Day 2 Mae Sot

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Yesterday was incredible. We began the day with rice porage that contained large strips of potent ginger along with scallions and other spices. Topped off with a raw egg it was a hardy breakfast for 20 baht. Equivalent to 50 cents.

So next we find John getting the motorbikes ready and wants to give Brad a little tuturial about riding a motorcycle, because brads never ridden before. Quick once over and it seems simple. Brad jumps on the bike, puts it in first gear and twist the throttle. The bike goes straight but doesn't stop, brad goes through the bamboo fence and bangs into a tree while at the same time knocking into another motorcycle. For a few more seconds brad is holding on to his life and the throttle in the acelerated position, and trying to climb the tree. Every Thai and tourist run over yelling no no no. Absolutely hilarious. I could not stop laughing, Im laughing right now. So brad is now known as the guy who tried to climb a tree with a motorbike.
So for the rest of the day melissa rode on the back of my bike and brad on the back of Johns.

The countryside here is scorched from months of sun and seems to beg for the rains to come. Most everything is brown except near the rivers. You can see it in the pics. We stopped at many places along the river, at temples, border crossing areas, and just places in town. My favorite was at the river where a grandfather and his son and granddaughter were usng long bamboo poles, 20 feet high, with plastic cups on the end to reach into a tall tea tree and scooping cicadadas so that they could fry them and eat em! THe sound was deafening. MIllions of Cicadas. Brad and I spent some time playing with the huge bugs and attempting to catch them ourselves but soon got tired of the cicada urin and feces lightly drizzling on our faces and every once in awhile into our dropped jaws. Nasty! So we departed the river after a few photos of water buffalo and the interesting long 35 foot wooden skiffs with a prop that extends a good eight feet off the back. There used for bringing people across the river border along with supplies.

Back on the road we drove through military checkpoints and through small village after village where children would hollar Hello and most adults would smile or wave at the weird looking and acting pasty foreigners, who by the end of the day because of the sun looked more like tomatoes on bikes. The Karen (burma refu) girls are fascinated by Melissa and love to hold her hand and get pictures taken with her. Yesterday thy even pulled out there own camera out of the boat and each girl took a turn getting a personal photo with Melissa.

Today we're cooling our skin and plan to walk down to the clinic to talk to some of the volunteer docs and see the types of illnesses the burmese refugees come across. Then we may ask Maria (not spelled that way but sounds like it sorta) for one of her professional thai massages. She charges 150 baht. Four dollars an hour! She's great and has been so sweet to us while we stay in her house.
Jim & Mel

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