My Burmese friend, Wirot, had been wanting me to spend a night or two at his farm near the border town of Tachilek. The first few times he mentioned it, I discouraged the idea. Told him it was too risky. The repressive military government prohibits tourists from staying in private homes. There are many good reasons not to spend time in Burma, but my primary concern was the welfare of Wirot.A while back, I read about an American tourist spending a night in a private home. Someone reported this to the local police. Early the next morning, the homeowner was arrested and thrown in jail. The American went to the police station hoping to help his friend. Was told the homeowner "had gone missing."
Last winter, the subject came up again. This time Wirot explained why there would be no problem. Some of his best friends included various high level officials...people like the mayor, the police chief, the immigration chief. So, I finally agreed to give it a shot. Wirot is no dummy. He became a Thai citizen many years ago, lives in Chiang Mai, has a daughter studying engineering at Chiang Mai U., has a son attending the best private high school in CM, makes a living importing antiques from Burma, speaks Burmese, Thai, and English.
My Thai visa expired Feb. 19th. That would be an excellent time to spend time in Burma. That date worked for Wirot. He would already be there. Advised me to call him when I arrived at the bridge on the Thai side at Mae Sai. Thai mobile phone service works ok on Burmese side of the border.
To see more of Jim's photos of his visit to Wirot, click here.
On the 19th, got a late start out of Chiang Mai, but the hitching gods were with me. Left town at 11AM and arrived Mae Sai 3PM. Only took a few rides, no delays. Upon arrival at the bridge, phoned Wirot. He told me to meet him across the bridge. At Burmese Immigration, had a slight snag. Forgot to bring three passport photos. Left my photos back in CM. So, the official wrote something on a slip of paper and advised me to go into Tachilek to get photos made up. In the meantime, the official kept my passport and $10.
If this had been my first time entering Burma, I would never have gone along with this idea. After getting over the bridge, Wirot and his friend, Zau, were waiting. They took me to photo shop. Ten minutes and 60 baht later, Zau lead me back to Immigration Office. Then was issued a Visitor's Pass good for a maximum of 14 days, which allowed me to travel beyond Tachilek to Shan State, an area Gig and I traveled to several years ago.
Apparently, Wirot or Zau spoke to the officials on my behalf because nobody questioned where I would be staying that night. Now safely inside Burma, we headed by motor bike to a meeting place in the town. Here, we sat drinking Chinese beer with some of Wirot's friends, including a guy in charge of the mayor's office. After a short visit there, we proceeded to a tea shop for tea, more beer, and eventually dinner. This tea shop is a hangout for Wirot and his friends. They spend hours there every day.
There are a ton of tea shops in Burma. Although on prior visa runs to Tachilek I had walked around town, the idea of investigating a tea shop never appealed to me. The men hanging out there looked dangerous, a scruffy bunch, gang-like, plotting bad deeds. I would be an easy target, a sacrificial lamb.
Now I was embedded in such a "gang" and party to the plotting. Felt pretty weird, no other foreigners in sight. They had all hightailed it to the bridge. Nobody wants to get trapped in Tachilek for the night. We drank much Chinese tea and beer during the plotting. As it turns out, the focus of conversation is not crime related, unless you consider sports betting to be such. These guys are betting on soccer matches that are going on in Europe. Betting on these games is their passion. In Wirot's case, he knows almost nothing about the teams. He is like a novice better at the race track betting on the basis of a hunch, a horse's name or number.
That evening, we went out to the farm. It was about 5 miles out of town. Wirot's son lives there with wife and baby. My accomodation was a simple cabin near a pleasant stream. The room had an Asian toilet with no shower. A tub of water with pail served as the shower. For electricity, Wirot installed a water powered generator at the stream. It is dry season, so they only run the generator at night. It powers all the lights and TV. When the water level is higher during the wet season, the generator is on all the time. On the farm, a work crew of three grow various fruits and vegetables. It is a very pleasant place to stay, sort of like being at camp. That night it rained quite hard. In the morning, we went back into town to the tea shop. Had Chinese style fried rice and hot milk for breakfast. Then we drove around town, checked out a fancy casino, went by a golf course, visited a temple. Later in the day, I took a long walk and got caught in a heavy downpour.
We spent the early evening back at the tea shop working on the betting sheets and drinking more tea and beer. Had a lot of delicious Burmese food. They eat much Indian food as well. One dish was curried goat. Not fond of curry or goat, but putting them together was ok. Had some delicious beans the size of lima, but brown in color cooked in a rich sauce.
It rained again the second night. The next morning, Wirot drove me in town and I walked back to the bridge. My little adventure was over. Although it all went well, I was happy to leave Burma. So many poor and unemployed people creates a depressing environment.
Wirot's friend Zau, speaks excellent English. He expressed anger about the poverty and lack of career opportunities in Burma. Told me he unsuccessfully applied to the US for refugee status ten years ago. Back then, the US did not recognize how bad things things were in Burma. Now at 41, he feels very discouraged about his future.
We exchanged email addresses. Told him I would vouch for his character, if he decided to try getting into the US again.
Wirot is one of the lucky ones who managed to get out. Now, his daughter will have a career as an engineer. His younger son plans to attend medical school and become a doctor.
Being poor and living in a poor country is tough enough, but having a bad government makes the situation intolerable. If a person is stuck in Burma, practicing Buddhism and/or betting on soccer matches provides a way out.
Burma, also known as Myanmar, is ruled by a military junta which suppresses almost all dissent and wields absolute power in the face of international condemnation and sanctions. The generals and the army stand accused of gross human rights abuses, including the forcible relocation of civilians and the widespread use of forced labour, which includes children.
This E.B. White quote is perfect for Jim:
I don’t take a night journey on a railroad for the sake of duplicating the experiences and conveniences of my own home: when I travel I like to get into some new kind of difficulty, not just the same old trouble I put with around the house.
