Thailand Chronicles: The Wanderings of a Part-Time Gypsy

Foreword:

 I realize that most people appreciate blog posts that are succinct and to the point. But I also realize that a good story deserves to be told. I want you to experience, as much as you can, every part of this story that is unfolding every day that I'm here longer...and this is one of the best ways to do so.

Forgive the length. Maybe someday I'll write a book.

But experience this trip as I did, as much as you can. There are things, wonder, majesty, and beauty, that pen nor shutter can fully capture, but I can give you the essence. The basic skeleton. I can give you a taste of the Thailand I have seen in the last five days. 

I didn't come to Thailand expecting to get to be a part-time gypsy. 

But the name is worth the experience. 

After all, we're all gypsies really. The definition of a gypsy doesn't have to be a godless, lawless criminal with greasy hair and a nasty expression. 

It's simply a wanderer. 

"This world is not my home, I'm just a'passin through... My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

See. Hear. Feel. Smell. Taste. Experience.

Through the eyes of a gypsy.

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Chapter 1

Only the Beginning

5:45 am, Friday morning, the white station wagon pulled out of Sunshine Orchards amid the early-morning darkness, heavy fog, and faint sounds of singing from the chapel. We just entered a school break--10 days where the kids could go home and relax before the second--and final--term begins. And the Steck family took the opportunity to take some relaxation time too.

Well, we were told it was going to be relaxing, anyway. It ended up being one of the greatest adventures I've ever been on in the name of camping.

We needed to get some fruit in Mae Sot, and we stopped at Casa Mia for breakfast and to order lunch to go. We'd eat it on the way. Then it was run around a just-waking Mae Sot to grab fruit, a camping stove, and a couple other necessities.

We tried a couple of different places for camping stoves. And these camping stoves are Thai camping stoves...not American ones. See those little orange things? Those are cooking stoves. I kid you not. We used on our whole entire trip.

Early-morning Mae-Sot produces interesting pictures. Mae Sot, I've heard, has the most cultural diversity of any city in the entire country of Thailand. That's quite the statistic, if you ask me. It's true, though. You see Karen, Burmese, Thai, Mong (Thai hill tribe), and other tribal represenatives; plus all the white population that adds Russian, American, Australian, British, and others. Welcome to Mae Sot, the proverbial melting pot.

I've been leery about taking pictures in Mae Sot. Like, just pulling the camera out and using it. People give you funny looks, like the guy in the back of that truck right there. But in order to be a good photographer, I think I need to learn how to let the embarassment and awkwardness slide right on past and just ignore it. Learning, learning.

I cannot imagine living in a place like this. So crowded, so noisy, so busy, so...city-ish. Being in a city for the day won't bother me, but living there as a full-time job would just about drive me to a point of irreversible insanity. I pity the people who are trapped in places like this...and this is only Mae Sot. Not Bangkok or Chiang Mai.

Take a deep breath of country air! We made it out of Mae Sot in record time and headed south. The AC quit working on us for some reason awhile ago, and thus the windows were all down, reducing the hair-styling efforts of that morning to...well, I'll leave you to imagine. But who cares about hair when you can lean out the window and get a picture of a truck that's so loaded it looks like it's going to fall over...like that?

This is where the chorus to that little kid's song about David and Goliath would fit well: "And 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round and 'ROUND..." We curved through a long stretch of mountains, feeling a little carsick sleepy, then almost flying out of our seats with fright when we came to a corner and found a careening truck passing a creeping semi on a blind corner.

However, the moments when the trees disappeared from the edge side of the road and you could see out across the valley...oh, how beautiful. Right there we were looking down on acres of farm-land, owned and operated by villagers. Simplicity and hard work in it's essence.

No, no one was going to be burned at the stake, though it looks that way. This must be the time to harvest tapioca, because we saw alot of it, and that's what those bundles are. I'm not really sure how they get the tapioca out of those poles, but they do.

And believe me, it tastes about ten times better here than in the shelved pudding you can find at any Wal-Mart or Safeway in America.

On our way through the mountains, getting closer to Umphang, we passed another Karen refugee camp. This one is definitely smaller than the large one just down the road from us, and they have so much more space here. But it is still a refugee camp. You look at the sea of rooftops and wonder how many people even have any conception of a real, living, loving God, and not just the ugly idols that dot the country...

Still in the mountains, but just about to fall asleep and with stomachs about to fall out due to hunger, we found a place to pull off and eat our lunch previously obtained from Casa Mia. The food from there is always good...however, I had probably the most interesting pizza I've ever beheld in my life. A little bit of tomato sauce, then lightly scattered with fresh garlic, fresh ginger pieces, pieces of sliced chile, a couple of tomatoes, and something else. Accompanying it were two packets of ketchup and two packets of hot chile sauce. It didn't taste too bad actually...on the flip side, I was pretty happy to get through it and finish with my garlic bread and fruit.

After lunch, the traveling continued. We came down out of the curvy mountains, and ended up on a curvy valley road instead. Passed through a few villages, took pictures of the passing scenery: and thought in the back corners of our minds the unavoidable traveling phrase: "Are we there yet?"

We were headed to a waterfall south of Umphang. There was, according to Brenda's map and scholarly research done on  the computer at home, a big waterfall, and a cave, and a bunch of other things in the general vicinity of Umphang. I know I wasn't prepared for the trek to actually get where we were going, but hey; the longer the trip, the more daring the adventure.

Made it to Umphang in over 100 pieces, and then couldn't find the right road. We passed a road that had blue signs indicating a waterfall and a cave down another highway to the right, but we thought we'd try for the farther down sights first. However, no matter how many roads we tried in little Umphang, no luck. At last, we decided to turn around, stop at a gas station, and then head out towards the waterfall we'd seen advertised before.

A few kilometers down the road, we found the turnoff for the cave. We explored the campgrounds a little, and weren't thrilled. The ground was just solid dirt, and looked damp. On the other hand, the sun was quickly setting by now. "Let's go see what the water fall is like," someone suggested. "Then we can stay the night there and take baths in the water and come see the cave in the morning."

We headed out again, and then saw the sign: "Thi Lo Su Waterfall--31 kilometers."

"31 kilometers?" Harvey shook his head. "That'll take us about a half hour. We'll be sleeping out at the waterfall, that's for sure."

We arrived, and found that there was a headquarters right there at the beginning of the road to the waterfall. Also, you had to pay to get in. The officials there seemed to be trying to convey something, but when they don't speak English and you don't speak Thai, there's no hope. We payed, gave the tickets to the man at the gate, and headed through, hopes high.

This is our car, sitting in the driveway of the headquarters, after barely managing to make it out of that road alive. The mud in places was positively treacherous, and in one particularly bad place, we were lucky enough to see a truck in front of us storm through, slide all over the road and barely manage to make it up the slick incline on the other side of the mud pit. Harvey watched that and went, "I don't think so."

We never saw Thi Lo Su Waterfall, except in pictures, which claimed it was fabulous. We found out later that in the rainy season it was impossible to access the waterfall; and in the dry season, you either needed to hire someone to take you in, or to have a good pickup with 4WD yourself to make it through the terrible road.

Disappointed, we stopped at the headquarters again, and found that we could camp there for the night for free. That lightened us a little, and we found a place to camp. And remember, this is camping without tents.

Even though we didn't see the waterfall, I wasn't aware that this waterfall business was going to turn into one of the most amazing experience-lessons I've ever learned in my life. Parallels that I certainly didn't dream into existence would soon present themselves to me...but more was yet to come before that happened.

There was one good-sized gazebo out back of the headquarters building that we decided to set up camp in. Just down from the gazebo, there was a creek, in which we could've taken a bath, but it was getting late and nobody wanted to submerge themselves in cold water.

