Chillin’ in Rob’s Hood
After Chiang Mai I hopped on a bus to Mae Sot to visit Rob in his hood. I couldn’t wait to see his home and of course meet the friends and colleagues that make Mae Sot such an inspiring and motivating place for him to live and work. It was great to see Rob’s smiling face at the bus stop when I arrived. I don’t know what I was expecting from Mae Sot, but I was surprised to learn that it was an decent sized city with tons of restaurants, grocery stores, markets, etc. I guess I had pictured something way more rustic, but I was mistaken. It’s a beautiful mountain town on the Thai/Burmese border and it is lovely. Now I can see why Rob likes it so much.
After taking me for a tour around his palatial estate
and chillaxing with some cold beverages, we headed out to grab a bite to eat. Of course, the meal was fantastic. In addition to sumptuous Thai dishes, Burmese dishes abound and they are just as fabulous. You know I took a Burmese cooking class, but more on that later.
The next morning Rob took for me a drive to see the largest refugee camp, Mae La. It has been in existence for 30 years and houses 70,000 registered refugees. Apparently the number is much larger if you add unregistered refugees into the mix. I didn’t have my camp pass to enter so I had to snap clandestine shots as we sped by in Rob’s car. Sorry that they are kind of blurry, but this is definitely not a scenario where we could stop and allow for thoughtful composition. Cameras are generally a no-no so I had to make sure the camera was out of sight as we passed check points.
From the outside, Mae La looks absolutely beautiful with thousands of thatched roof houses nestled into the side of the mountain. I hear that the conditions are much more dire inside the refugee camp walls, but from the outside it’s quite beautiful and nothing what I expected.
The landscape around Mae Sot is gorgeous. Rice fields, sugar cane, soy beans, and mountains are as far as the eye can see. About a month ago everything was super lush and neon green, but the rice was just harvested so the farmers were burning the rice fields to prepare them for the next season when I arrived. I still thought the landscape was beautiful.
One of the up sides to the burning of the fields is a spectacular sunset. I don’t think I have ever seen a sky this red before. It looks like the sky is on fire. These pics are taken from Rob’s front balcony. Gorgeous!
This is the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning. I love the elaborate woodwork throughout Rob’s house. The detail is so striking when the sun is peering through the holes. I wear an eye mask to save the beauty until a decent hour.
Ear plugs are also a must since roosters and noisy monks are also factors. Rob actually had me ship air traffic controller grade ear muffs to him prior to my departure from the US because the exuberant monks are so loud.
Evidently one cannot have a normal conversation if the monks are at full throttle and screaming is necessary. The temple is literally 2 houses away from Rob’s house, but they also have 3 microphones strategically posted around the temple to blare their announcements and music. Fascinating. BTW, fascinating in this context = brutal.
Here is the microphone right next to my room. Awesome.
Thankfully I lucked out and never had the pleasure of experiencing the monks at their most enthusiastic. I heard many announcements and some music, which I thought seemed pretty loud, especially at 5 AM, but Rob assured me that these sounds were nowhere even close to how the monks usually roll. Thank goodness I got a second pair of those ear muffs for me. They definitely did the trick! Rob even taught me how to lodge the ear muffs between 2 pillows to allow sleeping on one’s side. As my mom would say, hot diggity dog!
After a surprisingly restful sleep, we headed to the Wide Horizons school where Rob is conducting his research to meet the students. I have several wonderful pictures of the students, but since they are Burmese refugees and migrants I cannot post their pictures, as it could put them at risk. There are 21 students in all between 19 - 32 years old. The Wide Horizons program is a post 10 program (10th grade is the highest one can go without going to university), and offers the students opportunities to refine their English comprehension and gain critical thinking skills necessary to implement community development projects. All of the students were nominated by the community based organization (CBO) where they currently reside and had to complete an extensive application to gain acceptance to the program.
The students greeted me with warm and friendly smiles and seemed excited to meet Teacher Rob’s real sister. They call everyone sister and brother so they needed to clarify that I was actually his real sister. Yep, I’m the real deal! In fact, as the big sister I am known as pi sow. I’m not sure that this is spelled correctly, but that’s how it sounds. Rob, my baby brother, is known as nong lek and Drew as the middle brother is nong chai.
OK, now that we’ve got all of that straight, let’s get back to Wide Horizons. After a quick introduction, it was time for the students to begin their debates, which are part of their final exams for the semester. Below you’ll see Teacher Brooke (pronounced Teeeeeecher) explaining to the students how the debate is going to flow.
