Mae Sai/Tachilek Border Info

[el jefe]

I plan to take a trip to Kengtung this week.

Anyone done it recently?

Can I go there freely by bus from Tachileik, I read something about having to engage a guide to do this.

Do they exchange pound sterling there?

Any recommendations for accomodation there?

It depends on your definition of "freely". I have friends that did it a few months ago and I asked about it when I was in Tachilek last week. Nothing has changed in the options for getting to Kyiang Tung. You can take the bus unescorted. It's slow and uncomfortable. And you have to take the bus all the way to Kyiang Tung. You can get off when it stops but if you try to walk as much as 100 meters from the bus, you'll probably be stopped. Or you can hire a car for up to 4 passengers. No need for a guide that way either, but you must have an approved driver. All this is arranged at the office just after the immigration office on the bridge.

I had no trouble exchanging baht, dollars and yuan in the market in Kyiang Tung two years ago. I doubt sterling would be any more difficult.

[lannaman]

I plan to take a trip to Kengtung this week.

Anyone done it recently?

Can I go there freely by bus from Tachileik, I read something about having to engage a guide to do this.

Do they exchange pound sterling there?

Any recommendations for accomodation there?

It depends on your definition of "freely". I have friends that did it a few months ago and I asked about it when I was in Tachilek last week. Nothing has changed in the options for getting to Kyiang Tung. You can take the bus unescorted. It's slow and uncomfortable. And you have to take the bus all the way to Kyiang Tung. You can get off when it stops but if you try to walk as much as 100 meters from the bus, you'll probably be stopped. Or you can hire a car for up to 4 passengers. No need for a guide that way either, but you must have an approved driver. All this is arranged at the office just after the immigration office on the bridge.

I had no trouble exchanging baht, dollars and yuan in the market in Kyiang Tung two years ago. I doubt sterling would be any more difficult.

Thanks for the info. I'm told the lady in the Tourist office is quite helpful. I'll post any other useful info that I glean when I return by the weekend.

[sceadugenga]

Have a safe journey, we'll look forward to your trip report.

[lannaman]

Anyone know for sure whether the Immigration Office in Mae Sai is open on a Saturday? I mean the office (1.5km short of the border) NOT the border post.

[sceadugenga]

I saw post in the visa forum saying it works standard office hours lannaman, 9-5 Monday to Friday.

Give them a call?

http://www.thaivisa.com/immigration_phone.0.html

[brahmburgers]

Mae Sai has a swimming pool. The big white hotel near the border - on the right. 30 baht for non customers.

I should know the name of the hotel, but its name is only written in Thai font. I can read Thai font, but I can more readily remember a name when I picture the word in Roman font.

[brahmburgers]

I plan to take a trip to Kengtung this week. Anyone done it recently? Can I go there freely by bus from Tachileik, I read something about having to engage a guide to do this. Do they exchange pound sterling there? Any recommendations for accomodation there?

I did it about a year ago. I recommend a guest house called Harry's. You can rent a motorbike there. I would say more, but some posters jump all over everything I mention here on C.Rai forum, so I'll leave it for you to discover. Have a good trip.

[sceadugenga]

I think lannaman's in the UK now, we never had a report on his Kengtung trip, hopefully when he gets back.

[brahmburgers]

Perhaps hard to fathom, but Tachilek is even crazier than Thai towns re; Songkran.

When did the Tachilekians adopt that water throwing tradition?

I was just there for two days. In Thailand, if you're on the street and about to be hit by water, you can good-naturedly ask them not to, and about half the time they won't. It Tachilek, they'll toss the water even if you're retreating away. They've got makeshift stages set up along the main road, facing the road - about every 500 meters, with coyote girls and boys, all very wet and drunk moving around.

I couldn't help but think the revelry was particularly robust this year (I'd been in Tachilek for previous Songkrans), ...because they've all heard about Bangkok imploding from Red Shirt protests.

[svenivan]

Perhaps hard to fathom, but Tachilek is even crazier than Thai towns re; Songkran.

When did the Tachilekians adopt that water throwing tradition?

Probably at the same time as the Chiang Rai people or shall we say all other Buddhists.

It is an old Buddhist tradition that has gone a little bit wrong sometimes.

I hope you enjoyed rest of your time in Tachilek!

[sceadugenga]

I've got some photos of some "ladies" celebrating Songkran at MaeSai in another topic here.

Don't look for them in the Photography forum, there was some sort of "artistic content" problem with them there.

[el jefe]

I did it about a year ago. I recommend a guest house called Harry's. You can rent a motorbike there. I would say more, but some posters jump all over everything I mention here on C.Rai forum, so I'll leave it for you to discover. Have a good trip.

That's really funny!

[Matan]

I just went on a second trip to the Mae Sai border. It turns out that you can't just exit Thailand, walk a short way along the bridge and turn around and come back in without actually going into Burma. Bah.

[sceadugenga]

No, you have to get stamped in at Burma immigration and pay your 500B.

[el jefe]

No, you have to get stamped in at Burma immigration and pay your 500B.

If the goal of the prior poster was to save money by walking partway across the bridge and turning around, then he can save part of that fee by only paying $10 instead of 500 baht. The Burmese authorities barely looked at my $10 bill last month and accepted it immediately. No one I know of has had a problem with a new, clean $10 in a long time.

