There are now NINE albums available to view.
Just follow the link below. You need to sign up (if you haven't already) - but it's very simple.
http://www.yorkphoto.com/share/p=404121108228574426/l=42198992/cobrandOid=1002
Album 1 - Travel around central Thailand
1. The Three Pagodas Pass - less impressive than I imagined
2. Death Railway - of WW2 infamy
3. Bridge over River Kwae - site of many Allied and Thai deaths under Japanese in WW2
4. Slum river in Bangkok
5. A few northern Thai hill-tribe costumes6. House of Kittapong, my family's Compassion sponsor child
7. Kittapong and sister
Album 2 - Around Fang
1. Fang Hospital
2. My house3. Friends - SiKrai and Yui, meddies from Chiang Mai University
4. Friends at a karaoke house
5. Fang National Park Gardens
6. Gardens with hospital staff
7. Tribals displaying wares
8. Fang Hot Springs
Album 3 - Thaton
1. Thaton temple
2. Thaton temple view
3. Tribal selling wares at temple
4,5,6,7. Hilltribe village
8. View from river
Album 4 - Fang Hospital
1,2. Vaccinating kids at school for Polio
3,4,5,6. Operating room and op pics (appendix; thigh wound from MVA)
7,8. Emergency Dep - with thigh wound 'fresh'
Album 5 - Chiang Mai
1-7. Temples in Chiang Mai
8-10. Sunday Night Market
Album 6 - Around Fang
1,2,3 - farmland around Fang
4 - Fang temple
5 - creek in Fang
6 - Fang market
7,8 - Fang main street
Album 7 - Thailand + Burma + Laos
1 - Thai/Burma border
2,3 - Burmese market
4 - northermost tip of Thailand
5 - Golden Triangle
6 - Golden Triangle map
7-10 - Laos village
Album 8 - Trekking in Northern Thai Hill-tribe region
Album 9 - Community Health visit to Hill-tribe
ENJOY!
5.3.05
3.3.05
Thai Opus 5 - Finale
Monday, 21 February 2005
On my final Saturday in Fang I headed off with the Community Health team to another Hilltribe village. Here we spent the morning immunizing children, and conducting family planning and basic medical consultations. The extent of these community visits is very limited. Only large villages in close proximity to Fang are visited, and even these visits are rare and provide only very basic care. Any villager who requires more than this must travel into Fang Hospital. Even then, I met no hospital staff who could speak any of the hilltribe languages so healthcare is often extremely veterinarian. There is certainly scope for much beneficial health outreach (particularly health education/promotion) among the hilltribes of northern Thailand.
On the whole, Thailand’s Hilltribes remain a largely forgotten peoples. In recent years Western interest (through tourism) has done much to bring them to attention. This has had many positive effects, as the government has needed to provide at least tolerable living conditions to secure the tourism dollar. However, there is much cultural vandalism occurring along the way.
Part II – Back to Australia
Goodbye Granny - As mentioned earlier, I’m back in Sydney now following the death of my lovely Granny. She lived in Malaysia for many years, where Papa worked in the rubber industry. My father grew up in Malaysia, so I feel a strong link to the area through this family heritage. Indeed, this is why I chose this area to visit. I am disappointed to be unable to share these experiences with her, as I know she followed my travels with interest. But I do hope to develop some of the love and charity she displayed in her own life.
Graduation Year – This year is my final year of MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery). The past five years have really flown, though there has been plenty of hard work involved. This year I have seven 6 week rotations. I’ll be doing Emergency, General Medicine and General Surgery at Dandenong Hospital here in Melbourne. Then Aboriginal Community Medicine in the Northern Territory – living in an Indigenous community. The finish the year with Psychiatry and General Practice back here in Melbourne. Obviously, the NT placement is the one I am looking forward to with most anticipation!
Book Publication – As you may know I have a book being published. I met with my publishers in Sydney over a very expensive lunch. [I didn’t understand half of the words on the menu and kept thinking how extravagant it all was compared to Thailand] The book is titled Beyond Borders: McGraw-Hill’s Guide to Health Placements, and will be released by April. It is written for health students and professionals planning an intercultural health placement. So if you know any doctors, nurses, physiotherapists etc feel free to spread the word. If you’d like a copy ($19.95) or some promotional posters just let me know. All royalties will be donated to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) – a large NGO Health Relief organisation which is involved with areas of need all over the world (http://www.msf.org.au)/. The book will be available through medical and general bookstores in Australia, New Zealand, UK, some parts of Asia and maybe the US. But it is a little book and will depend mostly on person to person promotion, so if you’re keen to help out let me know.
