တွေးမိတွေးရာ (My Musings)

Last month, Friends of Burma had a board meeting. Here is the picture of their meeting in Arizona. Neil and Diana Sowards, David and Doris Horton, Tansy Kadoe and Adam Maung were there. Friends of Burma hosts my web site and they helped me to study in the States. They helped Burmese people in small things that they can. Here is their web site: http://www.friendsofburma.org

http://khitpyaing.org/modules.html?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=887 There is a new law for registration of migrant workers in Thailand. Workers have to pay 10,000 bahts (US$ 250) if they have registered before. If they are new, they have to pay 50,000 bahts (US$ 1,250). One worker said, "If I have $ 1,250, I would not come to work in Thailand in the first place." Burmese government's failed economic policy can't create jobs for our people and there have been serious problems of migrant workers around Thailand and China borders.

Panglong Agreement Sources http://jarmtoon.myweb.hinet.net/mainfile/panglong.htm http://dathana.blogsopt.com

Last Sunday, I went to Koh Kret island in the middle of Chao Phraya River. Koh Kret was founded a long time ago by ethnic Mons whose ancestors left Mon Kingdom after their capital was attaked by Along Pa Ya (the King of Burma). The island is famous for Mon-style pottery called "Hai" which is still made on the island today. I met an old Mon man who can still speak Mon. However, his Mon sounds a bit different to me. Thai influence, I guess. Too bad I don't have a camera any more. So I can't take any pictures. By the way, today is Valentine day. I want to wish all of you a happy Valentine day and may you feel God's love today :-)

I read the article, "The Rise and Fall of Burma's Casino Capital By Clive Parker/Mong La, Shan State" from the Irrawaddy today. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=5452 The article talked about the fall of casinos in Shan State because of restrictions by Chinese government.

I went to Ban Laem in Chantaburi province for my visa run yesterday. It was a four-hour bus trip to the Cambodia border. We crossed the border and had lunch at a casino in Cambodia. After lunch at about 12:30, we crossed the border to be back into Thailand. Voila, I had a 90-day stay in Thailand again. It took me a day and 2000 Bahts for that. On the bus, I met a Japanese guy who spoke highly of Burmese programmers.

I had to speak at the youth group at Bangkok Christ Church. I spoke about accidents , about which I spoke at MIT a few years ago.