Just briefly...

Blogging world, I have not forgotten you, but the Internet at our house has forgotten how to work properly over the last week: today it decided to work at 11:48pm, when I had 'one last check' before I intended to go off to bed (of course, Murphy's Law, it did work and now I am still sitting here half an hour later instead of being curled up in my bed with babe and boy).

I have loads of garden photos to show you; since I have tidied up the worst of the holiday weeds it looks much better, but haven't got them off the camera yet since I didn't think I could get onto the 'net to share them. Since I'm not up to date there, let's just scoot back a couple of weeks to Thaton, shall we?

I didn't take masses of photos in Thaton on this trip, but here are just a couple of my favourites:

Flowers on the side of the road;


Feeding time at the zoo (there are actually two cats missing from this shot because they are shy of people and not as piggy as these five);


And lastly, SP making her 'monkey face' (she looks like a bit of a grumpy, overtired monkey in this shot...)


Summer's here! Bring on the tomato harvest...

Promised photo post #1: Singapore

Even though Singapore and Thailand are only a small fraction of the photos that I took - Bali getting the Lion's share - I've decided to separate the photo posts out by country. I was going to do it all in one but figure it would just be too big and it's almost midnight so probably best not to push on at this point. To be honest, I wasn't really feeling the love with my camera on this trip, but there are still a few photos which are nice enough to share (pics are very small for copyright protection purposes, I get iffy about the snaps I take on holiday). There are more pictures on another card somewhere, but I haven't been able to get them organised just yet. Oh, and I'm not in any of these pictures because, in my unbiased opinion, I am much better behind the camera than in front of it...

Anyway, enjoy!

First, we went to Singapore for four nights. On one of our days there we toddled off to Sentosa Island to visit the aquarium - we seem to make time for aquariums whenever there is one. This aquarium is one of the smaller ones we have visited, but SP was fascinated at every corner.



Personally, I was taken with the octopi, beautiful creatures (and this is one of my favourite trip photos, too).


Afterwards, we had a cold drink at a certain giant multinational coffee shop.



I don't know where these two find their energy sometimes...


Of course, while in Singapore we made sure to try some chili crab at at night hawker centre (where we went with my cousin, who lives in this city of glass).


TBC...

Next post: Bali

Post script to the Bad Luck Car story

We had tried to call the car hire office to 1. ask them if they would try to put the credit card payment through, now that we had resolved the issue at our end, and 2. see if we should get the tyre fixed here or just drive the three hours back to Chiang Mai on the spare. The office-girl got so confused at part 1 of the call, that we didn't bother with part 2. Susan told us where we could get the tyre fixed, and that it would cost 'only 50 baht' ($1.58 Australian) which just seemed absurdly cheap to us. To find this tyre place we were to drive to Mae Ai and , 'look for a rotisserie chicken shop, painted red and orange, which is quite unusual here, and then there is a road off to the left, go past that, and then on the other side there is a strange big shop with lots of glass like a modern furniture store, a long way off the road, about 200m, and then there is a little gas station, and then, after that, you'll see the tyre place and there is a barbecue chicken stall out the front, a normal one, and a wooden sala, very nice and new.' Clear as mud, such is life with Susan. The part she forgot to mention is that she didn't mean driving from here to Mae Ai, but more like the far side of Mae Ai back in this direction. In reverse, in other words.

Anyway, Susan's directions aside, we found the place quite easily. Dylan checked the price with the tyre-man by way of pointing to the screw in the tyre and using the only Thai he can remember, 'Tao rai?' ('how much is it?'), and his answer was 'pet-sip baht', which is 80 baht, or $2.53 AU. Really? So little?

And what do you get for your $2.53? The tyre plugged and fixed and refilled with air; the tyre replaced on the car and the spare re-gassed and back in the boot; all other tyres pressure checked and refilled if necessary; two men busily at work for no more than 10 minutes while wife and child don't even have to leave the car.

Take that, Bad Luck Car!

Do you ever feel that we, in Australia and no doubt other western countries, may be paying quite an inflated price for some things? (I know, I know, labor costs, training costs, material costs, overheads etc etc... but, still...)

Loi Krathong and the Bad Luck Car.

It's Loi Krathong here, one of the major festivals in Thailand. 'Loi' means 'to float' and a 'Krathong' is a little offering made of banana leaves, incense, small money, candles etc which gets floated down the river. It's also one of the major harvest times (here in the north anyway), and held over the full moon period in the 12th lunar month. People also celebrate with fireworks and festoons of lanterns over their gates, fairy lights everywhere, and giant lanterns which are lit and float up high into the sky where they drift about under the stars like fireflies until they burn out. Loi Krathong is also called the 'Festival of Lights', or the 'Lantern Festival'. It's all quite beautiful to look at and there is a kind of festive and lighthearted air, like at Christmas in Australia.

Last night we drove into Thaton to sticky-beak at the festivities. I'm confused about whether last night or tonight is the biggest night of the festival. Last night was the full moon which is important, but tonight is the last night of Loi Krathong so it's the last real opportunity to let off all the fireworks and lanterns. Our little town is basically a main road lined with shops and lots of alleyways coming off the road. There is a large river running through the middle of the town bisecting the highway. Very broadly speaking, the Thais live on the south side of the river and Shan people live on the northern side. Various other groups of people live up on the hillsides in teeny tiny, scrapingly poor villages. The higher up you go, the poorer the people become and the more evident the poverty. Anyway, even though Thaton seems very small and quiet most of the time - and still has no 7-11 or ATMs - every time there is a festival thousands upon thousands of people flock to here to celebrate and it's suddenly quite a bumping and noisy little place. Last night the street was lined with little stalls selling food and trinkets and clothing, while other vendors had carnival type games for the kids to play ('pop the balloon with a dart' and so on).

Last night the street wasn't closed off at all, but people swarmed all over it in enormous crowds while we nosed our car through them very, very slowly. We went through the town and over the bridge and drove on for a bit until we found a place we could turn around and then crept back over the bridge again, a boat in a sea of bodies. Halfway across the bridge a girl gestured to us to wind down our window, and then she told us that we had a flat tyre. We hadn't felt a thing because we'd been driving so slowly. Ah yes, this car... the Bad Luck Car.