Hannah and Sharon and I took a short walk through the creek, and found these funny-looking fruits on the other side. They remind me of tomatoes and persimmons and Christmas ornaments. We never broke one open: although later on our trip, I picked one with the intention of splitting it, and then got so enthralled with another new discovery that the strange fruit was thrown and forgotten.

After sitting so much of the day, getting out and about felt so good. The smiles on our faces were irrepresible. How could you not smile when you finally have a place to stay for the night, and for free at that?

Here's our "camp." Hannah and I both brought hammocks; everyone else brought mats. We strung up the hammocks (and fixed Hannah's after it broke on her again), and then settled down to have worship. The sun was sinking lower still, and Sabbath was coming. Lying in a hammock after the long day felt so good you can't begin to imagine.

After worship, we pulled out our box of large tangerines and sorted through them, finding the ones that were spoiling and eating those first. I think we must've eaten close to 25 oranges between all five of us that night before getting in bed. Someone caught a giggle bug and those are contagious, and thus it took some time for us to actually silence ourselves and embrace sleep, but soon the long day and weariness won out and we fell asleep.

Just before I fell asleep, I remember looking up at the top of the gazebo, snuggling down under my three blankets a little more, and smiling. This is unlike any camping trip I've ever been on...But thank you, Lord, for this chance to be out here. Thank you for Sabbath, thank you for Your blessings. Please be with my family, please be with my friends, those I love...watch over me as I sleep...and may tomorrow be so filled with blessings that I don't have room to receive them...

I had no idea what the morrow would hold. But it's true that the days only get more beautiful, more exciting, and more adventursome as they pass. Our trip had only just begun.

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Chapter 2

A Sabbath of Searching

Sabbath morning dawned foggy and chilly. We all had morning devotions, then breakfast preparations were made, hair had to be fixed, and, of course, pictures taken. We were optimistic about the day, and ready for more adventures.

Our sleeping area from the night looked a little messy, but that was okay. We were going to pack it all up soon anyway. But let's have breakfast first.

Hungry yet? I must apologize, but this is Asia, and living as a gypsy requires you to eat like one... No, I'm kidding. This may look revolting, but I promise, it's kosher. It's coconut. We got some very young, roasted coconuts in Mae Sot, and after I drank the water out of mine, I started to eat the meat. I then realized that I could peel it out, and did so...and ended up with something that looked quite...well, disgusting.

It's pinkish brown on the outside due to the roasting that the coconut was subjected to, but the coloring gave it even more of a strange look. Hannah and I concluded that it looked like the lining of some internal organ, and I ate it with probably a little less relish than I could have. It tasted good, though.

Our little stove worked wonderfully, and we had pumpkin curry over millet for breakfast. While we were eating, a few guys gathered in a small knot about 50 yards away or a little more to watch the crazy phalongs eating and doing whatever phalongs do. I'm getting used to having an audience, but I must confess, it still unnerves me at times.

I roamed around after breakfast and took a few pictures of the flowers there while waiting to help load the car with all our various belongings. It didn't take long before we were ready.

A foggy morning view from the gazebo. We got everything loaded on the car and strapped down and fit in, and then pulled out and headed to the left, up into the mountains farther, just to see what was there. We climbed and climbed; and at last the fog gave way to a beautiful sunny morning.

With the windows down, and the cool air filtering through the car, I took a deep breath. I'll never forget it. I wish you could experience them smell of a jungle on an early morning. Nothing compares...nothing.

After a substantial drive, we came to a valley and a village. This family was on their way in to the village on their "car:" a tractor of sorts. They stared at us as we passed--it must be rare for them to see any white people out their way. We got used to that during the course of this trip: it seemed to happen alot.

We came to the middle of the very small and quiet town and decided that we should turn around, head back down the mountains and go see the cave we'd passed up the day before. We turned around at this milepost, with 28 kilometers--or is it 40?--to go til the next substantial town, presumably Umphang. Must've been 40....

Paused along the road for a picture of distant rock formations. We'd be flying down the road, and Brenda would call out, "Oh, Harvey, I want a picture! Stop!" Foot to the floor, brakes squeal, dust flies...then the car backs up and all the cameras come out. It was an interesting ride down.

A very interesting ride. You see some pretty amazing things on these Thailand roads. The evening before, at our camping place, we saw a monkey jump from one tree to another; just that morning I'd seen a pheasant-type bird along the side of the road; and later we would see storks, an eagle-type bird, and other various bright-colored birds. We were hoping for a python and a tiger, but the biggest things we got were cows and water buffalo. Oh well. Next time.

We followed a song-taew a short way down the hill. And the occupants found us amusing. They were so crammed onto that vehicle it's a wonder it could move at all, really. It made me thankful that we didn't have to travel like that everywhere we went. The AC didn't work, the brakes were beginning to act up, one of our blinker lights was out--there was much to be desired. But there's always something be thankful for...and it could always be worse.

Down the mountain, headed for our next stop...

Storage building in a field.

The vines around here are just incredible. They twine around everything and look as flexible as anything, but really, they're so strong, and they can get huge.

We pulled into the cave parking area and made a stop before heading over to explore. I have to admit, these were probably the cutest bathrooms I've yet seen in Thailand. They're just concrete, but they look for all the world like tree trunks.

There was a group of people there, with a few concessions. Looked like just one family. They had a little owl with them--a very sleepy owl. He didn't seem to mind us snapping pictures of him.

The little fellow he belonged to wasn't quite sure what to think of us, though.

The sign at the entrance. Honestly, I haven't been in a cave, a real cave, in years. Any uncommercialized caves I've been in were small and out in the middle of nowhere. I was expecting far less than what we got.

Pausing a moment to pull out flashlights and put on a sweatshirt in case of chilly temperatures underground.

And this was only the very entrance. Rock formations like I haven't ever seen in the States before.

The dark shadowy areas up at the top area of the picture were tunnels leading off in various directions. I got excited, wanting to explore every single one of them. Let the adventure begin...

Close-up of a rock formation on the outside of the cave.

And we hadn't made it actually inside yet. Right past Harvey, it dropped down a good 20 feet, a painful fall if you accidentally tumbled over the edge. We found alot of those in this cave.

Inside the first room we explored. A glittering deposit of some mineral that has built up on the floor from a tiny drip in the ceiling. Alot of this stuff in this cave glittered and sparkled in the light. Nothing in palace or temple could've been more beautiful in the darkness of these rooms.

This room was pretty big, but we hadn't come to the best part yet.

In this particular room, there was a Buddhist shrine and a couple of statues. It was the easiest room to access, and it wasn't real surprising to find something like that. There seems to be something of that sort at every single natural landmark you find. If only people would set up monuments  like that to the true living God everywhere they found something amazing....

More of the first room.

We were ready to have a look at the other rooms now, but Hannah stopped. "Wait...we have to..."

Sing. We sang a song in the first room, listening to harmonies blend and echo and fill the room with a hymn. I took a video (well, audio recording; you couldn't see much), but the pleasure of the video will have to be indefinitely postponed til I get home.

After that, it was down to another room. Straight ahead, there was a smaller room, and a hallway took off to the right. We saved the hallway for last and went to the left.

The room we found ourselves in wasn't huge, but I found a little crevass leading up into another small room. We all climbed up there, singing another song. Right there you can see Brenda clambering up to join the rest of us.

Singing again. Hannah and I had noticed a small tunnel, where I'm shining my flashlight. We decided to try and climb down it, but it didn't go much of anywhere, to our disappointment.

Then we went down the hallway. It opened up into a huge, and VERY long room, like a massive tunnel. The proportions I cannot begin to describe. Hundreds of feet up, the vaulted ceiling domed over us, and walls went up from a smooth dirt floor and leveled off halfway up, like a second story that you couldn't really get to. It echoed with every whisper, every word; and I felt a sense of smallness, of awe, as I looked up at rocks. No cathedral could be more beautiful.

