Fred The Storyteller

I think the underlying connector needs to be Fred telling stories, sharing who he is, what he is doing, how he is doing it. Without him as narrator to this elaborate tale, then I think the doc loses focus, and spirals out of control.

We could go something like
.
Fred--dump work---fred---family time---fred---opposing viewpoint---fred----a childs storye

I think he is the force that will offer cohesion to the story.

I am not sure how much Fred wants to be the center of things, he sees the bigger picture and wants to include that but he also likes to be the boss, the man in charge. I think him being the dominant voice in the picture is most important. If not we could create nothing but chaos.

Note* Fred says he has a contact in at a film festival. Maybe the first step to getting the picture seen by a large audience. Then later we can post it for free on YouTube.

More Hopeful About Fred, Families Documentary Film Project

I had a 1 hour 30 minute meeting with Fred today about the film while we ate breakfast (scrambled eggs). As a result of that talk I am much more hopeful, must more excited by this project

Here are some themes, some ideas we discussed. Still so much to process, and I am trying to get my head around everything.

- Helping-educating the eyestoburma way, how it all works.
- Interviews with Families, their perspective, using interpreters (children?).
- An understanding and accepting of other cultures. Not force feeding the families, but working with them.
- Outside influences, the negative impact they have.
- Conflict, Fred versus the NGOs, and other groups.
- Different methods of helping, the positives and negatives.
- The differences made, a child that goes to school, interview, a child that does not and works only the garbage.
- Lost people, children who left the system and their current lives. What might have been?
- Interviews with opposing groups, their points of view. Ask a question, let them talk, viewer will see a truer meaning.
- The taking of children from the families. The picking up, stealing of children, like they are trash (Fred) by various groups, fighting to get back home, bringing back children to families.
- Surplus  babies? From MT.
- School conflict Buddhist school versus Christian (newly built).
- Mix of people in Buddha land (where Fred has rented land for the families to live). Their stories, dislikes and likes.
- Cultural differences, acceptance, ours is not the only way.

GOSH, DO I HAVE ENOUGH TIME?? There might be need of more trips, more filming, so many stories to tell here.

Video: Burmese Boys On The Back Of Fred's Truck

Did numerous trips with Fred today, during this one I was in the back with 2 young boys, both from the dump. Not the most important video, but made it up to practice with DaVinci Resolve. I did multiple manipulations during the editing and color grading for this short clip. The software is coming along slowly. This video was shot blind using my little Sony RX100 camera. I plan on taking a handheld BMPCC tomorrow with me when I meet friend. I will also be recording sound using a Zoom H1 hand held recorder. I am slowly moving up in gear weight class.

Eventually the work flow should like this. I will be doing my main video editing in Adobe Premiere,  my main sound editing in Adobe Audition, and the color grading in DaVinci Resolve. All shooting and editing gear, software is basically brand new to me. I am watching HOW TO YouTube vids and reading PDF gear manuals. Glad I have a good fast internet here in my Mae Sot apartment. Probably should have done more of this in Canada but was so busy then with multiple things happening  So far from the tech side things are working out OK. From the creative side, not sure, hopefully that will happen as well.

Racing Round Town Buying Supplies

I was racing around town buying supplies on my motorbike today. Got another 8 sets of boots (1600 baht) that I had already promised for the dump, and 2 head flashlights (130 baht). I could only find 2 head flashlights, I drove all over town but only found 2. These items I promised people in the dump already so need to keep those promises. Not sure what the future holds donation wise , with Fred in the picture, my hands are somewhat tied.  With Fred there are lots of rules, of what can be done and what cannot.

I plan to make a $500 CAD donation to Fred's organization tomorrow.

 

Today's   buys, boots and head flash lights

Another Morning Out With Fred

Spent another morning-afternoon from 9 am till about 3 pm with Fred the head man at eyestoburma. We are talking a lot about the documentary we want to make. Along the way I am learning his routine. Today I went to the Mae Tao Clinic for the first time, I was also at the Burmese border, the CDC school and the areas around the  dump 2 or 3 times.

I hope we can do this documentary thing well. I worry thou as he is placing lots of restrictions on me. He asked me today to not go to the dump without him. He said that people would not understand photographers going there, photos being made, and there would be trouble. I have extensive relationships with the people there, and have probably photographed upwards of 50 times within the dump grounds without any issues. I will respect Fred's wishes for now and see where that leads. Being with Fred has distinct advantages and I believe his story is extremely important to tell. I do not want to miss this opportunity to make an important film, with real social value. Patience, quiet listening and learning is required on my part, just now. Lets see where this leads.

Video: Young Boy Juh-Jeh

Here is a video I shot yesterday. I was told the boy (Juh-Jeh) was born with only one arm, a birth defect. He lives in the swamp area of the dump. This was shot with a BMPCC with the CAME TV steady cam and edited/color graded in DaVinci Resolve. Sound is only the poor quality recorded in camera.

More Quiet Necessary, To Protect The Families

I have been warned that it is better to be less vocal at present. To draw less attention to the lives of the people in the dump. I will there for be cutting back on all my Facebook updates about life in the dump. I will continue to post some things on the blog, which has a much smaller reach. I can be much more anonymous here.

The families are in danger of being evicted from the country if they do not have the proper paper work. I certainly do not want to destroy their lives. Best to keep things a bit quieter for now. I do not want to get the authorities angry.

Met Up With Fred Today

Met Fred today, he told me he need to educate me and to straighten me out on a few things. I hope we can establish a good working relationship. Hopefully we can do a film together with some honesty and teeth to it.

I am willing to give it a try, see how it goes. I am meeting Fred again tomorrow.

Am Trying To Figure Out Adding Subtitles In Davinci Resolve

I am trying to add subtitles to the video from yesterday of the girl asking for boots. Damn tough! I used the tutorial video linked below for the basics. Positioning the written words and the spoken words properly, is tough. Maybe my computer laptop speed-memory is not high enough to get this done. I do now have idea how to create them thou. There are also ways to do subtitles externally and add them later. My final edit will probably be in Adobe Premiere, so will need to learn to use that software eventually. I think Premiere has a higher end way of doing subtitles.

Here is the learning vid I used today.
DaVinci Resolve 12-34 Generating Titles

Spending Lots Of Money

I have already withdrawn funds 3 times from my first bank account (have 2 banks-bank cards with the total trip money total split between them). So that is 20000 baht  ($771 CAD) withdrawn 3 times with an added 220 baht ($8.20 CAD) withdrawal fee. Today or tomorrow I will need to withdraw another 20000.

Part of my already spent money should be coming back to me eventually. I should be receiving a 4500 baht refund from my 5000 baht (500 for cleaning room) apartment damage deposit when I leave Mae Sot. I should be able to use that money in Bangkok at the end of my trip.

