Day #2 Surprise Trip to Myanmar (Burma)

At 4:00 AM the ceiling light came on in the class room we were sleeping in. I got up and walked down the outside hallway to the end of the school to use the restroom. It was very quiet so I just walked back and crawled under the blankets. It was pretty cold, maybe 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

I woke up at daylight as everyone else was getting up, dressing, brushing teeth and just getting ready for the day. It was about 6:00 AM.
Daeng woke up and we walked down to the cooking area to see what was happening. It was pretty busy in the cooking area as feeding a couple hundred people is work.

We went into the kids sleeping area and everyone was up, had made their beds and put things in order.

Some music started from the stage area and the kids were all gathering at the stage.

We were impressed that this much activity was happening before 6:30 AM. Pastor Lota and the other young ministers in the group had the kids singing and dancing around.

At about 7:30 AM it was time to eat and eat they did. Everyone lined up with their round metal trays and orderly got lots of food, rice, noodles, vegetables and a pork stew.

Daeng really enjoys helping to feed people.

After we all ate it was time to have the closing program of the three day event.

The wind came up and blew a lot of dust around along with destroying the back drop of the stage area.

When I counted the people attending it was over 200 including the adults. That is a lot of folks!

Well, it's time to go home. Daeng was worried about my safety being smuggled back to Thailand so she arranged for Pastor Lota to go with me on another motorbike, just in case something should happen.

We packed up everything in Rev. Sunit's pick-up and Waen's pick-up and we said good-bye. Daeng went with Wean and told me she would see me on the other side.

Everyone waived at us.

Even the soldier at the Shan Army Checkpoint waived.

We did good until the third big hill and the motorbike I was riding on got a flat tire.

We talked it over and decided to send the driver and motorbike on alone to take care of the motorbike. Pastor Lota and I would walk the rest of the way together. The other motorbike driver would stay with us to be sure everything was okay and we didn't get lost on the trail.

It was kind of a good thing as we had a chance to do a little bonding on the way.

It was a nice walk, especially in the down hill parts. We walked through a tea plantations and tried the tea leaves. It was a sweet tasting tea leaf.

We came across an "AKHA" lady that was collecting vegetables out of the jungle.

In an another area we ran into some cows wallowing in the mud.

We stopped for a drink of water from a mountain spring. I think it was the best water I have tasted here in Asia. The rule here is the same as in Mexico as well as most countries in the world: "Don't drink the water!"

Toward the end of the walk we ran into some kids with home made go-carts. the go-carts were pretty cool as they were made with bamboo.

When we finally made it to the main road on the Thailand side everyone was glad to see us as they were very worried.

We made it back to Mae Sai, tired, dirty and glad to be home.

This trip will always be remembered.

Note: We have not used names, exact locations and pictures that we felt would harm anyone involved. If you would like more information or pictures of people involved please email us at FunnyPlumber@gmail.com.