Sunday, June 27

Well everyone, I apologize because I won't be getting any pictures posted tonight. I am more than dead tired. We have been going on very long days with good sleep, but not quite timed to our bodies here yet. Hopefully soon it will level out more normally.

Yesterday we traveled north to Trang for Beam’s seminar. It was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday which is strange to us. The director of the school very often assigns Beam these extra responsibilities without pay. She is frustrated, but I think she realizes that it also shows a confidence in her abilities as well as increased status in the school and in the district. She asked the assistant director and his wife plus two other teachers to join us, then he could drive the school van a, very nice 11 passenger Toyota called a Transporter (not sold in the U.S.). I think they saw it as a little “get away” and a chance to show us some of the area. Anyway, a funny thing, about 1 hour into the trip she called a friend and found out Saturday was cancelled and because the school Internet was down she didn’t find out. It was a great blessing because we could tour different areas and see the sites.

It is easy to see why traveling by car takes so long. Every time you come to a city or village, which is often, the shops and homes aren’t more than 20’ from the busy road, and often less than that. Add thousands (and I do mean thousands!) of scooters (carrying 2-3 people) on the road and the problem just increases. Since many go slower, the cars and trucks have to weave around them, slowing down to avoid oncoming traffic. It takes at least twice as long to get someplace, unless you are on a superhighway, and they don’t have the system we have. In the bigger cities there is very little yielding by anyone, car, truck or motorcycle. It looks very dangerous and it's amazing we haven't seen any c yet.

It seems many towns and cities are spread along the road, maybe going 2-3 blocks into the wild area. Rubber plantations are abundant here….their greatest regional export by far. We have also seen rice fields and a lot of fruit trees also.

We stayed at a nice hotel in Trang and ate out at some local restaurants again. It continues to be excellent food, feeding all 7 of us for less than $20. Simply amazing. Today we traveled to some beaches, a wonderful cave with many passages that was developed by some Buddhist monks with shrines in many chambers (and bats!) It was extraordinarily clean and quiet, a refuge for those who want meditation time. Words can't really describe it, so I will wait for picture to post.

But by far, the most incredible experience happened today...a lesson for us all. Thailand is governed by a prime minister. Today while traveling through one of our cities today we stopped at a home surrounded by a wall. We quietly walked in and the assistant director of Beam.s school (our driver) went and talked to a couple of men. H came back and said that we could walk around the grounds. Mind you, this is the former Prime Minister's mother's home! he was recently defeated, but continues to be loved by much of their people. While walking (and dodging rain) we were met by a man who spoke fairly good English. He was dressed in dirty shorts and a t-shirt and was absolutely soaked. He told us he visited Utah quite a few years ago. We continued to visit with him and we found out that he was the former prime minister's brother! After a bit he asked us if we would like some blankets and we weren't sure if he met to keep the rain off us or what. So he comes back with two blankets from his brother's factory, embroidered with his brother's name and gives them to us as gifts!!!! Now, that just wouldn't happen in our country. This family of the highest government ranking opens their home grounds for any visitor (especially the people of Thailand), complete with a guest book for comments to the family! They are famous and loved by people all over the country for being just good, down to earth people. We talked awhile longer, went on our way walking the grounds a bit more and he comes back to talk and show us more of the grounds. Needless to say, it was a humbling event for Susann and I, and a lesson of what real hospitality and love for people is. He even volunteers to teach children how to speak Chinese some mornings of each month. He really honored us, just common people from America, and I'm not sure if I'll ever be touched like that again!

Time for bed. Be patient, pictures are coming!