Mai Sot thoughts

[Mathos]

I've never come across Chinese, Kuomintang being
badly treated in Thailand.

It appears to be a case of 'Leaving Well Alone'

Not so for The Burmese Refugees though.

Thailand has never signed The Convention relating to
rights and status of refugees.

Whilst they may be out of danger from the Burmese,
they have no legal rights or protection from exploitation.

It's difficult to accept that human beings barely escaping
with their lives from across the border are treated with
so much disdain, and undiluted impunity.



They don't have accommodation equal to the above.

Point of fact is the malevolence which exists between the
two countries, following all the years of cross border warfare
and general disputes, has left a contemptuous bitterness.



Amazing how a place of birth can have such an effect on existence.


The perception is well and truly given prominence by the Thai media
who will associate the Burmese with total negativity, portraying the
inhabitants of the country as disease carriers, drug traffickers,
and criminals in general.




It's a very fascinating part of the globe, especially being on
the outside, looking in.


Of course if you can provide for yourself, and don't rock the boat
then life can be fine.

To a point.




There's little or no education, volunteers from around the globe
do help out in many of the camps.

It's an experience in life for them, of course they can rattle
a few cages back in their country of origin.




It helps of course if they keep clean, doing their best to control
the cleanliness of their immediate living areas.

[Mathos]

You aren't exactly going to come across a Shangri-La
in this part of the world.



No doubt there is such a place for General Than Shwe



He has no hesitation in having dissidents, journalists,
even Buddhist monks beaten, jailed, tortured, or executed.

Highly superstitious, in 2005 he moved the national capital
essentially overnight, on the advice of an astrologer.

I think he's about eighty years old now.



There really are amazing differences in existence with
regard to countries on par with Burma, Cambodia, Laos,
Vietnam, Thailand and China.

[Mathos]

I can recall looking at these two children in a
small village north of Chiang Rai in 1996.

They were certainly Chinese looking.

I wonder, What are they doing now?

Of course Thai people originated in the southern
areas of China.


All 'Indo China' has a suggestion of origination from
the Yunnan, Bhutan, Nepal, at times the distinct
Indian link is quite apparent.




We had been trekking, the village was a stop on
our way back to civilisation.

There were some other folk who had been brought
to the village on the backs of elephants.





We had been walking for several miles,
crossing ravines, rivers etc with the assistance
of felled trees.



Good on ya Flobo.

No trouble doing the treks, none at all.




Seems like yesterday.


Safer than driving on the roads at times.



The level of accidents in the 80's and 90's especially
were ridiculous.

I've seen drivers popping amphetamines and gulping
whiskey down.


No wonder the death toll got higher.

[Mathos]

Amazing, you can be near to some of the homes
and it's like everything is totally deserted.



Then you realise especially in these out of these way places,
they are being very cautious.

Again, their particular involvement in these places
have been riddled with antagonism, strife and discord.

It automatically creates a way of life that is totally
characterised with caution.



If they don't recognise the mode of transport, or the user,
they simply have to tread with care.



Mind you, once one comes out and starts talking, the others will
follow.

They don't miss a chance to sell you something.

At the same time, they can be very generous,
they will offer you food, water or even a place to
sleep for the night.




If you happen to be trekking or similar.

Believe you me, you won't be over particular about
where you get your head down.



You weren't going to come across a clean room
and room service up in the mountains.

The fire burning away in the room, with no chimney
was a god-send when night temperatures dropped
to below freezing.

The rivers up in the mountains could be really ice cold.

It comes as quite a shock to the faculties first time you
realise how cold it can get.

You only need to be made aware of it once.

The inherent part of nature takes over after that.

Once again a simple part of our evolutionary foot steps.

We have seen some rum and peculiar life in these
night stops over the years.

It never ceased to amaze us.

Many a time we think of how lucky we are to still be here.



There's so much to be wary of.

You have to be sensible and cautious,
without being over tentative.




We have had a few close periods of
concern that we were aware of.

An Elephant.

Snakes. Two really close calls.

A Wild Boar. Very vicious

We were lucky.

With regards to vermin, insects, and the like.

All sorts have passed over us at night and through the day.

Some times they wake you up, other times they don't.



You have no idea what is in the grass around you,
at any time.



At the same time, it's a good feeling to look back on the various
events, knowing you have been fortunate in numerous ways.





Big nest up there.

Probably Bee's or Hornets.