Me And Martin Scorsese

Just woke up, traffic noises, had a crazy  drea,  740am. Martin S and I were at a function together training, he’s asked me a q, then I asked him for advice. I woke up just as I was at the point of explaining my film and asking. After waking remembered his doc film on the Stones. Love his quote "We cannot burn Mick Jagger!"
"Shine The Light" Scorsese Documentary Trailer

More later, back to sleep, only did 3 h 40 min, went to bed at4am.

More with corrections to follow

Video: Test Video, Girl Asking For Boots In The Dump

This is my first attempt at using the BMPCC in the dump with the CAME TV steady cam device. It is also my first attempt at editting the PRO RES HQ video and color grading with Davinci Resolve.

Were all learning here!! In this practice video a young Burmese women-girl was asking me for some boots, she spoke Thai to me, she also wanted a headlamp. I have had numerous headlamp requests (for dump worker night work), I need to find a store that sells them. I got a tip from the family who sells me boots. They even had one of their workers jump on the back of my bike to show me the shop, which was closed. I will try to buy headlamps there, tomorrow or the next day.

Anyway, here is the video I made using all my newly learned techniques. Note my slick camera work, shooting my thumb in ultra weird closeup, only a true pro like myself could manage that!

Note* The audio on this video is just the poor quality BMPCC version. In post for the real film I will sync the higher quality sound recorder audio to the BMPCC video. Assuming of course that I can manage to make a higher end audio recording, that is proving problematic.

Film Making Is Fun!

Haha...2 am here and I am watching a video on color grading using Davinci Resolve. I have a short clip loaded in my version of DR and am editing along with my YouTube teacher. Gosh this is fun! And so exciting. I do not feel as bad now about missing out on creating photo stills today.

I have so much to do tomorrow I need to get to bed but want to stay up all night learning to colour grade. I might give it another hour before posting my little learning video on this blog and getting to bed! 

Young Girl Hides

One young girl in the dump hides from me, hides from my cameras, she might be 10-11 years old. I had not seen her before this trip, she is a stranger to me. I have met her 2 times now at the dump now, both times she hid. The girl would put a piece of cardboard in front of her face when I approached or tried to take photos. I backed right off, not wanting to frighten her more. If she does not want her picture taken, I will certainly not take it.

Almost everyone else at the dump, the families all seem to accept me. Taking photos or video with them is met with smiles. My problem there is to stop all the smiling, waving and peace finger signs. With the people who trust me I need to just wait until they forget me before making pics. The idea is to capture a piece of their real lives, their real existence. Richard Avedon said smiles are shields that hide the truth. I want my pictures to be about the truth, or close to the truth, or at least my subjective vision of that truth.

That young girl seems so sad, she just hid behind her piece of cardboard. What has she been through in her life? What things has she seen and experienced to make her so frightened? I have to try to make friends with her and her family. I am not sure where she lives or who her parents are. When I find them I will try to help in anyway I can, food? boots? over the counter medicines? whatever they need.

I Had A Wacky Story Line Idea!

Here is a wacky narcissistic film making story idea. Me myself and I! As people were gathering all around me, asking for their boots, their medicines, there whatever. As they were talking to me about this and that, laughing, joking and the like. I thought about including myself in the story.

I have some body cam type cameras. What If I shot everything, my interaction with the people, their lives plus their interaction with me. Then do an voice overs and the like to humanize and explain everything.

I like that idea and I hate that idea. It's too much GERRY! Who the heck cares about that dude. It is hard not to include myself thou as the people in the dump currently yell out my name, approach me, kids yell into the microphone, play with the cameras etc. I am far from the invisible and impartial observer. Am not the invisible fly on the wall, am more like the hippo on the highway.

Not sure what to do. Maybe tomorrow I will try shooting some body cam footage and see how that goes. I am doing all this stuff on the fly, seat of my pants type stuff.

In other words, I have no idea what or how to do this!

Downloading And Saving Files

Today for the first time I am trying to organize film and sound files on my computer hard drives. I am saving and backing up all my video-sound from today. I need to have some kind of system that will allow me to later find what files I want during the extensive and no doubt very difficult editing process. There will be hundreds of hours of video and sound recorded during the making of the documentary film.

I am recording ProRes HQ files on video, with poor in camera sound (will use only for syncing the better sound files).  The camera I am using is a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera.

BMPCC, small light and excellent 1080p quality

I am also recording sound off a separate microphone into a Zoom F4 sound recorder.

Pro type 6 channel sound recorder.

I am copying all the video and sound files 2 times before I delete the info from my SD cards. One time to the hard drive of my computer, a second time to a external hard drive. I have 3 external hard drives with me this trip totaling 8 TB of storage, will buy more as needed. I also have 3 different drives in my EliteBook computer.

If this all sounds like I know what I am doing, I don't!

Apartment Water Not Working!

The apartment water went out for 30 minutes, sending me into a mild panic. Water is so important in Thailand. I was in mid cooking, could not wash my vegetables, pots, dishes and hands.

How do the people in the dump live with so little water? The water in the dump swamp area has to be carried in. Cleaning yourself is basically impossible without it. Cleaning your food, preparing food is also very difficult without. How much water a day does a human being need to drink to stay alive?

Imagine you have worked all day in garbage, your covered in filth, you smell disgusting. You want to wash and you have very little water. The water you do have has to be hauled in by hand. Imagine that! Just think what kind of life that would be. We in the West have water whenever we need it. Losing my apartment water for a short time, made me realize how important water is. In Canada, I do not ever recall not having water, it was always been there, always available.

I take way too many things for granted.

Update* Water is down again, for how long?
Update** After about 30 minutes the water started working again.

No Pictures Made!

Not only was my shooting today half assed and filled with mistakes. I only took 4 or 5 still photos all day!!

F-ck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sacrificing my still work for this video film making stuff better be worth it. Sort of feel like I am selling my soul here. Not making stills is damn painfull.

Tomorrow I plan on taking my second  BMPCC with me to the dump. That camera is used on a tripod, which will allow me to leave it on the tripod, walk about and do some still shots now and again. I need to shoot my b/w pics on Tri-x, or life is not worth living!! Got to multi task here. Got to do everything while I can within my 6 month time frame.

First Day Of Shooting Video, Confusion RAINED All Over Me!

What a day the first ever day of shooting for Gerry the NON film maker. Tech problems of all kinds, overexposure, terrible weird sound recording, no sound, awe full steady-cam technique, etc., etc. The highlight of the day was when the kids, grabbed my microphone and started yelling into it while I was wearing head phones following the sound. They yelled then laughed for a minute or two, great fun. Thought I would go deaf!

The good part of the day was that the people accepted all my extra, shiny, new gear. The bad part was I did not know how to use the stuff!

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, I am going in with my tripod mounted camera.

