Thailand Episode 3

Our first week here is over and we have only two more to go.  Paul enjoys teaching, Amy enjoys the classes and interaction, Steven and Jenny are busily charming the local population.  We are getting to know lots of friendly and inspiring people.

There are lots of spin-off projects going on here, mostly by young people who came to the Bible school, saw a need, and decided to come back and do something about it.  Some teach English, some work with students, some with prostitutes, some with children, some with Karen refugees at the border.  Some stay around here and some go into neighboring countries.

It's all very fascinating and it gives you hope for the Young People of Our Day.

In our family's life:
PRAISE GOD I am almost fully recovered from my rash.  I still look like I had the sort of chicken pox that my children had many years ago i.e. they looked and felt like someone had dumped boiling water all over them.  But it is all fading to a nice pale pink and I no longer feel like my body is bursting out in flames or itching like poison ivy.

I have a whole new level of sympathy for people with poison oak, hives, scabies, etc.

The hardest thing now is that my feet are still pretty tender, like after a sunburn, and I can walk around barefooted but my sandals chafe the skin raw, so I haven't been out and about much since everything seems to involve walking.  However, I tried protecting them with gauze bandages and tape and that works quite well.

So yesterday we ventured forth on a drive up the mountain outside of town.  We were in a borrowed van, with Paul driving, on the left side, and we went up and up on a road that makes Highway 34 to Waldport seem very gently sloped and mildly curved.

The goal was to see a coffee plantation but as the road got narrower, I got nervouser, "Alas for it was borrowed!" I thought, and when it got down to a single lane I said it was time to turn around.

We stopped at an outlook to look over the city.

Paul and me turning our backs on Chiang Mai.

See the airport kind of at center right?  We live in that area, just off the right side of the photo.

  Amy likes to take pictures.  She always frowns, but "behind a frowning providence she hides a smiling face."

We also passed the Phuping [or Bhubing] Palace, where the king stays when he visits the area, and a big temple, but both were overrun with visitors so we looked but didn't stop.

Amy closed the gate for Paul after we got home.

This is "our" motorbike while we're here.  It doesn't like me but is fond of the others, and whispers sweet things to Steven in his dreams.

 After our jaunt to the mountain I rode my bike to the "Volkswagen Coffee Bar" just down the street.  Note the mist spraying out of the pipes up above to cool things down.

 

I rang this bell for service.

This young lady made coffee shakes for us.

Three 20 oz shakes for less than $5.

84 degrees + raining = hu.mid.i.ty.

Steven likes to slide on the tile when it rains.