This was a stunning view.



I took it from a felled tree that acted as a bridge
across the river.

[Mathos]

This is a good twenty years old.

Behind the Border Crossing at Mae Sai.



I remember one year buying a whole load of clothes
from a Chinese outlet up there.

The prices were unbelievable.

I took them back to Chiang Mai, boxed them up and sent
them back to the UK (home address) via the overseas
postal service.

About ten large boxes
in all via sea.

I expected having to pay duty etc.

As it was, they all turned up,
at least half of them had obviously been
opened, and checked out.

But I wasn't charged at all.

Some days you get lucky I suppose.

There are some outstanding places in the border regions
and of course in Burma.




But at the same time, they can be extremely lonely.

I think the above photograph is from about 1988 in
Mong Tong, Burma.

Some of the new roads they put in but don't finish, can be
washed away in a few days of heavy rain.



In Burma, some of the roads are so narrow and dangerous,
that traffic has certain days to move from east to west and
vice-versa

Odd days of the month one way, even days the other.

[Mathos]

We spent some outstanding periods of time in
the wildness of the mountain regions.




Not the place for letting your guard slip though.


Some of the places and people you come across are amazing.




Millions of them all across the planet, and not the slightest idea
of what a shop is, running water, electric or so many things we
take for granted.


I've seen them with old motorcycles, that have run out of petrol
or have broken down.

They push them about and sit on them to go down the
side of a virtual mountain.

Flat tyres and all.

They probably took one in running order for a while
as payment for a load of marijuana, opium or other
specialty they take for granted in their enclaves.



Theres me on a log, crossing a ravine or whatever
and not having the slightest idea what might be on
the other side.

I've been on one of those once and I was shaking,
no idea why, I've used plenty of them and heights don't
bother me.

But one day it was absolutely wicked.

Such is life.



Flobo did her share too.

Amazing what we did especially when we were with
Jock and some of the guys we got to know over the
years.

Elephants were an absolute 'God-Send' at times.




Wonderful creatures, but need treating with the utmost respect.



It was always fun.

[Mathos]

Some of the older photographs I came across were
interesting.

The snaps were only taken with a basic camera.




An idiot proof simple Russian made article if I remember right.

24 photographs to a roll.

The borderlands were far more hostile looking in those days.

Totally lawless, I remember a tourist (meant to be a tourist)
being shot whilst she was enjoying a boat ride on the river
in Northern Thailand. ( I think she was English, but not very sure)
Maybe late 1980's.



Of course it happens quite regular in this part of the world.

I well remember a shooting (murder) in The Montien Hotel
Surawongse Road, opposite Patpong.


About 1993 or 94.

Nearly twenty years ago, only seemed a short while
since when I remembered that.

It was said to be an argument over somebody hugging
the microphone, and some guy sending a hit squad in.

The guy was beaten up, then they pumped six bullets into him.

I think there was much more to it than the reasons given.

The local taxi drivers who park up en-masse by the hotel entrance
reckoned it was drugs and property, involving The Bangkok Mafia.

They stopped the karaoke nights after that though.

There's a link here.

Thailand .Karaoke Singer Beaten And Shot .


I've never seen a room empty so fast in my life.

There's a lot of stuff like that occurred over the years.

There was one guy handcuffed to the steering wheel of his car,
put in drive with the accelerator jammed down and straight off
the top floor of a car park.

He must have played the wrong domino.

Safer in the jungle at times.




At times years ago we found some basic but tidy
places to stay.

Getting decent food was always a problem.

Not so many could speak English either.

We always got through.

Flobo has manged to buy a few eggs here and there
then they would let her use the wok.

When she fried them, they couldn't appreciate us
enjoying the same.

Ham shanks too.

They used to have them boiled in a glass cage,
bits of rice and other peculiar food.

They only cut bits of meat off the shank and added it to the
rice and soup type offerings.

We were starving once, bought a full shank off the woman for
pea-nuts.

They couldn't believe it when we cut it up,
took all the fat off and devoured the meat.

We lived off fruit most of the time on our travels.

Had some mushrooms once upon a time.

Never again!

Talk about Lucy in The Sky with Diamonds.

Took about six hours to get our heads right and felt like
six weeks.




I mentioned the caves hidden away all across
the country and the various searches for valuable relics.

The Twin Golden Buddha.


The Karen lady, they speak a Burmese/Tibetan language.