When we arrived at Chiang Mai airport the other day we swanned straight up to the car rental counter and showed them the booking form we had. While D waited for it to all be sorted, I went off to the ATM to withdraw some cash... and my card didn't work. So I tried the next ATM with the same result, and then, heart-sinking, tried the third: 'No bank reply. Please contact your bank.' I went back to the counter and as I opened my mouth to tell D I couldn't get any money for some unknown reason, he cheerfully informs me his card has been declined by the car-people, so we'll have to use mine. Stalemate. I whither with embarrassment. We knew D's card might not have enough on it, but had never imagined that mine wouldn't work either. I'd even checked it the night before so I knew exactly how much money I had on it, plenty, well more than enough. So why didn't it work? We tried to call the 'overseas help' number on the back of my card, only to discovered that 'this number is no longer connected,' super bloody helpful indeed! So, what to do? While D fumes and paces trying various different phone numbers, and I shrink, and SP shouts 'car? car? CAR!?' at the top of her lungs through the airport, we are reminded of one of the reasons we love Thailand so much: people are just too nice. We are told we may have the car, and just pay when we return it. Massive relief!

But I said this was the Bad Luck Car. A day or two after that, D scratches the back bumper on a low and unseen concrete post. In the entire 10+ years I have known him, this is only the second time he has ever done something like that. Yesterday we went for a long and very windy drive up a quite tall mountain to Doi Ang Kung (all quite nice up there, although I dearly wished I had taken a jumper or worn long pants, and that I could read at least a tiny bit of Thai instead of being totally illiterate). When we got back down to the flat lands just outside Fang, SP told us in her unique way that she gets car sick, by demonstrating violently from the back seat. Oh yes, sick everywhere. And since we had no idea she got car sick, since it never crossed our minds, we were not at all prepared for the possibility. We had no spare clothes for her (but did have a clean nappy at least), we only had a couple of baby wipes. We pulled over at a truck stop where people laughingly waved us towards the hose where D did his best with her clothes and the car seat. When I get nervous I laugh, and I couldn't stop laughing hysterically. I had tears running down my face. Who knows what they thought of me? This falang woman who thinks her child vomitting is hilarious? (It wasn't, of course, but I couldn't stop myself). For the record, SP was completely fine and chatting away by the time the sick was rinsed off her seat.

Then we've had the flat tyre last night, followed by the stop at the side of the road to discover there was no jack in the car....

So we drove home, very slowly, and somewhat defeated.

(Turns out there was a jack, Dylan found it this morning under the passenger seat, and found we'd run over a screw, which was the cause). So we have: 1. Couldn't pay for the car. 2. Scratched bumper. 3. Toddler spew everywhere. 4. Flat tyre. 5...? Still plenty of time for more to happen with this car, we don't leave until Monday!

Incidentally, I am still debating whether or not to chase up my credit card issue or not while we are still here. I am a little afraid I will be left on hold for hours at international rates, and our cash flow crisis has been averted thanks to internet banking (ie we paid off D's card, which, in hindsight, we really should have done before...)

I was going to tell you about the Night Chorus, but this post is already much wordier than I intended, and has also taken me about five hours to write thanks to all the interruptions, so that one will wait until next time.

(Apologies for no photos over the last few posts and probably the next couple to come. Putting up pics as we go is in the 'too hard basket' at the moment through a combination of factors - tablet is wireless and no wireless access here, little point and shoot camera was broken on the third day of our trip [waaaaa!], and there are way too many other photos on our 'good' cameras for me to sort through and pick out at the moment etc etc -but I promise to do a couple of photo exclusive posts when we get home.)

Antics

The other night, as we lay in our enormous bed in our luxurious resort, just as I was dozing off to sleep, the Earth quivered and trembled beneath us, and I thought, as I lay there rigid with fear and my heart pounding in my ribs, no amount of luxury will save us if this gets serious. On Saturday we flew from Denpasar to Bangkok, where we stayed the night in a hotel ringed with sandbags, a precaution against the flooding which has swept through the city this year, the worst in decades. Then I sat in an airport and looked out the window where the smog was so thick that I couldn't see clearly across the tarmac. I can't help but think our Earth is reproaching us: What are you doing to me with your mines and your oil palm plantations and your deforestation and your pollution? And she shakes in outrage and weeps floods of tears of despair.

Anyway, that aside, we have made it back to our second home high in hills in Chiang Mai Province, where I always start to desire a simple life and daydream about moving here one day to live in the hut in the lychee grove. Susan and Yuki are the same as ever. Shu is the only boy still here. Boy? Shu is a man now (19 or thereabouts), and recently married to a girl in the village (and she - her name is something like Ju-Lee - was married off at 13 to a man who was 'useless,' according to Susan, and had a child with him who is now three years old, and then divorced him for a cost of 700 Baht and then married Shu. Apparently she's quite 'together,' for a village girl.) There are several more monkeys that we don't know. Sadly, Pinky died some months ago. We'll be here for a week or so, enjoying our other life, and plotting how to take some of feeling home with us.

No idea or what who I'm talking about? Try here for previous posts on Thaton.

Thaton 3: Walking Market

On Sunday we drove the three hours back to Chiang Mai so that we could go shopping at the Sunday 'Walking Market,' although I think 'Ambling Market' might be a better name as one must not be in a rush to make it from one end to the other. We were out to see what may be found that was new and interesting, but there was not much we hadn't seen before. We couldn't help noticing the price of cotton scaves went from 79THB each at the popular end of the market, to 25THB each at the far end. I suppose they are relying on people getting worn out by the slow and hot walk and giving up before they make it all the way down.


The food was, as ever, very tasty and we started with Khao Soi (yellow noodles with red chicken curry) and followed it up with various Khanom (tidbits? snacks?), little pastries and sticky rice sweets, my green coloured coconut and tapioca wormy drink, mango with sticky rice, and sweet roti which I didn't need at all but thoroughly enjoyed.