 

The tunnel.

This will give a small sense of the massiveness. I'm tall...but this stuff was WAY taller than me.

Last year sometime, probably last November, I was at Young Disciple Ministries as an intern. On a particular Sabbath, a group of church members ended up at Mark and Angie Johnson's for a get-together, fellowship supper. After dark, a bunch of us kids wanted to play hide-and-seek, flashlight tag, you name it. But Nathan Arthur, my fellow intern, was interested in something else.

He got all excited and animated (like he always did when extremely tired) and told us that if you held a flashlight net to your eye, you could find spiders, because their eyes twinkle in the light. A bunch of us laughed at him. "Yeah right, Nathan." "No, it's true!" he insisted, getting almost a little frustrated. "Look, I'll show you!"

True to word, Nathan found us a couple of spiders, tiny little things, from about 20 feet away. I was impressed at the time, but forgot all about it...until my headlamp caught a little glitter on the cave wall a few days ago. I walked closer...and true to prediction, there was a spider. Thanks, Nathan.

 

Stalactites. Absolutely amazing.

Those shadowy areas above our heads are the "second story" I referred to earlier. It's pretty easy to see why I felt tiny.

We pressed deeper and deeper into the cave. The long, smooth-floored tunnel just didn't seem to end!

It started to get smaller in width, although not much in height. We walked until we were clambering over rocks and stepping gingerly across crevasses, and decided that we'd be better off to just go back and call it good. It would be safer that way. By the time we turned around, I was carrying my flashlight in my teeth so I could hang onto things, and I was barefoot so I could keep my balance better. Oh, the things you do for the sake of exploring...

We made it back to the smooth part of the cave and walked back through the cathedral-domed halls, singing Christmas songs as we went. We paused when we caught the glimmer light at the end of the tunnel, turned all our lights out, and sang some more. We came out of that cave looking like disheveled messes, but oh, how blessed...how blessed.

We were in that cave for nearly two hours, and it was definitely lunch time when we re-emerged into the light. Everything looked so different after the dark wonder of the cave. The green trees were so much greener, the blue sky bluer... I can only imagine what it must be like for people who have been imprisoned in cells as dark as that cave for years; or for the Waldensians or early Christians in Rome, who had to hide in caves and catacombs to keep from being killed.

Lunch was delicious, and well-appreciated. We'd picked up a small thing of peanut-butter from Tesco Lotus, and I thoroughly enjoyed it on a slice of Casa Mia bread. However, all good things come to an end, and lunch finished. We packed up and headed out, still full of the wonder of the cave, and anxiously anticipating our next find.

We decided to try Umphang again and find the road that led out to this other waterfall. There was supposedly a mountain top that attracted attention out there too, so we figured we'd be kept busy out there for the rest of Sabbath.

In Umphang, we found a big city map that we'd somehow missed the day before, and made the turns and got onto the right road. Out of the little town we went, into the country, and up into the mountains again.

A small hut in a field.

We passed through a little village, and Brenda was certain that the waterfall would be right around in this area. But there were no signs, no indication of waterfall of any sort. We kept on going.

Out a long dirt road, up and down, across potholes: we ended up out in the middle of this arid, dry, and HOT wilderness that was keenly reminiscent of Africa's deserts. And the road seemed to never end. "Maybe this is the road that Travis was telling us about that goes all the way down south," Harvey suggested.

"Harvey!" Brenda shook her head. "This is not that road."

We looked past the gate. The road kept going, but we'd reached the edges of a national wildlife sanctuary of some sort. There was a small building to the left with a man in a uniform in it. Brenda took the map, climbed out, and began asking him for the "nam tok" (waterfall). He responded in a flurry of Thai that no one understood.

After a bit, he finally communicated that it was back in the direction we'd come from. 14 kilometers back. And he seemed to be trying to say that it was on the far side of the small village we'd passed through. Well, alright. Might as well try. We thanked him and turned around...again.

We went for about a kilometer and Hannah said, "Dad, can I ride on the back?" Sharon sat up straight. "Oh me too!" Brenda and I opted for the windows. Harvey stopped and we all climbed out. Hannah and Sharon were getting situated on the back and Brenda went back aways to snap the picture above, of the "safari" as she called it, seeing as how the tall grass and landscape reminded one of Africa. She told us to smile, and so that I could see the camera, I stepped onto the window sill instead of sitting in it.

Then it happened. Call it fate if you will. Hannah and Sharon were situated on the back and Harvey pulled forward. I was still standing in the window. For someone who has a pathological fear of falling, this is not good news. So, I did the most logical thing I could: climb right on top of the car.

Hannah and Sharon went, "Heidi!" and Harvey called, "What's going on up there?" I explained the situation, but didn't remove myself from the top of the vehicle. I was beginning to like my perch rather well. Brenda climbed in and seated herself in a window, and we continued along the dirt road.

We got back to the village and turned down a small road that went through it, hoping to find what the man in the uniform had tried to convey. No such luck. We stopped and asking a Karen lady sifting rice or something like that "thi lo su pele?" (waterfall where?) and she tried to tell us that it was back in the direction we'd just come from, about 1 kilometer. We continued on through the village.

Remember, Brenda's still in the window, Hannah and Sharon are on the back, and yours truly is enthroned on the top of the car. Traveling through a village like that for the first time was a might embarassing, but it was the ground-work for being comfortable up there no matter where we were.

We came around another corner and asked a couple of men in a shop the same question as we'd asked the lady. They pointed in the direction we'd come from, down the long dirt road, and said about 1 kilometer, but on the opposite side of the road. We thanked them and got out of the village.

We drove back in that direction and found a road that looked like it went into a resort of some sort. We turned in and drove down the drive...and then discovered we'd just driven into a Buddhist monastery. Obviously, this was not what we were looking for. We turned around.

We tried another road, farther down the dirt road. This one took us out into the middle of fields, with no waterfall in sight, and ended up coming upon a group of villagers who motioned to us from a distance to go back. Again, for the hundredth time that day, we turned around.

Once we got on the main road again, that was that. No more trying roads. We still had to find a place to sleep and the sun was starting to go down. Back down the road we went, with Harvey the only one actually in the car.

We concluded that the best place to sleep for the night would be near the mountaintop that people seemed to find so fascinating. We'd passed it on our way through, and it was a section of hills that had no trees on top. This is very unusual in Thailand. We figured we could sleep somewhere around there.

For probably a half an hour we rode that way, til we reached a couple of smaller hilltops that had no people around them. We pulled off the road there and all of us went for a walk to see if we could find a level place to lay our mats. Hannah and I looked up at the nearest, tallest hilltop. "I want to sleep up there." I pointed.

Hannah nodded. "Me too. We should go look and see if it's big enough for all of us."

Up we went. And it was a laborious climb...but the view, the view! We were sold. This was where we were sleeping. We hurried back down, everyone grabbed what they needed, and we climbed back up the hill with bedding, jackets, mats, backpacks, cameras and supper.

We got up there just in time. Hannah was the first one to the top, and the sun was going down. As she crested the hill, she looked down at me, still only halfway up, and called, "Oh Heidi, hurry up with your camera! Hurry up!" I hurried as fast as hurry can be on a hill like that...

And made it in time.

Words fail.

The climb was exhausting, but the view was worth it. So worth it. And the exercise was good for us anyway.

We had an almost 360 degree view from the top of that hill. The sun going down on one side, and the anticipation of the sun coming up on the other in the morning, was thrilling. I couldn't take enough pictures.

Distant mountains turned purple as the sun sank lower and lower on the horizon. We all sat on our mats and just watched in silence.

Sharon wasn't too thrilled with me at that point in time, but hey, my excuse was that the lighting was perfect.

Happy. Blessed.