The topics were juicy: 1. Can women be as successful as men and 2. Is living in a refugee camp better than living in Burma. The 3 teams: Lucky 7, Goal, and Great Debaters duked it out.
The judges weighed in….
And Goal was the big winner. Way to go team Goal.
Here is a picture of the girl’s dormitory, kitchen, and classrooms at the Wide Horizons School. I so enjoyed meeting the students and seeing them in action. I wish I could share more of the students with you because they are such a breath of fresh air. Like the Cambodians I met a few months ago, these students have faced terrible hardships, but they have not let these events break their spirit and their optimism that a brighter future is possible. It was such a pleasure to be in their company and I am grateful for the time I got to spend with them.
The next day we were supposed to head up to some ruins about 2 hours outside of Mae Sot, but one of Rob’s professors back in Boston had some other ideas in mind, which required Rob to lock himself inside the house and work. Boo! Thankfully Brooke and Ineke were hanging at the pool and invited me to join them. Sweet.
As you can see, we were not feeling stressed. In fact, we were about as far from stressed as one can get. Another Leo, please.
Rob, we wish you were here with us, but are so glad you are now one step closer to having your QP passed. Almost there…
After getting our fill at the pool, we headed back to Brooke’s house to hang. Ineke actually drove me to Brooke’s house on the back of her bike. The ride was long and partly uphill. I don’t know how she did it, but she kept insisting that as a Dutch gal she was used to it and it was truly no problem. Man, it would be a huge problem for me, but she rocked it. She was still able to talk the entire time. I’m impressed.
Rob finished his work and joined as at Brooke’s. Yay, Rob, we missed you. As per usual, we had another delicious meal. Mae Sot definitely hooks it up big time in the food department.
Now that Rob finished his work we were able to play so the next day we headed to the monk caves about 20 minutes from his house. The walk up to the cave is only a few short steps and suddenly we are in this other world. Take a look for yourselves. How wonderful to have something this unique and special practically in your backyard.
The image below is similar to the mental picture I have of what my brothers must have looked like as they voraciously devoured my fruit and chocolate scented lip glosses when we were little kids. Of course, I never witnessed them in the act, only finding the empty remains after their attack, but I always pictured them with maniacal expressions in the midst of their feeding frenzy. I realize that this guy seems to be eating a bunny, but the bunny is in a disc similar to the tins scraped clean of all traces of scented lip gloss. Interestingly enough, while the lip glosses smelled delicious, they actually tasted like wax, but that didn’t stop the boys from going to town on them time and time again. Freaks…
Notice that all the toes are the same length on buddha’s footprint. This is a sign of enlightenment. Um, Wendy? Ha! I mean how can I mention toes without a shout out to my girl, Wendy. Yes, this is yet another occasion where it’s appropriate to cue the song That’s What Friends Are For.
The monks’ quarters are up these steps. As a woman I am not allowed to enter, but Rob has been up there before so I have a sense of what it’s like. As you might imagine, it’s pretty sparse with basically a bed and a side table.
After the monk’s cave we headed to some other nearby caves that required a bit more of a hike up the mountain. This suspension bridge marks the ascent. Game on! I’m ready to see some serious cave action.
Mwahahahahaha………..
Yeah, Rob, you show this mountain who’s the boss. Sorry, Tony Danza, but you are definitely not the boss.
This buddha greeted us as we completed the hike and entered the cave. How nice.
Here are some more sights of beautiful Mae Sot. All of this is part of Rob’s hood. Not too shabby.
One day I borrowed Rob’s bike to check out the sights for myself. This reservoir is a short bike ride from Rob’s house.
Moooooooooooooooooooooooo
After the reservoir I continued to bike around town, heading down the various sois (streets) to see what other gorgeous sights Mae Sot had to offer. Yep, more rice fields. I love it!
And sugar cane. I was obsessed with the sugar cane and made Rob take me on a drive so I could snap some more beautiful nature shots.
OK, we’ll take a little nature breather now and transition to my Burmese cooking class. Like the class I took in Vietnam, we headed to the market first to buy our supplies. Notice the eyeball in the shot below. mmm mmm good.
