Before I begin the crazy list that displays our travel days, I want to pause and give praise and thanks to the Lord. This was the last of our “messy” travel days with trains, buses and taxis…from now on we will fly to Cambodia, the Philippines, and then of course, America.
We caught a bus and a few taxis between Chiang Mai and Bangkok. I was able to write two blogs, read some and eat a toasted ham and cheese from the 7-Eleven. That was pretty much the summary of our 12-hour trip. I also watched Pirates of the Caribbean in Thai with English subtitles. Captain Jack Sparrow just doesn’t sound the same as an Asian man. Anyway…
During our time in Bangkok, Kelly and Ben worked really hard to find tickets and came up against many obstacles from the ticket website to having to find a place to scan and fax information. After praying over our travel we were able to find a train to somewhere near the Thailand/Malaysia border. There was no way to book anything past that point.
We set out on the first train and Deepest Roots ended up in first class! There were beds for each of us and a spacious (by World Race terms) compartment to spread out and be comfortable. We even had a movie night before bed!
When we got off the first train we were able to walk literally about 25 yards to the bus station, buy tickets and find lunch in less than an hour. The bus took us through the border and into Kuala Lampur.
From there we simply walked into the bus station, called our contact, and easily obtained more tickets to Ipoh. McDonald’s was right across the street so we even got a decent meal (I didn’t say healthy…but it’s not cookies and chips) before catching our bus. What was supposed to be a 3 hour bus ride turned into 2.5 hours, even with a 30 minute rest break. The bus man came back to tell us we were already there and we all jumped up from our naps to grab our bags.
Even though we were let off at a sketchy sidewalk, the Lord provided sanctuary for us at 1:36am. I saw the golden arches and we began the trek down the street to the conveniently located 24-hour McDonald’s. Not only did we get some ice cream at 2am (we had to look like legitimate customers and not wandering vagabonds, of course) but there was free wi-fi! Pastor picked us up shortly after and we got to rest some in the church before having noodles for breakfast.
I realize how many times I have taken the Lord’s goodness for granted. He provided so many things and set things in motion these past 48 hours. I had a wonderful pillow on the bus, the train had AC, we always had water and there was space to spread out my journal, Bible, iPod, whatever. I don’t ever want to forget what the Lord has done for us, or let it go unheard. So before I gave you all the details, I wanted to get that out. The Lord is always good and he always watches over his own!
So, here it goes…the details of our travel days. You guys probably wonder about all the random times and numbers. I’m a nerd and I actually do take out my notebook throughout the day to record. Hope you enjoy!
Monday, March 19th
- 12:05pm – Song Tao (taxi) to the train station in Bangkok.
- 1:03pm – Arrive at train station, set up camp with luggage, roam around to find food.
- 1:28pm – Lunch: bottled water, watermelon, “sausage roll” (aka hotdog in a fancy bun), and a mini waffle…all for under $2.
- 2:19pm – Board train and get excited about our first class cabin.
- 2:48pm – Leave the station.
- 3:17pm – Spread out my journal and Bible to read quite comfortably.
- 3:45pm – 4:35pm – quick nap/listen to iPod
- 4:45pm – Read some more.
- 5:45pm – Explore the train, visit the other team a few cars back.
- 6:30pm – 7:30pm – We’ll call this section “dinner adventures.” After nowhere to sit in the dining car and some attempts at getting food, we finally place our order. To avoid confusion, everyone orders cashew chicken and rice. We scrap all our leftover food money together and pile it on the table. The man comes back with 8 huge styrofoam boxes, packaging the orders of rice and chicken separately. Steph freaks out because this waste is bad for the environment. We head back to our car where Taryn is guarding our luggage.
- 7:35pm – Eat our dinner!
- 8:15pm – Set up a laptop on the sink corner and squeeze the four of us onto the bottom bunk for a movie.
- 10:35pm – brush teeth, wash face, brave the squatty potty that isn’t so stationary on a train if you know what I mean…
- 10:54pm – sleep on a comfy bed with a comfy pillow and a nice comfy blanket with a smile on my face.
Tuesday, March 20th
- 6:05am – Alarm. Wake up.
- 6:11am – Banana muffin and apple for breakfast.
- 6:59am – Steph finds out the ride will be 2 more hours. We were supposed to be off by 6:35am!
- 7:00am – 8:42am – nap time!
- 9:45am – off the train. Dilemma – need to find tickets for our next destination.
- 10:20am – Walk to bus station across the street, purchase tickets in two minutes.
- 10:30am – KFC. Proof that the Lord is good…at the previous 3 KFCs I had frequented in Thailand, none have had chicken tenders. I order them hesitantly, knowing for sure I’ll be rejected, only to find that they do in fact have some juicy pieces of chicken just for me!
- 11:14am – bus leaves, almost without two of our hungry friends.
- 11:20am – Read.
- 12:24pm – Music.
- 12:38pm – reach border. Out of bus to check passports and bags.
- 1:02pm – Lovely surprise…our visas are over one day because of our trouble buying train tickets on time. The “grace period” doesn’t count and everyone owes 500 baht. As a team we scrape together 1,000 baht with everyone chipping in. We still need 4,000 more for us and the other team. Brandon runs to find an ATM.
- 1:25pm – bus waiting for us. Thai people stare at us, the late troublemakers.
- 2:00pm – Welcome to Malaysia!! (Time change: 3:00pm.)
- 3:37pm – Movie with Kelly
- 5:30pm – Try to organize finances with currency exchange rates included. Snack on some awesome strawberry and creme cookies.
- 5:50pm – Music.
- 6:35pm – Rest stop. Exchange $6 in USD for some Malaysian Ringgit. Buy a Pepsi can.
- 6:55pm – Start a Beth Moore session from Passion. Accidently take a nap in the middle, but gain some tidbits of wisdom.
- 8:00pm – Music. I listened to a lot of music this trip. So good to just spend some time with the Lord in worship. A few times I wanted to bust out into song and realized how much I miss my own car and radio back home!
- 9:05pm – big lights and tall buildings. Kuala Lampur, Malaysia!
- 9:20pm – Bus station. Call our contact, easily find a bus that leaves by 11pm.
- 10:25pm – McDonald’s run. Full English menu!! Real ketchup!! Good meal.
- 11:00-pm – Leave station.
Wednesday, March 21st
- 12:24am – See creepy, crawly bugs on the window and my armrest. Accidently flick one toward the guy in front of me in a moment of panic. He doesn’t notice…
- 1:36am – Abrupt awakening by the bus man to let us know we’ve arrived early! He drops us off on the sidewalk, where my pack falls out of the luggage compartment.
- 1:59am – Taryn has talked with our pastor and we’ve walked down to seek refuge at a 24-hour McDonald’s that conveniently has free wi-fi and Mcflurries.
- 2:22am – Pastor Jack arrives to collect us along with all our gear.
- 2:42am – at Shalom church.
- 3:24am – sleep!
- 9:00am – breakfast of noodles, pork and wonton soup!
This month we may be traveling nomads. And I’m excited. Our first contact is having to deal with problems in his village, so we are here in Ipoh for now. Tomorrow we’re heading out to a village where we’ll stay a few days and then go to the next village. It will be an adventurous month to say the least, but there is so much room for the Lord to work when there’s no agenda. Probably won’t have much access to internet here, so I’ll update you when I can!
Also, it was Kelly who suggested we make a “travel day video” for you folks, so this is our first attempt at one!
