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There were two reasons for going to Mae Sai, firstly it is as far North as you can go in Thailand and sits on the border with Myanmar (formally Burma) which we wanted to visit albeit if only for a day. Secondly it would be our base for exploring what is called the Golden Triangle, an area where the countries Laos, Thailand and Myanmar all meet in beautiful countryside.
When we first arrived we couldn't actually find anywhere to stay for quite a while. Mae Sai is basically one big long straight street leading up to the border crossing. We must have walked around for about 20 minutes with our big bags on before we finally found a basic little guest house tucked away behind a market stall. It was really cheap but clean so we were happy. The family who owned it spoke no English but were always happy and smiley with us. Always nattering away with big smiles on their faces and us having no idea what they were talking about! Not sure they got many western tourists through the door!
Where we were staying was right next to the border and during the day it was full of market stalls and shops selling everything from jewellery to dried fruit and everything in between. At night these stalls were replaced with street food vendors. Our first night there we found somewhere with an English menu and joined the locals on plastic chairs. I find it amazing that such good food can be prepared on the side of a road from such a little cart!
The next day we took a walk over the border into Tachilek in Myanmar. The visa you get on the border here will only allow you to visit certain areas near the border. We had originally intended to go a bit further afield and see a bit more of the country. However we learnt that we could only leave the border town of Tachilek if we hired a guide and even then there wasn't much to go and see unless you wanted to do a trek... We couldn't face another one so soon after the last one! We spent the morning milling about the small town. It was very hot and not very interesting. The buildings were more run down, the streets dirty and dustier. We saw a few temples, walked through a Myanmarian (is that right?) market and then took a very expensive tuk tuk to a huge golden pagoda on top of a hill. This was probably the highlight as it gave stunning views over both countries. We of course had to sample the food and beer in a local restaurant before we left. The beer was disappointing!
The next day back in Thailand we went off to Sop Ruak which is the heart of the golden triangle. To get there we used a local shared taxi called a songthaew as it's the cheapest and most convenient way to get around. It's the exact point where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. As its become a bit of a tourist trap there are some modern looking statues which have sprung up for tourists to take a photo of. All a bit naff. With the exception of the giant golden Buddha which was pretty cool.
After a quick lunch we got into another songthaew and went on to the town of Chiang Saen. This has a few ruins dotted about the town and one larger site which you have to pay to get in. They were nothing compared to the ruins we saw in Sukhothai so we didn't linger long. Besides we had to make sure we got the last songthaew back to Mae Sai at 3pm.
When we walked back to the place where we'd got dropped off there were plenty of vans so were happy that we hadn't missed the last one. This was not the case however. We were happily told by one of the drivers that the last one back actually left at 12pm.... WHAT!? So how were we supposed to get back? Well, as luck would have it the guy driving the songthaew could give us a lift if we paid him the relevant taxi fare of 600 Baht (about £12) which was 4 times it cost us to get there! Uhhhhh, no. We wandered aimlessly for a bit deciding what to do and then I spotted a local bus so asked the driver if he went to Mae Sai (actually just repeated Mae Sai until he got what I meant). He motioned towards a woman inside an office at the side of the road who we think told us we could get to Mae Sai if we got on his bus and changed somewhere else. So we did exactly that and with the help of our friendly driver it all worked out well in the end. Albeit taking twice as long to get home but happy in the knowledge we weren't ripped off. Yeah, have that cheeky songthaew driver!!
That night we couldn't find any restaurant or street food vendor who had an English menu or even spoke any word of English. We tried for almost an hour but were so fed up by then we just went and bought some horrible snacks from the Tesco Express store (yes they have those here!). A sad state of affairs. With that in mind we redoubled our efforts to learn some more Thai basics!
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