Is March already over? I'll be so glad for the opportunity for my feet to touch the ground for more than a couple days and actually notice the time flying by.
Bamboo Island is the name of one of our mission projects in Phang Nga, a southern province of Thailand near Phuket, which is overflowing with tourist because of the beautiful beaches. Even though it is close to Phuket, it is far from similar in it's surroundings and wealth. In fact nearly every idea I had about what things would look like there were tossed to the wayside on arrival. For one, I imagined the "pier" to be an ocean pier as we were told that Bamboo Island is located on the Andaman sea. I was also told that we would be taking a ferry to the island and it would take an hour. So I of course pictured like an Ellis Island ferry or something like that. Nope. We drove an hour by car from the airport before we arrived at the "pier" which was on a river and consisted of a small sloping ramp down to a series of long-tailed motor boats with colorful orange and blue taffeta wrapped around the bow. We climbed over a series of benches until we took our seats near the middle of the boat and then we were off. 
I felt like I was on a discovery channel nature program as we wove down the river past mangrove forests and sleepy fishing villages. In fact I told Sarah I was just waiting for Jeff Corwin to pop out somewhere with some snake or sea turtle. Half an hour later we arrived at Bamboo Island
- utterly poor we noticed as we disembarked and weaved in and out of houses built on the river on stilts. Perhaps it was because it was low-tide and I could look down and see all the trash and mud below. 
The entire population depends on fishing for their livelihood and even that has been poor since the 2004 tsunami hit this area of Thailand. We were led by the school principle and a local friend of Dang's to our destination- the village school. 
This summer we are planning to have a short-term team come and paint the school here. This was an opportunity for us to look over the project once again and hash out details about, food, activities and schedules over sticky rice and ovaltine. In the mornings our team will work with students and parents painting- hopefully- both buildings. Then in the afternoons our team is going to have the chance to work with the students in different classes telling them about why they are there as Christians helping them. Our meeting over we went back to where we started, and scoped out lunch and then the hotel where our team will be staying.
I felt like I was on a discovery channel nature program as we wove down the river past mangrove forests and sleepy fishing villages. In fact I told Sarah I was just waiting for Jeff Corwin to pop out somewhere with some snake or sea turtle. Half an hour later we arrived at Bamboo Island- utterly poor we noticed as we disembarked and weaved in and out of houses built on the river on stilts. Perhaps it was because it was low-tide and I could look down and see all the trash and mud below. The entire population depends on fishing for their livelihood and even that has been poor since the 2004 tsunami hit this area of Thailand. We were led by the school principle and a local friend of Dang's to our destination- the village school. 
This summer we are planning to have a short-term team come and paint the school here. This was an opportunity for us to look over the project once again and hash out details about, food, activities and schedules over sticky rice and ovaltine. In the mornings our team will work with students and parents painting- hopefully- both buildings. Then in the afternoons our team is going to have the chance to work with the students in different classes telling them about why they are there as Christians helping them. Our meeting over we went back to where we started, and scoped out lunch and then the hotel where our team will be staying. Following lunch we met up with a local pastor at his country church situated on the side of the highway in a pineapple field. 
He can't wait for our team to come after we finish at Bamboo Island. They will lead a bible study the last Saturday of their trip. The congregation members want to know about why the team is coming as well as they have questions for the team regarding the bible. To them this is beacon of light, and an opportunity to answer questions they've been yearning to know. Praise God!
He can't wait for our team to come after we finish at Bamboo Island. They will lead a bible study the last Saturday of their trip. The congregation members want to know about why the team is coming as well as they have questions for the team regarding the bible. To them this is beacon of light, and an opportunity to answer questions they've been yearning to know. Praise God!After a scrumptious breakfast, 
day two of our trip was spent visiting areas of Phuket and Phang Nga which were devastated by the 2004 tsunami. It was really incredible to see just how wide an area it devastated. There are many things like boats, washed inland that have been turned into museum sites now. 
