Road trip! (part two)
Thursday morning arrived and the trip to visit our Compassion child, Bang-On, finally began. The restaurant designated for our hotel-provided breakfast didn't open until six, so rather than rushing to eat and get ready, we opted to prepare our breakfast the night before. Dunkin Donuts and milk from 7-11--how Thai can you get? (Actually Yau Neih did slip down and got a quick helping of eggs.) So when 6:30 arrived, we were down in the lobby awaiting our ride.The van arrived and we were introduced to our translator/guide Tong and the driver, whose name I promptly forgot. (I really should take some self-improvement course to help me hear and remember names.) We piled in and hit the road, watching the sun rise over Thailand. I was starting to get excited about it all. One thing I failed to mention about this trip was that I had approached it somewhat dispassionately. Yeah, I knew it was a nice thing, to visit the kid and all. But for myself, I really wasn't excited or nervous about seeing her. I don't know if I was so caught up in the business of it or what. But anyway, as the van drew nearer to our destination, the anticipation of it all grew. When we finally arrived, I was quite nervous and excited.
But I get ahead of myself. Despite my own mental workings, the trip itself was oddly uneventful. This section of Thailand lacks some of the gorgeous mountain vistas that we have in Yunnan. After an hour or so we seemed to climb up into some mountains and then onto a flat plain. Except for the occasional shrine on the edge of someone's property, it really seemed akin to taking a drive through rural Illinois. After a couple of hours, we stopped for a bathroom break and breakfast. Tong asked us if we wanted anything, but we declined. He went and bought us some cookies anyway. I had to restrain myself from gobbling them down by myself. They were sort of like a sweet rice cake laced with caramel. It's a treat for which I shall be searching for back in the States, let me tell you.
Anyway, the uneventful, comfortable ride took a bit longer than the planned five and a half hours. I think we arrived at the project around 12:30. We piled out of the van and were taken to the office of the local project. We were greeted by the office staff and invited to sit down. They offered us some tea (or was it hot water? My memory already fades!) and then we sat and stared at each other for the moment. As has happened many times before, the ice breaking question seemed to be "Why doesn't your younger daughter look like you?" The conversation went on awkwardly from there. I felt at a loss, trying to think of something to add. I would have been quite interested to learn all sorts of things about the project, but had no specific question which I wanted to ask. So I just sat, smiling and dumbstruck, wondering when the dramatic moment would arrive and Bang-On would be ushered into our presence.
She wasn't. After about 15 minutes or so, somebody probably said, "Hey, why don't we eat?" So we got up, put on our shoes and piled into the van. We made our way to a nice little restaurant--what I would term an Asian diner--and were served a nice lunch. It finally dawned on me that we would be eating first and visiting later. Oh, well. There's a time to visit and a time to eat. Our hosts were very kind, serving a peppered and unpeppered version of the soup and main entree. I accidentally took the peppered version of the entree, which wasn't overly spicy at all. (Yau Neih had tried the soup and apparently that one was overly spicy.) When all had had their fill, we then got up and were finally going to go meet our child.
posted by John @ 9:58 PM
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