Leaving the hotel in the morning we caught another public bus, which again due to Pok's organisation was far better than national express, being comfortable and on time.
Pete found yet another use for gaffa tape.
We drove on to a rendezvous at a restaurant in Mae Sot, where we were to meet our next transport for the drive over the scenic "Sky Road to Umphang. Our lunch stop did western food, Thai style! So we dined on Pizzas and pasta washed down with the usual sprite.
[Peter points out that due to this the lunch budget was blown, pizza's, ice cream and sprite's etc for 19 cost £32 total !]
Our next set of 3 vans had DVD players so we settled down to watch some films that Pok had thoughtfully purchased, National Treasure, Bridge to Teribithia (sp!) and Deja-vu. (Or deja-woo in Pok-ism)
We missed most of the scenery on the sky road as we were either watching films or sleeping, but then the clouds were so low that we could see very little anyway.
Miss Stephens, Miss Turnbull, Hayley, Steph, Hazel, Holly and Sarah were on a bus and nicknamed themselves "Team Pong" due to the garlic they had eaten at lunch. They turned their bus into a beauty parlour for manicures and hair plaiting!!
We had omitted to tell the girls the alternative name for the Sky Road,which we had found in some of the guide books, which was "Death Highway." Due to the presence of bandits a century ago and the perils of the 1049 bends in the road, which were treacherous before they paved it 10 years ago!! Ignorance is bliss.
We stopped at rest stop half way along and Pok gave us the chance to see a Burmese refugee camp. The Karen people are a tribe of around 3oo thousand and their traditional land spans the Thai-Burma boarder. They have their own language and culture and in Thailand are respected and treated as full Thai citizens, not so in Burma. The Burmese have long persecuted them, trying to drive them from their land and also killing them, so many have fled over the border. The Thai government have housed them in refugee camps, which are basic but safe. The UN send food, doctors etc but the Burmese Karen cannot work and have to live on hand outs. Some can qualify to emigrate as refugees, the main destination from the camp we saw was Canada, but only the lucky few get the chance. There were 50,000 people living in the camp all in very cramped conditions, we couldn't go in as the conditions mean that disease is rife, yet all the children smiled and waved at us. Rather humbling really.
Pete found yet another use for gaffa tape.
We drove on to a rendezvous at a restaurant in Mae Sot, where we were to meet our next transport for the drive over the scenic "Sky Road to Umphang. Our lunch stop did western food, Thai style! So we dined on Pizzas and pasta washed down with the usual sprite.
[Peter points out that due to this the lunch budget was blown, pizza's, ice cream and sprite's etc for 19 cost £32 total !]
Our next set of 3 vans had DVD players so we settled down to watch some films that Pok had thoughtfully purchased, National Treasure, Bridge to Teribithia (sp!) and Deja-vu. (Or deja-woo in Pok-ism)
We missed most of the scenery on the sky road as we were either watching films or sleeping, but then the clouds were so low that we could see very little anyway.
Miss Stephens, Miss Turnbull, Hayley, Steph, Hazel, Holly and Sarah were on a bus and nicknamed themselves "Team Pong" due to the garlic they had eaten at lunch. They turned their bus into a beauty parlour for manicures and hair plaiting!!
We had omitted to tell the girls the alternative name for the Sky Road,which we had found in some of the guide books, which was "Death Highway." Due to the presence of bandits a century ago and the perils of the 1049 bends in the road, which were treacherous before they paved it 10 years ago!! Ignorance is bliss.
We stopped at rest stop half way along and Pok gave us the chance to see a Burmese refugee camp. The Karen people are a tribe of around 3oo thousand and their traditional land spans the Thai-Burma boarder. They have their own language and culture and in Thailand are respected and treated as full Thai citizens, not so in Burma. The Burmese have long persecuted them, trying to drive them from their land and also killing them, so many have fled over the border. The Thai government have housed them in refugee camps, which are basic but safe. The UN send food, doctors etc but the Burmese Karen cannot work and have to live on hand outs. Some can qualify to emigrate as refugees, the main destination from the camp we saw was Canada, but only the lucky few get the chance. There were 50,000 people living in the camp all in very cramped conditions, we couldn't go in as the conditions mean that disease is rife, yet all the children smiled and waved at us. Rather humbling really.
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