Mongolia and China

They build things a lot here and when they talk it sounds kind of like slurping tea. I like that. Also pushing isn't rude, which is really interesting. If you bump someone's foot though, it's a really big deal and you have to shake hands quickly or they will probably hit you. It's a bit cold today, which is relief.

Beijing-Ulan Bator 30 hours of fun. Some things we saw from the train window : Wild horses, no roads and the Gobi desert. Camels too. And the great wall of China. Inside the train. Loads of lovely people. I made friends with these Chinese American kids and we played cards a lot. Lots of unrude pushing too.

In China spitting isn't rude. It's not uncommon for middle aged WI style women to "hock a lougie" as the Americans would say. Also a lot of leaning over delicately pinching one nostril and violently cleansing the other at your feet. It's beautiful. Not making noise while you eat is rude too. Slurping is required. Staring isn't rude either. Most of the places we were in China no westerners at all go. In one villages they had never seen white people. So there was a LOT of staring. Everyday someone had to have there photo taken with people. In one school I had to give autographs. It is so weird. They all think we are so beautiful too. The other day I was compared to David Beckham. You have permission to laugh heartily.

Seriously China is an amazing country. No wonder Paddington was so cool. All the rice paddies and noodles and 1.3 billion people. It's cool. In heaven one in four people will be Chinese. On Earth it's about one in five. I'm pretty sure that's relevant.

So I'm in this tiny hut in a village in China watching some American B movie on DVD by the open fire in the middle of the room. There are six boys in the room and a couple of Grand parents. They have to turn THE bulb out to put the TV on. It's a weird world seriously. It's hard not to see westernism as some kind of foul disease which is slowly eroding all variety in the world. Bringing a uniformity stamped and trade marked by a large yellow M and a starbucks logo. It makes me sad, but so too does under nourished and ignored kids and maybe Westernism has something positive to say to them.

Pray for all our health. I got a bit sick and the others are sick now too. Rice three times a day is not great for our pet bodies. Food in Mongolia is way more varied it seems. Last night at a Mongolian restaurant I had shepherd's pie. So weird. How did Shepherd's pie make it to Mongolia? To be honest guys I probably spend at least 80% of the time completely confused.

foreigners aliens strangers in this world, in every world maybe. We're praying to God for all our needs and He never disappoints. The other day we need train tickets there were none. We prayed, then there were six cancellations, all beside each other. He is so good to us. So much more. Helping Angels everywhere. Insight, truth. It's much better to hear in person. So pop over and I'll fill you in.

my trip

okay quickly now....

12th May Singapore
12th May Hong Kong
18th May Other town in China, bit secret.
Then to Beijing
18th June My birthday Beijing to Finland
6th July Istanbul
Then to Bulgaria
Then to Israel
12th August Israel to London.

see you then.

Pray for love unity in the team, good times with strange people, protection and safety.
I love you all.

friends

So I'm leaving here in two days to go to Singapore and then on to Hong Kong.

Then to china,
then to Mongolia,
then to Finland,
then to Russia,
then to Bulgaria,
then to Turkey,
then to Israel,
then to Barcelona!!!!! Exclaim exclaim! because there i will seee Lucia again and i shall be the happiest boy on planet earth.

It's a tiny bit sad to leave. I've made some truly amazing friends (this does nowhere near explain how cool these guys are; special amazing thank you to Ben O, Ben D and James) here and got to do loads of stuff I've always wanted to do. I'll still be hanging out with five of them and then we all meet in Israel for ten days at the end and get to graduate on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus originally commissioned His disciples. That'll be pretty amazing I'm sure. Guys, can i just encourage anyone thinking about taking time to do something like this - do it, for flip'ss sake. It's such a privilege to have the chance - take it.

van

NZ is a blackhole for second hand japanese cars. This is fantastic for people here. They get cheap reliable cars almost anywhere. Everyone has a car. Also their car insurance is most not much more than 100pounds a year. Also fantastically, it's legal to drive with out insurance and the MOT equivalent test's standards are considerably lower thatn the UK.

Guys do you see what this is all adding up to?

For the last two weeks my friends and i have been the proud owners of a 1983 Nissan Vanette. It's got three seats up front and a bed in the back. Along the side in large blue letters is written: SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND and there's a "smile jesus loves you" sticker on the back window. Not my doing, but i was pleasently suprised. We bought it for $NZ 350, that's around 140 pounds. Bargin. It works well aside from not being a big fan of cold mornings. I've been on trips to the ice cream shop and camping. Three of us slept in the back, it ws cosy and well fun. This truly is comfortable camping. It came with a whole heap of camping stuff too.

SO MUCH FUN.

We took it away, had a fire and talked to eachother and Jesus. We cooked chicken and potatoes. I love life, seriously. No joke. I prayed for this van. I prayed for chocolate and Someone randomly gave it to me within 15mins. God will give you the desires of your heart. We asked for a van and this girl randomly phoned here offering one for cheap as. It's crazy.

Raise your expectations.

an itinerate itinerary

Loads of these dates are wrong, but the destinations are right.

16th Sept
Ba flight BA 243
LHR, terminal 4 1400
Mexico City 1915

1st Oct
American Airlines flight AA1066
Mexico City 0650
Dallas Fort Worth 0931

American Airlines flight AA2193
Dallas Fort Worth 1245
Belize City 1436

11th Nov 05

American Airlines flight AA2104
Belize City 1523
Miami 1821

American Airlines flight AA2111
Miami 2325
Lima 0500

02 Dec 05

Lan Chile Airlines LA531
Lima 0715
Santiago 1235

Lan Chile Airlines LA756
Santiago 1500
Rio De Janeiro 21200

23 Dec 05

Lan Chile Airlines LA755
Rio De Janeiro 0815
Santiago 1310

7 Jan 06

Lan Chile Airlines LA841
Santiago 0930
Easter Island 1250

26 Jan 06

Lan Chile Airlines LA834
Easter Island 1210
Santiago 1900

Lan Chile Airlines LA801
Santiago 2325
Auckland 0425 (28 Jan 06)

28 Jan 06
Quantas QF4103
Auckland 0730
Christchurch 0850