Cooking with Poo". After lots of nodding and "yes yes-ing", the guard walked us to her place. There, we explained our mission, as well as our twisted tail of failed attempts to the souvenir shop at Second Chance. 

[Cooking with Poo's Culinary School in the heart of the Klong Toey slums]

[Can you read the sign on the left? Gotta love a good pun!]

Poo was incredibly sweet and friendly. Her English was also excellent. She led us through the meandering slums back to the main street, flagged us two motos, and sent us on our way to Second Chance. I'm so thankful that God placed her there, and that she was willing to help us!!

[Poo leading the way!]

Once we arrived to Second Chance, it took a couple more tries to get upstairs to the souvenir shop. However, the employees were very gracious and allowed us to go shopping, even though it was past closing time (our trip there ended up taking 3.5 hours... whoops).

I don't want to post any big spoiler pictures of my purchases, as Christmas is coming and some of my readers will be receiving gifts from there... but I will share one picture. Below (left) is a Christmas card made out of recycled fabric and paper. The employees of Second Chance up-cycle donated items and resell them. Cute, right?

If you are in the Bangkok area and want to go gift shopping, they will be selling items at the Sirikit Convention Center on Dec 11th.

Mission #2: Antique Cafe

I won't bore you with more details of our lost cabbie, confused moto drivers and random valet who eventually helped us find the Cafe... (Although I am going to include directions for future sojourners!) While we did find it, it had, unfortunately, closed an hour before we arrived. Perhaps I'll try this one another time!

[Ride the BTS to Phrom Phong, take Exit 5 and continue down the street (in the direction it pops you out) for about a 5-7 minute walk]

[When you see Au Bon Pain, on your right-side, turn right.]

[When you see this sign on your left-hand-side, turn left]

[Antique Cafe will be on your left. Warning: They close early, and aren't open on the weekends!]