October 13-19, 2013, Chiang Kong-Mae Sot (Thailand)
I’m going to keep this super simple.Our goals while in Thailand are to gather information for Burma, and acquire immaculate crisp US dollar bills.
We got over to Chiang Kong and revisited our friend Noon, hanging out at his café for two days. Then we rode to Chiang Rai, and stayed with Raj’s friend at her café. Just as I suspected, Raj and I could barely find any useful information for Burma. Rather, we could find no information beyond that which pertains to Yangon, Inle lake, Bagan and Mandalay. The big four, if you will. Myanmar’s point A-B-C-D route, which Raj and I want to stray from as far as is physically and legally possible. So, after resolving that the only way to find out anything is just to go and.. find out. We decided to do just that. Before going, we needed US money, so we took out a shit-load of Baht and hit up every bank in Chiang Rai, inspecting their bills and purchasing the best of what we could find. Buying about $900 each between five different places. That day we rode about forty kilometers just in town doing errands.
Caught bus to Mae Sot, transferring buses in Chiang Mai. The price was totally fair, twenty dollars ish, and the prices for the bikes, though still unfair that we have to pay anything was only 50 baht($1.60)
Got into Mae Sot after sunset, found a temple and slept.