that 's right. she went there.



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LIFE IS A JOURNEY NOT A DESTINATION

Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, when the journey is over and it is too late to enjoy it. Be fully aware that the present moment is all we have.

HAPPINESS IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION

Happiness is a journey, not a destination; happiness is to be found along the way not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late. The time for happiness is today not tomorrow.

LIFE IS A JOURNEY THAT MUST BE TRAVELED

Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how good or bad of the road and accommodations.

LIFE IS A JOURNEY NOT A DESTINATION

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness Just because they are not on your road does not mean they are lost ..

SUCCESS IS A JOURNEY NOT A DESTINATION

Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Not everyone can be the Number One.

4 April 1997

My Mom and I at Mae Sai, Chiang Rai, Thailand


My Mom and I at Mae Sai, Chiang Rai, Thailand

      The most northern city in Thailand is Mae Sai, in Chiang Rai province on the Myanmar border.  Burma was the first country I visited outside of Thailand in my life! Mom took me to Mae Sai or Takilek the first time when I was 15 years old, the age at which we Thais are allowed to get an official ID card.  Unlike these days where everyone goes there for visa runs, at that time I saw many Thai tourists and only a few foreigners. Mae Sai was famous as a shopping paradise.  Most goods are imported from China, so there is no VAT.
       I have been to Mae Sai many times with friends and family, each time staying for a day or a few nights, with a mixture of good and bad experiences. If you don’t have your own transportation you can easily get there on one of the frequent Green buses. The Green bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai and Mae Sai is very popular, especially now that it is even more luxurious. Back then I remember it used to take 4 hours from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai on a crappy, rickety old bus, the driver making frequent stops to  pick up extra passengers along the way. 
      When you cross the bridge at the border, you will not just go from one side of the bridge to the other (Thailand to Burma) but also from the left side of the road to the right. Thais drive on the left hand side, but in Myanmar one keeps to the right. Yes, it is a little confusing! Be careful of other vehicles. You really need to watch out for crazy drivers there.  The main rule seems to be that there are no rules. And be careful of pickpockets and children lining up to beg along the bridge. 
There are a number of shops both along the main road and also on the side streets, both Thailand and Burma displaying similar products. Some Thai people claim goods are cheaper in Tachilek, but others say that prices are about the same on both sides of the border. Still others prefer to shop in Burma just for the new experience.  If you do not like shopping, you might say there isn’t a lot to do in Mae Sai other than shopping. I think the prices on the smaller streets are probably better. However, they all seem to be selling the same things: clothes, CDs, tea, dried fruit, toys, jewellery, electronic goods, etc. 

Top 6 Mae Sai Tourist Attractions 

Tampla cave means “fish cave” or what Thai people call Wat Tampla. Tampla is located about seven kilometres before Mae Sai, where one turns left to follow the signs to the Tampla cave. You will find many monkeys here. This picture of me was taken more recently, at a time when I already had my hepatitis B vaccination – a good precaution when feeding monkeys! When I was feeding the monkeys, I did not touch them, only handed out bananas, so I am quite sure I did not contract hepatitis. 

Doi Nang Non means “sleeping Beauty hill”. This hill is located around five kilometers south of Mae Sai. Just try to imagine on the left side of the road a reclining lady as part of the landscape. You will see the hill with the lady’s curves, hair, nose, mouth, neck and nipple. Mom told me a fairy tale about these hills. “There was a beautiful princess, who was waiting for her charming prince to return to the palace palace, but he never returned before she died at Doi Nang Non” Who knows whether it is a true story or not. It might be the same sleeping beauty in the Disney cartoon.

Wat Doi Wao means “Scorpion Temple”. This temple is located near the Mae Sai border where the big buses park. The Prince Wao built this temple and pagoda for the remains of Lord Buddha. It is one of the oldest pagodas in Chiang Rai, almost as old as Doi Tung Pagoda. You have to climb up quite a few steps to reach it, but when you get to the top there is a magnificent view of the border between Thailand and Burma. You can park your car at the bottom of the temple staircase, or you can drive up top and park there.

Kao-Soi Mae Sai. Chicken Kao Soi has a base of simple curry paste which gives this northern Thai soup surprising depth of flavor. This food was brought to northern Thailand around Mae Sai area by Yunnanese Muslim immigrants many years ago. My mom loved to eat and she told me Kao-Soi Mae Sai is the best and the most well-known. So, I followed her advice and ate some, but on the way back to Chiang Rai it gave me diarrhea. I do not know why, but almost every time I visited Mae-Sai I
seemed to get diarrhea . Learning from my many toilet experiences, I finally decided to eat only things from 7Eleven packages. No more local food in Mae Sai for me.

The Shwedagon Pagoda means “Great Dragon Pagoda”. This one is located in Takilek and it is a replica of the original artistic building in Yangon, Myanmar. For me, the main purpose of this pagoda is to get money from the tourists’ pockets. We have so many pagodas and temples in Thailand that I did not feel this site to be particularly fascinating. If you would like to visit, it takes about 20 minutes from the border to get there. But you MUST negotiate the price carefully, since in our experience, the Burmese pedicab driver overcharged us. Sixteen years ago, we were charged 20 baht to get there, but for the return he wanted 60baht more. 
Mai Sai Immigration Office I am 100% Thai, so I don't need a visa or passport to cross the border, but I do need to have a permission paper from the Mae Sai District Office which is located next to the border. If I had wanted to stay, I could have remained in Burma for 15 days. Conversely, if you are a farang (foreigner) you would need a visa to cross over. All foreigners are granted 30 days in Thailand upon arrival, but if you travel by land, you now only get 15 days the second time and thereafter. Air travelers only get the standard 30 days. So, every 30 days (or 15 if by land) you would have to do one of the legendary 'visa runs'. (Please check the detailed information on the Thai immigration website.)


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