Dinner- Chicken Breast With Unknown Vegegatable

Here is tonight's dinner, a chicken breast with chili powder and salt and unknown vegetable I found at Lotus. I figured it was green and looked good, so why not try it! Also having some raw cucumbers. Might cook up a piece of pork that has been in my fridge for a while later, and some corn on the cob. For brunch today I ate 3 boiled eggs and some Corn Flakes cereal.

Today's Supper

9 More Boot Orders, Plus 1 From Before

I got another 9 orders of boots today. I will take them down to the dump tomorrow along with a size 11 set from a few days back (the man who ordered them had not been at the dump, he said he went home for a few days). The cost of the boots was 1760 baht, it has been added to the donation number total.

Today's buy, 9 sets of boots, will take them to the dump tomorrow

Medicine Asked For, Dr. Gerry??

People in the dump have started to ask for medicines. I am not a doctor so cannot provide them with prescription drugs, it was be completely unethical and dangerous to do that. I can thou with a clear conscience hand out some over the counter stuff, ointments and the like.

One man asked for a cream for his cut today. I guess he cut his hand and is worried about infection.  Another Burmese lady (Mee-Soo) who I wrote about yesterday (the Burmese lady who speaks very good Thai) asked for some cream for her child, to help with the scratching from mosquito and other insect bites.

I went to the pharmacy after buying the boots and bought some ointments, the cost as 130 baht.

Antibiotic and  stop skin scratching creams (Antiallergic, antipruritic, antihistaminic)

Will Need Some Quiet Time To Myself

The dump involves lots and lots of interaction, it seems like I never stop talking in 3 different languages (kinda anyway) to dozens of people. Some days I just want to be quiet and not be the center of attention. I think I will need to take a day off now and again during this 6 months. All the work, all the talk, all the constant interaction with everyone, ALL THE TIME!, can ware you down a bit.

I will fly to Bangkok via Nok Air on November 3, my return flight is November 10th. By the 2nd of November I should be pretty well burned out dump wise. Having a week off in big beautiful Bangkok should be a nice change of pace. I need to eat at some nice restaurants, am so tired of my own poor cooking.

Planning On Doing Some Higher End Video

I am preparing to take my Came TV steadycam unit and one of my BMPCC cameras out to the dump tomorrow (or the next day) for the first time. The video I have shot with my little hand held Canon and Sony cameras as got me a bit excited about the video I could shoot with the higher end Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera (BMPCC).

I do not really know what I am doing so am feeling my way along. The video is not an issue, or at least less of an issue. I think I have settings set on the camera that should produce adequate results, its the audio that I find really really mysterious. How to hook that up best to my steadycam, which mikes to use? How to set up my sound recorder etc.

Got to learn somehow, will jump in head first tomorrow and see where that takes me. The idea is to shoot general dump action. Will try to find compelling visuals.

Am practicing with my set up in my apartment tonight. Doing baby steps. I feel so beginner like, I am not really qualified to tell such an important story as a film maker. I will do my best, hopefully that will be enough.

Selfie Of The Day

Here is another selfie done today. I went to visit the bride and grooms parents, the bride was there. Like me she has gained a lot of weight over the last 4 years, at first I did not recognize here. Her son  Chemeeko looks very healthy as does her daughter. At one point during our little gathering in the shade the little girl was sent over to me by her mother and grandmother. She cuddled right up to me and looked at me with big wide unafraid eyes. I am not a baby guy, never had a child myself, never been a . When it comes to babies, young children, I am not sure exactly how to handle them. This little girl was so sweet, and innocent, she was so warm (I was surprised at that), and unafraid of me, she laid right up on me. For a few seconds there, I had a tiny bit of the feeling, the feeling of warmth from a child that a real father would feel all the time. It was strange to me but quite moving and beautiful. She actually stayed with me for around 7-8 minutes. I wonder if she will remember me the next time I visit?

A wonderful, memorable experience. What future does this little baby girl have?

Note* Sonnie if your reading this, the child clothes you donated last time went to this young girl and her older brother. Thanks so much for helping them.

The bride with her daughter

Here is a link to a video story I did on the "Bride and Groom" photo, which was made on their wedding day back in 2013.
Bride And Groom Video Story

Video: Dogs Looking For Food In The Garbage

Shot this yesterday.There are many wild dogs in the dump, they are afraid of people and run away when you approach. But they fight among themselves all the time especially when there after food, the fights are usually short intense battles, with more.noise than bite. Sometimes thou the dogs do get injured. I saw one older dog today that was missing part of its right ear.

Some of the dogs, usually smaller ones, are adopted by the families, you see these same dogs hanging around the same shacks day after day. In the morning the dogs are tough to deal with. I usually drop off food bags and make photos in the early morning before people are awake. The family dogs and some of the wilder ones bark madly on my approach, disturbing everyone. Thankfully
they usually stop fairly quickly.

Learning More From A Burmese Lady Who Speaks Thai

Had a long talk today with another Burmese lady who spoke Thai rather fluently, much better than I do. She told me a bunch about the dump, how the garbage trucks came multiple times during the day, how some days she started work at 5am, 6am or 8am. She said she lived quite far away , several kilometers from the dump and how she usually walked to work. Her husband lived at home and did not work much. She said he was sick and coughed a lot. I will take her a pair of boots tomorrow.

I recorded her name with the video camera but had an issue with the card not recording the video fast enough. I will try to record her name again tomorrow.

The Strange Sight Of The Day

Many times this trip I see something a bit different, something that I have not seen before in all my years in Thailand. Today that sight was an old lady riding on the back of a bicycle legs outstretched, with feet turned out rather awkwardly at a right angle (to stay clear of the spinning back wheels of the bicycle directly underneath her)while talking on a cell phone.

The old lady was extremely skinny, rather shockingly skinny, rather unhealthy like underweight and probably about 75 years old. The strangest thing, was that as weird and fragile as she looked, she also seemed perfectly comfortable.She happily chatted away as a younger Thai women peddled (her daugher?). She seemed like she had been riding that way her whole life, which she no doubt had. This talkative old lady probably road that exact way minus the cell phone 70 years on back, with her mother pedaling away.

6 More Pairs Of Boots Ordered - Food Buy

I bought another 6 more boot orders today, will deliver them tomorrow. Think that brings the grand total to 15 sets so far. This last buy cost 1100 baht, got various sizes and styles. I also did another small food buy which was added into my own food shopping. I will need to separate the cost of the dump food  from my own so that I can add it to the total donation money spent so far. Am keeping all the receipts and then will get a Thai person to add up the cost of all the dump donation foods.

Note* I am buying my donation food in smaller bite size pieces this trip because I need to haul everything back to my room on a motorcycle in a backpack and plastic bags, not in Pee Noy's truck like before.

Latest boot buy of 6 pairs. 