Jock, Norman Bates and others assisted in bringing
many of these refugees to safety.

I recall taking this photograph many, many years ago.

Then a few years later I saw her face appearing in
numerous brochures.

Happiness is.



Sitting on a raft, enjoying a beer or two
with Flobo, watching the sun go down.

[Mathos]

Some times back in those days there were large
areas being constructed, and brought into line
with more contemporary standards.



Left to their own devices, it could be mayhem.

I've seen them lay miles of new road, then dig it all up to
put sewers in and all sorts of extras.



Burmese work men and their families
used to roll these concrete pipes
away from the work areas, push them
together and live in them, stacked three high
with a blanket over each open end.


It was never unusual to drive down the Super Highway
only to find an elephant dragging a massive teak log
coming towards you.



Or folk putting up stalls, selling brushes or wheel trims.


Traffic jams.



Tell me about it.

Folk hanging on the sides, like above,
they would hang there for hours, even
though nothing was moving.

It was safer by river.



Some of the bamboo rafts, they were packed with all sorts
in the 80's.


The Elephants, they had these massive harnesses fitted
and really heavy chains, dragging gigantic teak logs
from the rivers to Highways.

Some of the drivers from the villages especially.

They couldn't understand the highways.

All those lanes of traffic.

Take your pick.

One light working if you were lucky, and they motored.

The number of head on fatalities in those days,
especially with those Isuzu trucks.



Unreal.

I've seen those in a head on completely destroy
a car or pick up and all who were in it.

The engine of the Isuzu would be pushed up through the
rotten floor, no doubt killing the driver, the front axle and
wheels would be ripped off, via the rotting, corroded fixing points
to the chassis.

[Mathos]

Worth noting that travelling in the jungle areas
demands a great deal of mental awareness.

Having made that statement, it has to be said that
travelling anywhere in life it certainly pays to have
a defensive attitude with regards to where you are
and to whoever else might be in the vicinity.

Going off the regular track for instance might put
your well being, even your life in jeopardy.



So easy to fall into a place like the above.

Especially if there isn't a decent run of water
and the noise is zero level.

We once made a trip from Ban Rak Thai down to
Tha Song Yang keeping to the Burmese border
travelling on motorcycles.

There was myself, Flobo, Jock, Norman Bates ,
two friends of theirs who they dropped off at
a small village on the border about eighty miles
south of Ban Rak.

We came across hot springs and many amazing
places.


We made a few errors on the dirt roads and tracks at times.

The photograph below shows a wooden bridge we came to,
pushing the bikes, sometimes with the engines running in
first gear and walking alongside, hoping for a decent stretch
of track.



In fact we didn't get over the bridge, it was not fit
to travel either across it or on the track on the other side.

Especially with the bikes, so we turned round.

Amazing as well, folk can be found in the most remote of places
and you don't really know what they are doing.



If they are happy enough, it doesn't really matter.




"Hey Mister, you want Rolex, me have?"

What in God's name he was doing out
in the wilderness with his beast baffled all of us.

Then again, you have no idea what ruse they will be up
to with regards to import and export.

There's a chap in a small place a few miles outside
of Kanchanaburi, who had, (he may still have it)
a private zoo.

The stuff he has loose in there is ridiculous.




He has a doped up Tiger at the front, on a dog chain.

Loose ones inside.




That one isn't doped up.

He was chopping up dead dogs to feed to them.




Truth of the matter being that folk can do pretty well what
they want to.


One place in this region, Three Pagoda Pass.




Unreal.

You may have been to Three Pagoda Pass.

Strange place.

[Mathos]

There are some lakes a few miles to the south east of The Pass.



Folk living in floating houses on the same.

Last time we were at Three Pagoda Pass
there were some Farangs (German) trying to get
their visas stamped up.

It can't be done there.

They were getting up-set about it.

Doesn't do any good at all.

Worth noting the decent short road down to
the waters edge.



That would be capable of supporting a fully laden truck.

Like I say, so many times, there is so
much border, so much corruption, so much money,
anything passes through.



This truck (no number plates) had been really pushing it.

We stopped at a roadside as he had, he had the bonnet
up, it wasn't overheating or anything, he just left it that
way whilst he took a break.

This Refugee Camp.


We met folk here who had been in the camp best part
of their lives.

Never taken a foot outside in over twenty years.

A fresh delivery of Bamboo for more huts.



We are so lucky to be where we are.

Some of these places, the living conditions,
make your blood run cold.



The above building, is a Christian Church.



Apart from using your legs, the only other
ways to move in the jungles are on horse back,
ponies, like the one above, or Elephant.

[Mathos]

The little street café in Mae Sot.





Flobo just visible at the back.

We used to get many a good cup of coffee there.

Lots of other dealing went on as well.


I often wonder what some of the folk we
have met over the years are doing right now.



Maybe nothing has changed at all.

It never seemed to once upon a time.

'Once Upon a time in The West'

This part of the country had it all.


We were sent back towards the town centre,
by the security guys here in Myawaddi.

Didn't seem to like us going off the normal track.

They asked me if I was a reporter.





These areas can be notorious for disease.

TB is horrendous, especially in the east of Burma.


Burma is a real hot zone for TB,

The World Health Organization rate Burma
one of 22 "high burden" countries.


There is no access for diagnosis or treatment
even if they knew they had it.

They suffer slowly, it's an awful disease, and so easily
and ignorantly passed to their own children as well
as others in the community.




Little wonder.



In the heat of the day, the stillness, the hum of
the powerful sunlight, then the monsoon season.

Imagine being really ill on top of it all.

Not an easy life at all.

[Mathos]

I'm turning the clock back here to late in the year 1991.

Probably November/December.

It's a memory recollection brought about following a talk
(telephone) with Jock, who had been reading this thread
recently and jogged my memory.


We had been in the Mae Sot area, which was quite usual in those
days especially. We met up with Jock and a few of the lads in the
region intending to make our way to Samui for a bit of coastal
relaxation.

Whilst on the way down to Samui, one of the lads wanted
to check out some details on the Thai-Burma Railway in the
Kanchanaburi area. (He was doing some serious writing)

We spent a couple of nights by the Sriakarin Lake.

Very cheap accommodation, basic enough to get our
heads down but nothing more.

Mind you, when you have stayed in places like this
on your travels, anything will do.



We had picked up some food in town, and soon had a fire going
to rustle up a meal and make a decent brew.

A young lad approached us the same evening he had a sack
which he opened showing us bits and pieces, second hand
watches, wallets, some miniature preserves.

There was nothing to interest us with regards to buying
anything, but we were concerned as to where the goods
came from.

We later found out these had been taken from an area
around Suphanburi.

Earlier in the year a Lauda Aeroplane had come down
shortly after take off from Don Muang, makings it's way
to Austria.

Niki Lauda the racing car driver and owner of the
airline travellled to Thailand to view the site.

All on board including the crew lost their lives.

We heard that following the terrible accident
stalls had been noted selling possessions taken
from the crash site.

It caused a great deal of concern at the time.



A similar Lauda Air Boeing 767-300


Lauda Air Flight 004 memorial




There is a memorial at the site, but I understand
there is still a large amount of debris from the plane
crash, scattered about the ground.





It's sad.


Of course, the folk in these locations have no education
and to expect sincerity or compassion with regards to
the enormous loss of life would be expecting too much.



I remember a reporter from one of the English Newspapers
writing from Thailand, he had come across stalls selling property
belonging to the deceased.

The vendor on one of these stalls when questioned about the goods,
simply replied:-

"They dead, not need."




The ways of life are applicable to the variances in our evolution.



This link is well worth reading.

Lauda Air Crash, 26 May, 1991: Thailand's Worst Ever | Thai Blogs

[Mathos]

Amazing when you see the children running around with 'Fighting Cocks'
as opposed to toys.



I'd been looking for some photographs of kids playing
barefoot on enormous Teak logs as they are travelling
at speed down the rivers in the north west of
Thailand.

(Not found them as yet)




Places like this, and folk may as well be off
a different planet.

It's education that fetches folk along, no doubt about that.

It's still debatable as to which road they follow with education.

Normally in these remote areas, you will find someone,
a notch or two above the others who appears to take charge.

Manipulation comes to mind.


I had to place this next one on here.

It's late 80's.



Flobo coming up from one of the tunnels in Vietnam.

Shell don't miss a trick either.



Get a pump in there lads, they need fuel.

Klong life was far removed from Bangkok life of today.




Very simple.

Like the young Burmese Karen boy here.



He and his friend or brother
will have carried the drum of water
a fair old way. It would be quite a weight
too for kids to be toting.

Many a child eaten by Python in these remote areas.

