The adventure begins...

What a HUGE 24 hrs it's been! 11.45 last night I flew Brisbane - Singapore which was a familiar experience. i made friends with a lovely young famiy sitting next to me and had their 14 month old daughter Millie in giggles. But this sleep princess was not impressed by maybe 1 hr of broken sleep in the whole journey - was glad when the lights were back on and breakfast was served - Gluten free meals have their benefits and pitfalls. I got fed first but instead of bacon and eggs, I had a much more asian inspired breakfast of omlette, spinach, and potato.

Changi airport stopover was when exhaustion first hit and I found a comfy bit of floor by my gate and slept as much as I could. I offered to watch a gentleman's bags while he went to the bathroom and we got chatting. His name was Chris and he was soon joined by wife Sue and 11 yr old son Isaac who were off on a holiday to Thailand. It's so fascintaing hearing people's stories and they were really inspired by the work I'm doing. It was also just nice to have chatty people to help pass the time and fill out arrival cards :)

Breakfast served again on the Singapore - Chiang Mai leg, this time poached eggs with peas, mushrooms and some nice salsa. Caught a few more winks of sleep but once we got over Thailand I couldn't pull myself away from the window - the sky was clear and the landscape breathtaking! I can't believe how many amazing mountain ranges there are. Descending into CM I really enjoyed spotting the temples and statues that glisten in the sunlight.
Everything beyond arrival feels like a blur as I was ushered through checkpoints, put into a taxi and sent off to my accommodation. I literally walked in the door, sat on my bed and cried! I felt so alone and underprepared in a totally foreign city. Things got worse before they got better as I realised none of my wall plug converters fitted the plugs, I couldn't reach joelle on her mobile, my laptop was nearly out of power... but as mum advised me to do, I stopped, dropped, and prayed. God is soooo good! I raced to 7eleven down the street (gotta love western comforts) and spoke very broken Thai/ english to the non-english speaking shop assistant who eventually sold me credit for my phone. I used the remaining laptop power to google the phone number of Joelle and Sam's accommodation and praise God got a hold of them! It's amazing how exhaustion can blow simple dilemmas right out of proportion but I'm thankful God guided my thinking.

So this afternoon I took my first Sang Tao (hailed with a little help from the lady at reception who seems to feel sorry for the tall foreign girl) and met up with Joelle, Sam, Owen, Ricky, Hayley, Tara (Sam's sister) and Joelle's parents. It was nice just to be able to follow people who knew where they were going. I soon mastered "khop kun kah" (thankyou) as we engaged with the locals and had some fishy fun as we got or feet nibbled at the fish spa! Quite the experience, especially seeing as the staff moved me from a nice placid tank to one that seemed to be full of piranahs!
Funnily enough my first meal in CM was Lebanese as the rest of the mob has been eating authentic Thai in small towns for the past 3 weeks and were ready for a change. It was strange to order a salad when I was so strictly told not to eat fresh veges due to water contamination risk, but it was completely safe an a real treat. Everyone else headed to the Night Bazaar but I decided to head home for a good nights sleep as we're going elelphant trekking tomorrow. Should be fun!