Latest small food buy

CREATURE Of The Day

Decided to start a new blog feature while I am in Thailand. "CREATURE OF THE DAY!" Todays winner, was a giant toad at the bottom of my apartment stairs. I was leaving for the Lotus shopping center at around 7pm when I saw a big round piece of mud on the ground, measuring about 3 by 4 inches. I was about to kick the piece of mud into the parking lot, then it HOPPED! It was a big ugly brownish black spotted toad!

Oops! I’m In My Underwear!!

As I was typing the days blogs, sitting in a chair opposite the door of my apartment wearing only my old white slightly skanky boxers (it is hot here). The door behind me suddenly opened up (it had been locked) and there stood a younger Burmese women (17?18? years old) with Tanaka  (white paste made from tree bark) on her face. My Thai landlady Pui was behind her. I was a bit shocked! They were more so, and started saying sorry very quickly, shyly covering their faces and looking down. Turns out they were delivering my long awaited microwave and thought I was out (my shoes were inside not outside the door).  I asked them to close the door, put on my pants then opened the door up again for them. I guess I was a bit shocked also, the first words out of my mouth in Thai were "Close the door, I have no shoes on" before I corrected myself and said "Close the door, I have no pants on."

Apologizes all round, but it was not that big a deal. I made a joke of opening her (the land ladies) door tomorrow and seeing her! She laughed, shook her head and ran off at that point.

Anyway, got my microwave now, just heated up my cold chicken left overs from yesterday. Am going to eat better now.

Hmm..hope the younger Burmese girl/women is not too TRAUMATIZED at seeing the 53 year old, very white me in my boxers.  At least she will have a funny story to tell her friends. Am glad I just did not get out of the shower, now that would have been TRAUMATIC!

Video: Frying Beef

I met a man yesterday Dow-oo, he taught me a few words, and took me to see his mother. Before we left he showed me some of his dried fish etc and then he cooked some left over beef for himself. Mr. Dow-oo also taught me the word for cow "Wai", Chicken "Jet", Fish "Nau" and Pig "What".

Video: The Importance Of Language

I have decided to make a serious effort at learning Burmese. Back home in Canada I wanted to do the same thing but it is near impossible to do. In the dump thou I have 100 or more teachers willing to help me. The people here actually enjoy helping me learn, they enjoy giving back. They are teachers who will laugh and share their knowledge to this wannabe Burmese speaker. It is also indirectly a great way to connect and make friends. I have found that people from Asian cultures always love  it when you try to speak their language.

Speaking a bit of Thai in the dump yesterday to a Burmese lady helped to clarify the importance of language to me. I have been sort of blindly watching  for so long here (4 years or so), always only seeing and looking for visuals to photograph that I forgot the importance of listening and learning that way as well.

In the video I was trying to speak a bit of Burmese (only know a bit) to the 80 year old mother of Dowe-OO when a young child walking by with his mother started to cry. I looked over and the child went into a bit of "Who is that big white guy shock." and stopped crying out of curiosity, so cute to see. I found out the mother spoke some Thai. She told me she worked in Mae Sot, washing clothes (I think) and that she did not have a motorbike but cycled in each day to work. That is a bit of a long haul as even on my motorbike it takes me maybe 20 minutes to drive in from Mae Sot.  She also later told me where she lived and invited me over the next day.  My Thai seemed to be a bit better than hers but I am far from fluent.  But just having a little bit of Thai speaking ability made all the difference, I learned many things from a 2 minute talk as a result.

Language, language, language. I got to learn me some Burmese! I am like a deaf man in the dump. I will only learn more about the families lives by first learning more language myself. I am now 53 so learning a new language at that age ain't the easiest of things. I have thou in the past had a bit of a language learning gift. It not easy for me to learn, not as easy as some people certainly but I think it is a bit more easy for me to learn Burmese than some of my friends back home, maybe I just work harder at it, not sure. Maybe the photography pushes me forward, I know with more language, better pics will come of it. Photography has always ruled everything in my life and seems to have lead me down the good path. I like to follow where it takes me.

Anyway, lets try to learn Burmese. Ouch!! My head and mouth hurt already! This should be interesting.

Lets summarize my goals this trip, make a documentary film, shoot 240 sheets of 8x10 and hundreds of rolls of 35mm film, do $3273.43 CAD worth of donation work and now LEARN BURMESE..

No problem! Easy Speazy. Let's get to it :))

Wicked Dreams

Did not have a good sleep last night, only about 5 1/2 or 6 hours. I fell asleep around 530am. I had trouble with my com (computer) before my regular bedtime and then it kept me up for hours. Eventually I rebooted in SAFE MODE before going to a recovery from Oct 23. After all that I was able to restart the machine properly. I am not a computer guy so doing that sort of thing is stressful. I need my computer for my work, it is vital, so I was quite worried. Eventually when it all got taken care of and things seemed normal I was able to sleep.

Then I went into strange dream mode. Not sure why but I dream a lot, too much maybe. After dad died the dreams were always about him, sometimes they were very difficult to deal with, waking up in tears that sort of thing. Last night I had 2 different tough dreams, two that I recall, I think there were more.

1) I dreamnt of a girl, Nong,, who I knew well back in 1999 and a bit in 2003. She was a street worker, a sweet girl with a good heart. Nong had a troubled alcoholic father,and grew up in a poor tough section of Bangkok. She had 1 daughter in 1999 and later 3 children in 2003, her Thai husband was a security guard. When I met her in 2003 she had lost lots of weight and was struggling to support her 3 children. I think she ate less so her children could have more. In my dream she was crying and vulnerable, speaking to me of her life. It was very difficult to see her in pain. I remember tears running down her face as she spoke to me in broken English.

Nong 2003, near the home she shared with 3 children and her Thai husband

2) The second dream was about me and a number of other people. We were all in a hospital going through tests and then diagnosed with various forms of cancer. Mine was a more severe type. I was in a room, the medical people put me on a list, my name was in the more advanced type cancer section with  one other person.  All I was thinking in the dream was, "Now I cannot finish my work! How can I finish my work if I have cancer?"

Hopefully will sleep better and longer tonight. It is now 1210pm  I will write a few blogs, boil some eggs for breakfast and clean my apartment  (to keep out the insects, especially cockroaches). The plan then is to go to the dump with the 7 sets of boots at around 3-330pm. After handing out the boots, making 35mm photos, and learning more Burmese  (my head hurts already). I will drive home, wash up, clean my pants, shirt, boxers and socks. Then wash my filthy boots. All of that takes over 1 hour. I will then go to Lotus department store on my bike, have a restaurant meal of some kind (not eating that well) before going grocery and supply (need 2 kinds of tape) shopping. Will then return to the room, put the bought food in the fridge, write my blogs, roll some more 35mm film ( the scotch tape is for that) and go to bed again, hopefully around midnight.

Then another day of much the same thing after that, and after that, and after that.

