the adventure known as thailand

reflecting on the last week in thailand and the adventure that we were on a week ago today, it seems crazy and also unreal. last saturday we headed to the kolkata airport bright and early for our 930am flight and when we arrived at the airport we found long lines and no answers as to why it was taking so long and if we were going to make our flight or not. we get through security at 930 at which time we look at our tickets to see that the ticket counter guy bumped us to the noon flight but didnt feel the need to tell us. we wait till 1230 when we finally get to board. a little insight into my personal health at this point.....i had stomach cramping and was running to the bathroom about every half hour with diarrhea. as we landed in dhaka for our layover we find out that our plan, originally scheduled to leave at 4pm, will not be leaving till 11pm that night. at this point i feel like im dying with stomach cramping and a fever. our fellow passengers that were on the 930am flight had been fighting with the airline since they landed to get the airline to put them up in a hotel and give them food for the inconvenience. after about 30 mins we all head to immigration to get transit visas and head to the hotel. this actually was amazing because i was able to get meds for my stomach and we all got to take naps. we head back to the airport and land in bangkok at 3am. in the dhaka airport we end up meeting this guy that owns a hostel which was a huge blessing because at this point we werent certain that our original reservation would have still been available. we went to bed at 5am after 24 hours of travel. the next morning we head out to hua hin for some rest at the beach. our mini bus breaks down so we had to switch buses. once we arrive at juniper tree and settle in we were able to relax after our crazy adventure.

it has been such an awesome time getting to know the wmf thailand staff and seeing the cool stuff God is doing here. coming from kolkata, bangkok seems like disneyland because there is starbucks, burger king and jif peanut butter. there is also a 7-11 on ever corner with ice for fountain drinks. we all felt a little bit of culture shock walking around and not being constantly stared at by the men. it has been a very restful time to recharge as i head into the next three months in kolkata. i was also able to meet up with my friend who is teaching english here and she made me funfetti cupcakes for my birthday. it was such a treat and i am so grateful for her generosity and thoughtfulness. i think i am ready to go back to kolkata with a fresh perspective on that city and the people in it. i want to start diving into learning bengali so i can invest in the women. time has gone by so fast and i know that i dont have a lot of time to waste. im a looking forward to getting back to my normal life and our family in kolkata. i am taking jif peanut butter, sour punch straws, gummy bears, and pretz back to kolkata with me. thanks for having all that stuff 7-11.