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Taipei, Taiwan
It has been a very long smokey season in Chiang Mai and the air is hot and dry and cough-inducing. We had to go somewhere for our VISAs: so why not go to a big city for some fresh air?
Several weeks ago (I haven’t posted in a while!), we went to Taipei to try again applying for our family’s non-immigrant VISAs. That part of the trip was unsuccessful, but almost every other aspect of our weeklong trip was great. Jeremiah is writing a post about one event in Taiwan that threatened to ruin our trip. (Link to Jeremiah’s Post Here). We would walk several blocks to the Thailand Economic Trade Center each morning and give the people behind the desk our paperwork. It would take many hours to process, so we would leave to go enjoy Taiwan before going back to the Thailand Economic Trade Center later that day for our paperwork and let-downs.
Now for some non-gloomy things we did: The first day, we were sitting in the park near the building we had just dropped our paperwork into and then our parents said we had a plan and we walked to the nearest Metro. Although Chiang Mai is a big city, there are no Metro stations, so Taipei was interesting just because of their HUGE underground train system. None of us had been on a Subway train since we were in Hong Kong after adopting Tallulah five years ago. It was nice and well organized and it made traveling around the city easier.
Taipei was very orderly and organized which all of us agreed was a nice change of pace compared to “no-rules do whatever you want Chiang Mai.” There were green paths on the street for people to walk on and a bike lane on the sidewalk. And that was nothing compared to the escalators.
So perfect. So organized. Everyone stood on the right side of the escalator so that those in a hurry could pass on the left.
I digress. As I was saying, we left the park and walked a short distance to the next Metro station. That day we started off our trip with one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced: Taipei 101. If you haven’t heard of Taipei 101 then you should look it up. It is the world’s 11th tallest building at 1667 feet high! We took the metro station right to Taipei 101 and immediately hopped in an elevator up to the seventh floor. On the seventh floor, we got our tickets and we ushered into a really nice elevator. Much better than the one at our hotel that loved to close on people. When we were traveling up, faster than I thought was mechanically possible, the lights in the elevator dimmed and showed fake constelations on the ceiling. The screen on the wall showed floor numbers changing nearly as fast a stopwatch. Then we hit the 89th floor: The Observation Deck. It was awesome. It was cold and covered in windows that gave us a full 360 view of Taipei.
We saw mountains and skyscrapers and buildings that were made to look cool just for us tourists.
Yes the middle one is an Apple Store shaped like a Laptop Computer.
The next day, we went to Taipei Zoo.
The Zoo had its own Metro station so it was very easy to get there. Wait, no it wasn’t! Before we went to the Zoo, my dad had to go get something from our hotel room and he was going to get on the Metro closest to our hotel and hop on a train and meet us at the next stop. The “little” disaster that happened earlier in the morning had slowed down the trains and only a few passed, so crammed with passengers I was worried someone would suffocate. (Again, Jeremiah is writing about the “little disaster“). Only three trains came through before we found Dad. (The train going the opposite way came at least 10 times!) Dad had decided it would take too long and be too crowded when he saw the trains by his metro so he decided to quickly walk (run) to our Metro station instead. By the time he got there, the “traffic” had sped up and trains were moving normally. We hopped on and went to the Zoo.
The Taipei Zoo is the largest zoo in Asia. It is huge. All of us were exhausted walking around it. It is so big we had to go to it twice to see everything! The second day, though, we went to the North America section and were disgusted by this guy.
It is hard to tell but this is an American Bison. We are used to seeing skinny cows but none compare to this creature. I am sure when, in Genesis, Pharaoh has a dream of seven fat cows being eaten by the sickest, skinny cows, he was seeing this buffalo as one of the “famine cows.”
Anyway, one thing that is cool about Asian Zoos are that they can have more outdoor exhibits because the weather outside is the weather in the animal’s natural habitat. They have the indoor penguins and pandas and that’s about it.
The name above intrigued me so I looked it up and apparently this breed of penguin, the Jackass Penguin, are called Jackass because they sound like donkeys. Weird.
They had every kind of elephant (which I didn’t take any pictures of because there are plenty of elephants in Chiang Mai), every kind of bear,
and a ton of wild spiders everywhere. (It’s really hard to tell, but the first spider is really close to the camera right in the center of the photo!)
