My "Border Run" To Mae Sai Last Week

[Baloo22]

I took a "border run" trip from Chiang Mai to Mae Sai, the northern-most city in Thailand last week. I wanted to get a new one-year entry stamp for my Non-Immigrant O-A visa before the "Enter Before" date passed. This was my trip. Hope some of it is useful to others that need to make a "border-run" trip to Mae Sai.

The "border run" to Mae Sai can be made in one day if you want. Some of the tour shops have "Visa Run" vans that can take you up and get it done in a day. I did such a run from Pattaya to Cambodia before. Basically it was get in the van, rocket down the roads at Mach 3, do the border crossing into Cambodia, wait 20 minutes, and then re-enter Thailand. Then rocket down the roads back to Pattaya, almost running over several children on the way, in the effort to get the falangs back to Pattaya quickly.

This time I decided to make my own way to Mae Sai and do it in a more liesurely trip. After all, I'm retired and have plenty of time. I also wanted to look about town and visit the Wat Phrathat Doi Wao temple. I took one of the "Green Bus" buses that leave from Chiang Mai Bus Station #2, known as "Arcade Station". I went over the week before and purchased my tickets. They have several diffent classes of seats. At the time, I was clueless on the classes and just told the ticket agent that I definitely wanted "aircon". I ended up in 1st Class seat. Then best and larger seats are the "VIP" seats. For me it was still a good seat. I'm not that big and don't have a huge butt. But if you are a large falang with a big butt, you should probably specify "VIP" seats.

The bus departed on time and went non-stop to Chiang Rai. The aircon was definitely good! The bus attendant gave out a small bottle of water and two small packs of cookies for a snack. The bus did have a hong-nam in the back. In Chiang Rai it stopped first at the Chiang Rai Bus Terminal #2 which is south of the city (5 minutes) and stopped again at the Chiang Rai station in the middle of the city. Then it continued on to Mae Sai. Once north of Chiang Rai, the bus stopped a couple of times for people in some of the small towns along the way. Arrived at the Mae Sai bus station just south of the city. Takes about 4 and half hours. Song-theows were waiting and they do know the word "border"! Used my best Thai to ask him "Kun bpai rong-raem Navy Home dai mai, khap"? (Can you go to Navy Home Hotel?) Yes was the answer. Dropped me off right across the street from the hotel.

Checked in to the Navy Home Hotel. Neat place! Apparently, the owner is a retired Admiral from the Royal Thai Navy and the hotel has a navy theme to it. All sorts of photos, ship models, uniforms, display with 20mm thru 40mm shells, etc. It's on both Agoda and Trip Advisor. It's about 800m from the border. It's a basic hotel with good bed, clean, good aircon, TV with two English language news channels and a movie channel in English. Staff is nice and the lady that checked me in spoke passable English but the rest of the staff very little.

Took a walk down the main drag on the left (west) side of the street. Close to the border you get a bunch of market stalls and just before the border turn left and you get another market complex. Also that is the way to Wat Phrathat Doi Wao. The Wat is at the top of a hill with a long staircase going up. If you have bad knees or just don’t want to walk up the stairs, you can hire one of the motorbike drivers at the bottom to take you up the road for 10 baht. Spent about two hours wandering around the wat complex and taking lots of pics. Some very nice statues and displays there. They also have a neat statue of a giant scorpion facing Burma. Worth a visit. Went back to the hotel, ate a dinner of Pad Ga Pow Gai and slept the night away.

Ate breakfast at the hotel at 7:00am. Set menu with two choices for asian breakfast and one choice for falang. Then walked to the border. Walk down the left hand side of the street and you enter the border station and exit Thailand. Then cross the street to the right-hand side and you enter Burma. You give the Burmese immigration your passport and 500 baht. Then you sit in front of a computer with a cam, they scan/copy your passport and take your picture. Then hand you a brown card good for Tachileik and the local vicinity.

Just a few meters after you exit Burmese immigration there is a set of stairs that go down to the local market. I spent an hour in the market. It's quite a market. You can buy counterfit/fake DVDs/CDs, fake handbags, fake cigarettes (Burmese cigarettes in Marlboro packs), fake booze (the bottle may say "Johnnie Walker Black" but the whiskey isn't), fake electronics, etc, etc. I just got a few DVD movies for 30 baht (one dollar) each. I will NOT try taking them through US Customs! I suppose I could have gotten my very own "iFone"!

Going back into Thailand, you walk on the right-hand side of the road to the Burmese exit station. Hand in your brown card and get your passport back. Then cross the road to the left-hand side and go through Thai immigration. They handed me a entry and departure card and there is a table to fill them out. Then into immigration, and hand in passport and entry/departure cards. No problems. I'm good for another year stay in Thailand. There was a Thai "Customs" table staffed by two people but they didn't ask to see anything of mine. Perhaps if I was entering with 5 boxes and two large suitcases they might have been interested but they seemed to be about to fall asleep.

