Mai Sot thoughts

[Mathos]

Much of Thai history can be traced along the banks of the Chao Phraya River. Today. the Chao Phraya River remains the most important waterway for the people of central Thailand.

Nevertheless, the long route from the Ping watershed in Chiang Mai to the Chao Phraya River and on through Samut Prakan Province to the Gulf of Thailand remaining vital to Thai life.


It passes through 1,085 kilometers of Thai rural and urban countryside.


It carries with it the history and culture of the country.


Bangkok and The Chao Phraya River has changed in many ways over the years, these photographs are from the very late 1980's and maybe 90/91






There must have been some high levels of polution over the years.



The large majority of these residences are long gone from the banks of The Chao Phraya.

Nostalgias creeps in when I look back on the same.






Even The Floating Market has chanhged dramatically now.

[Mathos]

That is it for tonight and I'll go on with the Cambodian issues and photographs from tomorrow.

I could carry on with this for ever, with the stuff I keep finding and recollecting.

Hope I'm not boring anybody.


I'll get back to Thailand again after Cambodia and then do a big section on Burma.


If your going away on holiday, let me know...

Excuse my meanderings too .

[Mathos]

Well I'm just trying to find out where all these different threads MtD has given me have been hiding themselves..

I think I have it worked out.

OK Mae Sot should be good for a lot more writing and brilliant pictures. I'm just putting an opener on each thread, so that I don't forget what I'm going to do next.


This was a hell of a drive earlier on this year, March or so. The road from Mae Sot to Umphang is known as 'Death Highway' it is notorious for terrible accidents.

The route takes you right across the mountain ridge and it's the only way back out of there. We were delayed on our return and had to drive it in darkness, it was a very dangerous undertaking.





More to follow in the next few days.

[Mathos]

It's quite a road the 1090, it is the only road to Umphang and it comes to a full stop once it gets there.

Its some seventy miles long {approx 170 km} but feels more like 700 (I exaggerate not) it twists and turns like a gigantic Burmese Python, it rises at ridiculous points and spins around the ridges, there are few safety barriers at all. The journey takes between four and five hours in daylight and allowing for good weather conditions.

In the past, travelling between Mae Sot and Umphang passed places inside Burma. Local people lived both sides of the so-called border line. Country borders are hardly known let alone recognised or abided by out here.


The Rom Glao area along the Highway and the main true reason for the naming of the road as DEATH HIGHWAY was the site of the two massacres that had taken place during the long construction of the H1090. Thirty workers being attacked and killed at km-marker 43, by Thai, Hmong and Karen CPT insurgents.

Apparently they did not wish to have this road penetrating Umphang (one of the main communist strongholds in Thailand in the 1960s and 70s). The attacks were one of the factors which had delayed completion of the road for so long. As a result of the attacks Thai authorities deployed anti-communist KMT forces from places like Kae Noi to guard the project and its construction workers. The security situation was alleviated in 1982-83 with the mass surrenders in Tak province of hundreds of heavily-armed communist rebels and thousands of sympathisers.

However it was not until the very late 1980s, when 'Death Highway' was finally finished, there are still claims of bandits and Communist forces being covertly active in these regions




Nakhon Nowhere?

The Back of Beyond?

The village itself was very pleasant, clean and well laid out. Initially we stopped at a clean but basic cafe, they could barely understand our needs for a coffee, but had some in a Nescafe Jar alongside an unopened jar of powdered milk, but we also noticed several tins of condensed milk.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!

We pointed to the tins and jar of Nescafe, they pointed back to us and pointed at the kettle.

We brewed our home and they watched diligently.

The end result was superb, we made ourselves two more large ones and they gave us a bill for 50 Baht.


Umphang is accessible only by road from Mae Sot. The town sits happily in a valley between two mountain ranges.

One range separates Thailand from Burma; the other separates Umphang from the rest of Thailand and the world.

It is indeed a very isolated community, is visited only by fools like me dragging my wife along as Flobo coolly put it when we finally arrived there.

A new highway is presently being built, a better road providing a safer route between Thailand's Central Plains and Burma.

The road to Umphang is along trip the scenery however is spectacular. The road tends run round the top of the mountains rather than along the valley floor. There are some brilliant view points and various villages plus a massive refugee camp are situated along this road.

Umphang itself is now a slowly developing tourist town which caters mainly to interested Thais.

Not very long ago (15 years or so) it was a centre of Communist insurgency. Communist guerrillas hid from Government troops in caves such as the Tat Kah Be cave. This cave has apparently never been fully explored. It is close to Umphang, and easily accessible.


I can assure you I didn't take the satellite photograph as shown below, I nicked it off the INTERNET.






There are times in life when you go round a corner, be it in the pedestrian world, car, motorcycle, train, boat or plane and you just know you probably shouldn't be there.

[Mathos]

The views from the Death Highway were spectacular though.






When we checked out The airport at Umphang, Flobo whispered, I'm so glad we didn't fly down!






The Chief of Police was apparently in total charge of the airport.






And you weren't allowed to drive your car or motorcycle up and down the same.

Amazing isn't it.

[Mathos]

I am pretty annoyed at not being able to locate a photograph chip of some photographs of the village and the Highway. Never mind it will turn up and I can post them again.

I have another two cameras to work from at present and they have plenty of photographs on which are from Umphang as you can see.





The scenery is magnificent.

There's nothing there but it's absolutely beautiful. There are Tigers and all rare forms of wildlife including the brown bear in the area we were told.

We saw numerous snakes, large silver/black ones in the main, about six of them in less than two hours on one stretch of dirt road and three or four which i am sure were Cobra.

We didn't actually see any Tiger or Bear.

Thankfully.



It's peculiar when I look back on photographs like this, I really wish I had spent much more time there.



These photographs really are worth saving to your photograph manager and viewing full screen size, they are quite spectacular.

This is THE ROAD TO HELL.

[Mathos]

I have taken the information below from The Internet, it may be beneficial to any interested people or person wishing to explore the area themselves. I can recommend the same.

But be careful

Umphang Forest (Tak province) map and information (May 2003)

Umphang district is located in the southern tip of Tak province. The place is mostly hills, forests, river streams, caves and waterfalls. Majority of population living there are Karen (Kayin), Thai, Shan and other minority ethnic tribes.

____ Paved road

--- Unpaved road
........... Trail
1 = Moei (Thaung Yin) river, flows into Salawen (Thanlwin) river in Mae Hong Son province. It serves as Thai-Myanmar border line. Mae Sot and Myawaddy are connected by a bridge.

2 = Mae Klong Mai village

3 = Mae Klong river stream. This river and Kha Khaeng river in Uthai Thani province flow into Si Nakharin dam lake in Kanchanaburi province. After the dam lake the river is called Kwae Yai river.

4 = Umphang river stream (flows into Mae Klong river)

5 = Umphang Ke village. Rafting trip can start in this place along Umphang river.

6 = Ti Lo Jor waterfall

7 = Hot spring (natural hot water pool)

8 = Pha Laud station (office, map, rest room)

9 = Tha Sai camp. Rafting trip to Ti Lo Su (possible whole year) usually ends here. Umphang to Tha sai on Mae Klong river is about 25 km (rafting 3 hours). From this camp to Ban Palatha by river is 15 km or 2 hours.

10 = Ti Lo Su waterfall (1.5 km from camp)

11 = Ti Lo Su waterfall camp (office, camp ground, tents for rent, rest rooms). From Umphang it is 47 km by road; the first 25 km is paved (early 2003).

12 = Ban Ko Tha (Karen village, home stay possible, small primary school). From Ti Lo Su camp it is 7 km (easy to moderate) hiking which takes 2 to 3 hours. Few houses have elephants. Vegetable growing, hand weaving. Ban Ko Tha to Ban Palatha trail is moderate level, and is about 6.5 km or 3 hours hike.

Primary school in Ban Ko Tha

13 = Lar Ee Or twin swamp (lakes in the lush forest - birds and plants). It can be reached on foot from Ti Pho Ji village.

14 = Kloh Tho river stream (which creates Ti Lo Su waterfall). The camp is on the bank of the stream. It flows into Mae Klong river.

15 = Ti Pho Ji Karen village close to the twin swamp. From Ban Ko Tha it takes 4 to 5 hours trek through forests of bamboo, hardwood and orchids. During dry season 4wd trucks can reach there from highway 1288.

16 = Ban Nu Pho Karen village can be reached by highway no. 1288 from Umphang.

17 = Pueng Klueng village (Myanmar, Shan and Thai) close to border. Myanmar name is "Pan Khan". It can be reached by car via road no. 1288.

18 = Lay Tong Ku village on the border. About 100 km from Umphang. People travel there from Pueng Klueng or Mong Kua on foot (5 to 6 hours walk - moderate to hard). Four wheels drive truck can get there in dry season. People there do not raise pigs, ducks and chickens. However they can keep elephants, cows and buffalos. Foods include rice, fish and wild animals. They worship a pair of elephant tusks (ivory) with Buddha images curved on them.

19 = Ban Mong Kua. It is roughly 70+ km from Umphang. Four wheels drive trucks can get there in dry season. From here one can trek (passing over Khao Mong Kua mountain) 6 hours to Lay Tong Ku village.

20 = Mae Chan river stream (which later flows into Mae Klong river)

21 = Mae La Moong village

22 = Mae La Moong river stream (flows into Mae Klong river). From the two rivers meeting point ones can trek to Ban Palatha, Ban Ko Tha and Ban Ti Pho Ji.

23 = Ban Palatha village. About 27 km from Umphang. Bigger Karen village. Home stay is possible. They have bamboo houses with beddings and mosquito nets for tourists. White water rafting to Ti Lo Lay waterfall usually starts here. Elephant ride and trekking trips can be arranged.

24 = Ban Zepala village. Only 3 km from Ban Palatha. Farming rice and vegetables. The villagers also keep elephants. Women do hand weaving of cloths, clothes, bags, etc. Zepala waterfall at the end of the village.

25 = Kangae Di village. Highway no. 1090 ends here. Ban Zepala to Kaegae Di section is rough road (late 2002).

26 = Ti Lo Lay waterfall (a river stream drops into Mae Klong river from the western side). Ban Palatha to Ti Lo Lay rafting takes about 5 to 6 hours (about 40+ km). June to October (rainy season) is flooded and dangerous. November to December is the best time for most people. January to May is low water. Camp site is located 500 meters upstream. Return journey is by elephant or walking to Ban Palatha (35 km).

27 = La Ka Toe lake. A place of deep jungles and wild animals.

28 = Nam Mood cave. Mae Klong river flows through the cave.

29 = Ban Mae Jan Tha village is located close to the meeting point of Mae Jan and Mae Klong rivers.

30 = Three pagoda border pass to Sanklaburi, Thong Pha Phum and Kanchanaburi on highway no. 323 (Kanchanaburi province).

Travel permits
The northern part of Umphang district is inside Umphang wildlife sanctuary. The lower parts are in Thungyai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary, and a small portion bordering Uthai Thani province is in Huay Kha Khaeng wildlife sanctuary. Travel permits are necessary to enter these places. The local tour operators in Umphang would do the paper works for tourists.

Weather and roads conditions
Rainy season starts in May and ends in November, with heavy rains during July to October. From June to October the un-paved roads will be very difficult or not possible to drive. Many parts of these jungle roads would be flooded. Best months to travel are November till February, and thus places are crowded. February to May is dry season and is good for trekking. Rafting is still possible along Mae Klong river from Umphang Ke to Tha Sai camp. The water is however low.

Drinking water and medicines
If you are hiking to far away places without car road access, carrying drinking water will be a problem. Drink only boiled water, or use good quality filter to cleanse the river water. Bring personal medicines and first aid kit. Umphang town has district level hospital. In large villages there are nurses. Wildlife sanctuary offices have trained personnel. Be sure that you are very fit before you go adventure into the forest. Always go with a able local guide.






So I'll stop meandering again and take you down this road leading to the spectacular waterfall known as Tee-Lor-Su. Apparently this is the sixth largest waterfall in the world.

Obviously the biggest and most spectacular in Thailand. Probably the whole of Asia.

But hell it takes some getting there.

No wonder nobody go's there

[Mathos]

Once you get as far as is possible by car down a twenty to thirty km long dirt road which is more like a Big Dipper than a road in any event, you then have a thirty to forty five minute long walk to the actual start of the falls.






The initial impression might be something like, surely this can't be it.





Swallow falls are better than that.






Have we come all this way for this?

[Mathos]

Then it's wow!







Look at that.




It really stuns you, the beauty is amazing.

There's more to show too.

[Mathos]

We were glad we had taken the trouble to get there I can tell you.





One thing for sure, I know we will take the trouble to visit again in the Wet season, it must be something to see in full flood.

Although talking to a couple of people since, I understand it is so dangerous, that you cannot always gain entrance to the actual area of waterfall as the photographs we have taken show.

[Mathos]

I was really made up at reaching the falls and felt a great deal of personal satisfaction at having done the trip.









Flobo was chuffed too.

[Mathos]

Whilst we were taking the last few photographs as shown above, we were totally engulfed by large hornets, amazingly neither of us were stung, but it was quite a shock for a good few minutes, we did a fast exit and they were crawling all over us, the further away we walked the quicker they left us. Amazingly as mentioned, neither of us received a single sting.


So we waved good bye

[Mathos]

There is so much to do in Thailand, so much to see and enjoy.

It is indeed a great pity that there has been much conflict in the surrounding countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, also the current and ongoing situation in Burma with the ruling Junta and The Karen especially.


The Karen are so much more than a national minority. They are a nation with a population count of at least 7 million, having all the essential qualities of a nation. They have their own history, language, culture, land settled by their forefathers.


They, the Karen that is descend from the same ancestors as the Mongolian people. The Karen came from an area of The Gobi Desert. They migrated to Burma roughly in 739BC.

Most Historians would agree that The Karen would have been the original settlers in this land.

The History is indeed extremely deep and from an outsiders point of view as with most things in life apart from his normal course of existence, are difficult to comprehend.



It is fair to say though that The Burmese and Karen have really been at conflict for hundreds of years and NOT just from the departure of Britain from Burma.


The information below is taken from the Internet and forms the basis of the Karen peoples interpretation.


Pre-World War II Eras
Burmese Feudalism, British Imperialism and Japanese Fascism
We, the Karen could not enjoy our peaceful lives for long. The Mon were the next to enter this area, followed at their heels by the Burmese, both the Mon and the Burmese brought with them feudalism, which they practiced to the full. The Burmese won the feudal war, and they subdued and subjugated all other nationalities in the land. The Karen suffered untold miseries at the hands of their Burmese lords. Persecution, torture, killings, suppression, oppression and exploitation were the order of the day. To mention a few historical facts as evidence, we may refer to the Burmese subjugation of the Mon and the Arakanese, and especially their past atrocities against the Thais at Ayudhaya. These events stand as firm evidence of the cruelties of Burmese feudalism. So severe are these atrocities that those victimized continue to harbour a deep-seated resentment of the Burman even today.
At that time, many Karen had to flee for their lives to the high mountains and thick jungles, where communications and means of livelihood were extremely difficult and diseases common. We were thus cut of from all progress, civilisation and the rest of the world, and were gradually reduced to backward hill tribes. The rest of the Karen were made slaves. We were forced to do hard labour and were cruelly treated.
When the British occupied Burma, the conditions of the Karens gradually improved. With the introduction of law and order by the Colonial Central Authority, the Karen began to earn their living without being hindered, and we could go to school and be educated. This infuriated the Burmese, to see the despised Karen being treated equally by the British. Progress of the Karen people in almost all fields was fast, and by the beginning of the 20th Century, they were ahead of other peoples in many respects, especially in education, athletics and music. It could be said that the Karen had a breathing spell during the period of the British regime.

In 1942, the Japanese invaded Burma with the help of the Burma Independence Army (BIA), who led them into the country. These BIA troops took full advantage of the situation by insinuating that the Karen were spies and puppets of the British, and therefore were enemies of the Japanese and the Burman. With the help of the Japanese, they began to attack the Karen villages, using a scheme to wipe out the entire Karen populace which closely resembled the genocidal scheme Hitler was enacting against the Jews in Germany.The Karen of many parts of the country were arrested, tortured and killed. Our properties were looted,our womenfolk raped and killed, and our hearths and homes burned. Conditions were so unbearable that we retaliated fiercely enough to attract the attention of the Japanese Government, which mediated and somewhat controlled the situation.
educated. This infuriated the Burmese, to see the despised Karen being treated equally by the British. Progress of the Karen people in almost all fields was fast, and by the beginning of the 20th Century, they were ahead of other peoples in many respects, especially in education, athletics and music. It could be said that the Karen had a breathing spell during the period of the British regime.
In 1942, the Japanese invaded Burma with the help of the Burma Independence Army (BIA), who led them into the country. These BIA troops took full advantage of the situation by insinuating that the Karen were spies and puppets of the British, and therefore were enemies of the Japanese and the Burman. With the help of the Japanese, they began to attack the Karen villages, using a scheme to wipe out the entire Karen populace which closely resembled the genocidal scheme Hitler was enacting against the Jews in Germany.The Karen of many parts of the country were arrested, tortured and killed. Our properties were looted,our womenfolk raped and killed, and our hearths and homes burned. Conditions were so unbearable that we retaliated fiercely enough to attract the attention of the Japanese Government, which mediated and somewhat controlled the situation.


Post World War II Eras
Demand for Karen State, Tensions and Armed Conflicts
The bitter experiences of the Karen throughout our history in Burma, especially during the Second World War, taught us one lesson. They taught us that as a nation, unless we control a state of our own, we will never experience a life of peace, free from persecution and oppression. We will never be allowed to work hard to grow and prosper.
Soon after the Second World War, all the nations under colonial rule were filled with national aspirations for independence. The Karen sent a Goodwill Mission to England in August 1946, to make the Karen case known to the British Government and the British people, and to ask for a true Karen State. But the reply of the British Labour Government was "to throw in our lot with the Burma". We deeply regretted this, for as it predictably has turned out today, it was a gesture grossly detrimental to our right of self-determination, only condemning us to further oppression. It is extremely difficult for the Karen and the Burman, two peoples with diametrically opposite views, outlooks, attitudes and mentalities, to yoke together.
However, differences in nature and mentality are not the main reason for our refusal to throw in our lot with the Burman. There are other more important reasons for sticking to our demand for our own State within a genuine Federal Union.
We are concerned that the tactics of annihilation, absorption and assimilation, which have been practised in the past upon all other nationalities by the Burmese rulers, will be continued by the Burman of the future as long as they are in power.
We are concerned about the postwar independence Aung San - Atlee and Nu - Atlee Agreements, as there was no Karen representative in either delegation and no Karen opinion was sought. The most that the Burman would allow us to have was a pseudo Karen State, which falls totally under Burmese authority. In that type of Karen State, we must always live in fear of their cruel abuse of their authority over us.
On January 4, 1948, Burma got its independence from the British. The Karens
continued to ask for self-determination democratically and peacefully from the Burmese Government. The Karen State requested by the Karens was comprised of the Irrawaddy Division, the Tenasserim Division, the Hanthawady District , Insein District and the Nyaunglebin Sub-Division, the areas where the bulk of the Karen populace could be found. But instead of compromising with the Karen by peaceful negotiations concerning the Karen case, the Burmese Government and the Burmese Press said many negative things about us, especially by frequently repeating their accusations that the Karen are puppets of the British and enemies of the Burman. The Burmese Government agitated the Burmese people toward communal clashes between the Karen and the Burman. Another accusation against the Karen demand was that it was not the entire Karen people who desired a Karen state, but a handful of British lackeys who wanted the ruin of the Union of Burma.
To counter the accusations and show the world that it was the whole Karen people's desire for a Karen state, a peaceful demonstration by Karens all over the country was staged on February 11, 1948, in which over 400,000 Karens took part. The banners carried in the procession contained four slogans, namely:
Give the Karen State at once
Show the Burman one kyat and the Karen one kyat
We do not want communal strife
We do not want civil war.
The slogans of the Karens in this mass demonstration voiced the same desire as the three slogans of the British Colonies after the Second World War: Liberty, Equality, and Peace. We followed the established democratic procedures in our request for a Karen state.


A few months after Burma got its independence, successive desertions and revolts in the AFPFL put U Nu, the then Premier, in grave trouble. The revolts of the Red Flag Communist Party in 1947, the Communist party of Burma in March 1948, the People's Volunteer Organisation in June 1948. and the mutinies of the 1st Burma Rifles stationed at Thayetmyo and the 3rd Rifles stationed at Mingladon, Rangoon (August 15,1948), prompted U NU to approach the Karen leaders to help the Government by taking up the security of Rangoon to save it from peril. The Karen did not take advantage of the situation, but readily complied with U Nu's request and helped him out of his predicament. The KNDO (Karen National Defence Organisation) officially recognised by the Burmese Government, was posted at all the strategic positions and all the roads and routes leading to Rangoon. For months the KNDO faithfully took charge of the security of Rangoon.
The KNDO was given several tasks in forming an outer ring of defence, particularly at Hlegu and Twante. Most important of all was the reoccupation of Twante town, Rangoon's key riverine gateway to the Delta towns and upper Burma. This little town had fallen several times to the communists. Each time it was retaken by regular troops, only to fall back into the hands of the rebels as soon as conditions returned to normal and control was handed back to the civil authorities and the police. This time, a KNDO unit under the leadership of Bo Toe and Bo Aung Min was ordered to retake Twante, which was once more in the hands of the Red Flag Communists. They succeeded with their own resources and without any support from the regular army other than river transport. After wresting the town from the Red Flag Comnunists' hands. they garrisoned it in accordance with their given orders.
The two mutinied Burma Rifles marched down south, unopposed along the way, until they reached Kyungale bridge, near the town of Let-pa-dan, where they were stopped by a company of Karen UMP (Union Miltary Police). Their truck carrying arms and ammunition received a direct hit from mortar fire of the Karen UMP and was destroyed, so they retreated after suffering heavy casualties.
But even while all this was happening, the ungrateful Burmese Government was hastily organising a strong force of levies to make an all-out effort to smash the Karen. By December 1948, they had arrested the Karen leaders in many parts of the country. Karen personnel in the armed services were disarmed and put into jail. General Smith Dun, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Burma Army, was forced to resign. Many Karen villages were attacked and many Karen villagers were shot and killed, women raped, properties looted and hearths and homes burnt and destroyed. On the 30th of January 1949, the Burmese Government declared the KNDO unlawful. Early the next morning on the 31st of January, the Burmese troops attacked the KNDO Headquarters at a town about 10 miles north of where most of the top Karen leaders lived. There was no alternative left for the Karen but to fight back. An order was issued to all the Karen throughout the country to take up whatever arms they could find and fight for their lives, their honour, and their long cherished Karen state Kawthoolei.
When we took up arms, we attained great successes and occupied many towns and cities. We soon suffered military reverses, however, as we had not prepared for Revolution and therefore had no stockpile of arms and ammunition. We had to withdraw from many fronts, thus allowing the Burmsse troops to reoccupy these areas. Compounding this, the Burmese Government called for unity with all the other uprising Burmese rebel groups. These Burmese rebel groups saw the Karen as the greatest obstacle to their seizing exclusive power, joined hands with the Burmese Government, and fought against the Karen. As a result, the Karen found themselves fighting against all the armed elements in the country.
Another reason for our setbacks was that all along we had to stand on our own feet and fight alone without aid of any kind from any other country. In contrast, the Burmese Government received large amounts of foreign aid, including military aid from both capitalist and socialist countries, and even from some so-called non-aligned nations. Many times then and since the situation of the Burmese Government has been precarious, but it has managed to continue mainly through aid from abroad. Many times it has been in dire financial straits, but it has not been ashamed to go begging. And as hard as it is for us to believe, its begging bowls have always come back filled.

Present Day Situation
The Karen under Successive Burmese Régimes
The Revolutionary Areas - The Present Situation
Under the rule of the Burman, the Karens have been oppressed politically, economically, and educationally. The Karen schools and institutions were taken by force and many were destroyed. We are no longer allowed to study our own language in Burmese schools. Many of the Karen newspapers and literary books were banned. Economically, our fields and plots of land were nationalised and confiscated, we have to toil hard all year round and have to take all our products to the Burmese Government for sale at its controlled prices, leaving little for ourselves. Culturally, they have attempted to absorb and dissolve our language, literature, traditions, and customs. We have been denied all political rights, and militarily, our people have all along been systematically exterminated as part of the annihilation, absorption, and assimilation programme of the Burman. Our educational quality and living standards have dropped considerably, falling far behind the Burman in all respects. Their efforts and actions against us are as strong, or stronger, today as ever before in the past.
Since the 1960's, they have been attacking with the "Four Cuts Operation". This includes cutting our provisions, cutting the contact between the masses and the revolutionaries, cutting all revolutionary financial income and resources, and cutting off the heads of all revolutionaries. To make the four cuts operation successiul, the Burmese troops are using strong suppressive measures. They destroy the fields of crops planted by the villagers and eat their grains and livestock. They take away whatever they like and the things they cannot carry away they destroy. Captured villagers, woman and adolescents as well as men, are made to carry heavy loads as porters for the Burmese soldiers. Many of the villagers have been forced to work as porters for several months; they are deliberately starved, and regularly beaten, raped, or murdered. When the Burmese soldiers enter a village, they shoot the villagers who try to escape. Some of the villagers have been accused of helping the revolutionaries and then have been killed. In certain areas, the villagers have been forced to leave their villages and have been moved to camps some distance away. They are not permitted to leave the camps without permission from the Burmese guards. Some villagers, who have been found in their villages after being ordered to move to the camps, have been shot and killed by the Burmese soldiers with no questions asked.
Situations such as these and sometimes worse are happening constantly throughout Kawthoolei and are causing a large number of Karens and Shans in Kawthoolei to leave their villages and take refuge along the Thai border; a difficult situation for us as we do not have enough money to provide for these refugees. In spite of these situations we are determined to progress. Even though there is no end of the war in sight, and we are unable to obtain assistance from other countries, we are moving forward as best we can.
During this long and gruelling forty-three years of war, we have seen many changes take place in our Revolution. The strong willed determination of our fighting forces and our masses to fight to win the war has increased. We have been able to endure hardship, both physically and mentally. We have grown in strength, and not just in numbers. Our occupied areas have now joined our Revolution in great numbers. Many Karen who are universty graduates have also joined us, thus enriching the quality of our revolution. Villagers throughout Kawthoolei are active in support roles, while the morale, discipline, and military skills of our fighting forces have increased. We have been able to inflict greater setbacks on the enemy in all our military engagements
By 1988, the oppression of Ne Win's military regime had become so severe that even the Burmese masses rose up against it.The regime's response was to gun down thousands of peaceful demonstrators, mainly young students and monks. Even so Ne Win could not subdue them and he was forced to resign, seemingly handing over power to his chosen successors in the State Law and Order Restoration council (SLORC), but continuing to pull the strings of power from behind the scenes. The SLORC promised a multi-party election and held it in 1990, only to persecute and imprison the winners rather then hand over state power to them. Thousands of Burmese students, monks and other dissidents fled to the areas governed by NDF member organisations. There they were accepted and sheltered by the ethnic peoples, particularly in the Karen areas, where no less then 6,000 students arrived along with other dissidents, all wanting to organise and struggle against the SLORC.In late 1988, the KNU took the initiative of proposing that the NDF form a broader political front along with the newly formed Burmese group to meet the developing political situation.
The Karen National Union (KNU)
Aims, Policy and Programme
The second Karen National Union (KNU) congress was held at Maw Ko, Nyaunglebin district in June and July 1956, and was attended by KNU representatives from Delta Division, Pegu Yoma Division and Eastern Division. In this congress the political aims of the KNU were laid down as follows and they still apply today:
The establishment of a Karen State with the right to self-determination.
The establishment of National States for all the nationalities, with the right to self-determination.
The establishment of a genuine Federal Union with all the states having equal rights and the right to self-determination.
The Karen National Union will pursue the policy of National Democracy.
In spite of the internal and external situations, we continue to maintain our state, Kawthoolei, administered by our own Kawthoolei Government since 1950,under the banner of the Karen National Union (KNU), and the well trained and disciplined Karen National Liberation Army, which were formed in that same year. We desire Kawthoolei to be a Karen State with the right to self-determination. We are therefore endeavouring to form a genuine Federal Union comprised of all the states of the nationalities in Burma, including a Burman state, on the basis of Liberty, Equality, Self-Determination and Social progress.
We desire the extent of Kawthoolei to be the areas where the Karens are in majority. It shall be governed in accordance with the wishes of the people of the State and just in the eyes of the country and the world. The policy of the Karen National Union is National Democracy. It fully recognises and encourages private ownership and welcomes foreign investment. All the people in Kawthoolei shall be given democratic rights, politically, economically, socially and culturally. Freedom and equality of all religions is guaranteed. Kawthoolei will maintain cordial relationships with all other states and other countries on the basis of mutual respect, peace and prosperity. Kawthoolei will never permit the growing or refining of opium or the sales and transport of illicit drugs through its territory.
Our Beliefs and Determination
To us, the "independence" Burma gained in 1948 is but a domination over all other nationalities in Burma by the Burman. The taking up of arms by almost all the nationalities against the ruling Burmese Government is sufficient proof that though Burma got its independence, only the Burman have really enjoyed independence and they have subjugated the other nationalities. The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) headed by General Than Shwe will never and can never solve the conflicts and crises in the country.
The Karen Revolution is more than just a struggle for survival against national oppression, subjugation, exploitation and domination of the Karen people by the Burmese rulers. It has the aim of a genuine Federal Union comprised of all the states of the nationalities on the basis of equality and self-determination. In our march towards our objectives we shall uphold the four principles laid down by our beloved leader, the late Saw Ba U Gyi, which are:
•For us surrender is out of the question.
•The recognition of the Karen State must be completed.
•We shall retain our arms.
•We shall decide our own political destiny.
We strongly believe in the Charter of the United Nations, its Declarations on Human Rights, the principle of Self-Determination and the Democratic Rights of Peoples - all causes for which we are fighting.
The fighting may be long, hard, and cruel, but we are prepared for all eventualities. To die fighting is better than to live as a slave. But we firmly believe that we shall survive and be victorious, for our cause is just and righteous, and surely any tyranny so despised as the Burmese regime must one day fall.



It is indeed a very difficult and deep situation.

The Thai Government have allowed numerous Refugee Camps along the borders with Burma and the relative security of the inhabitants is guaranteed as best possible. There are numerous problems however with this mode of existence.

A sensible and blood free conclusion of the situation would be wonderful.


The roads around Mai Sot can be discoveries to the known and unknown camps along the borders, we have visited many.





The good infrastructure is obviously superb in this region.

The rarely used roads are quite difficult to travel at certain times and can be havens for bandits and others.






There are some interesting routes from Umpang and surrounding areas.




There are some beautiful villages and Hamlet type settlement tucked away in the hills though. They really are superb.



A glimpse of a Refugee Camp can be quite an eye opener though.







The above is no more than a few homes out of thousands making up one camp, they travel from left to right and up and down the hills.

[Mathos]

The young man below told me he had spent sixteen years of his life in the refugee camp, his children had been born in the camp, he was greatly restricted as to how far he was permitted to move from the perimeter of the camp and movements were limited he told me to daylight hours only. He expressed his appreciation to the Thai government that he was alive though, and had a place of shelter, along with some basic education for himself and children plus basic medical care.





The Padang or Longneck Karen appear to be better situated than the other tribes-people. It would appear that they have a benefit to the Thai Government as a tourist attraction and are consequently given a better status rating resulting in perhaps better and more pleasant living conditions.





You can well imagine how these places would react to the monsoons.


That Johnny Walker guy sure finds himself all across the globe.



You don't want to know what the small bones are on the table edge, or what they came from, or who ate the meat on them.

[Alex DeLarge]

Fantastic thread Mathos.

A pleasure to read.

[Mathos]

At times you can find 'class-rooms' actually being used. This particular one was in a Padang Refugee Camp.





I am aware that volunteer teachers mainly students work in the refugee camps for periods of time, some of them for a year or two I was advised earlier this year.

The guy in the camouflage pants seemed in a real hurry to get somewhere.




I despise barbed wire. It's an awful product.

[Mathos]

I have to admit to just completing a brilliant informative post and then deciding that it may not be prudent of me to enter it on these pages. I have copied and saved the same amongst my notes and will give consideration to submitting the same after more thought and deliberation.

The thing is, I wish to travel a great deal more in these areas and have no wish to incur the wrath of the authorities by being too outspoken in my findings and considerations.

The military Junta especially could make it difficult at least for me next time I visit Rangoon and other places of interest.

Some of the camps are separated from the outside world by a stretch of land normally referred to as 'No Man's Land' the barriers are down and well guarded by armed personnel.

Service vehicles are allowed through and certain residents have free passage subject to approval by the guards.

Occidentals in our particular case are not allowed any further than the barrier.




And, if you go walking around the back so to speak, and try to find alternative routes, because certain people tell you there is a way through, you invariably get caught and really bollocked, by a Ranger who speaks good English and he bellows at the top of his voice at you. Arms by his side, head held up erect chin out and spluttering a little bit of spit out every once in a while. It makes you feel very uncomfortable and you have to say, Very Sorry... It will not happen again.

[Mathos]

Fantastic thread Mathos.

A pleasure to read.

Thank you very much Alex

Appreciated

[Mathos]

This particular bridge was a fair challenge too. It swung about a little but we crossed it OK.







Roads are being constructed all over the place as of the last three or four years especially.


I'd stopped for relief just further up from the rascals on this photograph, they really looked suspicious. Of what can be anyones guess. The car sported no number plates for starters and they were really looking at us in a cagey sort of manner, the smaller of the two as you can see was looking at the floor and playing with the dirt with his foot.

It could be that I'm perhaps over cautious or suspicious.

It pays to be though.



We have on occasion gained access to the innermost parts of some of the refugee camps, they are interesting.

I always think though, that if ever a fire broke out in one of these places the death toll would be horrendous.





From questions I asked, they only possess the buckets used for everyday use and a nearby river or stream for all water purposes.

A fire station or appliance would have to come from the nearest major town and I simply dread to think what would be left by the time help came.




Maybe I worry too much about matters which are possibilities only.

[Mathos]

They need to obtain much from the rivers and streams, they are a lifeline to the refugees, the daily volume of water required for camps holding 20, 000 or 40,000 human beings requiring the basic needs are astronomical. They have wells, storage tanks to save water from the wet season rains, jars etc. I understand water is brought in by tankers in cases of major shortages.

Sometimes in the dry season, you can see these refugees, (Poor souls) washing in small trickles of water, or pumping away on a well pump for small quantities.

And yet, they are alive and living in relative safety compared to the places from which they have been forced to flee.


We are very fortunate.




We didn't have much when we were kids, (my age group that is) born 1946 and earlier or for a few years after, the war had just ended and most of what you needed or wanted was on ration. I remember ration books. It was cold in winter too. There was no central heating either. Coal was in short supply and we burned anything that would burn in the fireplace. You only had one warm room downstairs from the fire. You had blankets and coats on the bed in winter and hot water in stone jars. There were three of us to a bed in our little house in Manchester. Holtby Street. We used to put brown paper or cardboard in our shoes, because they always leaked in water, or snow.

They were grand days. Grand, because they eventually came to an end.

I don't see an end to the difficulties these people have.

But, I hope there is.




D A R E

Drug Abuse Resistance Education.




There appears to be help and support for the youngsters though and that has to be a good thing.






I shudder to think how you would manage these camps in a perfect or ideal manner.

Apparently the refugees have their own system and it appears to work quite well.




C O E R R

Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees

[Mathos]

I Rather thought this particular consideration by Lord David Alton would be a suitable adage to my Thread

Winds of change coming to Myanmar
The horrific cyclone that killed thousands in Burma may change. A biography about a Catholic of Burma is a testament of faith and hope in the face of a brutal dictatorship sustained by torture and rape.
Thursday, May 15, 2008By Lord David Alton


Throughout the 18 years since Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest, the Burmese military regime have repeatedly promised and failed to deliver democratic change. These are the same secretive leaders who gave orders for Buddhist monks to be mown down in the streets and who are now impeding rescue efforts as hundreds of thousands of their countrymen die following the decimation of their homes and land by Cyclone Nargis. They are the same men who have ignored 28 United Nations General assembly and Human Rights Commission resolutions.

What is sometimes less well known and reported on is the way in which they have accelerated their cruel campaign of attrition against the country's ethnic minorities. In the case of the brave Karen people it is nothing short of genocide.

Take, for instance, the story of a nine-year-old Karen girl who was shot at point blank range, having watched her father and grandmother being killed. There are also shocking reports of beheadings and mutilations of Karen villagers - 18,000 of whom have been displaced in the past few weeks. Some will doubtless join the 120,000 who have lived for years in make shift camps along the Thai border - which, as I have seen for myself - barely allow people to do more than cling on to life.

So far, the approach to the Burmese regime by the international community and its failure to implement strong sanctions against Burma has been a complete and utter failure. The Burmese military's systematic atrocities against ethnic groups such as the Karen, Karenni and Shan are still very grave and as the recent Burmese military offensive in Karen state demonstrates, are even escalating (over 16,000 Karen were displaced by the last offensive and many were killed.)
Despite posturing and maneuvering and attempting to use a smoke and mirrors referendum to pretend to the world that change is on the way, Burma is also now no closer to democracy than it was back in 1990 and Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest. The shooting of Buddhist monks last year and the disregard for the victims of the cyclone this year underline the nature of this perfidious and ruthless regime.

