| The Journey - BanThad | | Journal @ World / Refugee Camps / Banthad Refugee Camp - Jul 19, 2008 5:01am - Views (39391) - Ratings(6): ( 2.50 ) | - My home town: Xuan Thanh (Nga Ba Ong Don - near Gia Ray), Xuan Loc, Dong Nai.
- My dad took me to Saigon and I stayed with my aunt in Quan 6 (Distric 6 - Cu* Xa' Phu' La^m B, behind the hospital near Phu' La^m market)
- Couple months later I and my aunt's family of four (Aunt, uncle, son & I) left for Hong Ngu town near Cambodia border deep in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam
- Stayed there for a few days, and we went by boat to cross the border into South Cambodia. We paid moped drivers to take us to Phnom Penh (Nam Vang) - the capital city.
- Stayed in Phnom Penh for a few days with some acquaintance that my aunt knew
- Later, we left to Com-pong-som (Kâmpóng Saôm, Krong Preah Sihanouk - from Google Earth)
- Stayed in Kâmpóng Saôm for couple weeks, and made first trip out to sea
- Got caught right on the beach in the mid of night. Guns were shoved in our backs by the local police as they escorted us to jail.
- Stayed in jail for a few days and got rescued by the 'smugglers' (my aunt paid them by some amount of gold for the job).
- Out of jail, went back to the safe-house somewhere in Kampong Som again.
- Second trip was in plan, another dark night and we were running among the bushes to the shoreline again. Got to the boat in the dark of night. Finally, we were out to sea...through second night, the trip was nice...then we arrived onto land. Everyone was scampering up toward a dim light far ahead, there were dogs barking... and then as we got close, someone yelled "Tau Na???" (it was Cambodian for "Where are you going?").
- Back to jail, this time was longer...probably more than a week. Got interrogated by the "Chuyen Vien" special police officers who were actually Vietnamese police came to work with Vietnamese prisoners.
- Then again, got out of jail after some bribery was made by the transporters.
- Another trip or two, finally got on a tiny boat that went far out to sea. Out there, even though it was the gulf of Thailand sea, but it was just our tiny boat with only water, dark water and sky. Nothing was in sight.
- The boat's little red Honda engine DIED on the second day in the middle of nowhere. Why it died? Simply clumsiness and poor planning of the escaping kinds. We loaded plastic containers of 20-liter size. 3 for water and 3 for gasoline. All 6 containers were identical. The older gentleman who helped the only Cambodian captain re-fueled with the wrong container full of drinking water into the gas tank. That little engine were gone. We floated aimlessly from the afternoon and deep into the night. None had the skills to recover the engine... Finally by luck, after unplugging some fuel lines, and drained out the water... and endless hand-pulling to start the engine gave life back for all of us.
- We continued our trip and made a quick stop on the next noon. The captain amazingly landed on a TINY rocky island that is the size of half a football field. This little island seemed to be the rest stop for many boat people too. During our rest of about 3hours, we saw another 2 small boats full of people arrived to rest. The island was just rock and nothing else. Surrounding it was just endless ocean and sky.
- We boarded back to the tiny boat (full of 22 people). Of course, the boat was about to sink as usual. Water level was about 20cm to the rim...before spilling into the boat. Of course, there was always someone scooping out the water from within the boat as water either spilled in over the rim or the bottom was leaking continually.
-I played with the sea water by simply sticking my hand out and let it dragged along the water. At night, it was really dark - pitch black dark, I dared not to stick my hand in the water... I felt like something may come up and I'd have no visibility to react in time. :(
- A storm came close, dark sky and strong wave rung up. Waves were the size of 5-10 meters high. The boat was slicing the waves diagonally, when it was at the bottom between the waves, I remember seeing the walls of water rippling by my ears. For as far as I can see we were deep under water as both walls are blocking both sides of the tiny boat. However, once the wave came under, it lifted the boat to the top and I could see lines and lines of smooth waves stretched continuously. The bottom of the next wave was frighteningly deep. I felt like our boat could have barrel rolled down from that height.
- Luckily the storm did not hit us, no breaking waves were there for that whole time. Then close to morning...we past the heavy waves and realized that we had closed up on land. We heard breaking waves and knew that it was a beach. It was around 3-4AM local time. Pitch black darkness but I knew the shoreline was NOT of sand...but full of boulders and rock. We came closer to shore, the violent waves slammed in and smashed our boat in little pieces.
- Crying, chaos and scramble ensued... by miracle, no one was lost or killed. Only bloody cuts and bruises. The sharp barnacles on the rocks and boulders did their best. Most of us crawled up further to get away from the breaking waves.
- We walked for a few miles and found locals, who did not speak anything we recognized. It was freedom at last!
- We later realized that it was Koh Kut (Kokut) Island. We got rounded up to stay under the palm trees in front of a big property. The landlord was not the one with kind heart. We were hungry and battered. She came out to count heads and demanded gold, jewelry and any valuables to trade for some kids sweet pop-corn bags. One gold ring is one bag. A brave few souls gave up their life savings for a small bag of pop-corn to eat. Hunger and pain felled us.
Here's where Ko Kut Island is on the map:
View Larger Map
- We survived for a few weeks eating whatever we could chew...mainly coconuts and bare rice porridges that the landlord gave us. The UNHCR finally came, they provided more food and supplies. We got none. The landlord kept feeding us the same way...
- The UNHCR finally brought a bigger boat, took us all to Korang (Korang Yai Island?)
- About 800 people were collected on Korang Yai Island...this island was really remote. No sign of life.
- The camp was all hand-built by the refugees, the UNHCR provided simple tools to cut trees and build better shelters. They provided blue plastic tarps and army-grade tents. Each tent house 10 people...barely enough space to sleep at night. But it helped a lot...no bug bites in the jungle.
- Then finally, after a few months, it was announced that we get to go to the main land...BANTHAD Refugee Camp.
- Stayed in Banthad camp for many months... transfered to Panat Nikkom refugee camp (Phanat Nikhom, Chon Buri Thailand).
Here's the map of the town "Phanat Nikhom" where the Refugee Camp used to be. I can't locate the site anymore as things would have changed drastically. If anyone knows PLEASE click on my profile and use the "Contact BanThad" form to let me know (thanks ahead).
View Larger Map
- About 9-10 months later, we were accepted by the INS and headed for the Philippines.
- Got to Bataan Refugee Camp... stayed there for about 7 months and we left for California to re-unite with my uncle's family in Northern California.**Original Post  | 
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