25 December 2010
I had inadvertently pulled a great escape in Mae Sai.....phew!. We had crossed into Burma, to Tachilek the border town for a look see and made our way back and at Passport Control in Thailand the immigration guy said "you have 15 days", which means until the 8th of January. Now I thought I'm being shortchanged cause with a visa of 30 days from Chiang Khong that would mean I only need to leave on the 12th of January. Now what I didn't realise was that when I came in through Chiang Khong, I was given a 15 day visa as well, which means I needed to leave on the 26th of December. So the decision to cross over to Tachilek saved me from penalty for overstaying....so ya....phew indeed!
Anyways, back to the Mae Sai and Tachilek, it's actually a pretty busy town I must say with markets galore on both sides of the town, but typical with most markets, you'll find the stuff sold repetitive. There'll be like 10 stalls selling the same T'shirts, scarves or trinkets.
You can also start to see the different faces of the Burmese people, and I find it amazing how in just 200 metres they immediately look and sound different. Faces are darker, harsh which is a total contrast to Thailand. Then again there are so many tribes here, I could be confusing one with the other and grouping them all in instead.
The immigration office is an experience on it's own. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually doubles up as an interrogation and torture room. "Who sent you!.....who sent you!".....whack! there goes a knuckle. Pretty intimidating stuff I'm telling ya.
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| Yes....you're looking at the Burmese immigration office....hmmm different I must say |
On the Thai side you can walk through the market without being hassled, but in Tachilek you have all sorts coming to you and generally being very pushy, cigarette sellers, tour operators, touts, the guy who can get you anything "you want boom boom, very nice?".....
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| 5 star in Malaysia you say? Pah!...we laugh at your 5 stars |
So with Burma, that makes 5 countries stamped on my passport on this trip. It's be nice if we had been able to cross with the bike though.
By the way, Mae Sai is also where Highway 1 ends, the main highway that I've been pretty successful in avoiding on my trip, not that there's anything wrong with it, just wanted to use the back roads as much as possible. It's about 900km to Bangkok if not mistaken and in a bus it equates to a backbreaking 13 hours ride.....same as you taking a flight from KL to London.
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| everybody takes a pic here.....so why not? |
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| The end of Highway 1 |
Going around Mae Sai, you'll find Muslim food is easily available, with restaurants and stalls selling it. Ironically, there was once we went to a Muslim restaurant and I ordered noodles with seafood.....doh! haha.
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| Beef noodle this time. |
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| I'll be back! |
We're off to Chiang Rai after this, and then to Chiang Mai, we've still not figured out where we'll be for New Years, which is actually half the fun.
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