TAK TOUR

On traveling to Tak Province, expect to discover a place with long history, where natural wonders are magnificently enhanced by ethnic diversity.

Mostly forested and mountainous, Tak is a northern province peacefully situated on the Maenam Ping basin. The province covers an area of 16,406 square kilometers and is 426 kilometers north of Bangkok. As Tak shares natural border with Myanmar, it is highly regarded as a western gateway to Myanmar, and a northern doorway to Thailand’s major cities such as Lampang and Chiang Mai.

The Past

A province with a long history, Tak was earlier called Mueang Rahang. Historians believe it was built prior to the Sukhothai era and was treated as the western frontier of the Kingdom. Tak was also associated with Thailand’s former Great Kings, from King Ramkamhaeng the Great, King Naresuan the Great, King Narai the Great to King Taksin the Great. These four Kings usually called their troop assemblies in Tak. That is why the seal of the province depicts King Naresuan the Great on the royal elephant, pouring sacred water on the ground. This is a symbolic representation of the declaration of the independence of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya during the war with Burma in 1584. Tak was considered the first district to be liberated from the power of the Burmese Kingdom.

The Present

Today, Tak is no longer a strategic military frontier between two great nations. It is however a trading gateway to Myanmar at Amphoe Mae Sot, where lots of economic activities take place daily along the border. In addition, the province has the Asian Highway that runs from Thailand’s western border towards the northeastern region at Chong Mek (Mae Sot Sukhothai Phitsanulok Ubon Ratchathani – Laos).

Apart from Tak’s military and economic importance the province is also an environmental and cultural center with magnificent forests, spectacular waterfalls and caves and fascinating hill tribes such as Karen, Lisu, Musoe (Lahu), Akha, Yao and Hmong.

