May 7-8, 2005

Our final day in the village started with an early morning…or so it was supposed to be. I set my alarm clock at 0700 but i only managed to wake up at 0800, and accompanied Isaac and Brian in touching up the painting of the chapel. We were done after about an hour, with much less battle scars than we had the previous night, thank goodness.

I decided to leave my SAF shoes and prized nike slippers (the one Nelson gave me a few years back) behind in the village. Saying our goodbyes was perhaps one of the hardest things to do, and as you will notice in the photo the only people smiling there are us. Perhaps the Lahu people don’t like to smile/pose when they take photos, or maybe they were sad to see us go (I choose to believe the latter). It had been raining all the way since the night before, and the weather was unnaturally colder than it was supposed to be. Thankfully we had some shelter in some tuktuk that was completely open at the back. I was in very high danger of falling off the tuktuk so Esther had to hold on to my arm to prevent me from falling off. And as you can probably guess by now, yes Esther and I are together. I just had to wait till the last day to tell you didn’t I? I concussed on the bed the moment we reached the hotel room. Think about it – the first time in 7 days we actually slept on a proper bed, and it felt like heaven. I just had to get that moments’ sleep. Dinner that night was at the night market, supposedly the most famous night market in Chiangmai. Bought quite a lot of stuff, among them were 2 soap flowers which OH NO i just realised were meant for my mom’s mother’s day present…which i haven’t given yet. I shall go give her now… Done. Haha. I also bought a south park that I think is pretty cute. Says “Come on down to South Park and meet some friends of mine.” Cool. And I bought my Team America: World Police dvd from there too. (Pirated =p)

 

That night spent it over at Esther and Pui Yee’s room. Had a good long talk, and a time of confession. How we got together, and basically it was quite fun a time. Not to mention that Pui Yee had to keep saying that we looked very sweet together. And you know what? I was starting to think so too. Thick-skinned! And I had the privilege of tucking my little bundle of joy into bed too. By the time I slept it was around 4. That did not bode well for the next day as we had to attend a service at 10 meaning I had to wake up early and compromise on some much-needed sleep. And as such when we arrived at Shine Forth Methodist Church (The Methodist Missions Centre in Chiangmai), I was already half-dead, and kept falling asleep during the sermon. The whole worship service was in Thai. The songs they sang, though, were surprisingly familiar songs. Songs like “Come, Now is the Time to Worship” and “In the Secret (I Want to Know You” and as such we could follow some of them. It was a long sermon though. Definitely put my staying-awake endurance to the test (and to my defense – not only me but the rest of the trippers too). Haha.

We dropped by Pisut’s house after that. His house was really interesting, and from the looks of it pretty well-to-do too. We had our last talks with our fellow Christian friends and especially with Nanthana (Pisut’s sister). God bless such a willing soul. She was of such great help during the whole children’s programme, with her enthusiasm and her laughter, really helped us not merely as a translator but also she basically ran the whole thing for us, and we are undoubtedly grateful to her for all her help =) Saying goodbye to all of them, Rosa, Nanthana and all, was one of the most painful goodbyes of the trip. We will definitely miss their fun and serving God together with them.

Lunch onwards that way was spent at the Airport Plaza shopping mall. We had KFC for lunch, not-too-surprisingly. I know for my part I had had enough of Thai food; not that it wasn’t good, just that it tends to be very rice-y and curry, and though I’m not a fan of KFC at all I enjoyed my lunch nonetheless, and so did everyone else. We didn’t get much time on our own thereafter to spend our spare baht, so I just bought a coke glass bottle for Esther and that was about it.

Chiangmai airport. Exactly one week ago we were just here. And with a heavy heart I realised that this would probably be the last of Thailand I would see for this trip. It was a bittersweet feeling; Part of me was still very much a part of the Lahu village, and yet another part of me yearned to see my room; my laptop; my bed; my mogu pillows again.

The flight back on Silkair MI705 was really one of the best flights I’ve ever had. Usually when I go on a flight I’ll start to have difficulty breathing, because of the pressure difference, and I tend to get bad bouts of sinus too, but this trip was entirely different. And having Esther beside me made things a whole lot better. I daresay this was the first ever flight that I’ve taken where I did not sleep a wink. And time really seemed to fly by so fast – a 2h45m flight seemed to take only about an hour, and I guess Esther and Pui Yee’s company made that possible. So thank you pals! =) And thank you dear….

I really wondered how life with her apart from the mission trip would be like…

Touchdown on Changi Airport at 2130. Stepping into the airport felt strange. And with Esther it felt even stranger. Almost as if I was facing this new chapter of my life, and I knew not how to handle it. Home itself felt different, somewhat alien. Which was really odd because for all the overseas trips that I have gone for with ATEC which were for 3 weeks, home didn’t feel this strange when I came back.

But somehow there was this part of my heart, mind and body which was left behind somewhere there in Huay Paraai. And I will never forget the things that God had showed me there; lessons on humility, on treasuring what you have, and on relationships forged through His love. I will miss terribly living the carefree life in Huay Parrai, and I dreaded the many burdens I knew that Singapore would slowly reintroduce into my life, things that I had to do, the complexities that life would bring. And the more I thought about it, the sadder I became. But I knew I had to move on, that God’s plan was for me HERE in Singapore, and that He was still around, whether Huay Paraai or in Singapore. And I thanked Him for his wonderful omni-presence. And even though I may not see some of them ever again, I take heart in the fact that one day we will all be reunited through eternal life; through the God that so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have Everlasting Life.

I could not sleep that night. It was too quiet. No roosters to add music to the night, no wild dogs fighting in the middle of the darkness, no weird giant lizard that went uh oh…uh oh…uh oh……………………..