It's been several months, but over the past weekend I was once again given the chance to head north to Mae Sot, for the fifth time since moving to Thailand. Our school in Bangkok was closed on Friday due to Bike For Dad (a large city-wide Father's Day bike ride) shutting down the streets around the school, so Geoffrey decided that it was a good time to visit Mae Sot and try to see the students in school.
View of the mountains from the scenic viewpoint coffee shop
Since we usually visit Mae Sot on holidays, this was the most students I had ever seen at the school. As we arrived, we were swarmed by dozens of small children screaming, laughing, and saying "hello, how are you?" while trying to grab our hands. They never acted like that with us in the past. Maybe it's because this trip, Geoffrey invited my girlfriend, Pinky along. The kids loved her!
It's nearly time to celebrate Christmas at the school
After checking in at the Erawan Hotel (no, not that Erawan Hotel), we went out to do some sightseeing around the western part of Tak Province, where Mae Sot is located. After our traditional stop at the border market, we went to Mae Kasa, where there is a small waterfall and a hot spring.
Mae Kasa Waterfall
After spending a large portion of the early afternoon walking all over in my Chaco sandals, I appreciated soaking my feet in the hot water. There's a resort at the hot springs with some mineral baths that you can rent; it seems like a relaxing place to stay for a night or two. Mostly, people were enjoying boiling onsen eggs in the hot mineral water.
Mae Kasa Hot Spring
Of course, no trip to Mae Sot is complete without the requisite trip to "KFC" (read the former Mae Sot posts to get that reference). The weather that evening was beautiful, actually a little cool! Sitting outside in the cool winter breeze, I could almost believe that it's nearly Christmastime. The decorations at the restaurant helped too.
Christmas at "KFC"
We never stay for longer that one night in Mae Sot, which makes for an exhausting weekend (but always memorable and enjoyable). We got back from the restaurant around 8 pm, and I was asleep almost instantly!
The next morning began a bit later than the one before, but we were on the road by 8 am, just in time to hear the national anthem playing on the radio as we pulled out of the hotel parking lot. Amazingly, it was actually cold that morning! Can you believe it!? Cold in Thailand!
To tell the truth, I have never been up to Mae Sot in the winterbefore, and haven't spent any time at all up in other areas in the north. I know, I really need to get to the famous Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai sometime. It seems wrong that I've lived in this country for three years and haven't visited some of the most famous cities! Most of my trips have been to the south or around the central provinces. I had heard that it would get cooler in the north-it reached a record 3ºC (37ºF) in the mountains of Chiang Mai this week - but I've never experienced that myself. All I've seen are a few sub 80º days in Bangkok when we can shut off the aircon and open the windows of the office.
But it was actually quite chilly in the morning as we left Mae Sot - 53ºF as we stood and looked out over the sea of fog at the scenic viewpoint coffee shop on our way down the mountains. That's a sight I've never seen before in Thailand. It was incredible.
And here's a short bonus videos of some monkeys we stopped to visit on the way back to Bangkok!
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