Back in Bangkok

   I have to confess, I love blogging! It has been hard for me, not being able to blog as much as I would like to. So I want to catch you up as best I can!

    After the week on the island of Koh Samui, we returned to the big city. We stayed at probably the best backpackers hostel in Bangkok! It was a great location too, walking right around the corner to the skytrain. Check it out : SUK 11

    Erica and I took the skytrain to the end of the line and got on a water ferry---a boat that takes you up the Chao Phraya River. 

    We got off at the stops where we wanted to explore and see the many Wats (temples) and the Grand Palace. Wat Pho is the largest and oldest wat in Bangkok (built in 16th century- rebuilt in 1785 by King Rama I). Inside this wat is the largest reclining Buddha (I always thought reclining was lying back because of reclining chairs, but this guy was just laying on his side) :

    I love that there is fresh fruit and juices sold on every corner! There are markets all over, and the streets are lined with tents and things for sell. We found healthy restaurants, I got a great Thai massage for next to nothing price wise, and found some fun lounging pants that are so comfy! 

   Erica is off- back to Chicago, so I explored Bangkok the next day by myself. I went to the Home of the American business man who was a famous silk designer in Thailand: Jim Thompson House

    While trying to find the Jim Thompson house, I met a couple from Berlin who were also having trouble finding it--a travelers bonding moment--but we ended up finding it all together.

   After parting ways with them, I took a small boat up the river to the last stop, I got off there to find The Golden Mount, another wat up a little hill. It was fun to go up and the clouds, sun, and view of the city was really neat!

   I then took the boat back to the stop where I could get on the skytrain again. I went to a market called JJ's for short. It was endless it seemed! I am pretty sure anything you could want was there! I knew I was officially in Thailand when I was walking down an isle in the market with all these people around and look up to see two baby elephants walking by!! Wow, I took a double take on that one!

    It began to rain, so I wasn't able to catch a good photo of it. Then I headed back to the skytrain. Guess who I ran into? The couple from Berlin! George laughed and said "Bangkok is nothing more than a village I think!" They invited me along to try to find a boxing match to go to, as Muay Thai Boxing is one of the most popular sports unique to Thailand. We found the place, but after considering the 'tourist' price - it was $1,000 baht more than what the Thai's pay! We decided against paying so much, and peeped through the gate to see a little instead. That satisfied us enough and we settled for walking around another night market before saying our good byes at the sky train station.   

Koh Samui

is an island that survives on tourism and their coconut exports. Luckily, we stayed on the West side of the island where it was very low key with a small group of people. Erica and I did a week of cleansing/detox. This consisted of cleaning out our systems by drinking fluids-water, juices, minerals and soups. It was an interesting experience, but in the process we learned about taking care of our bodies by eating healthier and paying attention to food combinations. Hillary taught us some extra healthy recipes and used a dehydrator that her friend built for some of the recipes.
As I mentioned, coconuts are a big part of their economy. But, in order to meet demand, they train monkeys to climb the palm trees and pick the coconuts!
I got to hold this cute little fellow—until he wasn’t cute anymore when he clawed Erica’s nose!

Now, meet Lina:

 Our elephant tour guide!

rainy day on the island...

Today I feel broken. I am tired and hungry.
There was a nice guy at the Passion conference in Seoul that gave me a dvd with a message about hope on it. I watched it today with what was left on the battery on my laptop (no converters here-maybe when I am back in Bangkok). It was such perfect timing to watch it. I needed to hear the truths said. Also, I opened an email from a dear friend who casually mentioned Matthew 6:25-34 at the end of the message. Verse 34 says "therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Wonderful how reminders come when you need them the most.
We only have a few more days to explore this island of Koh Samui. I am thankful for coconuts and good health!

en route

to Koh Samui...

 (sorry I haven't been able to call Mom and Dad, but I am safe and doing well!)

k-snacks

     This is what I was snacking on while I blogged tonight... the first time I tried this Korean candy I was at my home in Georgia when Heather let me to taste it. 

let's go tokyo!

