HELLO everyone I hope all is well. Here are some more photos of my first day in Bangkok and my subsequent trip up to Mae Sot. Foolishly I did not take any photos of my family in Bangkok, as I was extremely lucky to not only see my Aunt and Uncle but my cousin Moddy as well. This was very exciting as Moddy helped me with my first tender steps into the Thai languuage, culture and food. I very quickly learned that I cannot tolerate anywhere as near spicy foods as the Thais. There continual need for agony while eating is [View Full Entry]

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We made it home, but thought we'd do a quick entry to share a few last photos and updates. After leaving Chiang Mai we headed south and west to Mae Sot, a small town bordering Myanmar (aka Burma). The town has no real tourist attractions of its own. A few travellers come to Mae Sot to cross the border into Myanmar and then return to Thailand to obtain an automatic Thai visa renewal, or to work in one of the dozen Burmese refugee camps than line the Thai side of the border. We had planned only a few days' stop to [View Full Entry]

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After the whole journey consisting of a long track of train, bus and ferry-trips we got on a airplane - and flied to Thailand. This is something that didn't feel very nice (neither flying or going to Thailand) but there isn't really any other way to get to India from China without passing either Tibet or Burma. The first thing we did here was (strangely enough!) going to a travel-agency to book another flight - this time from Thailand to Germany (with a stay-over in India). So the whole thing led to a lot of anxiety and bad feelings for me: [View Full Entry]

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Mae Sot - en forvokset landsby tæt ved den burmesiske grænse Mae Sot viste sig at være en større by end vi troede. Transport hertil skete i en minibus henover et mindre bjergpas med fuld skrue på fra chaufførens side. Der var en del hasarderede overhalinger, som vi var enige om, at vi ikke ville have foretaget. Men stik imod alt forventning kom vi frem uden skrammer og en ½ time tidligere end programsat. Vi tog til byen for at se landsbyliv og ”vilde stammer”. I stedet var det moderne butikker med guld-, smykker og ædelstene samt teakhandel, som dominerede byen. [View Full Entry]

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Not long after settling into MHS I found myself already back in Mae Sot town. While I was dreading making the 8 hour journey through all the twisted curves again I had no choice but to return for a visa run in Mywaddy, Burma. I spent a week in Mae Sot which coincided with the farewell of an Australian work colleague, Claire. On the day after arriving into Mae Sot Daryl drove me to the Moei River Friendship Bridge to do my border run, which proved to be an amusing experience. He explained to the Thai immigration officer that we were [View Full Entry]

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Mae Sot is small town on the West of Central Thailand and sits on the border of Burma. Like many border towns it is a hotbed of illicit activities, drugs, gems and even people are smuggled over from neighbouring Burma. Due to its border location and its proximity to hill tribe regions the town boasts a colourful mix of people, Indo-Burmese, Karen, Chinese, Hmong and Thai amongst others have all settled here and many more people from the surrounding hills come to the town to trade at its markets. Mae Sot also has a large number of aid workers and NGO [View Full Entry]

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While I worked for the first half of Christmas week, Matt did his own self-guided tour of Mae Sot. He joined me on my morning walks for some great sunrise views of the paddy fields and Jac and I took him to our favourite restaurant Aiya. On Christmas day I took Matt to Wat Phra That Doi Din Kiu temple because of its breathtaking views overlooking Burma. I thought this would be a quiet place to spend the afternoon, however I was proven wrong as we sat by hanging rock listening to some locals sing “Rudolph the red nose reindeer,” over [View Full Entry]

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Wie ich euch ja in meinem letzten Blog geschrieben habe, war Tak echt keine schoene Stadt und ich bin froh, dass ich mit Sack und Pack nach Mae Sot gegangen bin! Schon das Ban Thai Guesthouse, in dem ich fuer eine Nacht eingecheckt habe, war wirklich super huebsch und ich habe mich gleich wohl gefuehlt. Nachdem ich ein richtig leckeres Burmese Potato and Aubergine Curry with Brown Rice gegessen hatte, bin ich Richtung Grenze, damit ich meinen zweiten Visa Run starten konnte. Schon der Hinweg zur Grenze war ein kleines Abenteuer. Ein aelterer Opa mit einem Fahrradtaxi wollte mich unbedingt fahr [View Full Entry]

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This was the last weekend that I would spend in Mae Sot before moving up to picturesque Mae Hong Son. Daryl and I decided to venture out on our motorbikes for the afternoon so he could show me some other sights before I left the region. We started off at a Temple on the way to Tak which housed a beautiful gold plated Buddha statue. We then visited the Shrine of Pawo located on top of a hill on the main freeway. Pawo is called upon by Thais to protect them during times of travel, especially emergency situations. Out of respect [View Full Entry]

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Jac and I were lucky to have our local tour guide Daryl take us around again for the day to see what else Mae Sot has to offer. We were accompanied by his wife and son and it felt like a real family outing. We saw 3 waterfalls and each one was great in its own way. The first one, Tara Rak was not far from town and you could see the waterfall from the road. Jac and I think this may be our spot to celebrate Christmas with a bottle of Baileys, who needs turkey, ham or seafood! You can [View Full Entry]

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