Tak Thailand for more information

Tak Province
In the 1970s the mountains of western Tak were a hotbed of communist guerrilla ac¬tivity. Since the 1980s the former leader of the local CPT movement has been involved in resort-hotel development and Tak is very much open to outsiders, but the area still has an untamed feeling about it. This province of only around 350,000 boasts Thailand’s largest population of domesticated ele¬phants, which are still commonly used by Karen villagers in western Tak for transport and agricultural tasks.
Western Tak has always presented a dis¬tinct contrast with other parts of Thailand be¬cause of strong Karen and Burmese cultural influences. The Thailand-Myanmar border districts of Mae Ramat, Tha Song Yang and Mae Sot are dotted with refugee camps, an outcome of the firefights between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Myanmar government, which is driving Karen civilians across the border. As of mid-2002 there were an estimated 100,000 Burmese and Karen refugees along the border.
The main source of income for people living on both sides of the border is legal and illegal international trade. The main smuggling gateways on the Thailand side are Tha Song Yang, Mae Sarit, Mae Tan, Wangkha, Mae Sot and Waley. One impor¬tant contraband product is teak, cut by the Karen or the Karenni (Kayah) and brought into Thailand from Myanmar on big tractor trailers at night. Up to 200,000B in bribes per truckload is distributed among local Thai authorities who conveniently look the other way. None of the trade is legal since the Thai government cut off all timber deals with the Burmese military in 1997.
Most of the province is forested and mountainous and is excellent for trekking. Organised trekking occurs, some farther north out of Chiang Mai, most of it locally organised. There are Hmong, Musoe (Lahu), Lisu and White and Red Karen settlements throughout the west and north.
In Ban Tak, 25km upstream along Mae Nam Tak from Tak, you can visit Wat Phra Boromathat, the original site of a Thai chedi that, according to legend, was constructed during the reign of King Ramkhamhaeng (1275-1317) to celebrate his elephant-backvictory over King Sam Chon,
ruler of an in¬dependent kingdom once based at or near Mae Sot. The wat’s main feature is a large, slender, gilded chedi in the Shan style sur¬rounded by numerous smaller but similar chedi. Many Thais flock to the temple each week in the belief that the chedi can some¬how reveal to them the winning lottery numbers for the week.
Approximately 45km north of Meuang Tak via Rte i and then 17km west (between the Km 463 and Km 464 markers), via the road to Sam Ngao, is Kheuan Phumiphon (Bhumibol Dam), which impounds Mae Nam Ping at a height of 154m, making it the tallest dam in Southeast Asia and the eighth-tallest in the world. The shores and islands of the reservoir are a favourite pic¬nic spot for local Thais.
TAK
Lying along the eastern bank of Mae Nam Ping, Tak is not particularly interesting ex¬cept as a point from which to visit the Lan Sang and Taksin Maharat National Parks to the west or Kheuan Phumiphon to the north. Travellers heading to the Thailand-Myanmar border town of Mae Sot occasionally find themselves here for a few hours or overnight.
Although most of Tak exhibits nonde¬script, cement-block architecture, the south¬ern section of the city harbours a few old teak homes. Residents are proud of the sus¬pension bridge (for motorcycles, pedicabs, bicycles and pedestrians only) over Mae Nam Ping, which flows quite broadly here even in the dry season.
Information
TAT ( 0 5551 4341; 193 Th Taksin; open 8.30am-4.30pm daily) has an office in a beautiful contemporary Thai building off Th Mahat Thai Bamrung. You can ask questions or pick up tourist pamphlets and brochures here.
Several banks have branches along Th Mahat Thai Bamrung and Th Taksin, all with ATMs.
Places to Stay & Eat
Few people pause to spend the night in Tak, but if you do you’ll find most of the town’s
hotels are lined up on Th Taksin or Th Mahat Thai Bamrung in the town centre. Mae Ping Hotel (( 0 5551 1807; 619 Th Taksin; rooms with fan/air-con 110/2508) is slightly worn but has large clean rooms with bathroom in an old, wooden building. It’s surprisingly quiet considering its location opposite the market.
Sa-Nguan Thai (( 0 5551 1155; Th MahatThai Bamrung; singles/doubles with fan 170/2008, with air-con 300/3508), one street west of the Mae Ping Hotel, is an old, wooden, two-storey place. There is no sign, but this classic can be identified by the red Chinese lanterns on the 2nd-floor veranda. There’s a decent Chinese-Thai restaurant downstairs.
Viang Tak 2 ( 05551 1910; 236Th Chum¬phon; rooms 650B, deluxe rooms 800-900B),by Mae Nam Ping, has comfortable stan¬dard and deluxe rooms for the discounted rate shown above — although listed rates are higher. Amenities at this eight-storey hotel include a coffee shop, karaoke bar and swimming pool. Viang Tak ( 0 5551 1950; 25/3 Th Mahat Thai Bamrung; standard rooms 6508, deluxe rooms 800-900B) is the older, bigger sibling of Viang Tak 2, and it fea¬tures 100 rooms at roughly the same rates.
