We’ve arrived in Ubon this morning, Wednesday. We left Bangkok around 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday night on the night train and arrived in Ubon Wednesday morning around 8:00 a.m. The night train was certainly an experience! It was actually better than I thought it was going to be. I was on a lower bunk and you’re kind of in your own “cocoon” when you pull the curtain closed. I had a light to use to read and the bed wasn’t too uncomfortable. I can’t say I had a full 8 hours of sleep or anything, but I got enough to keep me going through the day! And, of course, the bathrooms are also quite an experience. All of the waste just goes right out the bottom directly onto the tracks. So…note to self, don’t walk on the train tracks in Thailand!
So, as I had thought, Tuesday was a pretty full day. It was an awesome day, though! Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to. Alan and Emily arrived safely on Monday night. All of us ate breakfast together at the Guest House on Tuesday morning. After breakfast, Amy and her kids had some family time planned for the morning. They spent some time swimming and going to a park. While they did that, Kris took me, Alan and Emily to “tour Bangkok”—we were tourists for the day!
We tried a lot of street vendor food today. Loved it! Our first treat was some sort of fried coconut milk thing. I don’t really like coconut at all, but these were quite tasty. We also tried some fried bananas and some fresh squeezed orange juice. All of it was YUMMY!
We took a boat ride (now I’ve been on 6 of the 7 modes of transportation—just need to get the motorcycle which I will get here in Ubon with Kris) to the Grand Palace. Here we toured the grounds and learned a lot about the culture in Thailand and Buddhism. We had to be dressed appropriately to tour these grounds (legs and arms covered). If you weren’t dressed appropriately, they had clothes there to put on. So, Emily had to pull from their “closet.” All of the temples are so ornate and detailed and at first glance, are beautiful, but when you get up closer, you realize the idols and gods are not attractive at all. It really grieved my heart to see people worshiping and praying to these idols. Please pray for God to move in Thailand! Pray that these people would have their eyes opened to see the one true God and worship Him only!
Kris told us a lot about the King and Queen of Thailand which was really interesting. The king started his reign here when he was 19 and now he is in his early 80’s. He’s done a lot of really great things for Thailand. Please pray that he would also come to know the Lord.
We left the temples and palace area and got some lunch at a mall nearby. This gave Alan and Emily an opportunity to do a little shopping…and, I guess me, too! J We met up with Amy and the kids around 2:00 in the afternoon to visit the language school where some of our Thai team has gone. Kris and Amy had a nice visit with some of the teachers and the principal there. After spending a bit of time at the school, we went to the Baiyoke Tower, the tallest building in Bangkok, the 48th tallest in the world. The views of Bangkok from the top of that tower were AMAZING! You could see for miles and there were just buildings and cars everywhere! To see the city of Bangkok like this was pretty spectacular! We spent some time praying over the city while we were up there.
After leaving the tower, the plan was to be back at the Guest House around 5:00 so we would all have about an hour to shower and get things cleaned up to check out by 6:00 before dinner. Well, when we arrived back at the Guest House, we found out that the electricity had been out all day long and it had apparently just been fixed. What timing!? The Lord’s favor was on us! We had to wait a bit for water tanks to refill, etc., but we were all able to get showers before dinner and getting on the night train. At the restaurant for dinner, we ordered a bunch of different Thai dishes to share. Everything was yummy! We got back to the Guest House with about 20 minutes to spare before the taxis arrived to take us to the train station. All 9 of us packed ourselves and all of our luggage into 3 taxis and went off to the train station. We got to the train station in great time for our train (only had to wait about 15 minutes).
Things were a little crazy getting settled on the train. We had a TON of bags, so it took some time to get things in all of the appropriate compartments. And…this brings you up to where we are now.
When we arrived in Ubon this morning, John and Silk picked us up at the train station. Our entire group went out for breakfast—some donuts, an omelet-type thing, and freshly squeezed orange juice. All pretty tasty. Amy and her kids are staying with Kris and Silk in their house. Alan, Emily and I are staying in another Guest House nearby.
Our group met for lunch at Kris and Silk’s house. We had chicken, fish (from Randy’s fish farm), pork spare ribs, sticky rice and papaya salad. Everything is so good here—because it’s so fresh! Pintira, the helper that Lynn and Amy had while they were in Thailand, joined us for lunch. She’s the one who prepared and brought the fish. It was a special reunion for Amy and the kids to see Pintira again. And…mark this day in history…Doreen, if you’re reading this, Alan washed the dishes after lunch!
After lunch, we all took a trip out to see the fish farm. Randy has been teaching some Thai men how to raise fish. It is a fascinating operation! I’ll be sharing more on that another day after we spend some time helping to harvest some of the fish to sell. But, in one of the ponds (in the picture), there are 10,000 fish in the larger portion of the pond and 30,000 in the smaller section that is netted off!
We ended the day with a team dinner. It was at Lynn and Amy’s favorite restaurant. The food was awesome! It includes a playground and other play room (with child care provided for free!) for the kids and we had our own private dining room. It was a special time for the team to be with Amy. Amy shared some of her journey and prayer concerns for the future. There was a beautiful time of prayer together as a team.
As I was riding on the train in to Ubon, I saw the sunrise in Thailand and I can’t help but reflect on what an awesome God we serve! I never, ever, imagined I would be in Thailand one day! I am so blessed! Everyone seems to be adjusting great….sleep-wise and food-wise. Thanks for your continued prayers! Enjoy the photos!
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