Mae Sai, The border town of Thailand and Burma

The first time I went to Thailand was in 2006. Eventhough Hat Yai was the closest town to Malaysia, I chose Chiang Mai because I felt that we could know more about the Thais there. There wasn't much to see in the Chiang Mai town itself. After spending two days in Chiang Mai our tourist guide, Sanjay brought us to Chiangrai, which is about three hours drive from Chiang Mai. There is a town called Sop Ruak nicknamed the Golden Triangle about 18 miles from Chiang Rai that enables us to see borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma. It was winter in Chiangmai. They have the tropical monsoon climate where they have a cold and dry winter. Therefore we had to put on our jackets because it was very windy and cold.

About 60 km north of Chiang Rai is Mae Sai, the border town of Tailand and Burma. The town of Mae sai looked a lot like any border towns where they have lots of stalls selling local products. Jay dropped us at a 7-11 store and gave us two hours to tour the town. The weather was cold and dry. Most of the people here didn't speak English and we had trouble communicating with them. However, we had a pleasant suprise when we were about to cross a road there. We were greeted with a salam from a local lady wearing a tudung. As we replied the salam we exchanged smiles. Alhamdulillah eventhough we found hard to communicate with them, we were glad to find muslims there.

There were a lot of gems of different shapes and colours sold. We didn't buy any because we had already bought some earlier at a gem store. Jay brought us to the border Thailand and Myanmar. We saw the Mae Sai river that separates Thailand and Myanmar and we could go to Myanmar via a bridge less than 500 m in length.

Then as it was already zuhr, Jay brought us to a mosque near the shopping area. The mosque was located in a disclosed location where we could hardly notice along the main road. The mosque was rather big with a separate building which was used as the islamic school as well as the prayer hall for the women. There were several people in the mosque praying and after that there were ceramah. We could feel peace and tranquility in the area as we prayed in the hall.

After praying, Jay brought us to an Islamic restaurant adjacent to the mosque for lunch. Even though the restaurant was small,the food was delicious.The owner was friendly too. That makes our lunch more enjoyable.

Next door was a muslim bakery and we bought some bread to be eaten on the way back to Chiang Mai.

Then we proceed to the Padaung Village which was famously called the Long Neck Village.