Speaking of spiders, they’re a few things that the Taipei Zoo had that, in my opinion, beat almost every other Zoo. Their Insectarium was probably the most filled and informative Insectarium I have ever seen. Their butterfly room had only a few species of Butterfly and I thought that was it but it kept going on and on and on. There were small bugs crawling around the walkways like praying mantis and ants. (The “leaves” on the tree in the 3rd photo are butterflies!)
There were butterflies and wasps and bees flying around. Fun fact we learned at a bee farm, asian bees are not aggressive. Seriously, it is crazy. When we went to the bee farm, I expected us to put on hazmat/beekeeper suits and not to touch any bees but they would just pick up a bee and set in our ungloved hands. Not a single sting.
Anyways, the coolest part of the zoo was definitely the Pangolin Dome.
The whole time we were there, we wanted to see the Pangolins. They are a rare and endangered animal that is kind of a mix between an armadillo and an anteater. They are really cool and really cute. Except the Pangolin Dome had no pangolins! We saw one sleeping in another exhibit but that was it. What a let down!
Even though it was called the Pangolin Dome, it was home to many, many more animals than that. It was, as the name suggests, a big chain dome full of trees and plants. We walked on a windy concrete path and was immediately met by these two HUGE birds just right next to us. (That dark thing in the tree is called a “Great Argus”, and it was as long as a young child!)
The one on the railing, the Great Cussarow, looked like it would lunge at any moment.
Right after we passed those birds, we were met by two or three little Cotton-Topped Tamarins. Now, I don’t really care for monkeys. I think they are ugly, creepy, and grosser than most animals. Same with koalas. But if I had to get a monkey I would definitely want it to be these guys. They were small and brown and orange in color, but their highlighting feature was their mane of pure white hair. They look like the coolest little rockstars ever. Plus, they weren’t shy. My dad set his hand on the railing and one of them just walked over it to impress the other tourists.
Also in the Pangolin Dome was a little “Kingdoms of the Night” exhibit. (If you don’t know what “Kingdoms of the Night” is, go to the Henry Doorly Zoo under the desert dome). They call it The Nocturnal Zone. There was a lemur and a loris and a monkey but that was it. This room was so dark we had to feel along the walls to find our way out into the light. There was also an “Amazon river” with a GIANT FISH and a some stingrays and other creatures of the Amazon.
In addition to the two that met us at the entrance, there were several other beautiful birds flying around. Scarlet Ibis, Blue Macaws, Red-and-Blue Lorikeets, and Bee-eaters were some of the birds you could see.
There were so many animals in this place that we didn’t even see! Their website says there was a two-toed sloth climbing around. We saw some tortoise but there were so many of those, scattered throughout the zoo. There was one building with practically every kind of lizard and turtle and tortoise in the world. Plus, the Iguana Tree. (I just looked it up, and the Pangolin Dome doesn’t have any pangolins but the is whole building is pangolin-shaped!)
There was no aquarium which is probably the only thing that makes Zoo #2 on my “Favorite Zoo’s List.” I know. You may think I am crazy but the Henry Doorly Zoo remains #1. I really loved the Insectarium and the whole Taipei Zoo was basically the Lied Jungle but the lack of an Aquarium and other indoor exhibits like that put it in number two.
It is close also because of this guy….
…who did something legendary! My dad looked at him and said, and I quote, “Wassup buddy?” and the monkey acknowledged him with the coolest “wassup head nod” ever!
A few weeks after we came back, we went to the Night Safari here in Chiang Mai. It was a Homeschool Co-op event and the Night Safari is probably #3 in my “Favorite Zoo’s List.” That is a story for a different post though.
There is so much more that happened in Taiwan so….
….To be continued…..
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An Unplanned Trip to Laos
I don’t believe in luck or in jinxes, but whenever my mom says that we have to take a “short” trip to the Immigration Office, it seems we are actually in for a whole lot more. For example, this last trip was supposed to take “maybe two hours” if we get there early enough to be first in the queue line. I mean, we’ve done this kind of extension before and it was fairly simple. Mom was even hoping we would get home early enough to have a normal day of school. So, we left at 6:30 A.M. and got home at midnight. Here’s how it went: (read in a James Bond British accent, if you have one)
It was an early Thursday morning. The weather, some of the nicest I have seen since the Big Move. We all got into clean, respectable clothes, for this was the standard. We left as the sun was coming up, shining the world in its eerie light. We were some of the very first to arrive, acquiring queue numbers that would set us among the first to travel to the counter. We had some time before the counters would open, so we found the necessary forms and filled out the paperwork needed for this visit. Then, paperwork completed, we sat in the empty plastic chairs, and waited about 45 minutes before the counters opened. By then, there were no empty chairs and people were forced to stand.
