den Haans in southeast Asia

It is almost 6 pm Hong Kong time and we've already figured out transit!  Like I said this is Vancouver on steroids and that includes the transit system. So..we've been shopping, went for dim sum (my first ever) and then visited 2 more Bible colleges. At one of them I met a woman who was converted through English Language Institute China .  That's the organization that Alice Laarman worked for!!!  This woman is now getting her PhD and spreading the gospel in mainland China.  I find this exciting.  Her own home church has recently been shut down by the Chinese government.  Hong Kong enjoys many freedoms but in Mainland China doors are closing. More later about evening activities... Hey, not every moment has to be high octane.  Went to an Asian restaurant and then walked the streets.  Night life here is intense.  Streets are cordoned off and vendors set up shop.  Lots of i-phone cases and electronic gadgetry for sale.  Now if only...

Have you had to haul out your map yet to track our travels?  We are now checked in at the Holiday Inn in Hong Kong.  A city of high rises.  More to come... Phew.  Back in for the night.  One of the Singaporeans that we are travelling with used to work here as a banker and speaks Cantonese.  Lucky for us. We took transit into downtown and then went to "The Peak".  A little like Grouse Mountain.  Involves a tram ride up a mountainside and gives you a glorious view of the city.  But it was us and 100,000 others.  Took us 2 hours of lineup to get up and once up, it was crawling with people.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely.  Another big, bustling, crowded city but definitely 1st world.  The skyline up there is amazing.  You can google it.  This city is Vancouver on steroids. Well, by the time we got to the top, we were starving.  Where did we eat but Burger King!  Everything else would have broken our...

Straight tourism today. Explored the "Hanoi Hilton", a complex that first was used for Vietnamese prisoners during the French occupation from 1899-1954.  And then again from 1964 -1973 as a prison for American POWs.  Yup, I'm getting a world history lesson.  The Vietnamese have sanitized the the US involvement and totally downplayed their cruelties in this place. In the afternoon, John and I hung around this chaotic city and took in a water puppet show.  Gave us a taste of Vietnamese culture.  The music is what I'll remember.  Didn't recognize any of the instruments but they sounded like the fiords of Vietnam (if you get that). This city crisscrosses its streets, has no regard for traffic laws and is impossible to navigate.  We used a map which is now pretty much wrecked. Tomorrow--Hong Kong. Donald Trump and Kim Jung Un are in town so we'll have to leave early as we don't know what roads will be barricaded.  Anyone for a Trump/Kim t-shirt?...

Safely in Hanoi!  Only 16 degrees.  Yay!  We can handle this.  More in the morning. Today started off touring Hanoi Bible College.  In 1975 there were only 3 churches in all of Vietnam, one of which is associated with this college.  Very formal atmosphere here.  Today there is about 1000 churches in Vietnam and about 500 pastors.  Most pastors are self taught so there is a huge need for formal training. We had an authentic Vietnamese lunch.  Then toured a dormitory and then John and I walked the streets of Hanoi.  This city is nuts times 2.  You take your life in your hand crossing the street.  It's pretty dirty and a city of scooters and men sitting on kiddie chairs smoking and eating.  Sidewalks might be for walking if they are not parking for scooters or a vendor stall. Trump and Kim are coming tomorrow so some of the city is being made pretty with flowers. tomorrow--further adventures in Hanoi.

Made it!  Got to Siem Reap and toured Angkor Bat.  Look it up.  It's a UNESCO world heritage site.  A bucket list for many and I didn't even know it existed until I arrived!  You can google it.  I won't bore you with the details.  Some Budhist/Hindu site built in the 12th century that got covered with jungle and is only now being rediscovered.  A little like Chicheniza or Petra. In the evening we were at a Cambodian buffet that featured cultural dance.  Lots of swaying.  Too hot here to be aRussian cozac.  Went by tuk tuk and back. Church this morning by tuk tuk.  A Christian church so it was way off the beaten path.  It was in Cambodian (or Khmer as it is called).  But we sang "Give Thanks", "Lord I Lift your Name on High" and "Praise God".  They in their language and we in ours. Tonight we are off to Hanoi. We are currently pool side at our hotel!  Much needed chill time.

Well, with 14 booked flights, 1 is bound to go wrong.  Here we are in Phnom Penh on our way to Siem Reap and our 10 am flight has been delayed to 4 pm.  An airport day!  This is a domestic flight and our 6th. All along all my stuff got through but today they confiscated my mosquito repellent.  It was expensive stuff from the travel clinic.  Of all things John suddenly disappeared.  What did he do?  Convinced the security lady to dig it out of the garbage, went out of security, checked his bag in with the repellent and reentered through security!!!!  I was just beginning to wonder where he was when he calmly resurfaced.  I'm being well looked after by my dear husband. The whole group of us are on our devices making the best of it.  Yikes a huge group of noisy Chinese tourists have over taken our sitting area!

Once again it is evening and we've had a very busy day.  In the morning we toured Phnom Penh Bible College.  I chatted with a lady on faculty who is a Khmer Rouge camp survivor.  She is around 52 and spent from 12 years of age to 15 in a camp.  She says she lost her childhood and seemed rather broken. In the afternoon we explored the city and had a river cruise.  I learned a lot about "boat people" who live on the river bank.  These are Vietnamese to whom the government will not issue citizenship.  They have been living there for a generation.  Phnom Penh is, as I have said earlier a city teeming with life and the craziest traffic ever.  Sadly whole chunks of this city are being bought up by the Chinese.  Cambodians hate high rises and yet there are many.  Apparently they have all been built in the last 5 years.  In many ways they are upsetting the balance of Cambodian society. The river cruise was compliments of CRC Resona...

