Just a motorbike ride away...

A friend of mine, Abby, and I took the short 10 minute motorbike ride to the Thai - Burmese border. There are such a variety of things going on at the border, you could spend hours just marveling over the guards with machine guns, illegal crossing of the border in inter-tubes, the poverty, the illegally imported goods from Burma that are being sold through the fence to residents of Thailand. Along the border there is a pretty well known market that we did some brief shopping.

Such an amazing thing to see people living in such horrible conditions, under such oppression and yet when you walk by -- a complete foreigner in sunglasses and holding a camera -- they look at you and smile. Just puts things in perspective a bit. Come experience it for yourself if you don't believe me. I hope these pictures capture just some of what it feels like. Enjoy.