What Day Is It?

I'm finally back in Thailand again!

Our team left Philadelphia on Monday night, December 9 and has JUST arrived via the overnight train to Ubon Ratchathani, Thursday morning, December 11.  It's a long journey to get here from the U.S.

There are eight of us on this journey to Thailand:  Me, Lucy, Karen, Chris, Charles, Krista, Jadyn and Leah.  Our flight left on Monday night after a delayed start.  

We were already on the plane, so just added an additional hour to our already 13 hour flight.  And, to make it even better (note sarcasm here...) there was a travel agent snafu and we didn't have assigned seats for that first flight so we all got middle seats.  Good times...

  

We flew from Philadelphia to Doha, arriving in Doha on Tuesday afternoon, December 10.  We had a few hours to walk a bit and stretch our legs before getting on the next plane to Bangkok.  We were on the plane, and, yep, you guessed it.  Another delay.  Sitting in the plane for 1.5 hours adding to our 6 hour flight to Bangkok.  And, somehow, I was in another middle seat.  

 

We arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday morning, December 10, a few hours late.  Our friend, Kris, who lives here, met us at the airport with the driver, Yo.  We did some money exchanges at the airport and had our first Thai iced teas to keep us moving through the day.  

 

We went to a local Christian guest house for a few hours to be able to shower and change to feel a little more human as we tackled the rest of the day. We left the guest house close to noon to go to a local park for some lunch. 

  

 

 

What a cute little spot in the middle of the big city of Bangkok!  Lots of food vendors surrounding picnic tables.  Think of it like a bunch of food trucks.  Any kind of food you could imagine...so many good choices.  Kris gave us the run down and we all picked what we wanted.

After some lunch, we were dropped off at a pier to take a river taxi on the Chao Phraya River to the Grand Palace.  

 

 

 

 

The goal for today (Wednesday) was to stay awake as long as possible to adjust to the time zone change.  The Grand Palace is considered a sacred place to some here in Thailand.  Some of us had to purchase some longer pants or sarongs to enter the Grand Palace.  We had a little fun with that -- the vendor enjoyed matching the pants to our shirts.  

 

Some sites along our walk to the Grand Palace.

 

Grand Palace...... some thoughts from the team....was grand and extravagant ... It brought to mind the Tower of Babel and the story of Baal's Prophets on Mount Carmel- It was a poignant example of people trying to impress, satisfy, or do anything at all to gain attention from a god who will never answer them. While the temples were certainly ornate and impressive, it left you with a hollow and hopeless feeling inside. ...   We spent some time walking around there and observing things from this culture.

 

 

 

 

After a bit of time at the Grand Palace, we were driven to the Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre to see a cultural dance and show.  It was unique and opened our eyes to traditional Thai customs and lore. The instrumentalists were also very impressive. 

 

 

After the 25 minute show, Yo picked us up and took is to the large mall called Iconsiam in Bangkok so we could get a taste of modern Thai culture. Talk about sensory overload.  Wow.  I had the opportunity to visit this mall in 2019 during my last visit.  So many vendors.  Many areas set up to represent different regions in Thailand.  

  

At this point, all of us are pretty exhausted and on sensory overload.  We grabbed dinner at a small, quiet restaurant on the 4th floor (of 7 floors!) in the mall.  After dinner, we had to go to the top floor to see the waterfall. Yep, that's right.  A waterfall inside the mall.

 

After the mall, we made a quick stop back to the guesthouse to pick up our luggage and then go to the train station for our overnight train to Ubon Ratchathani.  As we left the guest house, we prayed for our driver, Yo.  He is a believer and truly blessed us that day in taking care of us.  He has two sons, ages 21 and 8, and he is a recent widower.  His wife passed away 2 months ago of throat cancer.  

We left the Bangkok train station on Wednesday night, December 10 around 9 pm.  

We got settled into our bunks and not too long after the train left Bangkok, it was pretty quiet.  All of us crashed pretty hard. It felt good to finally be able to lay flat after a few days.  And, after walking a little over 5 miles all day on Wednesday, we were ready to sleep.  

 

                              (yes, I am dressed, haha)

We arrived in Ubon on Thursday, December 11, at 6:30 a.m.  Our friend, Silk, who also lives here, picked us up at the train station and we are now settled into our hotel.  This is where we will be for the remainder of our time.  

We grabbed some delicious breakfast at the hotel and were finally able to get a proper shower and get settled into our rooms.  Later this morning, we will meet more of the Thai team in Ubon and begin our preparations for the work we will do while we are here.

 

Our team is awesome. They are rockstars--pushing through adjusting to the time change and settling in to a routine here.  

Also, super excited to have Jadyn and Leah with me on this trip.  Pretty special to spend this time together with them in Thailand.  We have definitely found our spot at the hotel to enjoy.