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Published: November 5th 2007
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The time finally came for me to have to go into Burma. Although I am not able to get to Ban Dada and the emails are that “they are having problems…” I don’t know what this means but the last volunteers I was in contact with couldn’t get there at all.
Anyway, my 60 day visa finishes on the 5th of November, so I got to be one of the hundreds of travelers to make the Ranong “passport run.”
Ranong itself is a bustling port town and I love the towns on the water. It reminded me initially of Juwei in Taiwan. The crowded houses hung out over the water and life went on as usual. I took far too many artsy shots of the longboats, but then…I like them a whole lot.
“nung, song, sam…..tee nai con Korea?”…..”Cee, Ha, poochai Norway?”
Roughly translating to “one, two three…where’s the Korean? Four, five…The Norway man?”
It was incredibly odd being referred to the whole trip as the mom Canada….the driver insisted on calling us all by our nationalities. Not a lick of an attempt to refer to us as anything else. We had quite the united nations
along with us on the trip: Two young men from Norway, a young Korean man who spoke impeccable Thai (from what I could tell anyway…), a couple from Singapore and a single woman Heide from there as well who worked in Phuket, two young Canadian men from the east Coast, a young woman from Malaysia, a few Americans, one woman from Britain, and two from Sweden.
I had the only kids and as usual they made friends with the closest person with candy…sheesh. Miles stuck pretty close, and it was marrin that befriended Heide from Singapore. She was also an artist, so the two of them sketched everything they could get their hands on…Marrin even abandoned me to sit with her in the van rides…
The trip itself was a two hour van ride into Ranong and then a brief boat ride across the channel into Myanmar (Burma). Aside from an obvious presence of military with guns…which I suspect are there regardless of the unrest, the port seemed quite normal. Bustling street vendors, a smattering of beggar children, although they were more interested in candy then begging coins. I suspect that they don’t often get coins in their
currency anyway as most “runners” don’t bother exchange their money for the brief stop over.
The local vendors are more than pleased to take an American dollar however…a few of the other “runners” were conned into this exchange for a few trinkets or a handful of fruit.
Despite the proximity to Thailand, I was really surprised at the obvious difference in the facial features of the Burmese people. They have a more distinct sharpness to their faces, darker complexions and their eyes are deeper set. Overall it was easy to pick out the Thai’s from the Burmese.
The kids had a blast on this trip and I kept asking them what they saw that was different. They are becoming quite good at doing comparisons and I often get them to write lists of the differences they see between our home country and Thailand. We took the opportunity to do the same between Thailand and Burma.
A few of their answers included:
“There were more poor children there.”
“Lots of fishing jobs.”
“More temples.”
“They spoke a different language.”
“They wear paint on their face that is white or yellow.” [This is actually a type of
sunscreen paste that they consider beautiful.]
“The men wears even in uniform.”
I liked the openness of the port towns, on both sides of the border. The quaintness of the “immigration” posts (wooden structures hung over the water) added to the charm of the place. I would have liked to have stayed longer to learn more about it. It is really apparent that the towns on both sides have extreme poverty and the abundance of “homes” stuffed into shacks along the river and inlets are testament to this.
In Ranong itself I noticed the preference for white rubber clamming boots and it seems to have spread to a fashion statement. I wish I had a picture! Women in dresses and white rubber boots…it’s almost a 1960’s flashback to gogo boots!
My biggest impression of the town was the jail cells. Thoughtfully placed along the street in full view of the visiting travelers, it’s a constant reminder to the need for attention to Thai laws!
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Stephk
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Ban Dada Orphanage
** Just a note, other information I have indicates that all is fine at Ban Dada Orphanage. I have chosen to keep clear of Burma for the time being, but hope to pick up with them in August on my next return to Thailand.