In Search of Transportation

 It all began after a long trip into the mountains to visit a little village that is two or three hours past BeOhTah, named DayAhDay. We were all tired and saddle sore from riding the motor bikes that far on that bad of roads, but Roy and Ben decided that there were some other places that had to be visited, and since they were far away, we needed to take Pastor Phamor’s truck. So, we arrived back at the school, grabbed the things that needed to go North, and then Roy and Ben went and sat out by the road waiting for a Songtow, which is where Roy begins the account of what happened."We were sitting beside the road with boxes and boxes of school books that were donated by Stanford University, waiting for a Songtow. ( Thank you very much by the way!) After flagging down several Songtows, we finally found the one that was going where we wanted to go. As we traveled, I found that we had chosen one of the slowest Songtow drivers on the face of the planet. We would drive a little way,  stop for more passengers, or to drop off passengers, then creep on down the road. I was beginning to wonder if we would ever get there when the driver got a bee in his bonnet and started driving like a mad man. I had to make a grab for our belongings before they had the opportunity to fly out the back.We arrived at our destination a little shaken up, but all intact, but alas, we were too late for the bus that would take us the next lap of the journey. So, we had plenty of time to walk around town, use the internet, and eat. Then we got the idea of going to Pastor Shielos house to visit.  We attempted to take one motor bike taxi to his house, but quickly decided that it would be prudent to take two. When we got there, they decided to feed us again, and after a nice visit, they took us back to the bus station around 9:30 p.m. to wait for the arrival of the midnight bus.Although daytime in Thailand is hot, night can get pretty cold this time of year, you know, down around 70 degrees or so. We were freezing cold, so we decided to go across the street to the handy 7 eleven store for something hot to drink. We quickly discovered that they would not sell us just hot water unless we had our own cup. So, I had to buy a cup and then I got to drink my hot drink, which made me very happy.Next we had a visitor come to see us. He started asking me all kinds of questions about Ben, which I did not like at all! I finally told him that he was asking far too many questions, and he seemed to get the point, and finally left us alone. (spies are common over here)Around midnight, my hot drink started to kick in, so I decided to find the bathroom. While I was gone, the bus came! There were masses of people waiting to get on that bus, and very few wanted to get off. Therefore, we only managed to get standing room at the back of the bus. Now I don’t know about you, but at midnight, after a long hard trip, I did not really want to stand up!Being a rather wise young man, Ben quickly spotted a step to sit on, and a young lady noticed his wisdom and sat down next to him. After some time, the husband of the young lady decided that he had better sit down between Ben and the lady in order to better his situation.Meanwhile, I also wanted to better my situation. So, half an hour later when the driver stopped the cold bus to do a few calisthenics thereby waking himself up, I saw my chance. There was a railing nearby which I managed to climb up on, I grabbed the over head railing, and flew through the air, over the man in front of me, and landed cautiously in the aisle. Then I slowly made my way toward the front of the bus. Upon nearing the front, I saw that there were people blocking the way to further progress, so I then carefully slid down to a laying position in the narrow alleyway. Many faces peered down at me curiously, I grinned as smiles spread across their faces as I closed my eyes to get a nice nap. I immediately realized what a great choice I had made. The engines, which had been just an irritation before, now became a comforting friend, since it drowned out all other noise. The only irritating part was the vibration, which was jiggling my brains, so I looked around, grabbed one of the many discarded pop bottles, placed it under my head and quickly headed to dream land. I rested there peacefully until someone nudged me to get out of the way of a young monk about 5 minutes before we reached our destination.As I once again made my way towards the back of the bus so that the monk could get by, people were grinning with envy at me, and I smugly smiled back. When I got to the back of the bus, I found the man that had been ahead of me perched on the railing getting ready to vault over the others just as I had done, but then he got down and put himself in the best position for getting off the bus instead.We arrived in the city at 4 in the morning. We soon discovered that the Songtows do not take passengers until 6 in the morning. So, we sat around in the bus station until 6, then we decided to attempt getting a songtow to the other side of the city. There is no songtow to get exactly where you want to go, so we had to get to the next stop, and then wait some more for the next songtow. Arriving there cold and hungry, we found that the songtow we needed would not leave until 8 in the morning. So we grabbed another hot drink, and waited shivering for the Songtow that would take us out to Pastor Phamors. Once on that Songtow, we were happily thinking of a nice long rest at the Pastor’s house, when we found that Songtows go only so far. We would have to walk the last mile and a half to his house.We did finally arrive, and our conclusion is that in order to be a happy missionary, you must be very flexible, not to mention athletic, and maintain a good outlook under trying circumstances! Which by the way is something we all need to do no matter where we are."