Least sign of one and the men folk will be off
like a pack of wolves with their machetes and any
other suitable implement of destruction.




The guys above were taking down a
field of Marijuana.


For medicinal purposes of course.



Many a time in the past when we have stayed in
remote places, I have always had the desire
to try and find out how these hill and mountain people
think.

Again, it has been a very simple response.

They do what they do to live, eat just about anything.

Personal hygiene would appear to be a seldom application.



The odd river crossing is perhaps enough.

I wonder how they go on when they get
tooth-ache, ear-ache, a broken leg.

It makes you wonder.

The Shaman probably does more harm than good.

I understand they take opium from the poppy
for most ailments. Maybe they keep doping up
until the pain has gone, or the tooth falls out.

Over the years, we have come across one or
two with obvious limb deformities, which were no
doubt the result of a broken bone not being correctly set.

This was a rare find.



Miles from anywhere, living in a bamboo and grass
shack with a car parked out front.

[Mathos]

It never ceases to amaze me how much contraband
passes between Thailand and Burma along the banks
of The Salween River.




Sometimes you can look at areas of this nature
with total admiration, it's another world.

The Salween is I'm quite sure the second longest river
in South-East Asia.

The Mekong having pride of place as the longest.

The Salween makes it's entrance high in The Himalayas,
on The Tibetan Plateau.

It runs through the Yunnan Mountains (Southern China)
then through The Karen and Shan States of Eastern Burma.

It forms a natural sixty or seventy mile stretch of recognised
border between Thailand and Burma.

For goodness knows how many years folk have
used various bridges to cross into one another's lands
especially when the River represented danger or
death due to it's changing seasonal powers.




The official border crossings like the Friendship Bridge
at Mae Sot, offer far to many rules and regulations to
the world of contraband operated by the Oriental
Criminal Syndicates with almost total impunity.


The guy here wasn't interested in import or export
taxation as he went about his River Crossing Business.


I never did get to see what was in the various large buckets
being sold to clients from the opposite bank.


Had to be careful with the camera in some of these places.



At the same time, they would arrange to have
a fully laden pick-up rafted across and back emptied.



You never know what you might come across when you
are rafting down the Rivers either.


Some of the villages are amazing.



I have no idea what she was crushing up with this
implement of Neolithic quality.

So many of the women in these villages, in fact
most all of them, are addicted to the betel nut.

Using the same, (they chew it on a regular basis)
results in a terrible staining of the mouth, teeth,
tongue and gums.

It is a stimulant, but also has some medicinal
benefits with regards to killing worms, helps
to remove phlegm and kindles passion.

I remember speaking to a Doctor in Thailand ,
many years ago who gave concern to it's effect
on pregnant women and infant mortality.


But when you come across so many people
who have no education, limited vocabulary
and a one way ticket to ride, there's no way
through.

[Mathos]

This photograph isn't one of mine.




It's one I had given to me and it's from the
Salween River border area.


If my memory serves me right, the owner was on a
trek of some kind or another.




This one is from the same source.

During the Second world War a special training school
for poorly trained and equipped Chinese soldiers was established
in Ramgargh India.

The Allies were also building a road from India, through Burma
to enter China in the Yunnan area.

The Burma Road.


This was supplemented by a pipeline for aviation fuel
and oil from Calcutta to Kunming.


This photograph link is outstanding.

Images for the Burma road


Amazing how you come across so many fields tucked away
in these hills with so much agriculture.




Life in general and all that go's hand in hand with it
is on a different level altogether in such places.

[hillbilly]

Lately, I have been viewing TD as a simple first time poster and I have to say Mathos your thread should be TeakDoor's thread of 2011!

Simply outstanding!

So nice to peruse and enjoy a thread without the bickering...

Once again well done my friend!

[celtic]

This thread is wonderful and gets my vote for thread of the year!!!

I agree with you Hillbilly on all counts, as for all the bickering, it's amazing how many fairly new members and a few that have been around a lot longer never learned that getting into a pissing contest in a strong headwind is unwise!

Thank you Mathos for sharing your photos and experience.

[Mathos]

Lately, I have been viewing TD as a simple first time poster and I have to say Mathos your thread should be TeakDoor's thread of 2011!

Simply outstanding!

So nice to peruse and enjoy a thread without the bickering...

Once again well done my friend!

Thanks a lot hillybilly.

