I spent February in Mae Sot, Thailand, bookended with time in the cities of Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Mae Sot is on the western edge of the country, bordering Burma.
Here are some of the peculiarities of life there.
The majority of people that live in Mae Sot are Burmese Refugees. There has been civil war in Burma for over 60 years and because of this, people have been seeking peace in Thailand and other bordering countries. Trafficking and smuggling of people, drugs and weapons are common activities here because of the proximity to Burma. It’s simply right over the river. You cross Friendship bridge to get there. A mere $20 USD will get you across the border for a day, no problem. Some people just go across the river.
There are well over 100,000 people that are registered as refugees in the region. With so many refugees, there are many NGOs and international aid agencies in the area. Combined with tourism related to access to Burma and nearby trekking opportunities, there were several westerners in the area all month.
When the rest of Thailand greets you with Sa-wa-dee-Kaaaaaa (or Sawadeekhop if it’s a guy saying it to you), it is common to here the Burmese greeting of Mingalaba (Ming-a-lob-ah).
I didn’t pick up on a ton of the local language this month. I don’t know if it was laziness, Race fatigue or the fact that there were more than a couple languages being spoken during the month. English was my go to. The Burmese refugee children we taught English to spoke Karen or Burmese and some people in the town spoke Thai.
Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles. And it’s true. People grin all the time. I love it. It’s so different from our month in Transnistria (AKA mini Russia).
We mixed a bit with the cultures of Mae Sot each day as we ate out for most of our meals. Our food budget was 150 baht a day or $5 USD. It was relatively easy to stay under budget each day as a meal average around 50 baht.
Delicious iced coffee that could travel on your handle bar for 50 baht ($1.60) and stops at 7/11 are probably what put me over budget. But in the heat, iced anything, especially slurpees are called for. Amen.
We would travel down the road on bikes, rented from the ministry’s (Famous Ray’s) bike shop for the month. We were regulars at some restaurants.
Shout out to Casa Mia, Casa Mia II, Lucky Tea and that fried chicken stand at the end of the road. We also ate at Famous Ray’s (The restaurant) often. It’s delicious and a part of the ministry that we were hanging out with for the month.
Check out a video of its beginnings here: http://vimeo.com/68754987
We ate most mornings at a restaurant in the Muslim area of town, called Lucky Tea. It is run by two families. The two sisters are named See and Saw. I could not make that up if I had wanted to. They are adorable and always always smiling. They never forgot anything and always chuckled when I ordered the same thing every day.
For 20 Baht, or 60 cents, I could get an egg roti with sweetened condensed milk drizzled all over it. Roti is a fried flat dough. And it’s delectable. Sweetened condensed milk is in everything in Thailand. It’s why their iced coffee is so delicious.
For another 20 Baht, I could get iced milk tea.
It’s a good thing we were bike riding all month because roti is not exactly hip friendly.
We would eat there every morning building and continuing a friendship with the two families and then prayer walk in the area.
Every time we walked by the local Muslim school, I would begin to feel heavy. The gift of discernment works for me like that and so I would always pray for God’s tangible presence to fall on that place. Michael, a missionary we worked with shared with us one day that he felt led to pray for children to meet the Lord and become leaders for their peers in true faith.
We traveled to the border in Sawngtaos once a week to prayer walk and meet with people. Sawngtaos are pickup trucks with a raised roof on the bed that jam pack it in there. If it’s too full in the back, just hang off the sides.
At the border there are people begging and shopping stalls lining the path that borders No Man’s Land. The people begging are often children with another child or infant strapped to their backs. The shopping stalls all carry the same products, typically cigarettes, porn and other sexual things. It’s not a hopeful sight to see.
No Man’s Land is the land in between the border of Thailand and the border of Burma. It is under no government’s laws and anything goes. The land floods in the rainy season but when we were there small shacks made of cardboard, scrap wood and corrugated tin dotted the scene. Women and children are subject to terrible abuses. People stay drunk all day. Needles could be seen dotting the sand near the concrete path we walked on. Stray dogs moved through the low bushes. We would stay on the sidewalk and pray for what we were seeing and also not seeing. It was not safe for us to go into the area, so we would stay and pray.
One man, Myo, is a refugee himself. He is now a believer and translates for teams when they cross into Burma. He has strong hopes and visions for his country and for No Man’s Land. It was a blessing to meet him.
