Into the mountains

  Mae Sot, Thailand
Sunday, November 12, 2006

OK, let's recap the previous three days: Thursday I spent a large chunk of the day uploading photos to Flickr due to a slower than usual internet connection (I've got to discipline myself to take, or at least keep, less photos). I walked around Kampheng Phet a bit more, but otherwise didn't do much with the day. Spent the entire evening sitting in Mr. Charin's living room (as beautiful as the rest of his property) talking with him (he speaks pretty decent English) and a Swiss traveler (Phillip) who was also staynig there. It was a very enjoyable evening, but I was ready to get moving the next day.

Purchased a ticket for a bus northwest (about 100 km) to Tak, but somehow ended up on a bus heading south (despite clearly asking the driver of the destination and showing him my ticket when I boarded). Didn't discover this 'til maybe 50 km into the trip, at which point I got off and waited for about two hours at a tiny bus stop on the side of the highway for a bus back to where I started, at which point I continued on to Tak. Of course, the Thais were very accomodating. The driver wrote me a note explaining my situation which smoothed my passage on to Tak.

From there I boarded a mini-bus for Mae Sot, another 100 km west and just 6 km east of the border with Myanmar. It was a somewhat harrowing trip compared to the others I've taken so far, full of winding mountain roads. Beautiful scenery though, with mountains unlike any I know of in the US. Stopped at some sort of checkpoint where we all showed ID, I think because of a problem with smuggling of people across the nearby border. Got here just after sunset and grabbed a ride on back of a motorcycle (like a one person taxi) to my guesthouse, Ban Thai.

2.1. I Rub the Hand of a Gibbon

The next day, I hopped on a songathew headed south towards Umphang, for the 1.5 hour ride to the Highland Farm Gibbon Sanctuary. It doesn't get many visitors (I was one of only two that day) and it's out-of-the-way location partially explains why. The sanctuary rescues gibbons and a few monkeys from abusive situations throughout Thailand. Many are kept in small cages in bars for entertainment or other traumatic living conditions. As a result, they tend to be very traumatized when they arrive at the sanctuary. They wouldn't be able to survive in the wild, so they are at this place for life. I was given a tour by an Australian girl who is volunteering there for a few weeks. Got to meet many gibbons, including holding hands with one and scratching the back of another.

After my visit with my new primate friends, I had an hour to kill before the bus home came by, so I walked up the road a few km to see a bit of the countryside. The local people (the Karen - a "hill tribe"), were as freindly as the Thais and the scenery was beautiful as always. Eventually hopped on back of the songathew home (the only "farang" (foreigner) as is often the case).

3.1. One of the Birthday Boys is Tempted

Earlier that day, at the guesthouse, I had met a girl (Jen) from London who was in Mae Sot for a month working with the Karen as part of her med school studies. Many of the people staying at Ban Thai and other guesthouses in town work in the nearby refugee villages providing medical care and education. They come from France, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, and lots of other countries. Jen and I met up for dinner (pat thai) and a lassi (shake) and took a bike ride around town. Later we went to a birthday party (theme: Temptation Island: Hawaii Style, or something like that) for a few of the other expat workers in town, and I met some more of these people who are spending months or years here instead of just a few days. A very different experience from my own, which they seem to enjoy very much.

Today has been less eventful, relaxing in town mostly. Tomorrow I move north to Mae Sariang.