Hot Wheels

 

Our Hot Wheels in Bangkok

The Hot Wheels toy cars were first sold in 1968. Our first set of wheels in Thailand were a little newer than that, but certainly HOT!  Our wheels were HOT, not because of a big engine or great styling but because they had no air conditioning in a tropical, concrete jungle.

Sure, by 1982, air conditioning was getting to be pretty common in cars all around the world, including Thailand. But as it was explained to us, Thailand missionaries were traditionally frugal to the extreme and air conditioning was an expensive option. So, “AC? Forget it!” Maybe more importantly, missionaries were not wimps! We were there to relate to the people and the people lived in the tropics and the tropics were hot. So, “Heat? Deal with it.” Apparently, no AC was to be part of our training (though we did notice those telling us this were driving air conditioned cars).

We didn’t mind as we felt fortunate to even have access to a vehicle. As I recall, it had been bought when TBMF (the Baptist Mission) had been involved with a program at the Kamput Refugee Camp on the Thai/Cambodian border. That work was winding down and the pickup truck was no longer needed. So, it was given to us to use while we were in Bangkok. We were doubly fortunate to be in Thailand at this time as the Mission was still providing vehicles for their missionaries. It was fitting as travel was an integral part of the mission work of most, maybe all of the missionaries. This was also though, early in the trend in the US where “institutions” including denominations were becoming less popular, less trusted, and less funded. Mission programs like ours, supported by a denomination were already starting to get financially “pinched”. As we left Thailand in 2006, not many missionaries were getting vehicles supplied unless they raised the funds themselves or could get a grant.

As for the air conditioning scene in 1982, missionaries were starting to notice that among those who drove anywhere, the Baptists were the only ones sweating. Everyone else, including the local people, already had air conditioning in their cars so any new Baptist cars bought in Bangkok, wimpy or not, were now getting equipped with AC. Taxis at the time were also just starting to catch on to the world of AC. It seems the majority of our taxi rides during our early years in Thailand were either with the windows down in a generally dilapidated car or with a broken AC unit blowing hot air at us. The taxi situation has improved greatly through the years though, and it’s easy to get a nice ride now.

A bus caught mid-belch in Bangkok

But the worst part of driving in Bangkok in 1982 with the windows down was that invariably, at every traffic light or stoppage, our open window was lined up exactly with the tail pipe of an exhaust belching diesel bus. As the traffic would surge forward, the bus driver would put the pedal to the metal and a huge plume of thick, black, oily exhaust would be spewed directly into the cab of our pickup. In Bangkok style, we might go forward 100 yards until the next stoppage which would give the black exhaust in our cab time to fade to gray then we’d be lined up beside the same tailpipe again primed for our next dose. There was nowhere to hide. Sure, we could roll up the window to block a bit of the black belch but with 100 degrees in the shade and the tropical sun baking the concrete road and buildings, in tropical humidity it was no escape.

So, we were choosy about where and when we drove our pickup truck and it did come in handy at times. Driving it in Bangkok was also a good start to figuring out the local traffic patterns and how to fit into them although, Marcia didn’t want to try it. She started driving when we went to Chiang Mai. While in Bangkok, we did bump into a motorcycle once returning home from teaching English. He fell over, got up and drove away before we had time to react so I guess we didn’t do much damage or maybe he was running from something. As far as I recall, that was the only traffic accident we had (except we hit a couple dogs in later years if that counts) in all our years in Thailand. Thank you, Lord! We were truly blessed to have vehicles to use and truly blessed that we were kept safe.