I recently ran across this article thanks to a friend of
mine.
For those of you that don’t know, there are now taxi type
services (Uber, Lyft, etc.) that let you summon your own personal taxi at you
convenience via app or text message. Equally, if you want to earn some extra
money and have your own car you can register with Uber and pick up fares at
your convenience as well. The article discusses how people (usually intoxicated
ones) are getting in strangers cars thinking they are Uber drivers when they
are not. You can imagine the issues created when random drunk people get into
the backseat of cars driven by perfect strangers.
I commented to my friend I had a three tier system to
prevent unwanted passengers. 1) Door locks 2) a back seat full of car seats 3)
living in a small town. The article reminded me of my trip to SE Asia in 2007.
SE Asia Trip 2007
*Bear in mind I’m trying to recall stuff from 2007. This may
not be entirely accurate but close enough*
Saturday
Saturday there were severe thunderstorms and we spent 4+
hours in the floor of Airport, as our flights were cancelled and we were trying
to get everything sorted to get where we were going. Later that night we were
booked to leave Sunday morning. We got to a nearby hotel late and had to get
back up at 6AM to get to the airport.
Sunday
 |
| Actual Atari Game |
Well, the alarm clocks in our hotel didn’t work and we woke
up late. Had to rush to get ready and on the airport shuttle with another
America couple. When we got to the airport we were already running late and all
our luggage was grabbed by an ambitious baggage boy who rushed with us to our
check in. We made it to Small Regional Airport (SRA) and had to get another
flight to make it to the Worksite. It was close but it looked like we were
going to get there in time and still be at the worksite on Sunday.
As we were leaving the plane, two rows in front of ours, they
stopped letting people off the plane. A guy ahead of us had his wallet stolen
and no one could get off until it was found. This delayed us another 20
minutes. We missed the morning flight to work-site. The afternoon flight to work-site was full. There were only two flights a day. We had to find a hotel in
a city we hadn’t planned on staying in. Lindsey and I also noticed that the
piece of luggage that had our clothes was missing. It was never found. Yup, we
spent two weeks in a foreign country borrowing clothes from friends on the trip
with us. Good times.
Monday
The next morning (Monday) we got to the airport early to get
on the flight to worksite and hopefully start working that afternoon. The
flight was overbooked, there were 7 of us on this trip and they had sold 5 of
our tickets. So we sent Lindsey ahead with the Team Lead’s wife and spend the
afternoon in the airport. Finally, late Monday evening we made it. Roughly two
days later then we had originally planned.
The Van
The actual work went very well. The Lord blessed it and I
will happily tell you about that in person sometime. We would take Taxi Vans
from the worksite to the closest city occasionally for supplies. Apparently it
was illegal to have 9 people (us 7, plus driver & assistant) in a van in
this particular part of the world. Once midway to the city (in the middle of
nowhere) the driver stopped and had half of us get out along with his assistant
and start walking. Eventually he came back and picked us up. However, we had to hide so I spent the rest of the that trip (another 10-15 minutes) laying down in the floor of the van in an awkward yoga pose. We saw someone we
knew from the worksite once we got in the city and we all road in the back of
his truck on the way back.
The Return
Two weeks later we are on our way back home. Our flight from
SRA to Beijing was running late but made it the airport giving us about 2 hours
to get through Beijing customs. 2 hours is the bare minimum needed to do this.
We then proceeded to circle the airport for 30 minutes before landing giving us
about 90 minutes to do what normally takes 2 hours. We go in on a marathon dash
through the airport, running at full speed wearing 30-40lb backpacks along with
everything else, dodging people, furniture, luggage, looking kind of like an
application tape for American Ninja Warrior.
 |
| This might actually be easier then navigating the old Beijing Airport |
We get halfway and then we
discover that once again some of our seats have been sold. They have 5 tickets
for 7 of us. Our team lead and his wife stay and send the rest of us on our
way. An Airport Official helps expedite us to the head of the security line.
Lindsey is the first one through and takes off running to hold the plane for us
as we only had about 15 minutes to get boarded. Shortly after she takes off the
lady in front of me starts talking in a very agitated voice to security and
pointing at my wife. Apparently Lindsey grabbed the wrong bag of toiletries and
the lady thought she had stolen them.
I try to explain that this was an honest
mistake but I wasn’t getting very far. Security doesn’t want to let me through
because I have toothpaste in my toiletry bag. I throw the whole bag in the
trash and show them my boarding pass that I am running late. They let me
through. I offer to pay the lady 100 Yuan (which was roughly a week’s pay in
that part of the world in 2007) for her toiletries. She says in English “Some
things cannot be replaced” Ok. So me and random Chinese lady take off running
through the airport where Lindsey is holding the gate for us.
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| It was like this but with no smiling and much less photogenic. So, it really wasn't like this at all. |
What were the
important, irreplaceable, toiletries? Contact solution. At best 14 Yuan or so.
She takes her bag and goes on her way. We sit down on the plan to the US
exhausted (the rest of the team made it ahead of me not being held up by
security) and finally many hours later. We landed in the US. The team lead and his wife made it a day later.
It was a crazy trip. Yet, I wouldn’t trade any of it for a
second.It was an amazing journey and we got to see the Lord move among His people. There's a strong bond between those of us that went on the trip that still exists today even though we now live all over the place.
Romans 8:18 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us"
Enjoy the journey.
Glen
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