Mae Sot Part 1

The alarm on my phone woke me up at 5 in the morning last Saturday, well before the sun. As I was getting dressed and prepared for my trip, I noticed that I felt really achy. I figured that I had just slept badly, and put it down to the hard mattress on my bed.

Geoffrey called me just before 5:30 to tell me he was on Lat Prao and heading towards Soi 46, so I grabbed my duffel bag and headed downstairs to meet him. He had hired a car from Thai Rent-a-Car. He offered to let me drive part of the way, but I'm too nervous to drive without a license on what he continually reminded me was the "correct" side of the street.

Geoffrey brought a Thai friend named Dek, who would help drive and guide us over the weekend. I settled comfortably in the back seat, Geoffrey took the wheel, and we headed off on our adventure, getting an early start.

... or so we thought. We actually got lost for about an hour in Bangkok, and crossed the Chao Phraya river two or three times before we finally got heading the right direction. Anyway, as the sun was beginning to rise over Bangkok, we left the city heading for the north-west of the country.

We stopped briefly to grab breakfast at a truck stop for breakfast (or the closest thing to what we consider breakfast - sweet Chinese sausage and fried eggs with rice). I wasn't super hungry, but I ate anyway (not a good sign).

just some elephants we passed

We stopped again after a few hours to get a coffee. We were driving through the mountains at this point, and the three of us stopped at a little mountaintop outdoor cafe and stretched our legs for a few minutes.

the view was outstanding - photos don't do it justice

We arrived in Mae Sot a little after noon. We had been delayed a bit due to getting lost in Bangkok and mist on the mountain roads that forced us to drive slowly. We checked into the Hotel Erawan and just dropped of our bags before getting back in the car to visit the school.

Visiting the school was the main point of our Mae Sot trip. Geoffrey has been really involved with Sky Blue School since moving to Bangkok 23 years ago. I think he became involved through his church. Every few months he delivers donated clothes, toys, and supplies to the school. He collects satang coins (1/2 and 1/4 baht... you rarely see them used since they're worth less than a penny) and saves them up to donate to the school. I was really happy and excited to be invited along for the weekend.

The school was just a few minutes drive from our hotel. It's a far cry from my school in downtown Bangkok. Sitting in the middle of a field, Sky Blue was a small, one-story building housing every subject taught at the school. Since it was Saturday, there weren't many students there. About 15 kids (orphaned refugees from Burma mostly) live at the school, and were eating lunch in the canteen. The canteen was a small room with a dirt floor and a cook fire in the corner. The kids were sitting on a rug watching some Thai comedy on an old black and white TV.

the school

We met up with the school's principal and I helped Geoffrey and Dek distribute clothes to the kids. It was a little tough trying to find something that fit each student, but in the end everyone got something. Then Geoffrey gave me a stack of 20 Baht notes to hand out. He told me to give one to each kid. 20 Baht is really nothing; around $0.60 US. It was amazing though how the kids faces lit up when they got that little green piece of paper. It's not much, but it's enough for them to buy some candy or something, and maybe make their day a little better. Geoffrey gave me a tour of the school. There were no classrooms, just partitions between different areas with chalkboards. It's so different from where I teach. We walked around and played football (soccer) with some kids for a few minutes. Then Geoffrey led me behind the school. He wanted to show me where most of the students live.

It turns out that they live in a literal garbage dump. The families, mostly Burmese refugees, have built huts in the dump site, and a little village has sort of sprung up there. We walked around for a while. The kids were running barefoot through the garbage, and since it had just rained, the entire place was muddy. We waded through mud and stagnant black water. I was really starting to feel upset, my shoes were practically ruined. Then I stopped and reevaluated things. Why was I complaining? My two year old running shoes were a little muddy? Most of these kids didn't even have shoes at all, and they were running and playing.

a hut at the dump site

Geoffrey and I both sunk into the mud a few times (I call it mud, but it was really probably garbage and sewage... best not to think about it), and both of us ruined our shoes. It didn't really matter though. Geoffrey continued to pass out 20 Baht notes to every kid we saw. I have to hand it to Geoffrey, he has quite a way with making them laugh, especially when he tried to get one little kid to give him a ride on the back of his bike; Geoffrey is not a small guy! The kids thought that was hilarious.

my boss trying to get a ride on the back of a bike

We waved goodbye as Dek drove the car down to meet us. You can't really tell in the pictures how bad the living conditions really were. I was pretty shocked, yet the kids seemed happy.

some kids seeing what we were doing

Our next stop was the actual Burmese border, the westernmost point in Thailand. As the day went on I was feeling progressively worse. When we got to the actual border, it was the hottest part of the day. I didn't know it at the time, but I probably had a fever. I'm not one to complain though, and I don't often get sick. I think the heat and probably some dehydration didn't help much. I was feeling pretty overheated, really achy, and very fatigued. I tried my best to keep up with Geoffrey though as he showed me the border.

