While planning for our year, both in advance and on-the-go, TripAdvisor became our sixth family member. We poured over reviews and suggestions of restaurants, apartments, hikes, hotels, trains, and self-guided tours. As a school writing assignment, we even studied what makes a good review and published some of our own.

Because it was so useful to hear from those who have gone before, we want to share some of our recommendations for YOUR trips abroad. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just many of the great things that come to mind when we look back on our year.

Sorry there are no helpful comments here, but we wholeheartedly recommend all of these places and activities linked below (we DID have some disasters and some less-than-ideals, we just left them off the list). If you want the full story, feel free to email us and we will talk your ear off!

GENERAL TRAVEL

AirTreks Round-the-World Airfare

Renault Eurodrive Lease/Buyback Program

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor CityGuides App

HomeAway Rentals

Holiday Lettings Rentals

AirBnB Apartment Rentals

Rick Steves Audio Europe

ICELAND

Iceland Camping Card

Hotel Keilir, Keflavik

Northsailing Whale Watching, Husavik

FRANCE

Hotel Esmeralda, Paris

Le Manoir Quinquis, Bannalec

Cro Bique, rental in Beynac-et-Cazenac

Font-de-Gaume Cave Paintings, Les Eyzies

Beynac Castle, Beynac-et-Cazenac

Transmanche Ferries

ENGLAND

Broadhembury Campground, Kent

Dover Castle, Kent

Farriers Arms Pub, Kent

London Eye

Tower of London

Blenheim Palace, Oxford

Helm Lune Cottage Rental, Bowness

Holiday Inn Maidstone, Seven Oaks

Car train through the Chunnel

BELGIUM

Maison Antoine Frites, Brussels

European Union Visitors Centre

SWITZERLAND

Chalet Im Batzenboden, Wengen

Trummelbach Falls, Lauterbrunnen

CROATIA

Montona Gallery Pizza, Motovun

Perfectly Charming House, Viganj

Antony Boy Camping and Windsurfing, Viganj

Jadrolinja Ferries

ITALY

L’Arcobaleno Apartment, Rome

Il Sorpasso Ristorante, Rome

MOROCCO

Riad Safir, Meknes

Rough Tours Company, Sahara

TUNISIA

Novotel, Tunis

GREECE

Hotel Phaedra

TURKEY

Villa Blanca Rental, Davutlar

Ephesus Archaeological Site, Izmir

Perge Archaeological Site, Antalya

Flintstones Cave Hotel, Cappadocia

Red and Rose Valley Trails, Goreme

Sedef Restaurant, Goreme

Hitchhiker ATV Rental, Goreme

Sahkulu Place Apartment, Istanbul

TANZANIA

Nomad Tanzania Safaris

RWANDA

Solace Guesthouse, Kigali

Kigali Memorial Centre, Kigali

Meze Fresh Burritos, Kigali

MALAYSIA

Petrosains Science Museum, Kuala Lumpur

Novotel City Centre, Kuala Lumpur

THAILAND

Thailand Elephant Conservation Center

Sojos Cafe, Chiang Mai

Khaomao Khaofang Restaurant, Chiang Mai

Free Burma Rangers

Medici Restaurant, Bangkok

Navalai River Resort, Bangkok

Bumrungrad Hospital, Bangkok

VIETNAM

V’Spirit Cruise, Ha Long Bay

Hanoi Charming 2 Hotel, Hanoi

CHINA

New Day Foster Home Guesthouse, near Beijing

Huanghua Great Wall of China

Olympic Water Cube Water Park, Beijing

Xian HQ Apartments, Xian

Mt Huashan Hike, Xian

Terra Cotta Warriors, Xian

JAPAN

Japan Railpass

Sakara Kyoto Guesthouse, Kyoto

Sakara Gion Machiya Rental, Kyoto

Musashi Sushi, Kyoto

Hiroshima Memorial Park, Hiroshima

Andersen Kitchen, Hiroshima

Toyota Plant Tour, Toyota City

Pepper Lunch, Tokyo

KOREA

Cozy Residence Apartment, Seoul

… AND SOME ORGANIZATIONS WE HAVE GROWN TO LOVE

St. James Muswell Hill, London

Friends of the Lakes District, Kendal, UK

Lakes Christian Centre, Bowness, UK

St. Paul’s Cultural Center, Antalya, Turkey

World Relief Rwanda

Sonrise School, Musanze, Rwanda

Akiba School, Nairobi, Kenya

Light and Power Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

The Ocean Church, Tanzania

Kenya Connection, Kenya

Dave and Lucy Chaves, Nairobi, Kenya

Christ Church Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya

International Justice Mission Thailand, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Grace International School, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Free Burma Rangers, Chiang Mai, Thailand

