Phanasan Tak

... starting to get lot's and lot's of random stuff to bring home.<br><br>We were back at the guesthouse at about 1730 and at about 1815 the mini bus rolled up to take us to the bus stop. Everyone inside the mini van looked just as sullen as us about making the journey overnight in what was sure to be a bust struggling to stay on the road driven by a 12 year old wearing a back to front.<br ...

... puddles, motor squealing, passing UN trucks and refugee clinics&#8230;.yes I was back on the Thai-Burma border in the frontier town of Mae Sot. It really is an Asian version of a Wild West movie. Thailand is already a country of extremes, where most things go; where you can smoke and drink next to the pumps in a "bar&#8221; that is a Shell petrol station by day. Where there seemingly is lil law but so much tradition and custom. Yet on the border all these things seam ...

... then. We found three chairs, an empty space on the floor and set up camp. After countless numbers of well deserved dirty looks, 2 bags of chips, 3 chocolate candy bars (eaten mostly by Emma) and 4 hours later, we got on a comfortable bus and headed to Tak. Let me tell you about Tak for just a second: it's a city that has a 7eleven. That's it. That is all I have to say about Tak. Not a single Thai person we've met even knows what Tak is! Why fate brought us there I have no idea but I ...

... and ensuring everybody gets a fair cut. 'We' are about trying to prepare the local communities for tourism and how to utilize it to their advantage and spread the benefits equally. 'We' are about helping local communities lift themselves out of poverty by making a livelihood, its cliché but its true of what we're doing out here "teach a fisherman how to fish for a day and he feeds himself for life". Having ...

... restaurant at our hotel, overlooking the river. We ordered a cheeseburger (why?!?!) and some cocktails - and it ended up being the most expensive dinner yet - and the worst! We stayed in the restaurant just reading our books, watching the lightening and thunderstorm, and listening to the live entertainment - a Thai girl singing John Denver's 'Country Roads' and other such popular hits (!). It was all very pleasant.....

... filtered light peeking through, tones from yellow to orange to red, gold. Dusk setting in. Rain shower. Temperature drop. Few people left. Little girl with bowl haircut, about 20 months old, with quiet patient father, exploding with language, taking to her daddy a lot, pointing things out, playing with curtain , standing on seat. I think she was there for most of the 7 hours if not all-but seemed ...

... surviving monarch. A birthday celebration is taking place in four days' time, and the markets are doing a roaring trade in royal-crested yellow T-shirts for the occasion - yellow represents the day of the king's birth.) The spotless, spacious, air-con coach to Sukhothai couldn't be more different, more comfortable, compared to the bone-jarring, limb-crushing buses in Nepal. Crew even bring round iced drinks and nibbles. There's little but business parks to ...

... lots of Karen villages are being pillaged. Beheadings, rapes, forced labor, burned crops...All the while their public relations people keep saying the "doors to peace are opened," if the Karen leaders want a ceasefire (surrender). The Karen are convinced they would just be wiped out anyway, so it's a lose-lose situation for them. Interesting thing about the capital moving; the government appears convinced the US is about to invade Rangoon. They're having ...

... the area - kills local residents - before it begins megaprojects like this). There's love songs and the story of Jirapo, a bird who escapes a burning forest. It is creaky old-time music, but the old man doesn't really sing much, he plays each of the instruments, but mostly directs the students. I want to stay and learn more, but the old man is finished for today. I promise I'll bring them copies of the recordings next time I'm back, and catch a truck back to Mae Sot.

... are very few tourists. Of course, this is only in comparison to everywhere else in Thailand, as there were still a good number of foreigners walking around, but it isn't as visible here. Because Sukkhotai is off the beaten track, and it actually takes some interest and initiative to get here, very few travellers actually make the stop. I wont get into the details of the day too much as there are lots of great photos to explain. We really enjoyed the park, and there ruins ...