Cha-Am (Paradise)

The smell of saltwater.  The bright sunny skies.  The children running through the surf.  The resort full of travelers from all over the world.  That's what I was expecting from our trip to the beach.  But what we had was so much different.  It was better.

The resort where our rooms were was inland.  Springside Golf and Spa.  It smelled like fresh air and trees, quite a change from being in the cities.  We took the shuttle to Springside @ Sea (gotta love how they made that name creative).  There, it smelled like fish.  And saltwater.  But mostly fish.  I took a walk up the beach a bit and crawled up on one of the fishing boats.  I watched the Thai stand in the shallow waves with their nets catching their food for the day. It was almost like stepping back in time.

We stretched out on the lounge chairs on the sand, felt the breeze in our hair, and the sun on our faces.  The sun wasn't always there... in the afternoon, it was often overcast.  It is rainy season, so every afternoon, we got a refreshing shower. But in all reality, if it was sunny the whole time, I would be a roasted tomato from all day on the beach.  And compared to the 98 degrees Chiang Mai was, the 85 degrees beach was perfect!

We were at the resort during the week for the most part.  And apparently, no one in Asia goes to the beach or golf resorts during the week, except for a few Japanese and European golfers. Needless to say, we had the place to ourselves. The pools.  The restaurants.  The beach.  When the weekend came, we had to share the resorts with the Japanese, Thai, and Indian families that joined us.  On the day we left, a meditation conference came it... all dressed in white.  We didn't mind leaving before they began their meetings.

After being home for a while, we were out at dinner remembering parts of the trip.  It's not the big things we remember most.  It's the little things that make times like these most memorable.  The flies that you have to constantly swat to keep off your breakfast.  The frogs that hid in the rocks at the edge of the pool.  The janky bikes we borrowed to ride along the beach.  Getting to know Mam, our waitress, and Kittithat, the restaurant manager.  Getting a full body massage on the top of the mountain with the ocean in the background and the rain falling softly on the palm trees.  I could have stayed her for quite a few more days.

Springfield Golf and Spa

Springfield @ Sea

Mam and Kittithat

Spa clothes.  Pretty good lookin if you ask me!

Just imaging the rain falling right outside while in complete relaxation.

Counting

Exactly one week from now I will be walking around Singapore.  One week ago I was sitting on my grandparents' sun porch with my entire family.  And that seems like yesterday.  Doing that math, tomorrow I will be in Singapore.

In four days I will be sitting up, unable to sleep, trying to remember what I am forgetting.  Since my plane will be leaving in twelve hours.  

In a day and a half I will be at church, saying goodbye to that family.  They have been my family for seventeen years.  I will stand in front of the church, and they will pray for me.  And... I will cry.  That's a given.  

One suitcase down, two to go.  My room is a disaster as I try to sort through my life, box it up for storage, and pack the little that I can take with me.  I'm at fifty pounds for my first bag... and am crossing my fingers for the other two!

The number of trips to the store are more than I can count.  Some days the past couple weeks, I feel like all I did was shop, for sheets, and towels, and shampoo, and tweezers, and teaching supplies, and cotton clothes.  What can I buy in Indonesia?  What should I bring?  What is worth my precious suitcase space (and weight!)? Questions questions questions! Praise God for friends who are already there and are willing to answer my 2349207 questions.  

Sunday I will say goodbye to Sam, my youth pastor, who is moving to Florida.  While some are mad at him for leaving, and some can't shed another tear, I am excited for him.  He is moving to Florida to teach.  How can I be mad at that?  I'm moving too! But I think, Sam (and Beth and the kids) won't be around next summer when I'm home.  After seven years with him, he won't be at the church any more.  

 I wish I could hurt next to them.  I wish I could attend Sam's farewell party.  I wish I could spend more time with them.  But what I can do will do much more than any of that.  I will pray.  I will be walking around Singapore, setting up my apartment, organizing my classroom.  I will be praying.  Praying for my family... all of them... my parents, sister, and the entire church body.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

After a few days in Bangkok, we took the night train to the mountainous northern Thailand.  When we got on the train and found out train car, we realized that we had been upgraded to first class!  So, real beds in a private cabin for us! When we got off the train, we were surprised to see Ja, our housekeeper from when we lived in Bangkok!  We were planning on meeting up with her, but we were so excited to get to see her right away.  She called a friend who drives a san tao (large taxi/bus... which is similar to, but a little bigger than a pick-up truck).  We went up a mountain to Doi Sutep to a famous temple, after giving our legs a much-needed work-out walking up all the steps!

 On our second day in Chiang Mai, we used our same driver.  He had a plan all ready to show us the best of Chiang Mai tourist attractions.  First... Mesa Elephant Camp (my favorite!), down the mountain some to Tiger Kingdom, then back up the mountain to the waterfalls for a hike, then back home for a little while.  We freshened up, put on some nice clothes, and headed out to see a cultural show, complete with unlimited traditional Thai food and then traditional and tribal dancing.

Our driver's granddaughter and her friend

 The next day was full of a little bit of everything.  We visited Remember Nhu, a home for girls at risk for being sold into prostitution.  We spend the day playing with the girls and realizing the importance of this ministry, protecting these precious girls.

We then went into town to a little cafe... and biggest surprise of the day, I ran into a friend from college! She is traveling with Adventures in Missions for the year with the World Race program where she travels to eleven countries in eleven months, experiencing various types of ministries.  She was staying in Chiang Mai this month and happened to be in the cafe when I walked in! I haven't seen her in probably two years, so this was such a wonderful surprise!

After catching up with her, and ordering the best mango smoothie I've ever had, we went to the night bazaar, where my mom and sister experienced the wonder of foot-eating fish.

Day number... I don't really remember, they start to run together.... we went to a lot of different crafting shops, where we watched artists create umbrellas and fans, silk, jewelry, silverware, and different types of pottery.  It was during this time that we taught our driver some new English words, simply by using them.  His new phrase, "aMAZing!" All the time.