January 5,

We got up and readied, having our Javas and light breakfast. It was yogurt and two free steamed buns from yesterday. While we were waiting for one of our Bolt rides, a lady was motioning for food to us. We thought she was offering a restaurant to us, so we declined. Then she left but came back with four-3 inch steamed buns, and handed them to us for free!🤯😯  I don’t know what it was all about, but we thanked her and took them. Anyway, the rice steamed buns were filling and decent tasting. They had a bit of BBQ(?) beef or pork in them.

Around 1030, we hired a Bolt to go to ECB, Evangelical Church of Bangkok. This is the church we had found and went to last July/August when we were here in Bangkok. The service was just as packed, worshipful, and good as we remembered. God is present here! The worship part was 25 minutes long. The pastor that spoke is Chilean and moved about with his missionary parents in his late teens: then he moved and pastored a church in Texas for awhile, starting his own family, thinking he was establishing roots there. But lastly he was called/transferred here. This is a large church and he is one of at least four pastors. The sermon he gave is starting a series, Treasures of the Journey, referring to our journey with Christ.

After services we got on the Sky train, or the BTS. We arrived at a stop close to Phil coffee, and got off walking the small distance. I had bought coffee here before. When we arrived inside Phil’s, I could not remember which coffee I had bought. I narrowed it to between two of them, so I just chose one, and had them grind the coffee beans. Coffee in hand, we walked across the street, literally, to a Greek place, called Helena Greek Kitchen. We did not eat here last time, because the times I had got coffee before, the restaurant was not open. We decided on appetizer type foods. We split an order of Tzatziki (which is a yogurt sauce with cucumber, garlic, dill, and olive oil) with pita, and an order of Dolmades (which is grape leaves stuffed with meat, rice and herbs). Jeff had a Greek lemonade and I had a house Greek white wine… it was all enjoyable and so good. Finished we paid 1100 Baht ($31.77) and hired a ride back to our place.

Now we just relaxed. I blogged and Jeff read. Around 1600 we were hungry, having only had two light meals we were ready for supper! Jeff had spied a Sri Lankan place, called Manel Lanka Restaurant- Original Sri Lankan Food. It’s only two blocks from us, so we walked there. The area we are in is very Indian influenced – like a Little India in Bangkok, Thailand.🤣  When we walked in, we were the only foreigners, and everyone looked at us. We were directed to a table and given a menu. We ordered Chicken Koththu, and Set Menu Mutton, which included rice, Mutton Curry, Dhal Curry, X2 Veggie Curries (maybe a mushroom(?), and carrot), and Sambal. There was also a small bowl of salad, and fried crispy pita with the set menu. The very first taste of the food sent us back to Sri Lanka – as we had been sent back to Greece at lunch – this was only fitting, and much appreciated! We don’t find Sri Lankan food just anywhere!! We enjoyed it! Now we were satiated and full. But we could not finish the Koththu and opted to have the last of it boxed as take away. We paid 650 Baht ($18.77) for the whole dinner. Crazy! We had so much more food than at lunch and almost paid half of the price. It shows the difference in local verses touristy places. Anyway, we walked back to our place and unloaded the Koththu.

We decided to get more steps in and went walking at a very local shopping place. We had no intention of buying anything, but we ended up finding and buying the last of the stuff we needed! It was a fun experience, actually. We had a pleasant time. Jeff even – almost – toyed with the idea of getting a drone! We left and went back to our hotel.

We then talked with my mom on WhatsApp, and later we did Zoom with our church family in USA. Everyone talked of the blizzard conditions there! What an enjoyable day we had, but we felt bad for y'all and will be praying for y'all.