As Refugees In Thailand Part 1

Like I already alluded to, the first waves of refugees were well-

received by the Thai government. The refugees were moved

farther into the interior, away from the border, free of any clashing

between the Khmer Rouge and the Thai soldiers. They moved

us at least three times. We were given liberty to travel about in

the surrounding areas. Having plenty to eat was not a problem.

Each family was even given a cash allowance each month.

One of the places that the Thai government had allowed us to

stay was in a monastery ground. Facilities were already available.

No, we didn't chase away the monks. We were separate from

them. I believe all the refugees were Cambodians. There could

have been Vietnamese also. The shelter was modern with board

structures and tin roof. Business was conducted among the

people and natives, though it was limited I'm sure.

Men could go out to look for work. I went along whenever I could,

which I think was about every time. One time we went to a mountain

to pick stones to load up dump trucks. We camped out at the

mountain until the work was finished. I think they told scary stories

at nights. Asian people are superstitious.

One particular job was digging trenches for pipelines across

rice fields with mud and water to contend with. The paid was

defined by the length, width, and depth per trench. My guess was

that I could do three trenches or less in a day. Being the young boy

that I was, I don't think I broke any records. The men were helpful to

complete what I couldn't by day's end to notch me a trench more.

At another time we just went to look for work. The other times, our

work was known before we ventured out. This time we hopped on

a tap-tap (a kind of transportation--if you can hang on, you're in

for the ride of your life). We would stop here and there to inquire for

work until we happened upon one. Finally, we chanced upon picking

silk worms and other odd jobs. I believe the men had a limit as to

how far they wanted to venture out from camp. At this particular

place, a Thai family that had taken a liking to me had asked the men

if they could keep me as their son. Well, I assume they

objected to the request imposed upon them, because I'm here

in America writing this journal for you to read. If it was up to me to
decide if I would like to stay with them, I could have said 'yes'.
I assumed the men had disclosed to the Thai couple that I was alone
in Thailand without immediate family members other than my cousin.

I want to clarify who the men are. Some of them were the people

I was with from Oddar Meanchey and some were from outside of

the group. All together, from five to ten were in the group. I don't
want to leave a wrong impression of hundreds of men scavenging
for work.

After work had dried up in this particular place, there

weren't any tap-tap for our return trip, so we had to walk on foot

across rice fields full of water to get back to our base. It was

a tiresome trek for all of us as we had to walk through water.

We came upon a monastery and took our refuge there for the

night. Being that monks only eat one meal per day, having food

on hand is not a common thing at a monastery. They had to

go out to beg for their sustenance every day. But it must have

been a festival of some sort when the common people would

bake certain goods and bring them to the temple. It was not

strange for us to know that. That was a blessing as we were

given the leftovers. Some tasted on the spoiled side. We

roasted them for a crisper, crunchier taste. By roasting the baked

goods, it helps to preserve them longer. The baked goods were
wrapped with green banana leaves and cooked in water.

Some may ask, " how do you communication with the Thai
people being you are Cambodians"? Either one of us knew how
to speak Thai, or those Thai people near the boarder knew the
Khmer language. There are also Khmer Surin living in Thailand.
They could speak both languages. Khmer Surin are Cambodian
people who got sucked into Thailand when the Thai moved their
boundary farther into Cambodia territory. We call it an infringement.