Myanmar – Ullan Adventures

Road Trip Disaster (and Recovery)

Chuck Ullan / November 14, 2013

In early October, we did our second border run to the Myanmar border at Mae Sai, which is about 4 1/2 hours from Chiang Mai. We drove up to Chiang Rai the first day, then planned to do our crossing on day 2, hit the Monkey & Fish Cave right afterward, then jet back to Chiang Mai.

Well, it didn’t quite shake out like that.

Our border crossing was uneventful, but we spent way more time than we expected with the monkeys, putting us in a bit of a rush. The mountains between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai have a lot of twists and turns, and people drive CRAZY on them, so we didn’t want to go through them at night.

We’re jamming back towards Chaing Rai and all of the sudden the car loses power in the middle of the highway. Luckily I was able to coast to the side and get out of the traffic lanes. I tried restarting the car a couple times and had no luck.

Then we smelled gas, and bailed everyone out of the car, along with all our important stuff.

After a few minutes of gathering ourselves, I decide to go see if I can put the car into neutral and move it up a little bit to a better spot. When I turned the ignition to free the gear shift, I could hear gas pouring out of the bottom of the car. Again, I got out hastily and saw a wide pool of gas coming from underneath the car.

So there we are, about 30 minutes from the nearest city, and about 3 1/2 hours from home. No phone, don’t speak Thai. No clue what we’ll do about the car or what we’ll do that night. Definitely an “awww, shit!” moment, but both Kirsten and I were fairly calm about it, for no good reason.

There was a building nearby with what looked like a small restaurant and store, and we figured we’d go in and call the company we rented the car from, then figure out housing.

Meanwhile a woman came out from the store and started gesturing at and talking to us. We tried to indicate that we had car problems (though I suppose that was obvious), and wanted to use a phone. She kept talking to us and started gesturing toward the side of the building.

I followed her over and sure enough, around the side of the building was a little shop for a guy who does auto repair!

I wandered back there on my own and tried to indicate that my car was broken down right outside. He was pretty confused, but followed me partway out to the street. The lady who sent us to him, then poked her head out of a window and told him what was going on.

He came out front, looked under the car, and found some part of the fuel line that had come off. He then stuck it on, and had me drive back to his shop. Seemed weird to start up the car while sitting in a puddle of gas, but hey, I lived to tell about it.

Meanwhile the lady from the shop had a couple friends there who came out and checked out the kids. Many Thais love to touch our kids, especially Beckett with his blond hair. They also brought out water for Kir and the kids so they could stay comfortable while waiting.

Back in the shop, he jacked it up, pulled another part off the car, then got some rusty wire and bound the whole assembly back together. You hear the phrase about things being build with duct tape and baling wire – that was actually the case here. Verrrry confidence-inspiring.

440a — Here’s the part for my car. Just a coil of rusty wire.

437a — The final repair job. What could go wrong?!

So after about 30 minutes he puts the car down and indicates he’s done. Someone else at his shop spoke limited English and indicated it was OK to drive to Chiang Mai as the car was, but that we should get it repaired there.

I’m figuring the fix is going to cost me $20-30. Costly for Thailand, but damn reasonable for a man stuck in the middle of nowhere! I gestured about “how much” to him and he shook his head. He wouldn’t even take money for fixing me up. Crazy!

I drove back out to the street, loaded up, and said goodbye to our new friends.

At this point, it was 4 pm and we were never going to make it back to Chiang Mai during daytime, plus now we have this gas leak repair of dubious integrity.

What to do? Well, we decided to use the last of my Starpoints and go spend one more night at the Le Meridien in Chiang Rai, then drive back to Chaing Mai in the morning. Took a little bit of funky logistics, but we got it all worked out.

So about 90 minutes after staring disaster in the face, we were poolside ordering cocktails and food from room service. Can’t believe we were lucky to break down next to an auto shop, on a day he’s open, at a time he’s open, when he could handle us right away, with a car problem he could actually fix. Once we were forced from the car due to gas fumes, we knew we’d have some sort of story, but didn’t see this ending coming!

Here are a few shots of our stay at the Le Meridien Chiang Rai, which was far better than being stuck roadside!

Asia Laos Myanmar Thailand World Travels

Visiting the Golden Triangle (Border of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar)

Kirsten / August 11, 2013

Myanmar on the left, Laos on the right and the Suak River joining the Mekong River

After our border run to activate our 2nd visa for Thailand, we drove about 30 minutes southeast to an area known as the “Golden Triangle”. Here the Ruak River meets the Mekong River which form the borders between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

Back in the day, this area was the world’s largest opium producer and now there are 2 museums dedicated to the history of the region as a major opium growing area. We opted not to go to either museum (our schedules didn’t permit and I also didn’t feel like explaining the entire thing to the kids just yet).

Now, the area seems to be used for tourist purposes and is a launching point for a boat trip up the Mekong River and trips over to Don Sao, Laos.

