It has been two years since I was in Thailand and one year since I was in the Philippines. I think it goes without saying but I’ll say it anyways, that I really wish I was going to be in Asia for the third year in a row right now.
Going to Thailand and going to the Philippines were two completely separate experiences. Both had similarities involving the physical, cultural and poverty aspects, but unalike because I was traveling with different people.
I went to Thailand with my mother and a lady named Maralee Dawn.
Maralee is a ventriloquist as well has a TV show about women, empowering women and just sharing their different stories. It was very interesting to be following her around and being in situations I wasn’t used to.
We got to experience a lot of Thailand in just three weeks. The first week we were there we stayed in an area in which we were very much the minority. We never saw other white people other than where we were staying.
We did some touristy things in the capital Bangkok. We also spent some time on the border of Burma at schools where they had been given or were going to soon receive a water filter system.
That’s only a snippet of my three-week trip to Thailand.
My time in the Philippines was much different because I went with a good friend and classmate, Jesse Harsanyi. We traveled together to visit my brother and friend who had been living in the Philippines for almost six months.
We did a lot of random things. We played a lot of ping-pong; the Filipinos love ping-pong and not too mention they could kick anybody’s butt any day! We got to help out with school—doing crafts with the kids and teaching them memory verses. On the two Saturdays we were there (oh yeah, did I mention we were only there for two weeks?), we encountered the community’s feeding program. All the kids from surrounding squatter villages come, they get taught songs and get taught about Jesus and they eat. The kids were so dirty, they had lice and they smelled bad but the beauty of it was this was a place they could come and just feel loved.
Everyone volunteering and regularly staffing showed these kids so much love and when you show them love they just love you right back so much more.
The first Saturday, I sat with some great kids who asked me so many questions. The next Saturday, they remembered me and couldn’t wait to see me. It is such a joyful place for these kids who have nothing. We traveled around a bit, went to a wedding on Valentine’s Day. Hung out at a small and beautiful resort for a couple days.
Both trips overall were eye opening and sincerely life changing experiences.
I cannot wait to go back.