New Day Foster Home, China

HAPPY ADVENTURES TO YOU ALL!

S has a rule in our family: no making fun of moms.

So I will not draw your attention to the hand sanitizer strapped to the front of my mom’s fanny pack during a tour of Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Instead, I will mention that I was astonished to learn over dinner recently that my Mom uses — loves — the Shazam iPhone app.

It’s an app that she and millions of others use to identify names of songs on the radio or, in our case, through a PA system in a restaurant bar in Bangkok.

Picture us a few nights ago, enjoying music around a table for six … having a sort of Shazam-Off, whipping out our iPhones when there was a nice piece of music in the mix.

Mom’s use of Shazam is not super surprising. I remember countless car trips to and from school events and sports practices and weekend activities when she and I would enjoy pop radio together. It’s from her that I learned to sing harmony. (Hall and Oates is currently playing in the hotel atrium. “Sara Smile” was one of our favorites.)

Singing harmony is one of Mom’s gifts.

Her harmony, though, is not just the singing kind. More broadly, she takes life as it comes … and makes something beautiful along with it.

Consider this: Mom barely missed a step when S and I explained how we’d forgotten to secure a Vietnam visa … on the eve of our flight to Ho Chi Minh City.

S and I commenced a furious effort to retain “a guy in Vietnam” who could secure the relevant documents. On a Sunday morning during  a holiday weekend. (We sent this guy many hundreds of dollars via Paypal. He received the money and, before an expected wait while he did whatever he needed to do to, he wrote “There are so many man in your family :).”)

Along the way, E lost a tooth … and someone in our group would eventually dry heave in an airplane barf bag.

We eventually received the documents and the Vietnam visa. My mom carried on alongside us … not a worry in her eyes … singing harmony … making something beautiful of our time together … and offering all the hand sanitizer anyone could ever need.

]]> https://hearingtheechoes.com/shazam-and-other-realizations/feed/ 5 https://hearingtheechoes.com/a-gauntlet-dousing/ https://hearingtheechoes.com/a-gauntlet-dousing/#comments Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:37:22 +0000 https://hearingtheechoes.com/?p=4783

We have mastered a talent on this journey of arriving in cities and communities when NO ONE else typically travels to those places. We specialize in off seasons and boarded up restaurants.

Our last few days in Bangkok have been the exception. This is the time people come to this city from all over the world. Today, Thais celebrate the new year … and mark the day by dousing everything that moves with water and face clay.

Turns out, our hotel is located in the ground zero area for water battles. So we joined in with some sweet firepower.

Happy Songkran!

 

 

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This is what it looks like to receive world-class medical care from a world-class medical facility in a sprawling Asian metropolis during a two-hour wait for tests on W’s blood.

Sweet.

A Dr. Phanida waited for W and his two parents today in Room 9 of the pediatric ward at Bangkok’s Bumrungrad International Hospital. The facility’s decor was heavily influenced by a Disney vibe. Through a “window” next to her door,  a brightly-colored cartoon lion doctor treated a giraffe boy with a bandaged left arm.

W had been the only child in the waiting room over sixteen inches tall.

Dr. Phanida asked questions, she took notes, she prodded W, she poked W, she examined his various symptoms, made him say “Ah,” checked his breathing, and sent off his blood to the lab to check for various things. (She answered some of my questions, too … and explained that her name means “lady” in English.)

Turns out, W does indeed have dengue fever. It’s quite treatable … with fluids and Tylenol and rest. He is improving, and likely has a few more days of general aches to go.