We bought a pair of hot pink and black shoes with pompoms for SP, and hummed over some baby fisherman pants but put them back in the end. I was a bit taken by some of the prints being sold by a Chiang Mai artist, Chumpol Taksapornchai, and I bought a limited print of a watercolour entitled 'Calm in Awareness,' which will probably end up on SP's wall eventually.

Thaton 2: A celebration

Two posts in one day: a catch up!

Yesterday we had a miracle and I am not being facetious. Finally, after literally years and years of trying, Shu and Shu-Ai were given identity papers, and in three months they'll be able to get the real cards. I won't go into all the details, and I don't understand half of them anyway, but it means they now officially exist and cannot be tossed out of Thailand at someone's whim. They still don't have all the rights of a Thai citizen - don't think this means they can hop on a bus to Chiang Mai - but it is something, a step, a toe in the door of security. No one is really celebrating, I think it has taken so long (the 'identity card quest' has been going on since we first came here eight years ago, at least) that no one really believes it is real, or feels those pieces of paper with their photocopied mugshots and enlarged fingerprints could be taken away at any minute, but I am very glad it has happened at least. The next trick will be to get one for On. It may only be another eight years before that happens.

Today is the Chaluk at Wat Huai Pu, the local temple: the special day just for this little temple when everyone donates lots of money in the form of elaborate arrangements like little shrubs with leaves of 20 baht notes and flowers of 100 baht notes and various bits of bling and sparkle. The music reverberates around the hills and started very early, traditional Thai music from the temple clashing with pop Thai and drunken singing from the karaoke huts over the lake. Gunpowder smoke and small explosions punctuate the air from the firecrackers sold to the kids. The vendor wouldn't let me take a photo of the cherry-bombs, it's probably illegal to sell them. There was no real food on offer, just multi-hued and fluorescent packets of sugary junk. We watched the traditional dancing for a while. Every mini-village (Ban) had their female dance troupe all dressed in ceremonial costume (unique to each group), the general public was completely disinterested by the dancing until a man dressed in uber-traditional Thai came into the middle of the concrete plaza and danced something rather special and very slow with lots of posing. People flooded in from all over the grounds to watch, although practically everyone got bored after five minutes and wandered off before the second half. Naturally, SP upstaged him too, as the 'pinky bluey blondey' falang baby (as Susan says) would.

Thaton 1: update

(Written a few days ago)

We are at our second home again, sleeping high on the hillside in the little wooden hut surrounded by giant creaking bamboo, banana and papaya plants, and the lychee grove. Last night it rained: the clouds split open overhead and sky screamed and wailed and cracked and wept and the bamboo thrashed at the air and the ground. Today the earth bleeds sticky red clay, treacherous and slick underfoot, and the sun is pale and weak in the distance, not welcome in this restless atmosphere.
***
What news of Thaton?
Let us start with the boys from youngest to oldest.
Ume is gone, vanished for good they think, and likely to be dead by now. Snatched up by someone or something, and dumped in the darkness. The drug trade, the sex trade, the begging trade: who knows what becomes of lost little boys here? It is no surprise, but a disappointment nonetheless.
Shu is back, permanently I hope, and is still the reliable and gentle one. He has now seen the benefits of working here at the Sanctuary, rather than working for a pittance herding cows up in the mountains somewhere. Unlike practically all the other kids around here, he still does not drink, or smoke, or take drugs, or have any tattoos. He merely spends far too much time talking on the phone to various girls.
Shu-Ai is still here and as subversive as every, but he has a nice smile when he deigns to employ it.
On comes and goes, comes and goes. When he comes he needs money, and when he goes he uses it to binge on opium or alcohol or both. Another bitter disappointment, worse than knowing that Ume is gone forever because On was smart once.
Now for the village boys we have only known in passing... and too many have passed on.
Jet, whom we met last time when Susan cut his hair, and who was lovely and popular and generous, was caught by the 'special police' a few months ago mid drug-deal with four other boys. He and one other were filled with bullets from behind when they tried to run. Another was shot in the shoulder but survived. Miraculously the other two managed to get away and slunk over the border into Burma, too terrified to come home for a month. Yuki had to go and pick up the two bodies from the hospital and tried to return them to their families in the hills. It was too expensive for anyone else to collect them apparently - 5000THB (about $170) which is masses of money in this poor area, unless you're heavily involved in the drug trade. It was the wet season and the road was too bad for the car, so they cut bamboo and tied it into a raft of sorts and dragged the bodies to the village that way. the village fell into a grieving heap. One of the boys, although only young, had a wife, a small child in school already, and a newborn.
Recently there was some sort of fight over something and another boy vanished, only to bob up in the middle of the lake a week later. Now, no one will fish in the lake because they think the fish would have been eating the body, and the people have stopped using the little white paddle boats to cruise about in there; such a lot of drama for such a little village.
We are immune to all this in middle-class Australia. I look at my child and I know that almost certainly she'll never be mixed up in anything like this. I will never have to worry that she'll deal drugs, or be murdered or accidentally killed, or die from tuberculosis or malaria. When we come here and hear about all these things I feel almost blase about the deaths and the drugs; everyone is so matter-of-fact about them. Dylan feels it harder than I do. Perhaps I have a thicker skin.
The monkeys now number 24. A few we knew have gone, and there are a couple of others we are yet to know. This environment is brutal, taking the people and animals to grisly ends on a regular basis. The only animals that are increasing without losing any along the way are the cats, who now number seven. The latest is Gin - short for Ginger - whom Yuki rescued from the side of the road, half dead, and who then staged a fabulous recovery. Gin is sleek and skinny, the end of his tail is bent into a complete spiral. He is a bit skittish. but we have made friends now and he likes to come and sit on the desk between my hands as I type.
Yuki is as laid back as ever, and Susan bubbles over with that effervescent and manic energy now so familiar and dear to us. Probably all those Vitamin B12 shots...
In other words, this place continues the same.

Nearly away!

