Burma
Hi readers!
On my most recent journey I went west of Bangkok to Kanchanaburi. I rented a motorbike and continued west to Sanchraburi. The ride was about 210 kilometers through the mountains. Along the way I stopped at a few waterfalls and hot springs. Usually I was the only person at these spots. It was nice to hike around in the forest without hoards of other travellers around me. At Pad Tham I was in awe of the gnarly tree roots that curled around and in between the sculpted rocks of the waterfall. I kept climbing up the slippery rocks only to be rewarded with even more waterfall! I hiked for hours and still didn’t find the top of it. I was also treated to the hospitality of the locals reserved for single travelers.
I stopped at a fruit stand for lunch and the women sat me down and fed me papaya and sweet rice packed into sections of bamboo. They told me through charades that if I was going to Sanchraburi on a motorcycle I had to be careful not to drive off the road because if I did I would surely fall off the mountain and die. This really peaked interest in going even more. My main objective was to see some mountains and some jungle, it sounded (or looked based on their charades) that I had come to the right place. Every turn in the road provided me with yet another spectacular view. I didn’t take many photos because I was too content with seeing what else there was to see. Plus I think my bike would have rolled back down the mountains if I had stopped. I think everybody has seen old oriental paintings of misty mountains that pop straight up from haunted looking lakes, that’s what I saw as I buzzed towards the Myanmar border.
When I got to Sanchraburi it started to rain. I made it to my Inn and was situated safely under the awning of Baan Unrak’s before the rain really started to come down. Baan Unrak translates to Home of Joy. It is an orphanage for the Burmese and Mon refugees escaping political oppression in Burma. To help the children deal with the loss of their homes, families, and cultural displacement volunteers teach them meditation and yoga. Every Wednesday night the children perform yoga to hip hop music and host a vegetarian dinner to raise money for their educations. Baan Unrak also has an organic vegetable farm that the children help run. The vegetables harvested feed the families in the refugee camp and any left over veggies are used for the meals sold at the restaurant. To help the women, many of whom are now single mothers, Baan Unrak has sewing machines and the supplies needed to make clothing. The women can manufacture cloths to sell in the store and the money goes towards education for the children, medical training for the women, and English classes for the community. Baan Unrak also helps children get Thai citizenship so that they can further their education. Education for these children can be quite costly because many times they have to bribe officials, policemen, drivers, and anybody else who tries to stop them, to let them take standardized tests and move up through the educational system. Unfortunately, I was there only Monday and Tuesday and because of classes on Wednesday I was not able to stay for the show. But I was there long enough to see that there are some awesome things going on that I could be a part of. As the semester here at Rangsit is coming towards an end the students are starting to think about packing up for their return flights. In previous years students have set aside cloths, blankets, and items that make life easier and donated them to a Thai charity. This semester I’ve proposed that we make a donation to Baan Unrak and if people are interested I’ll be bringing a group over on Wednesday for a show and veggie dinner.
On the way back to Kanchanaburi I stopped at Erawan waterfall. I was back on the tourist trail. I was surrounded by Germans in speedos and flip flops. Only Germans and Russians would go hiking in speedos. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. The waterfall has seven tiers and it is about 2 kilometers to hike up to the top. It is gorgeous. The rocks look like poured concrete thanks to centuries of water building up the deposits. The name Erawan comes from a Hindu three-headed elephant (not Ganesh) because the top tier is said to resemble the three heads with elephant ears. I don’t think there was enough water flowing over the rocks for me to see that but all seven tiers were stunning none the less.
