Many apologies, under the circumstances, pictures will only be loaded at a later date. Thank you! ")
Haha.... we've said this phrase many times in our two days away from home but I don't think the adventure is even halfway over yet. :)
Thank God and thanks for those who prayed. We survived the road trip up to Ranong. Counting from the time we left our house till the time we stepped into our missionary friend's house was 25 hours in total. Almost non-stop travelling.
The first coach we took was an all nighter Singapore to Hatyai bus. We covered the entire penninsular Malaysia and reached at 5:30 in the morning at the Malaysian/ Thai border: a place I have never been before. That driver was, erm, let's say, how shall I put it? He looked like he could pick off motorcyclists one by one like many flies. At one point he was centimeters away from a motorcycle, travelling at 120 km/ hr. It was going too slow for him. Tailgate him till he moves aside. And he basically overtook every vehicle for 12 hours. Talk about endurance. Thankfully, we reached the Thai border.
At Hatyai, 8 am, we were relieved to meet our dear missionary friend who had travelled down to get us. It was pouring buckets when we alighted from the first coach. Everyone of us got wet despite the umbrella and ponchos. The luggage too. But thankfully, bags are made quite water-proof these days. The books we brought only got damp.
Apparently, we were late and missed the direct bus from Hatyai to Ranong. That one would have taken us 5 hours to reach our destination, Ranong. Quite quickly after alighting the first coach, our friend got us on the next best bus to a middle town of Suratani. That took us about 7 hours to reach Suratani.
Horror horrors, when we boarded the bus, we realised that it was raining almost as hard inside the bus as it was outside. Seriously. It was dripping leaky and all the window seats were wet. How'd you like that after a 12 hour overnighter, being drenched? And they charged the full fare!?!? But surprisingly, everyone of the children took everything in stride, no complaining or whining or crying. I think back and wonder. Must be the grace of God. :)
By the time we got to Suratani, it was 3 in the afternoon. And... we missed the bus that could take us to Ranong. So, we rode on a tuk tuk, which is a sort of converted pick-up truck that's open at the back. Our spirits were up again because it was such a thrill for all of us. Haha!
That tuk tuk brought us to a van rental place where we hired a very comfortable 14 seater van to bring us to Ranong. We didn't know then it's a crazy (I mean CRAZY) 50 plus kilometers of zigzagging, uphill, downhill road in around the mountains to get into Ranong. Oh the kids were shrieking and squealing in fun and excitement while the van driver careened into the turns, banking left and right, left and right. He seemed to especially enjoy taking chances at overtaking on an uphill. Ooooo, now what surprise will meet us at the top of this slope? and on-coming truck? Let's see. Peekaboo!
My boys were yelling Wow! This is better than a rollercoaster! And that seemed to please the driver and encouraged him to up the excitement level one notch. As the turns and slopes and overtaking became monotonous, the driver proceeded to engage in a passionate discussion with our missionary in Thai about politics. He's a fervent supporter of Thaksin. I could tell from the way he was gesticulating.
I was praying Oh Lord, we've come such a long way. I don't want to blow it here.
Needless to say, one hour of rollercoaster riding is probably 55 minutes too much.
To say we were happy to reach our missionary friend's house and to be greeted by a wonderful dinner of charcoal grilled fish, and comforting warm pork rib soup is an understatement of extremes.
Would love to blog more about the kitchen sink and hubby's adventure into a rubber and coffee plantation to minister to a group of Burmese people there (58 kilometers of winding road even more exciting than the one coming into Ranong) (times two!!!) but I need to go to bed now. Tomorrow, we are visiting the fish port. Ranong is a fishing port so there's going to be lots to see and take pictures!
God is so good and I know His hand is guiding us and protecting us all the way.
Missionaries are special people to the Ong Family.
Great articles and it's so helpful. I want to add your blog into my rrs reader but i can't find the rrs address. Would you please send your address to my email? Thanks a lot!
Posted by: Coach Handbags | February 23, 2010 at 05:57 PM