Woo! Exciting! On Tuesday D, SP, and I are all off to Penang via Bangkok for a week or so, and then my aunt's place in Thaton in far Northern Thailand for another week or so. We haven't been to Thaton for a few years and I am very much looking forward to it, it's like our second home. It will be the shortest overseas holiday we have ever taken; we are easing ourselves into travel with a munchen. Even stranger, we have even booked our hotels in advance instead of just rocking up on the doorstep and hoping they have a room for us. This pair of backpackers is now a trip is going to need to do things very differently from now on. In Penang we intend to wander about eating fabulous Malaysian food and not much else. We might even sit by the pool at our hotel for hours at a time (it's where the WiFi is ;-)) When we get to Chiang Mai we're going to hire a car and drive the few hours out to Thaton. And then not do much at all because that's what holidays are all about.

Chiang Mai 31-01-2006

This email comes to you from Chiang Mai where we arrived last night for the express purpose of souvinear shopping and breaking up the trip to Bangkok (we go tonight).

Chiang Mai seems the same as it ever did although the night market was especially flat and lacking in atmosphere. This could be because the whole thing was flooded three times in about october-ish last year and so it now looks like a bit of a construction site and lots of the market is closed off and many stalls are missing, but the thai vendors were out-numbered by tourists about 5:1 and I got the general impression they didn't give a sh!t whether we were there, or whether we bought anything or not, lines were said by rote, eyes didn't meet ours, not even the Akha women tried to sell us anything properly. Oh well.

The phad thai and pancakes from the street stalls are just as good as they always were, better than Khao San phad thai and pancakes by a mile.

We have succumbed to the budget and have lowered ourselves to catching a backpacker bus direct to Khao San Road tonight, the upshot is it goes from here to there with no taxis in between, and it's cheaper. The downside is we dont' get to stop for dinner so we dont get the adventure of eating bus-stop food.

Well, I promised to tell you about Thaton and our northern thailand, the part that passes tourists by.

Thaton is a little-bitty town in the far far north, over 3 hours from Chiang Mai, closer to Chiang Rai in fact but still in Chiang Mai province. It's right on the burmese border, a 10 minute walk out of town along the river will take you to the army checkpoint where you may go no further. Well, WE may go no further but in fact there is a constant traffic back and forth over the border by hill tribes, the army and of course (this being Thailand), drug runners. Stay here long enough and you may even get to hear a gun-battle in the night.

You probably wouldn't realise on a quick visit to this country just how much of an impact drugs have, especially in the rural areas. We're not talking opium, that's old news. We're talking yaba, crazy medicine, dirty speed, meth-amphetimine plus rubbish. Here, in the north it's kind of the Thai army's responsibility to keep check on the constant stream of drugs moving from the Wa army just over the border so it's a little bit ironic that something like 60% of the soldiers use yaba even if they aren't addicted.

Dealers and the police seem to go hand in hand most of the time, every second cop is on the take.

Within the Wa people (they're the ones that make a lot of the yaba) if someone get's caught actually using it a deep pit is dug and they're put into it for a couple of months, in the dark, squatting in their own filth. What does that say? They know it's bad but it makes money (funding a rebellion against the Myanmar Junta Generals?), what's good for the goose is NOT good for the gander.So yep, big problem up here.

Around Thaton, in fact in much of the north there are hill-tribes. I've already mentioned Susan's charges, the Lahu/Musa boys. But there's also Karen in their long blue shifts, Padang with neck rings that attract tourists like flies, Akha with their colourful silver decorated headwear that will sell it to you as soon as you look at it, Shan with their slight figures and darker complexions and others.

Naturally where there are hilltribes there are tourists. They come in their buses, buy trinkets off the Akha and drive off or go rafting down the River back to Chiang Rai looking at elephants along the way.

You see, there is the tourist and royal-funded, king's project ,nice, neat tidy Akha village with the cute, well-fed kids who go to school. But over there, over the hill, round the back are the other villages. NOT funded by the government, full of people who have no identity in this country and certainly NOT visited by tourists. Dirty kids, under-nourished, high on glue. And do the Thais care? Of course not. Thailand has a whole class system and these people are right at the bottom of it (thanks to Adrian for this info!), last on the list.

So if you're an illegal resident, say a burmese refugee, how can you become legal? Well as I understand it you might be able to get yourself on a village list. And how does that happen? You look different, you sound different, people have to lie bare-faced to the authorities and swear blind you were born there or whatever. Well, they do say money makes the world go around. And it takes a LOT of money, more than your average refugee would be able to rustle up. So, no thai identity card. Can't go anywhere, stuck in the same area. You can work mind you, the shitty jobs that no one else wants to do, picking fruit and so on (hispanics in america ring a bell?), heaps of Burmese work up here.

Call me cynical but I've met Ume, possibly 12 years old. Can't count because he's frazzled too many brain cells in part of his brain inhaling fumes out of a plastic bag. Gruesome burn scars over his torso and legs after an argument over some petrol he had plans to sniff and the other kid set him alight. Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was on purpose. Either way it's not a nice thing to think about. Ume had been sold to that village to work, he ran away later but not before the burns had festered and become infected and horribly scared. He just shrugs and said 'it hurt'.

On the weekends he often wears rags and begs from the thai tourists who come to visit the temple complex on the hill. He knows how to look destitute, he knows how to make the face. Not that the Thais would look him in the eyes anyway, they just give him money as they get 'karma credits' for doing good deeds. The best thing you could say about this is that at least he's working for himself, unlike many of the child beggers who work to fund an adult's habits.

It's maddening because he's a nice kid most of the time, if he's not high, if he's bathed, if he's not in trouble for stealing something he's totally likable. And he HAS a chance here. He's looked after, he doesn't need to beg. He has a village, he can possibly get an identity card in the future. Old habits die hard maybe, bad behaviour persists. And it's not just him, there must be hundreds of kids just like him here.

Dylan has just said I dont make this sound like a nice area of the world so I guess I need to clarify something. It IS a beautiful place. It's quiet, it's calm and peaceful (if you ignore the fact that people shoot anything that moves). There's rice and garlic greening the fields, a nice and fairly clean river running through the venter of town, bamboo swaying in the breeze, lychees and oranges (let's just gloss over the fact that they are a bit of an environmental and social disaster and more chemical than organic probably) and some fairly good looking forest. People are friendly, there's a cafe where the guy makes the best chicken and cashews nuts in Thailand and of course a fabulous monkey sanctuary.

