Welcome to Mae Sot!

After a long busride (on a double-decker no less!) from Bangkok through rural thailand, and over a jungle-covered mountain range, through two police checkpoints, it was with some surprise that I rolled into Mae Sot yesterday evening - surprise that the long journey had gone so smoothly and that I was finally here!  The adventure, however, was just beginning!  Mae Sot is a bustling border town, made up of 98% Burmese people, with a good splash of foreign NGO volunteers.  Accordingly, after my shmancy iced coffee this morning (in a cafe that no local could afford, though it only cost me $1.30), I took a walk through the market, overflowing with tropical fruits and vegetables, clothing, buckets of toads, eels, and turtles, and any other local delicacy you could want.  Apparently, there is also a thriving blackmarket in gems, drugs, and guns that come over from Burma, though there were obviously no sign of these.  I bought some custard apples and was told that I'm beautiful. Though everyone is very polite and keeps their hands and coments to themselves, I'm remembering what it's like to be a spectacle - an amusing, awkward, clearly monied foreigner who probably looks quite sweaty and lost at the best of times.  I'm okay with being looked at and whispered about - I just wish I could communicate with people and break that very present invisible wall.  Smiling is a start, I guess.

I checked in to a guest house, and made quick friends with one of the Burmese guys working there, Than.  He seemed a bit hesitant to register me for more than two nights, which confused me, until he pulled me aside this morning and drew me a pencil-sketch map, with the name of a shop and the man I was supposed to find there to ask about a cheaper "homestay".  Than was quite adamant that I keep this plan from the Thai owners of the guest house, who would fire him for losing their business.  So, today, I showed up at the appointed time and place and, sure enough, met "Bobo" who drew me another map.  Down a back alley, past some street dogs, I asked an old woman, and was led to a very humble home behind a temple.  The woman there showed me the room I am to rent, and meanwhile chattered at me in Burmese, assuring me that she would teach me the language while I'm living with her.  So, I've found my new home!  Though it's markedly less fancy than the guest house, it's $3 a night (as opposed to $10) and it will be a pleasure and a privilege to share space with a Burmese family and learn from them.  It's amazing, the network that exists here, and I feel that there are many invisible hands and eyes, looking out for me already.  It's quite comforting.  I guess anyone who comes to contribute to the work being done around here for Burmese Human Rights is quickly considered a friend and ally.

Speaking of which, I've been doing some reading about the political situation in Burma and the terrible oppression (economic, political, physical) that has been going on for the last three or four decades.  It's really shocking and disturbing - not least the lack of international awareness and action on the issue.  I"ll post some articles at the end here, for anyone who is interested.

Tomorrow, I'll make my way to the clinic!  I'm really excited to be here.  A few people asked me, before I left, why I was coming to Thailand, and I didn't have a great answer.  But I can say now that this feels like where I'm supposed to be at the moment - and that's a good feeling!  More to follow...

Love to you all, and hope all's well.

http://www.nytimes.com/info/myanmar/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/world/asia/30myanmar.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/world/asia/02myanmar.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/world/asia/14myanmar.html