And while I shot upside down views of the clouds, I didn't realize that Brenda was shooting me upside down. We slept right there all night long, and I can't imagine a more perfect camping spot.

The sun got lower still.

And at last it sank behind the horizon entirely, not to be seen again til the morning.

We watched it go, still amazed at the beauty surrounding and soaking into us.

We decided to have worship right then and there, before it got too dark. Michael Ross had loaned me his tripod, and I made use of it that night and the next morning. I took a video while we were singing of the sun setting, all of them singing...and then Hannah decided to help and try to get me in the video and then Harvey helped and...let's just say that they got me in the video, but the singing stopped and laughing began.

We started putting coats on as the sun kept going down and the darkness started to close in. It was getting downright chilly as we finished worship and began to eat our oranges and mangosteins and OK crackers. (And they're not OK because they're just okay--they're really good--but that's the company that makes them.)

One last long exposure shot of the burning horizon.

This will seem funny, but I'd finished supper and decided to start taking some star pictures. Harvey and Brenda were getting ready for bed, flashlights waving all around, and I took this picture of them. Yes, that little blob in the corner is them.

This is what I saw when I laid down on my mat. Stars. And more stars. This picture was brightened quite a bit, but that's how many stars I could see. You should've seen them from the vantage point I did.... They almost lose their luster in a photo.

The tripod eventually got folded up and put away, the camera stowed in the backpack, and I laid down with then intent of sleep. I stared, wide-eyed at the stars. Oh Lord, it's beautiful. We've had such an amazingly blessed Sabbath, even though we haven't been able to find a waterfall yet. Thank you so much for filling our day with blessing...watch over us as we sleep.......

Night wore on. The morning would break soon enough.
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Chapter 3

Completed Lesson

The morning dawned. After a long night, the morning began to melt the horizon into a glow of color. I got up, had my devotions, and then pulled the tripod and camera back out. This was too good to miss.

I aimed my lens at the horizon and let it take some long exposure shots. The fog below, and the beauty being born above, again filled me with a sense of wonder I can't completely describe.

Morning's first glow.

The fog got more visible, the horizon brighter...still, we waited for the sun to break over the distant ridge.

Sharon, Hannah and I with cameras aimed and ready.

Deserted mats and belongings. Yes, Hannah's blankets are all neatly folded up and mine were in a heap because I'd been anxious to capture the sunrise in its infancy.

Earlier, a Thai couple joined us on our hilltop to watch the sunrise. We came out lucky, though: on a hilltop not far away I counted at least thirty people, watching the sun rise. I've wondered if the sunrise has an important part in the Buddhist religion and if that's why so many Thai can be found watching sunrises.

The sun. At last.

Trying to get camera settings to work properly.

Hannah pointed to the other side of the hill, where we'd watched the sunset the night before. The fog over there was incredible. It merited a picture.

I have no words. Only that you should've seen it in all its natural glory.

Then we climbed back down the hill, loaded with our things. It started to get warm pretty quickly, and the sun began to light everything up as we made the bottom of the hill. Back to the car--we had things to do.

Like breakfast!

I laughed as I took this picture. How many Stecks does it take to make a wok full of noodles?

After breakfast we headed out again, and back through the mountain range, headed for another national park more towards Mae Sot. Somehow, the trip in this direction didn't seem to take as long this time. It definitely felt shorter.

Pine trees covered those mountains. Different than the tall spires I'm used to at home, but oh, so reminiscent..

Breathtaking view.

We passed a village, with a group of villagers working in a marigold field. Here, orange is the sacred color, and orange flowers, especially marigolds, are prized and considered holy. They're sold in market places.

Bathroom break at a resort-type place. And they had all of these hanging out front. Winter hats? In Thailand? Yes, yes... There have been a few times when I wanted one myself.

At this particular stop, we girls went to use the restroom. And this bathroom was the type where you take your shoes off before going in and use either bare feet (um, no?) or the little flip flop shoes they provide for you, which are created for Asian feet, not my feet. Sharon and Hannah slipped into the little Asian ones, and Sharon pointed at another pair of shoes that were bigger. "Those ones look bigger, Heidi." True, they do.

Imagine my embarassment when I came back around the corner to wash my hands and there was a Thai lady, waiting patiently by the door for me to give her back her shoes.

Two words. Never again.

A Thai flag in the breeze.

We continued through the mountains, snapping pictures on corners and almost falling asleep in some cases.

About this time, our trusty charioteer got a phone call that needed more follow-up. He needed cell service, and found it in a random place along the road. So, we stopped. And when the car stops, someone inevitably gets out.

And we did.

The subject of interest while the phone call was being made.

A few cars passed us while we were like this: Harvey on the phone, Hannah reading a book in the car, Sharon, Brenda and I taking pictures. I have to wonder what they thought of us...but then, they're probably used to things like this.

Sharon capturing a flower.

After that, it was stop and go. "Oh look at that flower! Stop, stop!" Hop out, click-click-click, hop in. Repeat.

It was worth the stopping though. Many of the flowers we took pictures of I hadn't seen before. My flower collection is growing...

I love these ones. Bursts of multiple colors and each one different... and they almost look like rubber.

We got down out of the mountains and back into the civilized valley again. Through another town we went, headed for this national park Brenda said was on her map.

By now, the "looking for a waterfall" thing had become a joke to us. We were laughing at ourselves, really: we'd come looking for waterfalls, and hadn't seen a single one yet. "So where are we going now?" "Remember? We're looking for a waterfall." *laughter*

Then we saw a blue sign by the roadside. It said there was a waterfall. Brenda looked at her map. "This waterfall isn't on my map!"

"Maybe it's not really there," someone else suggested.

"Well, we have nothing to lose," Harvey said as he turned his blinker on and turned down the unfamiliar road.

We drove for aways. No more blue signs. "Maybe there isn't really anything here. Maybe there's only one sign. Maybe we missed a road."

Then, blue sign! And another, and another...and another. We followed them through a couple of villages, way out into the middle of nowhere it seemed. Then the signs got precise: 3 kilometers, 2 kilometers, 1 kilometer...half a kilometer... "If there's anything here, it must be a tourist trap," Harvey commented. "And I'll bet you have to pay to get in."

Then, a small parking lot, with room for maybe 3 cars. We pulled over, and got out.

And at the bottom of the stairs, we found this.

It was beautiful. The rocks were stained red, presumably by some mineral in the water, and even though they looked slippery, they were firm and rough. Hannah and I walked through the water a little, amazed at the beauty surrounding us again.

 Then hunger won out. We decided to eat lunch in the gazebo at the top of the stairs and then explore some more.

Where we ate lunch. It really looked like it should've been part of an American restaurant.

The view from the gazebo.

Again, lunch was wonderful. As we ate, there was talk of sleeping in the gazebo that night, stringing up hammocks again and whatnot like we'd done the first night. There were more buildings on the other side of the falls that we would investigate later, and grass we could sleep on there if need be. Somehow, though, the thought of sleeping here wasn't too appealing to me. But I put it to the side. We'd probably find a better place to sleep.

She gave me the look because I tried to get a better picture of her and failed...

Headed down the stairs to investigate the area around the falls.

This tree was amazing. Actually, I wanted to climb it really bad, but the thought of biting ants (no, not the fact that I was in a skirt and the the tree was over the water) deterred me.

These bridges were something else. Take your time, and keep your balance.

There were a couple of different bridges to get us all the way across the water.

But once the bridges were past, then what? What more exciting things could we find?

A bathroom, a small, unoccupied hut, and a bunch of little gazebos like this one. They were incredibly cute.

And lots of flowers. Yes, that is a flower, even though it looks like a pipe cleaner.

Elephants ears, is what Brenda called them. No joke.

