Good Bye SE Asia

A few last thoughts as we wrap up our Asia posts.  Our time here has been much more favorable than we expected.  While we understand that it is the custom in most of the countries we visited, to be kind to one’s face and not show one’s true emotions, we do feel that overall the people have been genuinely enjoyable, kind, and helpful. 

One of our major concerns was how SJ would be treated while in Asia, as she has tended to be a source of fascination to some of the cultures we have been in and that has been a struggle for her and us.  Thankfully, most people here respected her space and were very sweet towards her.

We’ve learned much about their customs and religious beliefs.  SJ loved pointing our the many Buddhist monks that we observed most days.  However we found it interesting as we learned more, that there doesn’t always have to be training to be a monk, one can just decide to wear the robe and avoid certain behaviors and add some new ones for a certain time period, and then return to their previous behaviors when he decides his time of being a monk is over.  One can be married and decide to be a monk.  It seems to be a very loose understanding of what a monk really is these days.  There are also females who devote themselves to Buddhism and they shave their heads and wear white robes.  We did not see many of these women in our day to day activities.

Many people in the countries we visited consider it to be extremely beautiful to have whiter skin.  The main healthcare market markets their products as “whitening,” this includes everything from body wash to deodorant!  While there might be 20 types of whitening body lotion offered at a store, there will only be one or two non-whitening lotions sold.  The women spend a lot of time and effort to maintain pore-less skin that is lighter in shade and mom was amazed at all of the beauty products and technology some of the places had.  The women truly are beautiful, but we were shocked at the price, effort, and thought that is behind some of it.  We were also told that some people opt for whitening injections into their skin.  We are not exactly sure what this involves and were told that it is usually singers and those in the entertainment business that go to this measure.  Overall, it was interesting to us to observe how different cultures view “beautiful” in their own unique way and the lengths that they will go to to achieve their ideal is they are able. Americans seek to be darker and Asians lighter- a true case of wanting what we can't have perhaps.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE EYEBROW!

We enjoyed the Asian foods that we ate, and other than most of us coming down with a stomach bug in Cambodia, we are grateful for our overall health during these last few months.  The only place we've stayed in Asia that had a decently clean kitchen that we felt was hygienic to cook in was in Koh Samui - and we enjoyed some home cooked meals and loved having access to a blender for smoothies!  All of our other places didn't have enough plates, utensils, or cooking devices, and all had a few too many cockroaches, so that it just seemed to make more sense to eat our meals out.  Thankfully it was affordable to do so (in Lampang, for example, it was not uncommon for us to pay less than $20 for the 9 of us to eat a full meal and have drinks).  Some of our favorite foods while in SE Asia include Pad Thai, Tom Yum Soup, Cashew Chicken, Lok Lac Beef, and Vietnamese Hot Pots.

We've been privileged to come alongside some amazing people as they do kingdom work, we've been stretched in our understanding of the mission field, we've learned much about the history and religions of these cultures first-hand, and we've enjoyed new foods that we will definitely be incorporating in our meals back in the States, and we had an unforgettable day with elephants.  We continue to be amazed at each new place we visit and they are all special to us for different reasons, all unique and yet interestingly, we've been pleasantly surprised that we could see ourselves living in any of them - so either we are all more alike than we thought or we are becoming more flexible and open to different lifestyles. 

Goodbye Asia, we will miss you!