You may notice the face paint on this lady’s face. The substance used is called tanaka and it comes from the bark of a tree. In order to create the tanaka, ladies rub the branch against a small stone disk along with a little water to create this milky substance. The tanaka is decorative and also meant to be good for the skin. Some of the students at Wide Horizons showed me how to make the tanaka as they applied it to Rob’s face for their talent show. Rob and the other teeeeechers did a dance performance where the boys were dressed as girls and vice versa. I was thrilled to be able to share one of my new sundresses with Rob for his big performance, but sadly for you, I promised Rob that I wouldn’t post the pics on my blog. As the best pi sow on the planet, I will respect his wishes. I know, I know. LAME.
This poor little pig looks like he is sleeping…..in a bed of his own body parts.
OK, time to start cooking. On today’s menu potato dumplings (pictured below), shan cucumber salad (shan is one of states in Burma and is also an ethnicity), pumpkin curry, and lime iced tea. Yet another culinary success. I cannot get enough of these cooking classes. Hopefully I will do these dishes justice as I recreate them for my friends and family back in the States.
After my cooking class I spent the rest of the afternoon checking out downtown Mae Sot. These next few pics are of my favorite wat in town.
The next day we took the students to a beautiful waterfall in one of the local national parks. It’s a huge deal for the students to be able to leave campus and they were thrilled to break free. Within minutes they had scaled this waterfall in flip flops and all of their clothes. A few of the students even climbed the falls with a guitar in hand so they could serenade the rest of the class from the top of the falls. They were absolutely adorable and so thrilled to be frolicking in the falls. After we wore ourselves out in the falls, it was time for a BBQ lunch of tea leaf salad, spaghetti and grilled chicken. What a fantastic day! I love hanging with the students.
Another big day was our trip to Suhkothai about 2 hours outside of Mae Sot. Rob, Or (pronounced awe) and I hopped in the car and spent the day biking around the ruins of Suhkothai. You may remember the ruins of Ayuttya that I toured with my family over Thanksgiving. Suhkothai is similar to Ayuttya and is often said to have the most beautiful renderings of buddha. You can decide for yourselves. Suhkothai definitely seemed more serene than Ayuttya, which is only about an hour outside of bustling Bangkok, but I really loved them both and definitely consider them to be major highlights of my travel throughout Thailand.
Here is yet another picture of local school children with the ghostly pale farang. Naturally, pi sow and nong lek were happy to oblige. This group was a bit bolder than some of the other groups I have encountered in my travels, literally shoving cell phone cameras inches from my face in attempts to gain an up close shot of a farang. In Thailand we have definitely achieved side show freak status. Sweet…
Here is a pic of Or in front of Or Gate, which is actually located outside the park walls. Or has never visited her gate before so it was fun for all of us to discover some new sights of Suhkothai.
It’s hard to tell what is at the top of this hill, but just wait because it’s totally worth it.
Almost there…
Shabam! It’s another stunning buddha. What a find! Way to hook it up Or Gate.
After Or Gate we headed to one other section of the park. This was definitely one of our favorites.
So, what did you think of Suhkothai? Pretty spectacular, no?
These next shots are of the farmhouse community where the Wide Horizons students are conducting their community development project. The students did a needs assessment, and based on the findings from the community members, determined that a well would be the best use of their time and resources. In addition to building the well, the students are also providing trainings on how to use the well as well as general hygiene tips. This is a migrant community so one of the ongoing challenges is to ensure that this information is disseminated to future members of this community.
These children are so beautiful. Most of them have shaved heads to prevent lice. It breaks your heart to see families living in such squalor, but it’s encouraging to know that programs like Wide Horizons exist to help improve situations for these struggling communities. It’s impossible not to be moved by this experience.
My time in Mae Sot is coming to an end. This is the longest I have been in one place since I left the US and it’s been wonderful. I have loved meeting Rob’s friends and colleagues and seeing this stunning part of Thailand. Rob has made wonderful friends here and is thriving professionally. His good friends, Greg and Sandy, hosted us for dinner several nights for delicious homemade treats like deviled eggs, chocolate pudding and Mexican food! They really hit all of the Lindsley family faves. Thank you so much, Greg and Sandy! What a fantastic treat. Also, I must encourage you to check out Sandy’s beautiful impressionist photography. Check it out for yourself www.sandyshum.com
This final shot is of teeeeeecher Brooke and Rob heading out for the holidays. Check out Brooke’s creative and hysterical card. We all headed down to Bangkok together to catch our flights out. A little bit of drama later, we all safely arrived at our destinations. Have fun in China, Brooke. I look forward to seeing you and the rest of the Mae Sot crew in a month. As for Rob and I, we are off to Bali until January 4th. Happy Holidays to you all and best wishes for health and happiness in 2010. See you in the new year!
