Happy New Year Everyone!
Here is a little glimpse of what our travels to Asia looked like!
Jan 4th through Jan 10th
3:30am wake up on an island in Nicaragua without my headlamp so I had to fumble around for my things in the dark.
4:30am leave the island placed luggage on a horse and buggy hiked 1.5 miles to a canoe that would transport us to the other side of the canal. There we saw the sunrise.
One of my new teammates Caitlin pulled out her guitar to sing worship songs while we waited for the canoe to arrive. 30 minutes later we hauled our luggage onto the canoe to cross the canal to a Tikka bus
7:30am left on a bus to the Managua airport. Spent 2 hours on bus
2:00pm get on plane to leave Managua.
3:30pm get off the plane, still in Managua. The plane needed maintenance
4:00pm get back on the plane and leave FINALLY for Georgia.
11:00pm arrive in Georgia. 12:00am arrive at hotel to chick-fil-a and packages from home.
4:00am leave hotel for airport without sleeping.
7:30am board plane to LA
9:00am arrive in LA
11:30am rent a car to spend the 13-hour layover in the city.
5:30pm get a parking ticket at Venice beach. The one day I drive in the country this year I get a ticket, just perfect.
6:30pm arrive at LAX
7:30pm arrive at gate. Slept on floor of the airport for the first time in two days
10:20pm board plane for South Korea.
15 hours later arrived in South Korea. Traveled through time and missed friday.
4:00am arrived in South Korea on January the 7th.
13-hour layover in The South Korea airport. Got a starbucks, dressed in authentic Korean Clothes, made a necklace, took a hot shower (yes in the airport), saw a parade (again yes in the airport), had sushi, announced our new team names by gate.
5:00pm left airport for Thailand.
10:30pm arrived in Thailand
11:00pm took a tuk tuk truck to YWAM base in Bangkok
Jan the 10th took a 12-hour bus to Shang Rai Northern Thailand.
Arrived to our ministry site at 5:00am.
First impressions of Thailand.
The people here are very joyful! I loved trying to speak to the people in Bangkok. One of my teammates Melanie and I asked a local guy at a restaurant on the street for a trash can he smiled really big as if he knew exactly what we were talking about and said, “Oh! Shark skin!” He nodded and smiled again “fish.” All three of us laughed including this Thai guy and in that moment we met our first Thai friend. He helped us order some questionable food at his restaurant and he expressed his concern for us about the amount of spice that was in each dish.
Thailand is so different from Central America. Thai's are all about honoring people in everything they do. In how they greet one another, how they speak, and in how they present themselves. I respect this culture a lot for how they treat one another and the value they place on honoring one another.
I am looking forward to learning more about this culture and also seeing the ways God is intervening for his people here in Chang Rai.