Seeing these brought back memories of the Philippines, and a certain several gentlemen devouring the little things that we found in the compound we were staying in, only to find that most of them couldn't handle the heat. I picked one and walked up to Hannah. "Close your eyes and open your mouth." She was skeptical: and for the sake of the well-being of myself, I didn't put it in her mouth.

Over in the corner, we found a hole. No, nothing real special, just a huge gaping hole in the ground into which water was pouring. No human dug this hole either. It was a natural bottomless pit. I couldn't really see the bottom from where I was, and I wonder where it ended. No spelunking in this cave, though.

I snapped a few more pictures, starting to get bored. We'd seen everything there now, and I was ready to move on.

So I settled down to wait for everyone else.

We weren't sure what that little structure was, but Brenda assumed it was a prayer bench of sorts and tested it out. Well, the kneeling part anyway.

Can you tell I'm ready to go? I was tired, ready to actually get in a waterfall, and bordering on bored. This had been an amazing discovery, but it's not what we're looking for...right?

Turns out the lesson God was trying to teach me through this waterfall business was almost complete.

But not quite.

The national park we'd been looking for was just down the road, so we decided to go there and scope things out. If that was no good, we'd come back to Pa Wai (the waterfall we'd just been at) and sleep there. As I snapped a picture of a Thai stop sign, I hoped we wouldn't have cause to come back.

These are like the farmers cars around here. Tractors, of sorts.

Some villagers scoping out their farmlands.

More villagers, filling bags of.....something...with....well, something.

We arrived at the other national park, with the road leading in to a waterfall, and saw a whole bunch of cars exiting. Bad sign right from the start. Then we got to a little booth, where the Thai lady came out and had us sign a guest book. Even worse sign. Then we got inside.

It was so commercialized. We wandered around a little, winding our way over cement walkways towards the waterfall. We passed a Buddhist shrine, and I shook my head in sadness.

The waterfall itself was beautiful. Deep pools, a long and tall cascade that would've been perfect to swim in and get clean in. But it was so full of people. There were people everywhere.

I wasn't about to make myself a public spectacle to strangers by swimming in a commercialized waterfall. And neither was anyone else.

We climbed a set of stairs and got as close to the waterfall as we dared, instead.

I climbed out on the roots of a tree to get closer and get better pictures, and Sharon stayed on the rock opposite me. We'd climbed down a small path from the top of the stairs.

Truly beautiful, but disappointing. There were too many people around, and what should have fulfilled our wishes didn't.

We wandered a bit more, and Brenda disappeared, leaving the rest of us sitting on the steps of a headquarters building, very tired and very disappointed. She returned soon, saying that there were lots of other things to see, but the majority of them were closed to the public--all of the closed ones had something to do with Communist hideouts and old trucks and such. After some conversation, we concluded that we'd rather go back to the isolated Pa Wai then spread our mats out on this grassy lawn. So, back we went.

As we headed back, and I snapped pictures of villagers along the side of the road, the sense of disappointment in me grew. Lord, You've been leading us to all these beautiful places so far, and they've been a tremendous blessing. I've loved each place we've slept so far. But this...?

God must've smiled at me. Wait a little longer, Child...

As we got closer and closer, I struggled. I didn't want to sleep that night at that place. And yet, I knew there must be a reason we were going back. There must be a reason that God was allowing us to be brought back to this place. I figured that in the night and early morning it would be dark, stifling...cold. And yet, something seemed to whisper to me that God had more in store. I just needed to be patient. But I fought it.

We arrived at the little parking lot, and Brenda said, "Can we go explore down the road some? I want to see what's down there." The road kept on going, see. Harvey kept on going.

Just around the corner, the paved road came to an end and we hit gravel. Or rather, we stopped at the gravel. It was steep and bumpy, and the car wouldn'tve made it in and out. But there was another sign down there that advertised the waterfall. "There must be more down here," Hannah said. "Let's go see."

We all got out and started down the gravel road. Almost immediately, another road took off down the hill to the right, toward the creek, and down we went. At the bottom, we just found a creek, far less amazing than what was up near the gazebo. In my heart, I was still fighting. Lord, what are we doing here? Why did you bring me back to this place? You must have something here for me, or You wouldnt've brought me back...but...what? 

Hannah found a little trail going to the right, upstream. "Well, why not? We have nothing to lose." Up we went.

I snapped a few pictures along the way, looking at the jungle's quiet beauty. It really was pretty, and I decided to just do my best to enjoy it. Then, a call from up ahead. It was Hannah. "Ohhh come look! Come see! HEIDI!!"

The picture falls far short of the reality, but this is what we saw. Words cannot express the amazement in my heart. I forgot almost everything else, and caught up with Hannah in short order.

She looked at me. "Are you going up?" I nodded. "Uh yeah!" Leaving my camera with Brenda, I waded through the water, following Hannah up the stair steps. We paused at a substantial fall and just raved about the beauty, how we never would've guessed this was here.

Sharon and Brenda joined us, leaving Harvey with the cameras. After a moment or two of standing around, Hannah said, "You know what, I'm tempted to go back and get changed and come back here and take a bath."

Good idea, Hannah. We all headed back down to get changed and get soap and shampoo.

And then we saw a huge snake...no, I'm kidding. I don't know why Brenda's mouth was open.

We clambered down and got back to the car as fast as we could, digging shampoo and soap out of various bags and changing into water clothes. Then it was hike back down and get a shower after 2 days of no shower and feeling sticky dirty.

Sharon and I got there after Hannah did. She told us where she stepped to get up to where she did, and we climbed on up while Brenda took pictures.

Then we saw a better place up farther. So we climbed some more.

This was a shower with a view. I've never taken a shower that I've enjoyed so much before in my life. It not only felt amazing to be clean after the grimyness of the last two days, but the water itself...just amazing.

We all showered in the falls, enjoying it to its fullest, and then trekked back up to the car, and from thence to a spot up at the higher part of the falls. It was as I was hiking over to the restroom to change into some dry clothes that the lesson hit me full force. 

You and I look for many things in life. Whatever it might be, you name it: we all look for things. We all embark on life expecting to find certain things. We all have our maps--our ideas and plans and the way we think things should go. We have places on our maps that tell us where we'll find what we're looking for.

But it's often a long journey to get to where you think you'll find it. Even if you follow the map. You'll get tired, you'll feel so devoid of that thing by the time you reach the expected end: you'll just be ready to have that thing then and there and now. But God's timing is almost never our timing.

There will be many ways that people claim that you can get this thing you're looking for. But in some places, there will be a price tag attached--and even if you pay the price, the actual route to get the thing you want will be too dangerous. It could cost you life, salvation. And, since you're truly seeking God's will, you're forced to turn back, without ever finding what you're looking for.

You pray. You ask the Lord to guide you, to take you where you'll find what you're looking for. He listens. And He blesses you in a different capacity.

But you still consult that map. And you head off in another direction.

But this time, there are no signs along the road. You try every possible route and byway to find what you're looking for, and hit a dead end every time. You ask people to help you, and they try: but because they can't relate to you, because you can't understand them, they aren't of much help to you. You're forced to give up.

But again, God blesses in a different capacity. You're truly seeking His will, but you're also trying to find what you're looking for. He knows that...and He wants you to find what you're looking for. But in His time and His way. 

Again, you consult your map and head off in another direction.

Another long journey, another long wait, and suddenly, you see a sign. A sign you never expected to see. And it's not on your map. But what have you got to lose? 

All along this road, there are signs. Telling you you're closer, and closer and closer. Confirming that you're on the right path. And yet, it's not on your map.

You reach the destination. And you find what you're looking for. And you're overflowed with joy. 

But after a time, you begin to wonder. This doesn't seem quite right. I'm not sure that this is really what God wanted me to find. You start to doubt, and find yourself ready to keep going. You still need one more thing to complete what you're looking for, and it doesn't seem to be here. So you keep going, assured that at the next place, you'll find it. 

