Arrived!

This morning we loaded up two vans with our team and our luggage and began the van trip to Poipet.  We arrived at the border around noon.  Kandy Lay (Alliance missionary) greeted us there.  She had lined up a couple of hired help to cart our luggage across the bridge from Thailand into Cambodia.  They piled our luggage into these two wheeled carts that looked like they were barely held together.  Meanwhile, we went through various stages of getting our Visa and going through customs. 

We got checked into our hotel and then piled into and on the back of Kandy's truck to Soeuth and Syna Lao's house where we were treated to a late Cambodian lunch.  Later we were given a basic review of cultural do's and don'ts.  We were also able to spend some time talking to a number of youth that were attending a youth gathering there.  Later that evening, we were able to take in some of the local food in as shown below. 

Tomorrow will be cleaning and prep for English camp.  Several of us are working on only a few hours of sleep as the jet lag is catching up with us.  Signing off now to get some sleep...

Bangkok - Almost there!

Our trip began from the Rochester International Airport where we were joined by several families and supporters to pray for us and send us off.  We found out that Peter Larson was to be our pilot for part of our trip for the leg between Chicago and Tokyo.   We got another nice surprise to start our trip.  When Christie explained to the ticket officer we were on a missions trip to Cambodia, she waived the extra $600 baggage fee.

Our first and shortest flight of the trip was from Rochester to Chicago.  The weather was nice as we took off and landed in Chicago.

Once in Chicago, we would board a larger 777 for the long leg from Chicago to Tokyo.  This was about a 13 hour flight that proved to be even longer because after we boarded we got delayed with mechanical issues.  After about an hour, we finally took off.  Several sleepless hours later, we arrived in Tokyo.  Several of us had to get boarding passes and since we were late arriving, we made it to our next gate only about 10 minutes prior to our next boarding.

The trip from Tokyo to Bangkok was a short 6 hours after the last flight :-) and by this time many of us were too tired to not sleep - regardless of how restless we were.  We taxied into Bangkok around 10 p.m. and after getting bussed to the main terminal, we found our way through immigration and customs.

After jamming all our suitcases into two vans we taxied into our guesthouse around midnight.  Oh, how nice a bed felt.

We are now safe and sound in Bangkok, our first pit stop on this leg of the trip.    Most of us spent the day at the Alliance guest house recovering and seeing some of the local sites in Bangkok and tasting some yummy food.  Gregg Smith met with some contacts in Bangkok to test out some medical equipment for Kent Copeland.  Tomorrow morning we load up the vans and travel about 4 hours to the border where we'll cross over into Poipet, Cambodia.

1250 Pounds of Stuff!

Well, we're a few bags over our limit of 2 bags per person for our checked luggage.  Here's a shot of the crew in the hallway of the church on Sunday with that portion of our luggage ready to go.  Shown here is a total of 25 bags of clothes, medical supplies and care packages for the missionaries.

It's amazing how much stuff some of these bags can hold!  I'm also beginning to wonder how big the cargo hold is. Whomever thought of wheels on the bottom of suitcases is a genius!

Shown below is Rick and Ron stuffing one of the suitcases with supplies: