Mae Sot

Most of my readers will already know about our journey to Mae Sot from Kamphaeng Phet since Geordie wrote about it but it doesn't hurt to get another viewpoint. 

We had hoped to get a bus direct to Mae Sot but when we got to the bus station it seemed that wasn't a choice. We were pointed to a mini van and the guy was happy to sell me a ticket - unfortunately I would have had to abandon Geordie since there was only one seat left. I'm nicer than that.  We were then pointed to a song-thaew (it's pronounced "thow", by the way) which was definitely not our first choice, but it was going to Tak, which is a bigger center and would perhaps have a bus for us. So we bit the bullet and clambered in along with the other 13 people who would be our travelling companions for the next 75 minutes. 

I didn't get a picture of our vehicle but here's an empty one.  Not quite as exotic as that word sounds now, is it? This ones in a bit better condition perhaps. The thin padding is certainly not the most comfortable but obviously survivable for 75 minutes anyway. Ours also had a narrow bench down the middle.

By the way, as we were driving along the highway we were passed by a big beautiful commercial bus that looked almost empty, but who's destination proudly proclaimed it was going to Mae Sot. 

On our arrival in Tak we were hustled (that's the only word for it) by a woman who practically ordered us into a mini-van which we had to confirm was going to Mae Sot first. We asked the price and heard 28, but when we asked the amount for two she wrote it on her hand for us - 156. It took awhile to realize the price per person was "sewenty eight". we didn't even get a chance to see if there was a bus.

I wish we had had an opportunity to stop along the road to Mae Sot.  The road took us up into some lovely mountainous areas and the views were beautiful. Sadly unless one has one's own transportation, you don't get the tour.

Our real problem came, not from the journey by vehicle, but by our subsequent search for accomodation. The bus station where we alit was not on the Lonely Planet map (1.5 km to the map's edge) and there was no evidence of any tuk tuk, taxi or even a motorcycle taxi, so we finally set off on shank's mare.  We do not know how we missed the street we needed because now that we have been in town for awhile we can't figure out what road we were on.  By the time we got to the hotel where we finally realized we were lost, we were two kilometres off the map on the far side from the bus station.  And we stopped twice to ask directions and each time we were sent further on, even though we now know we were already well beyond our hoped for destination. the staff at the hotel were so kind - if it hadn't been so far from where we wanted to be we might have stayed with them. That glass of juice they poured us was a lifesaver. 

This is what I looked like after we had finally been driven in a huge modern truck (150 baht for a ten minute ride - vs 156 for our 90 minute ride in the mini- van) to our real destination. Yes I can still smile. 

We didn't do much else yesterday afternoon, as you can guess. We were too worn out to go far.

But today we visited a couple of the local wats. So here are a few pictures to give you an impression.

This is one of many small figures that sit atop the wall around the Wat just a few minutes from our place. 

And here's the chedi on the grounds. The ruined ones you saw in my earlier post would likely have looked like this in their heyday. 

This is the interior altar of the main prayer hall

And some vibrant paintings on the interior walls. 

This walking Buddha stood at the entrance. 

And these boys were playing Takraw which is a cross between volleyball and football using a woven rattan ball. The ball is kicked over the net, which no doubt explains the great legs on the guy in the blue shorts. 

These are monk's quarters. Lots of drying saffron robes. 

This chedi was at the second Wat we explored after eating at a restaurant called Krua Canadian. How could we resist. It is run by a Canadian, of course, but I can't say his French Fries were up to snuff. The worst I've ever had in all likelihood. 

There were many Buddha images around the chedi. 

Including these. Looks like they consulted to ensure matching wardrobes. 

One final image - this is likely the kind of vehicle we would have travelled in if we had kept to our plan to continue from Mae Sot to Mae Sariang. I think we made a better choice by buying tickets on an airplane to Chaing Mai instead. Sorry, it's a bit blurry but I only had a moment to capture the image. 

Our flights to Chaing Mai cost $37.50 Canadian each. A real bargain, I'd say.