I have just finished reading a book called Little Daughter. It’s about Zoya and her family’s struggle to survive the Burma army’s attempt to wipe out the Karen people. I found the whole account very moving and it answered a question about something I came across on the Thai border.
   At the time Zoya and her family were in a Thai refugee camp, I, my son Ben and friend Alf were riding trail bikes out of a town called Fang heading for the Burma border country, we had no idea how dangerous the ride was to be.
   It was a sunny early morning when we set out. We had dropped off our packs on to a boat with armed guards that would take them to Chiang Rai. We were riding through hilly country on dirt roads. There weren’t many people about and very little traffic so it was a shock when Alf told us about an army road block just up ahead.
   “What do you reckon Chaos, do we turn back or ride up and see if they’ll let us through?”
   “It’s not the border as we have a few more miles to go to get there.” I thought for a second. “What the hell let’s see what they say. Let me do the talking, OK!” I said sounding braver than I felt.
   We rode up to the bamboo barrier. There were soldiers standing around and when we stopped they interrogated us, which didn’t get them very far as none of us could speak Thai … except to order a beer, and I didn’t think this was the time to be funny. One of the soldiers went over to a bamboo shack and came back with an officer.
   He asked us a few questions then he said out of the blue: “You’re an Australian Intelligence Officer and these two must be your guards.”
   I have translated his words, but the way he said it took me a few minutes to understand. I decided to go along with him so I just nodded my head. He looked pleased and waved to the men at the barrier to raise it and let us through. Before I could ride away the officer tapped me on the arm and pointed to the distant smoke and the noise of gun fire.
   “Don’t go that way. There is fighting going on. Head down that other road. Just watch out for bandits. They put trees across the road.”
   We had only gone a short distance before we had to pull over as army trucks came roaring down the road, away from what I thought was a burning village.
   “What’s happening Chaos?”
   When I explained to Ben and Alf that we weren’t going into the village but skirting it along the Thai-side of the border, they OK’ed the idea … until I mentioned bandits.
   “BANDITS!” They both yelled looking horrified.
   “It will be an adventure. Isn’t that why you came along?” I could see by their faces I had a lot of talking to do to get them moving. In the end they agreed. Ben led by about 200 yards, so he could come back and warn us if he saw anything unusual. I followed with Alf bringing up the rear.
   We had gone about three miles when Ben came roaring back.
   “There’s a tree lying across the road and I think I saw some movement in the bushes,” he said pointing back around the bend.
   “Can we get past?”
   “There is a small gap next to the cutting. What about the people hiding?”
   “We should be through before they can react. If they come out and we are through then just wave and yell ‘hello’.”
   “What if they’ve got guns!”
   I revved my bike and yelled. “Come on. Let’s go.”
   Ben roared past me. When I came around the bend I saw how small the gap was. I just closed my eyes and drove through. When I looked there were about 20 men rushing out of the undergrowth waving guns.
   “HELLO!!” we all screamed as we flew past and to my astonishment instead of shooting they waved back yelling ‘hello’. Then we were round the next bend and out of sight.
   Much later we rode into Chiang Rai and stopped at the guesthouse where we sat down to a beer and a Thai curry.
   On reading Zoya’s book I now realise that the smoke and gunfire I saw was coming from a refugee camp and it was the Burmese who were attacking the camp.

Ingredients

   1 large chicken breast without skin and cut in small pieces.
   2 tablespoons of corn flour
   1 egg
   1 tablespoon of butter
   1 tablespoon of yellow bean paste
   1 teaspoon of palm sugar
   2 tablespoons of sherry
   ½ teaspoon of sesame oil
   oil for deep frying

Cooking

  Beat the egg and dip the chicken then roll them in the flour. Heat the oil in the wok and deep fry the chicken. Into an empty wok add the paste and butter, fry for a few minutes then add the rest of the ingredients, mix then add the chicken and serve with rice.