Really appreciated your comments,
I'm glad you and others are enjoying the
thread, pictures and narratives.

[Mathos]

This thread is wonderful and gets my vote for thread of the year!!!

I agree with you Hillbilly on all counts, as for all the bickering, it's amazing how many fairly new members and a few that have been around a lot longer never learned that getting into a pissing contest in a strong headwind is unwise!

Thank you Mathos for sharing your photos and experience.

You too Celtic.

It is enjoyable writing the the threads in general terms.

Also it gives me a decent record of our travels and experiences
along with the comments that are placed along side.


Beats looking at an album.

Thanks really appreciated.

[Mathos]

It stirs the memory cells up with a bit of a vengeance at times.

Amazing how looking at an odd photograph or two rekindles
thoughts of past experiences.




Must say, the treks we did and some of the experiences
out in no-mans land throughout Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia,
Burma, Vietnam and Thailand especially, were fantastic.

Amazing places, fantastic variation of people, their customs
and ways of life.




To say nothing at all with regards to the infra-structure.

Or accommodation.




They simply build homes on cliff faces, on top of each other
and move in.

Where else on earth would somebody
place a stall selling hand made bags and purses
on the top of a mountain road?



You can't imagine what passes through their minds.

Nor does it matter.

They just do it.



Toilet blocks half way up a mountain on the border with Burma.




Stalls on a dirt road going nowhere.

She can manage to offer you marijuana and opium though.

Indigenous folk with no education,
they fathom out supply and demand.

Hard to think you can be home in England,
and within twenty four hours you could be
stood alongside some guy swapping his wife
for a few pigs and a couple of sacks of rice.

[Mathos]

Flobo nicking a taxi of sorts in Nong Khai
about 1997.




Go for it lass.

This lady and her child will be much older now.




I wonder if life improved, I know she was happier at the time,
being afforded the safety of a refugee village in northern Thailand
as opposed to the horrendous time in Burma.


We crossed into Laos at Nong Khai.



Things in Laos were almost free.

We couldn't believe how cheap.

Laos must be amongst the poorest
of the poorest countries on the planet.

Vientiane. That was different.


There was a place that sold mounds of American Army
and personal possessions of G.I'S.

That was extremely sad to see.

I wrote the American Embassy in London regarding this.


We were told that many American servicemen lost their lives in Laos
but their deaths were recorded as being in Vietnam.

There is no forgiving the Lao people who assisted
America during the Vietnam War. The Communist
people of Laos bear a terrible hatred towards them.

Many went to America when the war was coming to an end.

The past is neither forgotten or forgiven though.

This was in 2006.

Two Americans of Lao origin were murdered execution-style
in Thailand while returning from their homeland.

Soukanh Visathep, 65, a former Lao government police officer,
Somvang Keomanyvong, 61, a former army officer, were shot dead
by a lone gunman at a Thai-Lao border crossing.

They were both shot point blank in the head amongst
bystanders at Ubon Ratchathani's bus terminal.

Death was instant.

They had previously visited their old hometown of
Pakse in Champasak.

Obviously word was spread.

Back on the border with Burma, the man who owned
this home/shop was murdered by traffickers in front of
his family and villagers.




He didn't have much, a one room shack with a bed.

No electricity in the area, let alone his village.

Selling an occasional drink to the odd farang who might be in
the mountains, but apparently owing money to a band of traffickers.

Life can be so cheap in some of these countries.




Some of these people have no idea where thay
are on the planet, let alone who controls their lives
by opression.

A festival day or some kind of celebration is so important
to their being.

[Mathos]

I have previously mentioned The Shaman who
are quite a controlling figure-head in some of the
mountain areas especially.

Worth noting the animal heads used in preparation
and various forms of magical control of the spirit
world.

The couple of photographs here were taken in
the border town of Three Pagoda Pass.



I compared the various carryings on, (which are basically the
Shaman using his powers to show his expertise to the village
folk in being an intermediary with the spirit world) which include
small used bottles being primed with all sorts of concoctions for
application to body parts or even digesting.


They can also be seen to use books, and even write on paper
which is given to the patient (no doubt paying more for each
improved service) when the session has finished.

It appears to me that they also express powers of predicting
the future.

I have noticed over the years, that folk from these parts
of the planet (China and surrounding Oriental countries) have
an extremely strong psychological leaning towards many
levels of superstition.

The respect is perhaps tinged with awe in general.




