725- Officially leaving the city behind!

Alright! First day heading to the borders! Let's do this!

We then carry on our journey,

turning right and left, left and right,

up and down, down and up... *Where's my sour plum/ Wu Hua Guo?!*

We chattered all the way in our van, 

With silly pics and selfies which is a must ;)

but when the hill road was starting to get a little drowsy...

*Everybody to slumberland* hahaha

Stopped by a lovely human plantation forest for lunch, 

Ah, how lovely is the view! And to get some refreshing air... 

After all, all these mountain journey still needed some time for us to get used to it..

Eventually, we had seaweed for lunch again, but this time with glutinous rice! 

So-called SUSHI! Toppled with some fresh longans...

There was me, honestly thinking... (You might be thinking as well)

"Am I really going to survive the rest of the journey 4 days for goodness sake by being a vegetarian?"

And then there was my other contradicting thought,

"Take up this as a challenge for yourself Jelly Wong!" 

It's like devil and angels fighting in my head!

Obviously the picture is for illustration purpose only, I'm not the dog lol 

Starting to embrace the time spent with my mates, 

taking lovely pictures here and there around the forest!

P/S Killing boredom by making fun of myself.

We then continue our journey to the border, 

on the way we stopped by a few stops, which was great as the journey is both bumpy and tiring, especially for our driver! So kudos to the driver! *Applause*

However, there's just one itsy bitsy problem we need to take note of...

WE HAD TO REACH OUR DESTINATION BY SUNSET PEOPLE! 

So hold ye bladders and drink less water! *lol*

But eventually we manage to reach Thai border around late noon and still got to stop by a few stops for breaks ;) 

And you think this is the end? NOT!

Each and everyone of us had to unload all our stuff from vans,

personal luggage, food supplies, camping stuffs, clothes supplies, gifts and etc. 

Pass it on one by one and load it all on the boat...

For city animals like us, honestly the boat looks really vulnerable and it was merely made out of few pieces of wood... so no complains! At least there's a boat! 

We tried our best to load luggage and all on the boat, and slowly take the boat with a maximum of 6 of us.

One by one, patiently, cooperatively we unload all the goods from the boat and successfully reached our destination- Wai Ler Mu village at the borders of Myanmar. 

Just as I was about to jump out from the boat with few supplies, few soldiers with guns were standing and patrolling around the entrance of the village...

Ah, the welcoming committee? very lovely.

*Honest thoughts take 2* -> I was not only terrified but petrified! 

"I felt as if I were a refugee, holding on the remaining food supplies I have, running away for my life while guarded by stern-looking, armed with guns soldiers next to me... "

Well obviously I was thinking too much! 

But it was an experience I will never forget. 

That feeling of fear... And that was the feeling, even more and worse as the villagers, the Karen people has gone through...

But most importantly, the soldiers were merely guarding the village from threats. And they know we came with no harm.

After all, they have been through numerous wars, 

as peace has finally arrived for the village,

I would too, protect my home by all means.

With Mr Chong's help, we made it to the village safe and sound. 

With his compassion and love to the Karen people, 

we were fortunate to have the chance to help them and see their plight with our own eyes...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Alright! Settle down everybody!

After unloading all the goods from the boat we decided to set up our camping site in an old school house.

Long, old, rusty and dark, the house is. 

We walked everywhere with torchlight.

*Pics are shot the next morning*

And to think how lucky we are,

to have lights on as long as we want (If you're willing to contribute to elect bills that is),

to have lights as many as we want back home...

Plus, 

there was only a few lightbulbs in the house, and were merely powered by short electricity supply. 

Hence,

when it comes close to midnight, we ran out of power and 

had to rely the ONE AND ONLY valuable torchlight! 

But in every darkness scenario,

a shed of light can always warm up people's hearts. 

The children welcomed us with their warm and shyness smiles,

singing with their hearts and brought warmness and light into the house, to our camping site, to our hearts.

We too sang a few songs for them, 

<对面的女孩看过来>,

Not surprisingly, the boys in our group can remember all the lyrics much much better than girls! 

:P

Ah! and how could I left out our delicious and nutritious dinner cooked by Chong Da Ge! (A.K.A. Big brother Mr. Chong) 

Looks like we're getting used to all the lovely vegetarians meals after all :)

Here comes the challenging part.

Shower. Face Wash. Toilet. HOW?

All our basic needs suddenly became a bit of bleak for us.

Without lights,

with small crampy space in old and rusty toilets, 

a good, long, refreshing shower suddenly became a luxury far away from us. 

Due to time and limited toilet spaces, (20 people, not including the kids, 3 usable toilets, 4 buckets),

we merely flushed ourselves with water, no time for hair shampoo, face wash, body shower.

Quick tip #1: Always carry a mosquito repellent with you, spray immediately after shower! You never know how many of these little bast**** are waiting for you outside ...

Quick tip #2: Girls, always have a partner with you to the toilets. It's completely dark outside! 

boy am I glad to have Ke Sin as my tent-roommie/ toilet partner/ shower partner/ sampat partner!:D

When you're out there, it's always better to look out for one another :)

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Tent zips closed up,

here we are, 

getting ready for our first night camping...

To slumberland we go,

with natural orchestra from our bug friends in the woods and not to forget...

Our snoring orchestra from worn-out mates! haha!

To be continued...

Officially starting our voluntary work the next day!

 Remember to come back here peeps :)

Thanks for reading!

725 Volunteering Team:
Ke Xin, Xiao Jie, Adelene, Alice, Yee Ling, David, Kenny, Yen Siang, Ray, Zu Han, Ling Jing, Hui Juan, Ming Hui, Xiu Lei, Dao Yi, Sing Yee, Xiao Feng, Hui Fang