Video: Found The Missing Video Files- Boy Working

Here is a short video of one of the young boys working. I have photographed this boys family many times over the years. I believe they use the rice in the pail to feed their pigs. If my Burmese improves enough in a month or 2 I can ask him myself how the rice is used. The children in the dump work very hard. I wonder what percentage of his body weight this heavy pail of wet rice was.

Some More Selfies With The Dump Children

The children in the dump love to have there pictures taken and then viewed on the LCD screen. I shoot mostly film cameras so they do not get that. They look at the cameras and want to see the pics, but I cannot show them, then they are confused. So I also take some digi photos and video to make them happy.  They always laugh and get so excited when they see themselves. The little girl in red could not stop giggling through out our little photo session. She was laughing and talking with her mother, sister through out, so happy!

Here are a couple of selfies, me in my goofy but very necessary hat, sweating constantly, them filled with the joy of youth, the joy of childhood. The lighting conditions as you can tell were extremely harsh. This is around 4pm in the afternoon today.

Selfies Oct. 27, 2017 with the dump childrfen

Loading 35mm Film

Opened up my first can of 100 foot b/w Tri-x tonight. Will get 18 rolls of 36 out of it. I placed the shot-exposed film in the now empty can and taped it up. I will develop this film back in Canada sometime in 2018. I hope the pictures made lead to more exhibitions, more artist fees and more donations for the “Families of the Dump”. When the pictures help those pictured it is a perfect circle of life.

Note* 22 rolls of 35mm film shot so far.

See You Tomorrow!

As I was leaving the dump today one of the dump boys yelled out “See you tomorrow!” in English. The local Sky Blue School teaches the children a number of languages one is English. Many of the children know a few English words and phrases. Much of my efforts to communicate in the dump involves speaking Burmese along with Thai followed by English. Sometimes I feel like the United Nations trying to understand and also get my point across.

It was nice to hear the boy wanted to see me tomorrow. I feel an obligation, maybe that is the wrong word, a responsibility to make the pictures and the donations on a daily basis.

As I type this it is now tomorrow, better go to bed today is another important day at the dump.

7 Boot Orders

The boot orders are climbing! I got 7 today, 5 size 9s for young boys and girls and 2 size 10s for older women. I already bought the boots, they cost 1360 baht, 200 each for the 9s (some are 9 1/2)  and 180 each for the black 10s.

Thank you to all those who donated money to help by boots for the families, the children.

Today's bought boots 7 pairs for 1360 baht

Making Pictures To Hand Out, Old And New

Am going to do up a series of photos both new colour digital stuff and old b/w film pics from years back. The idea is to hand them out to the family members as gifts. I have done this in the past to great positive response.

Blind Burmese Mother 80 Years Old

A man named Dow-oo who lives in the swamp shack area of the dump introduced me to his mother who 80 years old and I think blind (or has very damaged vision). I had driven him to the area where his mother lived then back again to his home on the motorcycle. I am not sure what he wanted of me but I could tell he loved his mother very much and was worried for her, she is about my own mothers age.

One cute thing was that people smiled as I drove by with Dow-of on the back of the bike. Maybe I will end up becoming a bit of a chauffeur with this thing.

The Families Are Teaching Me Burmese, My Head Hurts!

I have started a program of learning to speak Burmese. With over 100 teachers, in the dump, how can I fail? Will do my best and see how it goes. Had so many words fed to me today, I am a bit dizzy with it all. Still in even the short time since the learning has started, things have improved rather dramatically, there is an added connection happening. I feel that this trip my interaction and closeness to the families might improve 10 fold, or even 100 fold. Language, the ability to talk, to share stories, ideas, feelings is extremely powerful.

I had a longer talk in Thai with a Burmese lady today in the new living area for the families. We were able to joke, learn from each other, talk about many things. She works in Mae Sot and drives a bicycle there daily. Imagine if I could speak to everyone in the dump in there own language of Burmese. What could be done then! What new level of connection, trust and friendships would develop?

Another Wonderful Day With The "Families Of The Dump"

After another long sleep (10 hours?) and a quick breakfast-brunch of cold chicken and cereal, I headed to the dump at 3pm. Still making some motorcycle driving errors but arrived at the dump unscathed.

I gave out a food bag to the family with t he laughing red shirted girl. Then took a few photos, the mother looked a bit uncomfortable so I moved on to another area to make pics. Eventually I ended up with Dow-oo and his mother before going into the main garbage working area and learning Burmese and did 35mm work and a few videos. That is the place I also got 7 boot orders for tomorrow.

Overall another wonderful several hours, joking and talking to the children and adults. Hopefully I got some good photographs as well.

Note* I am having problems with my laptop again, it is not restarting properly. Currently writing this blog entry on my iPad.

Video: MAY-MO-DEE

Here is a short video of a boy in the dump digging out fruit to save (forget his name now have to ask again, I have trouble remembering Burmese names). He was helping me learn the word ORANGE in Burmese, LAY-MO-DEE (you go up in tone on the DEE). A wonderful boy who comes from a large family with many children. The little girl I think might be from the family as well, not sure never met her before yesterday. She did not say much. I have noticed that quite often the young girl children in the dump families are much more quiet, almost mute compared to the much more active, vocal and playful boys. A bit of a generality but it seems to be the case more often than not.

In my first few dump visits I have noticed more people eating directly out of the garbage (children mostly, sometimes scolded by parents). The young boy is also in the attached picture made in late 2015. I managed to step on a nail seconds before I made the shot, went through my boot and grazed my left foot drawing blood. Got the shot thou!!

Just going to have a bite of cold chicken with bread to eat with  milk before heading back to the families. Yesterday the sun in the dump at 3pm was much too hot, felt like I was melting. Am aiming to arrive closer to 330pm today, it gets too dark to shoot around 630pm. Will take another food donation bag. I have a set of boots to deliver also but am unsure where the man lives who ordered them. I will keep then in my room until I find him again then can deliver the boots the next day.

Thanks to all those back in Canada and in the USA (forgot to mention the USA in an earlier blog, sorry LH), who donated funds to help the people here.

Note* The boy is gathering up some fruit found in a garbage dump bag, for later use.

Video: Families Working The Garbage October 26, 2017

Here is a video I shot today of some of the work done around 430-530pm. It has been 5 hours since I left the dump, I have washed, showered and washed again, have gone to a nice restaurant and had a good meal but I can still smell the garbage, can still feel it leaking into my boots, can still see it in my minds eye. The dump is so over powering. If not for the good people there, the friends I have made I would not have the strength to go back. I dread that smell that place but the people, I want to be next to them joking, learning from them, trying to understand their lives and of course helping as much as possible.

I need to toughen up, get over it, deal with it. How can people live in that world day in day out, for christ sakes I have been photographing the same families doing the same things for 4 years now, almost 5.

Potato Chips

This trip I decided to throw a bag of potato chips in with my daily food donation bags to the dump. In the past I have mostly kept it to staples like rice, canned fish etc but thought why not give the kids a fun food.

