So Mae Sariang is now my home - its pretty close to the border so now I am beginning to feel a little more like a real Burma Border Ben. Arrived on Friday night after THE most wonderful bus journey ever - no air conditioning, packed tighter than Mr & Mrs Dine (first name Sar)... What had been mystical distant mountains became a (very bumpy) reality as we headed straight for 'em... went about half a mile an hour up the mountain passes and just edged one hundred and twenty as we hurtled down (I now have a good idea for an Alton Towers ride it's called 'stupidly close the end in a bus in thailand'). We picked up passers by, post and parcels, took local hill tribe folks for lifts down the road, dropped people outside their houses, and all sweated together. I think I performed my role as token Joe Bloggs foreigner well, and chatted the journey away with a number of very friendly, very smiley Thais - my thai vocab is now up to three words.

I'm now staying at an office/house/stop-off-point for burmese folks here. Because of my shed/boat/generalweirdo-dwelling experiences of yesteryear it's like home from home. Let me elaborate:
- I sleep on the floor
- I sleep without a pillow
- I eat with my hands
- I wash my clothes by hand
- I keep forgetting to ask what the particular food i'm eating is before I've started... yesterday this meant I was informed I was eating curried frog as I wrestled with a fried leg
- I am the mosquito's (c'hin in burmese) best mate out here; i wake up with the wrong sort of itches, i go to bed being sucked in all the wrong ways (sorry mum)
- I get to practice my Burmese a lot, but I fear I am annoying everyone with my constant pointing accompanied by 'Bama-lo'?
- i'm not sunburned anymore, but my malaria-tablet rash is spreading... it's reached the legs now
- sometimes I crave an english buddy to bounce off of but I guess the lack of does make me try harder with the lingo
- Please add 'moths' and 'snakes' to the list of stuff brave burma ben ain't afraid of anymore (okay yes i am still afraid of snakes but i am getting used to the sight of them writhing around the floor)
- i haven't had any tummy upsets as yet (i'm spreadeagled on the wooden floor as i write this) but have needed the natural release of sennacot a couple of times to help remove that clogged up feeling
- The biggest problem is that they only eat two meals a day and for big burma ben this can be a little tough... i have to escape to go buy some fruit for lunch on a daily basis (but this isn't too tough considering the prices... a pineapple for
15p, a bunch of 10 bananas for 30p... but then other things (the more
westernised stuff) can be a bit pricey.
- I'm staying with a group of former student soldiers who are brill, lots of fun, and who run the student-democracy office here... some of the folks who drop in for a night or two can be a bit scarey (or maybe that's because i know they could kill me with the snap of there fingers (i was worried this was going to happen yesterday when two of them got drunk but they ended up inviting me to their respective refugee camps, phew!))
- The lifestyle is very relaxed... people share food, take food when they need it from a big pot or two, and sing songs and watch tv in the evenings... i've had a brilliant rendition of 'hotel calafornia' performed and watched an "interesting" array of movies... perhaps my favourites being seeing Jaws dubbed into Thai and seeing the students' reactions to the film Babe (a film ruined incidentally by said Thai dubbing... they should stick to using it for rubbing on walking boots) - priceless!

I've just had a really great meeting with one of the leaders of the ABSDF here (a lovely, friendly and very funny Ko Salai - again with his own extremely sad story to tell, but with hope, courage and determination springing out of it at every turn) and it looks like I'll be heading to Yaung Ni Oo and the Mae Lah Ou camp this week to get started with my English teaching. Its 48 miles north of here on the border by road and than an extra 50 miles into the jungle by dirt track... bring it on! Really looking forward to going, but communications ability will be zero - so will hopefully get to update this when on visa runs and when the thai authorities get a bit frisky about my presence in the camp.

Just before I go, one of the best things is that today I've been given my very own burmese name! I am now known as "Pho Htaung" - and from now on I expect you all to correspond with me using this form of address ...it's a rural name which means "tall, strong lovely grandfather" (of course it does, it's the natural choice). This naming has got me thinking all dances-with-wolves (before the naming ceremony I was playing a lot with the dogs and cats here hoping to influence the result) so maybe I will be unrecognisable when I return (cross kevin costner with stig of the dump and you're there...).

Had better dash, I'm off to do some sweating

Burma Border Pho Htaung (it's got a certain ring to it, don't ya think?)