Burma's Perpetual War

Illegal crossing at Mae Sot

The small town of Mae Sot in Thailand is located on the border of Thailand and Burma.  A river separates the two nations. There used to be a border crossing at Mae Sot - the Bridge of Freedom brought you to the Union of Myanmar, but the bridge and the border crossing have been closed for over a year.  The only way to cross from one country to another in Mae Sot is to do so illegally.  It's not hard to do.  You pay a bribe to the Burmese police and you pay a person to tow in an inner tube to the other side. 
  Across the river from Mae Sot is home to the ethnic group called the Karen who have been at war with the Burmese military junta for over 40 years.  The Karen want a democratic Burma or an autonomous Karen union where they can make a living and be free from terrorism by the Burmese army and state police.  A sham election in Burma last November legitimized the military government which is one of the most corrupt governments in the world.  At one time, Burma used to be the rice bowl of SE Asia, but since the mid 80's it has been on the U.N.'s least developed country list.  This designation probably marks the beginning of the intense civil war in Burma.
    Many of the Karen villages have been destroyed by the Burmese army.  The displaced Karen people either become refugees or migrants in Thailand or they go into hiding in the jungles of Burma.  Mae Sot has become a predominantly Burmese town of migrants.  The migrants cannot leave Mae Sot.  If they do they can be arrested by Thai authorities and sent back to Burma.  Just south of Mae Sot is the largest of the 9 Burmese refugee camps in Thailand (holding 45,000 or more people).  Residents in refugee camps also lack the freedom to leave the camp.  As we were leaving Mae Sot to return to Chiang Mai, we passed through 4 military check points. 
    One way that the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) protects the Karen villages in Burma is to plant home-made land mines around the villages.  These landmines aren't intended to kill, just create considerable bodily harm and a lot of fear.  The land mines are a cheap and effective.  However, sometimes the villagers step on the landmines.
     During our stay in Mae Sot, we visited a health clinic and several NGOs that are helping the Karen who have entered Thailand legally or illegally or who are internally displaced in Burma, or who are political prisoners in Burma.  Mae Sot is also a town of NGOs working with Burmese migrants and, actually, so is Chiang Mai.  I taught Burmese migrants at an NGO in Chiang Mai.

A list of people  waiting for artificial limbs

not the best, but they work

He'll be getting legs soon

  

Refugees are provided with daily rations of rice, fish paste, mung beans, plus some other things.  The number of calories per day is adequate, but the diet is deficient in many vitamins and minerals, even when the refugees supplement their rations with vegetables and chickens that they raise in the camps. 

Migrants do not get rations.   However, it is probably easier for them to work illegally in Thailand.  In fact, Burmese migrants contribute to over 6% of Thailand's GDP.  There probably aren't many compelling reasons to eliminate migrants in Thailand.  They take jobs that Thais wouldn't take.  On our visit to Mae Sot, we caught a glimpse of how hard and tenuous life is for migrants and refugees.  It was impossible to imagine that life was worse in Burma.  

The food and markets in Mae Sot were outstanding.  I'll describe them in another blog.

This is fish paste

Mae La Refugee camp

The day I should have had my camera

This is Hi, my tuk tuk driver

On day 3 of visiting the Angkor temples, we went to the farthest out temples.  The tuk tuk ride to the first temple was over an hour long and we passed through several small villages.  If I had my camera, I would have taken 100s of pictures of the rice farming, fishing, village life, etc.  But instead, I just enjoyed the scenery.  The hour went by quickly. 

The first temple was the most well preserved temple in the Angkor complex and it gave you and idea of what the temples must have looked like when they were used.  It was a very interesting temple, particularly with the help of an interpretation center that identified who all of the deities were and what the pictures meant and how the various temples in the Angkor complex differed in style from one another.  This would have been a good place to start.

After the 2nd temple, Hi disconnected the tuk tuk and I sat on the back of his motor cycle.  Hi had proven to be a safe, slow motorcycle driver and we were well out of the city.  He warned me the day before that part of the 3rd day would be on motorcycle.  I was under the impression that he was going to take me to the large lake for a boat ride to the Vietnamese floating village while he went to his friend's wedding in a near by village. I must have misunderstood him, because he took me to the wedding party.  I wasn't dressed for a wedding.

