Siam: Deep in the forest down some creek, 'Silent Night' could be heard at a little Karen village..

+ It was the most romantic outback stay. mosquito nets (pink!) lined the ceiling. tons and tons of blankets as cushions and covers for the cold. Candles burning dimly at some corner. All snuggled alongside each other falling aslp to lull of crickets and snores.

+ Was adventurous enough to bathe by the icy river. Amid washing hair Timotei style, heard my travel buddy Joyce laughing. Looked up and saw my Rejoice shampoo bobbing along with the current downstream. Ran after it for dear life creating big splish-splash. Places like these, I need my damn shampoo. Rescued it alrite.

+ 'Ter Berlerk' (made-up spelling) is Karen for 'What's your name'. We kept asking each other till it's like some form of greeting. To me, they all looked the same differentiated only by the clothes they never change out of. To them, we all looked the same too. I introduced myself as my chinese name 'Su Jun' , 'Cherandy' would be a real challenge I reckon. They got the hang of it and kept calling out 'Su Jun' just to evoke a response from me. Be it a look, a smile, a wave sometimes even a 'What/Simi?' from me. Initially I trained them to call me 'Chiobu' just for the fun of it. But dropped it as it became too gross for me to handle.

+ Early morn. Brushing my teeth at the washing area. "Su Jun, Su Jun". I looked up and saw a bunch of them across the grasspatch. I waved and they waved back amused. Continued brushing "Su Jun, Su Jun". Waved again. This happened afew times and became quite routine.

+ A platform of wood slabs was put together near our house. We lined blankets on it and snuggled under more blankets while staring out at the stars. The max no. of shooting stars under 2hrs was 6.

+ I imagined myself being tied-down with the bridge building but the truth is, there really wasnt much we could do. The best we could offer was to transport planks. I find myself more drawn to the educational class we conducted. This is where I could interact with them the most and is also the most cherished episode of my trip. We sang songs, taught the alphabets tho I guess they have hardly a clue what was being sung, they sang along anyhow. Languages,cultures are no barrier when there are smiles and love being displayed. Imagine Captain's Ball and Poison Ball was played there. Imagine the word 'Chiobu'could be heard at that part of the world..

to be continued..