Burma is a notoriously reclusive country, very closed off from the outside world. Until recently, American citizens weren't even allowed to enter. Along with North Korea, Burma was one of two countries on Earth where Coca-Cola wasn't sold.

Just last year the country began to open up. Burma is part of the ASEAN community, and has started to be more receptive to dialogue and trade with the outside world. It is still very difficult to visit, but no longer impossible. Even so, the border was a very strange one. The Thai side was raised up, and there was a sort of boardwalk overlooking a refugee camp on the Burmese side. Geoffrey and I walked along the boardwalk past Thai military police and raised kiosks where Burmese were trying to sell bottles of liquor tax free (since they were technically not in Thailand). It was a very strange experience. While the sun beat down on us and baked the parched ground, Geoffrey commented on how odd it was that the river seemed to have moved in the last month. This was especially strange, as we had heard reports of heavy flooding in the north just the week previously.

As we left the border, I was feeling really ill; my head was pounding, and my body was aching like crazy. I was determined not to let it slow me down though, and we started off to our last stop of the day. As we were driving, the sky began to darken, but it wouldn't rain just yet.

dark clouds gather over the mountains

Geoffrey took me to Thailand's largest refugee camp. It has been open for over 25 years now, ever since a bloody civil war in Burma. There is a whole generation of people, some even older than I am, who have never seen the world outside of the camp. We couldn't go inside, but Geoffrey told me a little about it as we drove past. He said that the camp is divided into three sections. The third section is for Christian refugees, and the only time he was ever able to go in was to visit a small church there.

Thailand's largest refugee camp; it goes on for miles

The camp was clean, and compared to what we had seen at the dump site, actually looked fairly livable. Still, I can't imagine living your entire life inside just a few square miles. It went back quite a ways though, I'm not sure how big it is or how many refugees it houses, but I imagine quite a lot.

It had been a long day and I was ready to crawl into bed because I was pretty sure that I was probably dying at this point. Geoffrey and Dek talked about dinner, and told me that they were going to take me to KFC. Fine... I was just really tired. I would eat anything.

As the car pulled into the parking lot and a valet opened the door, I was very confused. This wasn't like any KFC I had ever been to! Laughing, Geoffrey told me that he had tricked me. It wasn't Kentucky Fried Chicken, he had taken me to a restaurant called King's Food Center... KFC. It turns out that this KFC was like an incredibly upscale outdoor version of Rainforest Cafe, minus the animatronic jungle creatures. The atmosphere was very nice, and the designers had worked the landscape and nature features into the construction of the restaurant.

It's actually pretty famous. The wall showed newspaper clippings and photographs of Princess Sirindhorn's visit several years ago. Geoffrey encouraged me to walk around a bit while he ordered for us. The cool air coming off a little pond along with the shady trees and quiet atmosphere had made me feel a bit better, and I wandered around for a while before heading back to our table.

part of the restaurant where we sat overlooking a little stream

We got a few dishes to share family style, and three plates of rice. Everything in Thailand is served over rice (even omelets). We had a spicy fish dish and a chicken dish. Afterwards we had dessert while the sun went down.

It was pretty funny. We were sitting outside at this really nice restaurant covered up to our ankles in mud. After walking around in the heat all day we probably stank too. It didn't matter though. It was really nice to get a chance to rest for a while at dinner, and I really enjoyed it.

I don't know if I'm doing the restaurant justice. I'm not really sure how better to describe it, and the pictures aren't great. There is an NPR podcast I sometimes listen to called "How to do Everything". Lately, they feature a "toilet of the week" at the end of their show where they interview people about the nicest restrooms they have come across. If I ever get the chance I will submit the toilet at King's Food Center. That was one of the things that Geoffrey told me specifically to check out when I was walking around. The toilets are built into this little cave/grotto/thing behind a jungly garden. I'm sorry, I'm really not great at describing this.

You'll just have to go there if you ever happen to be in Mae Sot, Thailand.

"KFC"

the restaurant

The food was really good, and so was dessert. It was dark as we were leaving, and just starting to rain. As we were driving back to Hotel Erawan, I began shivering in the front seat. I thought it was probably the rain, although I'm not sure the rain was really that cold. We were almost to the hotel when we were stopped by traffic. The police had closed down the main street, and we were stuck at an intersection for about fifteen minutes while an official procession of nine police cars (we counted), eight identical white sedans, and five more police cars sped towards the border. We still don't know what was going on, but we figure it was someone important going to Burma for some sort of ASEAN meeting.

While we were stopped I was shivering pretty badly, and kept thinking about how nice a hot shower would feel. We finally got to the hotel, I said goodnight to Geoffrey and Dek, and went to my room. I had gotten wet walking from the car to the lobby, and I was freezing. I tried to take a hot shower, but the water felt tepid at best despite the tankless water heater (it was actually hot, I just had a fever, I realized later). Even though it was only a little past 8 o'clock, I wrapped up in every blanket I had and fell asleep. I never turned the AC on.