sunday afternoon

It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon. Sun was shining, the resort was quiet. I’m still up on the Burma border working in Mae La Camp and had a weekend up here. Weekends up here are incredibly lonely. Most of our team is gone as those leaving for Bangkok take a bus Friday night and new people don’t arrive until Sunday evening. It was a quiet weekend. I decided I needed to go to the grocery store in town and get some food for the week. Those that eat at the resort restaurant can be heard suffering from food poisoning the next day; I try to avoid the restaurant. :-) So I approach the reception desk and pray the manager’s wife is there to speak a few words in English to me. She wasn’t. Charades it is! I wanted to know how to get into town. Our drivers are not here on the weekends and town is not within walking distance; nor is there any public transportation. We’re very secluded up here! After 15 minutes of charades and trying to phrase in the most simple of ways that I wanted to go to Tesco (the local grocery store) the young girl at behind the counter tells me 5:30. 5:30? I ask. Yes, 5:30p. Now I don’t know what’s going to happen at 5:30p. I don’t know if that means there is a van or someone can bring me into town. But I decided to chance it come 5:30p. :-)

I arrive at the front desk at 5:30p. They point to a van in the parking lot. Ok then! I guess it is to be my ride! I hop in and ask the driver if he can drop me at Tesco. He gives me a blank stare and smiles. I ask if he speaks English; again, no words, just a smile. I look in the back of the van to see if I recognize anyone from my team. Nope. Looks like a few Japanese tourists. And they weren’t speaking English. We start to drive towards town. I’m a good five kilometers from the resort and realize I hadn’t asked how or when the driver would pick me up and bring me back! And he doesn’t speak English. I try with the other passengers. No go. Ok, not panicking. But I am wondering how this is going to work. I’m pretty sure I can get him to drop me off at Tesco…but how I get back may be tricky. I realize I do not have the resorts number, or my team leaders, or any of the Thai staff that were still at the resort. And to be honest, I hadn’t seen anyone all weekend. The place was like a ghost town.

I decide there’s not much I can do at this point and I really don’t need to worry. The Thai culture in general is very kind and helpful and will try their best to help you; even if they have no understanding of what you’re saying! I sat back and enjoyed the view. It has been raining these last couple months and things have turned from brown and dry to very lush and green! It was gorgeous! I tend to always close my eyes and sleep when I’m in the van to ward off the motion sickness. I hadn’t noticed how beautiful it was up here until this past Sunday. :-)

We arrive in town and the driver drops off the other passengers at a restaurant and then hops back in the van and looks at me. I ask if he can drop me at Tesco. I had to say it three times and then he got it. :-) We pull into the parking lot and he turns to me and says in perfect English “what time would you like me to pick you up?” I just stared back at him. I couldn’t believe it. His English was perfect. I say forty five minutes; he looks at the clock and answers 6:30p. Yep, he speaks English and I had no reason to worry! I was a tad bit embarrassed; especially when he started laughing at the shocked look on my face when he spoke to me in English.

Tis my adventure of Sunday afternoon. :-)