The trip back to Chiang Mai was just about like the trip to Mae Sai but in reverse. North of Chiang Rai, they stopped at several small towns to pick-up people but after Chiang Rai it was non-stop back to Chiang Mai "Arcade" station. It took a little longer with the small town stops. That's it!

[Colabamumbai]

Nice photos, I have not been there for 35 years. Your story makes me want to visit there again. It was a one street town with no vendors. And the local police said to me if you come here to buy heroin you will not get it. You can guess your own results. Do you believe in Thai Police. Now why would they have ever thought that???

[BookMan]

Thanks for sharing that.

[Colabamumbai]

Thanks for sharing that.

Off topic but have a mutt and a registered lab, in Kalasin.

[BookMan]

Thanks for sharing that.

Off topic but have a mutt and a registered lab, in Kalasin.

Dogs are never off topic Colabamumbai

[Colabamumbai]

Thanks for sharing that.

Off topic but have a mutt and a registered lab, in Kalasin.

Dogs are never off topic Colabamumbai

Thanks,They have become a main topic of my life as well as a stress reliever. May raise labs on the side while teaching English in Sahatsakhan.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Colabamumbai

[jbinfl]

Great post. Thanks for sharing the information.

I did my visa run yesterday on the Green Bus. Very comfortable, but bring a light jacket/blanket as it gets cold.

Other notes:

For solo travellers choose the VIP seats on the left side of the bus. Single seats.

Quick bathroom stop only at the Chiang Rai bus station. 5 minutes.

Songtaew costs flat fee of 15 baht each way from Mae Sai Bus Station <> Border.

The queue at the border was unusually long, about 20 people, so I would recommend at least a 2 hour turnaround time if you are heading back the same day.

I have lived in Thailand for 10 months now and I have done this crossing about a dozen times. I am hoping to lay that rumour to rest that there is a limit on crossings. I have had no issue at all.

Good luck,

JB

[Semper]

I have lived in Thailand for 10 months now and I have done this crossing about a dozen times. I am hoping to lay that rumour to rest that there is a limit on crossings. I have had no issue at all

Maybe you should consider getting a tourist visa in Vientianne.

[Baloo22]

...The queue at the border was unusually long, about 20 people, so I would recommend at least a 2 hour turnaround time if you are heading back the same day....

That was one of the reasons I decided to stay overnight there and do my border crossing first thing in the morning. I suspected that it may be crowded in the afternoon with individuals arriving in the afternoon and also a bunch of "border-run" minivans arriving.

I realize that many people have work/business/family issues that require them to do the border run in one day or have been up to Mae Sai before but for those with the time, I would suggest making it a two-day trip from Chiang Mai. Especially if it's your first time to Mae Sai. I'm glad that I did. The Navy Home Hotel was 467 baht plus tax (US $17.69 charged to my credit card) through Agoda. So not a big hole in my budget. Instead of a tedious and tiring one-day trip with over 9 hours on the road in a bus, I had a enjoyable and relaxing two-day "mini-vacation"!

[Baloo22]

A ThaiVisa member sent me a PM for some additional details on the type of visa I had and how it worked for me getting another year (approx). I'll post my answer here in case any others might find the info useful.

I had a Non-Immigrant O-A visa that I obtained in my home country, USA, before I came to Thailand. I obtained mine from the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C. (FedEx there and back). See Royal Thai Embassy for detailed requirements for those in the USA. I have no idea if there are any different requirements for people from other countries. You should check with the Thai Embassy for your country.

My Non-Immigrant O-A visa had a "Date of Issue" of 24 May 2011 and the "Enter Before" date was 23 May 2012. Under "No. of Entry" it had an M for multiple-entry. I used it to enter Thailand in July 2011 and was given a "permission to stay" stamp that was good until July 2012.

So, I was good until July of this year. But by going up to Mae Sai, leaving Thailand and then entering on 18 May 2012 (before the "Enter Before" date had passed), I received another "permission to stay" stamp that allows me to stay in Thailand until 17 May 2013. Also, for those that may have the question; since my visa was multiple entry and I used it to enter before the "Enter Before" date had passed, I did NOT need a re-entry permit. I could have left and come back multiple times. Prior to doing my "border run", I confirmed this with Immigration Officers in the Jomtien office (when I lived there) and also the Chiang Mai office.

So, if you have a Non-Immigrant O-A visa, that you obtained in your home country, and by doing a "border run" just before the "Enter Before" date passes, you can get almost two years in the Kingdom out of that one visa! The visa cost me US $175 but I see that has increased to US $200 now.

[lopburi3]

To make it clear for some readers you now need a re-entry permit for any travel or your current permitted to stay will be lost on exit. Only until 23 May were you able to return using the non immigrant O-A visa.

[lannarose]

Nice write-up on the Mae Sai visa run. One question: if I don't have a visa on re-entry to Thailand by land, do I get 14 or 15 days?

[lopburi3]

15 days for most but day of entry is day 1; not 0.

[Gopi]

Very nice info because I went there and was not aware of all those possiblities