I sat at the wedding party with my bare legs buried under the table cloth because I was so embarrassed partly for being under-dressed and mostly from being the only white person at the dinner.  We watched the bride and groom greet each of the guests as they arrived at the dinner party (outdoors in the heat, of course).  During the 2 hours that we were at the wedding reception, the bride and groom wore 4 different gaudy costumes:  orange, then turquoise, then green, and finally silver.  They wore large, plastic, brightly colored gems that accentuated the gaudiness.  The bride wore an obnoxious wig and orange lipstick.  The wedding party also changed clothes to match the color of the bride and groom.  A stack of napkins (toilet paper in Thailand) was sitting on a table beside the bride and groom.  It was so hot yesterday that the groom used more than one package to wipe the sweat off his face.  Each dinner table had a packet of napkins for the same purpose.  The sweating was profuse. 

The dinner consisted of several courses of meat:  lunch meat, beef tripe (surprisingly good), chicken, beef, fish and finally chicken soup.  No one got a plate.  Instead everybody picked from the same platter with their chopsticks.  That created another potentially embarrassing moment because I'm not that adept with chopsticks.  Thais use a spoon to eat with.  But I picked up the roasted cashews flawlessly with my chopsticks.  Used napkins, pop cans, chicken and fish bones, and all other forms of garbage were thrown on the ground. 

When we finally left the wedding party, we walked across the road to get the motorcycle, and the buddhist nun asked if I needed to go to the bathroom.  Her toilet was out behind the house. Interestingly, they assumed that I knew how to use a squat pot and flush it.  To her delight (she even hugged me) I used her toilet.

So off we went to pick up the tuk tuk and visit the last temple.  When we got there, a film crew was setting up to film a movie with a hot Cambodian actor.  The stands that people sold food at were cleaned up, brightly colored baskets were carefully arranged and lined with banana leaves.  Hi seemed mesmerized by the whole process of setting the scene.

We arrived back at the hotel at 3:00.  I really didn't feel like going to the Tonle Sap and the floating village.  I had enough adventure for one day. 

3 Days in the Ancient City of Angkor

Tuk tuk is not the only way to see Angkor Wat

Tuk tuking through Angkor

In its prime, Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city in the world.  Magnificent temples were built in Angkor between the 8th and 13th century by a string of kings, some of whom were Hindu and some of whom were Buddhist.  Each of the temples reflects a predominant religion, but has aspects of both Hinduism and Buddhism.

May is probably not the best time to see ancient Angkor because it is beastly hot.  But I didn't have much choice.  I hired a tuk tuk driver (named Hi) who took me around Siem Reap (the town close to Ankgor) and the Angkor complex.  For 3 days in Angkor, I walked and walked, looked at bas reliefs, climbed steep stairs, got swindled, drank water, ducked through short doorways, climbed more scary stairs, drank more water, got buried in hoards of little children selling stuff, and tripped over uneven stones.  The tuk tuk rides between temples were as interesting as the temples themselves.    

I took a couple hundred photos.  I would have had more photos, but on day 3 I left my camera in my hotel room.  And day 3 was not a day to be without a camera.  More about day 3 in another blog. 

Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom

Angkor Wat

Bas reliefs around each wall of Angkor Wat

Ta Prohm being eaten by trees

Plastic bottle collector in Angkor Thom

You can see all the way through most temples

Hindu images

Buddhist images

Banteay Kdei

Happy New Year Thailand!

April 13 is the Thai new year.  This year is 2554 by the Buddhist calendar.  Siddhartha (who became the Buddha upon enlightenment) was born 543 years before Jesus. 

The transition from the old year into the new year is celebrated with rituals of cleanings and blessings both of which involve water.  In fact, in many parts of Thailand, people get carried away with the amount of water used to "cleanse" each other and it is not exactly clean water since much of it comes out of the canals or the brown Ping River in Chiang Mai.  This celebration with water is known as Songkran or water festival and it is celebrated with various degrees of robustness.  It is said that Chiang Mai's Songkran Festival is probably the best in the country. 

