On Saturday, February 4th, Bruce and I took a van ride north to the town of Mae Sai on the border of Myanmar (Burma). The purpose of the trip was to get an extension on our tourist visas. As a tourist, Thailand allows you to stay for only one month, if you arrive by air, which we had done. Our month was nearly over. In order to extend the visa, we could either leave and return by air again, for another 30 days, or leave and return by land - for only 14 extra days. Bruce had been talking with people, researching on-line, and debating with himself for quite some time about the most cost- and time-efficient way to acquire more time here. There were MANY considerations! Suffice to say that it was complicated. He finally decided that taking the van to Mae Sai was the best option. That would give us a week to finish our commitment to the school (ending on Friday, February 10), plus nearly a week to do some touristy stuff before we leave for Laos on the 17th.
At about 8am, a van arrived for us at our dorm. It was full of 8 other folks also trekking north to get visa extensions. The next 4 hours flew by as we zipped through the mountains and the countryside, past wet rice fields and dry corn fields, through towns with golden temples, until we pulled into the market town of Mae Sai. We were surprised to find that it was so large (20,000 people). It was bustling with shoppers on this sunny warm Saturday (they all are sunny at this time of year). We learned later that many of the products come down from China. The main street ends in a large, pale blue, official-looking building that stretches across the entrance to the concrete bridge leading to Myanmar.
Our van driver pulled off this main street and entered a small soi (narrow street), barely wide enough for the van and crowded with stalls and shoppers. We made our way slowly along, managing to avoid injuring anyone, and ending finally beside a lacy golden temple. I had a flashback of the markets that take place on the plazas in Guatemala, overshadowed by large churches.
The narrow soi in Mae Sai, Thailand
The beautiful temple beside which our van parked.
Just before we had arrived in Mae Sai, we had begun chatting with our seat mate, John, and discovered that he had grown up in Westwood, Mass, a town where Bruce had lived for a couple of years as a child. John had made this visa run two weeks previously, so we followed him when it was time to make our way through the border process. The van driver had given us 1 1/2 hours for all of us to complete our business and meet back at the temple for the return trip to Chiang Mai.
The border bridge leading to Myanmar.
Lots of people were crossing the border on foot, as we were. The Thai border official took a look at us and sent us through one narrow gauntlet. Locals carrying bags of vegetables were herded through another pathway. Almost immediately we were through and onto the bridge. The river below was not deep but rushing quite quickly. We looked down and noticed a young boy laughing while wading to the Myanmar side, a fairly short distance. Old buildings hung over the river on the Thai side. A beautiful pale pink and blue temple rose on the Myanmar side, a lovely first impression.
Little boy splashing his way to Myanmar.
Burmese temple and flag
The immigration facility in Tachileik, Myanmar, just at the end of the short bridge, was a pretty primitive affair. We were shepherded into a small room that held 4 uniformed officials at desks. I could barely squeeze in with the other folks, but the door was flexible, since it was simply a heavy curtain. The officials took our photo and our 500 Thai Baht (about $15). We could have left our passport with them and toured Tachileik but we don't like leaving our passport with strangers so headed right back to Mae Sai. Besides, we had a date with a van driver.
The Thai guys stamped our passport and clipped our little 14-day visa onto it. We were good to go for a couple of more weeks! Back on the streets of Mae Sai, vendors were cooking big woks full of chestnuts which smelled so tantalizing. When another van mate said that's what many people come to Mae Sai for, I decided to try a bagful, also some roasted broad beans and something else that was roasted and bean-like. They were all pretty good - and no unpleasant repercussions!
Bruce looks over the selection of hats.
We did some chatting with John on the way back. He seemed like a nice guy, and Bruce ended up making plans with him to watch the Patriots play in the Super Bowl game early on Monday morning, his birthday. We were back in Chiang Mai in time to have a nice dinner - and were legal once again!
At about 8am, a van arrived for us at our dorm. It was full of 8 other folks also trekking north to get visa extensions. The next 4 hours flew by as we zipped through the mountains and the countryside, past wet rice fields and dry corn fields, through towns with golden temples, until we pulled into the market town of Mae Sai. We were surprised to find that it was so large (20,000 people). It was bustling with shoppers on this sunny warm Saturday (they all are sunny at this time of year). We learned later that many of the products come down from China. The main street ends in a large, pale blue, official-looking building that stretches across the entrance to the concrete bridge leading to Myanmar.
Our van driver pulled off this main street and entered a small soi (narrow street), barely wide enough for the van and crowded with stalls and shoppers. We made our way slowly along, managing to avoid injuring anyone, and ending finally beside a lacy golden temple. I had a flashback of the markets that take place on the plazas in Guatemala, overshadowed by large churches.
The narrow soi in Mae Sai, Thailand
Just before we had arrived in Mae Sai, we had begun chatting with our seat mate, John, and discovered that he had grown up in Westwood, Mass, a town where Bruce had lived for a couple of years as a child. John had made this visa run two weeks previously, so we followed him when it was time to make our way through the border process. The van driver had given us 1 1/2 hours for all of us to complete our business and meet back at the temple for the return trip to Chiang Mai.
Lots of people were crossing the border on foot, as we were. The Thai border official took a look at us and sent us through one narrow gauntlet. Locals carrying bags of vegetables were herded through another pathway. Almost immediately we were through and onto the bridge. The river below was not deep but rushing quite quickly. We looked down and noticed a young boy laughing while wading to the Myanmar side, a fairly short distance. Old buildings hung over the river on the Thai side. A beautiful pale pink and blue temple rose on the Myanmar side, a lovely first impression.
Little boy splashing his way to Myanmar.
Burmese temple and flag
The immigration facility in Tachileik, Myanmar, just at the end of the short bridge, was a pretty primitive affair. We were shepherded into a small room that held 4 uniformed officials at desks. I could barely squeeze in with the other folks, but the door was flexible, since it was simply a heavy curtain. The officials took our photo and our 500 Thai Baht (about $15). We could have left our passport with them and toured Tachileik but we don't like leaving our passport with strangers so headed right back to Mae Sai. Besides, we had a date with a van driver.
The Thai guys stamped our passport and clipped our little 14-day visa onto it. We were good to go for a couple of more weeks! Back on the streets of Mae Sai, vendors were cooking big woks full of chestnuts which smelled so tantalizing. When another van mate said that's what many people come to Mae Sai for, I decided to try a bagful, also some roasted broad beans and something else that was roasted and bean-like. They were all pretty good - and no unpleasant repercussions!
Bruce looks over the selection of hats.
We did some chatting with John on the way back. He seemed like a nice guy, and Bruce ended up making plans with him to watch the Patriots play in the Super Bowl game early on Monday morning, his birthday. We were back in Chiang Mai in time to have a nice dinner - and were legal once again!
Mountains and corn fields
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