[sceadugenga]

Indeed, and the lady in front of the bank is still selling them for 400B the last I heard.

[CP3]

Mae Sai has a swimming pool. The big white hotel near the border - on the right. 30 baht for non customers.

I should know the name of the hotel, but its name is only written in Thai font. I can read Thai font, but I can more readily remember a name when I picture the word in Roman font.

I think there is only one swimming pool in Mae Sai. It is from Wang Thong Hotel. 30Baht ? no thanks

[sceadugenga]

You can swim in the Sai river for nothing!

[brahmburgers]

You can swim in the Sai river for nothing!

I hiked up-river, several Km (past internal checkpoint), and took a dip. When I came out, I felt some serious itching - not spread out, but pin-point, mostly on my chest. Quite unpleasant, but went away in a half hour.

[brahmburgers]

I did it about a year ago. I recommend a guest house called Harry's. You can rent a motorbike there. I would say more, but some posters jump all over everything I mention here on C.Rai forum, so I'll leave it for you to discover. Have a good trip.

That's really funny!

What's really funny?

[BeardedDragon]

Hello,

I am thinking about visiting Chiang Rai for my next trip and explore the city a bit.

Still however, I also need to do my 90-days visa run (I have a non immigrant ED visa multiple entry) and therefore I need to go outside Thailand two.

Is it easy to stay a few days in Chiang Rai, and than just travel one day to Mae Sai and come back to Chiang Rai?

And can you come back the same day?

Do you also get 90 days, and not just 15 days (I have the necessary visa for it)?

[sceadugenga]

Just replied to your PM, enjoy your trip.

[BeardedDragon]

Kop koon khrab...

I forgot to ask...how many days it is worthwhile to visit Chiang Rai?

I am intending to hire a motorbike during the day, and have a look around (want to visit the white temple just outside town).

[svenivan]

White temple is boring in my opinion. If you want to see something special you go to Black Village!

If you take the motorbike to Mae Sai you can take the mountainroad back and visit Doi Tung and Mae Salong.

Everything you can find on the chiang Rai Map in the pinned section!

Have fun!

[kandahar]

This just in. Electronic issue of border passes at Mae Sai. But it probably applies to the wives more than us.

http://www.thaivisa....-in-25-seconds/

I hope they have more than one machine. 25 seconds per person at 2,800 people a day is more than 19 hours.

[sceadugenga]

An enjoyable run to the border was made today by two members.

An early start was organised, genuine manly subjects like the only true football code and the fair sex discussed on the way and Mae Sai achieved even before the chestnut ladies had set up their grills.

The VIP route was taken in the interests of conserving passport space, and the border crossed in record time.

After a couple of hours shopping the international travellers returned to Thailand heavily laden with clothing items that included LaCoste polo shirts, a bargain at 4 for 500 Baht, DVD's, also surprisingly inexpensive and duty free booze.

A successful days sojourn.

[chessplayer]

Where is this black village with something special?

White temple is boring in my opinion. If you want to see something special you go to Black Village!

If you take the motorbike to Mae Sai you can take the mountainroad back and visit Doi Tung and Mae Salong.

Everything you can find on the chiang Rai Map in the pinned section!

Have fun!

[sceadugenga]

It's marked on our map, just past Rajabhat University on the Mae Sai road.

[Will27]

An enjoyable run to the border was made today by two members.

An early start was organised, genuine manly subjects like the only true football code and the fair sex discussed on the way and Mae Sai achieved even before the chestnut ladies had set up their grills.

The VIP route was taken in the interests of conserving passport space, and the border crossed in record time.

After a couple of hours shopping the international travellers returned to Thailand heavily laden with clothing items that included LaCoste polo shirts, a bargain at 4 for 500 Baht, DVD's, also surprisingly inexpensive and duty free booze.

A successful days sojourn.

You're working beautifully Scea.

AFL( I assume), ladies and booze.

Sounds like a couple of Aussies

on the prowl.

[brahmburgers]

Went to Tachilek. Was planning to go up to Keng Tung (2nd time), but found out it cost a mandatory Bt1,000/day to hire a guide. One guide can shepherd a group, but I travel alone. It bolloxed my plan, and I make it crystal clear to the Burmese authorities at the 3 tiny offices there, of my displeasure. The head of the tourist bureau there, in an office the size of a phone booth, told me the reason was "some foreigners go where they are not supposed to go."

He could have been talking about me, but that was over 2 years ago, and all I did (when I scooted past internal border posts) was sit by a river and (another time) listen to some singing outside a school. In Burma, those are punishable offenses, if you're a foreigner. It's also against the law, in Burma, for a foreigner to ride a bicycle. I ride around Tachilek all the time, but was told by a licensed guide (Slim) that it's officially illegal.

I know many Burmese have dire reasons for wanting their country back, but add another, perhaps banal reason: to enable their countrymen and women to earn some tourist dollars. I particularly feel for little tourist operations, like Harry's guest house in Keng Tung, which (not surprisingly) went out of business recently. I'd like to think the upcoming elections will bring some change for the better, but am resigned to thinking that the junta will be as firmly cemented in to their manic & paranoid control mode - as they ever were.