To Burma and back

Tues 28 Jan 2014

Having eventually realised that I wasn't simply suffering a common cold, we had gone to the chemist and got a course of antibiotics to kiss my tonsillitis goodbye.

It was 4:30am, day two of the course when we had to get up and head to the minibus which would take us on our visa run. The meds had definitely started to work their magic - I had been able to prize myself not just out of bed, but out of our room and onto the bus. Not that there was much of a choice in the matter. On arrival into Thailand 30 days ago, our passport exit visas had been stamped with today's date, Tues 28 Jan 2014. It was go now or get a 500 baht fine each for every day we overstayed and a stern ticking off from immigration. Neither of these sounded like viable options so we'd sucked it up and crossed our fingers that I would be well enough to go.

At 5am we shivered and shook in the early morning chill as we waited patiently outside AYA for the minivan. The hyperactive, giggly driver had obviously given himself an M150 kick start and was irritating each bleary eyed backpacker that climbed onto the bus by asking to see tickets, re-checking, counting and recounting each one loudly making sleep an impossibility.

As soon as the driver was in position, silent and the engine clicked on everyone that had boarded soon sank back into sleep, despite being yet again on the windy road to Chiang Mai.

The drive went on and on with toilet stops were few and far between giving welcome big chunks uninterrupted sleep time. At 12:30 we reached the northern Thailand boarder town of Mae Sae.

Everyone was ushered off the bus and told to return in an hour. We turned around to see the huge boarder crossing which separated these two countries. Excited and a little apprehensive, we made our way up to the Thai boarder. They took our passports, tore out our departure card out, stamped the exit date as today and handed them back. We walked through into what was officially no mans land. Neither Thailand nor Myanmar, this little stretch of road separated the two countries. We looked at the Thai boarder unsure of whether we just nip back in or actually have to cross. Logic prevailed as we realised we had to actually exit Thailand by getting stamped entrance into another country. Simply walking into no mans land and back wouldn't do the job.

We followed the signs for Myanmar...why there is a sign post every couple of meters I do not know. It would be physically impossible to get lost on this 50mtr stretch of straight road. Myanmar immigration were very polite. They took our photos, our 500baht and our passports and in return gave us cards to prove our legitimacy as visitors. We were free to enter their country, well the boarder town of their country for up to 28days. If we wanted to venture further a field we would need to pay more and get a proper visa.

Myanmar was instantly edgy. Tour touts with Indian hassle techniques buzzed around us as we tried to take it all in. People were visibly different here, not just in their physical appearance but in their demeanour and dress. Buildings looked uncared for, litter lined the streets and it was noticeably in a higher state of poverty than its neighbour. Cars hurtled past on the wrong side of the road as we risked life and limb to sneak in a quick Myanmar selfie on a roundabout.

We didn't know how long re-entering Thailand would take and conscious of time we did a quick loop and headed back to the boarder. If we'd known it would be this easy to get into Myanmar we would've journeyed up here ourselves giving us time to explore, taste the food and get a feel for this amazing country.

We joined the queue to exit and waited for our passports. Jamie took the opportunity to get some snaps with immigration before we waved Myanmar goodbye, maybe we'd be back one day to venture deeper.

Back in Thailand immigration we completed our arrival cards and queued up for our turn. We got re-stamped with another 30days and welcomed back with smiles.

The bus was still missing pretty much all of its party so we had time to get some lunch. We walked up and down and couldn't see anything. Back at the van we the driver who was now much more chilled out, pointed us in the direction of some noodle soup bar.

I sat in the shade and waited for Jamie who returned with a bag of soup, a bag of noodles, chopsticks and a coca cola cup. We successfully dropped the noodles in but half to soupy liquid was lost to the pavement. We'd got enough in the cup to make it a meal and happily sucked up the chunky egg noodles. The place where Jamie had brought the soup was also a steamed bun factory (which he realised when having to nip out the back for a wee) so he brought one of those too and we split it.

When the bus was full again we got straight back on the road. All sleeped out we chatted with our fellow visa applicants and tried to pass some time watching Mad Men. We stopped off in Chiang Mai to swap some passengers before hitting the same windy road to Pai. By this time I was really flagging. The journey back to Pai seemed to go on and on and all I wanted was my bed.

It was 8:30pm by the time we got dropped back in Pai. Most food sellers were packing up as the town started to wind down for the day. Dinner was ordered and scoffed and our bed welcomed us back with open arms. It had been a long day but we had got our visas and could stay in Thailand a little longer.

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