Treehouse Living In Northern Thailand - Guest post

[Real time update: we are now in Swaziland after a 36 hour day - eventually there will be a post on that :)]

Here is a guest post by our oldest..

Treehouse blog
Day 1

We were picked up from our hostel around 8:30, the driver was a little late but when he arrived we jumped into the big van with all of our bags.  Our driver was wearing a fox hat, and since he was really tall, it looked like a fox was driving us. [Editor's note: Mom & Dad were cracking up during this drive as mom kept mouthing the words "WHAT DOES A FOX SAY?" While we found this quite funny, it apparently wasnt post-worthy in the teenage world].  It was about a two and a half hour drive and we stopped at a market along the way.  The market was almost empty (the prime time to go is about 5:30am), but we observed some of the meat stalls before heading out to breakfast at a nearby bakery.  After grabbing some banana bread, we drove for another hour before stopping at the Sticky Waterfall.  Amazingly, this was actually one of the coolest waterfalls of the trip, it appeared as if a ton of large rocks were stacked on top of one another.  The water was even warm.  After the waterfall we drove for another half hour until we arrived at the treehouse.  The treehouse wasn't quite ready when we arrived, so we had to wait for about 15 minutes while they were cleaning it.  When it was ready we walked over a bridge that crossed a stream and then down a path for about fifteen more yards.  Our treehouse was really close to the stream, so at night you could listen to the water gurgling.  It was basically like a house on stilts, although there was one odd looking room at the very top.  It wasn't massive, but it was plenty of space for two nights.  There was one bed on the very top level, two in the middle, and one on the bottom.  After we finished hauling all of our bags inside, us kids did homework, while mom and dad sat around a fire, and my sister played with another little girl from China.  We did homework until about six, when it was time for dinner.  For dinner we had fried fish, which was fantastic, along with sweet and sour chicken, and of course, rice.  After dinner, we walked back to the treehouse.  We all agreed that it was time for bed.

Who wouldn't want this guy driving you through rural Thailand?

"WHAT DOES A FOX SAY?" We giggled about this way too much while driving

Local market delicacies

Pig snout or hooves anyone?

Look good?  This pastry has hotdogs, ketchup and mayonaisse!

Sticky Waterfall on way to treehouse

Our "climber" hiked up it of course

Making a fire outside our treehouse

This is where we slept

Little room at top was a hit with G

A little fishing action in the creek behind our place

SJ made a friend from China

Day 2

Finally we were able to sleep in.  We slept until about ten and then headed to breakfast.  For breakfast the staff served scrambled eggs, sketchy looking sausage, toast, and delicious orange juice.  After breakfast we did homework for a half hour and then biked on some of the nearby trails.  We biked to a bat cave where we saw a few bats, and then we biked for about another fifteen minutes before arriving at some red sand dunes.  These were really fun to bike on and we stayed here for about an hour before heading back to the treehouse to have lunch.  After lunch we hiked down a road for about twenty minutes to try and find a waterfall that we weren't sure existed.  When about twenty minutes had gone by, I decided to turn around because I had so much homework to catch up on.  According to the story that I was told, everyone else proceeded to become lost, and then found their way back.  [Editors note: classic teenager version there, but this was actually a super cool family adventure. We were not lost but not sure we were on the right path for a while as we had hike through a deserted resort to find a steep path through the jungle up to the high point for viewing the sunset. The waterfall no longer exists because the river has dried up - hence the deserted resort].  Finally, when they found the treehouse again, dad made a fire, my brother and I decided to try and start a fire with a stick by twisting it back and forth on top of another stick.  We tried this for two hours, but sadly never succeeded, the only thing that we took away from that endeavor was multiple blisters on each hand.  After our failed fire attempt, we did homework until dinner time.  For dinner we had chicken with sweet and sour sauce, and chicken mossoman, a traditional Thai dish.  Surprisingly, when dinner was finished, mom and dad told us kids to go and do homework for about twenty minutes.  After the twenty minutes was up they had a fire going and told us to find sticks to roast s'mores with.  We did have to improvise though because the shop didn't have everything, so we used pink marshmallows and put them in between two Oreo cookies.  It was fun to get to roast s'mores again and it almost felt like we were at home.

