Mae Sot

I didn’t expect leaving Mae Sot to be so sentimental. I didn’t expect to make friends that would genuinely be lifelong, or to feel the magic and vibrancy of the town that draws hundreds of foreign aid workers to commit to moving and making a life there.

But damn, Mae Sot got me good!

Last (delish) meal with the ladies before heading off to the airport 😭

(And don’t ask me what’s going on with the hands there...😂)

And to think I was almost forced to leave by my medical school due to the novel Coronavirus (they wanted to evacuate me from the continent of Asia, like in week 2, I said no). Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for my school’s concern, but after much thinking I decided to insist that I stay and finish off my month working at the Mae Tao Clinic. Because I knew I would always regret not having stayed.

And man oh man I am so glad I did.

I learned so, so much. From the local medics, refugee patients, foreign doctors, fellow med students. I was humbled and in awe, every hour of every day, by the the resourcefulness, resilience, devotion, acceptance...I can go on forever, but lemme move on.

Other than all the mushy introspective stuff, here are some other favorite highlights of my work life in Mae Sot:

The unbelievably gorgeous bicycle ride commute I get to go on every, single, day!

Playing with the orphaned babies, who unfortunately were left behind by families after delivery for various/unknown reasons, but are subsequently raised by the entire 24-hr staff at the clinic. (“They have 50 mothers and fathers, one of the medics often says)

This is Bless, Bless is going to do big things.
He’s one of the brilliant trainees from Myanmar who also come to rotate at the clinic, and I get to soak up all of their crazy stories about practicing medicine in the deep Burmese jungles

Lunch with the medics. They feed me. I buy the ice cream. Good systems ftw 😬

And of course, reflecting at the end of the day with my co-med students, strong drink occasionally required because sometimes the shit we see is just so damn f$&ked that it’s hard to make sense of....

Okay I’m done being a bummer.

We ALSO did a bunch of fun things:

Like going to Chiang Mai with lots of protection during the 6-hr bus ride

Chiang Mai had some temples

Linked up with Zach, who is on his funemployment Thailand trip!

Got to the tallest mountain in Thailand, did a little hike

Hike was darn pretty

King and Queen pagodas on top of the mountain!!

Cleaned up for the night market

But not without protection!!!! 

May have skipped work to go chasing waterfalls one day

Mae Sot is a special place. Because of it's geographic location (Thai-Myanmar border), it's like a fertile ground for passionate change-makers to start or join humanitarian efforts. In my one month here, I met architects from Germany here to design and renovate schools and clinics, I tagged along with an international social circus here to give workshops to refugee kids at local schools (I have never seen so much joy and laughter from children in one place until I saw this circus perform), I lived with a Dutch man who was determined to bike around the world, but when he arrived here decided to teach a bit at a refugee camp, and now, 25 years later, is still teaching at a refugee camp. I could go on.

Life is simple here. It lends itself to lots of reflection, growth, and being in tune with yourself and your values. I'm really going to miss it.

I'm going to miss waking up to birds and roosters every morning, and getting ready to the sound of the town waking up. And I'm going to miss my wild little kitty friend who somehow always finds her way into my room when I'm getting ready. 

Here she is, ready to jump up onto my window XD

I'm not going to miss being stopped by the Thai military for random checks on the streets...and either

1) I remembered to bring my passport and they're like "OH! you're Canadian...go"

or

2) I'm lucky enough to be with a white guy, and they're like "okay, you guys can go"

yeah. The police are pretty corrupt here, but that's a story for another time.

I have a feeling I will be back here.

But until then, to the next stop, India!