Typically, I leave from Seattle and head east to make my way through Europe to the African continent. However, I left in early January, this time heading West over the Pacific through Hong Kong to reach my destination of Chiang Mai, Thailand. I’m taking one of my final courses in my doctoral studies through Biola, and this was where I had to take the class.

On the way over, I spent the night (in a 5’x10′ room) and part of the next day in the metropolis of Hong Kong. Wow, what a lot of money there is all over that place! BMW’s, Mercedes, Ferraris and Porsches are nearly the only cars you see. Crossing the harbor to the island brings you to a massive concrete and building jungle. Although the weather wasn’t very cooperative as it drizzled much of the time, I made my way through narrow streets and a thousand stairs to get to the midlevel of the island trying to reach the top of Victoria Peak. I found a small road that wound its way finally up to the top, and although I was in the clouds much of the time, every so often they cleared so I could see below.

From there I made my way on to Chiang Mai (where I am now), enjoying the 70-85 degree weather and clear skies. I wish I could say I was having awesome adventures doing things like parasailing, ziplining, bungee jumping and elephant trekking. They do all of that here, but I’m spending all day in the classroom and all night in my room studying. Not very exciting, but it’s what needs to happen.

I wish I could share some pictures of the thrilling times we all are sitting in class interacting over dissertation proposals, staring at our computers, but due to the fact that some of the participants are in limited-access countries, identities must be concealed. I did make some good progress on clarity for my dissertation proposal, which amounts to the first three chapters of my dissertation (introduction where all elements of the dissertation are clearly explained, then the literature review, and then the chapter on methods and procedures for collecting research. I’ve got my work cut out for me this semester, when I need to put it all together, and then over the next year or two as I conduct the research and write it up.

I leave on Friday night to head back through Hong Kong and then to Seoul, S. Korea where I’ll spend from 5:30am till 7:30pm, so hopefully I’ll have energy on no sleep to get out and see the city a bit. Then it’s back home to Seattle. Maybe I’ll post some more pix over the next few days as I pass through Seoul, but the inside of the classroom is not that picturesque here in Chiang Mai. I’m thankful though, cause I found a place that serves a decent breakfast, has a clean bed and a lap pool for only $17/night. I’m sharing a room with a little French guy who is a professional long-distance runner, and speaks very little English.

Having a healthy sense of adventure certainly helps in being a world-traveler.

UPDATE:

I’m now in Seoul, S. Korea. It has been a long journey so far, and still have one more long leg to go. After being in class all day, I went to airport and got a flight that night to Hong Kong. It was stressful since the connection was very tight and I was changing tickets and terminals and unable to check in online, etc. But God was gracious and I made my connection and continued on to Seoul.

It was a shock when I arrived at 5:30am local time, cause although I still had sweaty clothes in my bag from the Thai heat, there was snow covering the runway and planes in Seoul! I guess it is a good place to host the Winter Olympics next month.

I made my way to a great feature of the airport – free transit tours. I signed up to visit Gyeongbok palace followed by Insadong Street, a famous souvenir spot. However, it was so freezing cold outside that my phone camera stopped working partway through.

I’m thankful God has wired me to be able to function well enough on very little sleep… for a time. But by the time I get home, I’ll definitely be ready for some downtime.

UPDATE #2 – I’m just getting ready to head to my gate for the flight home and I happened to bump into a professor of mine from my days at Trinity Divinity School. Dr. VanGemeren was in the same lounge where I was, and it was so good to see him again after 25 years. This is when we break out in song, “It’s a small world after all….”

Pressing on, Eric