This is literally called the "Bat Cave". Yes it has bats

Nothing like a bamboo baby bike seat

The "red dunes" were a hit

Another cave we explored

Hammock life

We found the dried up waterfall!

Waiting for the sunset

A successful adventure!

SOOOO miss sitting around a fire

Surprise s'mores

Day 3

Today we had to get up earlier, because checkout time was 11am.  After packing up and having breakfast, we loaded all of our bags into a pickup truck and we rode on seats in the back.  We drove for about five minutes until we arrived at a lake.  We then loaded all of our bags into a tiny little boat and boated across the lake for about ten minutes before docking and loading our bags into a different truck.  [note: because the road to the resort is actually is like an upside-down "J", the lake exit saved us about an hour on the way home relative to the drive there. Plus, its a lake!'].  We spent about 45 minutes in this truck before arriving at our Airbnb house that we were renting.  We thanked the driver and then hauled our bags inside.  Overall, I really liked the treehouse, it was so quiet and peaceful, and we were able to catch up on homework.  It made a great getaway place, and let us all have a chance to relax from the stress of traveling.

Riding in back still a treat

Lake we rode across on way home. 

Dad's Half Time Report

January 29th marks the 6th month anniversary since our departure. With the Superbowl now set, let us analyze the first half stats. Being a number's geek, I always find figures to be an easier language to speak, so here is our first 6 months by some of the numbers as of January 29th:

• Days away from home: 184
• Continents visited: 4
• Countries slept in: 9
• Flights taken (counting connections): 21
• Trains ridden (not counting subways): 2
• Airbnb Stays: 18
• Hostel Stays: 3
• Hotel Stays: 2
• Farm Stays: 1
• sheep de-tailed: ~250
• Family member who have puked: 5
• Teeth Lost: 5 (all from one child)
• Campervans rented: 1
• Cars rented: 4
• KM driven: not that anal
• Books Read: 69
• SIM cards purchased: 16
• Hospitals visited: 2
• Children lost: 1
• Shoes purchased: 6
• YoungLife staff met: 2
• Missionaries connected with: 2
• Projects we've been able to serve with: 4

Six months! So hard to believe as time is a bit of an enigma on this journey. On one hand it seems we just left and are only starting to get the hang of this, while on the other it feels like we have been away much longer. That time component makes it incredibly difficult to summarize this trip, our experiences, and all that our family has endured, enjoyed and engaged in. Words have never really been my forte, so set your expectations low and we will see where this goes.

Down time is far less existent than I ever imagined. There is not as much time to process as we adults would like as 4 kids do not always make for peaceful travel companions. Sometimes we worry that it's going by in a blur and the kids are not processing all that they should. Our desire to be intentional with this blessing probably haunts us more than necessary but, then again, we are both first born children.

Personally this trip has had its challenges for me. My struggles with my feet have been mentioned numerous times and will not be expanded upon here. Sufficient to say that it's not fun to travel (especially to unfamiliar places) when not feeling 100% and add to that being sick for about month, part of me sincerely wanted to pull the plug and either head home or else find a place to just settle down somewhere for the second half (which was always our Plan B) where medical care could be more easily accessed. I have not fully been able to have the experience I had hoped for as many of the things I enjoy just couldn't be done: playing with the boys and running to name two. But I suppose that life always has a way of throwing us curve balls which require faith and perseverance and while we often do not appreciate it at the time, eventually we see what God was up to. I'm annoyed at the time that it took to figure out the issues and the energy spent navigating various health care systems but it is one way to experience the world outside the U.S. too. I have now started some new meds which seem to be helping and everyone feels they would like to continue if I am able. So, that is our plan - we have been putting off committing to new plans until we decided. This week, we have booked our Safari tour in South Africa and also purchased our tickets to Morocco after our time in the Middle East, which we are also diligently working on planning. My hope is the second half will be significantly better than the first.

