Malay three days in. (this is old)
July 31st
Been in Kalay (kale) for 3 days now and the situation is has gone from bad to bleak. At first a few villages and the road to india were flooded, but with continuous rain 3 of the 5 dams in the area have broke (well they tell me they broke but when dams break I would assume most of the northern territories would be 20ft under water…not exactly the case). So now Kalay has become a relief town and you walk outside and people are herding cows and pigs down the street while truckloads of people are being relocated to schools and temples while military trucks are laying on the horn trying to get supplies around town. We visited a few of refugee camps today and brought bottled water, few hundred packages of noodles, soaps, other foods, and of course toothbrushes. We met with the men running the camps and asked them what they needed so we could help supply them again tomorrow. At the second school a fresh truck of people arrived and we helped everyone get situated. They literally only had a bag or small box with all their personal items they grabbed from home. Everyone has been rushed out so no time to grab anything else. Restaurants are running out of food and most are starting to get flooded as well. We have been to the same place breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The conditions at these refugee camps are terrible of course but the people are pretty resilient. Everyone is helping one another and it seems that they have a good handle on rationing rice, water etc to all camps. There are 4 in all totaling 10,000 people I would guess shoved into a very small space. Not sure how much I need to explain about these places but its refugee camps in the middle of Myanmar not joyous.
With the dams breaking (or whatever happened) I’m not really sure how long I will be stationed here. Had a buddy waiting in India I was supposed to pick up in Imphal, then told her to wait in Calcutta (because who wants to wait in Imphal), now its straight to the front lines. Shes sitting in Yangon Myanmar waiting for a flight to Kalay (must like punishment). Bright side is my mechanic skills have gone from pathetic, to something a little better than pathetic. Fixed the tie rod again, back side window was about to fall out so got that screwed back in place, power source in the back decided to be a quitter but talked him back into playing ball, and the bushing on the rear shock decided it was a good time to fall apart so had to fix that. Since most of the mechanic shops are flooded here in town I turned the parking lot into a little workshop. It is pretty much me cursing in the rain cause I don’t know what I’m doing, then jumping around like I just won state cause I figured it out. What would take a real mechanic 2hrs to fix has taken me the better part of 2 days. But its “fixed” so happy days. Gary my parts mule is brining spares to Kathmandu so fingers crossed until then. Actually been lucky its things I can be talked trough to fix, engine problems….yeah not my forte (not Matt Forte the running back for the bears)
The 9 days of Burmese curry has finally taken its toll. Feel like I did a detox for a month then came out and ripped 6 stellas and ate half of the McDonalds menu (not breakfast menu). Got the shakes, headaches, and constantly queasy. Started taking some supplements and its helping. Im sure indian cuisine will help the situation as well…
Going to make a plan with the guides for what we are going to do tomorrow, then completely change it in the morning but it’s always fun making plans right. Off to do that.
