Maesot

At first, Maesot appeared to me as a standard city in Thailand. That is true that I didn't really know other towns in this new country but that was my first feeling. Later on, I changed my mind when I got to know more of the town by walking through its streets and listening to the stories about what was actually going on here.
Anyway, every time I had to come here, I enjoyed doing my shopping and talking to local people.
Maesot is well known for its various kind of trades going from jewels to heroin by weapons. One has to know that Maesot is located 5 Km from the Burmese border. On the other side of the border a war, now lasting for 20 years, is going on between the Karen people and the Burmese dictatorship. Therefore, Maesot is a very well located place for providing weapons to Karen people against heroin or jewels. At about 10 AM, jewel shops start to open and hundred of people come to trade their emeralds or other valuable stones.
It was quite seldom to meet white people in Maesot. But the few of them living here where mostly mercenaries working for the Karen rebellion army.
 

The main street of Maesot

I remember two little anectodes that gave Maesot a special charm to me. Once, I was coming back by walking from the central telecommunications office of the city which is about two and a half kilometers away from the center. The heat was strong and very few people were walking on the road. Nevertheless, plenty of cars and motorcycles were going through the road. A woman on a motorcycle passed me and stopped. She started talking to me in a very good English and she was wondering what the heck I wasn't taking a tuk-tuk or such transportation means. She kindly proposed me for a ride to the center, I felt very touched by the kindness of this 40 years old woman who simply wanted to help. But I declined with a nice smile, saying that I prefered walking because I had a lot of time in front of me and I wanted to see the merchants' life on the road sides. Obviously she didn't get offended and understood me. With a friendly smile, she wished me all the best for my trip in Thailand.

The other little story occured when I was hanging around in the back streets of Maesot. I usually seldom get in a shop unless I have a purpose for that. But for some reasons, I went into a music tapes store. The foreground of the shop was full of obviously pirate tapes and CDs. I was looking at some of the songs and I got my attention attracted by the noise of a TV in the back of the shop which was actually another room. A TV was showing an English league football match. So far, I didn't meet anyone in the shop but one of the shopkeeper appeared and greeted me in English. I replied to his greetings and asked about the match going on on TV. He was probably so happy that a foreigner came in his shop that he immediatly gave me an armchair to sit and watch the game. I could easily see that his heart was breathing honesty and I accepted with the natural Thai smile. I saw from his skin color that he was not originally Thai and I asked from where he learnt to speak such a good English. He told me part of his life story. His family was actually a refugee family from Bengladesh and with the money they saved before fleeing their country, they set up this small shop here in this small city at the border of Burma. His story was really touching and I could see how much he wanted to fight for having a decent life. Even though he was most likely poor, his generosity and sense of welcoming were exceptional. And I still remember this simple generosity from a guy who open the door of his backshop to share for a while the pleasure of meeting someone new.