Mae Sai travel guide

Marking Thailand’s northernmost point, Mae Sai is a busy trading centre with Burma and has a rather clandestine and frenetic frontier atmosphere. The area around the bridge is the centre of activity, with stalls and shops selling gems and an array of Burmese and Chinese goods, from knitted hats and Burmese marionettes to antiques and animal skulls. There is also an abundance of Burmese hawkers (selling Burmese coins and postage stamps) and beggars (particularly children) stretching about 1 km down the road, away from the border and towards Mae Chan. The main bus station is 5 km out of town, just off the main road running to Mae Chan and Chiang Rai. Songthaews and motorcycle taxis take passengers from town to the terminal and vice versa.

The town of Mae Sai is rather drab, but the movement of peoples across the border makes this an interesting place to visit. Wat Phrathat Doi Wao sits on a hill overlooking the town, off Phahonyothin Road, not far from the Top North Hotel. The wat is not particularly beautiful and was reputedly built in the mid-1960s in commemoration of a platoon of Burmese soldiers killed in action against a KMT (Kuomintang – the Chinese Republican Army) force.