Thailand Diaries, Part I

Brown water ripples down the Ping river, dividing Chiang Mai into two seemingly different cities. I'm glad for the afternoon break in heat as I overlook the flowing mud. Ninety-eight degrees mixed with raw diesel fumes is taxing on a mountain boy.

Ben and I arrived three days ago, jet lagged and smelly. We're staying at the Galare Guest House, a family owned favorite among Western expats. After checking in, we met Rob Schwab, a former U.S. military adviser who now pens essays on the sublime perfection of golf. The consummate bachelor at sixty-five, Rob enjoys Thai massages, political discussion, and, above all, no permanent address. Ben has dubbed him "Professor" as his wiry frame and British humor has me convinced I'm in bloody Oxford.

Dave Eubank is a former U.S. special forces major with deep sympathy for the Karen plight. Dave is the founder of Free Burma Rangers and routinely spends months behind enemy lines caring for wounded villagers. When not amputating legs of landmine victims with a pocket Leatherman tool, Dave's Karen medics are hot in the firefight alongside other freedom-fighters. Though he supports the resistance, Dave enters the jungles unarmed. "God has a different plan for me," he says. CNN and 60 Minutes prod Dave weekly for interviews. He shuns the spotlight, directing the camera instead towards native heroes. Backpack medics like Iliad, whose kill factor in combat is only outmatched by his aide to refugees. Iliad plays guitar, knows how to perform surgery under demanding conditions, and recites the Lord's Prayer in battle.

Before coming to Thailand, I bought a Suunto watch to give a backpack medic. (Suunto is a wristop computer, complete with digital compass, altimeter, barometer, and 3-day weather indicator.) I took Dave aside, telling him I felt God impressing me to give the watch to Iliad. Would it make an appropriate gift? He smiled...then told me that Iliad once owned a Suunto, exactly like mine, but it recently broke and he couldn't afford to fix it. I gave him the watch. Iliad wrapped his arms tight around me and rested his head against my shoulder with thanks.

As Iliad strums a tune on his guitar, I begin to understand why a man like Dave Eubank chooses to redirect the spotlight. How often we Americans glory in our efforts around the world, often to the exclusion of recognizing others. There is humanity, conviction, and love in these jungles, alive in a people we'd rather ignore. A free Burma is their mantra, their struggle, their prize to take. For me and Ben, our job is to simply burn tape telling their story.

I look again across the Mei Ping, towards the banks on the other side. Separate, but the same. Different, but housing the same people. To my left stands a bridge. Maybe I should cross it.

Andrew