Dec.4 – We will be heading to Mae Sot today. Along the way, we will visit Tawo Pier, another border post to Myanmar. It is about 90km from our starting point. This would be the penultimate boundary post visit for this trip. This means that we have traversed a large passable and accessible sector of the borderlines between Thai/Laos and Thai/Myanmar.
The Mae Tawo Pier is situated on the bank of Moei River. There is a wooden jetty for boarding. There should be a similar landing point on the Myanmar side, about 100m away, but it’s not discernible from where we stood. People here go about their business moving in and out of each other territories quite freely. The long-tails provided the transportation, ferrying people, daily essentials, consumer electronic, or maybe a kilo or two of substance? There is a guy in uniform lurking somewhere. Just a show of Authority over territory and Law & Order.
Some checkpoints are more stringent then others but generally, the land borders are quite porous. Amid some small and dilapidated stupas along the opposite bank, we can see smoke rising from a little cluster of roofs. Someone preparing dinner.
Check into Mae Sot. Get ready to explore Mae Sot a little. There is a nice road on the outskirt among the hills that has curves that resembles two figure “3”. So we went along to just take a look and maybe catch sunset.
The ride this morning from Mae Sariang to Mae Sot was amazing. The roads are wide; up to 3-lanes each way at times, and smooth. Been a long time coming. We have left the squiggly twists & turns in the mountains behind us. What lies here are fast straights and long sweeping bends. It’s a bit busier here. More commercial vehicles both north- and southbound but no jam. Only occasional snarl as heavy goods vehicles struggle up steep incline. Weather was dry and road-holding good. We stretch out and opened up, gleefully cracking the throttle wide open, and happy to know that our top gears are still working. We have little chance to stay on the higher gears these past days. Even when we could, it was just around the mid or lower revs. With conditions this ideal, nobody held back. I was having a blast hammering down the (I believe) Route 105. Some of the wide sweeping bends go on forever. We are still on the mountains. Elevation here is about 200m. The bends and corners are not as sharp and tight as those near the northern summits. But still there are many corners and bends. Coming out of a curve and you can see the next one coming with time enough to adjust. Left & right, live & ride. Seemingly endless. I bet everyone is grinning in their helmets.
Stopover for lunch at Khum Yuam. Next to us was the Thai-Japan Friendship Memorial. Bought a ticket and went for a look inside. Apparently, the locals at that time (WW2) allowed the Japanese to pass through this area, which led to the Japanese invasion of Burma. The locals here also tended to the Japanese wounded. This is written and displayed in the Memorial. I am not making this up.
It has been days since we last watch anything on TV. Some places we were staying doesn’t even have a TV in the room. The FIFA World Cup is well underway and we have yet to watch any game. Tonight, we will try to catch the LIVE Game between France & Poland at the pub.
The first pub we visited was like a hostess-type club. It didn’t have the right atmosphere. The three pretty singers on stage were LOUD, as though challenging the drums and guitars. Drowns everything, including your thoughts. A sexily-dressed young thing served our drinks and Cookie Monster’s nose started to twitch uncontrollably. He has not seen nor smell a coiffured and scented woman for a while now. Would some Cannabis Water calm him down, I wonder?
Visited a second pub to watch the 2nd half. It was a lot better. France 3-1Poland.
Good ride today. Slept well.
Jaywalker 29/12/22
2 wheels and an engine 