Markets and Temples: A Day in Burma

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In order to renew my Thai visa, I decided to cross over the border into Burma for the day. The most popular border crossing is far north in Mae Sai, however from where I was in Mae Hong Son, it would mean a lot of back tracking to places I had already visited. So I decided to head further south to Mae Sot, in the Tak Province.

A 10B Songtaew got me from Phacharoen Market in Mae Sot to the border and from there I had to walk over the 'Friendship Bridge' and into Burma. It seemed so simple. There is restricted foreign travel in Burma however, and they held on to my passport at the border. I was only allowed a day and could not go any further than Myawadi.

I was met by crowds of "hello madam!" and many offers for a rickshaw ride around town. It already felt different from just a few hundred meters away in Thailand, much more staring and the men wear skirts. I met a young rickshaw driver who spoke some English and arranged to see the sights over a 2 hour ride. Neither of us had watches and we set out to see what he deemed to be the highlights of Myawadi: Markets and Temples. I have had enough of both of these on this trip to last for a long while, but it was nice to get a feel for the Burmese atmosphere. My driver walked me everywhere and seemed very proud to be seen with a white girl. He spoke to people along the way and I kept hearing the familiar "New Zealand". It was a good day.

I stayed in Mae Sot for two nights. Earlier on my travels I had actually applied to a refugee clinic based in Mae Sot but had been told they currently had sufficient staffing levels. While I was there, I arranged with the clinic to have a tour and get an idea of what their work involved. So I spent an hour or so there, talking to people and looking around. They cater to Burmese migrant workers in Mae Sot and have western and Burmese staff. They have an outpatient clinic as well as inpatient facilities which all appeared to me to be very basic. I was told that most of the inpatients suffered from malaria and HIV and the few that I saw looked very ill.

Mae Tao clinic also runs community based clinics and they go out to schools and do home visits. They have antenatal care and a delivery suite of sorts. The clinic does minor surgery and I was told one of the most common ops was tubal ligation which many of the women can get for free. Their eligibility is based on age, number of children and income. Amputees are given prostheses and I got to see them making new legs. Overall I was very impressed with the services they offer. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take any photos there, but if you're interested in more info on the clinic, the following link is a article in Time magazine about it:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/heroes/cynthia_maung.html

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Photos

Beetlenut Smile
Everyone in Myawadi chews beetlenut!

How to roll beetlenut: Step 1
Some sort of paste and powder and beetlenut is put on to leaves

How to roll beetlenut: Step 2
Roll the leaves up....

How to roll beetlenut: Step 3
...and fold like so

Temple Beauty
Most Burmese women and girls wear this yellow powder on their face - meant for sun protection and beauty.

Crocodile Temple?
This place was really strange! The buddha was seated inside the crocodile's mouth and to give money you had to throw coins into a floating alms bowl. My driver told me that if a woman was to cross on to the crocodile's back, she would surely die. I was a pretty skeptical but didn't want to try it out either!

Watery Grave
This butterfly's wing span was longer than my hand!

Crossing the Thai - Burmese Friendship Bridge
Returning to Thailand after a day in Burma

On The Road Again: Leaving Mae Sot
Self Portrait