What I mean to say is that when you visit a place like this don't just go 'oh it's nice, quaint, and the people wear funky clothes'. Look beyond the surface a bit. Don't be one of those tourists that does everything and sees nothing.

I know I'm lecturing but the whole 'hill-tribe trekking' scene gives me the shits.

Anyway, nuff from me for now! Just got a couple of hours to go and we'll be on our last bus trip, to our last guesthouse and counting down the last noodles and curries and our last baht. Not the last trip of course, we've already made tentitive plans for another one next summer (after christmas this time :-P), we're thinking fly to BKK, overland to Vientiane, Laos, bus to Luang Prabang then sail up the Mekong on a slow boat to Huay Xai then onto monkey world for an extended stay, because that place has us firmly in it's furry hands and refuses to let go. I miss Peter the monkey already, my squeeky boy.

This may or may not be my last post, depends how bored I get of window shopping in Banglamphu. We're on our way home and it feels very weird indeed. Half exciting, half depressing, bundles of emotions. Still, we have a wedding and developing the photos to look forward to (yes, still a film affecionado), and I'm in a motivated mood for uni for now at least and motivated to start making and saving up more money for more holidays and for my own bit of earth to dig my toes into.

Cast of thousands 27-01-2006

Susan: Australian but hasn’t live in Aus for about 30 years give or take.

Yuki: Japanese partner, yoga aficionado

On: 19, Burmese refugee who doesn’t officially exist in Thailand (or in Burma for that matter). Speaks Lahu, English, Thai (and Shan maybe?). Teaching himself to read Thai, play the guitar. Amazing DIYer, made his own tattoo machine and then gave all the neighborhood kids tattoos (yes, real ones) much to Susan’s horror . Currently building a guest bathroom outside our hut. Sleeps with Pinky the monkey at night.

Shu-Wai: 16, Lahu boy, primary charge is Poppy the monkey. He’s a bit ‘dark’ (inside, not out) and lost, lots of teenaged angst but a good kid. Mother is around somewhere (actual village unknown) but left him and his brother to fend for themselves, she turns up occasionally.

Shu: Shu-Wai’s 14 year old brother. Animal expert. Friendly, smiley. Looks after Peter the monkey at night. Adopts stray dogs, chickens, has numerous guppies and tadpoles. Currently whipping Dylan’s arse in a game of dominos.

Ume: Is also Lahu I think. Aged approximately 12. Glue addict but seems to be getting on top of it with the constant support and encouragement from Susan. Had been gone for 2 weeks when we arrived (New Year in his village) but not sniffed glue the entire time which is great. Totally unable to count (glue has frazzled his brain cells). Recently stole Shu-Wai’s bike and sold it. Duties; feeding dogs and cats. His father popped around yesterday for a visit and a haircut and Ume took off with his Dad’s bicycle and hasn’t been seen since (it seems Ume cannot be trusted with ANY bicycle). Ume is the poster-child for the issues that surround hill-tribes in this area, we'll talk more on this later.

That’s it for the humans in the house apart from the Musa (lahu) kids who come to visit walking down from the village on the hill, the Thai kids who come to look at the monkeys, the sticky-beaking monks and let’s not forget the 30 odd Thai soldiers who wandered through the other day in search of illegal charcoal burners.

So, some of the animals who live here, in no particular order:

John: Australian cattle-dog, brought out to Thailand years ago but left behind when his owner went back to Aus. He’s old, almost completely deaf and walks like an old man. Suffers terribly from mange despite having every cure known to man-kind tried out on him, no immunity probably as he’s not from here.

Mi: Black female dog, log-shaped due to anti-puppy hormones. Very friendly, ran away from wherever and gradually insinuated herself into the household, meter by meter from the road, Shu fed her despite being asked not to.

Puss and Pie: Mother and daughter cats who share a serious addiction to cat cookies .

Joi: Monkey number one in more ways than one, first Susan ever had and alpha monkey which means he’s in charge. Beautiful beautiful face. Almost always cool, calm and collected. Sulks if he doesn’t get a banana for breakfast. Pig-tail macaque.

Ah Son: As good looking as Joi and almost as big. Features in my memory for biting me nearly 3 years ago and scaring the bejeezus out of me, he was only small then, lucky for me because he’s huge now! Another pig-tail.

Sham Penn: pretty female monkey but always seems a little ‘stuck up’, wary of her but she’s good to watch from a distance. The only person who can deal with her is On, everyone else will land a bite. (Pig Tail)

Ai: Has a bent hand but is still in charge (top-female). Doesn’t like me much and paces whenever I’m hanging around. In fact she apparently doesn’t like any blonde female, which is funny because my hair is currently dark but maybe she remembers from last time? (Pig Tail)

Nong-Nii: Had a calcium defiancy as a baby so now is small with short legs and wonky teeth but a nice face. She’s narky at night and will bite anyone except Susan or Yuki who gets too close. Still sleeps with Susan at night. Loves spaghetti. At night she’s in the house and in between the kitchen and the dining area where she paces back and forth and glares balefully at anyone who tries to get past, effectively trapping them. Dylan got one bite on his ankle and now has a funky bruise which shows each separate tooth. (pig tail, albeit a small one!)

Mongarbi: The lone black white-handed gibbon. Recently unwell so has been moping around but better today. Went for a swing and I heard him singing this morning (you’ve not heard anything cool until you’ve heard a gibbon in full voice). Gibbons have the most hopeless record of rehabilitation in the wild, only about 7% survive. Gibbon species are endemic/allopatric to their areas, ie they have their one patch and no-where else making them especially vulnerable as once they’re gone there are none of their species anywhere else. Gibbons are primates like us, not monkeys by the way

Mot: Has picked out all of the hairs on the left side of her face and shoulders when grooming making for one funny looking monkey! (pig tail I think)

Lucy and Marli: Two girls that arrived together looking like twins as their mothers were shot at the same time. Behave like collaborators in crime most of the time (species unknown, Marli may be Assamese, Lucy no idea)

ET: the lone 'definate' Assamese (sp?) macaque, chubby and fluffy. Has to be given water every day as he breaks any tap put into his cage. Eats three times faster than anyone else.

