whew..

Just arrived back in Pai from a long trip to the Burma border.

We left Pai around 1pm on Friday ready to get out of the city, and get going on a 6 and 1/2 hour trip across the country to the edge of the Northern border of Burma. The ride was long and hard. I was really exhausted from a long day before and as we traveled further north, the landscape was no longer lush and tropical but dry and desolate. I was so ready to get there. My butt hurt so badly from sitting on the bike for so long. We passed this police station in the middle of the dry mountains with a armed guard and huge black elephant chained to a hut. A little further down the road we stopped along the side for some egg tofu and brown rice. We drove further...It was getting really, really dark out side and we had just entered the remote jungle part of our ride south of Chiang Dow. The gas tank was running on empty and we decided to turn off the engine to conserve gas. Hearing the clickity clack of the wheels spinning under the pavement with no light driving atop high mountain passes, crickets and baboons screaming in night, and the warm summer air carrying us along under a sky blanketed with stars- incredible. We stopped off at a market for dinner of carrots, and cucumber- continuing to drive until we were too tired to drive anymore.
The road was so dusty and dirty my eyeballs felt like huge sandpits.
We arrived in a town called Fang about 10pm, and saw lightning flashes in the distance. Pretty soon it started to pore down rain which we took cover under a gas station roof and had ate ice cream to wait out the storm. After half an hour, the wind had picked up to maximum speed sending the bandanna trees into a wild frenzy.

We decided to drive to a guest house nearby, but couldn't find it. So around midnight, we pulled up to the police station soaked from head to toe, and walked in to ask where the guest house was. A nice police officer came out and we followed him to the guesthouse in our motorbike. The entrance to the house was blocked by a huge tree that had fallen down during the peak of the storm, so we parked our motorbike outside and walked over the tree with our backpacks full of water. A man showed us to a room with a hot shower, I used and hung everything I owned up to dry. Exhausted, I went to bed naked with no dry clothes but just the warm blankets- so thankful to be dry.

The next day we got up early- drove to a shop to get water and headed to Mae Sai. It didn't take us long to get to Mae Sai. 2 hours later we were standing in a Tesco Lotus getting out of the freezing cold wind and rain, once the rain let up we made our way to the border. The drive to the border was surrounded by mountains, but I was so cold and sick I couldn't fully appreciate my surroundings. We got to the border which was basically like market galore. There were miles and miles of fresh strawberries, nuts, pirated movies, music, sex toys, fried fish, watches, glasses, fabrics and animals for sale. On the Thailand side, we parked our bike, and walked through a turn style to Burma, paying a 500baht fee. Out of the turn style we walked across a bridge and river separating the two countries and a sign above us reading "the Union of Burma." The market scene had intensified from what I could see, and we walked into a immigration office which we received a temporary passport, and they took our passport to coordinate the visas.

We walked into Burma with our temp. passports and backpacks- immediately harassed by taxi drivers, and tour guides waiting on the other side. There were beggars, dirty cans, trash, and pollution everywhere. Immediately I synced a sadness, and suppression in the air. I wanted to get a coffee in Burma just to say that I had done it, but after walking through the market for only 20 minutes, Lula and I were both ready to go. I wanted to stay awhile and read the scene that was going on... There was a woman with a hunched back, missing a leg, and a child across her lap laying there barley breathing. She was begging for money.
There was a man going through trashcans looking for food. He leaned forward and I could see bags of rice attached to his belt- probably his dinner.
The Burmese face looks much different to the Thai face- they have very deep set eyes, high cheek bones, and sharp noses. There was so much going on- so many sights colors and sounds, I was soaking it all in. We left shortly after walking back through immigration.

I was so ready to have my stamp on my passport and leave Burma, but when I received back my passport, I actually had time taken off my visa! If you cross a border by land you get 15 days- but I had a single entry visa which means I get 15 days from when I enter the country again. I had driven all this way to get a stamp on my passport and actually am now behind. The craziness around me slowed to a halt, and I felt isolated from the world. I had driven across the country to get a stamp on my passport- and now- I was feeling like- "What the freak am I doing here?!" I didn't feel in control of anything. I had to remind myself that it was just a stamp of ink on my passport- put it in perspective Jena, come on. I gave myself the whole sermon that life is about the journey- not the destination. I left Burma- with a new perspective and 500less baht in my pocket. But it felt as if I had blinders taken off my eyes and started to enjoy what was around
We drove for 2 hours in the middle of misty green mountains, soaked in rain, and chilled to the bone. We stopped at this coffee shop both soaked inside and out, and ordered a coffee and sat an read. It had been so long since I had sat down and had a coffee and actually breathed. Life had been on fast forward at the school, then driving like crazy maniacs to Burma- and it was very healing to sit and drink coffee and read.

