Mae Sai - living there

[Kf6vci]

How's life in the far North? Care to share?

[rijb]

We live 30 minutes south of Mae Sai. It's my wife's birthplace and she still has family there.

We've seen lots of growth. You might be able to guess where some of the money comes from.

An interesting mix of easterners live and do business in the region. The festivals are popular and well attended.

Most westerners just pass through Mae Sai, for visa services or shopping.

The place is reasonably clean, safe, and the weather's great.

Edited May 1, 2015 by rijb

[slipperylobster]

We live 30 minutes south of Mae Sai. It's my wife's birthplace and she still has family there.

We've seen lots of growth. You might be able to guess where some of the money comes from.

An interesting mix of easterners live and do business in the region. The festivals are popular and well attended.

Most westerners just pass through Mae Sai, for visa services or shopping.

The place is reasonably clean, safe, and the weather's great.

but.... it has a good personality.

[bazza40]

My experience with Mae Sai is it seems to shut down at about 6.30 pm, nothing seems to be open. The main drag is like a ghost town. Is there some kind of local curfew operating?

[northernphil]

I too live about 30 mins south of the border but I have never been to M/S after dark. I personaly think it is a horrible town ,only go there for Immigration. But then aren't most border towns horrible ?

[Bardeh]

I personally wouldn't want to live in Mae Sai. Like most border towns it's a little bit seedy and there's not really much going on unless you like to buy cheap knockoff Chinese goods. Chiang Rai is a nice town though with more going for it, and only 40 mins drive or so to Mae Sai if you really want to spend time there.

[henry15]

I've been the firts time to Mae Sai some 20 years ago, was a very pleasant town. I went back some 2 years ago. It became an horrible dirty disgusting place, Certainly the markets near by the border. Seen theire more abnormal and low life farangs than i Pattaya. ill never set a foot again in that town.

[technologybytes]

Border towns are rarely places that make people think of living there.

I have stayed overnight many times and I have a friend that lived in Mae Sai for a couple of years.

The main market area closes early, but certainly the rest of the town does not, there are a number of nice little restaurants and bars that are open late.

There used to be a few places that were geared towards western foreigners, and they certainly were frequented by lots of foreigners who lived in Mae Sai, but since limitation were imposed on 30 day visa runs a lot of those have moved on.

I'd say that Mae Sai is a bit like any small town in Thailand, you need to have a reason for being there or you will get bored pretty quickly.