Mother and Bebe: Mother and daughter as you may have sussed out already, Bebe has an extra big bum and both have an endearing way of wiggling their eyebrows when they get their milk in the morning, Bebe wiggles hers at a faster rate than Mother. (yet more pig-tail macaques)

Grumpy: Fights terribly whenever he’s in the same cage as anyone else, was put into his own cage where he proceeded to fight through the wires with the monkeys next door, so extra fine wire was put up to stop him hurting anyone or being hurt. Rhesus macaque.

The ‘family’: Wani, Eck, Kinni, Lanni (and Sunny), a group of funny looking monkeys more wrinkled and smaller than the pig-tails, they’re also Rhesus macaques, all the young ones were born here.The babies:

Peter: Very cute, extra cuddly, banana-snatcher extraordinaire. Has a bullet in his abdominal cavity from when his mother was shot. Bent tail-tip probably from the same incident. Extra squeaky and talkative. Possibly Assamese like ET. Holds record for 'most photographed monkey' by dylan and I.

Sunny: Born here, very small because she doesn’t eat fast enough and gets her food pinched. A bit shy but will come and sit with you if you are quiet enough. Tail looks like a squirrel due to her mother’s over-enthusiastic grooming, nearly bare at the base but fluffy at the tip! Is determined to relieve me of my glasses before I leave, when I wouldn’t let her have them she pulled my hair and poked me in the eye . Yesterday she peed on me, making me the first person to ever be peed on by Sunny as far as Susan knows, lucky me! You wouldn’t have thought a tiny baby monkey would have such a large bladder capacity . Rhesus macaque.

Pinky: Most monkeys get a pink face when they are upset, Pinky has a pink face ALL the time even when she’s perfectly happy. However, she’s also highly-strung and will fly off the handle really easily so she gets into fights a lot and needs lots of cuddles. Today she’s in the boys' cage (with Ah Son and Joi) and seems happy there, they ignore her, she ignores them. Seems to be working quite well as opposed to the constant fights in the babies cage. Has a strange short tail that we don’t know if it’s normal or not, so we don’t know what type of monkey she is.

Poppy: opposite of Pinky, never gets a pink face no matter how mad she is! Loves to run up to people and hold onto their ankles and sit on their feet when they are walking. Poppy also has a strange stubby tail identical to Pinky’s, so sp. Unknown.

Jojo and Jimmy: The big kids of the babies, older, faster, sneakier. Too big to go out on their own now. Pig-tail macaque.

There’s also 3 geese, assorted ducks and chickens, fish, frogs and tadpoles and as of this morning, an owl which was brought here by a woman hoping it would be looked after. This being a monkey sanctuary we’ve spent the morning googling ‘owl care’ hoping to work out how on earth to look after this bird.

Monkey Madness 27-01-2006

Imagine your average toddler. Feed them something guaranteed to make them over-excited and hyperactive (red cordial, coffee, coca cola whatever), shrink them, cover them with fur and give them the ability to climb the walls and then you have something like a monkey.

Watching the monkeys I think they're like humans but sped up, they behave like we would like to be able to behave (sometimes), how great would it be to be having an argument with someone and so you just bite them? Ok maybe not, but it's fun to think of it.

This is the 'Monkey Sanctuary' and it's not an official organisation.

The pet trade is big in Thailand. People go out into the forest and shoot the monkeys to eat and then sell the babies. A lot of those baby monkeys have ended up here, at Susan's house (Susan is my mother's husband's sister).. She does NOT buy monkeys as it encourages people to shoot more. Some monkeys are also here as their owners are unable to look after them for whatever reason (basically because a full time job and a monkey do not match).

The little ones (the 3 smallest bar one) spend their time between a large cage or running loose. The very smallest one, Sunny was born here and is easily able to fit through the bars of the cage so she spends her days going from cage to cage getting groomed by everyone and pestering the humans. She's not as tame as the other smaller monkeys so you don't pick her up but she'll come to you.

Baby monkeys need a lot of care, like human babies they dont know how to care for themselves, they dont know what is dangerous and what is not and get frightened at night.

There are quite a few monkeys, adolescents and some of the younger adults who wear belts around their waists which get clipped to long leads and attached to a bamboo run for part of the day so they're not in cages all the time.The cages are very large and tall with plenty of runs, huts, ropes, baskets and so on inside them to keep the monkeys entertained, there are passageways between most of the cages so the monkeys can been moved from one to another when neccessarily. Of course, the cages are not big enough for wild animals but a cage never is. Still, they are as big as could be made, world class.

It's one big sort-of-family here, which means like most familys there are many noisy arguments, hair pulling, biting and squabbling and cuddles afterwards. Surprisingly, species is not a boundary to a relationship. The dogs get groomed by the monkeys, the cats and dogs share food, monkeys and humans share beds and chickens and ducks get chased by monkeys.You could never set out to have this kind of life-style, you just fall into it I think.

There are also 4 hilltribe boys living here who kind of don't have anywhere else to go. Susan took them in years ago. They have their own huts and kitchens and they help with the monkeys (nobody can look after 23 monkeys and a gibbon on their own!). I'll talk more about hilltribes later, it's all very interesting.

So now that you have an idea what the deal is - although a bit of a run down doesn't do this place justice at all and it's very hard to explain in a western sort of context.

Politics opinions rantings and ravings

As promised, I’m getting on my soap box (or high horse maybe).

When you read this remember I’m no politics or economic expert, it’s just Burma as seen through the eyes of a traveller.

