Apologies that it has been a lengthy time since our last blog.
In brief, since our last update, we have spent a little over a month in Mae Sot. We quite enjoyed our time up there with Dianne and Judah (an independent mother and son) who support numerous schools and orphanages in refugee camps and Burma. During this time we took a few days off to see my (Rachael) family in Chaing Mai. We went elephant riding and had lots of fun on The Flight of the Gibbon (14 flying foxes through the jungle).
We then headed back to Bangkok for a few days, just in time for the Red Shirt protests before heading to Cambodia for a few days around the Angkor region. We plan on heading back to Bangkok in a few days via Ko Chang (small beachy island).
From there we will be heading back to Bangkok. It looks like we will be returning home earlier than expected due to a lack of $. Although everything is relatively cheap, it all adds up and we do not wish to spend credit when we have a wedding coming up. However, we have found some most worthy causes that we hope to find support for when we return.
Some memorable moments:
- Crossing into Burma and celebrating the graduation at a primary school. Sadly we heard that the next day one of the students was killed by a land mine along with their father and another man.
- A group of 13 American christians who visited Thailand for a week-long mission trip.
- Waiting in suspense for the 'Red Shirt' protests in Bangkok to break out.
- Wandering through amazing caves and being free to wander wherever we wish.
- The stifling heat at Angkor Wat while constantly refusing to buy cheap rubbish from the kids who should be in school.
- $3 foot massages.
- When a tree fell across the road, pulled down some power lines and started a grass fire.
- Visiting a migrant school where three of the seven teachers got paid. ($100 a month per teacher)
- Consistently being helped by the locals when we must look foolish. ie. falling off out scooter, trying to start the scooter while it's switched off and giving sunglasses back when I leave them at a restaurant yet again.
That's about all for now.
Apologies that we haven't included any pics in this post. To check out Nathan's favourite pics of our trip, go to:http://picasaweb.google.com.au/101044111138570598900/NathanSBest
Finally, if you want more, we have a couple of short stories from yesterday.
The Man with More Lives than a Cat
We visited the War Museum in Siem Reap yesterday. With a lot of the Khmer Rouge fighting happening around this area we were expecting something grand. When our tuk-tuk driver couldn’t find it, that should’ve been the first warning to lower our expectations. When we arrived, the woman on ticketing was almost asleep as we were the only customers (probably all day and maybe all week) Once we pull in it feels to me a little like we have arrived at someone’s house who has collected rusted pieces of war and stashed them in their backyard. Still, for $3 we couldn’t complain.
Once we get out and have a little confusion over the ‘free information guide’ (that we actually have to pay) for, we reluctantly decide to get a guided tour of the ‘facility’. The guide showed us around and it was actually more notable once we were inside than it’s appearance from the car park. Lots of destroyed tanks, guns, mortars, shells, gas masks, mines etc. All relics from the war. One amphibian vehicle still had a skeleton in it from when it was destroyed.
However, the highlight was our tour guide. A former member of the army between the ages of 14-24 who we now calculate to be 46 years old. He has been shot 5 times, stepped on 3 land mines, lost his leg, lost his sister and parents to the war. Lost his wife four years ago from stepping on a land mine. He grabs our finger and lifts it to his arm where we can feel a ball bearing under the skin. On another part of him we feel a nail, somewhere else another piece of metal under his skin which has moved from his thigh down to his knee over the last 22 years. He is literally covered with scars and bits of metal. But the most amazing was this. He is blind in his right eye because he has a piece of his foot bone in his eye. Apparently when he stepped on a landmine part of his foot bone ended up in his eye. Amazing man. He tells us he has more lives than a cat and I have to believe him. Now he lives with his 3 year old daughter and is still smiling. The resilience of these people is incredible.
A simple lesson was learnt – things that may seem a little old, run-down and unimpressive from the outside can actually have quite a story on the inside.
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi
At the temples of Angkor Wat there are countless kids and adults trying to sell you the same bracelets, books, drinks and other bits of rubbish we don’t really want and certainly don’t need. Usually their level of English does not extend beyond the ‘I give you good price’ or ‘you buy from me’.
However, at one temple we were hassled for probably 100 metres by two girls who stood out from the rest. The thing that set these two girls apart from the other sellers is their knowledge of Australia accompanied by their competent English. The girl attached to me was about 15 while the one pestering Rachael was about 13 (although it’s particularly hard to tell around these parts). They were more than happy to tell us all the capital cities of the states, our population, that we had kangaroos, ‘aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi’. We talked politely, asking their names and such but didn’t say anything but ‘no’ when they tried to sell us something. As we exited the area that they are allowed to go and moved into the area they are not permitted (yes, there are bits of rope on the ground that the sellers cannot cross) our first meeting ended on a slightly sour note; they say ‘you not buy from us, we cry.’ Guilt trip.
Unfortunately we had to exit from the same way we entered and would therefore pass them again.
Half an hour or so later, we then began to exit and as expected, the girls remembered us. They told us that we would said we would buy from them. When we kept walking and didn’t buy they turned (just like a student who has been pleading their case for not doing homework and suddenly refused exemption).
‘Australia is rubbish.’
‘When USA say they maybe buy later they buy.’
‘Australia has a black heart.’
We were a little taken back. Is this national blackmail? Racism? I can’t help but give a little smile and keep walking.
Kyauk Set is a Burmese school which we visited while staying in Mae Sot with Dianne & Judah. The school provides education, food and general support to the children and families in this poor community. If this school did not exist, the children would not receive an education and would be stuck in the cycle of poverty. This school gives the children a future.
