Thailand - Finally, Part 5

So, I took a couple of weeks off of blogging to do some crazy things like buy a house, celebrate Brian's graduation, and fly to Europe. But, I'll sum up the rest of our Thailand adventure in one last post before moving on to the other major things I've just listed. :) (Whew! What a busy month!)

Chaing Mai










After visiting Laos, we took the next weekend and flew up to Chaing Mai (in northern Thailand). There we rented this cool 'transportation vehicle' called a Rote-Dang...which is basically a truck with a closed in cab, benches along the sides, long side windows, and an open back. The kids loved it because, once again, they didn't have to wear seatbelts. In fact, their favorite place to ride was in the back of the truck, with their feet dangling out, so they could wave to all the people behind them. You can kind of see that in the last picture above.










We hiked up a million stairs to visit this beautiful wat (a buddhist temple). McKenzie was sure proud of herself because she walked up the whole thing by herself.

We visited a silk farm and learned about how they make silk from the silk worm (you can see the silk flowers pinned onto Kenz's and my shirt). Have you ever learned how they make silk? Amazing!











We pounded some wood bark to help make some of these beautiful fans...

We watched an elephant draw... Yep. We watched this elephant draw this entire picture...and now you can see her writing her name! Suda. I guess it takes an elephant about 2 months to learn how to draw...but, evidently, not all elephants can learn. Some have the talent, and others just don't. They had three elephants up there at the same time, all drawing the same picture, and Suda's was, by far, the best. One was trying hard, but sloppy, and the other one didn't seem to care too much about the whole idea of drawing! Suda was the youngest of the three at only 4 years old. Kenz was excited, "Hey! I'M four!" I asked her why she couldn't draw an elephant. She didn't get it.
The rest of the elephant show captivated Carson. Especially the part when they turned on some loud music and let the elephants dance around. One elephant swung his trunk around and around as he bobbed to the music and Carson couldn't stop pointing and laughing! This was such a great animal show because you could tell that the elephant keepers really loved those elephants...and they were very well taken care of.

We rode down a river on a raft - this, I think, was the highlight of McKenzie's whole vacation. The people who were guiding our raft along ended up getting in a water fight, and with a little coaxing, McKenzie jumped off the raft to walk in the shallow river. She was really, really cute.









Although, we had a slight bit of trouble when she got cold in the back of the Rote-Dang. Good thing my mom is full of great ideas!


Next, we went to visit the monkeys - and McKenzie actually kissed one...on the lips. I just tried to close my eyes and turn off my germ-a-phobe tendencies.

The Waterfalls























After we made it back to Bangkok, we took a little trip out to a beautiful 'national' park (I'm not sure what it's actually called in Thailand...). We hiked up to some waterfalls, jumped in (some of us with our clothes on!) and had a fantastic time!

The Grand Palace
















My dad took us to the Grand Palace. Carson's favorite things were the water lilies... hey, they had pretty purple flowers with bees in them...what more could a kid want? While we were walking around the grounds, my dad said, "You know, this is cool." I looked at him and he continued, "30 years ago as a missionary I never thought I'd be able to bring my kids back to see this..." he looked down at McKenzie and Carson and added, "...my grandkids..."

Well - dad - I can't say thanks enough for actively sharing this part of your life with us. 5 posts, and I have only touched on what I saw, what I heard, what I felt, and what I learned. I miss you, mom and Amber terribly, but your examples have strengthened my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I owe you all the thanks in the world for that. I love you, guys... thanks for an unforgettable vacation!

Thailand - Part 4

Songkran - What an AWESOME holiday!

We were lucky enough to be visiting over the Thai New Year - Songkran. Their calendar is counted from Buddha's birth...as ours is from Christ's birth. Though they've accepted and used the same calendar as we do for many years, their New Year in April is still one of the most celebrated holidays in the country. How fun to see the new year of 2551 be born into Thailand!

