Jungle Escape

It was the last night of my stay in the Thai jungle bungalow. I kept hearing noises in the night, animals no doubt slithering through my cabin on their way somewhere else. I turned on the light several times, but saw nothing.

Not that I was sleeping all that well anyway in this Tarzan-like place, but at 3 a.m., I was awakened by the unmistakeable sound of torrential tropical rain. In 2-1/2 hours, I had to meet my taxi at the gate of this jungly compound to take me to the airport. I hoped the rain would stop. Finally it did, replaced by the loud noise of croaking frogs. I have obnoxiously loud croaking frogs where I live in Bamboo Forest too, so that didn't freak me out too badly.

But then the frogs got quiet as the torrential rain started up again. My heart sank, giving new meaning to the term "tropical depression."

The deluge continued at 5:30 a.m. when I had to meet the taxi; it was still dark. I put on my dirty jeans, t-shirt, socks and tennis shoes. I awkwardly tried to balance a lightweight umbrella under my chin. I grabbed my carry-on bag in one hand and my big suitcase in the other. I descended the stairs of the bungalow into streams of deep, running water where there was a nice sidewalk visible just yesterday.

I waded through water that was nearly to my knees, completely soaking my tennis shoes, socks, and jeans (rolling them up didn't keep them dry). It would have been kinder to my shoes if I had gone barefoot, but I was not sure what kind of snakes and critters might be in the water, and I wasn't taking any chances.

Carrying the umbrella was a useless endeavor and hurt my chin. My t-shirt was wet, as was my hair. My biceps got a workout before it was all over, because I hed the heavy luggage at shoulder level (and above water level) until I was able to get out of it.

I got to my taxi, which is really a small pick-up truck with a cover on it, and rode in the back of it with my luggage and wet clothing to the airport, hydroplaning on the highway once or twice, spewing water on other cars in the dark as we passed.

I got to the airport late, but I still took the time to run into the bathroom, open my suitcases on the (luckily quite clean) floor, and changed to different socks, shoes, jeans and shirt. The travel clerks assigned me the last open seat on the plane. After customs and immigration, I got to the gate area and saw all the nicely-groomed international travelers who rode taxis that they boarded from the protective awnings of their 3, 4 or 5 star hotels. And I thought: Wouldn't those people have been appalled if they had seen me five minutes earlier? Honestly, they didn't have half as much fun as I did getting to the airport!

The King and I

After my physical in Bangkok, I headed to northern Thailand to the city of Chiang Mai. I sat on the airplane pretending I was Emily Pollifax, heroine of the Dorothy Gilman book series featuring Mrs. Pollifax. I remember that Mrs. P and her husband Cyrus ended up in Chiang Mai. (My dad introduced me to these books in the late 70's, and now I have at least one niece hooked on the series too.) The book about Thailand is titled "Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle."

And then I got to my accommodations, which are not available to the general public (sorry general public). And it looks like something out of ancient Siam, with pointed roofs and stilts and stuff.

It is like a tropical jungle here too (except it has a swimming pool). There are loud birds in the morning that freak me out. Geckos climb on the inside walls. If they can get inside this log cabin, I keep thinking snakes can too. So I lay awake at night thinking I'm in a Thailand version of a Tarzan movie.

And every time I walk out the front door of my rustic log cabin into the jungle, I expect to see Jodi Foster or Chow Yun Fat* waltzing by.

Yes, I have traveled so much this summer that sometimes I get confused. Every now and then when I wake up in the morning, I have to pause to recall what country I am in.

God is my fellow traveler though -- I have excellent company on my trips! "The King and I" are having a busy but enjoyable time on our journeys together. Thanks for your prayers.

*Jodi Foster and Chow Yun Fat starred in the re-make of the movie "The King and I." 'Case you didn't know.

Bangkok

I suppose it seems absurd, but Bangkok has one of the top hospitals in the world. It feels like a 5-star hotel. Inside are restaurants, bakeries, Starbucks (several of them), shops, and highly-competent doctors and nurses who give the best service I've ever seen in the medical field for an unbelievably low price. It is beyond nice.

