Hi all,
I've now moved into the room above the Burma Issues office, and spend my days drinking disgustingly sweet instant coffee and keeping my ear to the ground in an impressively journalistic manner.
I've been finishing off a story the last girl who was here left, which is about the Burmese migrants who live and work on the rubbish dump in Mae Sot. It's pretty heart-wrenching stuff...to sum it up one guy said that even moving his whole family onto an unsanitary rubbish dump where they have no clean water or health care is preferable to staying in Burma. Unbelievable stuff. And I'm working on a story about the high rates of domestic violence within the refugee camps, which is spiralling out of control because the people there have nothing to do and the population just keeps getting bigger, spreading what resources they do have ever finer.
So to take my mind of the depressing statistics I spend all day reading I've been going out lots, and came second in the Tuesday night Quiz, so I got a 'free' (minus the 100Baht I spent on entering) gin and tonic, and felt very English drinking it! That one was for you Mum! And this weekend I'm heading off to Um Phang (on what is apparently the most uncomfortable Songtheow journey it's possible to do in Thailand) with some of the BVPers, to see a big old waterfall and hopefully ride an elephant :)
I've also just been to the 7-11 to buy a big batch of mozzie repellent, because anyone who says there are no mosquitoes in the cold season is a big liar. They're bloody everywhere, but now I've got my repelling coils and the ready and my spray primed for action. Plus I'm getting pretty good at grabbing them out of the air with one hand. Although I did get bitten on my palm yesterday so maybe that's not the best course of action.
Big love x
