Tachilek and Mae Sai, U.S. $10 @ 500 bahts.

Interesting. Burma or Myanmar now that is preferred. By the junta, anyway.....





Passed through here to get a fresh visa and had to pay 500 bahts or U.S. $ 10.


The exchange rate was around 33 bahts to a Dollar so how the hell did they came up with rate of $ 1 to 50 bahts ?


Being pedantic and inquisitive in nature, of course i asked around but get no answer(s).


I paid up in thai baht at 500 and felt short-changed of 170 bahts.Pretty much one half of the price quoted in U.S. dollars.


Are the junta really that short of the greenbacks that they readily accepted a lesser amount if you pay up in the US of A currency ?


Also, they took your money(500 bahts) and your passport so cannot travel onward.So, they wanted to tax you exclusively on your outward journey too. It did made you felt IMPORTANT , wow, these guys really looked up on you.They wanted money and nothing else. Smart, unlike the Thai side of the crossing, where they wanted you to make them looked IMPORTANT instead of just doing you a favour by stamping the all important chop of the immigration department.No, the Thais needed a boost in their self esteems by delaying you as long as possible in their office instead of just endorsing your passport from the windowed counter like everyone else ????


They must have felt the honours when you had to cross several borders just to be in their cramped office. Ahem.








Mae Sai is the northernmost district of of its northernmost province, ChiangRai.It is a major border crossing between Thailand and Burma now known as Myanmar, and i really think that Myanmar sounds better or rhymes better or they were known as Mien Tien by the Chinese since times back before any Anglos ever set foot in Asia for that matter. At the least, they understand the English language as is spoken or written and blah, blah, blah......





Now, back to the country.....


The border crossing at Mae Sai and Tachilek are quite amusing.


First, they have a lot of touts working as spies for their immigration, customs services.No, not really spies the like of 00 or CIA but rather imformers of the lowliest rank.


They followed you everywhere, to the shops, restaurants, etc......to the loo, too. I found that rather amusing as well as offensive because what the heck were they thinking? Don't they answer the nature calls themselves too ?

Then they will rat on you at the immigration/customs checkpoint on your way back to Thailand and confiscate anything that they thought were contrabands.And if they were contrabands or prohibited goods, why were they selling them in the shops ?
The games: They(customs) will resell those so called confiscated contrabands back to the sellers at a price so that is a win-win-lose game, afterall.
The winning customs got the goods for resale at Nothing,Zilch.Zero.Nyet.Nada.KOSONG
The winning shopkeepers got back the goods that they sold at a low price restock.
The LOSERS are those buyers that paid for the goods and got nothing in return.
Reality Check!!!
It Happened !!!
What's happened to karma ?
BTW, Tachilek is also on the way to Keng Tung/Damenglung(China) via the Asian Highway Networks but first, these highwaymen had to be stopped and welcomed to the 21st century.Thanks to the Chinese for stocking up the country because the so called embargoes only hurt the general populace and not the ruling classes.Think about it !!!