Sukhothai and Chiang Mai

Jaime and I are starting to get back into travel mode and we are loving it! We started out by heading to Sukhothai, Thailand's capital city from 1238 to 1419. The remains of the old city caught us off guard and were astounding to say the least. Jaime practiced her Buddha pose a bit and we had a great time biking in the central zone and outer zones of the old capital. We also enjoyed our hotel room as WE NOW HAVE HOT WATER AGAIN!!

Yesterday we arrived in Chiang Mai and have started to tour around the city today as we will be using it as a hub for hiking in the Northern parts of Thailand. Tomorrow we start a 3 day trek where we will be staying for a few nights in different hill tribe villages. We are looking forward to the trek and are hoping that Jaime doesn't get too many more mosquito bites:)

Bittersweet...leaving people of character

Well, Jaime and I are leaving Mae Sot tomorrow after an amazing 3 months of teaching, writing, and putting a bit of effort into helping organizations that have a desire to change a military controlled country into a free democracy. Many of my (Jason's) students shed a few tears yesterday as they threw a going away party for me. I admit that I shed a couple as well. I never knew that teaching a bunch of Burmese refugees would have had this type of impact on me, yet it has.


These past three months Jaime and I have learned so much about Burma's situation, their people, and how they view life in general. Though the food was a bit of a challenge for Jaime (fish paste and rice 5 days a week is tough), the cold water bucket showers a bit shocking at times, the constant ants and cockroaches in the house disheartening, and the language barrier continually difficult we still came to appreciate how the Burmese love the simple things in life and how they have smiles unlike anything we've seen. The smiles are what amaze me...these people cannot return to their country and they are not free in their safe houses...they still smile though.

At one point over the past three months I went home to see family. One thing I noticed when I arrived in the good ol' USA was the amount of frowning faces I saw in the crowds. We are a spoiled country and have a freedom that others only dream of...yet we frown? I have come to realize from teaching the guys I've been with that people of character are people who smile in the face of opposition, men and women who appreciate what has been provided for them even if it is very little, and folks who don't give up even if the task seems quite fruitless at times. How I wish more of us would smile back in the states...most of us have no idea how blessed we are.

Christmas Season - Karen Children - Good Combo!

Jaime and I had the privilege of helping out a friend on Saturday with a Christmas party for 200 Karen children that live at a migrant camp. The Karen people come from the Karen state in Burma, which lies in the Eastern Region and also along the Irrawaddy Delta. The Karen have fought for independence from Burma since 1949. They are a strong people and many of the men are either soldiers or farmers in their hill region.



Most of these kids will not have their parents around to raise them, let alone a meaningful Christmas. Their parents are stuck back in Burma, while these kids have a chance at a better life. We split the group into two 100 people teams and Jaime covered crafts, while I lead games for the kids. It was an amazing day and the children had so much respect and appreciation for us that we walked away feeling as though their laughter and loud singing voices were enough of a gift for us to last many Christmases (okay...that sounds cheesy...but you could only understand if you were there in the moment).

The end of the party included singing and Jaime and I, along with two others, handing out over 200 presents to kids, and other Karen caregivers. It was exhausting, yet extremely fulfilling and it was amazing seeing how excited the children were to receive a gift for the holidays. These kids, along with many others in Mae Sot that evening, sang songs so loud to God as though He were sitting in the back balcony row of a huge auditorium....no microphone was needed...all we could do was smile.

My watery eyes and U Htun Win's essay

Prior to heading back to the States for a quick week-long trip in Orlando, FL with my family I had some students conduct interviews on each other about Burma and on me. Their questions were out of this world and on Monday December 7, 2009 one of my students handed in an essay that made my eyes water. These students range from beginners with the English language to advanced elementary students. U Htun Win (an advanced student) handed in the following essay in English:

"December 1, 2009

Now I live in Mae Sot in Thailand together with many young people. Many Burmese people live in Thailand illegally. Why do they live here with many difficulties? It is a very good question. The answer depends entirely on Burma's situation. Burma's country has been governed by military dictators since 1962. In Burma many people can't live, work, learn or speak. We have no human rights. Many people can't save their lives by their works, except for military high ranking people and a few Burmese people. So, Burma's people have long wanted a Democracy in Burma, and we have attempted to have one in many ways. Burma's dictators have suppressed and arrested many politicians and democratic activists.


