time to talk about thailand

Well I'm back! And if you've done the Math, I've been back for a week and a half. But, I've been editing the thousand or so pics I took and am pretty much done getting them up on flickr. So I suppose it's time to start blogging about our experience. I think it will also help me process this amazingly mind blowing experience.

Also, I got an e-mail tonight from a high school friend who informed me that one of our former classmates has a blogspot about her life in Bangkok as a teacher. This is really exciting to me as we lost our hearts to this land and culture. So I can't wait to go back in her archives and read all about her experience. And, it's sort of inspired me to get off my butt and write about my thoughts myself.

I kind of like to do things in order so I've started at the beginning here. First off, the hubs and I were very thrilled about the group of people that were going. It's the largest group that's ever gone on a missions trip from our church: 21. A wide assortment of talents and personalities and I must say, everyone was a pleasure. It's made me feel much more a part of our church getting to know these people and letting them get to know me.

And, as so much of my life in the recent years has been defined by pain, it was great to be defined more by my gifts and personality than my hang-ups!!!! :)

*I'm sure you are all dying to know about my health, and I appreciate that. I had the normal amount of headaches as my botox was wearing off and I started my period on the day we left Chiang Rai. But, I was able to treat them quickly with my meds and staved off any pain. I didn't miss out on anything.

Back to the story.

The flights were BRUTAL. I had been to New Zealand so that was slight preparation. But this was much more greusome. 10 hours to Tokyo, 8+ to Bangkok and 1 1/2 to Chiang Rai. About 2 hours into it I really started to feel the pressure in my head. I didn't want to take a migraine reversal drug because I had 16 more hours to fly! So I took 2 Dramamine to help me sleep. Within about an hour my head felt so much better. I continued the Dramamine every 4-6 hours and found that's the trick for me in flying. Now, that would knock most people out. And it did make me drowsy, but I have a hard-core system people. No doubt for being such a shorty!


Anyway, we get to Tokyo and we are all so exhausted. We got on our flight to Bangkok and they come on that the mechanics had found a problem. So we wait 30 min. (Service in Thailand is impecable. So they turn on the air conditioner, serve drinks and snacks...that's only the beginning people) Finally they offload us.

We wait quite a while and they decide to reassign us to a flight the next day. Everyone was pretty relieved because we would still be able to make our Chiang Rai flight. They paid for a bus to take us to a hotel, for the hotel and two meals, a bus back to the airport, $200 per person towards future flights and $10 per person for meals in the airport. Sweet!!!

So, now I can say I've been to Tokyo (narita)!!

I think I'm pooped now from writing. I think I will write more about getting to Bangkok tomorrow.