Rich came to Thailand and we were able to celebrate Songkran in Chiang Mai.  We were told over and over again that the celebration is wild.  That is an understatement.  Besides the wild frivolity of "cleansing" one another with water, there are more serious rituals that take place in Buddhist temples and in homes. 

During the Thai New Year, Buddha images are washed - realistically and symbolically.  Many people go to the temple to symbolically wash the Buddha images, but they can also perform the ritual at their convenience in shopping malls and grocery stores.  This is also a time to give blessings to the elderly (usually washing their hands with scented water) and receiving blessings from the elderly.  During these blessing exchanges, gifts are often given to the elderly.  Merit-making is also done by bringing practical gifts to the monks in the temples (food, travel-size hygiene products, laundry detergent, etc).  Rich and I were able to join Ken Dobson and his husband Pramote in merit-making and elderly blessing exchange in their village outside of Chiang Mai. 

Songkran in Chiang Mai

People get buckets of water from the canal to throw on passers-by.

Symbolic washing of the Buddha images

Merit-making gifts offered to the monk.

A steady stream of merit-makers into the temple.

receiving a blessing from the elders

Rich receives his blessing

Scented water used to bless the elders.

 

 

Flying By the Seat of Your Pants

Over the weekend this past weekend, 13 students and I traveled up to Mae Sai, Thailand to cross into Burma in order to renew our visas.  We took the public bus up to Chiang Rai on Friday evening after class, spent the night there and then on Saturday took an un-airconditioned bus from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai.  The absence of air conditioning on these busses isn't what gives them their distinctiveness.  They are old, falling apart, built for  people who weigh less than 100 pounds, and crowded.  They stop a gazillion times to drop people off and pick new people up.  The ticket lady then has to push her way through the aisle, which often has people standing in it, in order to gather the bus fare from the people who just got on.  I am amazed that bus attendants can keep track of who just got on.  The bus ride took about 90 minutes.
     Going across the border was a fairly easy process.  It costs money to enter Burma:  $10 if you have American cash or 500 Bahts ($15) if you have Bahts.  I had $140 in cash for the 14 of us who were to cross the border.  Two students did not have their "departure forms" which they were given in Bangkok back on January 13.  They were not allowed to leave Thailand.  The Burmese border patrol keeps the passports and issues temporary paper passports.  You can pick up your passport when you return to Thailand.  You also get a new departure form stapled into your passport and 90 day extension on your visa. 
     So everything was going well until we went to the Golden Triangle.  We hired 1 songthaew to transport the 14 of us to the Golden Triangle  (700 Baht).  Thailand is rebuilding the road between Mae Sai and the Golden Triangle and so much of the ride was over dusty red dirt roads.  We were all coated with red dust.  The songthaew driver asked us if we would like him to stay.  I said no, we were going to take the bus back to Chiang Rai.  BIG MISTAKE. 
     The Golden Triangle is several kilometers away from the town of Chiang Saen, but I didn't know that, because the Golden Triangle is described as being in Chiang Saen.  As we ate lunch at the Golden Triangle, we watched busses coming and going from a dirt parking lot and decided that is where we were to pick up the bus to Chiang Rai.  I went over to the parking lot to check it out.  The person I talked to didn't speak English, but he called over a man who could speak English.  He told me what we needed to do.  Then he asked where I was from.  I told him the United States.  Then he asked what state we were from and I said Iowa.  His eyes lit up.  It turns out he has a brother who lives in Webster City, Iowa.  Now that we had a common bond, the man took me to the policeman and asked the policeman how to get a songthaew for our group.  The policeman arranged to have his son come pick us up in his pickup truck and take us to Chiang Saen after we were done seeing the House of Opium. 
    At 5:45 pm the policeman's son drops us off at the "bus terminal" which is a bench with a roof over it.  We didn't recognize it the first time we past it and walked through a busy market in search of the bus terminal.  We found two busses that said "Chiang Saen to Chiang Rai".  However, they were done for the night and would not be returning to Chiang Rai.  One driver offered to take us back to Chiang Rai for 2500 Baht.  That was too much.  One student negotiated while I called Ajan Waewdao to get a Thai speaking person to help us get a songthaew back to Chiang Rai.  The student negotiated 2000 Bahts.  We got on the bus.  The driver cranked up the party music, left the bus door open to pull in the cooler evening air and we were off.  The driver then stopped and picked up his family to take them to the Saturday Night Walking Market in Chiang Rai.  It was a win-win situation for all of us. 
     The rest of the weekend went smoothly.  The bus ride back to Chiang Mai was right out of the movie "Speed".  As we were going through the foothills down winding roads, we were sliding in our plastics seats like greased pigs.  So much for sleeping on the bus. 