After more than 10 years, there has been no improvement in the situation of the Karen, Karenni and Shan or that of Burma's pro-democracy movement. More of the same weak and ineffectual policy towards the Burmese regime will simply maintain the current, horrendous status quo for decades to come.
Dictators like these survive when they believe that the world is willing to overlook, or has forgotten, their cruelties and barbarism. They survive longest - think of Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain - when the rest of the world becomes overly fearful of the alternatives: "hold on to nurse for fear of something worse," as the Victorians memorably put it.



I was recently deeply moved to read two books that expose the contemptible junta that tyrannizes Burma.
"The Lizard Cage", a novel by Karen Connelly (Harvill Secker, 2007), is set inside a Burmese prison, while the autobiographical "From The Land of The Green Ghosts" by Pascal Khoo Thwe (Flamingo, 2003) brought tears to my eyes, and recalled memories of my own visits to the Karen State.

It's the story of a young man who comes from the Padaung tribe, a sub group of the Karen tribe’s people. Their women are often called the "giraffe-necked" women because of the rings they wear around their necks.

After testing a priestly vocation at a Burmese seminary, Pascal went to study English literature at Mandalay University where he has a chance encounter - and conversation about James Joyce - with a visiting English academic. In 1988 he becomes caught up in the student uprising, fights his way through the jungle to a refugee camp in Thailand, and ends up reading English Literature at Cambridge.
Pascal weaves together a rich tapestry that brings to life the traditions and culture of one of Burma's diverse ethnic minorities. His grandfather was one of the Padaung's leaders and was converted to Catholicism by Italian missionaries. The book draws deeply on Pascal's rich Faith that is deeply influenced by traditional spirituality. It is also a testament of personal courage ingrained with a sense of destiny and Divine Providence.

Despite losing his family, his university lover - who is arrested, raped and murdered by the armed forces - and being forced to abandon his studies to join the subterranean world of guerrilla freedom fighters, Pascal never despairs. Pascal never gives up hope.

His greatest fear is that he is "letting down" his compatriots by traveling to the West; but, by using his remarkable gifts in telling their story, he has delivered a body blow against the dictators.
Karen Connelly's novel, "The Lizard Cage" also celebrates the ability of the human spirit to endure when assaulted by seemingly impossible trials of injustice and brutality.

Like Pascal, this book's central figure, Teza, also takes part in mass protests - and has become a celebrated dissident through his music. He is seven years into a twenty-year prison sentence in solitary confinement.

The book traces the relationship that develops between Teza and Little Brother, an orphan boy growing up inside the prison. Like Pascal Khoo Thwe, Connelly cleverly intersperses the history of Burma, the captivity of Aung San Suu Kyi, with vivid accounts of life in jails such as Rangoon's Insein prison.
We are reminded of the heroic role of the National League for Democracy and dissident groups, especially the All Burma Students Democratic Front, and the different facets of Burmese politics, Buddhism and the rich but oppressed ethnic groups.

Books like these remind us of the million people displaced in Burma's jungles, the 1,500 political prisoners languishing behind bars, the use of forced labor, the use of villagers as human mine sweepers, the rape of women, the burning down of villages, the killing of thousands, and of a regime which stands accused of genocide. A regime that has been cruelly indifferent to the plight of its devastated people.

As European countries stand accused of breaking arms embargos by selling weapons to the Burmese military via third countries such as India, it's as well to be reminded how easily we can become collaborators.

But, like the literature from the gulags, these books also stand as a rebuke to the dictators, from Ne Win onwards - who have exploited and terrorized their people. They also help break down the regime's walls of secrecy.

Winston Churchill once said, "Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry".

The Burmese military dictatorship have been riding on the backs of their suffering people - crushing and terrorizing them. They too dare not dismount; but they should beware, the world can see very clearly the nature of their regime. A day of reckoning will come. The cyclone may prove to be the catalyst for a popular uprising: the tigers are getting hungry.

Although the world should not hold back in providing much needed humanitarian assistance to the cyclone victims we also need long-term concerted international action to significantly weaken the economic and military strength of the Burmese regime. If we do not do this it will be practically impossible to get that regime to take any of our concerns about human rights in Burma seriously. Burma's military regime will only continue to string all of us along, making an occasional superficial concession, followed by even more harsh and repressive measures.

A much stronger policy on Burma that will involve tough sanctions and thereby put real pressure on the Burmese regime to change its ways will be needed.

Such a new policy should include the following characteristics:
· Treating the Burmese regime's systematic atrocities against the Karen, Karenni and Shan people as being of at least equal importance as the situation of the pro-democracy movement and political prisoners in Burma and giving EQUAL coverage to both issues.
· Keeping both these issues on the agenda of the U.N Security Council - and demanding a binding resolution of the Security Council. This should impose a global arms and investment embargo on Burma as well as strongly condemning the systematic atrocities by the Burmese military against the Karen, Karenni and Shan people.
· Very seriously considering the case that has been made by Parliamentarians and human rights groups, such as the Jubilee Campaign, that the systematic atrocities by the Burmese military against the Karen, Karenni and Shan people amount to Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes.
So far too many Governments have ignored these claims as a reflex action, without giving any deep consideration to them or attempting to seriously research the subject, and failing to give detailed reasons for their position. At the very least, the repeated and deliberate attacks against Karen, Karenni and Shan civilians by the Burmese military must surely be a flagrant violation of Common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions which prohibits the targeting of non-combatants during conflict.
It should be clear to anybody with even a basic knowledge of the laws of war that War Crimes are being committed against the Karen, Karenni and Shan by the Burmese military. Unfortunately, the Foreign Office has previously denied that even War Crimes are being committed.

I have no doubt that such charges add up.
Four years ago I traveled to the Burmese refugee camps and with Congressman Joseph Pitts took first hand evidence.

We collected truly shocking accounts of the latest violations of human rights. The story of one small child we met at a refugee camp near Mae Sot illustrates how the brutality and violence of this perfidious regime continues.

Saw Naing Gae is just eight years old. He saw the Burmese military shoot dead his mother and his father. He was then trafficked across the border and sold to a Thai family. Desperately unhappy he managed to escape and made his way to the camp, where he is staying with a group of thirty other orphans.
Even as these children sang and welcomed their visitors Saw Naing Gae seemed unable to join in or even to smile. Every trace of joy and innocence had been stamped out of him; and all of this by the age of 8.

Saw Naing Gae squatted alongside four other children, brothers and sisters, whose parents had also been brutally murdered. The oldest girl, aged about 12, and now head of their family, dissolved into tears as she recounted their story.