After a kind gentleman came out to tell the novices (a category the likes of which we are not in) how to proceed, our queue number was called. My mother, my sisters, and I went to the counter and confidently passed them our passports and paperwork. They were supposed to look at them and verify the validity before handing them back and sending us on to the next set of chairs and row of counters with a new queue number in hand. But our life is not one of ease, for when we spoke to the dear officer behind the counter, he informed us we could only be permitted another 30 days in the fine country of Thailand if we first left the country at the border. So, accepting our ill-timed fate, we left and sat on the steps of the office, waiting for my father and brother to get their situations worked out (fortunately for them, they have VISAs of a different sort). My father then needed to stand in yet another line at yet another window for yet another process. While waiting for him to finish, my mother, siblings, and I went to the nearest 7 ELEVEn (which is, in fact, spelled as such) to get some snacks to satisfy our grumbling stomachs. This was the second time getting our sustenance from a petrol station that day, for we had earlier purchased fruit from a stand at a petrol station for our morning meal.
Our father met us, and from there we all left for another unexpected adventure. We piled in the car and left town to drive through the mountains of Chiangmai. By and by the hours went, though we all knew we still had several more kilometers to go. We stopped at a third petrol station to use the loo and to find our lunch. Fortunately, this was one of the fancier PTTs. Fancier meaning there was the popular KFC in addition to the Five Star Chicken vendor, Dunkin’ Donuts stand, Cafe Amazon, and, of course, 7 ELEVEn. Yet again, we ventured forward, this time making a dreadful mess in the car with a huge bucket of fried chicken in the middle seat.
Fast forward the hours passed. After several devices died and our only entertainment was staring out at the mountains, and we finally got to the border. Memories filled our brains from our previous failed trip to the Laos border (that fateful trip, we ended up turning back empty-handed and flying to Malaysia the next day). When we stepped out of the car, we immediately coughed and gagged for fresh air for the dreaded smoky season had already hit that region quite hard. We walked the short walk to the border from the parking lot and got in line behind the small hoard of backpackers that were there ahead of us. Leaving the father and brother behind, we journeyed to a new country. We each, in turn, handed the men our passports, scanned our fingerprints, and stared awkwardly at the face-surveying camera, before walking to the bus stop.
After a small wait, we climbed into the bus and drove for a singular minute over a wide river before stopping at another structure exactly like the one we had just left: that one in Thailand, this one in Laos. Leaving the bus, we stood in yet another line behind yet another counter. Upon discovering it to be the wrong line, we began again: another line, another counter. After handing over a pile of cash in exchange for Laotian VISAs and entry stamps in our passports (the likes of which would prove we left Thailand for a few minutes) back to the bus stop we headed. We were done standing and waiting, now we could sit and wait. After 30 minutes or so, we could board the next bus headed for Thailand. The scenery was beautiful for we were right by the mountains and they looked right out of a painting, especially with a film of smoke covering everything the naked eye could see. We boarded the bus and ventured back to Thailand.
Everything went rather smoothly after that. We drove another grueling 5 1/2 hours home in the dark, with leftover fried chicken and 7 ELEVEn for our supper. We did have the good fortune to find a 7 ELEVEn with an ice cream cooler, so our day was topped off with Thai quality ice cream for dessert.
We came home at midnight and immediately fell asleep. That was the end of it. Ha! It might never be the end of it. Nevertheless, this adventure is over, and a new one is coming. I can feel it.
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Moving To Thailand
This personal narrative was originally written by Jeremiah Keim as a requirement of his coursework for The Good and the Beautiful Level 3 Language Arts.
The day mom and dad told us we were going to move to Thailand, I was scared because I thought I wouldn’t be able to see my friends again. I was sitting on the couch and it was dark outside when mom and dad told me and my brother and sisters. After I calmed down, I felt really excited about it. It took several days to pack and we made our house into a place for other people to stay. Finally, the week before we moved we went to spend time with our family. Personally, I felt really sad that we would have to leave them but also really happy because they said they would sometimes visit us.
