The way to Tham Hin Camp

It takes me about 1 hour from Chatpawai to the camp.
When IRC told me that, I thought I might use this time to take a nap, but the landscape is just so amazing, that I can't sleep...

Meeting Britta in Bangkok

If you want to meet a friend from Vienna, you haven't seen
for a long time, come to Bangkok.
But where do 2 Austrian girls meet just a few weeks before christmas?!
- in front of a christmas tree :-)

Britta and I spent a great day together.

Drinking Starbuck's coffee, chatting and shopping.
For lunch we met Jo and Tom-who ran the Bangkok marathon in the morning- crazy man!

Happy birthday !!!!!

25, female, single.
living and working in mae sot, thailand.

I think this is definitly one of the best times in my life and a very special birthday with my friends from here- internationals and locals.
Thank's to all who were with me that day !!!


Preparations for my birthday dinner:

If a great Italian cook asks me what I want for my birthday, the answer is very easy: a dinner- homemade.
As I'm more than lucky I had 2 Italians cooking for my guests and me-

bruschetta con pomodori
pasta fredda
spaghetti ai funghi

GIGI E FEDERICO MILLE GRAZIE !!!!!

The gateway of our house was filled with bicycles, the garden decorated with orchids and candles and the vibes great.
Before midnight I skyped with Bärbl and we congratulated each other by singing a birthday song!
Around 4 am only the hard core was left: Win, Lena, Federico and me.

coconut milk

That's the Italian way how to get coconut milk.
First you go to foreign garden to get the coconut, then you take the wine opener to make a littel hole. At the end you poor the fluid in a glass and decide that it doesn't taste good at all ;-)
But it was worth it, we had lots of fun and the coconut itself was very, very good.

I think Federico can't deny, that he's from the Toscana. Who else would try it with the wine opener???!!!

The other side of the river.....

Burma. Karen people.
It is 50 years since leaders of Karen took up arms against the governement in Rangoon to press their demands for a homeland of their own.

The forces of the Karen National Union have suffered serious military setbacks in recent years, but the nationalist struggle- one the world has often overlooked- shows no sign of exhaustion.

Safe heaven orphanage

Tha Song Yang- a Thai Karen village north from Mae Sot

means a river pier that has 2 Yang trees. The name originates from the old location of the district office, where it had two Yang trees on the both of the Moei River banks, 1 tree in Myanmar (picture) and another in Thailand.



Safe Heaven Orphanage www.safehavenorphanage.org

It all began about 15 years ago, when Mrs. Tasanee Keereepraneed received a frantic message from a local villager in Tha Song Yang, Thailand, that a little girl had lost her mother during birth. In Karen culture this is interpreted as a bad omen, and the child is often killed. Having lost her own father at a young age and her children also having lost their father when Tasanee's husband was murdered, Tasanee decided that she, if anyone should be the person responsible for caring for the orphaned children of The Karen.
One by one they came, children with nowhere else to go were given to Tasanee to raise. She and her brother converted their childhood home into an open space able to accommodate up to twenty five children. Starting with whatever funds were available, she built the foundation of what has become the first Safe Haven Orphanage. Relying on her personal funds and the donations of the people of Mae Sot, Thailand, she was able to expand and take on yet more children. She now has thirtyseven children under her care. These days Safe Haven Orphanage is more like a large family whose members love and respect each other like brothers and sisters.

Words could never fully describe the beauty of this place and the love you feel in the orphanage!

Scarlet fever

Not really what you want to have for your birthday, especailly not really the way you want to look like for your birthday.
Poor Lena!
But at least you feel not old when you have a typical childhood disease on your birthday...
A nice dinner, some friends, a big chocolate cake and a beer made her forget that she has a rash all over her body and a face that looked very much like a tomato ;-)

bulls fight

Sunday.

I love sundays.... I got up at 11 pm, nobody at home. I made one of this nescafe instant coffees (I miss my Nespresso café or any coffee that has more taste than water and is not served in a big mug) for breakfast.