You can buy food at the municipal mar¬ket (Th Taksin; dishes 10-306; open 6am-6pm daily). Pond (Th Taksin; dishes 15-30B; open 8am-3pm daily) is a simple place near the market specialising in Thai curries. On the southeastern corner of Th Taksin and Th Charot Withi Thong you’ll find a vegetarian restaurant (no Roman-script sign; dishes 10¬308; open 8am-4pm daily).
Getting There & Away
Tak airport, 15km out of town towards Sukhothai on  12, isn’t operating at the moment; the nearest functioning airports are in Phitsanulok and Mae Sot. THAI pro¬vides a free shuttle van a few times a day between Phitsanulok airport and Tak. In Tak the vans stop at the Viang Tak 2 Hotel.
There are frequent buses to Tak from
Sukhothai (31/43B ordinary/air-con, one to 11/2 hours). Tak’s bus station (Th Charot Vithi Thong) is just outside town, but a tdk-tdk will take you to the town centre for around 20B.
Ordinary government buses depart for Bangkok three times daily (15 1B, 10 hours), while a 2nd-class air-con bus leaves once each day (184B, eight hours). There are four daily 1st-class air-con departures from Tak to Bangkok and one 10pm departure in the reverse direction (240B, six hours). Thanjit Tour and Choet Chai Tour offer 1st-class air-con buses with similar departures and fares.
Air-con buses to Mae Sot (50B) leave at 2pm, 4pm and 5pm. Minivans to Mae Sot leave much more frequently from the main station in Tak (35B, one to 1′h hours).
AROUND TAK
Taksin Maharat & Lan Sang National Parks
These small national parks (adult/child 200/ 1008) receive a steady trickle of visitors on weekends and holidays, but they are almost
empty during the week. Taksin Maharat (established in 1981) covers 149 sq km; the entrance is 2km from the Km 26 marker on Rte 105/Asia Rte 1 (the so-called Pan-Asian Hwy, which would link Istanbul and Singa¬pore if all the intervening countries allowed land crossings) to Mae Sot.
The park’s most outstanding features are the 30m, nine-tiered Nam Tok Mae Ya Pa and a record-holding tdbuak, a dipterocarp that is 50m tall and 16m in circumference. Bird-watching is said to be particularly good here; known resident and migratory species include the tiger shrike, forest wag¬tail and Chinese pond heron.
Nineteen kilometres from Tak, Lan Sang National Park preserves 104 sq km surround¬ing an area of rugged, 1000m-high granitepeaks, part of the Tenasserim Range. A net¬work of trails leads to several waterfalls, in¬cluding the park’s 40m-high namesake. To reach the park entrance, take Rte 1103 3km south off Rte 105.
Places to Stay Lan Sang National Park rents out bungalows (150-600B) and also tents (30B). Taksin Maharat National Park offers rustic rooms (2508), and has a camp¬ing ground (tent sites 108). Food service can be arranged in both parks.
Kheuan Phumiphon
This huge reservoir is a favourite canoeing, swimming, fishing and picnicking destination
for Tak residents. The Electrical Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) maintains several bungalows and longhouses (reserva¬tions & information in Bangkok $ 0 2436 3179 • Ban Phak Rap Rong Kheuan Phumiphon $ 0 5554 9509; multibed units 400-1000B).
Ban Tak Youth Hostel (/fax 0 5559 1286; Le bantak@tyha.org; 9/1 Mu 10; rooms per person 120B) is in Ban Tak, between the provincial capital and the reservoir. It offers a few rooms in a house with a large garden and a view of the mountains. The hostel can accept only eight visitors at a time. Bikes are available for hire. The hostel is on the western side of the village adjacent to Mae Nam Yom.
MAE SOT
Mae Sot is 80km from Tak on Rte 105. This Burmese-Chinese-Karen-Thai trading out¬post has become a small but simmering tourist destination. Black-market trade be¬tween Myanmar and Thailand is the pri¬mary source of local revenue, with most transactions taking place in the districts of Mae Ramat, Tha Song Yang, Phop Phra and Um Phang. Mae Sot has also become the most important jade and gem centre along the border, with most of the trade controlled by Chinese and Indian immigrants from Myanmar.
Border skirmishes between Myanmar’s central government and the weakening Karen and Kayah ethnic insurgencies can break out at any time, sending thousands of refu¬gees — and the occasional mortar rocket – across the Thai-Myanmar border, elements that add to the area’s perceived instability.
Walking down the streets of Mae Sot, you’ll see an interesting mixture of ethnici¬ties — Burmese men in their longyi (sarongs), Hmong and Karen women in traditional hill-tribe dress, bearded Indo-Burmese men and Thai army rangers. Shop signs along the streets are in Thai, Burmese and Chi¬nese. Most of the temple architecture in Mae Sot is Burmese. The town’s Burmese population is largely Muslim, while those living outside town are Buddhist, and the Karen are mostly Christian.
The large municipal market in Mae Sot, behind the Siam Hotel, sells some interest¬ing stuff, including Burmese clothing, cheapcigarettes, roses, Indian food, sturdy Burmese blankets and velvet thong slippers
from Mandalay.
A big Thai-Burmese gem fair is held in April. Around this time Thai and Burmese boxers meet for an annual Thai-boxing competition, held somewhere outside town in the traditional style. Matches are fought in a circular ring and go for five rounds; the first four rounds last three minutes, the fifth has no time limit. Hands bound in hemp, the boxers fight till first blood or knockout. You’ll have to ask around to find the chang¬ing venue for the annual slugfest.
The Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, completed in 1996, links Mae Sot with Myawadi and the highway west to Mawl¬amyine (Moulmein) and Yangon. Although this route presents an exciting prospect for future overland travel, at the moment for¬eigners can go no farther than Myawadi. The fee for a day-crossing is US$10 for for¬eigners; the border is open 6am to 6pm.
Information
The tourist police (0 5553 3523, 0 5553 4341) have an office 250m east of No 4 Guest House.
Krung Thai Bank offers an ATM conveni¬ently located in the centre of town. You’ll also find ATMs in the same vicinity at Thai Military Bank and Siam Commercial Bank.
You can check your email at Cyber Space (open 10am-10pm) on the southern side of Th Prasat Withi, towards the west end of the town centre.
DK Book House (Th Intharakhiri) is at¬tached to the DK Mae Sot Square Hotel. The only English-language books it stocks so far are Penguin classics, but there are a few maps of the area for sale, including a detailed Thai military-surveyed topographic map (1:250,000) of the border area entitled Moulmein. This map covers as far north as Mae Ramat, to the south almost to Um Phang, west to Mawlamyine and only about 50km east of Mae Sot.
Herbal Sauna
At Wat Mani men can take a herbal sauna (admission 20B; open 3pm-7pm). The sauna volunteers also sell herbal medicines made by the monks. The sauna is towards the back of the monastery grounds, past the monks’ kuti.
Ban Mae Tao
Wat Wattanaram (Phattanaram) is a Burm¬ese temple at Ban Mae Tao, 3km west of Mae Sot on the road to the Thailand-Myan¬mar border. A fairly large alabaster sitting Buddha is in a shrine with glass-tile walls – it’s very Burmese in style. In the main wihdan on the 2nd floor is a collection of Burmese musical instruments, including tuned drums and gongs.
Wat Phra That Doi Din Kiu (Ji)
Wat Phra That Doi Din Kiu (Ji) is a forest temple 11km northwest of Mae Sot on a 300m-high hill overlooking Mae Nam Moei and Myanmar. A small chedi mounted on what looks like a boulder that has been bal¬anced on the edge of a cliff is one of the at¬tractions and is reminiscent of the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Myanmar.
The trail that winds up the hill provides fairly good views of the thick teak forests across the river in Myanmar. On the Thai side, a scattering of smaller trees is visible. There are a couple of small limestone caves in the side of the hill on the way to the peak. The dirt road that leads to the wat from Ban Mae Tao passes through a couple of Karen villages.
During Myanmar’s dry-season offen¬sives against the KNU, this area is some¬times considered unsafe and the road to the temple is occasionally blocked by Thai rangers. Ask in town about the current situ¬ation before heading up the road.
Myawadi This place is a fairly typical Burmese town, which includes a number of monasteries, schools, shops and so on. The most important temple is Shwe Muay Wan, a traditional bell-shaped stupa gilded with many kilos of gold and topped by over 1600 precious and semiprecious gems. Surround¬ing the main stupa are 28 smaller stupas, and these in turn are encircled by 12 larger ones. Colourful shrines to Mahamuni Bud¬dha, Shin Upagot and other Buddhist deities follow the typical Mon and central Burman style, with lots of mirrored mosaics. Another noted Buddhist temple is Myikyaungon, called Wat Don Jarakhe in Thai and named
for its crocodile-shaped sanctuary. A hollow stupa at Myikyaungon contains four marble Mandalay-style Buddhas around a central pil¬lar, while niches in the surrounding wall are filled with Buddhas in other styles, including several bronze Sukhothai-style Buddhas.
Myawadi’s 1000-year-old earthen city walls, probably erected by the area’s origin¬al Mon inhabitants, can be seen along the southern side of town.
Because of long-time commercial, social and religious links between Mae Sot and Myawadi, many local residents can speak some Thai. The Myawaddy Riverside Club, a casino on the river about lkm north of town, serves a mostly Thai clientele.
Myawadi to Mawlamyaing (Myanmar)
Theoretically it’s possible to cross the river to Myawadi and catch a bus to Mawlam¬yaing via Kawkareik. Each leg takes about two hours; the Myawadi-Kawkareik stretch can be dicey when fighting between Yan¬gon and KNU troops is in progress, while the Kawkareik-Mawlamyaing stretch is gen¬erally safe although the road itself is quite rough. Another way to reach Mawlamyaing is to get off the road at Kyondo and con¬tinue by boat along the Gyaing River. At the moment it’s not legal to travel beyond Myawadi, but it’s very conceivable that this road will open to foreigners within the next couple of years.
Organised Tours
SP Tour and No 4 Guest House (see Places to Stay later in the Mae Sot section) can arrange trekking and rafting trips north and south of Mae Sot. Max One Tour (( 0 5554 2942, fax 0 5554 3142; Mae Sot Square, Th lntharakhiri) is another option.
Places to Stay — Budget Guesthouses Well off the road, No 4
