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Tom suggested we not get lost in the deep forests as we made our way to the Myanmar border , a guide was recommended . It mattered little as most of the forest trails were closed for maintenance . We headed back south following the same route we had already made until we reached Tong Pha Phum .
We followed a shortcut to Sinakharin Lake following OpenStreetMap , yet it felt as if the track had been swept away by last seasons monsoon , other trails seemed to befall a similar fate . Our cheap and poorly detailed map didn ’ t help , and we often found ourselves lost between banana plantations . Asking the locals for information they could provide was futile as they didn ’ t speak English and so far from home our hand gestures were just too different .
We settled on a camp , free , amongst a National Park that featured many great waterfalls . Enough rest to enjoy the following days riding through hairpins as smooth as a pool table , crossing lost villages and , after taking a ferry over the Sinakharin we camped on its shore .
It was time to find another foundation , this time one beating to a different drum .
We just don ’ t know how we got to Mae Sot . We couldn ’ t call anyone , but luck was on our side . Paw Ray came to rescue us as we sat in a café amongst suburbia . In front of a large courtyard lay a portico where guys prepared food . Out front sat a house where children lived . We were invited to stay in the volunteers ’ quarters in Paw Ray ’ s apartment .
We immersed ourselves in the day-to-day life as we stayed for three days . Paw Ray , renamed Big Mama by us , came to Mae Sot when she was nineteen , escaping from her village on the other side of the border after it was burnt during the guerrilla war between Mon fighters and Burmese military .
With a need to help herself and those around her brought her to create , over the past thirty years , a vast web of villages , schools , farms , and hospitals , all sustained by foreign donations . It all seemed great yet the most perfect thing she has created is the human connection . Paw Ray ’ s children do all that is necessary without an order , just through their responsibilities . The children all cook , wash , pray , and study , whilst still having fun , there is no need to be told or have someone on their back demanding tasks to be completed . It ’ s a good feeling to see that all this solidarity is administrated by those who receive it .
When time to say goodbye we followed a route straight north then east on the Mae Hong Son Loop , a long sequence of perfect asphalt of hairpin turns crossing villages and small towns . The free camping continued as much as possible . In Mae Hong Son we put our tent in the public garden , right in front of the main temple by the police station , where the officer allowed us to use toilet . The day after , having a coffee with us , he made me promise to bring him a stove like mine , whenever I come back through the area .
We enjoyed this hospitality almost
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