Bus from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai

Leaving Thailand

Entering Burma

The 5 Baht Burmese Toilet

The Burmese Market

Burma is on the right.  Laos on the left

You can roll coins down the metal tracks to the Buddha's belly button.

The policeman who hired his son to take us to the bus stop in Chiang Saen.

The white wat near Chiang Rai is stunningly beautiful and creepy.

   

One Weird Saturday

This past Saturday our dance instructor (Ajan Waewdao) took those of us from the dance class to see the spirit dances (or ghost dances) in a village near Lampang, about a hour from Chiang Mai.  On they way, we stopped to pick up a bite to eat – crickets, grasshoppers, and BBQ’ed chicken intestines (and 3 scoops of ice cream for 20 Baht = 60 cents).  I don’t think we’ll ever run out of fun foods in Thailand.  The dancers are not your ordinary people off the streets.  They are identified mediums for spirits.  The spirit dances conger up the spirits that the mediums represent and the dancers enter a trance (or become possessed by their spirits).  We spent a couple of hours watching the mediums “enter” their trance state and dance.  This is Thai animism at its best.  The live band was as interesting as the spirit dancers.  All of this took place in a medium’s yard under a bamboo canopy.  The mediums from the Chiang Mai and Lampang area take turn hosting the spirit dances.  White farangs (foreigners) - especially those with cameras -  are welcomed by the medium, so we weren't at the spirit dances for very long before we were invited to the floor to dance to join those entranced by their spirits.  


I've attached a video of a woman going into a trance by rotating her body around a rope that hangs from the bamboo canopy.  As she spins, the bamboo canopy shifts back and forth making the sun spots on the red floor dance around.  It was very disorienting at times.  Once she is in a trance, her helper dresses her in appropriate garb for a medium.  All mediums in a trance wear a red scarf around their heads or a colored scarf of the spirits choosing.  

chicken intestines anyone?

The spirit dance venue

Spirits like white farangs (foreigners)

The spirit is happy with a shot of whiskey.

The band was a highlight

Gifts for the spirit

Me with the host of the spirit dance

Cooking for 40

The Lisu village homes lack many of the stuff we find comfortable.  Lisu people are used to sitting on the floor, sleeping on the floor, cooking on the floor, etc.  The homes are pretty much void of furniture.  Yet their pots and pans are big enough to feed an army.  Their material possessions suggest what they value.  Eating together is a priority and sharing is their way of life.  I watched the process of cooking up a pig.  I think every woman had a ladle in the giant pot of stewing pig guts and pumpkin.  Each had an herb or some other vegetable to add to the pot.  When the stew was done, the men took over and rendered the lard over the fire.

On the last night of our stay in the village we prepared a meal for about 40 or 50 people (which means that there was enough food for about 100).  Two pictures show the preparation of the killed pig and the remaining pictures show preparation of our last meal together.  

Rendering the pork fat

Students are pulling stems off of dried chilis.

Mashing the potatoes.

Adding cabbage to chicken foot soup.

Making the tofu stew

Ajan Gai stirs the cabbage

My ma stirring the pig guts and pumpkin stew

Students peel cooked potatoes with their hands.