A physical exam that would take weeks to get in the USA, running around to specialty doctors here and there, getting labs and x-rays here and there, can be done all on one floor of the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok. And it can be done in about 3 hours. They have state-of-the-art digital imaging x-rays. They are awesome. Did I mention excellent, soft-spoken, kind, attentive service? Escorts move you from one station to the next, and if you don't speak a language they know they will find an interpreter for free. All the staff speaks English though.

If you are a Muslim woman OR OTHER MODEST PERSON, you will not find the exams embarrassing because they keep you covered even when doing "those" kinds of exams. (Many rich Arabs come here from the Middle East to get good medical care.)

And if you ever want a colonoscopy, get one in Bangkok. Even if you have your colonoscopy at 7:30 in the morning, you can eat up until 6 p.m. the night before.

And if you throw up in front of the counter at a Starbucks inside the hospital, the barristas will get a paper bag for you to use! And then they send a wheelchair to come get you, put you in a private room for FREE where you can take a nap in a lazy-boy recliner or watch CNN on a flatscreen TV.

If you have to go to the hospital, it is like a resort here! It's not in the Middle Kingdom, but it is close enough that I go here annually and think it is fun.

Smokin'

Mimi likes to smoke DentaStix (by Pedigree). She thinks she's cool sitting around with these in her mouth. She has one every evening before going to bed. She loves them. They are supposed to clean her breath. They must work. I like her dog breath. :-)

Aww, look at that sweet look in her smokin' dog face!

I told her how lucky she is. Some dogs have to work for a living, like this dog trained to sniff drugs on the luggage cart at Shanghai's Hongqiao airport. Mimi would probably like this type of work actually, because she could prove how smart she is. But she wouldn't last long in that under-air-conditioned building.

Mimi's living the good life, a doggy diva who just sits around and looks pretty all day.

Sizzling

In Bamboo Forest, here are the heat/humidity index temperatures in Fahrenheit degrees for today and the coming week:

113*F

109

106

108

109

101

112

110

And next week it will be 113 one day. And it has been 118 several times this summer. Most of the summer it has been over 110 degrees.

I melt as soon as I walk outside. I get so wet with "skin dew" that my clothes stick to my body within half a minute.

According to the heat and humidity index, it is hotter here than in Texas.

But it is plenty hot in Texas. Where my parents live, the humidity index was 106 both yesterday and today.They've had 43 straight days with temps over 100 (I haven't counted them here, but it's been about the same).

Ya'll eat a popsicle and stay cool! Do NOT mow the grass in this weather.

Anyway, winter's coming round the bend, and its a whole lot worse to deal with than summer ... in Bamboo Forest anyway.

Cookies

I wanted some cookies, but I don't have many ingredients in the house right now. Furthermore, I didn't want to do anything complicated. I pulled out the Betty Crocker Cookbook and found a three-ingredient yummy solution:

Shortbread cookies

3/4 cup of softened butter (that's 1.5 sticks of butter)

1/4 cup of sugar

4 cups of flour (NOT self-rising flour)

Mix the butter and sugar together first, then add the flour. If it is too crumbly, you can add more soft butter so that you can make a ball out of the stiff batter with your hands.

The recipe says to roll it out and make shapes, but I didn't go to any such trouble. I made little balls in my hand, smashed them flat, and baked until I thought they were done.

I didn't care how they looked. I just wanted them to taste good with coffee ... and they did!

How easy is that?!

Guess what I did today?

No really, go ahead, guess.

You got it, I went to a panda habitat!

I saw a panda on a trip to Guangzhou, China in 1989, and never again until today. In 1989, the panda sat in its own filth in a pathetic dark zoo. But the pandas I saw today seem to have life good.

Look at the panda above. He is staring at me! He froze like that for a full minute or two before resuming his breakfast. I was laughing out loud.

