I’ve been encouraged to write blogs other than vulnerable things that I’ve been learning on the Race. So I decided as I sit on a train heading in to month 6 in Thailand what a better opportunity to share about World Race travel days than now.
Traveling with 50+ people there’s always something that struggles (shout out to my squad’s 2 logistic people who do their best to make it all run smoothly).
On December 31st, we prepared to load up at 7:30am and head out of Siem Riep, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand. Our bus thought we were coming to them.. but that wasn’t the original plan so it changed to 7:45am. And that’s the time we began to load a public bus.. when we were then told we were promised a private bus for the entire squad. After calling the company, arguments, and it going no where we decided to suck it up and go because we and our packs did in fact fit.
We drove for almost 3 hours and were told to get off with all our belongings identify your bag and start walking. This is a well known thing for Races crossing from Cambodia to Thailand as we are trained for this hike at training camp. I chose in to carry my pack, and not pay for a trolley to take it. So I hiked up my big pack (probably 45lbs) and put my purse inside my day pack which was on my front and started to walk. We were told to keep everything in our pack, don’t take things out, give money or take photos. And I instantly knew why.. I had a young poor girl singing at me grabbing my arm, begging for anything and everything. I told her no, no thank you, please get off, and no more as she only squeezed tighter. I began to walk faster and eventually she gave up and found someone else. Waited almost an hour to go through immigration, waited for my whole squad to push through, loaded up our bags under the bus and went and got lunch. It took a lot longer than the driver wanted.. but it’s impossible to order, prepare, and deliver food for 50 people in 30 minutes. So an hour and half late we loaded up and went on the last leg of the bus ride. We finally arrived around 7pm.
We found 2 taxis to drive us to the train station. We had an hour until loading to find the tickets, get some dinner and board at 9pm! 10:15pm we were still sitting on our bags in platform 10. We were made known there was a technical difficultly and should be coming soon. It showed up not too much longer as but half the team went off for quick snacks and bathroom thinking it wouldn’t be here soon. They came, we found our seats, and got settled in. We sat in our seats and began to talk as we counted down the new year!
We were able to ring in 2017 on a train traveling north of Bangkok. Saw some fireworks outside the windows. And bed time! I imagined this train to by hydro glide-like; totally wrong it was loud, screechy, and rocky the entire 7 hours of rest. I woke up to overcast weather and amazing shades of green in the jungle and mountains.
As that all was the most exciting part- that wasn’t the end of travel day. After the 14 hour train ride, we waited 3 hours to find out there were no buses for us. So after a few phone calls, we found a place (YWAM ministry) the night and secured a 2:30pm bus on the 2nd (my birthday)! The YWAM base was an incredibly blessing- hot shower, laundry, nice bed, ping pong, pizza, eggs & toast, TV, and heart warming prayers and affirmations from my teammates for my birthday.
We took a 6 hour bus ride up the absolutely beautiful mountains in Thailand. I got to open up my letters from home, pray, and listen to worship music the entire time. God is so good to me. So thankful to have felt so known and loved on my 24th birthday. I’m here in Chiang Khong in Thailand until the 22nd of January.
Blessings Everyone on this new year! God is so such an amazing Father
