For all the painting we have done associated with ministries, one would have thought that Jesus' profession had been a painter.  Today, we tackled the feat of painting the inside of Robert's old house.  After the first room, a few of us secretly harbored doubts that the painting was going to get finished in one day.  Well, w...

We spent a few days in Bangkok securing our visas to Vietnam and then headed off to the North of Thailand, Chiang Mai, famous for its trekking.  On arrival we immediately felt different about this city.  It is not like any other city we have been in todate.  Chiang Mai is an authentic Thai city, it has no 'hassle' vendors and has ...

Ci ritorno volentieri, anche se non con la curiosita' avuta la prima volta. La guesthouse in cui sono stato questa volta e' situata dentro il centro storico ( nel quadrato)  vicino l'entrata Tha pae gate ,si chiama Smile guesthouse, costo intorno ai 250 baht per una singola con fan e 350 per una doppia, gente simpatica, abbastanza puli...

Last evening, I had my first substantive encounter with a Thai prostitute.  For the most part, prior to this interaction, my experiences with Thai hookers have been relegated to them hollering at me on the streets . . . "Welcome!  Hello!  You like [me]!  You want masssssaaaggge?!?!?" The encounter began at a restaurant/lounge...

We left Kanchanaburi (central thailand) and took a moped and sidecar taxi (we were in the sidecar...well, more like a cage), to the bus station for the 2 hour bus ride back to bangkok.  Realising we were in danger of missing our flight, we took a taxi acrss bangkok to the airport, this usually takes an hour, our taxi driver did the journey ...

I keep having to update these blogs in three's! Finally got our bus from Vientiane in Laos on sunday 29th, fu\irstky one bus which we had to get on and off the cross the border (which entailed us getting into the wrong queue about 5 times!. Luckily thought you don't need a visa for Thailand so we pretty much got straight through. We then had to ...

Sue and I boarded the platform for the Boher Elephant. All was calm until we spotted the Massive ZOL in the "drivers" hand. Fingers crossed we hoped he was planning to smoke this at the end of the ride. After visiting the local villages and a waterfall that looked to dirty, even for my little toe we went Bamboo rafting. Luckily we did not have t...

We have really enjoyed our relaxing stay in Chiang Mai. Colin needed this time to start to get over his bronchitis which thankfully, is now on the mend. The hotel we chose was at the bottom of the night market, located off the main road in a mini jungle. There are six chalets surrounding a beautiful pool. The Thai people are so friendly, just th...

Today, Kristy and I went on an incredible full day tour with 5 other people to the hills outside of Chiang Mai. First stop - Trek to hill tribe We first went on a 40 minute trek up a hill to visit a hill tribe. On our way, we had to cross a river by walking on an Indiana Jones type of bridge made of old bamboo and some metal wires. When we final...

After spending several hot and smoggy in Bangkok, we decided to venture to locations north. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand but it is worlds away from Bangkok. Not quite provincial (although there are some areas that feel as such) and not quite a big city (although there are some areas that feel as such), Chiang Mai in a welcom...