There really is no way to describe Songkran with words...you seriously just have to see it. The most obvious celebration of this holiday is throwing water. They dump water on you to 'shower you with blessings'. Basically, it's a three-day, country-wide water fight (also celebrated in Laos, Burma and Cambodia...I think). We were gently introduced to the holiday after church in Laos, when the members of the branch sat 8 chairs in a semi-circle for our family and the senior missionary couples. After we were all seated, member after member after member after member came around the circle with a cup full of rose-water.

We were instructed to hold our hands out in a bowl shape as each member poured water into our hands and voiced a blessing to us. Some blessings ran exceptionally long as water overflowed the 'bowl' and seeped through each gap between our fingers. We then were told to take our full hands and dump the water on our heads. Definitely not something I was planning on doing when I got dressed that morning! We couldn't stop laughing the whole time, and the members loved it! We were further surprised when they came along the back of us and started dumping cups full of water down our shirts.... :) This went on for a good 20 minutes, and boy were we soaked by the end...my skirt and hair were literally dripping when I stood up!









My dad missed out on the 20 minutes of blessings, however the members were quick to greet him with cups full of water when he came out of his interviews. He lucked out, however, because he stood the whole time...his pants never got wet (and, he could understand what they were saying in their blessings!).

We drove back to Thailand that afternoon, and it was SO MUCH FUN to watch the celebrations from the safety of our enclosed van. :) Group after group of people were lined up along the highways with barrels of water, squirt guns and hoses, ready to douse any and everybody. We saw countless trucks loaded down with people out to get soaked. Friend soaking friend, stranger soaking stranger. Music and dancing and dripping and drinking were everywhere - EVERYWHERE!


It was rather hard to get good pictures as we traveled along the highway...so these are a little blurry...but notice the three pick-up trucks in a row in the first picture, loaded down with people and water. This was typical. The second picture cracked me up - how many people are in that truck? And their HATS! Notice in the third picture how the group of people has moved out into the highway...we're going 50 mph here, and they're waltzing out in front of the traffic signaling for people to slow down so they can soak them with water! The craziest part about it, is that people DO IT! The trucks slow down and veer to their side with their water guns and buckets of water ready to douse the people on the ground.

Seriously, why don't we celebrate this holiday?!

Thailand - Part 3

For our only Sunday in Laos, we attended the small LDS branch in Vientiane. Possibly one of the best Sundays I have ever had. I didn't understand much, but the spirit touched my heart more strongly than it has in a long time.

As Laos is communist, missionaries are not allowed to proselytize. In fact, the only missionaries there are two senior couples who can only provide much needed service; however, they don't speak the language, so their communication is severely limited.

I don't know specifics, but I do know that the church is still very new in Laos. The people of the branch have learned so much, but they still have so much more to learn - they are firm in their testimonies of the gospel and they are required to heavily practice their faith that, no matter what the answers to all of their many questions are, those answers will be true. I sadly admit that I'm not sure I would have such faith. I pray that someday soon, these people can have their questions answered by full-time, Laotian-speaking missionaries, who can take their small branch by the hand and help them achieve their full potential...which is great indeed.

During Sacrament meeting, I could visibly see the love that the people of this branch have for my mom. I loved seeing their smiles widen as she got up to speak! I then watched them scoot to the edge of their seats and lean forward when my dad stood up to speak. They hung on every word - starved for the knowledge and teachings that he shared with them. My dad spoke in Thai, not in their native tongue of Laotian; but the two languages are similar, much like Spanish and Portuguese. I found it touching to see the concentration in their faces as they put forth the extra effort to understand all he was saying. Even the children of the branch were quiet in reverence, sensing the importance of the meeting from the examples of their parents.

