Details on the tragedy

You may want to read the previous post before this one.

A couple of details on yesterdays tragedy. The bus was an immigration bus returning people to Burma. They are caged in so nobody can escape. I did not understand why there were so many belongings on the bus and my Burmese friend said that although the people were arrested and sent out of the country it is all part of a game. People pay a fee to an agent who pays the police off to travel to Bangkok. Then, when people want to go back to Burma, they call the agent and the police arrest the people. Human trafficking with out so much nastiness.

The army and immigration are quite worried about an uprising because, from what I am told, this is not the first time something like this has happened. They closed the border crossing and local businesses that employee Burmese were shut. As I was leaving town there was a group of 10 soldiers with automatic weapons walking down the street. As I got closer to my town there were several pick up trucks full of more soldiers.

The woman I saw die yesterday was brought to the temple for a ceremony and cremation today. They did not have either so the box with the woman in it just sat there, in the heat. The ceremonies generally happen quite quickly here...usually a day or two after the death. Hopefully, tomorrow things will get back to normal.