Travel to Thailand and Bangladesh

The following is a "stream of consciousness" sort of post beginning as I prepare to depart Dulles.  Enjoyed the changes to the terminal since last trip ... underground train to departure gate rather than the old "Star Wars ATAT Walkers". Departed 11:09 p.m. aand got a few hours of sleep here and there crossing Atlantic ... no long stretches of crying babies, PTL!  Watching video screen of flight path and aircraft performance statistics ... now flying past Malatya Turkey ... all I can think of is the three martyrs and the wife of one who immediately forgave attackers.  Passing by Mosul and Kirkuk ... my thoughts are of Assyrian believers who have lived near the Tigris for many centuries ... now being forced in many cases to flee their homeland or die.  Now passing to the west of Tehran ... brave house church pastors and their tiny flocks are on my heart.  Now 11 hours plus into 13 hour flight and I feel like I'm getting bed sores on a certain part of my anatomy ... how inconsequential compared to the suffering of those who have been on my heart the last few hours.  Baghdad now coming up to the west of our flight path.  So many forced to flee or face death.  Tehran still on the video screen ... Mehdi Dibaj, Haik Hovsepian Mehr, and the other faithful and courageous martyrs of the mid-90s are flooding my brain.  On the flight tracking video, Iraq is labeled Mesopotamia ... interesting ... wonder why.  Approaching Basra in southern Iraq ... flying over the land of the marsh Arabs we heard so much about 20 years ago.  Now over Shatt al Arab waterway and about to fly over northern end of Arabian Gulf abeam Kuwait.  Safe on deck in Doha Qatar ... waiting for connection to Bangkok.  Emailed my bride ... hope she received it.