Adventures in Traveling the World
Somchai Nitiwanakul was born in Bangkok. At the age of nineteen and with $800.00 in his pocket Somchai came by himself to the United States. That was in 1967 and the city and state he went to was, Seattle, Washington. Small world. He went to Shoreline and Green River Community College while working his way through the restaurant world. He was employed at The...
After standing for thirty-minutes outside the Bangkok airport on a balmy night, a gentleman comes up to us holding a sign with my name. He’s with an air-conditioned van from the Thirteen Coin Resort ready to drive us 25 miles to the hotel. Thirty minutes later we were at our final destination. We walk into an enormous hotel lobby. Old, dark, and along one...
The wanderlust in my life is a gift. A gift of time, resources, health, and a sense of adventure. I’m on my way to meet Andy and travel together to Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. I’ll be gone for six and a half weeks, the longest I’ve been away from home. My journal reads, “Saying goodbye is the hardest. Even now, sitting here in...
When the University Presbyterian Church team was arriving in Seattle, Esther and I were on our way to Malindi, Kenya. We thought since we were traveling so far to get to Kenya why not stay a week longer. With some help from our new friends at World Concern in Nairobi, we made our way to Turtle Bay Beach Resort in Malindi. The city of...
My time in the field with the Maasai people comes to an end. This time is bitter-sweet as I will miss these amazing people and experiences. I hope the staff and volunteers felt appreciated and loved by us. Their dedication, compassion, hard work, and love for the people they serve was inspiring. I was assured that the World Concern staff would take care of...
In the local Maasai language, the word “Mara” means “spotted”, due to the many trees which dot the landscape. We will be seeing more of this dotted landscape as we head into the Maasai Mara National Reserve for the next two days. We head out after breakfast with the team to go on a game ride after lunch. World Concern rented us this deluxe,...