So here I am, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
As many of you know, Thailand is the country that I have
been the most excited about visiting- particularly for the bar ministry. So I am ridiculously excited to
be here- I keep tearing up when I think about how lucky I am.
Getting here was a bit of a whirlwind- and an adventure, and
I would like to tell you about it.
We left Phnom Penh Monday the 14th (Valentine’s
Day!). We got to the airport in
the early evening and after checking our bags, we boarded our short flight to
Singapore. We had an 8 hour
overnight layover in the Singapore airport. After buying what seemed to be the MOST EXPENSIVE Subway sub
on Earth (because I did not yet realize that there is a Singapore dollar- and
it is different form the US Dollar-even though they use the same dollar symbol!),
I decided to explore. My sister
Erin’s favorite flower is the Orchid, so I made sure to get over to the Orchid
Garden to take pictures for her.
The highlight of the airport for me was the FREE foot
massage machine thing. It was
sweet. I don’t have a picture to
include because I was basically catatonic afterwards and didn’t really think
about it! I spent my final hour in
the airport sleeping on the floor.
For once, I thought ahead and brought my sleeping bag! Score! It was surprisingly comfortable. Or maybe I was just exhausted since it was 4:00 AM?
So the next morning we all boarded our flight to Bangkok and
I slept like a baby. We arrived
about 2 hours later, cleared customs, and went to baggage claim where we
encountered a fun surprise. NO
BAGS! Apparently we were supposed
to get them in Singapore and move them over to our next flight. That makes sense since we were
traveling between 3 countries… however, in order to have done that, we would
have had to clear customs in Singapore, and pay $40 for a visa just to go to
baggage claim and get out bags to return back into the gate and continue with
our 8 hour lay over. Thankfully,
by now I have had so many traveling mishaps over the years that I found this to
be pretty funny. I had packed my
toothbrush, some baby wipes and a change of undies in my carry on- so I at
least got to have a quick ‘field shower’ and freshen up a bit. It could have been so much worse.
From the airport we went to the YWAM base in Bangkok where
they let us chill for the day in their conference room. Everyone else went to get food, but I
was so tired (from my night of airport exploration and not of sleeping!) that I
pulled out my sleeping bag and slept on the floor. Later on I got a great blueberry banana smoothie and some
Pad Thai before heading to the bus station.
We were scheduled to take an overnight bus, which Cameron
(who has been on the full World Race before) said was pretty sweet. As we were riding in the back of a pick
up truck (called a “Sum Tao”) to the bus station, I was getting really
sad. I seem to miss Jaimie the
most on travel days- and I think it is because he and I love to travel together
so much. Also, when we are
changing countries, it is obviously a time of transition, and the lack of
stability makes me miss my Jaimie, my rock, all of the more. Katie noticed that I was getting a
little misty eyed, so she held my hand in that Sum Tao all the way to the bus
station. I love how our team is
starting to notice the little things about each other- and how to be there for
each other when we are hurting.
Cameron was NOT KIDDING about these busses. There is so much leg room between the
seats! And you can recline really
far! And… AND they feed you! This was the most luxurious means of
traveling for us thus far on the Race!
Right behind me was a Buddhist monk. I know that as a woman I am not allowed to touch him at all
or he will be considered “unclean” and I am pretty sure he would have to do a
whole ceremonial purification ritual or something. So I asked him if it was okay if I reclined my seat back, just
to make sure that he was out of “accidental touching” range. He said it was fine, and he was very
nice. All of us girl started
asking him about what it was like to be a monk, and other ‘monky
‘questions. He told us that there
are 217 rules that he has to follow (including ‘no dinner for monk’). It made me sad for him- to be trapped
in a religion with all LAW and no LOVE.
What is Buddha going to do when the crap hits the fan in his life? Where is the relationship? It just seemed like a very lonely way
to go about things.
We arrived in Chiang Mai around 6:30 AM, where one of our
ministry contacts picked us up and brought us to the guesthouse we are staying
in. We slept for a couple of
hours, but all had to be ready at 9:30 to go to a meeting with a different
ministry contact. The good news
about losing your bags? You don’t
have to worry about taking a shower- because you don’t have any soap, so you
get a few more minutes of sleeping time!
Score! We ended up getting
our bags and in orientation meetings all day. It turned out that we were overlapping by just one night
with another World Race team, so we were able to go straight from our
orientations (and taking a shower!!!
Praise Jesus!) to a night of bar ministry. We got to meet the girls with whom they had formed
relationships, and get the lay of the land.
I am sorry that the tale of my travel to Thailand is so
belated- we have been super busy doing bar ministry and cafe’ work since I got
here. We have been here for 1.5
weeks now, and I truly love this country.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support. And thank you for caring enough about
me and what I am doing here to read my ramblings.