    Ashley made signs tonight for Passion, and Louie ended up taking them on stage to show everyone. Each city prays for the next city, Vancouver prayed for Seoul and we are praying for Tokyo-- where they are going next. The emotion in the place when Chris Tomlin sang in Korean was amazing. The words on the screen where in their native language and you could sense the excitement. Great night. Looking forward to tomorrow. Check out their blog : 268generation

I couldn't help but think about North Korea and China. They do not have these same freedoms to worship. Please pray for these countries.

Busan, South Korea

See Map of South Korea here:

 http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/maps/map_country_koreasouth.html

     To be honest, I was a little bit worried about my trip to Busan (pronounced Pusan). I wanted to see the Film Festival and the beach, but it meant leaving Ashley here in Seoul (she is teaching at a local girls private school) getting on the subway for 45 minutes to get to Seoul Station where I would buy a KTX fast train ticket. Get on the train and travel three and a half hours south to Busan. I knew of one soul in Busan—and it was someone I had only talked to through email. Basically I don’t feel as confident here because I do not know the language.

      Well, as I sometimes do, I ended up worrying more than was necessary. At the last minute, a friend I met on the DMZ tour emailed me and said he was going to Busan the next day as well. Mike is a Chinese-American from New Jersey who has studied Korean—so he was very kind to help me get around. We met at Seoul Station, got tickets and headed to Busan. Upon arriving we got oriented with a map of the city.

       Jagalchi Market is the local fish market right on the ocean—that was our first stop for some lunch. Korean food is fairly spicy-but I enjoyed tasting the fish and vegetable dishes. We then walked through an area called Nampo-dong. In addition to two cinemas playing the international films for the PIFF (Pusan International Film Festival), there is a lot of shopping both western stores—like ‘Columbia’ and ‘Patagonia’ the sports clothes brands as well as street vendors who set up there stands with watches, purses, scarves, etc. I saw another foreigner in passing with a UGA cell phone cover on his phone. I yelled “go dawgs!” as we passed and found out that he is in the Navy, stationed in Japan but was on liberty this week—he is from the North side of Atlanta. What a small world.

        Later we went to a coffee shop and put our feet in a fish tank for a “Dr. Fish” experience. Very interesting this Korean foot therapy—small fish nibble at your feet—eating the dead skin and fungus or whatever off your feet. It felt so weird! They would just nibble away at your feet and it tickled so much. Although my feet did feel a bit cleaner and softer that night, I cant help but thinking that something about it wasn’t very sanitary, the thought of other peoples feet having been in the same water ---or that the fish relieved themselves in that same water. Either way, I am glad to have participated in this Korean custom, and haven’t had any negative results on my feet…yet.

      Liz is teaching English in Busan and is who I had been emailing prior to coming because her Aunt had got us in contact with eachother. I was able to stay at her place, so all worked out nicely. I planned to meet Mike the next morning at the Busan Museum of Modern Art---and then met with Liz and her friends who were celebrating one of their birthdays! Guess what? I ran into two more UGA graduates—they were on the field and graduating the same day I did in May of this year. Again, it is a small world after all.

Day 2 in Busan:
     The Museum of Modern Art was so much fun. I really liked seeing all the little children in uniforms holding hands and walking through the museum. Also, there were middle school and high school girls sitting outside the Museum under trees with easels painting the landscape.

      From there I went to see a film for the festival in a really neat Cinema not far away. Later, I went to the beautiful Haeundae Beach where the festival had more tents and stages set up for interviews with directors and awards going on.

      The perfect ending to my time in Busan was walking along the beach at sunset:

  crab fishermen enjoyed getting their picture taken:

 and a sweet Korean lady approached me speaking in English.

 

    She began to share Christ with me in English, mind you, this is not her native language. I was very impressed and inspired by this. I let her go on a little as I wanted to hear all that she had to say. Then, I opened up and told her about my walk with the Lord and she was so happy she could hardly stand it. Mrs. Lee invited me to dinner at her home, and I decided that I could take a later train back to Seoul, so we walked up the hill to her home. I was so blessed to hear more of her story, learn about her family, eat traditional Korean food, and learn some of their eating customs.

       Mrs. Lee also told me about how her mother moved to South Korea before the war. Her mother cried often because all of her mother’s siblings are in North Korea, they still do not know to this day how her siblings are—even if they are dead or alive as there is no internet or mail allowed into or out of North Korea. It really brought things into perspective hearing a true story about a family torn apart. What I saw and learned about at the DMZ on Tuesday became real, not just an illusion of a country divided. The older generation still desires unity, while the younger generation--who are less connected to the separation--believe unity could be destructive to their South Korean economy.