You find it. But it's not right. It just isn't right. It's not what God has called you to, and you know it. It's disappointing from the start, whereas what God led you to before was beautiful at the start. And you're forced--or you choose--to go back to where you first found what you were looking for.

You may not be happy with being back. You may think that only bad and pain will come of it. But if you dig deeper, if you wait, if you are patient, being back will end up revealing that which you really desire...and more than that...in God's way, and God's time. 

As I changed my clothes, the reality of this lesson hit me so hard I had to stop and think a moment. Awestruck, I shook myself. If this was the only lesson God brought me to Thailand to teach me, it would be worth it. And He didn't only teach me...He allowed me to live it.  

Such a lesson would benefit us all, if we learned it well.

By the time we all got changed, it was getting dark. We rolled out mats on the ground in the grass, pulled out blankets, and had worship by flashlight. After that, no one felt like going to the car to pull out any food, so we all rolled up in our blankets and went to sleep.

As I was falling asleep, I looked at the stars blinking through the black silhouetted trees above me and smiled. Such a lesson, Lord...thank you so much for guiding us to where we needed to be...watch over us as we sleep... 

And wakefulness gave way to slumber.
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Chapter 4

Double...Triple...Multiple Blessings

When I finally awoke, Hannah was up making breakfast already. I had some quiet time, watching the jungle around me come awake and listening to the sounds while thanking God for a beautiful morning and reading a little. After I got up, we started packing while breakfast was being made.

After breakfast was eaten, everything got cleaned up in record time and we pulled back up to the parking lot where we'd parked when we first found the place. We had worship together in the gazebo, and then headed out. We had one more full day to explore and find blessings and be led by God, and I was excited to see what we'd find.

We headed out, passing through the same two villages. Imagine having a bull that's the size of a small VW Beetle sleeping right outside your front gate.

We got into a town. I love this building, although I'd never live in it. Very much Asia.

The things you see on the road. They carry things around here in the funniest of ways sometimes, but hey, it works; and they don't have near as many accidents as America does. I think it's because in America everyone expects things to go correctly because of all the traffic control, and therefore aren't prepared when something happens. Here, they're always breaking the rules (rules? wait, what rules?) and therefore people are prepared when the...well, it's not unexpected around here...happens.

We were looking for two waterfalls, a hot spring, and a mountain top. Brenda said they were all on the map; still, when we heard that there were waterfalls in the lot, we groaned amid a laugh. "Oh no."

We did find one, right beside the road. It was an easy one, but it too, was pretty commercialized. Still a beautiful set of falls, albeit smaller than the other two we'd seen.

Jumping in looked inviting, but not really, since there were a couple other people we'd seen around the place. We kept on walking.

These flowers were just amazing. I'd never seen anything like them before.

Not even in pictures.

We hiked down a concrete stairway and found that it was simply a dead end. Disappointing, that; but oh well. Time to head back up to the road.

Concrete walkway through the trees. They make everything out of concrete, steel, and paint over here. It's amazing.

We decided to explore the roadside a little bit. This fountain wasn't going at the time, and apparently hadn't been for awhile, due to all the nasty green algae in it. Still, it was a cute idea.

Sharon thought so too.

A variation of the bird of paradise flower.

The infamous betel nut, ripe on the tree.

A single blooming orchid. Didn't see any other except this one.

We walked along both sides of the road, taking pictures of the flowers and other curiosities around. Hannah was not included in the "curiosities" section.

Then we decided to go look for the other waterfall, or the hot springs...or something! Let's go see what we can see...

We tried several roads with no success. We ended up out in the middle of nowhere, in a small village. Again, the car turned around, while I snapped a picture of the little hut to my left with the baskets of chiles sun-drying on the roof.

And believe it or not, they had a gas station in this little town! It was unlike any gas station I'd ever seen in my life. They measure the fuel in that little holder, then pump it into your car. And again, and again, til your tank is full. So simple...

A temple arch in  the bigger town we passed through, still looking for the right road.

Aha! We found it! Down the little road we went, winding through fields, past small huts, and curious villagers. Finally we came upon a blue sign advertising the hot spring, and we kept on going.

Villagers on the back of a tractor.

Well, there it is. We pulled up to a small complex that looked awful fancy for being in the middle of nowhere. There were small cabins in a neat row along the backside of the property, and a few large ones. On a small knoll in the center was the perfectly round, and obviously very hot hot spring. I'll admit, we were a little disappointed. "That's it?" But we decided to look around some more.

The bathrooms were incredibly modern. They had regular western-style toilets for a change...and get this. Yes, that's a regular Thailand toilet. But it flushes. I was so amused I took a picture.

Then I got curious about the big cabin next to the bathrooms. I went and peeked in the door of the ladies side.

And found a bathtub! I mean, a swimming pool... I mean, a hot tub... I mean... what is it? It suddenly began to make sense to me why there was all this stuff around the little hot spring. Hot spring means hot water means hot showers and baths and jacuzzis means...money. Okay. Duh.

True to form, the smaller cabins weren't cabins at all. They were personal jacuzzis. I was enjoying this exploring now.

Neat little "cabins."

We found one more hot spring on the property, along with guest rooms where you could stay and a man who had an official parks brochure and could speak some English. We hung around for a little while longer before deciding to head to the mountain top advertised on Brenda's map.

I climbed on the top of the car again, and Hannah hung out the window as we pulled onto the main road. We went for some kilometers, to a small village, and then decided to turn around and go back to the hot spring and eat lunch. On the way, we pulled over in the village and Harvey and Brenda bought some pomellos. Hannah shrank back down into the car, face red, while we sat there waiting, and I stayed on my rooftop perch, looking around.

She was directly to my left. I noticed her when we approached and parked. She'd been sitting on a small stool by a tub of water, washing her hair I think. She was so tiny, so frail. The look in her eyes was distant, sad, hollow--yet, looking into them left one wondering about the real person inside.Who was she when she was a little girl? When she was young, a teenager? How old was she when she had her first child? Did she get married and have children? What was hidden behind those hollow, empty eyes? I couldn't bring myself to treat her like a spectacle and take a picture of her when she was looking at me, so a snapped a picture when she turned to go up the stairs.

She actually reminded me very much of my own grandma: the Grandma I saw before I came to Thailand, in a nursing home, mind almost completely gone. We'd pulled up to the nursing home parking lot and I told my mom I wasn't going in. I'd been warned that my grandma--the one who I'd loved all my life, who'd lived with us while her mind slowly deteriorated for over two years; one who'd been there for me all my life--this grandma was virtually unresponsive. "She doesn't recognize anyone, doesn't say much. If she does say anything, she mumbles. She won't know you, but we go to see her every week." I knew what it would be like, and I didn't want to see it. I didn't want my heart ripped in two like that.

Still I was prevailed upon to come in. I did so, stiffly. She was sleeping in a chair, looking so tiny and frail when I saw her. But my mom woke her up. And to my surprise, she almost seemed to recognize us. Almost. She talked to us, nothing big or important, just little responses to my mom talking to her. My mom did her hair again; she had her lean forward so that she could sit behind her: but Grandma wasn't strong enough to sit up herself. I held her up...and one more time, she hugged me. No reason at all--and yet, I knew god had been merciful to me.

When we walked out of that nursing home, having left Grandma to eat her supper with all the other elderly ladies and gentlemen, my mom looked at me and said, "You know Heidi, that was for you. I haven't seen her that responsive in weeks. God did that just for you."

Then, in a moment, remembering faded. Harvey and Brenda got back in the car and we pulled away. And I tried not to look back at the little lady sitting on her porch step, staring after me.

We ate lunch at the hot spring, taking some time to relax in the grass. Then we all piled back into the car, Hannah and Sharon on each window and I again enthroned on the roof. We headed out once more.

