Colossians 3:17

live intentionally.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

my thailand holiday...

Because of tensions in the country during the month of February due to the infamous Danish cartoons, with the added upcoming arrival of President Bush; our school holidays were looking bleak. The idea of spending a week shut up indoors was far from appealing. I felt as though I would burst if I could not escape it.

So, myself, along with three other staff members here at school decided to leave the country and go to Thailand.

What a blessing it was.

My original thought was that a week of just sitting and reading on the beach would be the medicine for the soul. That lasted about 1 hour. We got bored. I don’t know if we just couldn’t stop that quickly after going so hard so long, or if we were just overwhelmed by all the opportunities to play around us and enjoy complete freedom.

Freedom to wear what we wanted.
Freedom to eat what we wanted.
Freedom to talk to whomever we wanted.

It was a bit of a culture shock to see Thai women doing construction.

Now I am going to copy my good friend Chris Spicer and do a “Thailand Top Ten”…in hopes of making this post somewhat interesting.

1 – I don’t eat McDonalds on the best of days, in fact I think it’s been at least 3 years since I stepped in one (other than to use the bathroom) but for some reason McDonalds for breakfast seemed like heaven when we were in Bangkok our last day. Unfortunately they didn’t have a breakfast menu, so a double cheeseburger, fries, a coke, and a McFlurry were the meal of choice.

2 – There’s something exciting about just figuring things out as you go. And, that’s just what we did in Thailand. We would jump on a taxi and get to the next place….ferry, or bus station and figure things out from there. It was so adventurous!

3 – Arriving on Koh Chang with no reservations and having never been there before was a bit of a risk. We had a general idea of where we wanted to be and from there walked up and down the beach stopping at each resort to find the best deal. In the end, a 4 person room complete with hot water, AC, and a beautiful porch was the deal of a lifetime. No roughing it there!

4 – One of the beautiful things about Thailand is the little family run restaurants and pancake shops. We had a favorite place that we went to at least once a day. The lady reminded me of the lady who runs the little coffee shop place in ’50 First Dates’….so loveable. She was sad to see us go.

5 – I had a great desire to go to Cambodia…just for a day. You know, another stamp in the passport…and just to be able to say I’ve been there. But, as I began to realize how much of a hassle it would be I traded in that dream to go snorkeling. WOW!!! We joined a ferry trip that took us to three different islands. It was spectacular! So many colorful fish just swimming all around!

6 – The last time I was in Thailand we did the typical tourist thing…an Elephant Ride. Once again I found myself on the beloved beast. I really do love elephants…there’s something so soft and clumsy about them.

7 – 1 km off our beach was a deserted island which many people had rented kayaks to go check out. After talking to some of the locals about the possibility of swimming out and being told we would die. I decided I didn’t care, I was going to try it anyways. So, off we went…if it weren’t for that, we never would have met the Rock Stars! (see #9).

8 – Being able to share so openly what we believe was so refreshing. The conversation we had with the Germans was by far the coolest as they had a lot of questions about our faith, what we believed…and just life.

9 – One of the wonderful things about being in Thailand that only people who work in countries like this would understand – being able to talk to men. Now, don’t go thinking we were running off talking to every man we could. It was just nice to strike up conversation with those we shared a taxi with or sat next to each other in a restaurant. One of the coolest memories was meeting up with German Rock Stars!! No joking. Real, bonifide #1 on the charts German Rock Stars! Not just meeting them, but having a full meal with them. Yep, we met them for dinner…and have the pictures to prove it.

10 – Drum roll everyone……..mopedding. I think I just made up that word cause it has little red squigglies underneath it. Anyways, I have always been the type of person who is quite content to sit on the back of a motorcycle and enjoy the ride. No desire whatsoever to drive. Well, when the opportunity to rent mopeds presented itself…I jumped aboard. Charity and I took off one morning and drove around the whole island, through a torrential downpour, hail, and even off-roading! Yes, I have caught the bug. Though…I think I would be quite happy with a little Vespa. Bean, don’t laugh!

And that my dear friends in my Thailand holiday in a nutshell. I didn’t know how I was even going to pay for it, but trusted God would provide…and he did. While I was in Thailand I got an email from my Dad who was going over my taxes and figured out I would be getting just that amount back. Isn’t that cool?!

Thailand is cool, I definitely recommend it for a holiday.
On the plane to Thailand....FREEDOM!!! Posted by Picasa
A beautiful sunset on our beach... Posted by Picasa
Getting on the ferry to our island. Posted by Picasa
Searching for the perfect bargain for a bungalow for a week. Posted by Picasa
The advertisement beside the road for our resort which actually features a picture of the bungalow that we stayed in. Posted by Picasa
The outside of our bungalow, surrounded by a lovely garden. Posted by Picasa
The inside of our lovely bungalow. Posted by Picasa
The island on the left is the one we swam to....and the rest is history! Posted by Picasa
The lookout above our beach. Posted by Picasa
After dinner with our Rock star friends Mark and Olli. Check out their websites at: www.wirsindhelden.com and www.olli-schulz-online.de Posted by Picasa
Ali and I on our adorable little elephant which was actually 18 years old! Posted by Picasa
An example of the some of the roads we went on the mopeds. Posted by Picasa
One of the beach stops on our day of snorkeling. Posted by Picasa
The ferry off the island. Posted by Picasa
Saying goodbye to our '50 First Dates' pancake lady and her two adorable daughters. Posted by Picasa
The only time you'll find me kissing Ronald!! Posted by Picasa
Starbucks Bangkok...yummy!  Posted by Picasa
Some wise advice from Thailand... Posted by Picasa

Monday, March 27, 2006

I found this picture off the internet, gives you a bit of a picture of what we drove past....though we saw much more small boys as well. Posted by Picasa

Muharram

Yesterday was the 10th day of Muharram; a religious holiday for the Shia Muslims of the world. It is a day that will be etched in my mind forever.

Why you might ask.

As we were driving back up the hill we got caught in the traffic for the demonstration. We slowly made our way past the crowd of people who had taken over the road we were able to see hundreds of men - backs raw and bloodied from beating themselves with what you can imagine Jesus being flogged with in Bible times. There were even small boys no older than 5 or 6 years with bare backs learning how to beat themselves.

Thank God my faith isn’t such that I feel I need to beat myself in honor of the beatings taken on my behalf.

The Shiite Muslims beat themselves to commemorate the martyrdom of their prophet a grandson of Muhammad. While the Sunnis watch in disgust at what they believe is going against Islam which teachings that beating and mourning is forbidden.

Friday, March 24, 2006

back to the world of blogging.

Thanks to the computer expertise of one of our staff members I will be back in the blogging world shortly. I am now able to view my blog, as well as others. What a relief. Pictures and stories will be coming soon. For now, I am down visiting my Sri Lankan family...and relaxing.

sigh.

It was a terrible trip down. I really don't enjoy breathing truck exhaust for an hour while careening down 6,000 feet of himilayan mountainside. In fact, I think I might be able to think of a few things I'd rather do...like....eat ice cream.

Goodbye.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Banned

In case you all were wondering why I haven't written; here is the reason. Pakistan has banned certain sites due to the unrest in the country caused by the danish cartoons. So any .blogspot.com addresses are not viewable. As a result I can only access my blog to make posts, but I cannot actually see it.

Right now I am fighting a bit of a cold, otherwise I might actually go through the effort of writing out a nice post of my adventures in Thailand, and since being back.

Perhaps if I am feeling better tomorrow I will attempt it.
 
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