Let’s start with the Burma vs Myanmar thing. I’m still undecided as to what to call the country. Burmese people doesn’t really refer to everyone who lives in the country, just the majority (really Bamar). There are thousands of people from other ethnic groups (eg Shan, Chin, Karen/Kayin, Wa etc) who don’t fall under the Burmese banner. Everyone we met who lives there calls it Myanmar, Myanmar people, Myanmar food, Myanmar temples. But then you meet anyone outside and it’s Burma, Burmese people, Burmese refugees. So still don’t know what to call it, I tend to swap back and forth from one to the other. According to UN convention it’s Myanmar (Burma) and is written that way on maps, in books and so on.

One of the biggest concerns I’ve developed is the idea of Freedom of Speech. Not a new idea I know but something I’ve not really had the need (I suppose) to think about much before.

In Australia I can say what I want without fear of retribution. I can say John Howard and his government have no compassion for refugees. I can say they make no effort to support students. I can say they think only of money and never of people. I can say they are America’s lackeys, and I know that I won’t be arrested upon my arrival back in Australia. I know I won’t get beaten into a pulp and thrown into jail for an indefinite period of time, I know that my family won’t suffer or go hungry because I had a less than favourable opinion of the people in charge.

My entire life I’ve taken Freedom of Speech for granted, didn’t think about it, wondered why American’s jump up and down about it, I think a lot of Australians are the same. So when you ask a sensitive question (that you may not have realized was sensitive, eg me and the FECs) and you see that shadow pass over the person’s eyes, and see the pause, the moment before they change the subject, the moment when they wonder who is listening in, who will say what to who, it comes as a bit of a shock to this fortunate Australian who is accustomed to saying what she thinks. Just something to think about.

Speaking of ‘caring for students’; what are your thoughts on a government who closed the universities for four years – from 1996-2000 – for fear of students starting riots? Students have access to outside information you see, international newspapers, international opinions…

What do you think when you hear of a government building a new capital city, and hear the rumours that to get the labour to do so, soldiers walk into villages, point their guns and force everyone out into the construction site at gun point and get nothing but enough food to not starve each day for months and months on end? It’s rumour like I said, but who knows how much is rumour and embellishment and how much is rooted in truth?

The Boxing Day Tsunami? Didn’t really happen here. Never mind that India is on the Western side and Thailand is in the east and both countries suffered severe loss of life and property, Burma must have been in some mysterious Tsunami shadow and left unaffected, only ‘minor damage’ (I think it’s called an information black-out).

Remind me again how many people live on the coast of Burma? Oh that’s right, don’t really know, population numbers are estimates only.

Bird flu in Burma? Never heard of it.

Minimal information in, zero information out is practically policy. Keep your people in the dark and they won’t know what they’re missing, right? Only, they know what’s out there. They’re not stupid, they know what is right and what is wrong but are too scared most of the time to do or say anything about it (and would you if it put your family and your life in danger?).

Oh, the paper! ‘The New Light of Myanmar', the local rag, what an appropriate euphemism. Never in my life have I read such drivel, such propaganda nonsense. Pictures of generals shaking hands, cutting ribbons, opening buildings. ‘General Such-n-such sends his condolences to the leader of country X on the death of the leader’s brother’. Some international news, most coverage given to the latest casualty numbers of Americans and other countries in Iraq (Australia didn’t get a mention).

Want some gems?

Courtesy of The New Light of Myanmar, Wednesday, 11 January 2006, mostly reports on the ‘new’ constitution which made it a great paper to keep!:

“Country needs to have strong and modern Tatmadaw to ensure its defense and security” (p. 16)

“To prevent, through national solidarity, the danger of internal and external destructive elements undermining peace and stability of the State and national development” (p.16)

“The role of the Tatmadaw is very important in order to ward off threats and dangers from inside and outside the nation“. (p 16)

“The Tatmadaw is strong, modern and must be the sole existing brilliant and patriotic Tatmadaw” (p 14) (Read between the lines).

“The state shall, in appointing or assigning duties, not discriminate against or in favour of any citizens with qualifications set for posts or duties based on race, birth, region and sex. However, nothing in this section shall prevent appointment of men to the positions that are naturally suitable for men only” (p 11) (LOL! Ahahaha, just had to laugh at this one, although interestingly in Burmese culture woman have more rights than you would expect to property, finances and so on).

“The State prohibits any form of forced labour except hard labour as a punishment for crime duly convicted and duties assigned thereupon by the state in accord with the law for public interests” (p. 11) (Again, read carefully, remember what I said I’d heard about the new Capital City?).

“Every citizen shall, in accord with the law, have the right to freely develop literature, culture, arts, customs and traditions they cherish. In the process they shall avoid any act which is to the detriment of national solidarity. Any particular action in this respect which may adversely affect the interests of one or several other national races shall be taken only after consultation and amicable settlement with those affected” (p 11).

I could go on. There’s so much more. Over and over ‘citizens shall do what they like in accordance with existing state law'.The paper is 16 pages long, and it’s like this every day.

And then there’s the drugs, the whole amphetamine issue, the Wa army and battles and skirmishes with Thailand (right where I am now actually, a hotbed of illegal activity!), and what is condoned and what is not. All interesting stuff, I can hunt out some net info if anyone’s interested.

The economy is a shambles. A 'blue taxi' could be bought for $40US 5 years ago, now it takes $3000US to get an outdated rust bucket. Totally out of the reach of almost everyone.

It's difficult for travellers to spend money which is absurd.

Have you heard that Aung San Suu Kyi has been put back under house arrest for another 6 months? For doing nothing but having the guts to say ‘This is not the way’ and to promote democracy as a better option than military dictatorship (her party won the election years ago and she was promptly arrested).

There’s so much more I could say, so much more to think about. But I’ll leave you with these ‘People’s Desires’, printed on signs all over the country, on government publications, on the cover of the phone book. Oppose, oppose, oppose and crush. Personally if I were to come up with a list of People’s Desires, I’d consider actually asking the people what it was that they desired, and maybe they’d come up with things like ‘keep my children in school into their teenaged years’, ‘bring more of our people above the poverty line’, ‘give us some decent hospitals and health care’, ‘slow the spread of HIV/AIDs’, ‘slow the rampant inflation so our currency is actually worth something’.

People's Desire.

1) Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative views.

