It was back then when I was in the first country I visited alone, trying become all brave and explore the town by myself. I forgot, though, whether this story happened when I was in Bangkok alone or when I was staying with my friends but just got separated after visiting the Grand Palace. It was Ramadhan, and up until midday I succeeded in not breaking my fast (as what I didn't do a week earlier while visiting Ayutthaya - my lame excuse: it was unbelievably hot and I was going to climb the very high stairs!). That day I was very determined to keep on fasting as far as I could hold it.
Since most of my friends that visited the Grand Palace wanted to have lunch, I told them I wanted to go to Wat Pho alone, and they could just eat their lunch peacefully without me sitting around there not eating (with a look of jealousy lol). So yeah, I walked towards Wat Pho with a mobile Google Maps in my hand (seriously you could almost always trust Google Maps!). Around 20 minutes later, I arrived at the road which Wat Pho is on the other side of it. I walked slowly across the street, but my eyes were fixed to a row of drink seller in front of Wat Pho's gate. Seriously, they sold everything - iced coconut drink, fresh, colourful, and glowing fruits - that made me so frustrated lol. But I kept on walking, passed them and directly went to the gate.
Finally I sat at one of the bench near the ticket box and tried to contact my friends - my other friends, not them in the Grand Palace - and they said they would come to me at Wat Pho in just a few minutes. So I decided to wait for them before buying the ticket and just sat there watching people over. I was thinking that Bangkok indeed has many great tourist spots, and what's better is that the facilities for the tourists are well-provided, making the tourists all convenient to go anywhere. One of the transportations, which also I really like, Sky Train, is very easy and efficient to use. It takes you almost to all tourist attractions in Bangkok! So you don't need to be afraid to get lost when you're in Bangkok, since the transportations are every where to help you back to your hotel.
The tourists also came from various countries: I could see beautiful colour every where! Two young girls with a smartphone of popular Asia brand came to me and asked my help to take their photo in front of the gate with two big statues on each side of it. I agreed, and took two photos for them. They seemed not so satisfied with the photos, though, that they asked me to take once more. Third photo was apparently good enough, so they thanked me and went to the other side of the temple.
I sat back to the bench again, watching people walked in front of me with most of them bringing food or (very tempting) cold drinks in their hands. Again I was thinking to break my fast immediately - I mean, look at those refreshing cola they hold! And that tasty green mangoes coated with sugar! But I had made a pledge *lol again* to resist all those temptations and instead focus to succeed fasting until dark. So I tried to busy my head with thinking about something else. About my friends who hadn't arrived though it's already one hour after they said they were on their way. It's because of the traffic jam, I guess, since they used taxi to reach Wat Pho.
When I was browsing through the pictures in my pocket camera, suddenly a brunette woman, perhaps on her late sixties, sat at the bench on my left side. She wore casual clothes, and looked all alone by herself. While resting on the bench, she also observed the people walking near her. A minute later, she turned her head to me and asked,
"Are you fasting? It's Ramadhan, right?"
I looked at her, smiled, and nodded. "Yes."
We chatted a bit, until she asked me where I came from. I answered, and she looked a bit surprised.
"Really? But your English is so good for an Indonesian."
I laughed, but actually wanted to say that it's not necessarily true. No, not actually. Hey, the others are very good too! You should know more about them, then.
"I have an uncle and he's a Muslim, too. But he doesn't fast at all!" said her while shaking her head.
"Really?" I responded.
"Yeah... and he drinks too! I really don't understand him. We told him not to drink but..."
I sighed upon hearing her story. Wow, so it means this old woman must had a not-so-good impression of my religion.
"But its' actually an obligation, right, to fast?"
I said yes and explained several things to her about Ramadhan and fasting. She seemed interesting to listen until the very end.
"Yeah I thought you Muslims are very strong, you can go through the day without eating and drinking! That's really awesome," said her with a smile on her face.
I nodded, pleased to hear her saying.
After several more talks, she said that she wanted to go inside the temple again and waved goodbye.
I thanked her, which I guess I shouldn't supposedly do. But talking with her had made me feel better, and somehow I believe that it's a way of Allah saying to me to hang on a little longer (you know... those earlier temptations I was talking about lol). It was my first time doing Ramadhan fasting in a country which Muslims are not the majority of people, and I didn't have any one to share my you-can't-eat-anything-at-all-yet experience, so I was kinda proud of myself when I got back to Angthong later that day and told my host family that I was still fasting.
About the old friendly woman I met at Wat Pho, well, I actually always believe on coincidental things like that. We can talk every thing to Him directly every where and every time. All we have to do is ask, and He somehow always has a way to reply our du'a. Not directly, but in a way that we could know, feel, and understand, that He always listens to us.