When we went to the airport it was really early in the morning. When we got to the airport we said goodbye and then loaded all our stuff onto the plane. Our first plane ride, I took a nap and when I woke up we were nearly to Detroit. The next two flights were nice and comfy because I got to watch movies and wear soft, warm, fuzzy slippers. It was longer than I expected, but then we finally got to Thailand. I felt really happy because we met all the ZOE people and I finally got to breathe fresh air again (the air wasn’t really fresh it was actually smokey, but, hey, at least it was air that wasn’t inside the plane all night).
First, one of the missionaries took us to the house that we chose to live in. It was OK, but I was really scared of the geckos and of the snakes that might live here. Luckily, I haven’t seen any snakes. Eventually, I started to like geckos. I like to catch them and release them outside.
Next, the missionaries took us around to all their favorite restaurants and stuff. For example, we got to go with a missionary to a plant market. It was pretty fun. I saw lots of cactuses and Elephant Ear plants. Another example is that another missionary took us to this really cool art gallery where the paintings look super realistic, like you were holding a hammer in the painting or like you were fighting a dragon.
Also, one of the families took us to the zoo with them. It was really fun because we got to rent a golf cart and we saw a whole bunch of cool animals that live in Thailand and other places. Afterwards, we went to this awesome restaurant with an big pretend boat outside and we played tag on it.
I am really happy we live in Thailand now because my dad is helping ZOE stop child trafficking. I think my dad is doing what God made him to do. I want to support him and do what I can do to help raise money for ZOE so that we can give help to the kids who have been trafficked. My heart makes me feel like I want to help and give them a normal life again, because after being trafficked it would be hard.
THE END
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MORE IMPORTANT THAN A FILTER
I was explicitly told to by my manager at work to always relate whatever project I’m working on or the changes I’m suggesting back to the Scriptures. Let Jesus be THE authority, not Rodney Keim “The Missionary.” The Thai people by nature and culture, are very deferential. Even if they fully disagree with everything I might say, my position as a missionary from America, places me in a position of authority, whether it is merited or not. They might know a better way or have more experience than me, but they will very likely acquiesce to my position simply because their cultural upbringings tell them my status is greater than their’s. We as Americans don’t have a problem verbally battling for better ideas. However, observing our cultural differences is critical to moving forward as a team.
My job title at the moment is “Facilities and Agricultural Advisor.” My current role is to look over the property with fresh eyes and seek out areas of improvement, research how these improvements can be made, and make efforts to implement my research. An area I stumbled upon that didn’t look quite right was the tilapia and catfish farm. ZOE raises their own fish for consumption, but it hasn’t gone as smoothly as they had hoped. The fish have either underperformed, taken too long to reach consumption size, or simply died off. I have no training when it comes to aquaculture, but I do have a knack for spotting things that don’t seem on target. My first look at the fish farm tanks immediately piqued my curiosity as to a potential problem. The water looked like chocolate milk. A general rule I learned many years ago was “animals under stress don’t perform.” Regardless of the animal in question, if they are stressed because of poor handling, extreme temperature, the presence of pests, or low-quality environment, they simply won’t thrive. They won’t eat right or enough. They’ll get sick. The problems pile on top of each other ultimately leading to death.
There are over 300 white and orange Tilapia in this tank. Where are they? I could have explained all my training to the Thai staff, but it likely wouldn’t have landed with the weight with which it had bothered my conscience. Fish in Thailand are raised in dirty water all the time. The large ponds and lakes around are all murky and yet people still catch seemingly healthy fish. Plus, they’re fish right? Who cares about a stupid fish?
Remembering my manager’s imperative to allow the Bible to be the supreme authority, I believe God sparked my creativity. I asked a couple of the Thai staff in charge of the fish farm to picture what the water looked like in the garden of Eden. When everything was made perfect, could they picture what type of water the fish were swimming in? Of course, they said the water was clear and clean. This isn’t a revelation. No one needs to be told what perfect water looks like. We all intrinsically know that water should be clean. Furthermore, I told them to think about the air quality we were experiencing. I asked if they felt healthy, strong and motivated to work. I asked if they thought the air in Eden was smokey. Again, they knew immediately it wasn’t. I explained how we all felt off-balance breathing the smokey air and knew we would feel better when the rains come and clean the air. Would it be hard to imagine that the fish would feel the same way, that the water they live in has a direct effect on their wellbeing like the air we breathe? The lightbulbs clicked on in their heads and got excited about solving the problem.
