Moda Italiana/ Mae Sottese

Forget about the hâute couture cities like Paris and Milano. The new fashion trends come from Mae Sot. This awesome combination is presented by an Italian, who prefers to be anonymous. For those who wear shorts, the new 'fashion God' reccomends white socks, instead of dark ones.

International dinner

It was the last dinner with Cecile before she left from Mae Sot- a very international one- in one of our favourite places here. They make these delicous prawns in mild curry.

From left to right: Seth (USA), Alvaro (Espana), Federico(Italia), Pil(Corea), Flo(Austria), Pablo(Chile), Cecile(France).

After dinner I went with her to the bus station to say 'good bye'. It was quite sad, because she became my best friend here in Mae Sot and I already miss her ;-(

Cecile and me at the lake

It was time for me to get out of Mae Sot, even just for some hours and some kilometers.
Cecile took me to the reservoir. It was great- the lake, sunshine and nobody except a boy playing in the fields next to the lake.

After that we went to the school where Cecile teaches in Mae Pa. I know some of her students as they are my ptients.
So it was nice for me to see them again- healthy!
It was a good, relaxing day and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you Cecile!

dr. flo and one of her patients

Isn't she cute .... This girl is 18 months old.

Her Mom took her to the clinic because of malnutrition and general weakness. Her father died 6 months ago and the family has not enough money for proper food- that's why her belly is big and puffed. In addition to that, she has a fungal infection of the body, but we have no treatment for 'tinea corporis' for children in the clinic.

Tears were running down her face while her Mom got examined, because of a common cold. She still looks quite sad, but she liked playing with the stethoscope while sitting on my knee...

Although she is still very young, you can see in her eyes much sadness and desparation. Even though she doesn't know what is going on in Myanmar she still suffers from the situation.

Y2K

This Thai man is walking proof that Noon Lao, Jully and I are good medics - he's one of our patients.

Although he enjoyed the dancing girls very much, his favourite dancing partner was Federico!

Mou'hìngà

This is a typical burmese dish- but in fact cooked by my collegues N L and my H N T. Usually you eat it for breakfast, but we changed this tradition and had it for dinner instead.

First we went to the market to get all the things we needed...noodles, herbs, vegetables and fish. Then Tun started to cook and Noon Lao was in charge of providing unskilled labour to the guests. Everybody was busy!

Yellow beans are cooked and mashed, then mixed with the cooked fish, lemongrass and many onions - let it simmer while you stir it all the time.
Put some long beans, fresh scallions, stir fried garlic, coriander, boiled eggs and the rice noodles in a bowl and pour the 'soup' on it. For those who like it Burmese style, just add the chillies!

Enjoy!

dr. flo and one of her patients

Isn't she cude .... This girl is 18 months old.

Her Mom took her to the clinic because of malnutrition and general weakness. Her father died 6 months ago and the family has not enough money for proper food- that's why her belly is big and puffed. In addition to that, she has a fungal infection of the body, but we have no treatment for 'tinea corporis' for children in the clinic.

Tears were running down her face while her Mom got examinated, because of a common cold. She's still looks quite sad, but she liked it playing with the stethoskope sitting on my knee...

Although she is still very young, you can see in her eyes much sadness and desperateness- even without knowing what is going on in Myanmar, but suffering from the situation- as one of the many innocent people who were born in a country without a certain future, not mentioning the healthe care at all....

Pick the odd one out!

It wasn't mentioned to me before we sat down, that men sat on the right and women sat on the left!

Wedding guests

The wedding takes place in the bride's home village. The women dress in their traditional clothes. White for the singles and dark for the married ones. The friend I went with, was dressed in white- was obviously hoping that a nice Thai or Karen girl would be interested in him. I instead dressed in typical Karen clothes, but dark ones as I had no intention of turning the wedding into a double one ;-)

Thai Karen wedding

The bridal couple.

Making their marriage vows in the church of a small village in Mae Sariang.
Congratulations to the pair of newlyweds!

Linguine ai gamberi

Considering that we are in Thailand and the food is really great, I do miss my pasta sometimes.

The solution for this problem was easy to find as soon as I met Lorenzo: a Roman in Mae Sot, who is a great cook and who brought some olio d'olive from Italy.

It was my job to go early in the morning to the market and get some gamberi freschi (although I have no clue where the seafood here comes from). The rest was up to Lorenzo.
Federico, who was supposed to help him, came perfectly in time for dinner, but not for the cooking ;-)

La pasta era buonissima, gli ospiti contentissimi.... ma un bicchiere di vino ci é mancato.

generations

The proud grandfather
with his granddaughter

....and by the way,
his wife makes the
best pa-tziu in town.

Dinner with Cecile and Seth

One of us selects a restaurant
that we haven't been to before.
Tonight it was Cecile's choice.





...roti with banana and chocolate-
a must have for the sweets-addict.

Tuesday: I had a busy day and unfortunately some severe ill patients .... It was one of those days where I was thinking about how weird the world is. I had a strange mix of feelings - desperate, enthusiastic (a special thanks to Lorenzo), motivated and drained.
I needed to get away from it all, so I took my bike and went on a little tour around Mae Sot.
I spent the evening with friends and it made me feel better to have people around me who really care. Thank's to all of you! I worked till late at night and from early in the morning on one case... and I still have no clue what she's suffering from. But I will do my best, that's all I can do.

Sunday: it's my first day off....
I moved from my place to a new one,
but being here I missed my old one, so I moved back to where I came from.
To relax Cecile and I went to Mae Sot Hill to swim, read and sleep.
In the evening the RH-IPD gave a farewell party
-with a very, very good mou'hìngà-
for Hillary, who is leaving on thursday ;-(
Now I'm at home- happy that I have a very nice garden
at my new-old place and very nice people staying here with me.

the big competition

chang vs leo

that's Jully

we work on patients

and beer together....