We made it back into town. These were rooftop shots: this was the home of a probably very well-to-do Thai family.

Thai road sign. Can you imagine road signs in America looking like that?

Little boys in a pickup.

After a little bit, Harvey pulled over so I could climb back in and Sharon could slip inside. We were nearing a main highway and nobody wanted to fall off. The guy on that truck didn't seem to pay much heed... Yes, the little red bundle on top of all those bags is a guy. I promise.

The proverbial blue signs. There was another waterfall we tried to locate, with no success. Finally, a Thai lady who spoke very good English stopped by us and explained that the waterfall we were looking for could not be accessed due to a bad road.

We'd been hoping to find a place to get wet, and Brenda suggested going back to the waterfall right by the road. The rest of us weren't too keen on the idea, so we voted to keep on going and see what we could find.

Corn drying in the sun.

We made it to another waterfall, one we'd seen on our way out some days before. We saw it from the road, and now we went to investigate.

This waterfall had a lake at its base, probably just a water reservoir, with a dock out into it. A few kids were swimming in it. There were quite a few little shelters along the lake's edge. Brenda suggested sleeping in them, but I raised an eyebrow. I wasn't sure about that one. But we wanted to explore the waterfall. So over to it we went.

We found that the rocks were nice and rough, not slippery, and we could climb them with ease. Walking up the waterfall was like climbing a set of stairs. There's nothing like walking up a waterfall.

And at the top of those stairs, we found this.

I handed Hannah my camera. "I'm going up there, but I'm not getting this thing wet."

Harvey took my camera, and I got up to a ledge and felt a rush of exhilaration. The look on my face is ample evidence of that.

Then Hannah came up. We discussed getting in, but then the fact that these were our last dry clothes and that we really should go get into our already wet things.

Sharon joined us and agreed. We stood there for a little bit longer and then climbed back down to get changed and ready to swim in the falls.

After the long, laborious task of changing, we clambered back up. Swimming in waterfalls has become a new hobby for me, I think. We didn't take any cameras up, since we were all going to get wet. Hannah and I climbed up as far as we could, real close to the actual source of the real pounding water. It was so strong I didn't dare get in it there. But a couple of girls down on the dock saw us and waved while we were up there.

We stayed up there for 20 minutes or so, sitting in the little pools, letting the rush of the water pound us and make us dizzy. Then we climbed back down.

On our way down, we came to a sloping, flat rock that Brenda had discovered was quite slippery in places on the way down previously. Since I was already wet, I decided I wanted to try and slide down it. I sat down, and nothing happened. I scooted along...nothing happened. I scooted a little bit more...and wow, did I ever slide! A startled squeal escaped my lips and everyone laughed at me. Sharon tried it too before we all came down to the car.

That was when I noticed that my little sliding episode had rendered me quite dirty. I needed to get cleaned off, and the only logical place to do that was...yep, the lake.

Sharon and I both went out and I fell off the dock into the water. I hadn't been actually swimming like that since I left home, and it was like coming home for me. Sharon and I stayed out there for 15 minutes or so, I reveling in the water, Sharon reveling in sitting on the submerged attachment to the dock, before we went to get changed. Pure bliss.

After getting clean and dry, we all took a walk on the dike around the lake. The reflection was quite something to see.

Just beautiful.

Guess what those are? Figs! There were a couple of trees covered with them, but they were a little too far away for us to reach.

Hannah and I.

The sunlight coming through this grass was just beautiful. A camera can only tell so much.

Red dragonfly.

And we found a wild avocado tree! With little avocados on it! That was fun, although I rather wish they'd been ripe.

The sun was getting lower, but it still was warm, and lit up everything with a soft glow.

Sharon and the falls...well, and the temple, but we won't mention that.

It looks for all the world like I'm standing on water, but you can relax: no practice of Buddhist meditation went on on this trip. There was a dock extension just under the surface of the water that I went and stood on.

And Hannah put up her hammock for the night. We decided to sleep here, since it was getting so late, and I ended up enjoying it thoroughly.

Me on the dock. If I didn't know it was Thailand, I'd say these pictures make it look like Maine or Connecticut.

Sharon on the dock.

Sharon on the real dock.

We took pictures for awhile, and the sun kept getting lower and lower. And, by extension, it kept getting cooler.

Where we decided to sleep for the night. Sharon and I in the hammocks.

About this time, everyone else that had frequented the place was gone. We were getting supper ready and whatnot, and a motorbike pulled in. A Thai couple got off and walked towards us, heading toward the dock presumably. They stopped in front of Sharon and I in the shelter, and to my utter shock, the man spoke to me in accented, but extremely good English! He asked if we were camping here tonight, and mentioned that it would get very cold. I told him it was no problem; we were ready for the cold. 

They stood on the dock for a little bit, but then came back and began talking to Harvey and Brenda. And this is how we met Jaw and Anna. 

They're from Bangkok, but just moved to the Mae Sot area recently, to Jaw's uncle's farm. His uncle just passed away within the last month. They had a house and two cars in Bangkok apparently, but lost it in the flood last year. They told us all of that...and more...in English! 

They stayed and talked with us for a long time, and left after inviting us to come to their home in the morning. Jaw promised to come to get us at 8:30 and show us how to get there, and we said okay. They were obviously excited, and they left with goodbyes and "see you in the mornings!" 

We had supper by candlelight in a small shelter, and then had worship on the dock, singing Christmas carols to the stars in four-part harmony and then reading together. We finished late, and then crawled into bed.

My hammock swung back and forth from the rafters, and I thought about Jaw and Anna, about our waterfall explorations, about all our blessings; and I smiled. Thank you Lord...so much. For everything. I've never experienced anything like this before...watch over us as we sleep...

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Chapter 5

Our Way Home

Breakfast in the making, I finally awoke to a glowing sunrise morning.

I slept in the hammock on the right, Sharon in the hammock on the left, and Hannah on the mat on floor.

And Harvey and Brenda slept here.

And the morning just took my breath away. It was captivating. I snapped some pictures and then moved towards breakfast.

We had worship and then breakfast, and then packed up, getting ready to leave. True to word, Jaw and Anna atop their motorbike showed up at 8:25, and we headed out within 15 minutes. It was a five minute drive to their house.

Once there, they had us come up onto the porch and seated us at a lovely wooden table with five benches. Anna said that she'd made some Thai dessert, and asked if we would like some. We were hardly able to say no. She brought out a pot full of pumpkin that had been cooked in syrup, and glasses of water for us all. It was wonderful, to say the least.

During the course of the conversation, Jaw mentioned that the table was on the porch because they could not fit it in through the door. Harvey asked if he'd tried it sideways, and Jaw asserted that he'd tried it sideways, upside down, rightside up, and no luck. It had never been in the house. 

They showed us inside their house afterward, and now I got a good look at their front door. I remembered all those times of moving with my family, carrying huge couches in and out of doors and fitting upright grand pianos through doors, and I did a bit of thinking and realized that they really could fit that table through that door. 

I got Harvey's attention and said, "You know, I really think that we could get that table through that door."

Harvey nodded. "I was thinking the same thing."

Jaw looked surprised. "You think so?"

I looked at the table, and Harvey did some rough measuring and we both nodded. "Oh yes, it's possible."

We asked him if he'd like us to help him move it in. He looked shocked. "Oh, but its very heavy."

"That's okay," Harvey said with a smile.

"If you want to..." Jaw said, but he looked unsure. 

Not 5 minutes later, we rolled the table top through the door and then came the leg stand, amid cheering from Anna and shocked exclamations from Jaw. We set it upright, and Jaw collapsed against the table, shaking his head, looking dumbfounded. Oh, a happier Thai couple you have never seen! The last we heard of the incident was Anna, shaking her finger at her husband, saying, "Next time, use your brain."

