Thailand’s north

Malaysia and Thailand have afforded much speedier progress than through Indonesia’s winding, ferry-interrupted roads.  That at least feels a bit like I’m making decent progress on the road trip.  But…

I’m still stuck this side of Myanmar.

It has been like walking through treacle to get concrete air or sea freight options, and I’m treading water until those solidify.  I have also just learned that China has dropped the Covid vax requirements, so perhaps that opens up another route around.  That would have the added benefit that it is on two wheels and not “cheating” with freight.  I believe the China route is both time consuming and expensive, but will throw that into the mix as well until I get a clear path forward.

Meantime it was unexpectedly lovely to revisit Chiang Mai over the last couple of days.  I was there with my eldest two daughters about a decade ago, on a short term mission exposure trip.  The focus of the time was teaching English in the local primary school.  My girls loved it and thrived, but I actually found it extraordinarily difficult.  Noisy environments aren’t my happy place, and with language barriers and a lot of boisterous kids in the class, chaos reigned.  My daughters handled it with amazing poise; it took every ounce of grit I could muster to stay present and try (without success) to keep some semblance of control about the classroom.  Anyway, it is a complex memory for me but very poignant to be in a place where some good family memories had been forged.  It didn’t do anything to dampen a sadness at what has been lost, however.  I guess that’s natural.

Following Chiang Mai I took a relatively short ride further north to Phrao, near Chiang Rai.  Today I’ve spent a bit of time with Daniel who planted and leads the Christian church here, and who spearheads the school and an associated pair of burger restaurants.  The key focus is on youth – who are encouraged into leadership across both the church and the restaurants.  Daniel has asked/invited me to engage with them while I’m here (with an invitation to stay as long as I am willing), primarily to provide help with English through casual conversation.  It has been a pleasure to mix with a great group of young people, who have welcomed me warmly and dealt maturely with the obvious communication difficulties.  Last night and tonight I’ve even proven to them just how bad my street basketball skills are.  Again, they’ve dealt with the slow, clumsy old white guy with grace and warmth.  I hope there’s something of value for the community in my visit.  I know there is value for me in visiting, partly in helping me get my focus beyond my own sulk!

Since I started writing this diary entry, the bike freight prices have come in.  Drum role please… The sea cargo option is exorbitant – I simply cannot justify the cost.  And drum role once more… The air freight option half as much again as the sea freight.  Sigh.  So both must be ruled out.  Ouch.  That would leave me in a mighty pickle; except that in the meantime I’ve also found a better contact for the China route, and begun a dialog with some promising initial information.  Hopefully in the morning I’ll get pricing, schedule and Covid vax confirmation.  Apparently I’ll need to commit tomorrow to join a group in late May , so I’ll have to think fast.

And the day is already mapped out with the Phrao youth.  We’ll see how it unfolds.

Tomorrow is “mapped out” with a group motorbike ride to a lake in the region, with more English “lessons”, and even providing some Melbourne coffee making “professional development” to the cafe staff.  Some of my mates would be horrified at the thought that anyone would improve their coffee through my input.  I’ve tried to set realistic expectations, but it will be interesting to see how that goes.

It is just as well I’m busy again – that helps to dissipate my negative mood from this last week.  May that continue to be washed through with positive focus.