THAILAND - LAOS - MYANMAR

August is my birthday month and this year, I had a great adventure with my girlfriend, Rachel. We managed to cover 3 countries in one day. We started from Thailand, took a boat to Laos and walked across the bridge to Myanmar. We were back in Thailand by 5.00 PM!

This is the Golden Triangle whereby one can view Myanmar on the left and Laos on the right, standing on Thailand soil. The 3 countries are connected with the great Mekong River.

This is a toilet. I wished I was fast enough to video Rachel running out of the toilet because a lizard was chasing her!!!

Our journey to Laos starts here...

 Sanan was our driver throughout our trip and he accompanied us to Laos.

 Here comes our boat. 1000 Baht rental.

 Boat rocked against the waves

 Thailand

 Myanmar

 Casino in Myanmar

 Casino in Laos

LAOS

 Welcome to Laos

 30 Baht entrance fee. Passport was not needed.

This is a market in Laos. It carries many generic branded goods. I understand that this place is literally taken over by the Chinese people from China.

The only food outlet in Laos market, the good ole KFC. I was surprised that there were no local Laos food being sold. How do you promote your country this way?

We had enough of Laos. Boring. Beautiful people though but nothing interesting in Laos. Maybe a visit into the country itself would be more interesting. If only we had the time to spare. Anyways, back to Thailand as I was STARVING!

 Went to this humble eatery to have lunch. Boy, was I hungry!

 Pork noodles

 Best tasting chicken rice ever. Maybe I was too hungry! 

 Lovely homemade chilli sauce

 Interesting condiments: raw onions and "ham choi" @ salted veggie

 My chicken rice only cost me 50 Baht, Large!

Off we go to a town named Mae Sai. It is a border town in Thailand, located in the northernmost district of Chiang Rai Province. The bridge which connects Thailand to Myanmar is situated in Mae Sai.

MAE SAI, THAILAND

 Thailand Immigration office

Off we went. There's Rachel walking towards Myanmar. This bridge is named as the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge. The bridge is about 100 metres long.

 Ruak river which separates Thailand and Myanmar. I witnessed a man from the Myanmar side passed a huge black bag to man on the Thai side, across the wall, and the man swam across the river towards Thailand with the bag. It must be a bag full of goodies to sell. 

MYANMAR

 Entry to Myanmar Immigration office. We chatted with the Immigration officers who were friendly. They wanted to know why we were doing in Myanmar and how long our visit was going to be.  We had to pay 500 Baht each for a day's visa into Myanmar. Our passports were held and would be given back to us once we come back to Thailand. 

 Tachileik Market, Myanmar

 Street vendors

 Lots of souvernirs

 More food

 Dried good like mushrooms, dates and tea 

 A beautiful Myanmar lady

 Myanmar jade 

 hair accessories

 Lotus for sale 

 more food

 Mixture of peanuts

 Chestnuts

 Fried chicken

I was dying of thirst. Our driver warned us not to eat anything from the street vendors and to watch out for pick pockets. So we found a nice looking cafe to have some iced tea.

 

Back to the market. It is a huge place to explore. Unforturnately, the sky was not nice to us. It started to pour and it made it difficult for us to look at stuff because people started covering their goods.

 Lots of beggars around the market. In fact, we were approached by a man with crooked legs. Boy, he could walk fast! He came to us asking for money again and again. It was scary.

 Bye Tachileik market. We loved you.

Back to the immigration to claim our passports. We collected our passports without any difficulties. When we enter Thailand we had to fill in our departure cards again.

 Sure nice to see our Malaysian flag!

MAE SAI, THAILAND

It was sure a nice feeling to come back to Thailand. Some how it was a relief. Such a contrast, these 2 countries. We were welcome by fresh peaches! Mae Sai was setting up their night market so the little town was full of life on a Saturday evening.

Back to Chiang Rai. It is a good 2 hour drive. We had a great adventure today and we will never forget it. Okay I am starving again!!!