So, W is asleep in the next room with his brothers. Tomorrow, all of Bangkok is to erupt in a celebration of the new year … and everybody is supposed to douse everybody else with water.

S and I plan to turn next … to a belated viewing of the season finale of “Downton Abbey” ….

I learned this evening that I was painfully afraid of bats as a little boy. The item was one of the stories my mom shared with our table over dinner, about how I used to be scared of walking in the dark because a bat might attack.

S chimed in that one of our sons used to be quite fearful of thunderstorms, owls — even haircuts.

Another son has struggled with fears of plane travel, something that I too have feared in the past.

We discussed those feelings today as our family boarded a prop plane bound for Bangkok. Halfway through the flight, the aircraft dropped many hundreds of feet in an instant, while dipping and diving through a turbulent storm cloud. The dive scattered lunch boxes off open tray tables up in the air above our heads. Water and juice and beer and ham landed in the laps of seat neighbors around us. Passengers yelled out.

Here is the view from my window moments after our plane exited the storm:

We hadn’t planned on being on a plane today at all. Our oldest seems to have contracted dengue fever, however, and we bailed out of our itinerary in Cambodia for access to reliable doctors in Bangkok and a hands-on diagnosis.

W is stable and — already — we have received expert medical advice from tropical disease experts via email. These docs are friends and family. They are friends of friends. They are doctors of friends.

Imagine! A thirteen-year-old comes down with fever and some odd health symptoms in Siem Reap, Cambodia. His parents, uncertain of what to do, call a doc over Skype. They email blast a few people. That email gets passed around. Doctors respond. A general consensus develops. The parents are able make decisions about next steps.

The young man’s parents also email friends for support, for prayer. It gets passed around. People write back — in droves — with hospital suggestions, places to stay, numbers to call. They’re praying.

It’s a picture of serious Protection. Of Holy Arms pulling us in, close. Of learning how to face fear with friends in Faith … and expecting Light to reign on the other side, whatever the outcome.

What is the saying about fish and visitors? That they both stink after three days? Somehow Mark and Melinda missed out on that message — try hosting a family of five for nearly three weeks! We had the extreme pleasure and privilege of being welcomed into their Chiang Mai home, really their LIVES, for most of March and into April, including two birthdays AND Easter. This dear family opened their doors, their table, their school, their church, their friends, their car, their hearts to us, and we are so grateful. And on top of all that, they managed to laugh when we broke their hotpot. And a bowl. And a plate. And probably something else that I can’t remember.

From laughter to laundry, Mark, Melinda, Jeff, Sarah, and Anna blessed us in countless ways. They are new extended family to us, and an outstanding example of generosity and openness that we hope to follow. Thanks, y’all!

Happy Birthday, S!

She got a lot of love today from a wide range of animals in the animal kingdom.

Years ago, a young man named Allan courted a young woman named Joan. He was in the US Army, a veteran of the Korean War. She was on stage on Broadway, and claimed a cameo role in a “Lone Ranger” episode. They married … then moved to Thailand for full time Faith work.

Decades later – during our border trip, as nearby hills burned to clear away unwanted brush — I watched as Allan shared the nuts and bolts of his own faith for the umpteenth time.

Note what Allan is using to talk about his faith: pictures.

His faith — the thing that matters more than anything in his life, the thing that he’s staked his life on — is shared in simple, evocative images. After so many decades, he’s learned that there are few tools more successful at TELLING HIS STORY across cultural and language gaps. Images seem to break down barriers … allowing one man to share his soul with another.

The man who’s listening to Allan’s image story in the near-dark is a quiet, thoughtful man named N who has often been on the run from the Burmese army. He is a leader in his village and his decision to join Allan in Faith would be complicated. Near midnight, N explains that he needs more time to reflect on Allan’s story of — and invitation to — Faith. They shake hands … and go to bed.

Turns out, N touches souls with similarly evocative images in SONG. This one was recorded during a chapel service at a refugee camp inside Burma.

N’s song is about how a village was burned in 2010, how the people were scattered, how they were reunited … and how their community church was rebuilt. Evocative stuff, full of sensory imagery … even though we don’t understand the language. It’s perhaps one of the most evocative recordings I’ve made on this journey.

