Getting to Chiang Mai

We were supposed to spend about 20 hours getting here - leaving Calgary Friday morning and arriving in Chiang Mai late Saturday evening. The flight to Beijing from Vancouver was delayed by at least 8 hours, so of course our connection from Beijing to Chiang Mai couldn't work, and Air China doesn't fly that route every day. So we had a lot of conversation with Air China in Vancouver.

Here is a picture of some of our negotiating team in action.



We arrived in Beijing and had a very stressful hour or so. We had to leave the secure area, go through customs, pick up our luggage, find the Air China representatives with our boarding passes, get back through customs and security, and get on our plane - to Singapore. Yes, we were going to fly for 6 hours right past Chiang Mai to Singapore, then fly back up to Chiang Mai. We all got on the plane and settled down to our second night flight in 14 hours.

Was this horrible? No! Our 6 hours in Singapore were delightful. Air China gave us passes to the lounge, where we could have showers and food and comfortable chairs, and we hired a couple of taxis to take most of us on a quick tour to the Gardens by the Bay.

Here are some pictures of the Singapore airport. They like their orchids!




The drive to the gardens was very nice and out taxi driver told us a lot about Singapore on the way.




The Gardens feature a couple of large greenhouses that contain plants and environments from around the world. We didn't have time to go in them, but instead took a 25 minute bus tour of the grounds, and then went up to the elevated skywalk that joins some of the artificial trees used as vents.








 It was wonderful!

Then we got on our plane for the flight to Chiang Mai - only 3 hours - and arrived in the late afternoon, about 20 hours later than expected. We were met at the airport by Wat and John and taken to our accommodation at Dara Place, thankful for the safety and joy and bonding we had experienced since leaving Calgary.

Dara Place is about a 10 minute drive from the Wycliffe office and is quite comfortable, although the beds are a bit hard. The grounds are nice and the mornings especially are absolutely gorgeous. It's cool (about 24 degrees), the birds are singing, the smell is wonderful, and it's perfect for a walk. Words fail me in describing the glory of the mornings. There are a couple of places close by for breakfast, and at 8:10 we get picked up and taken to the Wycliffe office. There is a shopping centre with a food court nearby for supper, and last night and tonight John is taking us to markets with an amazing variety of foods.





On Monday morning Lawrence (from Wycliffe in Texas) tested all of the students to determine their level of English. In the afternoon the students went home and we marked the tests and formed them into 3 groups. Here are a couple of pictures of the testing in process.




The door of the Wycliffe office and the street on which it is located.




This afternoon Opel and Nat dropped in for a visit.


I don't have any pictures of the teaching - too busy teaching, I guess - but will try to add some. We start with a worship time and a testimony in the morning, then divide into our classes, have a mid-morning break, a great lunch (green curry today, made by John's wife), and Pad Thai yesterday.

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