Camp Suksathen Tak

... br>Things weren't all so bad once we got to the bus station, it actually looked half like it did on the pictures ( A rarity in SE Asia) and the driver was a middle aged gentelmen, thing's were not looking so grim. <br><br>The first 4 hours kinda sucked, especially after the lights went out as we couldn't read anymore but we pulled up at a midnight bus stop not long after to grab some snacks. <br>

... br>A few days in, my initial culture, heat, sensory and emotional shock were subsiding and I couldn&#8217;t stop smiling, I was back in the country that I love so much, and am truly ecstatic to be back. My focus is reappearing and my mushy brain affected by the heat was thinking clearer again. I had my meeting with the Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), the main aid organisation that works on the Thai-Burmese border. The meeting went brilliantly well, and it looks ...

... the other love of her life, cake. And I, my dear friends, am Mono. I need not explain this nickname to anyone with an ounce of intelligence, but alas WE ARE THE SUPER FRIENDS. What's that? You think it's "corny" do you? Well... yeah. You're right, but **** you. So, in our two nights in Bangkok, the world was still refusing to be our oyster, which prompted a quick move. We left our hotel early in order to catch the quickest bus to Pai, a hippy mecca in northern Thailand. Its known ...

... 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 ...

... some Pad Thai noodles from and this ended up being up one of the best Pad Thai meals yet - and only for 40 baht (less than $2!!). At least we thought it was good until Debbie discovered the dried shrimps that were mixed into the noodles. I wish we hadn't seen them. We are now finding we can eat very cheaply with most meals being under $2. And we have decided that it pays to watch too hard as they cook your meal ...

... 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 ...

... of a flavour for what Burma could be like with South Asian, Chinese, Thai and Burmese faces all featuring in the crowd. We had delicious roti and curry at a tea shop opposite the mosque, as the evening call to prayer sounded across the town. I would have liked to stay longer, but we left the next morning for Chiang Mai, as Pete had decided that Mae Sot was an unsuitable place for a young lady to be. We were rather dubiously ...

... Karen military, I've taken to smuggling microphones for the civilians. In the evenings, when there's a possibility of a breeze, Jo and I might hit a restaurant or one of the few bars in town. She's having more of an adventure than me. While I'm busy editing scripts or digging through recordings for soundbites, she's off hanging out with monks, her English students, or families she meets in the Muslim district. She's become an exceptional traveler for a ...

... orphaned children. Dr. Simon greets us but is too busy today, perhaps we could come back another time? One day when we don't visit the camp, the prime minister of Thailand shows up to give a speech for foreign representatives. He apparently says that the refugees will be going home soon, which scares many people. Going home now means being delivered to their executioners. Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, is known to have business ties with the Burmese ...

... platoons of women soldiers. "They didn't dare touch the women in our village," she says of her days as a soldier. In those days, her platoon tracked down and killed Burmese officers known for cruelty to women. She quit when the SPDC targeted her family. She came to Mae La and now oversees the income-generation projects, women's rights advocacy, and a few safe-houses. Feeling useless with no work opportunities, lots of men in the camps become abusive alcoholics, and with no real ...