Going into Myanmar

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Patience and a healthy body r needed to move from one place to the next. I'm still having trouble with both. The fuse i didn't have anymore has grown back nowadays to a very very short one...m really working on getting it extended and thus being by myself again without a social life feels tremendously good. As for my body, the pressure during my two flights to Chiang Mai made my bruised ribs feel like they were being punched like a boxingbag ... a thai one no less with kicks and all... as i have a tendecy to not wanna mingle nor wanna be in touristy areas i had booked at the Pingthara, a little riverhotel a few km outside the center of Chiang Mai ... i was picked up from the airport by the sister of the owner who asked me if i was aware i had booked a room with a shared bathroom and if i wanted more privacy ... i shook my head and said that i knew ... what she neglected to tell mi was that i turned out to be the only guest, so all facilities were mine to be used soley by mi ... i had planned to stay in the area for a few days or so and then go into the jungle, however while roaming around the Bangkok airport in search of a luggage center (wanted to shed half of what i was traveling with) i realized my 30 day visa was to expire in 2 days time on March 15th ... not only that, when i reentered from Cambodia i also got a 14day visa which expired on the 9th...however this wasn't a problem i was told... so plans changed and decided to travel to the nearest border, Myanmar...like many others m traveling with THE bible of travel guidance, the Lonely Planet, which told mi that not only Mai Sae is a crossing into former Birma, it also is used for many a foreigner for their visaruns ... so i had one day to buy myself a busticket, get myself a small duffelbag , check out the bus and or train terminal to leave my luggage (in Bangkok it was €3 a day) AND do a little sightseeing as many had told mi it's a great place to be ... well, as for starters coming from a small island my being was in shock as to how large the city was, as to how crowded it was, as to how dirty it was, as to how much traffic there was, as to how much smog there was ... i was glad i was staying at a place away from downtown, however a tuktuk had to be called in so i could run the above errands ... i managed to do it all hopping in and out, no better written, folding in and out of the tuktuk as obviously m WAY too big for a small vehicle like that, and of course kept bumping my head, limbs, everything really which was sticking out of my main body ... a market here, a temple there, a transit terminal another moment and then another temple ... the only moment i wasn't surrounded by foreigners was when i ended up at a little thai market where my tuktuk driver had brought mi so i could buy my new travelcompanion at a friend's stand, a wonderful Diadas duffel bag and yes this it is the right spelling ... here i had lunch amongst the locals, next to the chicken i ordered there were a few unidentifed objects between my noodles, which i respectfully left to the side ... with 75baht a day to leave my luggage at the train terminal i asked back at the hotel if i could leave my suitcase there with the thought this is to be mi last stopover back to Bangkok ... and perhaps a moment of rest between mi travels between Myanmar and Laos ... a much better solution for mi and them, like this i don't have the left luggage charges, and they have mi coming and going as a paying guest...by the end of the day i was exhausted, and managed to cut down my 22.5 kilos of luggage (which also incl a bunch of stones and minerals i picked up on the way) to a mere 8 kilos ... hmmm, feels good to shed ... so on the 14th i took an airconditioned bus for 4.5hrs to the north ... not only was i sitting at the wrong side of the bus with the sun beating down at mi through a shredded piece of cloth which was supposed to be a curtain, i was way too close to the bathroom, so after two hrs it felt like i was sitting in a dirty stinking hot public bathroom, the only thing which helped a little bit was spraying loads of perfume on my shirt and sort of wrap it around my face, while pulling it down as to not show any skin, as a monk was sitting next to mi ... once at the Mae Sai busterminal we all cramped into one of the 2bench taxis, which in the 5km stretch to the border kept picking up more and more people, by the end the driver was transporting an unbelievable 20 people, some literally hanging on the outside of the van ... i followed two aspiring english teachers, whom were waiting for their correct contracts, and r forced to do a biweekly visarun ... a great scheme as the Thai government and their neighboring countries are getting a huge revenue from this... after mi research in mi travel bible i was all excited to explore Myanmar a bit, but everything didn't go according to plan ... at first it turned out i had overextended my stay with 5 days as my 30-day visa was annulled by having gone to Cambodia, and was fined the exact amount i had to pay to get myself out of Koh Phangan's corruption ... i took a few deep breaths as i didn't want the wrong information i had gotten at the Cambodian/Thai border spoil my day ... after all i was to travel into one of the more disclosed mysterious countries in this world ... passing over the bridge into Tachileik, a few little buildings were on the other side, however not one of them had an immigration sign, i circled around and around, then suddenly an older lady pushed mi towards a tiny house which door was replaced with a curtain ... i felt weird however decided to step in and yes there were 5 men dressed in white uniform asking if i came for visarun ... with much respect i mentioned i wanted to visit their country for about a week upon all 5 simultaneously shook their head ... 'nonononono u can't, come!'...and they escorted mi to the little building next to theirs, again i had to enter through a run down curtain ... the man in white pointed at a chair 'u sit and wait' and he left ... no clue what was happening i was left by myself and ... all kind of thoughts wandered through my sudden nervous being ... oh dear did i do something wrong, did i say something wrong, wasn't i humble enough, shouldn't i be wearing a tanktop ... oh oh what to do now ... after a few minutes another one of the immigration officials appeared 'U wait' ... now i really started to feel uncomfortable, however a cute tiny little lady dressed in a flowerdress leaning on a beatendown umbrella walked in "U need guide? 1500 baht a day' ... it turned out the permits Lonely Planet had been talking about was nothing less than paying for someone to accompany mi every step of the way... not only that, i could only travel inwards about 100km, the rest was not accessible to foreigners ... however when i continued to ask i was told that if i would go to Bangkok, get myself an appropriate visa for Myanmar, fly to the west of Myanmar (on their national airlines) i could enter the country on my own, and travel from west to east back to the thai border on my own ... from thailand to myanmar too dangerous, lots of terrorists in mountains due to upcoming elections ... hmmmmm after a few moments of thought and calculation i decided today was gonna be a 'visarun' day ... so i thanked her respectfully, found my way through the curtain, roundtrip back to Thailand so all together i walked about 100 mtr in Myanmar ... 50 mtr to and 50 away from their immigration office ... i did experience feeling quite alone so much for F***ing Lonely Planet ...

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Photos

pingthara hotel
being only guest in hotel a shared bathroom all by myself

wax monks
from the outside they looked very real, getting closer they were kinda creepy...nonetheless these lifeless monks r revered by many...