Being with the family 24/7 is something I have never done and took (is still taking) some getting used to for everyone. My tendency to just "do things" and take control was met with some animosity by those not used to me being around all the time (i.e. everyone). My desire to make sure everything evolves perfectly (like a normal short-term vacation) had to be altered as things just don't always go right on a trip such as this. Making decisions can be exhausting, especially when they keep piling up, you lack the necessary information and others are waiting on you. On a journey like this there is no normal, no routine to fall into and I have had to learn to share that load. And, frankly, things go smoother when I do. My heart was in the right place, but my brain was not.

The obvious biggest personal change I have had to endure on this trip is not working. I think probably the hardest part for me has simply being engaging my brain differently than what I was used to with my job. I loved my job and co-workers and even more broadly, I love the markets and investments. It is hard to slow my wheels from spinning and thinking about such things. I haven't gone too many days without at least checking what happened but I have disengaged from truly analyzing them. I miss the markets and while most probably cringe about the volatility during the last few months, I actually enjoy it. It is stressful, yes, but navigating the difficult times is when people most need investment help. The Group I was part of does that well (and nailed the recent turmoil I would add) and I miss being part of that team. I miss the Monday through Friday routine and while I don't miss traffic, I do miss my morning Starbucks and alone time in the car (who would of guessed?) or chatting with buddies on the drive.

While we have accomplished some of our goals on this trip, others still need a lot of work. One major goal was "gelling" as a family to find a groove within our current structure, which has dramatically evolved over the last 5 years. This one is hard to understand but something we needed. We needed time just to do life exclusively with one another and not be distracted by all the cares of normal life. What we didn't anticipate is that the distractions of constant travel are just as large and often larger because each place is new. There's always something to research or book. Sometimes just finding water can be challenging when you don't know your surroundings. But overall, I am very pleased with how this has played out and the progress being made. I'm hesitant to say mission accomplished as I believe we can always improve, but we have experienced relational change that I believe will be lifelong.

Another goal was for me and my wife to rekindle romance and friendship after many years of just running too hard. Between my career and education, having kids, moving six times in ten years, homeschooling and trying to serve and do ministry, we evolved more into great partners than friends. We are very good at accomplishing stuff and getting things done - not so much at sitting still and enjoying each other. Unfortunately, this has proved very difficult on this journey. We just don't get the time to process or even be alone together for that matter. I am very thankful we have more time to put a more concentrated effort into this. Reality is that there will always be distractions and we have to pound through them. As romantic as traveling the world sounds, it is, at times, just nauseatingly difficult.

A third goal was for the kids to see life outside of their normal and realize that there are many ways to live, work and play. This certainly has occurred and even though it took until about month 5, they now no longer desire to go home even if given the opportunity. They are amazing travelers and incredibly flexible. Some days we are up at 5am, others we sleep until 10. Some nights we stay out very late and others we go to bed early. Some days we eat 3 meals a day and others only 1. The only thing that is really consistent is our inconsistency (similar to my golf game). It's begun to feel so normal that we joke that returning to a normal M-F routine will feel incredibly slow.

One thing that I have increased in is my appreciation and awe at my wife. She has grown on this trip in ways that I didn't expect and seeing her interact and come into her own is nothing short of inspiring. When it comes to our volunteering and serving, she is one who really has something to offer (not many in third world countries are interested in valuation or charting techniques). Those of you that know her know that I married up by a big margin but I continue to grow more fond of her daily. Without even saying it, she challenges me to be a better father, husband and man. A future goal of mine is getting to know her better and providing an environment that allows her to thrive. One of the things I am most anticipating upon getting home is seeing her thrive with newly created habits and confidence.

Time is one thing that I am still wrapping my arms around. Time is constant, its pace never changes and yet some days crawl while some weeks fly. Why is that? What makes its constant pace feel different from one period to another? I wish I had the answers to share with you. But one thing a trip like this makes you realize is that time is precious. It sounds cliche to say and everyone knows this but it is so easy to waste time. So easy to "veg out" because we believe we "deserve it". I am now convinced that this is an American fallacy. Maybe the ad agencies invented the concept to sell product? The people in the places we have been don't veg out, they don't seem to waste much time at all. I'm not saying they work harder either. But they do somehow seem to strike a better balance of work and relational engagement. They don't spend their time and treasure on the sidelines of sporting events or worrying about which teacher their child may get. I believe one takeaway for me will be challenging myself to make the most of the time I have, each and every day, not just from a productivity stance, but a relational one as well. For me this will be challenging.

