We made it to Thailand!

Goodness me, where to start. It feels like an age since I left New Zealand and yet it's barely three days. I suppose at the beginning makes the most sense.  Please forgive me if I get a bit verbose, I struggle to do succinct.

The travel all went smoothly with no dramas at all. I managed a total of three movies on the two flights, and there was definitely a 'based on a true story' theme with 'Joy', 'The Big Short' and 'The Theory of Everything' being my picks. I enjoyed them all, and would recommend them.  During the stopover in Melbourne I worked through the Serve In Thailand handbook we'd been given in preparation for this trip. It was really interesting with stuff on history, culture and expectations. I'm glad I read it.

Gayle and I successfully met up at the airport. I'd got there earlier so was able to check out some practical stuff like Thai sim cards, and how to get to the other airport from where we were being collected. So we got away in good time, and then met up with Kim and Mary, our hosts for the first two weeks. The drive north to Suphanburi was pretty interesting. I've heard Thai driving described as polite chaos and that seems pretty accurate from what I've seen.  It's really dry and dusty here, they're having a bad drought at present, which is pretty obvious. There's still colourful flowers in the cities at least. I've also been really aware of just how flat this area is. We're staying in a small town which is called Don Chedi, about 30 mins out of the city of Suphanburi, and Don means rise. Well, Don Chedi is all of 8 meters higher than the city, at a whopping 15 meters above sea level. All the open roads are dead straight, which for a Kiwi is pretty odd!

Oh, one other thing I almost forgot to mention about first impressions? The heat! We were warned, but still it's certainly quite something. 40 degrees every day, but today has been the worst with humidity about 88%. Air conditioning is a blessing, we are fortunate to have it in our bedroom so able to sleep well, and we've been able to survive with fans and other air conditioned locations during the days. My resource conscious wee soul feels quite uncomfortable driving 100 metres to the next shop, but it really feels necessary here, as of course the vehicle has air conditioning.

So far we've done a number of things. Sunday evening church with about 12 of us altogether was good. We recognised most of the songs so could sing along in English, and Mary and Kim kindly provided some translation of the sermon for Gayle and me respectively.  I must say though we were both struggling to stay awake what with the travel and the time difference. We went to a house in another villiage last night for a cell group meeting where we shared our testimony, and prayed for a number of things after sharing a meal. We were able to give some of the gifts we'd brought and they seemed to be appreciated.

Gayle and I have had a couple of good talks, and I think we compliment each other well as travel companions. It's quite different from normal travel, and we both feel the responsibility of needing to get things right so as not to offend people with whom Kim and Mary have built deep relationships. We've been taught how to greet people correctly, and have to remember when to take off our shoes, and how to sit and stand correctly. We're geeting good at reminding each other :-)

I have got net access, so emails are great, and I've also been able to Skype my parents, and Martin as well, so that's been good.

That's enough for today,  I'll try and write more often so they can (maybe!) be shorter.

Love to all
Sarah

Five months is a long time to be away - why am I going?

I wrote this to talk to in church last week, and thought it would be a good first post for this part of the blog.  It focuses on my time in Canada as that was the reason I planned this.  Thailand has come later, and while it has become more important to me as the planning has progressed, it's not the main reason I'm going.

I've put my itinerary at the end as well.

Psalm 24:1 says ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it’.

The main thing I’m doing while I’m away is to volunteer at a Christian environmental centre in Vancouver, Canada.  I’m going on this trip for two reasons.

The first is for me, to have a change from my current life and responsibilities.  I put a lot of time, effort and energy into things I care about, but in the last couple of years I find my resilience is a bit low, so I decided to take a chunk of time to re-focus and get a fresh perspective.  In the next five months I expect to spend time with God, and to deepen my relationship with him.  I was also reminded the other day of Zephaniah 3:17 which says ‘The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.’  I need to remember to celebrate his delight in me.  I don’t tend to do that much!

The second reason is to focus for a period on one of my key passions, conservation, in the context of an intentional community.  In Canada I’ll be living and working with a number of Christians who also care about God’s creation as much as I do, and are working practically to improve it.  A Rocha’s core commitments speak strongly to me.  They are Christian, conservation, community, cross-cultural and co-operation.  I hope that working with like-minded people will help me to learn, grow and contribute.

