Chapter 2

The following characters appear in the first few chapters:

Pongpen

The driver who took them to the Wat, an older well dressed Thai woman with a fairly new car

Sergeant Irvine

Sergeant First Class, new NCOIC of the Special Forces house in Bangkok, 5’-11’ tall, 175 pounds, 32 years old, blue eyes, very short brown hair

SGM Sawyer

Command Sergeant Major of 46th Special Forces Group, only mentioned

Mike still has the Narrative

“When did you learn this?” I asked her in surprise.

“The Amulets told me just as Captain Pengdith was finishing,” she told me. The others here with us were again surprised on hearing this.

“How will you do this? Will you be leading a deployment of Rangers to the Golden Triangle? It will be a difficult assignment. The remains of the Chinese Nationalists, the Kuomintang (KMT), are still very strong there, plus there will be many drug-lords. The most notable being Li Wenhuan and Zhang Qifu and you’ll have their army of followers to deal with. They are all in the drug business now,” Captain Pengdith told us. (Historic note: Zhang Qifu will be better known as Khun Sa. He changed his name at a later date than this story.)

“No, I won’t be leading any Army units there. I’m retired from the Army now, or I will be in two weeks. We will need to find a way to do what the Amulets want without the help of the Army this time,” I told them.

“It’s not possible. You should not even try to do this without at least a battalion of soldiers and a company of Rangers. You will be murdered as soon as you begin. There is no one who will help you there,” Captain Pengdith told us in a knowing voice.

“That isn’t entirely true, Lergong,” Captain Paribetra told his fellow officer. “You were down south during the major incursion by the North Vietnamese on the 10th of March 1967. (See Amulets III for more information) My Company was sent to Luang Prabang, and my Platoon wound up supporting an American Special Forces Advisory Team in Houaphang Province. That Special Forces Team included a number of the people who also led the operation in the Shan States.

“That’s not the point that I want to make, however. There were also a large number of Hmong there who had been trained by the Thai Army to fight the Communists in Laos. They were the ones who initially stopped the Vietnamese incursion until help could arrive. They were very well trained and had been organized into units by the local leaders. There are still a lot of them in Upper Laos. It’s possible that some of them could be persuaded to help clean out those in the Golden Triangle, especially if the Amulets are the ones interested in seeing that done and help out. Remember what happened to those Chinese troops in the Shan States,” Captain Paribetra finished. Chanthra was smiling on hearing this.

“Yes, the Amulets will definitely be helping us. They are only waiting for us to arrive there and organize those who will be helping us,” she told all of us.

“How will you be traveling? If you aren’t in the Army any longer, you won’t be able to fly up there on an Air Force plane, and it’s a long drive just to Chiang Mai,” Captain Pengdith wanted to know. Chanthra smiled at the question.

“We will go by train. It will not be difficult,” she assured him.

“Yes, my cousin Suanee, Sergeant Baker’s Wife, and their Daughter plus Sergeant Tweed’s Wife and Daughter traveled there by train before we flew up to Chiang Rai. As I remember the story, they were able to get the train in Lop Buri. You could probably get it there also,” Captain Paribetra told us.

“Oh no, we will go to Bangkok to get the train to Chiang Mai and transfer to the Chiang Rai train in Lam Pang,” Chanthra told him with a smile after a short consideration.

“I haven’t been to Bangkok in a long time and want to see how it has changed,” she told him to a curious look from him. “It’s been some 36 years,” she added to their surprise. “I finished my studies there in 1934,” she added.

“Remember, they have both been moved through time by the Amulets,” Sergeant Sunsarn pointedly reminded them.

“We wish you good luck on your mission,” both Captains told us before exchanging greeting with us and departing. They were both still recovering from Sunsarn’s last statement. Sunsarn was still looking at us with concern after their departure.

“That is still a very ambitious undertaking,” he told us in a worried voice. “Are you sure that it is possible to accomplish this mission without the major help of the Thai Army?” he asked in a worried voice.

“We have already accomplished a very difficult mission with the help of the Amulets. I don’t believe that they would ask us to do something without their help. They can do many things that men can not, but they like to have others do much of the visible work while they take care of things in the background,” Chanthra told him with another smile before we vanished to return to the yard in front of our house.

“Are you sure there is enough time for this trip to Bangkok?” I asked when we arrived in the front yard.

“Yes, my darling. There is plenty of time. The Amulets assured me of this while we were at the museum. That is why I paused before answering the Captain’s question,” Chanthra told me.

“I am most interested in seeing how Bangkok has changed since I was last there. It has been many years,” she reminded me.

“Yes,” I thought to myself, “she was last there in 1934 and Bangkok had changed a lot since then. It will have changed even in the four years since I was there last.” In the meantime, Chanthra had gone into the house, and I could hear her calling Yuang.

“Yuang, we need to start packing. We will be leaving for Krung Thep (Bangkok) shortly,” she told our house-girl.

“Am I losing my job, or am I to remain here?” Yuang asked in a worried voice.

“Oh no, dear. You will be going with us. Later, we will be going to Chiang Rai also. From there I am not sure where we will go,” Chanthra told our surprised employee.