For less than $60 USD, we were able to build 2, double barrel fishpond filters utilizing a lot of materials already on hand. The one Thai staff member who has felt demoralized by the failures of the fish project, has had a renewed sense of purpose, taking pride in his work. He knows healthy water equals healthy fish, which in turn equals healthy food for rescued kids. He knows his area of responsibility is directly related to restoring trafficked kids and orphans. The pride I’ve seen swell in him as been a joy. He stands taller, smiles brighter, and looks forward to making his area look better. We’re still tweaking and adjusting the fish farm, but the Thai staff have a joy about the process which I hadn’t seen before.
You can actually see the bottom of the tank which is more than 2′ down. Had I not been emphatically told to relate all my projects back to God, we still would have likely installed filters at my recommendation but the joy in my co-worker’s heart would most assuredly be absent. Could it be God cares more about His children’s hearts than fish? I think so. I’m slowly learning to do things His way, but learning nonetheless.
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“IT COULD BE WORSE” IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING “GOOD”
It’s amazing to realize how fast I can adapt to new surroundings and at the same time fail to understand the impact of that ability. If you have been following us, you’ve likely seen us post about the air quality in Chiang Mai (like Alisha’s post from a few weeks ago: https://ourparadoxology.com/breathing-paradox/). From mid-January through late April or May, villagers in Northern Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar routinely burn the jungles, fields, ditches, and rice paddies. There’s debate as to the reason for this practice but the results are the same. Due to the mountainous terrain, lack of seasonal rainfall, and shortage of wind, the rising smoke has nowhere to go and subsequently hovers like a suffocating blanket over Chiang Mai.
Having lived on open prairies of North Central Nebraska, I never once thought about air quality. We were always breathing fresh air. “Bad air” was how we might have referred to seasonal pollen, but, even then, the pollen signified vibrant and healthy ecosystems all around us.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) has six color ranges: Green 1-50, Yellow 51-100, Orange 101-150, Red 151-200, Purple 201-300, and Maroon 301+. The air quality in Atkinson, NE, regularly hovers in single digit territory, or comfortably Green. When we stepped off the plane in Chiang Mai, the air quality was about 125 – orange. By mid-April, we had air quality readings in excess of 500. Just this week, it has dropped for the first time since we’ve lived here to below 100 – yellow. Comparatively, we now feel incredible, and yet, we are still a long way from the air quality we’re used to.
What I am learning through all of this is how easily I adjust to circumstances around me, regardless of if they are positive or negative. When adversity becomes normal, I adjust to the new normal without regard to the consequences. It is like the slow boiling frog analogy. I think It is easy to understand the metaphor of the water increasing temperature just like the air quality getting worse. Just like the proverbial frogs, I acclimate to the harsh environment around me. One might argue to be an enviable dexterity of personality. What I don’t as easily recognize is that when the environment starts to improve (the water temp drops or air quality cleans up), I become excited and thankful for the relief, but don’t even realize that the new present conditions are still worse than what I should expect or desire. A water temperature of 120 is far less than 212, but not remotely close to the temperature a frog would normally be expected to thrive in.
While it’s a skill and positive attribute having the ability to function amid turmoil, tribulation, adversity, or hardships, the danger is being content with the new normal, or adjusting to a dangerous situation that isn’t as bad as it was at its worst, but still worse than it was before the situation arose in the first place. To put it another way, a child may start off clean but when he finds an irresistible mud puddle and proceeds to cover himself head to toe, the first action is to hose him off. It’s true that he’s cleaner than he was when the mud was caked in his hair, but it’s not the same as being clean.
My spiritual journey is the same. I may not be as flagrantly bad as I once was, but that’s not the same as being as clean as I should be. My ability to adapt is not a strength when it comes to getting comfortable to the sin around me, even when I experience great relief from previous degrees of sinful bondage. I think Satan uses the skill of contentment as a weapon against improvement: I’m better than I once was, but that is not the same as being as good as I should be. It’s not an argument for effort. I can’t clean my sin away more than I can make it rain to clear the smoke. My ability to adjust easily to new situations can subsequently be a barrier preventing me from experiencing the necessary cleansing only Jesus’ blood can offer.