Today's food bag, the first this trip that has been donated had a bag of chips in it, which went straight to a number of children in the swamp dump shacks. The people who donated some money back in Canada helped give a baby-child in dump today a little treat. Thank you for that!

Note* I will make copies of these photos and others I took and then give them to the parents as keepsakes. The snapshots that have handed out through the years I occasionally see again years later.

Young baby girl enjoying her chip

Daughter who is new to me, the father I have known for around 4 years

New people to the dump, TWINS, eating their potato chips

My Studies

I am trying to immerse myself in the Burmese culture, trying to learn some of the language.

ORANGE = LAY-MO-DEE
HAT = OWE TOWE

Also using a Burmese app on my iPod.

How are you doing? = NEY-GOWN-YET-LAU

Am also trying to learn the kids names. Doing a video of many children saying their names, then will try to remember the face and the name. Most names are like 3 or 4 syllables so difficult.

So So Tired!

Today after leaving the dump, I was pretty well spent. I was there  for maybe 4 hours but walking through the garbage, finding pictures, is terribly tiring. I decided to treat myself to some good food tonight so went to a restaurant for the first time since I came to Mae Sot. 

I will have another long sleep tonight to energize myself for the coming days. I have not even started to shoot the 8x10 camera or the video for the film. If the 35mm work is so difficult for me how the hell am I going to do the other stuff?

The Families Are Teaching Me Burmese!

Had a lot of fun learning Burmese from the families today. Now that I know how to say "Da-beh-lou-koh-deh-lay (What is this?).  I then say "Burma Saga" (Burmese language). I have many people to teach me now, the children especially like to join in helping me with my pronunciation.

After 6 months I hope to be able to have little conversations, not sure I can reach that level thou. Still its worth trying. I was pretty good at Thai after my first 10 months back in 1999.

It is great fun for everyone and draws lots of smiles and some laughter. People always like when you try to learn their language, it is a great way to make friends.

People Drinking, Children Eating From The Garbage

I saw a lot of children eating directly out of the garbage today. More than I have ever seen before. There must have been 5 or 6 different kids eating things they just dug out of the filth. Some of the
older people also partook. I saw one man (have a video of it) popping a sealed water cup with his finger before drinking out of it. One older lady found a bottle of water but it was not sealed so she just poured it on her hands.

I offered the older lady and man some of my water (YEE in Burmese) but they refused. The man smiled when he said no, then I heard him saying something about water to a friend. Maybe he mentioned that I offered him mine. I find so often that the westerners who help people in places like this often hold themselves superior. They distance themselves, often do not become deeply and personally connected to the lives of the people they are helping, they live on the periphery. I do not want to do that, I want to be as one with the families, or as least as close as I can be. My nationality, money, skin color, language, history, culture and privilege will always distance me somewhat. But I want to make an effort to be as close as I can be. As close as is it is possible to be.

More Hellos From Old Friends

As I was leaving the dump today, getting on my motorbike an old man who was a friend from  previous days said "MING -GAU-LAU-BAU" (hello) to me. He said it before I saw him. He then asked what I thought to mean "When did you return? I told him 5 before. 5 in Burmese is NAU. I did not know the word for days but I think he understood me. He nodded and smiled at my reply, then repeated what I had said. I am surprised how many people remember me from 1 year and 6 months ago. Its a good feeling to be remembered and greeted like this. Very rewarding. You get the feeling your doing something good, that your having a positive effect on the lives of others.

Note* Difficult to type just now, I am working on my bed, in my room, in the dark. Little bugs keep climbing all over the white screen, counting 6 right now. Insects are pretty hard to avoid in Asia. My room comes with spiders, mosquitoes (sometimes) and a variety of small flying and crawling things, no cockroaches thankfully. Guess I need to get used to them, they are here to stay.

Exploring With The Motorcycle!

I have been driving here and there, back and fourth with the motorbike. Will need to get some gas soon, running short now. What a joy this thing is to ride, I feel like I am 15 again, riding my trail bike with my cousin Randy on uncle Franks acreage near Spruce Grove Alberta. Sometimes I get lost, but who cares easy enough to stop and turn round, then speed back.

Today I did a bit of  low speed driving helmet less near the dump, no one on the road but me. Every time my hat almost flew off I would slow down. Loads of fun. Just me my motorcycle, my cameras and lots of sugarcane fields.

My motorbike and me

A Great Day At The Dump

Spent about 3 1/2 hours from 3pm to sometime after 6. I left just as it was getting dark. There was lots of joy in the dump today. The first load of garbage brought in lots of valuable cargo, clear plastic bottles etc. People were digging and grabbing furiously. Even as the garbage dumped out on the ground people were laughing. You can pretty much get used to anything if your good people, they can find happiness and joy in the most difficult working environments.

Lots of laughing going on today, more than I can remember in a long time. Even the garbage trucks dropping a bunch of water drew smiles and laughing form several of the older women. Now it is quite easy for me to work in the dump, access to making pictures is easy now. Many of the people here now know who I am, and what I am about. Only the newer people seem a bit wary. I will try to break down some of those barriers and make friends with them.

I better try to go to sleep. dogs are barking loudly outside on the street, it is 1241am, they do this every night. Also man bugs buzzing me, had something crawling on me a few seconds ago, some kind of larger winged creature.

With two young boys  at the beginning of the day, with my new goofy hat (helps protect me from the sun

Apartment Sounds.

A new sound was just heard from my apartment window. It seems to be a Muslim call to prayer in Arabic, gone now, then comes back and is gone again, there must be a mosque somewhere nearby. Lots of noises can be he heard from my 5th floor ESTATE, traffic, mainly noisy motorbikes. Dogs barking throughout the night on and off, in the morning dozens of bird singing sounds. Strangely can barely hear anything going on at the apartment next door where I think multiple men live in one room, the apartment walls are quite thick. The apartment management also has a strict quiet time after 9pm. They also request you shut down your motorbike before entering the apartment parking lot and push it up to the parking area under the apartments to lesson noise pollution. Sort of a courtesy thing.

Freedom! Plus It's Fun!

I love riding my motorbike, it gives me a freedom I have rarely had in Thailand. I can go where I want when I want and stop wherever I want. I love it! I can make pictures here or there, visit the dump 5 times a day if I need to. Having my own bike is wonderful all round. Heck outside of the chance that it could kill me (lots of wacky drivers in Thai including myself), it's great.

I felt more comfortable driving the bike this second day than I did the first. Hopefully tomorrow will be better still. I try to follow the example of good motorbike driving Thais and follow their leads. I am also getting to know where things are in Mae Sot. Today found the bus station, Lotus store, Robinson store and the dump.

