Home »

Visa Run to Mae Sot, Tak Province

Posted by Stuart at 05:58 AM on August 05, 2006

I left Bangkok on another visa run last night around 9:30 PM, on an overnight bus to Mae Sot, Tak Province on Thailand's western border with Burma. Even though I was on the VIP bus with plenty of legroom, I was unable to sleep much. I couldn't of gotten more than four hours of fitful sleep when we were awoken at 4:30 AM at a Thai police checkout where everyone had to show either their passport, their Thai ID card, or their Thai visitation papers (for the Burmese). A few unlucky souls apparently didn't have the right paperwork, and they and their luggage were promptly removed from the bus. I guess the police decided that this farang didn't pose a threat to national security for now, so I was allowed to continue on my journey.

We pulled into the tiny Mae Sot bus station around 5:00 AM. I was prepared for the usual tout onslaught, but it surprisingly wasn't terribly fierce. When I was offered an 80-baht (US$2) motorcycle taxi ride to the Burmese border 10 KM away, I didn't even try to bargain. After all, it was cheaper than the going rate in Bangkok.

As we walked to the motorcycle, I realized that it was raining slightly, and the mountain air was much cooler than steamy Bangkok. The female motorcycle driver handed me a helmet and poncho and we were off. The roads were completely empty, so my driver drove at an impressive clip. Her helmet had a face visor, while mine did not, so she was probably unaware that I rode most of the way with my eyes closed to keep out the stinging rain drops. Needless to say it was one of the coldest motorcycle rides I've ever had. At one point, I thought to myself that it could have been snowing out and I wouldn't have been colder. But of course that's a silly idea, and besides, why on earth was I complaining about being cool in Thailand?

The bridge over the Moei River into Burma doesn't open until 6:30 AM, so the motorcycle lady was kind enough to drop me off at the only open restaurant in town. And by open I mean that the lights are on and the Burmese staff is preparing the food for the day, but I am the only customer. In fact, it looks like the staff and I are the only ones awake for miles around. But in spite of the early hour, the staff is busy around me. Huge billows of smoke come from coal that was just lit in front of the restaurant. A young girl fishes hard boiled eggs out of a large pot. A Burmese boy in a light blue yongi (sarong) mops the floor.

The restaurant is in a typical open-air Chinese shophouse, with a noodle soup and stir-fry station out front by the road. The chairs are the common red plastic ones, but the tables are solid wood. I'm sure that means that this restaurant is high-class for this part of the country. Along one long wall is a glass case full of ceramic figurines for sale: Chinese gods, Chinese boys sitting on dragons, Chinese girls holding huge fish, and wise old Chinese men. And then, right in the middle, looking very out of place, are a few figurines that make up a Norman Rockwell-esque schoolhouse scene and a couple of spitting images of the Sun Maid raisin girl with a handful of grapes.

Finally, my kai jiaw muu sap (egg omelet with ground pork) arrives. And so I sit and eat and watch the flurry of activity around me, and I wait for the sun to rise and the border to open so that I can complete my monthly duty.