Around the World... and Back Yet Again

Hello everyone! I have returned to Xinzheng, China (my place of residence). It's good to be back and have my own space again, sleep in my own bed, and wear something other than those 4 shirts I brought with me on my trip. Now let me catch you up on the rest of my travels over this previous month...

The last time I updated you I was leaving Shanghai bound for Shenzhen. The 18 hour train ride surprisingly didn't seem that long. We played the longest game of Uno known to man, and told stories about themed topics (ex. "What is your favorite memory involving a pet?"). Before we knew it, it was time to sleep, and once we awoke, there we were in Shenzhen China (close to the Hong Kong border). We stayed in Shenzhen for 3 days. The weather was in the high 70's and we were so excited to be wearing shorts and flip flops. In Shenzhen they have this Theme Park named "Windows of the World". In this park they have replicas (some to scale, and others quite a bit smaller) of famous buildings/monuments around the world. We went to this theme park and had a blast. We took tons of pictures of course (see picture 5). From Shenzhen we took the metro over to Hong Kong. We stayed in Hong Kong for a night before taking the ferry over to Macau to the Macau Airport to catch our flight to Bangkok, Thailand.

We weren't really impressed with Bangkok and only stayed there 2 nights. We really wanted to see the ocean, so we took a bus and then a ferry and then another bus to the island of Koh Samui. We stayed in a little bungalow (see picture 3) right on the beach for 4 days. That side of the island was a little boring, so we moved to the other side of the island where it was more "touristy". We liked this side much better. This time we were staying in a Guest House. The boys and girls got different rooms (previously we had been staying in hostels where there would be 6-8 people sleeping on bunk beds). This place had air conditioning and cable TV, so we pretty much thought we were living the life. We adjusted quickly to sleeping in till noon, laying out on the beach till 4 (I have a lovely tan to prove it), watching a movie on TV until dinner time, getting dinner, taking a walk on the beach, and then lounging around in our room till we went to sleep. We stayed there for a week before heading to Phuket. We stayed on Patong Beach in Phuket and continued our beach bum lifestyle for a few more weeks. One of the days however we decided to go ride the elephants. They call it "Elephant Trekking" and it was a lot of fun (see picture 4). Thailand really had the best food of any country I have ever been to. I LOVE Thai food. Even though I ate pretty much the same thing everyday, I never got sick of it. If your wondering what my favorite is, it's Chicken Curry. They have Massuman, Panang, Red, Yellow, & Green Curry. I can't really decide which is my favorite anymore. Thailand also has a lot of fresh fruit and it's really cheap. They have little carts on the street that sell it cut up and everything. We also fell in love with the "Pancake's". They have these little carts on the side of the road that make these "pancakes" and sell them. They are more like crepes than pancakes, but they are delicious. My favorite one was Banana, Chocolate, & Peanut Butter.

When we were done with Thailand, we took an 8 hour van ride to Hatyai to catch the 19 hour train ride to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. By the time we got in though the train was already full, so we had to spend the night in Hatyai and leave the next day. When we went to get tickets the next day there were only 4 sleeper car train tickets left, so one of us was going to have to sit up the whole night in the seat car. I volunteered for this, so I sat in a different train car from the others for the journey. My seat mate (the guy sitting next to me) was an interesting British guy from South Wales about the age of my father. Over the next 5 hours I would learn of his whole life story. What surprised me about him was the things I saw we had in common; loving to travel, fine with being alone, kept to himself as a child, loved his family dearly. Yet we didn't share the same outlook on life at all. Our core beliefs were completely different. I saw in him what my life would be like with no purpose. I saw what my life would be like without knowing the lover of my soul. And when he got up and left without even saying a goodbye, I felt sad. He had everything he wanted, just the way he wanted it, but he was empty. The only thing I could think of was J*sus... wreck his world! How strange to pray for someones life to fall apart you would think, but it's all I wanted for him really. He was missing the most important thing, knowing his maker.

We made it to Kuala Lampur and I managed to not even sleep a minute on that 19 hour train ride. The hostel we stayed at was owned by this cute little Chinese couple. You could pretty much call them mom & pop. As soon as we got in they told us we should go see the Patrones Towers (otherwise known as the twin towers... see picture 2) immediately, because you had to get tickets to go out on the Skybridge (highest sky bridge in the world). That day we spent hanging out int he Patrones Towers. We went out on the sky deck and wandered around it's malls. They had a lot of Western food places there and a movie theater that was super cheap, so we we're pretty content. Malaysia is 1/3 Malay, 1/3 Indian, & 1/3 Chinese, so the culture is very unique. All 3 cultures are very dominate in Malaysia and it is very evident in Kuala Lampur. A lot of the food reminded me of India (I was there this time last year). The day before we left they were celebrating Chinese New Year at the hostel. They had people in lion/dragon costumes (see picture 1) and a drum band. And of course we had a feast. Sarah and I left that evening to come back to China (the others weren't able to get a plane ticket on the same day). On our journey to the airport we met these 3 Islamic guys from Algeria. Little did I know I would spend the next 5 hours of my life discussing faith, culture, and most of all the "good book". My spirit came alive as I told these young men that it's all about relationship not rules and "trying to be a good person". It would probably take me 2 hours to really tell you all we talked about. All I can say is that encounter was definitely orchestrated from above.

Sarah and I successfully made it to Guangzhou and then found the correct bus, which took us to the train station, which took us to Zhengzhou, and then found a taxi which took us to the bus station, which took us to Xinzheng, and then found a taxi which took us to SIAS. And there we were... HOME at last. And here I am... sleeping in till noon, running 2 miles around the track at 2:30, and watching movies at night on Youku (a Chinese movie site). One more week until classes resume. I can't wait to see my students! I am anticipating and amazing semester.