As most of you probably know I care deeply about caring for God’s creation.  Jesus said a key commandment is ‘to love your neighbour as yourself’.  My neighbour lives across the street, on the other side of town, in Fiji, and in Bangladesh.  I want to love my neighbour in every way I can, and that means being a good steward of God’s creation on which we all depend.

My God created this universe we inhabit in all its wonder, mystery and beauty.  He made the whole world, and has committed it’s resources into our care.  I want being a Christian to transform every part of my life, not just the ‘spiritual’ parts.

I’d like to finish with a quote from John Stott when writing about A Rocha.  He said ‘the living God of the Bible is the God of creation as well as redemption, and is concerned for the totality of our wellbeing’.  If you’re able to pray for me I’d appreciate prayer for refreshment, safe travels, success in my work and a deepened relationship with Christ.  Thanks.

Itinerary

Date	Travel Details
16 Apr	Fly at 6:35pm to Bangkok (via Melbourne). Arrive 6:00am on the 17th
30 Apr	Train at 7:35pm to Chiang Mai. Arrive 8:30am on the 1st
13 May	Bus at approx. 7:30am to Bangkok. Arrive approx. 5:30pm
14 May	Fly at 1:55pm to Vancouver (via Hong Kong). Arrive 4:20pm
17 May	Public transport to A Rocha, Surrey
22 Aug	Train at 5:35pm to Bellingham, WA. Arrive approx. 7:30pm
22 Aug – 7 Sep	Travel by train down the coast to San Francisco.
10 Sep	Fly at 11:25am to Honolulu. Arrive 1:45pm
13 Sep	Fly at 9:40am to Auckland. Arrive 4:35pm on the 14th

It's been a few days, mostly cycling, snorkling and diving, the weather has been pretty good, only downpours at night and some sprinkles during the day. New Years has been and gone, and we've only one proper sleep left now before we head home.

We've been to Muri Beach a couple of times now, it's about exactly on the other side of the island from here (16kms) , and so takes about 50 minutes to ride at a reasonable cycling pace, or 20 minutes by car. Roger, Ruth, Jackie and I went out there on Sunday (in their car) to do some snorkling, and although the weather packed it in a wee bit it was still warm, and there was lots to see. My favourite is the Smooth Flootmouth, I shall have to see if I can find an onle photo to link to. I saw two on the Sunday, but the next day Monday I did my dive refresher course which is basically a glorified snorkle in the lagoon but using the scuba tanks, and we saw a whole bunch of them.



Ben, from Canada was my dive instructer and he was very nice and patient. It didn't take much for me to get the hang of it, and the weather on Monday was particularly stunning, so a really good day to hang out in the lagoon. There were lots of fish about, so very entertaining, and nice to have a guide to point out flounder and clams I would have missed. It was just the two of us, and he was easy on the eyes so that didn't suck! We did some more snorkling in front of the house here in the afternoon, but didn't see as many fish as I had in the morning.

Tuesday was another Muri Beach excursion. Roger and I headed out there on the bikes about 10:30, and I have now completely done the ring road as we went through town and then on the other side did a stretch that was new to me. Once at Muri we waited for Ruth on her scooter (Jackie went home to Auckland on Monday) and Mum, Dad, Lee and Darryl in the car. Lunch on the beach on New Years day was very definitely on Island time, and when the food did eventually arrive they had Dad's order wrong so it had to be redone. Happily, we didn't really have anything else planned so no major drama to take our time. Another swim, and then home for an evening of roast Turkey and chatting.

Wednesday morning we had planned to visit a Whale and Wildlife centre in the morning, but when I got there (first on the bike) it was shut s I was able to give the others a heads up not to bother coming. I was off diving in the afternoon with Ben again as well as four other divers. Nearly had a fail as I didn't have my dive card with me, and I apparently am not on the database they checked. They let me come anyway after I signed something else saying they weren't responsible if I died (I had assured Mum it's not good for their business to have a tourist die on their watch!) and I shall certainly sort that out when I get home! The diving itself was really good. I had some trouble equalising the pressure in my ears, so spent the first part of each dive hanging out above them for the birds eye view rather than the up close and personal look, but I did manage eventally to get down to coral level. The visibility was fantastic, and so much fish and coral to look at, we had a great time. Towards the end we saw an eagle ray and I wanted to swim after it for a better look, but was, sall we say, discouraged (ie Ben hung on to my fin until I got the message!)