Family Matters – For those of you wondering what the rest of the Graham clan is up to, here’s a quick summary. Dad – working with Simplot in Devonport, Tasmania ensuring that you all get real potato in your McDonald fries. Mum – working with Temcare in Devonport helping families in crisis. Dylan – in Hobart working as a Builder for Fairbrothers. Serena – in Melbourne studying Chinese Medicine at RMIT and missing boyfriend Matty. Hannah – in Launceston (Tasmania) studying Nursing and serving up quality subs at Subway. Tristan – in Cochabamba, Bolivia on student exchange. Kinza – in Devonport studying Year 10 and dreaming of getting her motorbike license (death wish).
Signing Off
My time in Thailand has had a significant impact on me. My hospital experiences were much different to what I expected, but very beneficial. No doubt the impact of these last few months will take many more weeks to be fully revealed.
Thank you for sharing the journey with me, I hope you have enjoyed my tales.
My adventure in Thailand has finally come to an end. However, I am forever changed by my experiences over the last couple of months. G.K. Chesterton wrote: “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land”. I have certainly found this to be true!
I flew from Bangkok to Melbourne on Thursday Feb 17. I had returned earlier than planned to visit my dying Granny in Sydney. Unfortunately she passed away the day I returned, so am now in Sydney with all the family doing funeral-related activities.
However, it is not all mourning here – it is great to see all my cousins for the first time in years. And I realise why I love Sydney so much. I’m actually sitting in the shade of the Sydney Opera House writing this, shaded by its impossible peaked sails. I’ve just enjoyed a very posh lunch with my Publishers at a classy resturaunt at the Rocks. But, I’m ahead of myself – I should backtrack to Thailand.
Part I - Farewell Thailand
My last few weeks in Thailand were packed with activity. Of particular note were the visits to the Hilltribe communities – both as a tourist and as a health worker. This gave me two quite contrasting impressions, and a much better idea of the challenges such communities face.
My tourist experience came by way of a Trekking trip. I had signed up with a group in Chiang Mai and had been looking forward to this for weeks. It was to be a 3 day hike throughout the hills to the Northwest of Chiang Mai (near Mae Hong Son). [This is quite near to our family sponsor child Kittapong – see previous email]
I spent Saturday night in Chiang Mai, enjoying the night market and second-hand bookshops. Sunday morning I piled into a songtaew (like a flat tray ute with a cover) along with 9 other trekkers. After driving for a few hours we stopped at a village, before finally reaching the beginning of our hike. My trekking party consisted of: 2 German backpackers, an Israeli couple, a Taiwanese couple, a New Zealander, 2 UK backpackers and myself.
Our first night was spent in a Karen village. While my companions put up their feet and downed some Thai beer, I set out to explore the village. For the next few hours I used my limited Thai to talk with some of the villagers. They were really friendly, inviting me into their homes and chatting away. When I finally said goodbye one of the little girls gave me a flower (which I smuggled into Australia in my treasured journal). I am so glad I made the effort, and now regard them much more personally – it is impossible to dismiss them as a backward minority group of no consequence after playing, smiling and laughing with them and their children.
The following days involved more hiking, elephant riding and bamboo rafting. Northern Thailand is beautiful – rolling hills, rivers, waterfalls, bamboo forests, and village farms dotting the landscape. At night the skies are drenched in stars (though lacking the familiar Milky Way and Southern Cross).
I flew from Bangkok to Melbourne on Thursday Feb 17. I had returned earlier than planned to visit my dying Granny in Sydney. Unfortunately she passed away the day I returned, so am now in Sydney with all the family doing funeral-related activities.
However, it is not all mourning here – it is great to see all my cousins for the first time in years. And I realise why I love Sydney so much. I’m actually sitting in the shade of the Sydney Opera House writing this, shaded by its impossible peaked sails. I’ve just enjoyed a very posh lunch with my Publishers at a classy resturaunt at the Rocks. But, I’m ahead of myself – I should backtrack to Thailand.
Part I - Farewell Thailand
My last few weeks in Thailand were packed with activity. Of particular note were the visits to the Hilltribe communities – both as a tourist and as a health worker. This gave me two quite contrasting impressions, and a much better idea of the challenges such communities face.
My tourist experience came by way of a Trekking trip. I had signed up with a group in Chiang Mai and had been looking forward to this for weeks. It was to be a 3 day hike throughout the hills to the Northwest of Chiang Mai (near Mae Hong Son). [This is quite near to our family sponsor child Kittapong – see previous email]I spent Saturday night in Chiang Mai, enjoying the night market and second-hand bookshops. Sunday morning I piled into a songtaew (like a flat tray ute with a cover) along with 9 other trekkers. After driving for a few hours we stopped at a village, before finally reaching the beginning of our hike. My trekking party consisted of: 2 German backpackers, an Israeli couple, a Taiwanese couple, a New Zealander, 2 UK backpackers and myself.