Looking out over No Man’s Land could have been depressing. It was very sad. It was sad to see the children begging. It was sad to see so so many houses. But there is a hope that swells around that place. I loved spending time at the border praying and meeting people there. What could have been depressing was actually life giving because of the hope infused with Myo’s heart and prayers for God’s spirit to reign there.
We spent a good amount of time this month riding our bikes around and delivering flyers to different businesses and restaurants that advertised Famous Ray’s the restaurant and the bike shop. It was fun, hot and really helped the businesses to share what they are up to. The burger place has been open for a year now and should be turning a profit at this point. The bike shop officially opened the weekend after we left. Both businesses employ local Burmese staff and hope to be able to use their profits to support the Refuge (one of the Kid’s homes we worked with) and to start a home for street boys.
There are several homes that support girls coming off the streets, especially with the emphasis and focus on human trafficking in the area. But there are no local homes equipped to take boys off of the street or out of the local trash dumps, where several refugees make their homes. The bike shop’s profits will go toward this need and also provide opportunities for the boys to learn the skills for bike maintenance, providing job training.
We also taught English a few times a week at both the Refuge home and New Jerusalem home. Our group split in half and I attempted to help teach English at New J during our stay there. I had a blast, but I’m sure I just confused them more. For whatever reason, all of my knowledge of grammar, verb forms and sentence parts came back to me from years of studying foreign languages. I threw down conjugations, and infinitive form, and crazy things like past progressive… and then I had to explain them. Why I do this to myself, I will never know.
Also, I was often reminded of my father’s voice when I would say things like, “English is hard. You’re going to make a mistake at least once.” Inside my head, I always heard, “Your head is hard. English is difficult.” At this point, I would like to thank my father, for always telling it like it is.
But to get back on track, I loved hanging out with these awesome kids, teens, men and women. You can read my previous blog for some more reasons why. But in all reality, they are a huge part of what makes Mae Sot so great. I loved Rosie’s sweet smile, Mikey’s laugh and Marigold pretending to be shy. We would all play games and sing songs together. The older kids took care of the younger kids and I never saw a younger one excluded for being too little. It was so much fun to see and be a part of, even if just for a short while. Their stories of how they came to the home all are different and yet similar. They share a common bond and really truly care for one another.
Some other common things in Thailand, or at least in Mae Sot.
There is a game called Ken ball (I really don’t know how it’s spelled. Probably don’t know how to say correctly either) that is popular. It’s a soccer juggling game with a plastic woven ball over a net. It makes Americans look goofy and the Thai/Burmese look like soccer playing ninjas.
7/11s are on every corner. Not kidding. Slurpees will never be a bad option. Ever.
Iced Corn and corn in general are favorable snacks in Thailand. Not by me, but it’s available for you to try if you so choose.
Dairy Queen and Dunkin Donuts are in the shopping center. Dairy Queen sells a Thai favorite blizzard of green tea and red beans. I never could pass up the option for a chocolate brownie blizzard to try that one.
The shopping center features a massive store called Tesco that is similar to Walmart.
Trash gets set out on the street every day and in the middle of the night, street cleaners come through and collect it. Workers could also be seen in the daytime collecting plastic bottles to return for payment.
When you eat at Famous Ray’s – do the Monster Challenge. It’s hilarious and supports a good cause. Or don’t do it, but try everything anyways because it’s tasty and sad when it’s all gone. I don’t like ranch dressing at home, but have this girl away from the US for 8 months and it is the best ever. Also – two words: Fried Pickles.
Bubble tea is not ever something I could get into if there were tapioca bubbles involved. But I am all about the tea part and the fun way it’s served. Plastic cup with a plastic cover melted into place. Stab the top with a large straw and use the handle to dangle it from your bike handles. Fun and delicious.
People drive on the left side of the road again. And toilet paper goes into the trash can.
We found an ice cream buffet for 50 baht. Hand scooped ice cream buffet. The best!
Thai food is my favorite from the race. By far. India is probably the second best. But I’m convinced Cashew chicken cannot be beat.
For A & J: I didn’t go swimming this month, but on an off day (when I had work to do), some of my friends drove to a waterfall area on motorbikes and had a blast.
You would love the sports days for ministry and hanging out with the kids at the New Jerusalem home. They are goofballs too.
Jesus Loves You in Thai is: Phra yesu rak khun
Jesus Love you in Burmese: Yesu Ko Chit Ta
