Live from Mae Sot

Its all been worth it as we have finally arrived safely , if totally exhausted , at Mae Sot. Our early 6.ooam start from Edinburgh to London was straightforward and then we negotiated our way round terminal 5 to reach our Thai airways connection to Bangkok. After a 13 hour flight we touched down at Bangkok at 6.00am Wednesday morning and then had to find our way to the central bus station located downtown. It took us an hour and we booked tickets for the first bus which left at 9.00am. In the waiting room everyone got to their feet at 8.00am as we sat bleary eyed and watchful until we realised we should stand too as it was the national anthem...a daily ritual! When we asked how long we would be on the bus , the driver held up his hand to say 5. We interpreted this as 5 hours and felt quite relieved but in reality he meant 5 pm arrival which meant 8 hours on the bus. I give you this level of detail to illustrate our incredibly long journey. The TV blared throughout and I felt we might disembark speaking fluent Thai...I was so tired that I believed I could understand the conversations! On our way to Mae Sot there were 3 different police checks and one of them involved taking pictures inside and outside of the bus. Mr Pho Cho and his family met us at the bus station at 5 pm and had a big tuk-tuk ready and waiting, he must have heard that the Gillespies don't travel light!






This is the bus we travelled in for 8 hours









Calum hands over the kilted teddy bear


We arrived at our hotel and handed over a Scottish teddy bear to a delighted Nisha-le Cho, Pho Cho's daughter and were greeted by Sheila and Geoff , here visiting Hlee Bee with their friend and interpreter. We enjoyed our first meal at a local restaurant and took in some of the sights and smells, arriving home just in time before the skies opened up and we watched the rain pour down in sheets from the comfort of our balcony. A first reminder that it was the rainy season in Thailand, but at least it was really warm outside.We tried to post this blog but there was no connection in our room so we collapsed into bed ready for the next day when we are looking forward to meeting the children and staff at Say Ta Nar school.