This past weekend we ventured to the beach and were just heading out. We hailed a taxi and the driver had been given directions. He was not pulled over to the side of the road, and instead we met him in the second lane of stalled traffic (yes, thats not weird here). We went to get into the back of the taxi, but couldn't open the door because it was too close to the next vehicle. All of the sudden the taxi started moving, and the next few moments all happened very quickly. I was holding onto the door and was not entirely sure what was happening. I moved quickly with the taxi, but then all of the sudden the traffic started moving. There is absolutely no pedestrian right away in Thailand, and people would feel justified running you over if they honk first to give you warning. Sure enough, the LARGE expedition type vehicle approximately 8 inches away from us is honking at us and proceeding to move. A honk is basically a warning to tell you that you are going to die. You have approximately 0.0004 seconds to get out of the way of the massive moving vehicle. I had a backpack on and was now jumping into the still moving taxi. Not only this, but James was right behind me. I looked back with a look of absolute panic on my face and James is pushing me into the taxi and looks absolutely mortified. He is trying to push me into the taxi further (picture someone literally in diving position trying to enter a taxi....yeah, not the best picture, but SO funny) but is simultaneously attempting to close the door of the moving vehicle and not get crushed by the cars passing. We made it into the taxi and after the shock of the situation started to break I couldn't' stop laughing. You never know. You just never know. That is about the only phrase I could use to describe that moment. Oh, and mom, I am fine. I am being safe. I know this sounds dangerous, but good thing we serve a God who protects us, right? ;)
Hua Hin beach! 3 hours away, and the bus to get there only costs $6!
Such a beautiful place and a relaxing weekend retreat!
Another situation where "you never know" describes the moment perfectly. We were on the beach and all of the sudden a monsoon is coming in. If you have never experienced a monsoon, this is truly something that you should experience. Crazy amounts of rain fall from the heavens like a sheet and it comes on so quickly. We saw the clouds and predicted that we would have about 5 minutes to run for shelter. 45 seconds later we were head to toe drenched. You never know. We ran back to the hotel and were eager to get our cameras and belongings into a dry place so we could run around in the monsoon. After returning from this adventure, we were standing on the porch waiting till we dried a little or wrung ourselves out. We were sopping wet and didn't think it was appropriate to walk through the hotel like this. We were going to wait a little, until we spotted something in our peripherals. A cockroach. Gross. Then I moved my head to discover that every cockroach in Thailand was flooding onto the dry porch. Funny fact: when there are monsoons, the cockroaches flood to the dryest place. Funnier fact: that dryest place just happened to be the porch we were standing on. There were HUNDREDS of cockroaches right where we were standing. One of the girls we were with was about to pass out at the sight of them, so we told her to run to her room. I am not even exaggerating that there were hundreds of cockroaches. Later we went down to photograph this moment, and I captured them sweeping them up. It doesn't clearly depict how many there actually were, but it gives a good idea. Once again, in Thailand you never know.
These were monsoon warning clouds!
This is when you get the strong hint that you might want to start running somewhere quickly!
This is what you look like after getting caught in a monsoon!
Cockroach clean up crew!
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