Sunday - train, jeep, scooter, walk
It's very nice to be in Chaing Mai! Meeting up with Sandra at the train station was easy as I have a Thai mobile number; technology has come so very far since my last extended trip in Europe in 2000/2001! She mostly uses a sccoter to get around, but has a jeep to use and with my pack it was certainly required that day. We had an hour at her lovely airy home with lots of pretty Thai cane furniture and then it was off to church. The aircon in the jeep is quite nice, and church is 30 mins away in the home of the couple who are the pastors. It's a Vineyard church with all English speakers, so really nice to understand pretty much everything, though occasionally the accents were a challenge. The pastors are from Northern Ireland, and there were Swiss, Americans, a couple from Chile and France, and even another Kiwi there. There was an opportunity to be prayed for, which I took up, and we had a mostly Thai style lunch afterwards. It was really nice to meet them and hear some of their stories.
Later on Kayla, (Sandra and Chris' daughter) Sandra and I went to the walking market (Sundays only), with me on the back of Sandra's scooter (technically a semi-automatice motorbike but who's counting). A new mode of transport - Yay :-) The market was fun, we went early to avoid the worst of the crowds but it still seemed pretty crowded to me. At six o'clock everyone in the market stopped while the national anthem played. They'd told me it would happen but it was quite something to see. We ate there, I had something new called Khao Soi which is a northern Thai dish, and you'll be surprised to know it was yummy. We all bought a few things, and then home to bed.
Monday - jeep, song taaou, scooter
I drove. In Thailand. And got there safely!
After weetbix for breakfast (which I'm sure helped my driving) I suggested I could drive, since Sandra was taking me where I was going. She bravely agreed, and we headed out about 8:30. I had been in touch with a friend of a friend called Thalia who is in Chaing Mai to work with a non-governmental organisation called Partners Relief and Development (http://www.partners.ngo/ more on that shortly). Basically I'm interested in being helpful (if possible) and also to learn more about the organisation. Thalia writes a blog called Sacreparental http://sacraparental.com/ which I've been reading for about a year, and she moved to Chiang Mai about six months ago. She's in serious 'learning Thai' mode at the moment, so is busy in the mornings, but I was able to meet her husband Matt, and their two wee children. I spent the morning with another lady, Becca helping mind her two children and Thalia and Matt's two (all under five!) as Matt also had a language class to attend. There was a paddling pool, blocks, stories, colouring, lunch and general fun. Then it was back to meet Thalia, and also their flatmate Adrianna who also works at Partners. The afternoon flew by as we chatted, got to know each other a bit, and were entertained by the children's antics. I also had brought some stuff for her from NZ and she was pleased with that.
To get home I had decided to brave another form of local transport, the song taaou (or song taew depending who you talk to). It is basically a ute, but the back is covered and has a row of padded seats along each side. Some of them just run a standard route, and some will take you to a specific place after agreeing a price. My trip involved one of each type, and I'm pleased to say it was entirely successful, I didn't get lost, as Sandra had written the train station in Thai for me I knew I was going to the right place, and she was happy to come and collect me on the scooter. She cooked a nice dinner (western style with potato wedges (yum)), and there ended another day.
Tuesday - scooter, accident (don't worry, everyone is fine), bus, song taaou, scooter
I had originally planned to take myself in the jeep to the Partners' office in time to have lunch and meet some of the staff and volunteers, but I wasn't sure I was quite ready to go on my own, so Sandra (again very kindly) took me on her scooter. We got slightly lost, but a phone call was all it took to find the turn and then the office. After the afternoon I have a much better understanding of who they are, what they do and why. They work with ethnic minority groups from Myanmar (formerly Burma) who are impacted by war and conflict. Some are refugees or migrant workers in Thailand, Bangladesh and China, and many are internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar. They have a whole lot of projects on the go, in Chiang Main they run English classes, and provide agricultural training, and also manage a lot of the other projects. I'm really impressed by the work they're doing, showing God's love regardless of culture, ethnicity or faith to people who are incredibly disadvantaged and have absolutely no one else helping them. One of the ethnic groups, the Rohinga, are not officially recognised by their own government, so they don't get issued birth certificates, can't get passports and are basically non-persons. That just makes my brain hurt. I was able to talk Laurie (sp?) who is in charge of the finances about what she does, and her husband Fran (Francis) who is responsible for the emergency relief projects and HR. He also plants flowers in the garden, and tells me that's what he is best at. They are American, but have spent 23 years in Africa. Just recently arrived in Thailand though and still finding thier way. It was lovely to meet everyone and I bought a case for my bible too.
After that the plan was for me to go with Adrianna on the back of her scooter to dinner and then the English classes. However in this case, while it was a well-laid plan, it didn't quite come off. Neither of us realised she had a flat rear tyre, and as we were getting up to speed after stopping for gas just a minute from the office we got the wobbles and ended up tipping over. We were still pretty slow and on a quiet road, so not much harm done. She has a bit of a scrape on her palm and a bigger one on her elbow. I have a couple of tiny scrapes (knee and elbow) but a pretty decent bruise on my lower shin. All on the left hand side, helpful as we are both right handed. There was a sccoter repair place just 100 meters away, so we were able to get the tyre fixed straight away. Very efficient! Only other problem is a broken side mirror which needs replacing.
So, Fran and Laurie grabbed the first-aid kit and came to our rescue. We managed to find some antiseptic for Adrianna's scrapes and they drove her home, dropping me off on the way so I could get home again by song taaou. I eneded up on a bus first, it was more a mini-bus and bright pink, so that was new! and then a song taaou to the train station with Sandra yet again collecting me by scooter.
So, that was my adventure. Today (Wednesday, only scooter so far) I'm slightly disappointed the bruise doesn't look more impressive, it certainly hurts to touch and is a bit swollen. I'll add a pic anyway. I'm very grateful it missed my ankle by an inch or two, it doesn't hurt at all to walk really, it's just a bit achy. It hasn't stopped me riding one of the scooters here out for lunch just now, and I'm heading out on it shortly to go back to Thalia's and then hopefully the English class tonight that I missed out on last night. On my own. On the scooter. Wee!
So that's the end of my tale about transport in Thailand. I certainly feel I've mixed it up a bit!
There's just one other wee thing on which to bring you all up to speed. Some of you will know my cat Shadow is being kitty-sat for the five months I'm away by my friend Nicola in Ellerslie. We had a wee hiccup in that when she let him outside after thinking he was settled (with my full agreement) he went a bit AWOL and was only coming in to eat in the middle of the night and completely disappearing the rest of the time. She rried various things to trap him inside, turns out he's a smart cat! Long story short she finally managed to catch him a couple of nights ago, so what had been quite a bit of a stressor for me has turned out well, and he is being kept safely inside with lots of love for the next few weeks until he is well and truely settled and knows where the love is. Thanks Nic for all your efforts on my behalf and Shadow's!!! I'm happy to share the story now there is a happy outcome.
I'll write again soon
Sarah
oke banget. Thanks
ReplyDelete