Our first night was spent in a Karen village. While my companions put up their feet and downed some Thai beer, I set out to explore the village. For the next few hours I used my limited Thai to talk with some of the villagers. They were really friendly, inviting me into their homes and chatting away. When I finally said goodbye one of the little girls gave me a flower (which I smuggled into Australia in my treasured journal). I am so glad I made the effort, and now regard them much more personally – it is impossible to dismiss them as a backward minority group of no consequence after playing, smiling and laughing with them and their children.
The following days involved more hiking, elephant riding and bamboo rafting. Northern Thailand is beautiful – rolling hills, rivers, waterfalls, bamboo forests, and village farms dotting the landscape. At night the skies are drenched in stars (though lacking the familiar Milky Way and Southern Cross).
On my final Saturday in Fang I headed off with the Community Health team to another Hilltribe village. Here we spent the morning immunizing children, and conducting family planning and basic medical consultations. The extent of these community visits is very limited. Only large villages in close proximity to Fang are visited, and even these visits are rare and provide only very basic care. Any villager who requires more than this must travel into Fang Hospital. Even then, I met no hospital staff who could speak any of the hilltribe languages so healthcare is often extremely veterinarian. There is certainly scope for much beneficial health outreach (particularly health education/promotion) among the hilltribes of northern Thailand.
On the whole, Thailand’s Hilltribes remain a largely forgotten peoples. In recent years Western interest (through tourism) has done much to bring them to attention. This has had many positive effects, as the government has needed to provide at least tolerable living conditions to secure the tourism dollar. However, there is much cultural vandalism occurring along the way.Part II – Back to Australia
Goodbye Granny - As mentioned earlier, I’m back in Sydney now following the death of my lovely Granny. She lived in Malaysia for many years, where Papa worked in the rubber industry. My father grew up in Malaysia, so I feel a strong link to the area through this family heritage. Indeed, this is why I chose this area to visit. I am disappointed to be unable to share these experiences with her, as I know she followed my travels with interest. But I do hope to develop some of the love and charity she displayed in her own life.
Graduation Year – This year is my final year of MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery). The past five years have really flown, though there has been plenty of hard work involved. This year I have seven 6 week rotations. I’ll be doing Emergency, General Medicine and General Surgery at Dandenong Hospital here in Melbourne. Then Aboriginal Community Medicine in the Northern Territory – living in an Indigenous community. The finish the year with Psychiatry and General Practice back here in Melbourne. Obviously, the NT placement is the one I am looking forward to with most anticipation!
Book Publication – As you may know I have a book being published. I met with my publishers in Sydney over a very expensive lunch. [I didn’t understand half of the words on the menu and kept thinking how extravagant it all was compared to Thailand] The book is titled Beyond Borders: McGraw-Hill’s Guide to Health Placements, and will be released by April. It is written for health students and professionals planning an intercultural health placement. So if you know any doctors, nurses, physiotherapists etc feel free to spread the word. If you’d like a copy ($19.95) or some promotional posters just let me know. All royalties will be donated to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) – a large NGO Health Relief organisation which is involved with areas of need all over the world (http://www.msf.org.au)/. The book will be available through medical and general bookstores in Australia, New Zealand, UK, some parts of Asia and maybe the US. But it is a little book and will depend mostly on person to person promotion, so if you’re keen to help out let me know.
Family Matters – For those of you wondering what the rest of the Graham clan is up to, here’s a quick summary. Dad – working with Simplot in Devonport, Tasmania ensuring that you all get real potato in your McDonald fries. Mum – working with Temcare in Devonport helping families in crisis. Dylan – in Hobart working as a Builder for Fairbrothers. Serena – in Melbourne studying Chinese Medicine at RMIT and missing boyfriend Matty. Hannah – in Launceston (Tasmania) studying Nursing and serving up quality subs at Subway. Tristan – in Cochabamba, Bolivia on student exchange. Kinza – in Devonport studying Year 10 and dreaming of getting her motorbike license (death wish).
Signing Off
My time in Thailand has had a significant impact on me. My hospital experiences were much different to what I expected, but very beneficial. No doubt the impact of these last few months will take many more weeks to be fully revealed.
Thank you for sharing the journey with me, I hope you have enjoyed my tales.
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