Burma's most famous opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is still under house arrest.
Now we are staying in Mae Sot and conducting political activity, studying political subjects, and learning the English language. Our teacher is Jason. He is from Truckee, CA in America. Our English classes started on October 14th. On November 20th, he let the class ask him some questions. We learned information about his life, his political and religious views, and his ambitions by asking him questions.


His name is Jason LaChance. He is 32 years old. He is married. His wife's name is Jaime. They have no child yet. Jason is handsome, well spoken, good teaching, and polite. He was born in the town of Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin State. He was born on November 2nd 1977. He has two brothers, Sam and Charlie. He has college degree from Arizona State University. He met Jaime at University and married with her on August the 5th in year 2000. After his wedding, Jason attended law school at John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois State. After law school, he lived in the Town Truckee in California with his wife.
Jason did not always like his job in family law and they decided to travel. Jason has travelled to countries like Kenya, Nepal, Indonesia, China, Tanzania, Thailand, Laos, Singapore and many european countries and countries South America. Jason and Jaime have sympathy and social service spirits. Now they are living in Mae Sot in Thailand. Jaime is working on of Burma's highly active organizations, AAPP, and Jason is teaching English language to our GW members as a volunteer.

He and Jaime arrived at Thailand in September 2009 and went to the border town of Mae Sot. In Mae Sot they met many Burmese immigrants and political organizations. They know about Burma's situation and feel sympathy to Burma's people.
Jason started teaching our GW organization members on October 14th. He likes GW members' spirit and eagerly teaches English language to the members.

He has good views on Burma's junta and the opposition to political activists inside Burma and abroad. He has wish to help Burmese people to get the free and democracy. But he doesn't wish to change our culture to be like his in America. Jason likes our GW's nonviolent action, as he doesn't think we can win by fighting with weapons.
I ask Jason if America can win against Afghanistan. Jason thinks Afghanistan is a different kind of enemy that we can't necessarily beat. This was his opinion.

His opinion is to change Burma's situation a democracy needs the help of other countries like European, Asian countries, and America. Jason thinks, and I think too, that America is afraid of China."

This essay may mean nothing to others. It meant the world to me when I read it. U Htun Win is a 55 year old migrant worker who hasn't seen his wife and daughter in years as he is constantly running from Burma's military. He is a simple man. A man who has taught me more in the past 2 months than most textbooks have taught me in my lifetime. The essay he gave me was almost three pages in his handwriting. I only asked for 5-10 sentences. Last week I brought him a New York Times newspaper and he smiled at me like a kid getting a Play Station for Christmas. He is always eager to learn more, hard working, and smiles at the simplest of things. His desire after I teach him is to go teach other migrant workers simple English.

Alone in Thailand on Thanksgiving

Well, I guess the title is only a partial truth. I (Jaime) am in Mae Sot, Thailand for Thanksgiving while Jason is in Florida.

Here in Mae Sot, I am lucky to be “orphaned” along with many other expatriates and temporary volunteers who are also missing their families this Thanksgiving. It’s a wonderful community of friendly people, so a large group of us are going to have a potluck Thanksgiving tonight. It won’t be a traditional Thanksgiving feast, since there are no ovens to cook and no turkeys, cranberries, etc. But we’ll have chicken, mashed potatoes, long green beans...and probably pad thai with a side of rice and fish paste.

As for Jason, a few weeks back he received the sad news from his family that one of his grandmas was diagnosed out of the blue with stage 4 gastric (stomach) cancer which had already spread throughout her body. Her prognosis was very poor, so Grandma, with the support of her kids, decided to forego harsh radiation/chemo, and enjoy her remaining weeks, and possibly months, at home until she moves into hospice care. Grandma Bates is an incredible woman who lost her dear husband to cancer a few years back. She has a strong faith in God and is ready to go to heaven, although she understandably doesn’t want to experience too much pain.

Jason’s entire extended family decided to meet in Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving with Grandma. Apparently she said she’d rather have everyone visit while she’s living than to attend her funeral. We totally agree! As Jason would have been the only of many cousins not to attend, there was no doubt that he must jump on a plane to Florida to care for and encourage his Grandma, to provide emotional support for his mom during this difficult time, and to celebrate the reunion with his family. If I’m counting correctly, Grandma will have nearly 30 of her kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, and spouses to chow down on some good old-fashioned turkey. Gobble, gobble!

