Journal #1

This is a detailed journal of the trip, so if you actually read the whole thing, I will be impressed!

A bit of background for the trip: the day before we flew out to Seattle to meet the rest of the team I got sick, so I had to recover at the Purcell’s house, and during our travels. By the first day in Bangkok, I was feeling okay; I just was lagging a bit and didn’t have my normal appetite.

Our team consisted for eight from America, and two that met us in Bangkok.

Jeff and Betsy Purcell, from Seattle, WA, headed up the trip.

Me, from Oxford, NE!

Kristin and Ben Tillotson, a brother-sister pair from Kearney, NE, are the ones that first told me about this trip.

Sarah Hilkemann, originally from Norfolk, NE, is attending college in Dallas, TX.

Paula Nadreau, from Moscow, ID, is a junior in college in Moscow.

Megan Bryant, from Seattle, WA, is a junior in high school and friend of the Purcell’s.
Gayle Beckwith and her son Micah met us in Bangkok. Gayle has been to K13 many times, so she is fluent in Thai and Khymer.

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-Aug. 11^th-

We just landed in Bangkok last night….wow, what a blast from the past! The sights, smells, everything was so…familiar! This morning we ate an awesome breakfast…and I actually feel really good! After that, the group split up, some went to Chinatown to do some shopping, and the rest of us headed to the Grand Palace. We took a boat ‘bus’ ride down there…and that was quite the experience in itself.

We bought tickets, and when the boat came by, we had about 30 seconds to get on! We jumped on, and went down to the seating area. Most of the seats were full, so Ben and I stood at the rail and took pictures. The water was SO dirty! It was a dark mud brown color, full of garbage, and it stunk! We had quite a ways to go, so I observed the boat stops a few times. The boat goes a little bit past the dock, and then a guy in the back jumps onto the dock and slips a rope loop around a post. Then the captain shifts into reverse and puts the pedal to the metal! The force of the propeller holds the back end tight against the dock, long enough for a few passengers to get of and get on, and then the guy in the back blows a whistle, takes off the rope, and jumps back on. The entire time the guy in the back and the captain communicated by whistles.

The entire time at the Grand Palace, it drizzled, but it kept the temperature down, so that was nice. We got LOTS of cool pictures and videos…and I could not believe how many people there were! I was continually amazed at the level of detail of each part of the palace; each spire and wall had intricate detail. Everything was so symmetrical! We were all pretty impressed.

After that, we had lunch at the Beckwith’s apartment, followed by a team meeting. We went over the schedule, and Gayle informed us about different cultural do’s and don’ts. Then we had a prayer time…and I feel really good about this trip. We have an awesome team full of spiritual people…I can’t wait to see what God will do!

That night we went to S&P, a Thai restaurant. We ordered family style, so I ate many different kinds of food that I remembered from previous years. Praise God for a wonderful first day!

-Aug. 12^th-

We had another awesome breakfast at the guesthouse. I got to say though…jetlag is really starting to kick in…I do ok in the mornings and evenings, but staying asleep at night and awake during the day is getting tougher!

Today was the Queen’s Birthday, which is when they celebrate Mother’s Day, so there were posters and flowers up everywhere honoring her. After breakfast, we took a walk through Lumpini Park, about a two-hour walk. There were hundreds of people exercising…it was funny! Every hundred yards or so there was a big stage with some people on there dancing to music…and then there were 10-75 people on the ground watching them and imitating them! The definite highlight of that trip was the monitor lizards…we saw probably 30, some upwards of 5 to 6 feet in length! They mainly minded their own business, and went to the water as soon as they saw us coming! We got many pictures and videos of that. At one point, we saw two lizards fight…so that was unusual. We also saw a big one do death rolls in the water…he looked very impressive!

We had another brief team meeting before heading to lunch at a Lebanese restaurant. I ate what they gave to me, but I can’t say I am much for that type of food! It wasn’t necessarily bad, just not something I would drive to eat!

In the afternoon, we went shopping at the Jatujak Market. About 50% of the shops, the owners had closed because of Mother’s Day, but there were still a few hundred open! I got some souvenirs for the family…and by the end; I had very sore feet from all that walking! The sandals I had were just a bit too big for me, so I had rub marks on the top of my feet by the end of the day. I might look into getting some other type of footwear if this keeps up.

For supper, we headed to a French Restaurant. Again, I am not much for that type of stuff…I am fine with Asian! It wasn’t really bad…just not something I would drive to get to!

It was a long day, and tomorrow we leave for Sompovloun (pronounced soom-pa-loon), Cambodia, at 5am! I am excited!