Home and happy

It's been a good trip but also great to be home. We got back on Friday evening and were happy to do it without event.

To wrap up our time in India we spent our final day visiting families whose life has been touched by the ministry of IBCM. We visited several homes that certainly leave a lasting impression (one on the top of my head... blast those Indian made door ways!) Many of these homes were smaller than the average bedroom in Canada and yet there seemed to be nothing missing. However, we made a quick stop at the "sleeping god temple" (emphasis on quick) in the afternoon and there we found tremendous hollowness. I was hoping to catch some last video to show the tragedy of parents introducing their children to the fear-driven, dedication of idol worship... it's hard not to feel absolutely torn to pieces when you see countless children with heads shaved praying to silent statues of stone. The heaviness is over whelming! But the camera was rebelling in the 40+ degree heat after being in the air conditioned vehicle and I couldn't get it to de-fog so I simply showed Dad a few of the quick notable sights and we made a quick exit (we really had the overwhelming feeling of not belonging there.)

What a contrast when we arrived back at the IBCM office to spend a few last moments praying and visiting with our friends there. It's amazing to be on the opposite side of the globe and feel so at home. It was hard to leave this place... and we had a little confusion doing so! Now we are truly prepared for the amazing race! Time was quickly passing and it had come time to make our way to the train station to catch our train back to Chennai. We arrived 20 minutes early only to have the attendant tell us the train that was pulling away was our train. Naturally we made the diving save getting on to a random car on what we later discovered to be the WRONG TRAIN! It was somewhat frustrating as our Indian accomplice quickly disappeared, trying to figure out the mess (I think we would have liked to help as there was a lot of logic in the process... but it's India... everything works out in the end and we knew this deep down!) Next we were jumping out at a random, tiny station without a soul around. In trying to sort out the mess Thomas called our buddies who have dropped us off to pick us up again at this station so we could try again. It was amazing how fast they made the 10 km round trip! And though we got in the vehicle with only 5 minutes to spare our train was there waiting (and left about 20 minutes late... now THAT's the India I know... the 20 minute early departure really didn't make a lot of sense to me!) So with pastors lining the path pointing us to the correct car we ran to our places and made an efficient entry. On the way home!

We arrived in Chennai bright an early the next morning to catch a couple Z's, shower and organize for our trip home. We had a couple hours to kill and a few rupees (Indian currency) to unload so we went for pizza and hit a couple key shopping locations. It was a lot of fun buy some last minute gifts for some very deserving people... and while they thought we were purchasing for us it was so much fun to surprise them by giving them to our awesome hosts.

After a tearful good-bye at the airport we were off and on our way back to Bangkok. We travelled through the night and arrived just after 5 am. Just enough time to take a quick shower and nap and then make a quick tour of the city. We had a great day with "Song" the mysterious herbal drug toting, karaoke singing, Thai taxi driver. He was something else... we had a lot of fun! While he continually offered his strange, Vick's vapo-rub smelling energy drug we thought it best to just head back to the hotel to get some sleep. So we sang some Elvis classics together and made our way back to our room near the airport. After sleeping away the rest of the afternoon we enjoyed some amazing Thai food. While not all the sea creatures were identifiable in my stir-fry it sure was good (and surprisingly enough it kicked my sweat threshold into a whole new level... I didn't know there was one beyond "surviving 45 degree C heat" level.)

Bright and early we reached the airport to what we thought was a delayed flight... which would mean we would miss all our connections and likely be home a day later. However, we were thrilled to discover (but very disappointed for those who were on that flight) the flight that was delayed was the identical flight from the day before (I'm so glad now that I screwed up my flights and had to change that one... we were originally supposed to fly out on that flight that was delayed 26 hours!) So we were ushered to the check-in desk where we said good-bye to our bags and embarked on the long trip home. And it's good to be home!

On Monday I'm going to do my best to fill in the gaps with some pictures (though I sense there's a mountain waiting for me at the office.) Come back again to check it out or you can check out these links to a few of the pictures I've posted on Facebook.

India - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48030&l=c828b&id=521527164
Cambodia - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47169&l=d96d8&id=521527164
Bangkok - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47167&l=bea85&id=521527164

Well I guess the rest of the world is going to wake up any moment! See you...