Here I am in Mae Sai the northern most town in Thailand and one of the few official crossing points into Myanmar. Its a bit different here for me because its the first time I've been on my own for 3 days in a town with so few western foreigners. But its nice I guess :)
Yesterday I rented a motorbike and drove to the Golden Triangle, the intersection of Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. The town there, which is supposed to be a trading place for the 3 countries, was not to exciting.
Looking across the Mekong River at Laos on the right and Myanmar on the Left.
The little boy that kept following me, he wanted to take my picture for 5 Bath, so I took his picture instead and gave him the 5 Bath.
I went to some more caves. Tham Luang. Too bad you can't go through this cave in the rainy season because its flooded... its supposed to be 1 km long...
A cave not too far from Tham Luang.
Ok, and now I'm just going to rant a little about the poor Burmese people that cross the border into Mae Sai. First off, I've already seen plenty of poor people begging the tourist for money, so this is nothing new to me, but the Burmese people here is new to me. There are tons here and its not just one poor person, its entire families begging. Most of the time you get a little kid maybe 4 or 5 years old (maybe 3?) and their moms are not too far off watching with another little infant strapped to their back by a sheet. And you just have to give money or buy food for these people, the little boys' eyes are just too sad :( And then there are the old men that are not just poor and dirty but the are missing multiple arms and legs... And after a while you just can't give any more money because there are way too many of them and all of them are sad. And it just kills me because today I had a little boy begging and I'm not sure if he just had scratches on his hands or some kind of skin disease, but his hands were so scraped up and his face was so sad... (And of course I don't even need to mention he has no shoes.) So I saw his mom nearby (also with a baby) and took them to a food stand near by and she picked out some fried chicken feet and rice, and it cost me what 40 Bath, and what is that to me a little more than $1. Its nothing!! $1!! But at the same time its not really helping these people, tomorrow they will all still be on the streets here begging for money and the little boy's hands won't get any better... And so my $1 was nice and of course I will buy food for people like this again but what good is it???... and it doesn't really help me to rant like this... :(
3 comments:
Aww you did good though, They didnt go to bed hungry because of you.
OMG....this is really sad....I guess hearing about it and actually seeing it first hand is really hard.....you did a good thing....every little bit adds up....do what you can (you can't save the world; but, you can make a difference to that individual's day) ....I love your courage on your own; but, please stay safe and careful... I got your car today and it's all fixed up ... with a shiny new bumper .....Yom Kippur starts Wed at sundown....have a good fast (if you can)....Love you, Mom :o)
"You are not obliged to finish the task...neither are you free to neglect it."
R' Tarfon, Pirkei Avot 2:21
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