DAY 10

We headed off to Mai Sai the next morning leaving the Chiang Rai behind us. There is one main road heading into Mai Sai, imagine our surprise when we saw the large border complex opening onto a bridge which led straight to Burma! With nowhere else to go we noticed a tiny side street to our left which led straight into the markets, we had no choice but to head that way. The market was crowded with people, they gave us strange looks before ignoring us and going about their business. We thought that we may have driven into an area we weren't allowed to drive into but being 'farangs' tourists, we can pretty much talk our way out of anything as long as we admit our own stupidity! At the other end of the market we could see another vehicle crawling their way through the crowd, ok, so it was supposed to be a through road! We were headed to the Mai Sai Guesthouse and we were not at all sure what to expect. Luckily there were signs pointing the way, finally we reached a small concrete pathway which I don't think was originally constructed to carry anything bigger than a motorbike. Edging our way along carefully, (one side had a sheer cliff while the other was a drop down to the river), praying that no other vehicle came the other way, we spotted our destination. A complex made up of wooden A frame bungalows in a beautiful garden setting beside the river. An oasis in the middle of chaos! On the other side of the river was Burma, we were literally looking at Burma! Luckily for us they had a riverfront bungalow available and we booked straight away for 3 nights. We had found our base.

The bungalow was neat and tidy with a decent sized bathroom and we had a little verandah in the front where we could sit. There was also a note on the wall informing us that the police were clamping down on illegal immigrants, that we were not to bring prostitutes back to our room, that many of them were under aged illegal immigrants and they would steal our valuables and the police would take us away. Well that was the rules sorted, we stowed our gear and headed back to the restaurant to have something to eat. Despite being told that the restaurant was open all day it was closed when we got there. We later realised that the woman who checked us in, Pi (pronounced Pea), did everything around the place and obviously she wasn't there. Off into town we went, we were starving! It was nice to walk around, again we found ourselves in a non touristy area, walking through the rabbit warren streets that make up these small communities. That was the reason we were being stared at as we drove through, while there are western tourists around they are not in anywhere near the numbers found in other parts of Thailand. Those that do arrive normally do so by bus with a huge backpack on their back! There are some westerners that have married locals and live in the area, we met one of the men on our walk. He offered to take a photo of us in front of an amazing resort that has long been closed, but was built into the cliffs with a quite unique type of architecture. He then proceeded to give us information on the area and to tell us what we should go and see while we were in the area. He was a really nice guy and told us about his website called www.funnyplumber.com in his own words, 'He likes to tell poop jokes!' Inspection of his website also shows that he and his wife live in Thailand for 6 months of the year and work to help children along the Burma border with food, shelter and schooling. Storing away Terry's information we proceeded towards the marketplace. We took a couple of photos at the sign stating that we were in the Northernmost point of Thailand and found a great place that had fresh juices on offer. It wasn't long before the beggars sniffed us out, fresh blood! We gave money to a couple and were soon accosted by a group but these people are dirt poor, not like the ones in Chiang Mai that at least have decent clothes, these people were dressed in rags and covered in dirt. Unfortunately you can't give to everyone and I end up feeling worse for having given to one and not another. Especially when we've just enjoyed a fresh juice and then proceed to go and buy a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, a bag that we don't even finish!

On to check out Wat That Doi Wao, the steps are found close to the border crossing and at the top you have a brilliant view over Mai Sai and into Burma (I still can't get used to calling it Myanmar especially when the people are still referred to as Burmese!) This temple was apparently built in memory of a couple of thousand Burmese soldiers who died fighting the KMT here in 1965. This area has been a little hot spot, in 2001 Burmese soldiers shelled and fired upon Mai Sai while they were in pursuit of some Shan Rebels, the Thai army retaliated and Mai Sai was evacuated. People travelling to Mai Sai are advised to check the political situation before doing so. Luckily for us while we were there the Thai and the Burmese remained friendly.

We headed back to the guesthouse where the restaurant was finally open and we were able to get a couple of cold Singha's. Taking up a position in the eating area built over the river we took in our surrounds. Close to town were two Buddhist nuns standing in the river playing with their dogs, directly below us young Burmese waded across to the Thai side with fishing nets while listening to their phones blasting Linkin Park and further up the river a Burmese man stripped off, put his clothes in a plastic bag and swam across the river home after a day's work in Thailand. The end of a great day!

THE PHOTOS FROM DAY 10 ARE NOW UP IN THE GALLERY!