International news, unlike American news, is not censored so these sites also had plenty of pictures showing the human devastation as well as the natural devastation. Out of this awful mess came many good things to the area, such as lots of foreign and local aid to the area schools. Dang showed us some of the schools that were helped by CWEFT. She worked there for many weeks providing relief aid and said she will never forget seeing all the thousands of white coffins lined up for cremation at the temples. Because of the immense loss of human life, many Thais have left the area or live in fear of ghosts.
day two of our trip was spent visiting areas of Phuket and Phang Nga which were devastated by the 2004 tsunami. It was really incredible to see just how wide an area it devastated. There are many things like boats, washed inland that have been turned into museum sites now. International news, unlike American news, is not censored so these sites also had plenty of pictures showing the human devastation as well as the natural devastation. Out of this awful mess came many good things to the area, such as lots of foreign and local aid to the area schools. Dang showed us some of the schools that were helped by CWEFT. She worked there for many weeks providing relief aid and said she will never forget seeing all the thousands of white coffins lined up for cremation at the temples. Because of the immense loss of human life, many Thais have left the area or live in fear of ghosts.Tourism has gradually started to pick back up again, so many people are going back to work and lots of rebuilding has taken place. With all our tasks done, we decided to spend a little time of R&R ourselves. so the next day we booked a day tour to Phi-Phi island. This is where the sunburned tourists come in. The boat ride to Phi-Phi was about 2 1/2 hours long. On the trip there we sat inside the cabin to stay out of the sun. Such a contrast to everyone else there who was trying to head back to their wintry homes with a beautiful tan. They all sprawled out on the sun deck or over the sides of the boat. Our first photo-op on the cruise included seeing the beach where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. 
I have to admit, the scenery in southern Thailand is really beautiful, this was the first time I really had a chance to experience it. Unlike Bangkok's disgusting and smelly canals the water was perfectly clean and so clear you could see the white sand at the bottom. The waves foamed white in the wake of our ship, so there was no hesitation on my part to get in the water when we stopped to go snorkeling. After a few adjustments of our equipment, Dang, Sarah and I were off to explore the coral and schools of fish. On the way back to the boat we lingered a bit to get pictures with Sarah's underwater camera of the fish that were swarming around us.
I made the 
mistake of holding still so they would come close enough to me for a good picture and one of them bit me. Good thing the little bugger didn't have teeth, but it for sure startled me.
I have to admit, the scenery in southern Thailand is really beautiful, this was the first time I really had a chance to experience it. Unlike Bangkok's disgusting and smelly canals the water was perfectly clean and so clear you could see the white sand at the bottom. The waves foamed white in the wake of our ship, so there was no hesitation on my part to get in the water when we stopped to go snorkeling. After a few adjustments of our equipment, Dang, Sarah and I were off to explore the coral and schools of fish. On the way back to the boat we lingered a bit to get pictures with Sarah's underwater camera of the fish that were swarming around us.
I made the 
mistake of holding still so they would come close enough to me for a good picture and one of them bit me. Good thing the little bugger didn't have teeth, but it for sure startled me.Snorkeling finished, we went to the island for lunch at a hotel there. Our lunch table mates were from Sweden, Norway and Australia. I couldn't stand the awkward side glances so I just started asking everyone in English where the were from and how long they were staying in Thailand. This opened up a nice conversation with the group and we were able to tell them that we live here and work with Christian organization which is helping with human care in the area. They were all very nice and I think we enjoyed lunch. Not being used to the Thai dishes, they polished off two whole plates of spaghetti as it was the only familiar thing next to the onion rings. After lunch we had free time to shop around at all the beach stands. It was a completely foreign experience after living in Thailand for 7 months and then coming here to a place where everything was geared toward tourists. The foghorn blew on the boat which meant it was time to go back to the boat and head to Phuket. I got there early and decided to join the sunburned Europeans on the sun deck. I can't head back to the US next month and have everyone asking why I'm so white when I live so close to the equator! On Sunday, we hopped a plane back to Bangkok already thinking ahead to next weeks events.
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