After recovering from the homesickness of not being near family and friends for the holidays (our first time EVER), we were able to enjoy the holidays here with our NEW family and friends! The other senior couples are such fun to be with, and the staff that work at the Service Center are awesome!! Our Mission President and his wife, David & Shelly Senior, are great and are such a joy to serve alongside. The brother sitting beside them on the sofa is Wisan, the Office Manager for the Service Center office. The Service Center also houses the Distribution Center for Thailand. The Thai people we've become acquainted with and are getting to know are wonderful, loving people. It's been a joy to be here and get to know so many new friends!!
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| Our 2' Christmas tree at the condo! Might have to get one of these for home! Sure easy to pack away - just stuff in a box and put it in the closet! |
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One dear friend from the Bangrak Rotary group invited us and another senior couple to her family's hometown of Chiang Rai for Christmas. What a beautiful area!! I can see why her family has chosen to live there for generations and why she goes home as often as possible!! It is a beautiful lush green area in northern Thailand - and much cooler than Bangkok! :) She had so many fun activities planned for us that we hardly had time to think, such as touring a beautiful garden area known as Doi Tung and the former home of the Mother of the King of Thailand, going riding on an elephant (THAT was an unexpected thrill!), walking through a breathtaking flower exhibit (that would put Thanksgiving Point gardens to shame), eating the most wonderful Thai food possible, etc. The list could go on!! We even saw the town's Christmas parade - no floats though. Just lots of school children marching and having a great time.
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| This is our good friend, Dr. Metta, who invited us to Chiang Rai for Christmas. |
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| Not a typical Christmas Day activity for us, to say the least! |
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| This and the next two photos are from an annual flower show held in Chiang Rai. |
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| This was in the evening - note the floodlights up in the trees! And the jacket - this is in the "north country" where it actually gets cool at night!! Wonderful! |
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| The blue flowers line a staircase to exit the garden area. This is part of Doi Tung Gardens, as well as the following photos. Absolutely the most stunning garden we've ever seen!! |
One of our favorite activities was participating in the Christmas services at our friend's church, the First Presbyterian Church of Chiang Rai. Her grandfather was converted about 80-90 years ago, and he built the First Presbyterian Church there. The members continued to meet there each week until it became unstable to hold services in. They then had to build an ancillary building to meet in until they determine what to do. Mike did a quick assessment of the exterior and gave them suggestions on how to renovate and keep the character of the original building. They will have to determine if it is feasible for them to do. Would be a shame to lose the building with so much history tied to it!! We took photos of the Church but can't locate them!! If we do, we'll post another time.
Then, before we knew it, it was New Year's Eve in Bangkok!! The traffic is absolutely horrible here so there was no way we were going to try to take a taxi anywhere. We decided to just stay at our condo and watch fireworks from our 29th floor balcony! There were some fantastically LOUD fireworks (more like bomb explosions) and some pretty fantastic displays. Photos never catch the real event but here are a few we took.
So, 2012 is now history and we're looking forward to an exciting 2013!! Hope you and your family are too!!
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