“But who will watch the house while we are gone? Someone could move in and destroy things, or even sell the house,” Yuang worried.

“Do not worry, dear. The Amulets will protect our house while we are away. No one will be able to gain access to it,” Chanthra assured the young woman in a cheerful voice.

I in the meantime was coming to grips with the realization that I would need to move my pistols and their ammunition plus my uniforms and other military gear and equipment with us while we were traveling. I wasn’t sure how we could do that without coming to the attention of either the Thai military or the police, as I was no longer in the military, and they were very likely to have a dim view of me having all of that. I would need to speak to Chanthra about this.

Meanwhile, there were travel arrangements to make. We would need to check on what train went all of the way to Bangkok, and what time it left. Fortunately, I did know about a few of the hotels in Bangkok. We would also need to withdraw sufficient money to live on while traveling and for the work in the Golden Triangle. There was a branch of my bank in Bangkok where I could withdraw sufficient funds for that.

Later that day, I spoke to Chanthra about my misgivings about carrying all of the weapons, equipment, and supplies with us that we would need to operate in the Golden Triangle.

“Do not worry, my Mike. The Amulets will move most of the things that we need for us. Did they not move your gun to your hand when we visited the governor, and did they not watch over our things before we moved to the house and while we were there? Also, they moved the buildings that the men lived in and the one where you kept their guns,” she reminded me. (See Amulets V for more on these things)

“Yes, I remember all of that, but that was in Thailand. Will they be able to do that in the Golden Triangle?” I asked.

“Yes, my Mike. They are very powerful and can see things in many places. Not just here in Thailand but in Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Viet Nam, and even in China and many other places. Do not worry. They will also take care of our house here in Korat,” she told me.

“When should we leave then?” I asked her.

“We will leave when WE have gathered the things that we will use on this mission. I have things to collect also, plus there are things that Yuang will need. We will leave on the 9:00 o’clock train as it goes all of the way to Bangkok. Do you know any hotels in Bangkok where we can stay? I’m sure the city has changed much since I left there,” she told me.

“Yes, I know several hotels there where those in the military stay. There are others near them where some of their dependents or girlfriends stayed where we will be able to get rooms,” I assured her.

It required several days to acquire the things that we thought we would need. Korat has a thriving black-market in new and used military goods, if one knows where to look and who to talk to. Somehow, Chanthra had learned where to go and who to talk to. I suspected that the Amulets had told her these things. In any case, we soon had the things that we felt we would need for the upcoming operation, at least for the start of it. I was sure there would be other things that we would eventually need.

On the evening of the fourth day after the meeting with the Ranger Captains, all of the things that we had obtained vanished from our house.

“Tomorrow we will ride the train to Bangkok. While there, I will need to visit Wat Tai Yacum to speak to the present leaders of our religious order. Mike, you will need to wait in Bangkok, as men are not allowed to stay at the Wat. I will take Yuang with me so she can be introduced to the Amulets. She will study with me to become a member of the Wat while we travel. When we are finished, we will see about leaving for Chiang Rai,” Chanthra told me, but I had questions.

“How long will you be at this Wat?” I asked.

“The Amulets told me that we would be there for three days or so. There will be many questions about what occurred while we were back in time. I have been assured that things will be alright,” she told me in an uneasy voice. Following that, we all showered separately before seeking our beds for the night.

We were up early the next morning, and had the remains of last night’s dinner for breakfast. We had packed nearly everything yesterday and only needed to add a few last minute things. Yuang washed the dishes and set them out to dry. Chanthra emptied the ice out of the refrigerator and dried it out, leaving it open, while I checked all of the windows. We were soon ready to leave. Most of our things were in a pile in the middle of the main room. We were only taking our backpacks with us. They contained our extra clothes and a few other essentials. Chanthra closed and locked the door before we set off.

At the main road, we got a baht-bus that took us into the center of Korat where we transferred to another one to travel up to the main railroad station, which is known as the ’SA-than-nee rot-fie’ in Thai. (Baht-buses are small pickup trucks that have seats added to the bed and an overhead cover. They are an inexpensive means of travel for short distances in Thailand.) We arrived at the station early since transportation schedules in Thailand had to be taken with a grain of salt. Still, your chosen form of transportation was more likely to be late rather than early, but you couldn’t be sure of that. It was more likely to be early if you were running late than the other way around.

Chanthra purchased tickets for herself and Yuang for only a few Baht each, as they are Thai citizens. Because I am a ’fa-rung’, a foreigner or non-Thai, mine cost fifty Baht even after presenting my military ID card. Still, it was only $2.50 American in 1970 dollars, which really isn’t much.

Naturally, the train was late. It was a rather old diesel unit consisting of four coaches with the lead car having the power unit. It was reasonably clean, but the seats were a bit hard. We hadn’t minded it being a bit late as there were many peddlers at the station with fruit and other things to eat for sale plus the usual iced cola and Fanta to drink.

The train was a local and not an express and stopped at every station on the way to Bangkok for at least a short time. There were many peddlers who boarded the train at each station with food and drinks for sale. The trip to Bangkok took a bit over seven hours.