Bear Experiments and Moving North

Hello Everyone.

Photos first today. I like to throw curve balls at you from time to time.

Let's just call him Buddha bear. I dare you to rub his belly for good luck.

The mural I helped paint at the wildlife center.

Our sun bear climbing for bananas we hung in the tree.

The civet Gareth helped rescue from this small cage. It is now at the wildlife center in a much bigger and better setting.

Our favorite dog at the wildlife center

Sukhothai

Sukhothai

Sukhothai

Out the back of the songthaew to Mae Sariang. It really rained for a while.

Last we wrote we had just returned to the wildlife center after a trip to Cambodia. We've since finished our work at the wildlife center and are now in the north of Thailand. The 'experiments' with our sun bear went about as well as we had predicted, and the bears at the government center near by are a few steps closer to being let out of the cages and into their large enclosure. All in all, a great experience and I am going to miss the animals and the delicious fruit shakes in town.

And now we are on the road again. We spent a day in Sukhothai, an ancient ruin site in the north of Thailand. To get around, we rented bikes and spent most of our time under trees reading books.

The we went to the town of Mae Sot on the Thai/Myanmar border to renew our entry stamps. Mae Sot itself is an interesting town, but there isn't much to do except volunteer in refugee camps and buy cheap Burmese goods at the large market. We ate at a restaurant called Khrua Canadian run by a Canadian man named Dave that was dissapointingly not very Canadian. He didn't even serve poutine or have any Canadian beers. Our guest house, Ban Thai, on the other hand was excellently charming despite the fact that it took us 20 minutes to find someone to pay when we left. They are lucky that we are honest.

The border crossing on the other hand was very interesting. We took a pick-up to the border where you get an exit stamp before walking across the bridge to Myanmar. There you hand over your passport and about $15 to the border officials while you walk around the town of Myawaddy. Not wanting to contribute any more money to the military dictatorship, we quickly walked around the main street to a little wat, turned around an headed back to the border. I don't think any explanation of the experience would do it justice, so I'll stop there.

Today we took a songthaew (a covered pick-up bed with seating) 6 hours on 'the road to nowhere' from Mae Sot to Mae Sariang. It was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on: mountains, rivers, cliffs, villages of stilted homes, mountain top wats. Incredible even considering the car sickness. Now we're in Mae Sariang for a night or two. We'll write again soon!

Love,

Sara and Gareth