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Published: February 25th 2009
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HELLO everyone I hope all is well. Here are some more photos of my first day in Bangkok and my subsequent trip up to Mae Sot. Foolishly I did not take any photos of my family in Bangkok, as I was extremely lucky to not only see my Aunt and Uncle but my cousin Moddy as well. This was very exciting as Moddy helped me with my first tender steps into the Thai languuage, culture and food. I very quickly learned that I cannot tolerate anywhere as near spicy foods as the Thais. There continual need for agony while eating is as staggering as it is impressive. Bangkok is a wonderful place if you have never been full of wonderful Temples, infuriating traffic jams, beautiful people, awful pollution and brilliant stalls. You could probably get anything you desired in the world in Bangkok. I was content however with the Watts. Watt Phra Kaeow and the Grand palace were first. The Fantastic golden Chedi is a part of this as is the emerald Buddha a most awe inspiring piece of Jade sculpture. Full of the better half of tourists that flock to Bangkok and many Thais flocking to there most holy of
all sites. I also visited Wat Pho which is the gigantic reclining Buddha which is most impressive. I also got a cheap river taxi across to Watt Arun which offers great views of Bagkok (or would if it wasnt shrouded in polltion).
I also went with Mod and Auntie Joom to a monk hospital with Jooms mother, Kuun Yai. Here i watched a blessing and merit making which was very interesting. I was also coached on etiquette my Moddy which I have found invaluable. We have also frequented the British club, which can only be described as a British oasis in the centre of Bangers. British food, a swimming pool and best of all a solitary cricket net smoothed my transition into Thai culture. Unfortunately Moddy left to go back to England and I headed South!!!
This is in another blog so I wont bore you with it.
Mae Sot is as different as possible to be than Bangkok or the South. It is an interesting mix of Karen, Burmese, Hmong and evn some Thai. It is not a jumble of huts but a well established town with good restaurants and a vibrant market. Luckily Mae Sot has a driving
range and Nick and I have spent many and evening there polishing off our enormous golfing potential (snort). Three Medical students were out here when we first arrived; Nick, Ben and Mike. They were great fun and they not only told us all about the work we were about to undertake but also showed us the local bars and restaurants. Unfortunately there work finished about a week after we arrived.
We have been working for SMRU which stands for Shoklo Malarial Research Unit. it is a nice mix of ex pat doctors and local nurses, midwifes and medics. We have been taken under the wing of Marcus and Machteld two Dutch doctors. They have chiefly taken us around the various clinics in the area. However other Doctors have taken us around too, Notably Doctor Claudia, Francois and Doctor Aung. Mae La is the biggest camp with anywhere between 30-60 thousand inhabitants. This mix of Karen, Burmese and even Indo-Burmese peoples leads to the 3 chief religions in the camp Christianinty, Buddhism and Islam. Never before have I sat in a church which overlooks a Buddhist temple meanwhile having the call to prayer blaring in the background.
The work in SMRU
has been a mixture of paperwork and helping with studies. I have helped build an incubator for premature babies and asked women what languages they speak. In the clinics I am openly stared at, laughed at and pointed at. It is entirely disconcerting and self-esteem shattering haha no it is funny as I am sometimes as much as twice the size of some of the patients we get.
The weekends have consisted of a trip to Chiang Mai and to Umphang which I will explain in my next blog. Chaing Mai is a wonderful city which any visitor to Thailand must visit. We stayed in the old city which is surrounded by a wall and a moat. There is a fantastic market every night of the week but especially Sunday night which was amazing.
The Saturday consisted of a lie in and then a trip up to Tiger Kingdom where we got close and personal with some big tigers. This was amazing however i expect the tigers were drugged as the keeper hit one on the head with a stick. I sat there ready with my camera to get an incredible picture of a tiger absolutely pulversing the cheeky blighter
but he just yawned and went back to sleep. This was a wondeful trip which ended up with a Thai massage. The day then took a turn for the worse when Man City were methodically crushed by Pompey and England disected by Wales. The next day however was full of promise we rented a Moped which we christened Suzie and then looked at a map. We decided to visit Doi Suthep a Watt on a hill to the west of Chiang Mai it is a 13 km trek up a windy hill. Poor Suzie had to take me and Nick a combined wait of 200 KG up this steep hill on half a tank of gas. The low fuel light came on two thirds of the way up. But Suzie contineud to splutter and battle her way valiantly up the hill. However a kilometre from the temple with the gradient too steep she spluttered to a standstill. I jumped off and tekkend the way up the rest of the hill Nick went the same speed as me however he had the throttle pulled back to the farthest extent it could reach. We eventually got to the top sweaty but victorious.
After Doi Suthep we visited a waterfall on the way down, where we had a most refreshing shower and swim. Unfortunately my camera ran out off batteries so this day is solely documented on my facebook with nicks pics.
I hope all is well with everyone and that you are enjoying my blogs please email me or facebook me as I would love to hear from you all take care. I have added some more pics to facebook too.
Much love
Will
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