They took us for a walk around their farm, telling us the names of different plants, showing us their fields. This tree was interesting--those spines were sharp enough and stiff enough they could've been used as needles!

Some sort of...seeds? Looks like corn, but I don't think that's what it is.

And they had BIG bamboo. According to Travis, this is small stuff compared to some of it that grows down south, but it's big to me. My thumbs were touching at the back and my hands stretched as far as they could go.

Jaw and Harvey, talking about something with Anna and Brenda. He laughs alot.

One of their fields.

A little jackfruit.

And guess what? The infamous durian! These ones were small.

This is also a durian. It's the flower before the fruiting.

Buds of the durian flower.

They took us to their neighbors place as well. Anna said that even though she was new in the area, this neighbor had been very kind to her. The neighbors were all Burmese.

And they gave us sugar cane! Three long stalks of it. Harvey shook his head. "I don't think we'll be able to eat all of that for lunch."

A Burmese girl. She was one of the neighbors.

Jaw and Anna's house.

Jaw wanted a picture of all of us together, so we called one of the older neighbor girls over to take a picture with my camera. The other lady is the nice neighbor Anna introduced us to.

We said goodbye to our new friends after giving them Thai and English Steps to Christ. They seemed to appreciate it very much; and I don't think we've seen the last of them. I hope those books make a difference in their lives. So many blessed people in this world that we never would meet if we didn't get out there.

More travel and we made it to Mae Sot! And lo and behold, an overloaded truck. How would you like to drive that load around?

We drove through Mae Sot and headed toward Mae Ramut, looking for another national park that supposedly had a hot spring and a cave and a waterfall. We found the hot spring, which looked (and felt!) very hot...

Steaming hot.

There were lots of little potholes in the ground, just pockmarking the area, out of which bubbled hot water. You could feel the steam on your bare feet just standing next to them.

Then we found the bridge, across the road. It led to an island with a shrine on it, but we were more interested in the bouncy bridge.

It was loads of fun to play on. Just like a trampoline--except if this one failed, we were going to get seriously wet.

Again, I took video of this, but you'll have to wait to see til I get home. Those bridges really are unnerving to walk across. They sway side to side with every step you take.

Flowers on the island.

Brenda coming across to take pictures of the flowers.

We wanted to find the cave, and discovered a set of concrete stairs behind the island, going back into the hills. We followed it, naively, wondering when it would end.

And it kept going. And going. And now it started climbing. All five of us began to pant and heave. I could hardly move my feet. Someone mentioned that it was reminiscent of the hill Difficulty in Pilgrim's Progress, and all at once, I began quoting the words of the boys in Christiana. "I want to go home... Can't we find a better way?" "Tis indeed a difficult way." "MAMA!"

At the last one, Hannah collapsed in laughter, unable to keep walking. We had to stop for a minute to regain breath to keep climbing.

True to Pilgrim's Progress, there was a little gazebo 3/4 of the way up. Sharon pointed. "Oh look! A restin place for weary pilgrims!"

Brenda, Harvey and Hannah kept walking and I shook my head, passing it by, while quoting another part of the same book. "God has no mercy for fools."

We all agreed, that whatever we found at the end of our climb had better be worth it...

And then we crested a small ridge and came down to this...

Awe-inspiring proportions. It was just magnificent. The huge bulge of rock forming the roof of the entrance came out of the hillside, and towered far above me. We started to venture down inside.

Since I was wearing pants underneath my sarong, I took the sarong off and laid it to the side. I didn't want it in the way while climbing over rocks.

Then we peered into the black hole that formed an entrance into another room...

It was huge. The room, and this stalagmite, which was probably the size of a minibus. Or bigger.

Even with how huge it was, it didn't look like this would be a good cave to explore further. I had the brightest light, so I venture down a little farther, by the big stalagmite and looked down into the cave.

I had to catch my breath, and I made sure my footing was good. There was a rock shelf that went out about 20 feet, and then it just gave way to nothing. A drop of who knew how many feet to who knew what. I shivered, looking over at the crevass. And needless to say, I returned to higher ground quickly.

I clambered back up, shaking my head. "No way are we going down there. That's freaky."

There was a wire going into the cave, though. And electrical wire. And we could follow it along a small path along the top part of the cave. So we did.

Hannah had my camera, snapping pictures as we went.

This one wall seemed to just drip rock. It looked unreal. It went up 50 feet or more, but it just looked like a waterfall, dripping, oozing rock.

You guessed it. Brenda, at the other side of the cave, found a ladder going down...down...down... And the insatiable curiosity in me won out. I tested the ladder: sturdy steel, welded together. I started to inch down it, and Brenda followed me. The other three stayed aloft.

Down one set of steps we found another set of steps. And after that, another one... And once we were past that one, I found a gate.

I'm not sure why the gate was there. It wouldn't shut, due to too much dirt in the way, but it swung back and forth a little. And past the gate, down to the right, there was another set of stairs.

Did we go on? Unfortunately, no. I didn't want my light to die, and neither did Brenda, and we weren't quite properly outfitted to be lowering ourselves into the depths of the earth. We climbed back up, but the question haunted me...what's at the bottom of those stairs? More stairs? I want to know!! 

We came back up to the light, and I shook my head. "I will be tortured forever with curiosity til I know what's down there. Maybe I'll have to have somebody come back here and find out for me."

Or maybe, the mind whispered, you'll be able to come back and find out for yourself.

Maybe. Maybe.

We concluded that the electrical wire, and the lightbulbs along the wire, and the concrete steps leading up and the stairs and gate were all pretty good evidence that people used to be able to go on guided tours through this place. Once I realized this, it was almost like we'd been in ruins: things of the past that now were no more. And that made it even more exciting.

I clambered back over to where we'd begun to retrieve my sarong, and Hannah told me to stand in the first doorway to the cave, to give some proportion to its size.

So I did. And I'm not short.

We hiked back down. It was vastly easier going down than coming up, I assure you. And this time, I wanted to count the concrete steps. The hike out from the big tree some months ago was around 520 steps. We'd been joking about this set being 1000, and I wanted to see. 

I hit the last step at the bottom, knees trembling, and gasped, "866!"

Not quite 1000, but close enough.

Epilogue

We headed for home then, managing to get lost trying to find the highway again and then stopping by Ju Oon's to eat lunch in Mae Salit. Oh, she was happy to see us; and were we ever happy to get to eat! 

And after an hour or something like that, we headed for home again. Since we only had five minutes, Sharon and Hannah climbed on the back, Brenda popped out of the window, and I seated myself on the roof. The drive through Mae Salit was interesting: the kids of the local Thai school had just gotten out and they were all walking along the side of the road. They waved at me, I waved back, and Hannah and Sharon made embarassed remarks from the back. 

Then it was the road crew, working on the giant hole in the road just outside of town. They waved, I waved. What more do you do? And Hannah, as we drove away, groaned, "Heidi, you're the local embarassment!" 

I shrugged. "Look, I'm the one who started sitting in the window while people were driving, and now you guys do it too. And I'm also the one who started hanging on the back all the time while driving, and you guys are doing that right now. I'm sure you'll be on the roof at some point."

They shook their heads at me. 

And I shake it right back.

This is Thailand. 

Expect the unexpected. 

My mind wanders back to the day when Hannah looked at me, amused. "We almost qualify as regular, real-life gypsies."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What's there still keeping us from actually being gypsies?"

Hannah shrugged. "Greasy hair?"

"We had that a few days ago," I reminded her.

She laughed. "Well, then, I don't know!"

The thought impressed me. Gypsies. Never sleeping in the same place twice...and never paying for a place to sleep either! And experiencing the unexpected, living life, going where God led day by day. Never being sure where we'd end up the next evening. 

I may have been a part-time gypsy in body...

But I think I'm a full-time gypsy in spirit.

"This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through....The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore...."