2) Oppose those trying to jeopardize stability of the State and progress of the nation.

3) Oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State.

4) Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy.

Would you desire any of that?

BUT (and there's always a but) are we glad we went or not?

Yes, we're glad we went. We may not have been to many countries in the world, so we can only speak out of the experiance of half a dozen other places mostly Asian. But in all the places we've ever been we've never encountered a group of people whilst all being so different from one another, are so lovely. ALWAYS friendly, always polite, they have no money but never once did we feel people were trying to rip us off. They're simple, they're charming, completely honest, completely trustworthy, totally faithful to their religions and will go out of their way to help the traveller.

People WILL talk to you in private, they WILL listen to what you think and we can pass on what we saw and did to other people outside to raise some awareness. We go, spend our money with the right people (ie the actual 'people'), god knows they need it.

Call me an optimist, but the situation cannot last forever. They want admission to ASEAN and ASEAN is not happy with things as they are.

Right now it's just words, another 'roadmap to reform' but one day it might be more than words.

Bangkok 24-12-2005

Well, we've arrived in Bangkok unscathed.

As you know, we couldn't cross the border overland due to extensive flooding (worst in at least 20 years apparently) so we took a flight with Air Asia from KL which turned out to be quite fun in the way that only Asia can be. Halfway through the flight the head attendant got up to thank everyone for flying with them... and to say thank you we all got to search through the pockets in front of us and if you found a laminated picture of a gift you won a prize. Nothing for us unfortunately but the guy behind us (only one seat away from me dammit!) won a little pillow and a pen... and when he got up to receive his gift he was requested to sing a song and so he launched into a garbled version of jingle bells and we all clapped along That could only happen here hehehe. That was it for the in-flight entertainment but fun nonetheless.

So we arrived at BKK airport, waited for ages and ages to get through immigration. It doesn't seem to matter what country you are in, there is always a disproportionate number of counters to the number of staff so a few hundred people from several flights were lined up in three separate slow moving lines, but we got through and jumped in a taxi which hardly took the long way around to Banglamphu at all and although his maths wasn't that great (180baht + 50baht = 300baht apparently) we didn't bother to make a fuss (it's Christmas after all, spirit of generosity and all that). We found a place to stay easily on Soi Rambutri, just over from the infamous Thanon Khao San but infinitely nicer as there are trees, a temple/monastery over the road and not so crazy-busy.

Nothing has changed, nothing at all. It's like coming home in a funny way. There are still the fruit, pancake and phad thai stalls. There's still a falafel stall out the front of the police office. There are still about 5 times as many westerners as Thais here, and still the obligatory annoying backpackers. Just the type you want to shake and say 'Chill out man! Not everyone is out to get you!'. Some people act like an offer of a tuk-tuk is an attack and respond in kind, angrily and aggressively. You get so much further here by being friendly, not ignoring people and chatting before you refuse what they are trying to sell. Shouting at someone over 20 baht (that's about 60c AU) does nothing but make you look like a fool. Just my opinion of course.

But somehow this time it seems easier here. Maybe we're not a bit jaded like we were last time when it took us about 3 months before we got to BKK but this time it just seems a bit more relaxing. We've paid a lot more for a room than last time too, making it a lot easier to find one as competition for the super-cheap rooms is big so we have a nice, big, clean and quiet room with a bathroom overlooking a pretty courtyard with trees, a big fish pond, orchids and a spirit house. I love the spirit houses here. They're usually out the front of a house or hotel or business and they are often built before the actual house because it's important to have somewhere for the house spirits to live. People leave fruit and flowers and light incense to keep them happy. It's technically an animist thing, not a Buddhist thing but many buddhists believe in it nonetheless, a blending of religions, at least that's how I understand it.

What is very strange here is that it's not hot! At least not after Malaysia anyway. The Thais are all rugged up in jumpers and jackets, it's not THAT cold to us but there was a definite nip in the air this morning and it hardly feels humid at all, it's great!

We've already dove head first into the food, having curries and Tom Kha (my most favourite soup of all time) and stirfries and painfully chilli hot Som Tum (green papaya salad). We were enjoying our lunch yesterday right up until a pigeon got squashed by a car on the road in front of the cafe which was more than a bit off putting (some of you know this already, hello family!), a street sweeper had picked it up within ten minutes but a blood smear and some scattered feathers remained (sorry if anyone was eating while they read this!) and I couldn't seem to stop looking at the damn thing! Morbid fascination, watching backpackers swerve around the body in disgust and a few unfortunate people who weren't paying attention... you get the picture in far too much detail I'm sure!

And the most exciting thing we have done so far is to have my hair dreaded I said I'd do it and I've been true to my word and actually done it! It was an experience let's just say that. It was 400baht ($15 AU ish... a far cry different to the $hundred/s plus you pay at home unless you DIY), down from 800 so I think we did alright there , I even did the bargaining myself instead of getting Dylan to do it. It took 1.5 guys (sometimes one, sometimes two) about 2 and a half hours to do it. I started off on a little plastic stool, then after about half an hour was moved to a plastic chair with a back and half an hour after that I was graduated to a proper cushioned chair, there was clearly a seat hierarchy going on, the longer you'd been there the better seat you got as people left. My hair was back-combed then viciously woven in and out with what looked like a very small crochet hook very very fast and quite painfully. They're really tight! By the end of it I was just closing my eyes and waiting for the pain to fade, gentle is not the name of the game here, speed is of the essence. My scalp may never be the same ever again. Pictorial evidence will follow once we get the pics off the camera Personally I think I look silly but Dylan thinks otherwise. Since last night they have grown on me a bit so only time will tell to see how long they last. It was dreads or cut the damn hair off tho, I'm not a long haired person (despite having long hair for about 18 years) and it was driving me NUTS. So I embraced the hippy within, all I need now is to get fatter rings in my ears and a couple of tattoos and I'm set for life.

I don't know when the next post will be, I'll check this before we leave for Burma on boxing day but the availability of the Internet in Burma is a closed book at the moment, hopefully there will be some access so I can keep writing.Anyway, we'll leave it there for now, I'm absolutely starving hungry!