Passing at Frankie (the pregnant cat I take care of), I went to the lake/reservoir. My sporty Italian friends was trying hard to convince himself, that it's good to cycle around and do some sports.
Finally we arrived and the first thing I did: jumping in the lake. juhu!
Federico was more carefully, a bit scared of possible animals in the water and concerned about some pieces of broken glass. What a man ;-)

On the way back we went to the bull's fight.
The arena was filled by rather rich Thai people who were betting and cheering.
As we arrived pretty late, we didn't have to pay entrance fee - but maybe it was because we were the only forangs there...
Usually the fight is over as soon as one of the bulls runs away, but today they were fighting till one of them got hurt. Apart from the fight the main attraction was to see the sad bull.

It was interesing to go there and I think the bull fights in Spain are more cruel, but I`m not crazy about it.

Simon and me

Simon is like my big brohter here, although there was some gossip, saying that he might be my lover...
I love Mae Sot gossip!
He's the one, who is responsible for the english grammer in this blog.
He's definitly one of the nicest persons I've met here and I'm very happy to have him as a friend.

Jessie's birthday

Happy birthday, Jess!
I know that at a certain age some people don't like to celebrate their birthday, but you get older anyway, so why don't make a nice party with friends.
That's what Jess did: some friends, some beers, good food and as a surprise a birthday cake.

I was asked more than one time to bake the famous Sacher Torte, but I came back too late from Umphang. So I ordered one of the great lime-coconut cakes from casa mia.
Jess enjoyed the evening and went with out with her Thai friends after dinner, but nobody knows when she came home ;-)

Thai boxing

Thais vs Burmese.

It's the big event.

The mass was cheering, the boxers sweating and bleeding, but as long they were able to hold up they were fighting.

The main difference between Thai and Burmese style is, that Thais use their legs aswell to kick.

Is it the money, is it the glory, what is it...?!?




One week later, a 18 year old boy/man came to my OPD.
He was very shy, he turned around when I looked at him or talked to him. He avoided any eye contact.
Fever, chills, cough and severe pain in his left abdomen.
It took me quite long to find out what really happened.
On Novemer 3rd he was fighting at the Loi Kratong and got badly kicked on his left chest by a Thai and started vomiting blood.
His lung got hurt.
Talking with him I found out, that this was his 3rd fight and he lost in the 1st round.
As soon as he started to talk about the fight, his eyes were shining with joy. His timidity became less and he started smiling whimsically.
Although he could hardly breath because of the pain while telling me this, he wants to contiune fighting.
Is it the money?!?
Maybe, he gets 200 Baht for the fight (about 4 Euro) and earns as goldsmith 600 Baht ( about 12 Euro) per month.
Is it the fame?!?
Maybe, he said that when he heard his friends cheering for him, he felt like being someone and not the poor Burmese who tries to earn some money here and send it to his family back in Burma. He will contiune and use every free minute for the training.

But staying in Mae Sot is not his goal.
He wants to go to Bangkok to work there and earn enough money to get his family out of Burma.

A brave man in the boxing ring, a responible family member and a timide boy.

way back

Chang beer, Ko Chang, ...

but where are the changs?!?
There he was, on our way back from Umphang.
The big elefant walking along the street; not really free, but still something else than in the zoo.
Umphang is very beautiful with it's mountains, the romantic sunset ahhh...
where is the man to share this with ;-)

Halloween

I wanted to spend a calm weekend in Mae Sot, but then Meredith called me saying that she is going to Umphang for a few days and that thers plenty of space in the car going to Umphang...
I had 5 minutes to grap some things and then we left on the pickup. We arrived there around 9 pm, everybody had a costume, except me.
Hmmmm, so I took my blanked wraped it around like a toga, then I found a fern in the garden- and then I was ready for the party- as a roman.

We had a great night: dancing, singing caraoke and drinking!
This party was definitly worth driving there 4 hours ;-)