Played some Mah Jong with Mum, Dad and Lee last night (though we might try again before we go since Lee put us slightly wrong on one of the rules!!) and then in bed in reasonable time. I've upped my book count again, I think I'm on to book 6, and it's one borrowed from here, so the pressure is on to finish it before tomorrow. Hard to have a proper holiday with so much pressure, but I'm coping!

I'm typing this on the laptop not the phone so hope I haven't been too verbose. May not blog again now until I am home, but will do a final wrap up.

Here's hoping this link works, the photo is the beach on Monday from where we did the refresher dive

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=smooth+flutemouth&hl=en&tbo=d&rlz=1T4SKPB_enNZ306NZ306&biw=1264&bih=602&tbm=isch&tbnid=RjFbPPtVrPBLqM:&imgrefurl=http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/1507&docid=zuLu15pdR8_8pM&imgurl=http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/images/image/FistulariaCommersoniRLing.jpg&w=1024&h=768&ei=c9XlUKTcGIiRkgXyzIGQAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=772&vpy=108&dur=1586&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=132&ty=95&sig=104258008960270004032&page=2&tbnh=151&tbnw=210&start=18&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:34,s:0,i:190

PS

Nope, couldn't do it, at 11:50pm I'm just back from my swim. I could get used to this living on the beach life-style!

Bike riding and sewing

Yesterday Mum and Dad left early for a couple days away, and I got to go for a bike ride without getting wet. The bike I'm riding was borrowed from Ruth who is married to Roger, and he and his daughter Jackie (also visiting from Auckland) and I went for a good ride all the way around the island. It's 32kms all up, but we did take a back route or two so it was likely a bit longer than that. It was really nice to have company and a (sort of) local guide as I doubt I would have been brave enough to leave the ring road on my own. There is a wee bit of a different feel when you leave the main road, less touristy, more local. Lots of dogs and chickens roaming, Lee tells me there has been a concerted effort over the last few years to cut down the numbers of stray dogs.

I took my leave of the others when we got to town and meandered through the main area, stopped at a couple of shops but just looked. There are certainly plenty of places to eat and drink, car and scooter hire places (and a couple with electric assist bikes) and souvineer type places. But also more normal hardware, supermarkets and general stores. It was a nice fine day and I was very happy to get home for a swim and a quiet afternoon/evening.

Today, would you believe, I used a sewing machine! I know, I can barely believe it either, I'm sure it would be 20 years since I last touched one.

Lee and I went to the Saturday market which was fun, although the drizzle was pretty steady. Lee is a regular, so was able to introduce me to a few locals. I decided I was after cushion covers, but couldn't really find what I was after. So, when we got home Lee suggested we could buy some fabric and make some covers. So we did (photo attached for evidence!). Who would have guessed it?! I'm quite pleased, though the lines aren't as straight as they might be. I just hope I got the colour right to go in the room.

This evening Roger, Ruth and Jackie came for dinner, and we have had a nice evening. At 11pm this is looking like my first no swim day of the holiday, as by the time the weather cleared in the afternoon I was otherwise occupied.

I have to share about ceiling fans. They are a really great invention, and I have been most happy to sleep with mine on every night. However, (and it took me two goes to get this), it really doesn't pay to put clothes on or off over ones head while standing under said fan. They hurt quite a lot when they hit your finger, especially the second time in essentially the same spot. I have now got the message, and make sure I am well clear before getting changed.

And I've now finished three books and counting :-)

I got wet!

So, today was the day I picked to take off on the bike for a few hours, and today was the day it decided to rain. A lot. So I got wet. A lot!

To back up slightly, yesterday (boxing day) was a down day. I swam and read pretty much all day. Unfortunately I was a bit neglectful on the sun-block and so was a bit tender by the end of the day. On the plus side it's been a while since a read a whole entire proper sized novel in less than 24 hours, so that was nice. A bit tired today though given it was about 1am when I finished it.

