Visa'ed Up

Well, I got my visa and I am good to go until November although it's hard to say where I will be I will be when time for renewal comes up again.

I was a bit nervous about going through. Thailand has a law that says that you can only be in for 90 days at a time on a tourist visa. Now, I came in for 90 days on a tourist visa, and now I am on a new visa, so I am not sure if I am breaking the law or not. I don't think so, but if my name came up in their computer and they decided that I wasn't allowed to come back in there isn't much, as I learned back in March, that I can do about it!

So a little background for those unfamiliar with Thai visa laws: you can either get a 30 day or 90 day visa-- I have a 90 day. This means that every 30/90 days you have to leave Thailand and come back in, this is called a "border run". It's really, really stupid if you ask me. Most people just go to Mae Sai or Mae Sot, cross into Burma, get the enter and the exit stamp, and then cross back into Thailand-- a process that takes about 15 minutes, not including travel time.

It's particularly silly to me because my school is about 10km from the border, but I still have to travel 400km to get to one of the official checkpoints! Too bad the Kareni Army, who patrols the border, doesn't have visa stamps. The other annoying thing is that I have to fork over 500 baht to the Burmese government whenever I do this. I would much rather give the money to the Thais, and I don't know why they don't change their laws so that they can keep the money.

Heading to Mae Sot for a border run is always a little bit of a risk because they close the Mae Sot border so much. Mae Sot is considered "little Burma" and most of the signs are in Burmese. There are a lot of refugees, migrant workers, and illegals here, and it's also the flashpoint for protests and the hang out for NGOS and illegitimate aid organizations (illegitimate meaning that they are not recognized by the Thai government and operate under wraps, but also do most of the best work.) Anyway, all these means that there is a lot of potential for trouble, and when this happens they shut down the border and you can't get a visa.

Anyway, everything went fine. I left the country and decided to hang out in Burma for an hour. Myawaddy is a little border town that you can't leave (except to go back to Thailand). They actually don't let you in with your passport, you have to leave it at the office and they give you a temp. I took a quick hike around. I had tea in a real Burmese Teahouse with it's squat tables and what I imagined was political conversation at the next table (probably not). It was pretty chill except for a backfire or a firework or something that was very loud and gunshotish. I took a sip of my coffee and looked around to see if I should be alarmed, and all the patrons were staring at the farang to see what she would do. Sorry guys, no hysterics here.

The teahouse was really nice, and the guy who ran it was a cutie with a wide smile who I think accidentally almost way undercharged me for my coffee. It was clean and well put together. Outside, it was filthy and depressing, and I know that Myawaddy is probably one of the nicer Burmese towns because so many tourists have to see it. Dogs wandered around with their uteruses hanging to the sidewalk. Everyone was dressed in torn rags and spat bettlenut. The bridge was full of beggars, most of which were missing legs and arms. It was pretty appalling and depressing. Manners were low too, I got more "hey babies" in walking around for an hour then my entire 6 months in Mae Hong Son.

Back at the border, chatted with a nice Canadian couple that were getting thier visas renewed as well. The poor woman (a student of Thai) was a day late on her visa, and the Thai authorities really do a number of you as they hand out thier guilt. After the glares, you get a special stamp on your passport and have to fill out about three different forms, the entire time the office is staring at you like you committed some horrendous crime. I actually was three days late when I left Thailand last time and I thought that the Border guy was going to start crying at my apparent lack of respect for Thai law. Then you hand over 500 baht (about 15 bucks) a day for you subordinance.

I’m in Mae Sot for one more night, then I am taking the long trip home, but I think that I am going to break it into two days rather then one.