We were surrounded by a setting orange sun, and massive mountains towering above us, hidden in mist. I read, journaled, and cried listing to piano music playing. I felt so comforted by warm coffee and a good friend nearby, I also felt like I could compute everything that had been happening around me in a logical order. I didn't realize how much I missed my family back home, and sat and just cried for almost half an hour. It was very healing to cry and laugh, and read. By this time it had grown dark outside, and we drove in the rain to a guesthouse 2 hours out of town, which had some sistars hanging on the wall. I played the sistar for an hour and then snuggled in my covers thankful for a warm bed.

I woke up early in the morning with a bad cold, and feeling so weak. We started out driving, and I saw a turnoff in a little town with a waterfall. So we stopped and hiked in the thick jungle for an hour on our own. It was healing to be next to nature, and I did some singing next to the waterfall.
When I pulled out to leave, the road had gotten extremely muddy from the rain, and I lost control of the bike which sent the bike falling to the side, and my leg resting on the hot engine. I pulled by leg off the engine to see my skin on my leg had melted into a nice bubbling burn. Ouch! This random Thai lady ran out of the woods, and asked if we were okay in Thai. She helped us stand the bike up, and once she saw my leg, she put some ointment on it which was soothing.
We drove to Fang nearby for breakfast, then out to the Doi Puk National Park. After some contemplation we decided to sleep in the National Park that night. We drove 18k up a small muddy dirt road- at times I had to get off and walk up separately. We got to the top cold and with snot running down our noses. There was a light illumining a ranger station with blankets, sleeping pads, and a tent.
I grabbed a tent, and we set up camp quickly, then went to bed. The next morning we got up and climbed the second highest mountain in Thailand. I hiked half naked through the leaves with this grey dog leading the way. I called her Grey Owl and we shared a connection. At one point she stopped frozen in the path and I stopped to listen. Suddenly a man ran across the path and down the jungle mountain slope through the woods. He turned around swiftly enough for me to catch his face, but then dashed off. I think it was a Burma refugee, since the 2nd highest mountain in Thailand shares the border with Burma. I was freaked out after that, and put my clothes back on. Lol.
At the top I let out my victory cry, and prayed a long time. Lula got up about an hour later, and I jotted down some thoughts on paper and recorded the surrounding plants and landscape. It was breathtaking layers of mountains and mountains as far as the eye could see! The sun came out, and I let my face soak it all in.
I ran down the mountain, singing "The sound of music," then stretched at the base, put up the tent and headed back down to town. On the way down we passed an orange orchard and picked some oranges, and a corn field which we had for breakfast.
We then drove to Chiang Dow, the 3rd highest mt. in Thailand, stopped for lunch and coffee, then drove to Pai last night, and slept on Lula's friends poach outside in the rain. I slept like a baby.
We woke up to Buddhist chants at a temple nearby, and water buffalo grazing in the rice fields. I had coffee and noodle soup for breakfast this morning. It is cold, and rainy here. Very romantic and mystical though. I'm rather enjoying it- I think because I can see the mountains and go running.

We are going back to the school today to teach the afternoon classes, and will be there until the weekend. I am planning a climb near Chiang Mai this next weekend, and the following weekend we are holding a benefit concert at Cave Lodge to raise money for the school to build a library.

We are asking people here for donations, and would greatly appreciate any donations from back home. The school desperately needs money considering, only a small percentage of the school is supported by the government. Some of the children have no shoes, and one change of clothes. I'm sure even the smallest amount would help. One dollar, back in the USA, is the average cost of a good meal here in Thailand- or a bag of rice that could feed 20 children.
The fundraiser is on March 28th at 7pm, and the children will be practicing 2 English songs and some local Thai songs with Buddhist chants to preform for "falongs" (or foreigners, in Thai). I think this is just a small way of giving back to the school for letting me have the opportunity to serve.
Contact me if you would like to make a donation:
jlacy5@uco.edu

Love and miss my family and friends back home!

The Sound of Music -Click to listen

 Photo above-similar to the view atop the mtn!