The length of our journey perplexed even us before we left. We set out on this trip with one year in mind. Many questioned our desire for a year. "So long!", I was told. "Why a year? " or "That's a really long time" or "With four kids?" were always questions. Several even questioned, "What about their sports?" as if this trip will prevent their D1 scholarship. Before we left, I never really felt satisfied with my ability to answer the question in an articulate manner (frankly, a common struggle for me). I just knew it was what we were called to. I didn't know why. In my opinion, the best description I once put together was stating that we needed to enter a dark tunnel, where the light from the other side could not be seen. If the light could be seen, then it's too close to just a long vacation and not something that can change how we see the world. It's when there is no light that we as a family can find out who we really are. Such is faith and such is our desire to live recklessly for Christ. Now, at the halfway point, I am seeing the picture more clearly -still fuzzy, but clearer yet. As much as part of me wants to go home, to my own bed, shower, friends and routine, it is not time yet. We could return now, having had amazing experiences and memories and time together, but it wouldn't feel complete. We still have more work to do. What, exactly, is yet to unfold. The next few months will be challenging without a doubt.

When we left, part of me (not all) secretly hoped we'd love this life so much, we would just keep at it. Sell all our stuff for real (not just the stuff we didn't care much about) and keep traveling, keep living and keep serving. Why not, others have. That was the adventurer in me. That was the part of me that desired unconventionality as I've always had a portion of me that swims against the current just because. That thought is now fading though. It sounds romantic and awesome but I don't necessarily think its what we are called to, even though part of me loves the idea. We are getting some things done but we are also called to live in community. We need that support network. They need us. While I can't say exactly what life will look like when we return, I think it will be more similar to what we left than what I thought before we left (if that makes sense). But we will be better people. We will live more slowly, more intentionally. We will worry less and be more flexible. We will cherish time with softer hands and appreciate our friends and family more than we did.

Lastly, one other major contemplation we are undergoing is how we support those in the mission field. This one we are still working through and figuring out but there is a big difference between signing up for a monthly or yearly donation and truly partnering with those in the field. Truly engaging and giving sacrificially takes work. It's not passive. We were both passive and active in our philanthropy but I believe we are called to be more active yet. Again, not sure what that will look like - good thing we have more time.

Rest in Koh Samui

We rented a house on Koh Samui, Thailand for what we hoped would be a relaxing and "vacation-like" stay.  This was planned because we figured we'd be tired and wore out after Cambodia and Vietnam, and also knew we were headed into service projects in Thailand followed by a very long travel time to South Africa and Swaziland with two of three weeks spent serving.  Samui is a very laid back and peaceful setting as even the airport is relaxing, if you can imagine that.  No one seems to be in a hurry but yet things operate on time.  Food is delicious with fresh fish available on sandy beach restaurants all around the island. 

Typical view on one of many beaches

Beach dinner while youngest swims as we wait for food!

Flying her 1st kite - she thought it was called a "Magic Carpet" - think she's been watching too much Aladdin!

Beach ballet!

Local boy, Pang, who hung out with us a lot at beach

While reading at the beach, a stray dog came over, lifted it's leg & peed on Mom's foot & lounger!
The man next to her laughed and said, "Oh, that happens all the time here."  REALLY!?!?

Our home was situated away from the beach up on hill in a neighborhood of sorts.  Our Airbnb host was extremely helpful in the whole process and arranged for a rental truck to be waiting for us at the house as well.  This would be dad's first experience driving a left handed stick shift!  The kids waffled between begging to ride in the pick-up bed and assigning an "outcast" to ride in the pick-up bed... it seems there's always something to disrupt the peace, even on a Thai island!