        After giving each other gifts, we said our goodbyes and I was off on the last train out of Busan headed to Seoul. I don’t know what I was so worried about, it was a great and safe adventure!

sked-zule:

What I did today:

   Toured the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. Cool and crazy at the same time. My favorite quote from the tour guide. Pointing to a hill 100 feet behind us "here is the area 1 million land mines were dropped right before the cease fire. But don't worry, no problem."

  Me: really???

    Besides looking over into the North, we got to go in tunnel 3, one of the tunnels S. K found that is now blocked off before reaching the cease fire line underground.

What I am doing tomorrow: 13th PUSAN International Film Festival (www.piff.org) 

What I will be doing Friday: Passion World Tour will be in Seoul~ 

(http://www.268generation.com/worldtour/high.html)

   In my inbox today:  "Here are your Passion World Tour Tickets"!!

I had no idea they were going to be here the same time.

What I am reading on the train to Pusan: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

a little different from the main street in Siem Reap...

clever or korean translation?

Bulgoki ! (beef dish)

Every restaurant has baseball on the TV. This one was playing the Sydney 2000 Korea v Japan  

:) 

the perfect serve?

korean gas station

efficient use of space? I dont know if you can tell from the picture but the pumps are lowered from the ceiling. My only question: is the gas stored on the roof?

Legends of the FALL

           This morning I woke up and opened the window- the air was cool and so fall-ish! I snapped this photo on the street in Korea and caught some of the fallen leaves as a lady walked by. For the most part the trees are still green here. Are the leaves changing yet there?

          Mostly in the fall I think of sweaters, the geese flying in and landing on the lake, the changing color of leaves, football, and fires. 

      Here, so far fall has been: leaving the window open, a long sleeve shirt, strolling down the street, and the baristas in coffee and doughnut shops with witch hats and pumpkin decorations for Halloween. Who knew Halloween was so big over seas? 

Shuang for life...

I learned so much from working with and traveling with these girls!

Eater Meter:

   Breakfast was Dunkin Doughnuts when I got into the Seoul airport--I choose a powdered doughnut with strawberry filling! 

   Lunch- sticky rice, chicken and Korean dumplings (squid, seaweed, and shrimp inside)

    Dinner was BBQ chicken wraps and salad. Dessert : Belgium waffles with icecream! Ashley tells me a tradition she has with her dad is going to the CFA Dwarf House and getting waffles with icedream on top!

K-town scuppernong

    First of all, if I were to spell it like I say it, it would be: scuppinon 

But, we just looked it up: 

scuppernong |ˈskəpərˌnä ng; -ˌnə ng |
noun
a variety of the muscadine grape native to the basin of the Scuppernong River in North Carolina.

     Korean scuppernongs are what we're snacking on while we blog :) ...thinking of you Mark!

Seoul Sistas!

         Live blogging from South Korea! Ashley (is not naked in this picture) is here for a year teaching English--she is from Griffin-- we went to college together. Today we went to Church, rode the subway and bus, cooked lunch, shopped and talked. Fall is in the air here, as I am sure it is in full form in Georgia. Take in the crisp air and changing leaves for me! 

An yang ha say yo = Hello

Cam sam nii da = Thank you

(Heather I'm quizzing Losiah when I get back!) 

beautiful people, beautiful kids.

         I am amazed at how green everything is here. Looking out you see mountains with all different shades of green. You can see rice fields with green shoots coming up out of the water. "The rice fields give the people much more than rice", Chath told us. "They offer crabs and frogs for eating as well." This country is 90% Buddhist and there are many buddha statues and incense burning. The expats are mainly French and Australian.  

how to gas up your 'tuk-tuk'

stop at the station:

nice lady brings pepsi bottle full of gas:

attach the hose and lift the funnel:

fill 'er up!

and there you have a Cambodian gas station 

Siem Reap

Rachel and Sophie in our 'tuk-tuk' for the day 

kids playing in the water after the rain-little boy eating flower

a child in Angkor Wat

outside Angkor Wat--one the of ancient temples in Cambodia