My first two days in Mae Sai, Thailand

My entire body stooped to the right. Extremely ignorant of the natural phenomenon, I thought maybe the malarone drug was starting to have crazy effects on me. Getting malaria or dealing with the dizziness and headaches of the prophylaxis, I chose the latter. I couldn’t register why the walls were shaking before my eyes until somebody yelled, “Earthquake!” I stood there with pen and paper still in my hands ready to continue our activism workshop. Apparently the last time they felt anything like that was during the Tsunami. And later that day we found out from the news that there had been a 6.1 earthquake in Laos, which is not very far from Mae Sai, a northern Thailand town on the border with Burma.

For dinner we sat at this restaurant called the Melting Pot. The balcony over looked the Mekong River, which separates Burma from Thailand. The river was literally running under our feet. The moon light put a silver veil on everything. The view was spectacular, maybe that’s not the right word. The Burmese side of the river was completely dark except the border patrol posts. In sharp contrast, the Thai side of the river was well-lit by cars, street lamps, and restaurants. Listening to the water splashing against the shore, I wondered if we will see any refugees trying to escape to the Thai side tonight, which the owner assured us happens daily.