Naw Pi Lay, whose photograph illustrates this article, did not survive.
Aged 45, the mother old five children and pregnant with her sixth, Naw Pi Lay was murdered in June of last year by the Burmese militia. During a massacre in the Dooplaya district of the Karen State, twelve other people were killed, including children aged 12,7,5, and 2 years old.

Elsewhere in the same district, at Htee Tha Blu village, further violations of human rights were carried out by Light Infantry Battalions 301 and 78. They beat and tortured villagers, stole their belongings and burnt down their church and their homes.

The previous time I visited this region I illegally crossed the border and entered the Karen State. I heard and saw evidence of the internally displaced people - estimated now at 600,000; of the scorched earth policy that has depopulated and destroyed countless villages; and of brutality unequalled anywhere I have traveled.

One of the people I met is part of the Free Burma Rangers. He had just come out of the Karen State. He had been with a little girl of eight who still had a bullet lodged in her stomach.
To help people like hr he had taken in some nurses and medics. Why was he, an American, so committed to the Karen? "I love these people, and I simply don't want to see them suffering like this. We've got to do something, even if we're just like a small barking dog," he told me.

At Mae Sot we took evidence from the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People. They provided me with over 100 pages of carefully documented examples of human rights violations committed by Burmese military over the past twelve months alone. One day I hope that this evidence will be placed before an international court and as at Nuremberg the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
The report lists three mass killings by the SPDC (Burma's singularly ill-named State Peace and Development Council). It is a carefully chronicled account of looting, burning, torture, rape and murder. The SPDC routinely plant landmines indiscriminately and in areas where landmines have been laid by their opponents the SPDC use people as human landmine sweepers.

I saw some of the victims - people whose limbs have been severed from their bodies, whose skin has been peppered with shrapnel, and others who have been left blind. I also talked to the families of people whose loved ones - men and women - had been seized and used as porters and construction workers, and who have never returned.
The SPDC kill many of the porters in frontline areas, especially when they are unable to any longer work because of exhaustion or sickness.
The international focus on Burma has long been on the heroic struggle of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD).

A settlement with the NLD will, however, represent a solution to only half of the conflict. The seven ethnic groups who have been fighting for self determination or autonomy since the end of World War Two - the Karen, Karenni, Mon, Arakam, Kachin, Chin and Shan - will still need to have their grievances addressed.

In Chiang Mai I met with the authors of a carefully meticulous 120 page report on the Burmese military regime's use of sexual violence in the Shan State over the past six years. The report of the Shan Human Rights Foundation and Shan Women's Action Network, "License To Rape", details how rape has been used as a weapon of war. Sexual violence - especially widespread gang rape - has terrorized and humiliated communities, flaunts the power of the regime, "rewards" troops, and demoralizes resistance forces.

Women who have been raped have frequently been abandoned or rejected by their husbands. One woman described how she was gang-raped when she was 7-months pregnant and then gave birth prematurely to her child. Another was told by her husband to leave: "You didn't control yourself. You are no longer my wife. Leave our home."

The Burmese Junta have turned their country into one vast concentration camp. They are Nazi thugs who deploy Nazi methods. Like their Nazi predecessors they fail to appreciate the strength of the human spirit and the capacity to endure and survive.

Typical are the joint secretaries of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Bo Kyi, a student leader who spent seven years in Burmese jails, told me that "torture is designed to break down your identity, to turn you into a non-entity with no connection to the world outside of the torture chamber."

Naing Kyaw served 8 years in Insein and Thayet prisons and still manages to joke that "insane" would be a better spelling. Regularly beaten with a chain and ball on his back, and often kept in solitary confinement, he was offered the chance to become an informer.

Instead, he learnt English from the professor who was housed in the adjacent cell - so that he would be able to tell the world about Burma's suffering. He has put the language to good use in his essay in "Spirit For Survival" which he dedicates to a despairing young woman who took her own life: "All the suffering you felt we will change into strength. This grief, this feeling of deep hurt and bitterness will become a volcano, which is going to explode."

I was struck that even as the suffering deepens no-one is giving in. Democracy activists continue their struggle and the beleaguered ethnic minorities refuse to capitulate.

There is an old saying that the darkest moment is always just before the dawn. As the people of Burma deal with the terrible consequences of Cyclone Nargis, let's pray that this is the darkest moment and that the dawn will not be too far behind.

Lord David Alton of Liverpool is a member of the British House of Lords and a contritubor to The Cutting Edge News..
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only, not of Spero News.








Every picture tells a story and some say more than a thousand words ever could.

[Mathos]

Sleep like a baby
my little lady,
Dream till the sunrise
creeps into your eyes
Dream till the sunrise
Turns on the day.

In the Avenues and Alleyways
while you sleep there's a whole world coming alive
Able and his brother, fighting one another
in and out of every dive.

In The Avenues and Alleyways
where the strong and the quick alone can survive
Look around the jungle
see the rough and tumble
Listen to a squealer cry
Then a little later
in the morning paper
Read about the way he died.

Wake up my pretty
Go to the city
Stay through the daytime
safe in the sunshine
stay till the daytime
turns into night.


In the Avenues and Alleyways
Where a mans gotta work out which side he's on
any way he chooses
chances are he loses
no one gets to live too long

In The Avenues and Alleyways
Where the soul of a man is easy to buy
everybody's wheeling
everybody's steeling
all the low are living high
Every city's got em
can we ever stop em
some of us are gonna try.



{Tony Christie}






One thing we couldn't help but notice amongst the camp inhabitants was the variation in religous bodies living side by side, we spoke about this to several of the refugees and it appeared that they all got along well with each other in the camps.

[Mathos]

How high's the water Mamma?






The headline in one UK Newspaper I noticed on the rack this morning said;-

"Great Petrol Revolt Begins"

Wow, things must be getting tough over here too.

[Mathos]

Here and there in the surrounding areas you come across small farms and homesteads etc.



I enjoy a bacon sandwich, a pork chop or a nice cut of frying ham, but I have never known so many people eat so much pig as they do in the Orient.



Away from the camps, there are some vast areas of crop production land.





Back in the camps, you cannot help but feel that one more heavy rain will wash so much land away that hundreds of houses will come sliding down the sides of the mountains, and nothing will save them, or the occupants.

[Mathos]

There are times when you see such brilliant panoramic views, you feel really privileged just to be there.






The simplicity of the basics of ease to go about their daily business is a pleasure to behold.

I wouldn't say brilliant to use on a regular basis as they do, but you have to admire the same.