Overall things are working out great with the bike, outside of me forgetting how to start the darn thing today. I need to  continue to use caution. I had planned to go early to the dump tomorrow while it was still dark. I think thou driving the motorbike in the dark all the way to the dump is still a bit risky. I will go later in the day a few more times before doing dark time driving of any kind. Once I am completely comfortable I will try driving in the dark.

Caution is warranted. Thailand is ranked second in the world in deaths do to road accidents, about 24000 die each year. 80% of those deaths are people driving motorbikes. Check out this shocking BBC article.
Life and death on Thailand's lethal roads

What's For Supper?

Tonight's sorta, kinda, Gerry cooked meal? A piece of fried pork,  flavored with chili powder and peas. Later on I also had some corn on the cob and raw green onions with bread-butter and milk (one of my Canadian staples, onions help keep me well). Am doing very basic cooking but it's fun!

Pork (Chili Powder) and Peas

A Unique Thai Moment

This probably falls into the too much information column, but here it goes!

So remember that very spicy fish I told you about? Well by the time I made it to the Lotus mall store I was paying for eating it,, my stomach was a gurgling quite a bit. Off to the washroom after asking for some help finding it.

Thais have the public mall washroom thing figured out very well. There are certain things Thais do very well, much better than in the world of Canada. Banks are great, you often can sit at a desk when dealing with your teller, they offer a wide variety of electronic services unavailable back home, great customer service etc. Another simple example is rolling walkway style escalators. they have the ability to lock down the wheels of your shopping cart. You can go down or up very steep escalator with a large loaded down shopping cart, hands free. Public washrooms in malls are also usually very well designed. They play loud music in the washrooms with exhaust fans a working hard, eliminating many evil sound effects (if you get my meaning) as well as diminishing many unwanted smells. Another public washroom benefit is the privacy, the doors are not filled with holes and large cracks and the stall sides and doors go down to about 6 inches off the floor. You have your own almost home like private throne to do your business on.

So I was on my throne doing the spicy fish business thingy when 2 Thai ladies in the washroom started laughing and telling jokes to each other in Thai. One of the weird parts of Thai public washrooms is that cleaning women can be in the washroom at anytime. They come right in and work along side the men using the facilities, this can be a bit off putting! You can be standing in a urinal or sitting in a throne stall and they will be right there with you (or almost). So I am working hard and CONCENTRATING when I hear all the joking and laughing going on just a foot or so outside. Then I see a blue mop come sloshing through under my front door and on the floor at the side in the stall next to mine. The mop is mopping the women are joking, and I am losing my concentration. This is as I said earlier rather distracting.This goes on for about 5 minutes. Slosh, mop in, mop out, joke,, giggle, laugh, jabber, jabber, jabber, slosh, giggle, laugh, laugh, sloshity slosh, slosh.

Only in Thailand! At least the washrooms are almost always clean!

Today's Stuff

After my long sleep and weird dream I managed to get a lot accomplished today.

- Drove down to Lotus shopping center. Now I know how to get there! And where to park the motorbike.
- Got a haircut for 210 baht ($8.03 CAD) including tip. The man who cut my hair took his time and did a great job. In malls haircuts always cost a bit more, this one thou was well worth it.
- Went shopping and bought a bunch more groceries for myself and also bought some food for donations.

- Paid my Nok Air airplane ticket bill at the bank. I fly to Bangkok on November 3 and back to Mae Sot on November 10. The total cost for both tickets is an amazingly low 2132 baht ($81.56 CAD). That is only $40.78 CAD each way. The huge benefit is that it is fast and easy, about 1 hour flight time to Bangkok. With this bargain basement fare I am not allowed check in luggage only 7 kg of carry on, in one bag.

- Packed my groceries, both in my backpack (thanks Larry L) and in 3 bags hanging from my motorbikes handle bars (a Thai thingy). Drove back to my apartment.

- Parked, climbed the 5 flights of stairs. Put away all my food stuff, including chicken of a couple of types, pork of a Korean type, fruits, and frozen shrimp. Also bought a hair dryer (for drying the inside of my dump boots) and a small clock. Time is important to me here, want to make sure I make the most of the time I have. The clock is a reminder that my time is passing minute by minute. Got to get things done.

- Got back downstairs onto my bike with a camera in a bag and a set of boots. The idea was to find the dump on my own and pass out one bag if I could.

- Before I left I paid my apartment rent for November, 3924 baht ($151.44). It will be higher next month when my electric (using lots of A/C) is figured in, also the water.

- Could not start the bike, called Pee Noy asking for help. Then nearby man selling fried chicken came over and showed me what I was doing wrong. You need to push on the left back break a little while pressing the starter, some kind of safety protection. Called Pee Noy again, told him that I did not need his help.

- With surprisingly few mistakes found the dump quite easily.The highlight was going up one dirt road before coming to a dead end. I decided to turn round when a little old Thai lady sitting in a nearby hut waved me forward. There was a tiny path through the bush-jungle. I was unsure. She wanted me to go that way? She asked if I wanted to go to highway. I said yes, she told me to go ahead. So off I went into the jungle down this little itty bitty path. A few minutes later I came out of the bush onto a small paved road which connected me to the highway. After crossing that I was home free and connected to the side road that got me to the dump in another 5 or 6 minutes.

- I made my way to the dump, handed the boots to the father of the groom (his son had ordered them) then photographed for 30-40 minutes. The light was going so I got back on my bike and headed home.

- Back home it was the same routine, went down the same itty bity path but going the other way. Waved and thanked the grandma who was still sitting under her little roadside shack (wonder if she sits their all day everyday, looking to help lost farang?)

- Along the way I stopped at Pee Noy's store (in the countryside) and bought some water. He teased me about my phone call. He teases me more and more now, guess that is a sign we are becoming more friendly. When I was at the store a man came in to buy some cigarettes, he could afford a whole pack so bought 5 cigarettes that Pee Noy's wife put into a little plastic bag for him. Imagine that buying 5 cigarettes at a time. People back home smoke that many on one of my nigh shifts, they are not allowed to smoke onsite so do it out front of the guardhouse.

- Stopped and watched guys playing kick -foot style volleyball (forget what its called).They were damn good, amazingly good for some young men on road in a far off corner of Thailand.

- Drove around a bit exploring, looking for what was where and trying to remember how to get there.

- Made my way home and cooked-ate dinner, then wrote this blog,

A good day. I also packed my 3rd bag of food. Will take them (all 3?) and hand them out to 3 exceptionally poor families in the swamp area of the dump tomorrow morning. Now that I have the drmp route figured out I can visit often. I love my motorbike!

3 food bags and boots ready to go

Sample food bag

The Burmese Lessons Begin And, "What The Hell Am I Eating?"

I had to a man, an older man at the dump yesterday teaching me a bunch of words in Burmese. I wonder if he was a teacher, or an official person of some importance before he started his life in Mae Sot dump. He seemed to really hate being there, he seemed to hate working in that terrible environment (who wouldn't?), more so than many other family workers I meet. There was a sense of loss and sadness to the man. He wore a sort of a jaunty little golfing style cap, the kind my dad used to wear. The hat as did he seemed very out of place in the garbage.

