Freedom is good. This last week we rode the buses from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, back to Chiang Mai, and then to Bangkok. Click here to see more pictures of graduation and our travels this last week.Chiang Rai
We spent 2 days in Chiang Rai with our friend Art. We stayed at the house he is renting to use as a dorm for Akha students. Currently, he has 2 guys living with him. They study the Bible together, go to church together, and talk together regularly to give Art opportunity to mentor them. In April, 6 more students will move in with him and go to school in Chiang Rai. It was great to see Art and also to see his house. It is a nice place in a good location and has plenty of room for the students. We spent a lot of time with his roommate A-No, who is quiet, speaks no English, but is very nice. The highlight of the trip was when A-no and his friend gave us a ride on their motorbikes to the bus station with all of our stuff. Imagine a 5’ tall guy, holding Ashley’s suitcase in his lap while driving a motorbike with Ashley sitting behind him down a busy street. It was quite an adventure.
Chiang Mai
We took the bus back to Chiang Mai and stayed at a guesthouse for 2 nights. We ate dinner with some friends and walked around the markets and practiced our Thai. We visited WonGeneration, a YWAM ministry that reaches out to students at Chiang Mai University. It is a coffee shop/ live music/ dorm/ place to hangout near the university. We talked with the leaders of WonGeneration and then sat in on a Thai Language For Beginner’s class at the University for 3 hours. Then, we boarded the overnight bus to Bangkok.
Bangkok
After trying to sleep on the bus for 10 hours, we were literally dumped off in the middle of Bangkok at 5:30am. We wanted to get to the YWAM office in Bangkok, but it was too early to call anyone so we practiced our thai some more by asking people what bus to take to get there. The office is outside of town, so we confused many people. At one point, we got off a bus, asked one person, he told us to walk to that bus stop over there and take bus 11. We walked over there and someone told us to walk back where we came from. We ended up taking the skytrain (which was another adventure in itself), and another bus and arrived at YWAM at 9am.
We stayed at the Ban Jai Diao for 4 nights and joined in on many activities with our friend Bond.
We went to their staff meeting, went to the slums and talked with YingNoi and played with kids, and we just hung out with the many staff at the office. The YWAM National office is a 5 story building that has meeting rooms, staff offices, and rooms for teams that come to Bangkok for outreach. A 2 minute walk down the street is the Performing Arts Building. This is a 4 story building that has housing for Thai staff, recording equipment, and dance studios. Another 2 minute walk down the street brings you to Ban Jai Diao, which is a Discipleship dorm for students at the university across the street. This is a 4 story building that has about 10 guys and 10 girls living in it along with several staff members. The students who live here are required to attend Bible studies, cell groups, have individual Bible study/prayer, and meet with their staff member regularly. It was a fun place for us to stay and talk with all the people that came from all over Thailand, Fiji, Australia, USA, and India.Valentine’s Day
We went to a nearby 5 story mall, ate some food, and then watched P.S. I Love You. It’s such a sad movie, but good if you like to cry and laugh at the same time. In case you were wondering, Thai’s like to watch movies too.
On Sunday, we went to Hope Church with Edna (a friend from DTS). It is an international church in a fancy hotel in downtown Bangkok. It was a good encouraging service, and afterwards we all ate a delicious buffet lunch at the hotel restaurant.
Siam Square, Chinatown, and the Endless TukTuk ride.
After church, we headed off to be tourists. First we went to Siam Square, an upscale 7 story mall with an aquarium in the basement. This place had it all, from Lamborghini’s, Porsche’s, diamonds, high fashion stores, $60/plate sushi, everything. Ashley’s eyes just lit up the second we walked in. Jonathan’s eyes, well, he almost instantly went into depression at the thought of walking around this place. We managed to make it out alive and then headed to the Grand Palace by bus (we knew how to use the buses by now). At the Grand Palace there are several tourist attractions and we wanted a tuktuk driver to drive us around the area for a few minutes to show us what was here. We found one, who for $1.50 would take us wherever we wanted to go. He proceeded to take us wherever HE wanted to go. We found out, he gets a little commission for
bringing tourists to random places, so, we enjoyed our ride around town as he took us to some temples, a jewelry store, a silk store, and a restaurant. At each place we were greeted by a salesman ready to pressure us into buying whatever he had. One man wanted to make 3 nice silk shirts for Jonathan. He quickly realized that wouldn't happen, so he proceeded to give advice on how Jonathan's appearance would look more alert if he stopped eating meat and wheat. After refusing several "great deals", we were allowed to leave. Finally, mad that we didn’t buy anything, our driver dropped us off in Chinatown.Near Chinatown is a section of town with many Indian Restaurants. We had an awesome meal at a little restaurant here and then walked around the busy streets and markets of Chinatown before heading home for the night. It was an exciting cultural experience.
And now… we’re off to Guam to visit Tim and Joann!!!
