People from Myawaddy, the door to Myanmar

The first thing you notice when you cross the Friendship Bridge that separates (or links) Thailand with Myanmar over Moei River is how populated the Burmese border town of Myawaddy is. As early as the border check-point (where you can get the visa without any prior application), hundreds of people can be seen anywhere you point your eyes at, making the crowds of Thailand seem somehow pale in comparison. Myawaddy is by no means a big town, actually it is rather small in terms of geographical scope, as you can easily walk around most of the town in a day, which makes it a perfect one-day-trip from the neighbor town of Mae Sot, and is perfectly reachable by bicycle, as I did myself.

Generations, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

The seamstress, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Soil & oil, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Bingo!, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Hidden feet, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Strolling its barely paved roads and alleys is a journey to a place that, despite the proximity with Thailand, has yet to catch up with modernization in many ways (slums and garbage pits cohabiting with temples and street markets, traditional clothes and colors alongside mobile phones and imported goods), but that shows a restless pace of people and work everywhere your feet brings you. For the most part, I only got smiles and curiosity in return to my glances and gestural way of asking for permission to take their pictures, specially from kids, that are omnipresent in the winding back alleys even under the fiercest sun of afternoon.

Through the wheel, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Serious eyes, colorful world, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Pensive girl, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Not there yet, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Tears that will soon fade, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Only after I returned to my guesthouse in Mae Sot that same evening I realized the downside of my obsession with Myawaddy's people, their homes and their modest businesses, their routines and their open, clear glances: I hadn't visited any of the supposed landmarks of Myawaddy, such as the "Crocodile temple", all my day was spent walking unnamed small roads engaging with whoever happened to be in the vicinity and taking my changes at portraits and people. That's why I decided to call this post "People of Myawaddy", since people is all there is, not a single picture of a landscape, a urban view, a monument; pure and simply, people.

Football in the dump, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Takraw below the bridge, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Faraway friends, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

However, between merchants and kids, vendors and walkers, drivers and idlers, what specially caught my attention, not only by the sheer number of them but specially because of the variety of their duties and tasks, where Buddhist monks. The more I see them and know about them, the more they surprise me, for they can as well be praying or peacefully having a frugal meal, than pruning the trees of their temple, taming a monkey, feeding stray animals or cleaning a car, to name a few, diverse examples (you can see a previous article I posted about Buddhist monks in Thailand here).

Mundane work, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Holy water, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Communication, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Monk's lunch, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Novice's lunch, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Since I live in Thailand, I have long developed a deep admiration for their determination and spirit, and I never get tired of observing how down to earth they are, and how valuable their teachings are in Buddhist societies, more so for children and novices with few other prospects for their future. Novice monks, with their innocent yet curious eyes, are surely one of the easiest ways I can lose sight of time and spent hours just communicating with them with my very limited language skills and capturing some images that, despite their glow, never get close to the feelings of peace and purity these little encounters bring to my soul.

Smile of joy, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

After lunch, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Novice portrait, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Bow, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Seamless colors, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Tighttree walker, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

There's strength in numbers, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

But I would be blind if I pretended that everything was relax and happiness in Myawaddy: far from it. There is poverty, no doubt, and overcrowding, and probably lack of options for many of them, which is never as apparent as in Moei river, where small boats offer the promise of a better land just across the still, silent waters. Good luck to all, and my deepest affection for all the people of a country that has so many different things to offer that one wishes all diversity could be preserved and not washed away slowly for the sake of some other goals.

Two banks, two countries, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Mae Sot: the border city

In what has become an unplanned, accidental tradition (if that words is applicable to something that happens just twice) I packed my bag and decided to spend the last Christmas in a small village in the border between Thailand and Myanmar. The previous year the chosen one was Sangkhlaburi; this year I went further north to one of the main land passes between both countries: Mae Sot. Technically Mae Sot is the last town within Thailand territory, but in fact it is overflow with Myanmar colors, faces, and smells, more obviously the closer you get to the bridge that separates the two countries (see my next post from Myanmar's neighbor town Myawaddy here). But nowhere the Burmese presence is clearer than in Mae Tao Clinic, a hospital that takes care of a big number of Burmese refugees and migrant workers that has become a key landmark of the Burmese community in this province.

The lady awaits, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Morning gathering, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Chit chat, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

A warm spot, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

The clinic is overpopulated and the work the doctors and nurses do is commendable despite the lack of enough material and resources, and around the clinic a whole settlement has sprout to give shelter to countless families that have been forced to leave their country or that come here as their only hope to find health care for their problems. The sights and realities can be hard at times, as one could expect in a place like this, but even in these hard conditions there is room for joy, color, happiness, specially in the eyes and legs of the kids that run endlessly throughout every alley and every corner of this place, and also in the desks of a small school, where education brings some hope where most is needed.

Hide and seek I, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Hide and seek II, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Hide and seek III, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Eyes of bliss, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Lessons, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

But Mae Sot is not only the land where Burmese refugees seek shelter this side of the border; ultimately, it is a typical Thai small town, and all recognizable Thai flavors and views can be seen and found; one of the easiest ways to realize that, after all, we are still in Thailand, is visiting any of the multiple temples that abound everywhere in this country, with its characteristic red, colorful roofs, its quiet grounds where monks of indistinct nationality meditate under saffron robes, its novices performing very diverse tasks, from the mundane to the exhausting to the festive ones.

On ropes and cables, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Patterns and colors, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

The pruning I, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

The pruning II, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Refreshment robes, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

However, one of the temples of Mae Sot, called Wat Mani Phraison and located right in the heart of the town, hides a secret; from the outside nobody would say there is much difference compared to any other temple in Thailand, and actually they would be right in thinking so, since the difference is not in the temple itself, but behind it: discreet and unobtrusive in one small corner of the temple grounds, surrounded by a thin stream and a small forest, there is a very particular herbal sauna. What makes this modest building so interesting is the fact that it is a wooden-driven, traditional steam sauna where locals (both men and women, separated in two adjacent rooms) can go to enjoy a relaxing time every evening. The heat of the fire is, besides, also used to clean the robes of the monks that live just meters away. The entrance is free, but a donation box invites some voluntary contribution, and everybody must bring their own towels since all offered here is the high temperature inside a small cubicle. The shower, not surprisingly, is a big vessel located outside with refreshing, cold water.

Herbal sauna and laundry I, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

Herbal sauna and laundry II, GH3 + Panasonic Leica 42.5mm

The king's anthem, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Thailand has enjoyed an incredibly fast construction and development boom in the last decades, and that can also be seen in smaller populations like this, not just in the big cities (where, on the other hand, is much more obvious), and this has a dark consequence that is very obvious and reminds us of the dangers of unplanned growth: abandoned, unfinished buildings appear here and there, completely sank into oblivion, though some of them have found a new life by being inhabited by small communities of people who have made these skeleton buildings their home. But this reality discourages nobody, for new constructions continue appearing everywhere, and the circle continues spinning in this rather messy way.

Relocation, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Stairs to nowhere I, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Stairs to nowhere II, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

The road ahead, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

Cooperative work, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm

At the end of the day, Mae Sot turned out to be a very relaxing, peaceful place where spending a couple of days full of little surprises and far from the noise and bustle of the city, experiencing two cultures in one and, last but not least, enjoying great food, as is customary everywhere you might travel in this country.

Night market, GM1 + Panasonic Leica 15mm