Here is one of the words he taught me:

Camera =  KIM-FRAU or it KIM-FRAH (got to check again)
Update* Was told by another  old friend camera in Burmese was KAM-MER-RRAU, Maybe the other man was teaching me the Karen Language. Too many languages here!! Gives me a headache!!

I am also using my iPad to learn an important phrase or words now. If I can learn one word or one phrase a day (a tall order). I will be able to communicate so much better with the families. Most of the people there cannot speak English or Thai so I am very limited, too limited, frustratingly limited!!! When it comes to exchanging ideas with them.

Here is the phrase of the day.

What is this called? = DA-BEH-LOU-KOH-DEH-LAY

DAMN...am eating breakfast, am eating some kind of canned fish as I type this blog. DAMN HOT!! TOO DAMN HOT!!, not sure I can finish it. Just picked up the can at the store without knowing what it was. That is what happens when your in a strange supermarket where much is unfamiliar.

Update* I managed to finish the spicy fish (tuna?), guess I am toughening up food wise a bit. Tasted rather good in the end, still very spicy but a good kinda spicy! Plan on buying several cans of this stuff the next time I see it. Now I just need to find me some salt and pepper for the eggs.

Slept 10 hours

Had a 10 hour sleep, feel a lot better. Went to bed just after midnight last night and woke up at just after 10am today. I guess I really needed the sleep, hopefully this will help my energy leave some.

Dreamed a lot, my last dream was the strangest. I was racing some white girl with red hair and freckles to work in Canada. The race was ti my job out in the countryside where I work security. We were both driving some kind of open air motorized vehicle. She was less than 100lbs and I was over 200 but I still won the race because I made a driving mistake (wrong exit) but was lucky and got a green light at an intersection, she was stuck at the opposing red light. I coasted to an easy victory.

Time to wash up, have a bite to eat and then take my Thai motorbike for a spin, plan to go to Lotus, the big Lotus shopping store across the highway if I can find it. Later on if I can I will do my first drive to the dump with some of the donated goods. I might try that around 3pm when there still is plenty of getting lost light left. Want to be on my way back before it gets dark (around 6pm). After I figure things out I can drive my motorbike in the dark, not now.

Wonder if I will meet any red haired freckled white girls along the way today, we can race!

Grocery Shopping Day 1

I took the motorbike onto the streets of Mae Sot and bought a bunch of groceries tonight, plus 2 pairs of size 11 rubber boots (earlier post). Will try to make it to the dump mid day on my own tomorrow to hand everything out.

Here is a photo of the supplies for the first 2 bags. I bought the smaller rice size, maybe I should have bought the bigger size. I was worried thou about weight. Last year the food bag sizes and the weight of the bags was rather overpowering, it really war me down. I am trying to make things a bit easier, but not sure that is the best way to go. I should probably push myself harder and get this done right. I need to factor in the motorbike, not sure if that will make things easier or harder. Getting supplies from the stores should be easier, taking everything to the dump? Not sure yet. Will probably have to do smaller batches with more loads-trips.

I will figure out the cost of this buy and add it to the RED donation buy link in the coming days. Feel too tired now, too worn out to do it now, 1146pm now, been on the go since 5am this morning.

Food for 2 donation bags

Apartment Wild Kingdom

Thai has all kinds of little creatures and not little ones that as a Canadian I am not used to. In the kitchen just now as I was boiling some eggs I got to watch a jing jok (gecko) capture a fly in in the window area. The jing jok is quite smart, he knows that at night (like now) that insects will be attracted to the light. I think I will call my jing jok who loves to eat "Noodle".

Yesterday when I came home late at night, I found a super large grasshopper of some kind on my door. I touched it to make it move before I opened up my apartment and the thing spooked and jumped away from the wall and off the 5th floor balcony, disappearing in the abyss below. Did it survive? Who knows? It probably did.

Update* Thailand like most moist countries is a land of insects. I am trying to keep all the areas where I eat and store food very clean. I dispose of garbage quickly, pick up any dropped food, bread crumbs etc. I put most everything I have food wise inside my sealed little fridge. The idea is to keep the ants and cockroaches away. Any food of any kind that hangs around my room will attract ants and cockroaches. If that happens I have a big problem. I can take most anything but cockroaches, they really freak me out. None seen so far this trip, lets keep it that way!

Kub Rot Motocyke Cha Cha Mak!

When I drove the motorbike to the grocery and boot stores I was driving VERY slowly. Or as Thai people might say "Kub Rot Motocyke Cha Cha Mak!" which means "Drive the motorcycle very slowly.

How slow was I driving? I had to decide whether to stay behind the old lady on the bicycle or pass her. Eventually I did pass her, but it was a close call there for a while! It is amazing how much traffic there is in a small town like Mae Sot. Trucks, cars, motorbikes, bicycles, people and dogs are  FRICKING EVERYWHERE, coming from all sides, all angles at the same. As an added bonus in Thailand they drive on the wrong side of the road! At least from my farang Canadian perspective.

Will take it  nice and slow at first, until I get my motorcycle legs again. I have not driven a bike for at least 4 years and the last time I used to drive a motorbike often was when I was about 16 years old. That would be 37 years ago.

Having a bike is a great benefit, I have freedom to move now like I have rarely had in this country. I need to figure out how to mount my tripod and all my gear to the bike. I did a bunch of grocery bags, back pack and large floor brush (sticking out of the backpack) today.

Gerry The Cook!

I am trying to do my own cooking in my Mae Sot apartment. I am a terrible cook but am trying to channel my late father who was very gifted when it came to making food. As I type this am frying up a chicken breast in butter, with green onions and chili powder (I do not have any salt, pepper etc).

Will see how it goes! Got to eat, to stay strong. Maybe some corn on the cob later, or something with eggs (I am becoming part chicken now, "cluck, cluck"). I was hoping to have a feast of green onions tonight but I forgot to buy salt!! Cannot eat my green onions with bread and milk, if I have no salt. Might do a restaurant my first in Mae Sot this trip tomorrow night.

Tonight's attempt at cooking

Video: My First Day Back At The Dump, Swam Home Area

This video was made today, my first day back at the dump after being away for around 1 year 6 months. It was shot at about 620am. The huts are located in area around a swamp/slew . This is the first time I met the women washing rice (mid video) There were also some shacks located farther back in the bush, including the shack for the father and mother of the groom (I photographed their sons wedding back in 2013). The father of the groom is the nice man at the end the end of the video. He is also the man from the "Scream of Joy Boot" story from a few years back (see link).

"Cry Of Joy" Blog Boot Story From 2015
Higher Quality YouTube Version Of Video