On the Move

It seems like we just started to get to know our new Burmese friends and it was time to say our good-buys. As we were taking our final photographs I was touched that they all wanted to take a photo with me. The students each took turns standing beside me for a shot. I hope that one day I can have the privilege of visiting them in their villages and document the work they are doing.

The ASAP team decided that they wanted a photograph together and asked me to step into the shot as well. I am honored that they consider me a part of their team.



We said our farewells and headed to the airport in Chiang Rai for the short flight to Bangkok. Here the ASAP team split up for a few days. Martin and Leanna went on to Siem Reap, Judy, Mary Ann and Debbie went to Mision College, north of Bangkok, and I stayed in Bangkok. I had a mission to accomplish. I needed to get a Business Visa for Myanmar in one day. Going the normal route to get a visa for Myanmar, they ask you to send your passport to the Myanmar embassy in Washington, DC. They say, “please allow one month for the return of your Visa and passport.” Who can be without their passport for a whole month? The ADRA office recommended a better option. They have a guy in Bangkok who has developed a relationship with the officers at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok and have worked out a way to get the visa in one day.

I arrived at the ADRA Regional office in Bangkok at the appointed time and began to fill out the forms. I think that this has got to be the hardest part of my job for me -filling out the forms. Is there such a thing as formaphobia? I bit the bullet and sat down at a desk and did my best. Some of the things I had to leave blank for the guy to help me with. Eventually he showed up at the office and we worked through some rough spots and then took the skytrain to the Embassy .



Within two hours I had a Business visa for Myanmar!

After leaving the embassy I decided to pay a visit to my favorite shopping center in Bangkok, the Pantip Market. I call it the “best men’s store, ever”... Five whole floors of nothing but electronics! Ironically, they did not have what I was primarily looking for, a special professional grade of Mini DV Tape. The trend in video cameras these days is going tapeless, and Bangkok seems to be ahead of the curve on this. “Oh sorry sir, finished!”, was the response I got in every store I asked for tape. Oh well, I’ll just have to try and be conservative in my shooting and make the 45 tapes that I have left last as long as I can.


With my visa secured in one day, I decided to get to the airport early to see if I could get an earlier flight to Siem Reap. As it turned out there was plenty of seats on the first flight out and I was in the Siem Reap Airport by 9:00AM. I was amazed to see the beautiful new addition to the airport. I couldn’t help but remember what this airport had looked like in 1994, the first time that I flew in on an old Russian plane. It was a time when the country was occupied by UN peace Keeping forces and the Khmer Rouge was still active through-out the country. We could hear the explosions of war in the fields surrounding the old frontier town. Cambodia and Siem Reap have come a long way in 15 years!


I like to be on the move but Siem Reap is one of my favorite places on the planet to stop! I am so thankful that ASAP has asked me to spend a week with them here to film stories about the church planters, bible workers and literacy teachers that they sponsor here. Next week is Camp meeting week for the Cambodia mission and about 2,000 Cambodian Adventist are going to descend on the SALT school/orphanage grounds about 6 kilometers outside of town. To make things even more interesting ASAP has invited a group of about 20 volunteers from America to come and provide medical services to the church members who have come.

I spent the day running errands and wondering the streets getting shots.



Siem Reap is World famous for the amazing temple ruins that are close to town. It brings in thousands of tourists every week, and this town has really developed rapidly! Beautiful new hotels are springing up every year, and restaurants, specializing in a variety of world cuisines, abound. My favorites are the delightful sidewalk cafes and upper lofts.



After enjoying fruit shakes at a place called the Blue Pumpkin, that had an “upper room” where people were taking their leisure in very comfortable seating that was much more like a huge long bed then it was a sofa, we made our way over to a restaurant called “The Dead Fish”.



This has got to be the most unique place that I have ever eaten. In one corner they have live crocodile that you can feed, before enjoying your own meal.



I think the waiter got quite a chuckle that we had come to the Dead Fish, but all ordered tofu in our dishes.

Later tonight we are headed out to the airport to pick up the group from America who are all coming in on the same 11:30PM flight. Martin wants to do “Man on the Street” interviews, otherwise I would be fast asleep. 11:30 is WAY past my bedtime!