Teaching OT in faraway places

Life in Mae Sot (the local town, which Lonely Planet describes as something of a cross between Hicksville and the Wild West) is quite a change from Mae La. For a start there is the famous Canadian guy’s café (see any guide book for directions), with bacon burgers and French fries with blue cheese dip, as well as coffee for purists. The Bai Fern guesthouse does a similar range of foreign food, but better fries, if you stay there it has WiFi. However, all these places still have the feel of being in Thailand, just not in the camp. By contrast the café we discovered in Mae Sot Mall is pure International. We were in the “Mall” (a small new shopping arcade) because the women have decided that Thai massage is a good way to relax - my shave and haircut took a quarter the time, and with a hot shower (at the guest house) made me feel fresh and clean! The Coffee and Cake joint has free WiFi or a desktop clients can use for free, the coffee including Barbara’s Soy Cappuccino and Sarah’s Moccaccino was good and about NZ$1 each, the chocolate cake was superb.  We did not dare try the chocolates, as we had pigged out on fries for lunch already.The mall is on the same street as the police station, near the 7-eleven and the post office, the café is called Hazel.

We needed to renew our visas, one does this by leaving the country and then reentering. Since things are fairly calm at present we went in to Mae Sot, to cross the bridge into Burma. The easiest way to organize it was at the weekend, avoiding disrupting teaching, and this weekend was also free of special events. Not like last weekend, and next weekend is Easter. So we had a weekend break in Mae Sot.

Mae Sot is not really a tourist town, though there are national parks nearby. We will be taking a three day trek in one, a bit south of Mae Sot when our time here ends, before we return home, to see waterfalls, wild orchids, and birds; and to go bamboo rafting and elephant riding in the forest. Actually Mae Sot is most famous as Thailand’s “wild west”, in the past a haunt of smugglers, and from time to time dangerously near the fighting between the Myanmar Army and the rebel forces. At least to a tourist on a weekend away, there is little sign of all this in the busy border town today. However, one can hardly cross a street without reminders of the refugee “business”. NGO volunteers are the commonest Westerners, easily outnumbering the tourists. Guesthouses and restaurants hold collections of money and other things to help. Many of the people are not Thai, but Karen - in terms of appearance, most of them will be Thai Karen (people of Karen ethnicity but born in Thailand and of Thai nationality) though who knows how many are “illegals” working for a pittance till the authorities “catch” them and return them across the border.

Mae Sot is a great town for shopping (less sophisticated than Bangkok or Chiang Mai, but with far less crowds and hassle, Sarah was even able to try a couple of tops on before buying). There are bargains, Barbara and Sarah each bought beautiful batik cloths for only 50Bhat (about NZ$2), and I got a couple of packets of delicious locally grown smoky roasted coffee, and the plastic and glass tea pot to make it in cost 40Bhat - the same price as my fine sturdy walking stick. Karen cooking is super, and the food at the camp has been consistently delicious. But after weeks away it was nice to enjoy a meal of frankfurters and bacon with chips (French fries for North American readers) and salad as a change.

Bangkok Tuktuk

As an indication of our commitment to Karen (and Thai cooking) Sarah and I bought a kilo of garlic in the market (another 40Bhat) and hope we can persuade the young women who cook to show us how to make the delicious deep-fried garlic that often garnishes and adds fragrance to the already fragrant dishes. (Garlicophobes beware, if you once try this dish, or the Thai prawn and deep-fried garlic, you may well find yourself converted on the spot!)

This morning, however, we set off for the border. We planned to catch a Songthaew (a ute with seating in the back acting as a local bus, or a lorry - “truck” for NARs - for longer distances) from town to the bridge. There was a small misunderstanding over the price before we could start, a simple cultural difference. There was only one other passenger at the time the run was due to start, we had been told the price should be 10Bhat each. The driver asked 20Bhat each. We demurred. Finally, we got the message, if we paid 20 each the bus could go now, if we insisted on paying 10 we’d have to wait for 6 passengers more to arrive! We paid happily, and our fellow passenger indicated (by International Standard Gestures) how “thick” he thought we were to take so long to understand!

At the bridge, the Thai authorities duly stamped us out, and retrieved their forms from our passports, to show that we had left the country. We walked the 400M over the high bridge across the rather dry river (it is the dry hot season here). We were amused to watch locals crossing below us on small rubber rafts and large inner tubes, with bags of shopping somewhat precariously balanced. At the other side we were ushered into an air-conditioned office and invited to fill out our immigration forms, give our passports to the Burmese officer, along with 500Bhat each, and told helpfully to be sure to be back before 5pm when the border office would close.