The home was the largest we have stayed in yet and had a pool, soft beds, some toys, fresh decent-sized towels, and a blender for making smoothies.  The local grocery store had several American foods and we laughed as we realized we'd bought them out of Greek yogurt as we went back several times throughout the week to see if they'd received more, but to no avail.  Mom also surprised the kids by some creative substitutions and made "Puppy Chow" and Special K bars.  The kids were psyched about our set up and mom and dad hoped to rest. 

Lots of time was spent playing darts propped up on lawn chair.

We found a Thai boxing gym near our place and arranged for taking classes there our second morning.  This proved quite fun and we ended up going 6 days from 8-10am.  This got us out of bed and sweating early and it felt so good to actually workout, which has proven very difficult on this journey. With new meds helping, even Dad was able to participate!  We had some good laughs as we realized some of the children could not solo-jumprope during our warm-ups, and the main instructor referred to every direction as "left," so we were always trying to figure out what we were supposed to be doing!  It just so happened that the same people running the gym also owned a spa nearby, and because we were taking classes they offered us a discount.  We obliged by taking in a few massages for about 1/3 of what they cost at home. 

Gym where we worked out

Morning warm up

Boxing in the ring!

Goofing around

Everyone got to participate in the fun in some way or another!

Oldest working on his kicks

Look at Dad go!

Boys looking' tough

"Steam room" at local spa - you do sweat in there with pot boiling below

We spent one day on an island-hopping tour where we got to kayak and snorkel with a Russian group of tourists (no idea how exactly that happened).  This involved a large speed boat of sorts that shuttled the 50 or so of us around the ocean a bit like cattle.  When it was all said and done, we enjoyed seeing the islands and scenery.

The kayaking crew

Mom & G battled the current

Go boys go!

Kids after hiking up to a fun look-out area

Thai island hopping

Oldest flipping off of the boat

Some of the fish coming to the surface where we snorkeled

On the way back to Koh Samui, our boat drove by David Beckham's house!

One highlight of our time in Koh Samui was the Spices Cafe, a local restaurant with about 5 tables owned and run by a sweet woman who used to run 5-star resort kitchens.  On a much needed date night, mom and dad had the privilege of dining there over a delicious meal that cost about 1/10th what it was worth.  We were so impressed we asked about her private cooking class which we had read about on Trip Advisor.  This was a great experience and the kids really enjoyed it as we learned about local produce, spices and techniques.  Not to mention we got to eat what we cooked and are bringing home some great new recipes!  

Results - cashew chicken was delicious

G slicing' and dicin'

Tom Yum soup was delicious!

Everyone gets to help at cooking class!

Chefs & their creations

We spent our evenings walking around different night markets if we were needing to get out of the house a bit.  For the most part they all had the same things.  One of the favorites was a crispy crepe for dessert.

Chicken anyone?

Ordering her crispy crepe with Nutella!

Towards the end of our stay there was an island festival.  This included food, bands, games and a Thai boxing event.  One of the guys who had helped train us at the gym was fighting as the headline fight.  Some of us were excited to see him go at it in the ring as watching him train was a bit frightening at times.  We sat for 4 hours, in scattered rain showers, watching fight after fight until finally throwing in the towel at 10:45 and leaving.  Dad had two who wanted to stay and two who were miserable and none of us had eaten as we thought there would be a chance beforehand but we got there late and seats were going fast so we sat down only to find there weren't safe food options available.  So now we had four upset family members and a very tired 4 year old, all of whom were hungry as it was pushing 11pm - ah the memories! 

Muy Thai boxing

Crowd gathered for the fights

Our time here was indeed restful but it took more than a few days to get used to the slower pace, and when it was time to go, we all wished we had more time here. We still struggle with planning our time in advance and trying to be spontaneous.  We obviously cannot fully have both, and now that we feel affirmed in continuing our travels, with Dad's feet feeling better, we spent time trying to finish some travel plans while we had decent Internet access.  We wish we had a few more days in Koh Samui, but were so grateful for our time here to catch our breath a bit as traveling is a different kind of exhausting.

Enjoying the beach fun!