Sunday to Tuesday, December 9 - 11, 2012 - On our way to Thailand, we are driving through the Mon territory ever since Bago. It is the oldest ethnic group still living in Myanmar. They came from the East of Tibet around the fifth century and have dominated the southern part of Myanmar.

Driving by, the houses of the Mon attract our attention. They are narrow and long, mostly made of wood, and have an open ground floor. Between the poles supporting the house, small tractors and other vehicles are parked. The balustrades on the second floor and the roofs are often beautifully ornamented.

We are staying in Mawlamyine, the former capital of the Mon, for two days. On the top of the hills surrounding the city, there are pagodas glittering everywhere. The following day we visit a monk school in the nearby village of Oak Tag Dar. Daewe told us that three years ago, the monks were still teaching under trees. As we arrive, we hear deafening noises coming out of a long and narrow school building. About 100 children are being taught in the same big room at different grade levels. To the left is English, in the middle they are learning a poem, to the right they are learning to read and write.

Brother U Ti Lawka Thaya built the school together with the parents of the village. He finds that now, being in his early forties, he is still strong enough to teach, and nobody else can educate the children. Other than in public schools, no school fee must be paid. One of the members of the parent committee who is waiting in the schoolyard invites us to her place. Back at the hotel, we cannot get her and her family out of our mind, we are curious as to how they live, so we visit them the following day. Since nobody in Myanmar has their own telephone, it is a great surprise to them. Immediately two ducks are being slain for us, coconuts are brought down from the palm tree and rice is being cooked. The heads of the family are the 70 year-old Daw Mya Thaung and her 83 year-old husband U Kyaw Mya.

Her grown-up daughters live next door with their own children. They are rice farmers. The village has no power supply; everything is still made the old-fashioned way. One of the family men had worked in Singapore for six years, from that he was able to build up this farm. The family is thankful for the school of the monks, all help wherever they can.

Thursday and Friday, December 13 - 14, 2012 - We leave at 5 in the morning, and shortly after that we experience a breath-taking sunrise between two boulders, while it is misty all around. Quite a unique atmosphere.

After having driven three hours, we end up in a traffic jam. Trucks filled to the rim, pickups full of people, cars - all wanting to go to Thailand. It is stop and go, until our clutches are running hot, they smell burnt. Locals help out with a pairs of water-trowsers. We wait for four hours until everything has cooled down and the traffic jam has dissolved. We don’t reach Myawadi before around nine in the evening. From there, it is only three minutes to the border, but it has already closed at 6 p.m. Time to drink a farewell beer with our Burmese film crew.

851 December 14, 2012 Farewell to our Burmese production team - It is not easy leaving this hospitable country. The next morning we cross the border effortlessly, for which we are almost sorry. On the other side, in Thailand, the charming producer Pattama Chutimat is waiting for us. She has almost started to worry because of our delay. Along with her, we are to meet Doctor Cynthia Maung in the border town of Mae Sot. She fled from the military dictatorship of Burma in 1988, and, along with a group of students, she fought her way through the jungle for one week and arrived in Mae Sot.

To help the fugitives, she started offering free medical treatment at a small camp base. She was 19 at that time. The physician well-known in Thailand founded the Mae Tao Clinic in the meantime. It still looks after fugitives, but also after people who have been in Thailand for a longer period of time, but have no health insurance. Her biggest dream is that, one day, it will become a normal hospital.

Saturday and Sunday, December 15-16, 2012 - Shortly after sunrise we witness an odd spectacle: colourfully dressed elephants slowly come out of the back of a truck to carry tourists around the ruins. The elephants have a long tradition here. Ayutthaya had a total of 33 kings and was engaged in 70 wars. The elephants fought in these wars, they transported the rulers and were used to build important facilities. Nowadays, their population has drastically declined. Only about 4,000 tame and wild elephants are still alive in Thailand. The elephants we see belong to the farm of Laithogrien Meepan. After he gave his daughter an elephant as a present in 1996, he founded the farm which cares for ill and mistreated animals, and also successfully breeds elephants.

The light show tells the history of Ayuttaya. Patrick and his elephant play the leading roles. Both are 27 years old and grew up together. Around 7 p.m., the ruins are immersed in colourful lights. The story is about the last battle of the Kingdom of Siam in 1767. The Burmese army invaded the town and plundered the palaces. The neighbouring country is not explicitly mentioned during the show, one simply refers to "the enemy". After all, Myanmar and Thailand are beginning to become friends, says Patrick, the son of Laithogrien Meepan.