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These two men — Allan and N — came together for us during our border trip in the life of our trip leader, D.

Allan is D’s father. N is D’s comrade in a border region organization he leads to help displaced ethnic minorities under fire.

Like Allan and N … D knows the power of stories and images. He’s constantly telling a story, pointing to this hill or that mountain where battles once raged. He puts his arm around people he reveres in stories. He shares the details of how he messed up seasons of his own life. He acts out scenes of heroism. He talks freely about Faith.

D’s personal story is powerful on its own merits — the child of a missionary, a soldier in US Army Special Forces, a new recruit to the mission field, a failed first marriage, an ordained second marriage, bullets and bullets and bullets dodged, and the ongoing fruit of a sprawling organization in a conflict zone. There is only one answer to his question: “Easy way, or hard way?”

Still, it’s D’s stories that break down barriers. It’s his stories that compel men to follow, in battle … in Faith. It’s his stories that connect souls so powerfully.

It’s his stories that burn inside the hills of men like fire.

A pastor’s wife met us during our border journey, on the way to a refugee camp inside Burma. Her family set out two boxes of ice cream on long tables in the shade, along with fresh watermelon, soft drinks, and water. Then S asked her for her name.

“I was born at night,” she told us through translation. “My name means Night Blooming Flower.”

We met and heard about others with similar, descriptive names: “Sweet Sweet” and “Get the Job Done.” I like how these names are so tailored to individuals. They’re unique … and, in a way, they help define the starting point for who people are and where they’re going.

The name Night Blooming Flower is much more than a story of a woman’s birth, of course. She and her husband patiently pastor a church in a small village. The chapel features a full-wall, hand-drawn copy of da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It was painted by their son, Poda.

To us, this family has moved BEYOND their names, beyond their beginning … to living out a Call to be in that place … offering whatever it is that they have to neighbors and strangers. It’s simple … yet something deeply powerful.

And it’s very similar to what happened in the pictures at the beginning and end of this post.

S was asked to teach young teachers some fundamentals about how to teach. She didn’t have a lesson plan, she didn’t have much time to prepare. So, late at night, she taught her impromptu students how to tie knots with string … using the lesson to show these young teachers the value of showing, helping, encouraging, joining, and watching.

She lived out a Call to be in that place, offering whatever it was that she had.

Simple, yet something deeply powerful.

Our sons became actors of international renown on our recent trip along the Thailand-Burma border. Our traveling group of a dozen performed the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedenego three times — once in church, and twice in refugee camps. E, H, and W played the part of the heroes … while someone narrated the story with a translator.

You’ll recall that the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is in the book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar commands all his subjects to bow down to a golden statue of the king or get thrown in a super fiery furnace. The three heroes refuse … with this crucial line:

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.

You can imagine our conversation with the boys when it was floated that they might be acting in a skit during our border trip. In front of people. In public. On stage. Possibly in Burma.

A few days later, E, H, and W were a bit more willing … when our trip leader D.EB invited them to listen in as he narrated pictures and video from recent clashes with the Burma army. D.EB had convened a meeting in a border church for district commanders in his organization; S had convened a meeting of our boys in a back pew to get some schoolwork math done.

A sound file of war footage is embedded in this photograph.

I’ve forgotten to ask our boys what they remember about that briefing … or whether they connected the dots, perhaps, between the Trust of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace and the Trust of ethnic fighters when real bullets were flying. It’s possible that it was just really raw footage that gripped them in profound ways.

Whatever their lesson that day, it’s yet another reminder that I CAN’T CONTROL EVERYTHING about what they learn, what they see and hear, or even the path they choose in life.

That’s Trust, too. Right?

My prayer has always been “Lord, please protect my boys.” It’s not a bad prayer, necessarily … but I struggle with letting them go. I want to manage their protection. I struggle with what it means for them to be free, with what they’ll face in that freedom. I struggle with the prospect of them facing a fiery furnace.

So, I’ve been praying a new prayer for our boys, based on what we experienced on our border trip: “Lord, please guide my sons in the path that they’ve chosen.”

It’s a small step. But I’m working on Trust.