Visa Run Mae Sai - aka VISA NIGHTMARE!!!!!

So on Thursday morning I did my usual run and training session then packed a bag with all my doomsday prep survival stuff and got on my bike and set off on the journey to Mae Sai… a city in the north of Thailand which has a road border with Myanmar (Burma) and an immigration office… the plan was to spend the remainder of Thursday riding there. Sleep over and then cross the border first thing Friday morning. Get my visa approved and cross back into Thailand and return to Pai with 2 more months on the clock. My second entry of my 3 entry tourist visa. So this was essentially my first trip out of the country to trigger the second third of my tourist visa.

Unfortunately I didn’t make it to Mae Sai in one day. By the time it was getting cold and dark and i’d done about 350km of mountain roads I found a little village called Doi Mae Salong. Such a bizarre Chinese village in the mountains. Seemingly a trading post for tea leaves. As in loose tea… not cockney rhyming slag for thieves. Found a guesthouse and crashed out…. even here they had a 7/11 so Pringles and a movie on my laptop was my version of exploring.

First thing the next morning got back on the bike and did the last 100km to Mae Sai. On driving into Mae Sai you can tell it’s purpose pretty quickly. One large functional road lined with all manner of shops all headed to a gateway and small bridge… a bridge of friendship… aka the border between Thailand and Myanmar. Parked up, crossed the border, paid a Burmese official 500baht for my Burmese visa… i suspect he kept the money… I had a quick walk around the little town on the Myanmar side but it wasn’t very welcoming. Walking through the border and being 6’4 with white hair and white skin just painted a target on me and i just had people trying to sell me anything and everything. After fighting through them i didn’t really find anything that made me want to explore further. Knowing how far i had to ride back to Pai i just thought screw it and crossed back into Thailand. So yeah… didn’t really give Myanmar a fair crack of the whip… but a border town wasn’t really the place for that. And the place was ugly as shit, and i nearly sprained my ankle tripping on a fucked up pavement. Can you tell this is where the bitterness begins?

Upon crossing back into Thailand my visa was approved for 30 days and i was told the visa i had paid for in England at the Thai embassy was now out of date and could not be used. So thats entry 2 and 3 void i.e. two thirds of my planned time in Thailand no longer an option. Put simply the Thai embassy in London started my visa with the date I applied and bought the visa, not the date i was planning on entering the country (even though this was discussed and i was assured as long as i entered the country for the first time before the visa expired i would be fine to use all 3 entries). 

The Thai embassy started my visa back in June which meant it expired end of December. It’s not good to show anger or frustration in Thai culture so I swallowed my frustration and got on my bike and rather than head back to Pai I decided to ride to Chiang Mai where there is a British consulate and an Immigration office better suited to help me. The border guard and military men didn’t seem like the right place to have the discussion. Back to a big city and back to the bureaucracy.

Another 300km later I arrived in Chiang Mai, sunburnt and dirty I found a cheap cock roach infested guesthouse to stay in for the night. I didn’t realise what day it was and just crashed out in bed after the full day of riding… next morning off to the immigration office… it’s Saturday… the office doesn’t open until Monday morning. Boooooo Rubbish. School boy error.

Back to the guesthouse… now with 2 days to kill i forged an excellent plan. I was going to park my ass in a luxury shopping mall and just drink coffee and watch every single movie the cinema had on offer. But I couldn’t do this guilt free so instead i found a gym and traded one workout for one movie. So both of the two days i did a morning session at the gym, matinee at the cinema, afternoon at the gym, late showing at the cinema. It was awesome. Until i ran out of English language movies…. and clean clothes… i would like to say i was unaware of how bad i smelt… but i wasn’t… all my stuff was so grimy from the road. I bought a couple clean t-shirts but it wasn’t quite enough to keep the stank off. So yeah… sorry Chiang Mai Maya Centre and Central Festival shopping centre… my bad.

Monday morning went to the immigration office… they said "email the thai embassy in London, we can’t help you… but we’ll give you another 30 days when this visa runs out so you have 7 weeks to figure it out”.

I kinda took this as good news. Composed an email to the Thai embassy. Crammed in another session at the gym. Then hit the road back to Pai.