If all of you can pray for Grandma Bates’ strength and courage as she nears the end of her extraordinary life, and that she will not experience much pain, we would really appreciate it. And of course, please pray for Jason’s safe return to me, as I miss him so much after just five days…it’s hard when you’ve been together every single day for seven months!

Other than that, let’s all be thankful and remember that I can eat more mashed potatoes than any of you...just ask my Grandpa Taylor!!!

Volunteering on the Thai-Burma Border

As part of our travel plans, Jaime and I (Jason is writing this post) decided that we would like to volunteer for a portion of our adventure. Little did we know back then that we would be helping Burmese refugees at the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot. Jaime and I arrived in Bangkok after our African adventures and spent a little time in Bangkok, Vientiane (in Laos), and Khon Kaen before arriving in Mae Sot. We've seen lots of interesting things, like elephants wandering around bus stations, lady boys looking for someone to love, and people selling everything under the sun from a tiny little market.

Upon arriving in Mae Sot we hung out for a few days before meeting our head organization's coordinator. We went through an intriguing orientation for a few days before getting placed in our volunteer positions. The orientation was eye-opening as we learned quite a bit about the current situation in Burma and what is going on at the border. A couple good books we would recommend are Restless Souls by Peter Thornton and From The Land of Green Ghosts by Pascal Khoo Thwe. The immediate good news is that we, as a couple, were able to get our own bedroom. We don't have hot water though...sorry, Jaime:(...but I am loving the cold bucket showers. And the cockroach-to-human ratio is not in our favor!

I am teaching English to 13 adult students who are quite forward-thinking people. The culture is very conservative (most of the population is Buddhist), and they share everything (I have problems getting my sandals back from one of the students before I head home in the evening). I am enjoying teaching, but am needing a bit of patience at times as resources for teaching near this town are extremely low (a lot of creativity needed for the job at times).

Jaime is doing research and report-writing for a political prisoner advocacy group. Jaime's job has made both of us more aware of the injustice with the Burmese legal system (i.e., a Burmese can go to jail for almost anything they do that directly or indirectly speaks out against the ruling military regime).

We will be volunteering for about three months and hope to take more photos of the area before too long. Due to the security situation for our organizations, we are not allowed to mention the names of our organizations on our public blog, and we are not allowed to take pictures of anyone in our organization to post. If you want more specific information, feel free to send us an email. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We love and miss you all.

Kenya Safaris

After Tanzania, we got to spend a week in Kenya with my (Jaime's) parents on safaris (cameras only, no guns). Jason took on a new safari identity, Teddy Roosevelt, and insisted that we call him that during the trip...even the staff called him Teddy. And my dad was referred to as Lord Delamere (the financier of the expedition) or Big Pumba (after the warthog in Lion King.)

Our first stop was at Loldia House on the shores of Lake Naivasha. The accommodations were top-notch and the food was stellar. We walked around the farm and met some of the adorable kids who live there. We had to be escorted any time we left our room so the cape buffalo wouldn't attack us.

We went on several game drives around the area, including around Lake Nakuru which is famous for a huge presence of flamingos, along with numerous other animals.

Our second stop was at Little Governor's Camp in the Masai Mara. The camp consists of 17 tents along the Mara River, and the tents are more luxurious than most homes, including showers, toilets, and even bidets. Before we even checked into our tents, our driver took us to see three cheetah brothers "go shopping" for a wildebeest. The cheetahs prevailed, despite my cheering, and eventual tears, for the young wildebeest.

During our stay, we went on several game drives each day, and even had a picnic under a wide open tree. We saw a gazillion animals and birds, including lion, leopard, giraffe, gazelle, elephant, hippo, crocodile, cape buffalo, rhino, zebra, mongoose, elan, impala, bush buck, water buck, baboons, warthog, ostrich, hyena, and many more. The camp is set on a marsh where the wildlife graze all day long. The elephants in this photo hung out in front of our lunch table most of the day, but Jason/Teddy would not share his Tusker Beer!

From Kenya, we flew off to Thailand where we'll be spending the next few months. In the mean time, we want to thank my parents for treating us to a world-class vacation with luxury that is light years away from our backpacking adventures. We had an absolutely wonderful time. Lots of love, Mom & Dad!!!