Street in Myanmar

We wandered up the main street, and down a little market lane. Burma is either just like Thailand, or totally different, depending on what you look at/for. The brands and products are much the same, the people are not strikingly different, on both sides of the bridge there are many Karen, for example. Both sides of the bridge have a mix of market stalls and small shops, with clothes, cloths and baggage as popular items, and similar small food stalls, with grilled snacks on sticks and baked items. Yet in Myanmar everything is older, more worn, and dirtier. The goods are more basic, with far less luxury items. On the whole too the people look less happy, with only a few exceptions (women at the café we stopped at for a drink and the Karen party in festive clothes on the back of a flag decorated vehicle were two notable exceptions) people simply look less happy, with little of the joy that Karen and Thai alike seem so often to display this side of the border.

It is nothing to do with CTS, but while we were in Sri Lanka we had a second little holiday. Two nights in the centre of the Island. Telling you about it will at least help encourage you that if you are given half a chance Sri Lanka is a place you must visit!

The first part of the Colombo to Kandy road runs through the urban ribbon that seems to spread along most of Sri Lanka’s lowland main roads. It’s fascinating for the visitor to watch all the little shops, so many like miniature Alladin’s Caves full to overflowing with different items for sale. The clothes - somehow often brighter than the restrained colours that the people around mainly choose, though in every town there are a few peacocks in bright striking saris - and the food shops are the most interesting. The range of lovely vegeatables and spices are almost as varied and decorative as the range of sari cloths. The streets, in town and out, are busy with busses (hundreds of them), tuk-tuks (here called trishaws), motorised carts, and the occasional cars and bullock carts, as well as people. Men intent on business, or chatting idly, older folk moving slower, children going to school (or busy not going home too soon after school), the younger boys and girls often accompanied by a parent or grandparent (for safety in the busy traffic?).

Soon after we started to climb steeply to Kandy we turned off to the Elephant Orphanage. We were not quite sure what this would be like, the elephants in the tourist camp in Thaland had been somewhat sad beasts. Actually it was lovely. First in the light of the early morning sun over the hills, we watched the bigger elephants being fed piles of leaves and small branches. Then some of the babies, shoulder height only, getting milk from bottles - they have now quite a few babies born at the orphanage, as well as injured or troublesome beasts arriving at the reserve. Then down to the river where the group (50 - 60 animals of all ages and sizes) congregated to be washed down (elephants are otherwise permanently covered in mud and dust), drink, chat together in small groups, or for the younger and more adventurous head off to the far side in the hope of greener fresher food! We spent far longer than I’d have thought likely watching the elephants and have lots of video that our great-nephew Joe enjoyed watching with us.

From there we climbed to the outskirts of Kandy, where we stopped at the botanic gardens. They are beautiful, and very well tended and labeled. Many of the trees in one section planted by a whole world of celebrities, from politicians and heads of state to Yuri Gagarin the Soviet cosmonaut (with thankfully no Holywood or reality TV names among them as far as we could see!) Here we saw some of the spices for which Sri Lanka is famous growing - nutmeg and mace come from a small yellowish fruit on trees somewhat like plumbs.

All through the gardens there were courting couples walking decorously, occasionally hand in hand, occasionally seated chatting seriously, the gardens are an accepted place where one can be “alone” but in plain sight, so a convenient place to explore the potential compatibility or to discover deeper beneath the surface attraction of a potential spouse!

At one edge of the gardens we came across a film crew. We were unable to walk across the suspension bridge - even though it had been signposted almost since the gate - as they were shooting a bevy of brightly dressed girls there. Nearby were a troop of monkeys, scampering across the ground, or swinnging rapidly through the branches. More video that we - and Joe - enjoy watching. Sri Lanka has just three species of wild monkey: Grey Langur, Toque Macaque & Purple-faced Langur (or Bear Monkey). We think these were Toque Macaques.

At the centre of Kandy there is a beautiful man made lake - ordered up by one of the ancient kings with an eye for beauty. It, together with fine architecture from both ancient and more recent times (the cooler climate encouraged the rich and powerful to build) makes the centre of Kandy one of the most beautiful city centres anywhere.