After all the sun yesterday I decided an afternoon on the bike was a good idea, and so headed off before midday. It was nice to be on the hike and not in any kind of hurry. The speed limit on the entire island is 50kms and traffic is very courteous. I think it is that 'island time' again. The rain started just as a sprinkle and I found a convenient bus shelter. It stopped, I started up again, it started and took me a wee while longer to find shelter. All up I probably stopped five times for the rain, getting a bit wetter each time. My original plan to circumnavigate the island (all 32kms of it) was a bust and I turned around after maybe 11kms. On the way back I stopped at a dive place and booked a refresher and a proper dive, and they gave me a cup of tea while I waited out yet more rain. It completely chucked down for a while before easing off, and though it hadn't stopped completely I needed to get home as we had booked a cultural show and dinner evening and we were being picked up at 4. I made it home with time to shower and various people telling me 'I told you so' when they saw my very wet self. Still it wasn't cold at all, and I finished up in my togs and skirt as the T-shirt was less than effective at that point. I'm not sure if this counts as a no swim day, perhaps technically...

The cultural show was fun, there was a village tour first where they showed us fishing gear and costumes and medicine and how they were made. The photo is George our guide just as we are about to enter the village. Then dinner and the show which featured fire-dancing and drums and lots and lots of very comely lasses wiggling their hips. Very picturesque, and we all managed to avoid joining in at the end. Dad in particular was practicing his 'I don't think so' face!

That's it, home now, Mum and Dad are off to Aitutaki for a couple of nights in the morning (early) so I won't see them until Sunday.

I have been surprised at the wind here, it's pretty constant, and while it hasn't been too much of an issue, I certainly noticed it on the bike today. Coming home I did seem to have more of a tail wind which was nice. Still, definitely wouldn't want to be camping!

That's me, hope the humidity has dialed back a bit, I hear it's still been pretty unpleasant.

All the best

Sarah

Merry Christmas from Rarotonga

I know this is my USA trip blog, but I thought I might make it a more general travel blog and post from Rarotonga. I am here with my parents visiting my Aunt and Uncle Lee and Darryl for 10 days. We arrived just on midnight Christmas Eve (last night) and by the time we were off the plane and queuing at customs it was Christmas Day. Again. Lee and Darryl greeted us with real flower eis (which I recognise as leis) and we headed 10 mins to their home. They are here for 2 years while Darryl works for the government on some mining infrastructure and regulations.

Enough preamble. What a beautiful, laid back place. They talk about 'island time' and it really is. The weather has been warm but not heaps. It's been quite windy today but I've still managed 4 swims. Before brunch, after brunch, in the afternoon at the High Commissioner's residence don't you know (basically an open invite to Kiwis and hangers on to their pool area) and then this evening I took myself off for a night time swim.

Lee and Darryl live right on the beach (the photo is from their deck) and you can swim anywhere here. There are some rocky areas so it's nice to go where there is a bit of space, but the rocks are where the fish are and with a mask and snorkel there is a whole other world right there just waiting for you to see it. I plan to do some serious snorkeling while I'm here, it's so interesting and peaceful. Just have to watch the sun as the shoulders have seen a little too much today.

Lee has also kindly sourced a bike for me while I'm here, and it comes with the offer of company for some off the main road touring as well. Roger and Ruth are friends of Lee and Darryl's and Roger is pretty keen so I hope that will be good too.

There are lots of insects here, but none appear to be biting me yet so I'm pleased about that. They also get lots of lizards (called moko) that hang out on the ceiling of the deck where we've been eating. It's fun to watch them scuttle about.

It's most pleasant sitting here on the deck listening to the waves. The stars are pretty vivid though the clouds are whispy and wafting across the sky and the nearly full moon.

Merry Christmas from Rarotonga and I'll post again when I have something interesting to say. Heather and Kerry would you mind putting out the word to a few people that I'm posting again, and Heather if you could please copy me in so I can forward the link to others. Again I appear to be able to receive emails on the phone, but not easily send them. However I can webmail on Lee's laptop so not too much drama to do it that way

Love

Sarah