Travel Days and Dec. 29

Dec 28 Arrival


Howdy folks! I'm alive! We checked into Suk 11 hostel about an hour ago, and I have no idea how long I've been traveling. All I know is it's Monday night here, I'm dead tired, and I love cold showers. Yeah, it's pretty warm here, but cooler after a short clean-up! Landing in DC was one of the most exciting things that happened-- there was some kind of accident on the runway. Any ideas? I also heard that another Nigerian man, although not related to terrorism, also caused a plane thing when he locked himself in the plane's bathroom prior to take off. Ideas? In other news, it is shortly after the 5 year anniversary of the 2004 tsunami.

Then came a 5 hour busride to JFK, where we had a much more positive experience than I did last time I was there. We left around 1:15AM Sunday eastern time, went over the arctic, then landed in Shanghai on Monday morning 5AM their time. During the lovely, cramped 14/15 hour flight, Megan and I lost our minds, and I met a very nice China native in the seat next to me who became my 'plane mom,' offering me her blanket when I was cold and flagging down the stewardess to get me a sandwich when I woke up hungry. Not that I slept much, lol! So far we haven't seen much of Bangkok-- some folks got some Baht to go get dinner near the hostel, but someone here has granola bars and I'd rather sleep. Here's hoping for an excellent 10 days in tropical Thailand!


Dec 29: US Embassy and ALTSEAN


Today we woke up, had a breakfast of toast, fruit, and coconut milk stuff at the hostel, and headed out to the skytrain. First stop (we left from "Nana") was the US Embassy, where we traded our passports for IDs to speak with a state department worker and 2 USAID workers, all of which were very charismatic and helpful, while maintaining a realistic perspective on the situation in Burma and Thailand's relationship with its border country. Then, we walked through a large park and on this over-the-street walkway to a restaurant called Bug and Bee where we met with ALTSEAN founder and interns. First of all, lunch was delicious or at least mine was. The interns were all women, as part of ALTSEAN's mission of bringing women into the movement for policy change in Burma. 

They had incredible stories. One thing that struck me in particular was how much they had struggled and yet learned in leaving Burma. Also, the question arose in my mind "What does a free Burma look like?" They are the ones who will decide one day, not us (or at least I think it should be that way).Even they had very different opinions on that, from a federation of ethnic states to a unified democracy to a complete split from Burma all together. They identified themselves with their ethnic groups more than the nation that abused them, after all, even if they didn't always recognize their normal lives as abusive at the time. But as one of the USAID workers said, we have to hope for some kind of established idea/plan for Burma in order for it to truly achieve freedom, even before this junta falls. Without one, all we'll have is chaos.


Time for a shower.


Anne



Quick Note: Ben has arrived, healthy! Yay!