Relief Society was after sacrament meeting, and I watched the 10 sisters open up their Doctrine and Covenants to read. There was no lesson manual, there was no teacher, just sisters sitting together, reading the word of God. They would read a little, discuss a little, question a little... One sister spoke very broken English, and every once in a while, she would translate a question from the group to my mother. "If you haven't gone to the temple, can you still live with God?" A heartfelt, concerning question from these sisters who don't have much of a chance of raising the needed money to get to the nearest temple in Hong Kong. Not even the branch president has been to the temple. They asked my mom to give the closing prayer and afterwards each sister stood up front and, with the help of the sister who spoke broken English, bore her testimony to us. What a touching experience. One sister said to my mother, "You are like an angel sent from God to teach us." Another sister expressed her joy that Heavenly Father had chosen her to be baptized. No sister, save one, had been a member of the church for more than 10 years... but again, their faith was amazingly strong. My emotions got the best of me, and I sat with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face that, though large for me, seemed to pale in comparison to theirs.

I really do believe that God is no respecter of persons. These women added a new layer to my testimony that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are with us, and that they guide us and love us...all of us. Such humble circumstances in Laos - such joyful people.








After church the young women and relief society sisters crammed together in the kitchen to prepare lunch for the branch, while the kids played outside.











When lunch was prepared, the children came in to help 'set the table'...i.e. put plates of food down on colorful mats that had been spread out on the chapel floor.









We ate, talked, and laughed while the food was passed around and around until everyone had had enough. Then, these two cute little girls came out carrying an empty tub and cleared all the dishes by throwing them, one by one, into their tub. I thought this was so cute...especially since that little girl in the pink dress held onto those four cookies the whole time!










Random pictures of the day-

More later!

Thailand - Part 2

Two words that describe Thailand: It's hot.
Now, for a few hundred more words that describe Thailand (or a few thousand...if you count the phrase 'a picture is worth a thousand words').












Would you like to walk down this sidewalk? My mom says biking missionaries fall off sidewalks like this all the time...then they have to start taking antibiotics, cause who knows what kinds of bacteria are lurking in those waters! As for the telephone pole - what more is there to say?








What would it be like to live in that house? And the cart of brooms - amazingly, not uncommon!








This is one of my favorite fruits in Thailand (not the taste, so much as the look). It's called a Gna. Pronunciation: say the word 'sing'...now take the last sound of that word (ng), add an 'ah' sound, put a staccato mark on it, and there you have it. Gna!








This lizard-like thing is called a Duka (Doo-Kaa). I guess they're nasty little buggers - if they bite, they don't let go. The vehicle in the next picture is called a Tuk-tuk (Took-Took). They're the taxi of choice if you're going fairly short distances, and so fun to ride in! This one struck me as cool because a Monk is riding in it.

Luggage Problems
We've had a little trouble with our luggage here...when we first arrived, none of our SEVEN bags made it. It took 2 days to get them delivered, and on the same day of the delivery, I decided to pull out my camera to get a few shots. Problem - where's my camera? We searched and searched and searched until Brian finally found it on the lost and found website for Korean Air. Yep, I had left it on the airplane from Korea to Bangkok. Frustrating! Thankfully, we'll get it back, and until then my parents are generously letting me borrow their camera!

As if that weren't enough, the first weekend we were here we flew up to Udon Thani (in the northern part of Thailand) and, as fate would have it, one of our bags was mistakenly taken by another passenger. I do realize that our bag is black and very similar to many others, but COME ON FOLKS! Check the tag! Luck was in our favor, however, and the hotel we were staying at offered not only complimentary shampoo and soap, but laundry detergent. So, Brian became our washing machine and washed our underwear out in the tub that night so they would be clean and dry the next morning. Thankfully, the accidental thief realized his mistake and returned our bag to the airport the next day. I can't help but wonder, what did he think when he opened up our bag?

Driving to Laos







After a couple nights in northern Thailand, we crossed the border into Laos - where they've come to their senses and drive on the right side of the road. :) (Thailand drives on the left)










We had lunch on a boat as we floated down the Mekong river. Do you really want to know what Brian is eating? Egg soaked in horse urine. Yes, he really did eat it. I'll leave you for now with a couple more of my favorite pictures from the lunch boat... but since I'm sure you're not sick of hearing about my vacation, I'll be posting much more!