In the bottom of the large tin bowl holding the animal heads
(chicken heads and necks in there too you might notice)
you can see a liquid.

This was scooped up and transferred to the bottles for
several customers, during the time we took note of the
treatments being administered.

Whilst I'm mentioning Three Pagoda Pass it's worth noting
the Pass has been the main land route from Burma into
Thailand for hundreds of years.

It's also recognised as the point were the teachings of
Buddha came into Thailand.

Both countries used the Pass for incursions and total warfare
attacks against one another over the years.

The Thai Burma Railway passes through here
and there is a large monument in memory
of the Thousands of Australian and other prisoners
who lost their lives in the construction
of the same.

[Mathos]

I was thinking back about some of the Shaman
we have come across over the years.

The Goat especially the head has been seen quite often,
I also recall being told that the same held some kind of
relationship with the African type of 'Witch Doctor' and
Voodoo Practices related to the Caribbean in general.

Then I recalled that Satan in terms of The Occidental Worlds
religions is also known to represent himself with a Mans body,
Goats Head, with his two feet being cloven hoofed.

Pentagram With the Goat's Head
Or the Goat of Mendes

Strange coincidences or what?

This also is a very powerful Symbol in Satanism and Witchcraft.

It's a bit like the invention of the wheel.

Seemed to occur broadly across the known world at the same time.

I don't think the Red Indians of America had it though,
they dragged their litters and goods on long poles secured
to a horse.

[Mathos]

Many years ago, the Occidental had no way of travelling
in mainland China.


Several who did venture into the remote parts of
The Country simply were never seen again.

For many years China was virtually ignored,
it wanted it that way.

China came into the world’s eyes again in 1989 during
The Tienamen Square incident.

Students demonstrating in Beijing were attacked and
slain by Chinese Soldiers.


The Yunnan area of China is an amazing place.



Visiting this part of the country lets you see a side of
the world that enables acceptance of the evolution
applicable to these Asian people which is quite obvious.

It has for a little while now had a broad impact on World Trade.

It has the natural resources to create and own the worlds
largest economy.

I rather feel it would be a Major Player in any World War.


Jock and Norman Bates, travelled quite a bit in this part of the world
albeit, there were problems from time to time, they spoke of a country
developing overnight from Hillside villages to large well built cities.


The Map above is from The Internet.

Like-wise the following photographs, which my attention
has been drawn towards.





A typical Yunnan Village, with the benefit of blocked
paving for improved living conditions.



Levels of construction in The Yunnan.




A far more improved and modern City in The Yunnan.




The general infrastructure of this region is moving
along at a tremendous pace.


It's now possible to book a holiday and travel by train from
Beijing to Kathmandu via Lhasa.

Well worth clicking onto.


Beijing to Kathmandu via Lhasa train tour, Tibet train holiday


Chinese people are moving into Nepal at quite an alarming rate.

A couple of very interesting facts regarding the very early
signs of intelligence and knowledge shown by The Chinese.


A Chinese tomb contains a heliocentric model of the
solar system, about 1,700 years before Copernicus.
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem and Pascal's
triangle were known in China centuries before their
Western discoverers even existed.



This Hillside Village, is little if any removed from a
similar location in the Mountains of Thailand, Laos,
Vietnam, or The Shan States.

[Mathos]

I was talking with an old friend who spent
quite a bit of time in these places during
the 1980's.

He mentioned the The Khone and Pha Pheng Falls
in southern Laos.

I managed a photograph of them from the internet compliments
of Mongabay.com.



Apparently these falls are perhaps a major
reason why the Mekong is not navigable into China.

I know he did a great deal of engineering considerations
and surveying with regards to making the Mekong a more
manageable and navigable river, with mand made waterways
around places like these falls etc.

I think these falls are about six miles wide.

He got paid quite well for the effort he put in and came up
with some excellent ideas.

The countries could never agree to everything though.

It appears they still have problems with agreement,
dams and other considerations.

Quite a bit of un-rest at present with China/Burma
and no doubt China and Laos, I don't know if Vietnam
and Cambodia have concerns.

They probably do.

I've seen parts of The Mekong in full flood twice.

It's unreal to witness the power in that River.




It's a lifeline to all the countries involved.

They worry about every possible scenario that could
be detrimental to their way of life, if dams and alterations
to the course of the same is endorsed.



Quite a sizeable dam build here in The Yunnan.