Back in the 'Chang

(Pictures: A gigantic portrait of the King and Queen of Thailand, who are very much revered in that country; one of the many Buddhist temples, or wats, in Chiang Mai; Buddhist monks are almost as prevalent as tourists on the streets of Thailand).


I'm typing this after sweeping up plaster in our apartment. We were gone to Thailand for only two weeks, but I guess Chinese apartments like to fall apart on you whether you're there or not. Plaster likes to fall from the kitchen ceiling and the living room wall.

Ah, it's nice to be back in China. Or is it? I can't decide yet. But perhaps I'll fill you in some more on my travels to Thailand.

There's not a whole lot to say, but our organization's conference in Chiang Mai was pretty restful and refreshing. We had some more teacher training, but we probably had even more time for fellowship. It was so amazing to be back with so many believers, all lifting their voices and thoughts to the Father. There were also challenging speakers, and they just reiterated what the Father says in the Word, but still stuff I need to hear. And we heard more about all the amazing work happening for Him around Asia!

Chiang Mai was a beautiful city nestled in the mountains. The weather was consistently sunny and warm, with a temperature around 85 degrees. There were tons of little markets to browse around, and lots of fresh, tasty food to eat. I felt healthier than I've felt since coming to Asia.

And Thailand is the best model of tourism I've ever seen. Most of the Thais speak some English, and everyone was so friendly, helpful, and hospitable. The city was fairly clean, and there were probably more foreigners than Thais. That meant I could relax. I wasn't exotic in Thailand, like I am in the middle of China.

But Chiang Mai also certainly had a dark side that permeated the place. There are dozens of old and new temples, and Buddhist monks were everywhere. Most every restaurant and home also had little wats, where the Thais placed incense and food sacrifices every morning. They prayed to countless gods without any expectation or hope for answers.

Prostitution was also prevalent, much like the rest of Thailand. There were plenty of creepy old Western men with young Thai girlfriends. When you walked by them, the men and women all had haunted looks on their faces.

Anyway, we finally returned to Nanchang yesterday, after three flights. It sort of felt like we were returning home. Everything was so much dirtier and chaotic from the moment we stepped off the plane. Motorbike alarms were going off, fireworks were blasting on the streets, and taxi horns were blaring incessantly.

Mr. Li from the foreign affairs office of our university was there to greet us and take us back to the campus. We piled into the van, and we immediately all felt car sick as he and everybody else on the streets barreled down the road. At one point, I saw a big bump in the road that looked like a pointed mountain. We didn't slow down. Instead, we flew about 10 feet in the air. Jodi smashed her head on the ceiling, and I was surprised there were any wheels left on the car.

We were exhausted, but we headed to dinner at one of our favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurants. We were sitting and eating practically inside the open door-way. We tried chatting, but gave up when huge fireworks were being set off for 15 minutes from the rooftop right there.

Then this afternoon, three of us ventured downtown to the bank and post office. I tried to mail some postcards to supporters I had bought in Thailand. I thought I could just buy a simple postcard stamp for 20 of them. But, of course, nothing is that simple in China! How could I have forgotten? :) The woman at the desk took out a variety of stamps. Each postcard required four to six gigantic stamps. And, like usual, I had to roll tons of gloppy glue on the back of each stamp and meticulously place them on the tiny postcards. Somewhere under all those stamps are postcards, I assure you, although you may not be able to read anything I've written...

Oh, China. I've missed you.