China::

At the end of January my friend Ae and I ventured off on a bus to head to Laos. We stayed a night in Laos, excited about where we were going to head off to the next day. We were going to go to CHINA!!! I had been wanting to travel around Thailand ever since coming to live here and just never got a chance. Being my last year hear I decided to save up and make it happen! My friend Ae and I have a friend, Morgan, who used to live in Thailand and is now living in China. So the next day we got in a van, and headed to the Chinese border. Immigration went smoothly and had some funny conversations with the guys there in chinglish. It was fun and I was excited to see another country, culture and experience the excitement of traveling again. So we crossed the border, had our first meal (amazing) and got on the bus. The bus was filled with beds instead of seats. Woo! We get on, take our shoes off and find our bed. I was able to get to sit/lay next to one of the cutest little chinese boys ever. He came and laid with me and we played angry birds and fruit ninja until it was dark and was time to sleep. He kept talking to me and I had no idea what he was saying so I just smiled and spoke english and thai back to him. Haa haa! 

 

After our sweet bus ride we get to the town of Khunming and as we waited for Morgan to meet us and take us to her house we went to point and smile at the food we wanted to eat. Ae was so amazing....she would point at noodles and hold up two fingers to tell them 2 bowls. She was great! Morgan came and got us and we headed to her apartment. Once we got to her beautiful apartment we showered and rugged up! It was pretty stinking chilly there! It was refreshing to me! I loved feeling cold! Knowing that hot season was on its way to Thailand I was going to embrace this cold as much as I could. 

 For lunch we headed to the city to get something to eat. Since it was close to Chinese new year, pretty much everything was closed. We found a noodle shop near the market, ate and then went to check out the market and get some veggies and other things to make dinner. After the first day it's all a blur of fireworks, laughing, going to amusement parks, national parks, markets, eating amazing food, laughing a lot, praying together, walking walking walking, laughing more, fireworks, walking, eating eating eating.... It was really fun! After a week in Kunming we headed on a bus with our friend Morgan and her friend Stacey to a place called Jinghong where we would plan to stay for a few days and meet some people and get to know the area. 

Stacey and I waiting for our yummy noodles

Hungry Ae and Morgan

Market

Dinner

Our dinner made my Morgan! so good!

a beautiful park

candied chinese cherries

free gyoza!!

Happy New Year!

Firework madness!!

A taste of thai by Ae for Morgan and her friends!

Morgan and Stacey will be moving to this area to reach out to a people group called Tailue. So we went there to go with them and pray over the area, pray over the people and search out some areas where there are Tailue villages in the city and outside of the city. So we walked and walked and walked and mapped out areas where we would head to. We walked around the city and prayed in Tailue villages and sat and visited with people. We ate and walked and ate some more and stopped and prayed for people and walked in and through villages. We spent an evening with one of Morgan's friends at her house with her family and they made an amazing spread of Tailue food for us. Tailue culture and food is very similar to Northern Thailand food and culture so it wasn't too much of a shock for me. I LOVED IT! the food, hearing the language and sitting and talking and listening to them and eating together was such a refreshing time for me....

Morgan's friend's mom preparing dinner

the spread

dinner party::

Villages....we went to a dirty little town (can't remember the name) a few hours out of Jinghong and stayed a couple days and did some prayer walking in some villages in the area. It was so much fun. It also was a bit heavy and overwhelming just seeing how entangled in idolatry they are. Matthew 9:37 is so appropriate for the world we live in today. "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." These people we sat and visited with, ate with and prayed for were so hungry. So if you are reading this and feel a heart for the lost.... and want to do something about it....please contact me and I'll hook you up!!! We had some good times together sharing, praying and just walking and taking all of the beauty in. 

we found a fun little milk shop in the dirty little town... go figure!

such a suprise and we loved it!!r

walking 

and praying

I wanted to take all of the kids home with me!! ALL of them!! 

Lovely family we met while walking and praying:::

my hiking buddy

After leaving Jinghong and saying goodbye to Morgan and Stacey.... 

Ae and I headed back to Laos...where we would plan to stay for a few days before heading back to Chiang Rai and ending this blissful trip. After a rough bus ride with a bunch of frustrating foreigners we made it to Laos. My tummy was a but unsettled and so we checked into our room, showered, headed out to hunt for some food....we ate some papaya salad, partook in a Laos Beer (a cold one since it was much warmer here)

eating some riverweed from the market

Local Market

river weed

young bamboo dish

It was probably one of the best trips I've had in ages!! I'm so blessed that I had this opportunity to travel with my friend Ae and make some wonderful memories with her. I left Laos pretty sick but also full and refreshed from our rich times of prayer and fellowship! Here's a few more of my favorite photos from our trip.... enjoy and thanks so much for reading....sorry it's so long... 

Mekong River 

Washing her hair with a rice mixture

Spinning white string for the temple

This was the funniest day: this lady had the best sense of humor.....so full of life

cute::

The bird and flower market with Stacey

Kunming City with Morgan

Lovely Tai Lue ladies working the fields

view from the top:: Kunming City

sleepin on the job

pounding some green veggie: I think we call it morning glory to mix with rice

farming beauty

98 year old HOSS! I hope I'm kickin it as strong as she is when I'm 98

Best meat on a stick ever.....still don't know what kind of meat...still don't care it's amazing!

Yep....this is it....no doors....aim for the slit in the tiles....rushing water will come periodically....

firstday noodles!

we got to see Gracei in Kunming! yay!!

cartoon car

Lovely laundry

Love you China