Three Countries in One Day

Yesterday was a very busy day.  It was a day that we were all looking forward to because we would be crossing over into both Myanmar (Burma) and Laos.  I know. Alarm bells are going off at the thought of crossing into Myanmar due to the recent problems there, but really, it was perfectly safe.  The problems that are happening in Burma are happening along the Burma/China border, many hundreds of miles from where we crossed over.  Things are peaceful and there has been no trouble of any kind in the area where we crossed over.  

We crossed the border into Myanmar (Burma) on foot.  The Thai flags are red, white and blue.  The flags of Myanmar are yellow, green and red.  A river divides the two countries in this area.  You can see where Thailand ends and Myanmar begins by looking at the flags on the bridge in the top picture.  

Burma was an interesting place to visit.  The people there are reserved but pleasant and they enjoy having their pictures taken by tourists.  Many of them want to go to America and they figure that the only way they will ever be able to go is in photographic form.  And so that no one worries or thinks that it’s creepy that I took pictures of all of these strangers, including several pictures of children, please rest assured that I asked permission to take photos of almost all of the adults and certainly all of the children.  

Most people in Burma are poor by American standards.  The area we were in is much more affluent than most of the rest of the country because many Burmese people in this area are able to cross the Thai border to work and many Thai people cross the border daily to shop because the prices are lower than in Thailand, thus enriching the economy in this small border area.  Most of Burma is much, much poorer than this town and life is very difficult for most Burmese people in other parts of the country.  We were told that the government has very few programs in place to help the people and basic services (like trash collection, for example) are scarce.

While in Burma, we were taken around the city on motorcycle tuk-tuks, which was fun and saved us a lot of walking.  

You can get an idea for the condition of the roads in the above photos.  

We were able to walk around the village a little bit and even visited a typical Burmese home.

What our guide called a Burmese 7-Eleven.





We visited this pretty woman’s home.  Below are photos of (in order) her family’s living area, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom and pictures of some of her children.



Sorry this photo is so dark.  Notice the TV in the background?  They were watching one of the Star Wars movies when we arrived.











 More people and scenes from around the village:







PC: Brenda

Preparing betle nut for sale.

At one point during the day, Jill and I were chatting with a couple of the women in our tour group and I asked them how they were enjoying the day.    Long story short, they were appalled that Gate 1 would bring us to Burma.  “Why do we need to see this kind of poverty?  I’ve been all over the world and I’ve seen poverty in Palestine and in Europe, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”  Jill and I were a little shocked at their attitudes.  I mean, what on earth were these women expecting to see?  Burma is a third-world country and we were advised by Kit before we came what the living conditions are and that the people are quite poor.  We were all given the option to stay behind in Thailand instead of crossing into Burma and they opted to come with the rest of the group.  These women are seasoned travelers so you’d think they would have some kind of clue,  but apparently they were expecting the Disney version of Burma.  News flash, ladies:  You’re about 8,000 miles too far west for that.  This ain’t no Magic Kingdom.  This here is the real world. Avoiding it so you can pretend that it doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away.  Take it for what it is:  an opportunity to meet new people, discover a new culture, develop empathy for people who until today you didn’t even know existed, and grow in appreciation for the life you live.

After our tour of Burma, we returned to Thailand and were loaded into large trucks with benches in the back and taken to a farmer’s house in the countryside for lunch.

When we arrived, we were met by this group of adorable children who sang us a lovely song.









We all had the tilapia.  It was crusted in coarse salt and barbecued.  It was delicious!  Also on the plate are saffron rice, which was also very tasty.  Wrapped in the banana leaf packet were spicy noodles. 

After lunch it was time to hit our third country of the day - Laos.  We boarded a boat and traveled down the river about 20 minutes to reach a small island that is part of Laos, but all that’s really there is a giant shopping market and a huge designer outlet mall.  We were given an hour to shop but didn’t see anything of the rest of the island.  The borders Laos, Burma and Thailand all converge on this river.  The area is known as the Golden Triangle.  It got its name from the important part this intersection of borders played during the years when the opium trade was in full swing in this area.

After a very full day, we finally headed back to our hotel in Chiang Rai for one last night before heading out for three nights in Chiang Mai.  Next up:  our visit to the hill tribes of Thailand and meeting one of the Longneck women.