I think about this as our family has lost someone this past week. Grandma Martha lived to be 94, a long and meaningful life, but it's never easy to lose someone on this earth. There are things in your life, people in your life that become more important to you when you lose someone. It makes it harder for us to live so far away from our families, here in China. With that said, we are ready to see home again, ready for July to get here. We miss everyone back home.
Now is the time Davis and I are having to decide what we will do this coming year, and we don't know. We are placing it in God's hands, and know that he will reveal the answer. There are several opportunities being presented, with some waiting involved. Most people can relate to this situation. Will I get the job? What will our future hold? Should I go here or there? When am I going to get an answer? Needless to say, prayers for our future are appreciated at this time, and if you are already doing this, we thank you.
Three weeks ago, Davis and I returned to China from Southeast Asia - Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. We traveled for 4 long weeks, and were ready to leave by the third week. We had 4 weeks of vacation for the Spring Festival holiday in China. Many countries in Asia celebrate Spring Festival, or the lunar new year, but most do not get 4-5 weeks of vacation for it.
This is how our trip went: We left on a plane from Hangzhou to Nanning, China. The flight was about 2 hours, which is much better than the alternative 26 hours on a train. If you plan to travel by train in China during any holiday, GOOD LUCK. We chose to avoid the stinky, crowded, grueling, long train rides during the holiday. We then had to wait for a couple days to receive our Vietnam visa before taking a bus over the border and into Hanoi, Vietnam. We stayed a couple days in Vietnam, taking a day trip to Ha Long Bay. We then took a 24 hour sleeper bus to Hoi An, which is about halfway down the east side of Vietnam. We stayed in Hoi An for a couple days, visiting the My Son temple ruins while there. We then left again on a 12 hour sleeper bus to Saigon, Vietnam. We only stayed in Saigon for one night, and left the next morning on a bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia! We stayed in Phnom Penh for a few days, visiting the Killing Fields, the King's Palace, and the city museum. There was a little chaos on the last day there, as the ceremony for the king's cremation was about to take place. He was the king for 60-some years. On the last day, we left on a boat north to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Davis was most looking forward to Siem Reap because of the infamous Angkor Wat temple, and others. It was quite spectacular, and we spent 3 days visiting different temples. Angkor Wat was the largest ancient civilization in the world, with 1 million people living and working there. That's quite a feat. We stayed in Siem Reap for 6 days, and finally left on a bus 3 hours to Thailand. We arrived at the border and waited outside in line for 3 hot hours. When we finally got through the border, we missed our connecting bus and had to take a taxi for 3 hours down to the ferry to get to the island of Koh Chang, Thailand. The ferry was an hour's ride. Upon arrival, we had to take a truck taxi down to the White Sand Beach area. It was about a 15 minute ride. When we got there, we had to find a hotel. Every place was expensive, so there was no escaping that. When we finally found a place for 1000 baht/night ($33), it was 11 p.m. What a long day! Davis and I spent 5 lovely days on the beach of Koh Chang. It was hot, it was salty, and it was expensive, but it was also a much needed break from the constant stop-and-go we were doing. On the last day, we took the ferry back to the mainland and once again rode a bus. We arrived in Bangkok for about 30 minutes, then left again on a pseudo-sleeper bus 11 hours to Chiang Mai, Thailand. This was the city that I looked the most forward to. It had insects, tigers, snakes, rabbits, cats, birds, and most of all ELEPHANTS. If you know me, you know I love animals. They are a kind of therapy for me, like shopping may be for some girls. In Chiang Mai, Davis and I got to pet 15 month old (large) bengal tigers, play with insects, watch a snake show, and ride elephants. It was paradise, but it was also touristy. People come from around the world to Chiang Mai to ride elephants. Luckily, there are about 30 different companies that provide this service. We also went to the night bazaar, which was pretty neat, except every other booth had the same souvenirs. We unknowingly bought the same carved elephant in Chiang Mai that we bought in Cambodia. Oops. Cut to the fourth and final day, we took a 3 hour bus ride north to Chiang Rai, Thailand. Chiang Rai is in the northernmost tip of Thailand, near Laos and Burma. The four days in Chiang Rai were spent mostly winding down and getting ready to go home. We walked to the same coffee shop cafe every day to have lunch and read National Geographic magazines all day. They also had free internet, which our hotel did not have, so of course we had to take advantage of it. It very quickly became our favorite hang out spot in the town. Chiang Rai also had a night bazaar like Chiang Mai, but it was much smaller and less impressive. The only cool thing we did in the city was to visit the White Temple, which is more of an artistic piece than it is a place of worship. The artist that developed the temple was even there to take pictures with all of his adorning fans. Well, on the last day, we took a taxi to the airport and left the country of Thailand to arrive north in Kunming, China. The airport in Kunming was very impressive and had beautiful scenery. It was a comfortable 55-60 degrees there. After a few hours of eating and waiting around, we left Kunming to fly back to Hangzhou. Home at last! We were so happy to see our apartment again, at 1:30 a.m.! We were so happy that we could not go to sleep until 3 a.m. Thus ends our Southeast Asia trip.
I suppose I will end this post here. Thank you for reading, and see you next time! God bless.
