Ferg & Jude\'s Thailand Adventure 2002

Friday 15th November
West to Mae Sot on the Myanmar border

Up at 6.30am, there was a fine mist over the river. Lampang was slowly awakening and I could here the whistles of the police on traffic duty. School starts early in Thailand and it was not uncommon to see three uniformed school kids crammed onto one motorbike heading for school. We packed our bags and paid the bill, 1255bt for 2 nights, motorbike hire, breakfast and numerous drinks. Very good value!

The town was celebrating the festival of Loi Krotong this day and we stumbled across a street parade which stretched for about 2km. Each section was colour coded and made up of girls in fancy dresses, school kids and bands.

We caught a songthaew to the bus station and hopped on the 12.30pm bus to Mae Sot via Tak. The bus was a heap, non-existent air con with narrow vinyl seats. The 5 hours to Mae Sot was murder. We stopped in Tak for a 5 minute rest then drove over the mountains into Mae Sot. We passed through two national parks and saw some spectacular mountain views on the way. We checked into the Porn Tep Hotel, 700bt air con room including breakfast. We then did our usual walk around town to get our bearings. We stopped at a café run by a Canadian, the food was good and he was very helpful with info regarding the area. Back to the hotel for an early night, comfy bed and the air con was fantastic.

Saturday 16th November
Mae Sot border markets

Down to the restaurant for breakfast, we were the only ones there. We handed in our vouchers and out came the food plonked on the table with ½ a smile, food was mediocre. They were playing one Thai song very loud over and over again. We walked up to the day market which was quite huge. Stalls selling headless chooks, live catfish and every type of fruit and vege you can imagine.

We picked up two motorcycle taxis (40bt each) out to the Myanmar border. There were lots of market stalls sprawled around the main border gate selling carvings, furniture and gems. I bought a lovely gold and sapphire bracelet (not the real thing but looks great). We wandered around for an hour then caught a songthaew back to town (only 10bt).