There really isn’t too much to the area. There is a small strip of stands, a huge, golden Buddha, and not much else. Frankly if it wasn’t for being able to get on the mighty Mekong river and hop over to Don Sao island, the trip wouldn’t have been worth it. But going to Laos and riding on the river was such a highlight of our time in Thailand, that I would do it again in a heartbeat.

We spent the night at the Imperial Golden Triangle Resort, ate breakfast at the resort the next day and headed on the 5 hour drive back to Chiang Mai.

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Border Crossing – Mae Sai, Thailand to Tachileik, Myanmar

Kirsten / August 11, 2013

Upon arriving in Mae Sai, Thailand, we hit the literal end-of-the-road. Here is where Thailand ends and across a little river is Myanmar (formerly Burma).

After parking, finding a bathroom (not the easiest feat) and wandering a few blocks, we were at the border crossing.

First up is leaving Thailand. You go on the left side of the road, get stamped out by Thailand immigration, and off you go across the bridge to Myanmar.

Once you get to Myanmar, you cross to the right side, and enter a little room to get your visa and entry stamp into Myanmar. We wanted to actually enter Myanmar and shop in the little market there, so we got our stamps, had our picture taken, paid a fee, and off we went into Myanmar. For the day shopping trip, you leave your passports with the Myanmar officials. Feels weird, but it’s ok – they just walk them to the other side and you pick them up on your way out.

Myanmar was more rustic that I expected. As a whole country, I knew it was less developed than most of Thailand, but I figured the border would be very similar as lots of Thais hop over every day to shop. I also expected the market to be bigger and more obvious but it really wasn’t. We only spent about 1 hour there and only bought Mara a little ring.

Beware – they drive on the right side, so if you’re used to left-hand traffic in Thailand, this is different.

Tachileik, Myanmar:

After we were done, it was back to the Myanmar border to get our passports, get our exit stamp and walk back over to Thailand.

Mae Sai River between Myanmar and Thailand — Ruak River between Myanmar and Thailand

Once back on the Thailand side, we filled out the necessary paperwork, got our pictures taken again, and got stamped back into Thailand. Woohoo, we’re legal for another 60 days!

From the border, it was a quest for some lunch, seeing a random elephant walking down the street, then back to our car and off for the Golden Triangle!

Its not every day you see an elephant walking down the street

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Our First Border Run to Myanmar

Kirsten / August 10, 2013

This article summarizes our border run, but we also have posts and more pictures for the following 4 stops we made on the trip.

We came to Thailand with a Triple Entry visa which we got from Thailand’s Portland Embassy in the USA. If we waited til we arrived in Thailand, we would’ve been allowed 30 days in Thailand and then would’ve had to leave the country every 30 days. With a visa, we were granted 60 days per visit.

Our first 60 days was up on August 11, so we knew we needed to leave Thailand on or before that date. All you have to do to leave Thailand is cross into a neighboring country and you can immediately return and go through Thailand immigration.

The border run to Tachileik, Myanmar is a common one used by expats in Chiang Mai so we decided to do our first border run there. Many expats do it as a day trip using one of the bus services but we opted to do it ourselves over 3 days. First, we had a car, and Chuck is king of the road trip, so why not? Two, the kids were going to be a disaster sitting in a bus for 10 hours (5 hours there and 5 hours back) careening over mountain roads. And three, it let us craft our own trip stopping at lots of places along the way. So Project Border Run to Myanmar was launched and on Saturday, August 10, off we went!

We started by driving from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai which is about a 2.5-3 hours journey. We stopped for lunch at a mall in Chiang Rai then headed to The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun). After a few hours exploring the temple, we checked into our hotel, the Le Meridien Chiang Rai which we all loved. The room was huge, had 2 large queen beds (that were blissfully comfortable) and meant all 4 of us could stay in 1 room which is not easy to find in Asia. It was also free thanks to our Starwood points!

The room had robes and slippers and the best balcony so the kids spent the visit wrapped in robes and happy as clams.

Saturday night, we headed into downtown Chiang Rai to their Saturday Night Market. We LOVED this market. THIS is how a night market should be. There were tons of food stands and treats we’d never seen before. And there was live music happening in a town square with dancing. Of course Mara and I joined in the circle dance and got lots of smiles from the locals as we joined them.

Sunday was a big day, so after loading up at the breakfast buffet at the Le Meridian, it was off for our border run.

We began by driving the 1:30 from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai, Thailand. Then we left Thailand, walked across a bridge to Myanmar, did a bit of window shopping and headed back to Thailand.

From there, it was a short 30 minute drive to the Golden Triangle area. After checking into our hotel, we headed to the river and took our boat trip over to Don Sao island, Laos. 2 new countries in 1 day. SCORE!!

After the Laos trip, we wandered around the Golden Triangle area for a bit, ate dinner then off to bed after a long, long day.

The next morning we ate breakfast, then drove the 5 hours back to Chiang Mai. We stopped a few times for some pictures, lunch and took a brief spin thru the White Temple again.

Then after 3 days of traveling around, we were safely back home and were good for another 59 days in Thailand before we needed to do border run #2.