Today was very hard. I opted to go to the Phnom Penh Killing Fields museum.  It's an outdoor memorial right where the atrocities of Pol Pot happened. Clothing, bones,skull upon skull.  Horrible stuff of the '70s. Phnom Penh is another big, busy, chaotic city.  I wouldn't dare to drive here.  And yet there are young women; three to a bike; no helmets, giggling up a storm as one of them literally weaves in and out of traffic.  And by traffic I mean as many lanes as possible squeezed onto a street, everybody turning left right or pulling u-turns at random.  Much humanity in stalls along the side.  Helmets, cell phones, plastic chairs, budha carvings all for sale along with canteens where meat is being roasted and wanton soup is steaming.  Tuk tuks everywhere. Enough for now.  Off to an outdoor Korean restaurant.

10:20 pm and we are in Phnom Pinh, Cambodia.  Had an Emirates flight and were greeted by  Chad and daughter Miriam who are working for an expat engineering firm.  Not sure how he fits in on this trip.  Guess we'll find out. For the most part today we spent with Myanmar Evangelical Graduate Theological School.  Toured their dorms and offices.  I thought Kings' U was a dump!!!!  Try study here.  I won't bore you with the details. Anyways, fun to meet the locals and to make Burmese friends.  A very hospitable culture. And now a new country and new culture.  Tomorrow I will learn about the atrocities of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and the killing fields.  Much like the holocaust. We have a great group.  A couple of crazy Aussies keep us entertained.  30 degrees here.

Well, I skipped Sunday.  We went to Believer's Church which was 3/4 spoken in Burmese and 1/4 English and went on for about 3 hours but it was glorious.  After church the bishop insisted on a soccer game.  Turns out he owns a soccer club and is passionate about the sport.  It's also a ministry for him.  The guys all got pretty sweaty.  30 degrees out. Well then, we went to a Gem Museum and I learned about the rich resources in this country.  Diamonds, gold, jade, rubies, uranium, titanium, oil, gas.  This could be the richest of countries. Oh. One of my new Aussie friends lent me a skirt.  Without that, I would have been grounded for 3 days.  The women do not wear jeans here. Jet lag is still a major concern.

It is now Monday evening and have become tourists.  Bright and early this morning, we caught another plane and are now in the mid-northern part of Myanmar on a huge inland lake.  We are staying in a hotel on stilts in the Shan tribal territory. We all jumped in what resembles dragon boats (after a plane and bus ride) and were ferried 1.5 hours across Inle Lake.  Whole communities live on this lake.  They fish and garden hydroponically and live in houses on stilts. We feel we've all died and gone to heaven; it feels so otherworldly.  We're travelling as a company of 6 Canadians, 5 Aussies, 2 Singaporeans and 1 American.  Making new friends and having great fun. TTFN.  It is only 8:15 but I've already fallen asleep at the keyboard.

So we finished Saturday by walking to the Shwedegon pagoda. Biiiiigggg Budhist shrine.  So much gold and so little hope.  We walked there from out hotel.  Yangon is poorer than Tijiuana, Mexico.  Same mix of tire shops, food stalls, trinkets, dogs and general squalor and lots of humanity.  This is a Budhist country and the shrine was teeming with pilgrims attempting to achieve nirvanna.  Ironically we had to pay 10000 kyats ($10 USD) to get in. Jet lag caught up with us and the hotel was quiet by 9:30 pm.  But guess what?  3 am and we're all awake.  Hey the body says, what are you doing in bed so late?  They say it will take 2 weeks to be fully adjusted!

Can you believe it?  Today we were the "guests" at the Myanmar School of Theology graduation.  This is what ReSource is all about and why this time was chosen to go.  What a friendly hospitable culture. At this graduation there was one student from the Karen tribe and another from the CRC church!  All graduates were identified as to their tribe and then church affiliation.  The CRC guy was the tallest graduate (figures). We had lunch with the faculty and I button-holed one of them for a history lesson.  So... Myanmar has about 10 recognized tribes and 132 dialects.  Many tribes having more than 1 language.  Myanmar used to be called Burma when the British ruled it; Burma being the predominant tribe.  British rule ended in 1949 and in the 60's the country was renamed. The tribes don't always get along.  For a time there was civil war with the Karen who wanted their own self-actualization but ultimately escaped to refugee camps and are ...

Phew!  We are here in Myanmar! 4 airplane rides and 2 days later and an international dateline so we lost Valentine's Day. We're in Yangon to be exact.  First impression--this is Tijiuana Mexico.  But no--this is a Budhist town; not Catholic.  Minarets on every corner.  Lots of Budhist and and Budhist monk outfits.  And the food!  Oh my!  We've only just begun.  We're here for 4 days so will keep you posted.  Right now living off about 6 hours of sleep since Tuesday. zzz...

We're on the move again.  This time it is southeast Asia.  Leaving tonight from YVR to San Francisco and then a 17 hour flight to Singapore.  O my! What have we got ourselves into? We are going with John's cousin Peter and wife Dianne.  Also Bill Tuininga and his grandson Siebe.  Eclectic collection.  All my new besties. Actually this is a part missions trip part tourist adventure.  Peter and Bill work for ReSource.  An outfit that equips Asian pastors with seminary training.  Get this, we are going to Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City.  Or is that in Cambodia?  I'm in for a geography and cultural lesson.   12 airplane rides.  Three weeks.  Come ride with me as I blog my experiences.  I'll try not be too boring.