They are so cute. They have actions resembling those of my dog Mimi, except their posture is worse. One difference between pandas and dogs is that pandas have to put the food in their hands and then put it to their mouths. Mimi can't do that. (But hey, Mimi can move a lot faster than these pandas, and is clearly smarter than a panda.) One similarity is that both Mimi and the pandas charmingly smack their food when they eat.

Their habitat is beautiful! It was like a humongous bamboo rainforest.

This guy/gal/whatever decided he/she wanted breakfast in bed. First he (let's go with "he," shall we?) was sitting down to eat, but then he grabbed some branches of bamboo (put out by the caretakers), rolled over on his back, and started stuffing his mouth with bamboo leaves. They are so cute, everyone was laughing and smiling at the adorable pandas.

The entry fee to the park is equivalent to US$9 per person, which means a lot of locals couldn't afford to go.

Somebody's having a birthday today!

My dad! Happy 78th Birthday Padre!

On the road again...

...going places that I've never been.

I am in week two of a three week trip to the western part of the Middle Kingdom. On this trip:

• I've gotten altitude sickness, twice rather severely (headaches, throwing up).
• Chatted with some Tibetan monks who were pretty laid back. No, I am not in Tibet.
• Got swatted at by one Tibetan monk.
• Got yelled at by another Tibetan monk (overall they are a rather angry group)!
• Met the Imam of an Islamic mosque. No, I am not in the Middle East. The Imam neither yelled at me or hit me; he was friendly enough.
• Visited a minority village out in the middle of nowhere.
• Ate more noodles in twelve days than I've eaten in the last twelve years, or at least I think so.

I can't wait to get back to my overseas home when this trip is over so I can resume my normal life. I don't care to ever be higher than 5,000 feet in elevation ever again (even though I know airplanes will go higher than that). I don't care to ever eat a noodle again either, although I might make an exception for spaghetti. It's fun to see new places, but three weeks of it is overkill. I miss my Mimi.

The Market

Shanghai’s Bird-Fish-Flower Market

Taking a cat nap near the aquarium supplies. Smart cat.

Bird watching takes on a new twist!

As does fishing!

Yes, you can buy flowers.

Or just kick your feet up while taking a tea break.

For some, the market is just a jailhouse. I’m not a fan of caged birds. Nor am I a fan of strings that keep them from doing what God made them to do – fly!

I'm traveling for the next 3 weeks or so. Please pray for safe travels. I'll do my best to post something while I am gone, but I dare not make any promises!

Milestone

Vacation

Other people’s idea of an awesome vacation: go lay out on a beach somewhere.

My idea of an awesome vacation: go lay out on my parents’ sofa in Texas.

So that’s what I did. The goal of my 3-week vacation was to visit good ‘ol mom and dad. Mission accomplished.

As it turned out, I didn’t get around to contacting friends in the USA. I just rested and recuperated. Half the vacation I was in jet lag, falling asleep on the sofa at odd times of the day. Jet lag and I don’t have a good relationship.

I expect to be in the USA for two months next summer starting in July, so I hope to catch up with friends in the Texas area at that time.

I was not sure I could afford to go to the USA for vacation, but I prayed about it and felt the Lord was giving me His go-ahead to buy the tickets. I knew if a major appliance of mine broke and had to be repaired or replaced, I wouldn’t be able to afford the trip. (My appliances are getting old. My washing machine is 13 years old, and has been through three unprofessional moves, so I kind of expect it to crater any time.)

Well, I bought my tickets. Soon thereafter my refrigerator broke! Not only did I have expensive repairs, but all my newly purchased meat, cheese and produce ruined. I wouldn’t have bought my airline ticket had I known this would happen! But the Lord provided in unexpected ways through brothers and sisters in the faith who heard about it through the grapevine. Thanks to them for blessing me, and thanks to the Lord for getting me to the USA to see my parents. Lots of people in my line of work have family with them overseas, but I hadn’t seen a single family member in 1-1/2 years prior to this trip.

It was a nice trip. It went by fast. And now I am back overseas. Having jet lag.