Guest House ( 0 5554 4976; dorm beds 50B, singles/doubles 80/1008) is a sim¬ple, well-run, large teak house. Rooms have shared hot-water bathroom. The English-speaking manager is very knowledgeable about the area and can lead treks.
Ban Thai Guest House ( 0 5553 1590; 740Th lntharakhiri; singles 250B, doubles 300¬3508) is northwest of No 4 Guest House,
down an alley. This quiet, clean, two-storey guesthouse offers rooms with comfortable beds, Thai-style cushions and shared hot-water showers. Long-term discounts are available.
Bai Fern Guest House ( 0 5553 3343; 660/2 Th lntharakhiri; singles/doubles 100/ 150B), near Crocodile Tear, is a fairly new place with basic rooms with shared hot-water showers in a rambling Thai house.
Mae Sot Guest House ( 0 5553 2745; Th lntharakhiri; singles/doubles without bath 80/ 120B, with cold-water showers 280B) offers not-so-great rooms with shared bathroom, and nicer air-con rooms with cold-water showers in a row house. The guesthouse’s best feature is the pleasant open-air sitting area at the front. Local maps and informa¬tion are available and the owner speaks English quite well.
Hotels All rooms have fan and bathroom at the Suwannavit Hotel (0 5553 1162; So! Wat Luang; rooms 150B), with an old wooden wing or a newer concrete one.
Siam Hotel (0 5553 1376, fax 0 5553 1974; 185 Th Prasat Withi; rooms with fan 2208, with fan & TV 250B, with air-con 350B, with air-con & TV 500B) has adequate rooms with a range of features. Although it’s basic¬ally a truckers’ and gem-traders’ hotel, local rumour has it that Myanmar intelli¬gence agents hang out at the Siam.
Places to Stay – Mid-Range
Porn Thep Hotel ( 0 5553 2590; 25/4 Th Si Wiang; rooms with fan/air-con 250/400, deluxe rooms 7008) is off Th Prasat Withi near the municipal market and is relatively clean and efficiently run. In the rear wing of the hotel, there are air-con singles and doubles with hot water, while rooms with fan and cold-water bathroom are cheaper. A few deluxe rooms with TV and hot water are available in the newer front wing. Porn Thep has security parking. Rates are sometimes discounted 50B during the rainy season.
DK Mae Sot Square Hotel ($ 0 5554 2648/9; 298/2 Th lntharakhiri; rooms with fan/ air-con 250/450B), attached to DK Book House, is a three-storey hotel with small, apartment-style rooms with fan and private bathroom, or larger air-con rooms. The rooms tend to vary a lot in quality, so it might be best to look at a few before checking in.
Places to Stay – Top End
Central Mae Sod Hill Hotel (( 0 5553 2601¬8, fax 0 5553 2600 • in Bangkok – 0 2541 1234; 100 Th Asia; standard rooms 900B, suites from 12008) is on the highway to Tak, just outside the town centre. It has a swimming pool, tennis courts, a good restaurant, a disco and a cocktail lounge. All rooms come with air-con, hot water, fridge, TV, video and telephone. Rates include breakfast.
Places to Eat
Mae Sot has an unusually good selection of places to eat. Near the Siam Hotel on Th Prasat Withi are several choices, including an adjacent Thai-Chinese food centre (dishes 20-406; open 8am-4pm daily) with several different vendors serving noodles and curry. It’s open morning to afternoon only. You can also try the rambling market behind the Siam Hotel for cheap Thai takeaway.
An Indian-Burmese restaurant (dishes 10-30B; open 8am-8pm daily) opposite the mosque (the sign reads `Tea Shop’) has good rotii kaeng, fresh milk, curries and khdo sawy. On the same side of the street about 50m south, a Burmese Muslim tea-shop (10-30B; open 8am-7pm daily) does cheap and tasty samosas, curries and naan.
A favourite local snack is krabawng jaw (Burmese for `fried crispy’), a sort of vege¬table tempura. The best place to eat it is at the small vendor stand west of Bai Fern Guest House on Th Intharakhiri. There’s no sign — look for a bubbling wok in front of a two-storey house. They fire up the wok around 5pm and keep cooking until 7pm or until they’ve run out of ingredients.
Another local speciality to look out for is kuayttaw meuang, a rich bowl of rice noodles covered with sliced pork, greens, peanuts, chilli and green beans very similar to kuaytiaw sukhbthai. Look for rice-noodle vendors along Th Prasat Withi; the best place is the vendor on the western side of Soi Sap¬phakan, running north off Th Prasat Withi.
Laap Khon Meuang (Th lntharakhiril; open 10am-2pm), almost directly opposite No 4 Guest House, is known for both northern- and northeastern-style Map (spicy minced meat salad), as well as som-tam made with various types of fruit.
Kwangtung Restaurant (no Roman-script sign; dishes 30-90B; open 10am-10pm daily),
is an air-con eatery that specialises in Can¬tonese cooking; it’s the best Chinese restau¬rant in town. It’s around the corner from the Porn Thep Hotel, south of Th Prasat Withi.
There are a few farang restaurants along Th Tang Kim Chiang and Th Intharakhiri. On the former you’ll find Pim Hut ($ 0 5553 2818; 415/11-12 Th Tang Kim Chiang; dishes 40-1208; open 7.30am-8pm daily), with decent pizza, steak, Thai and Chinese dishes, ice cream and international break¬fasts at moderate prices, and brightly lit Fah Fah 2 Bakery ($ 0 5553 2569; 417/6-7 Th Tang Kim Chiang; open 7.30am-9pm daily), with a similar but slightly less-expensive menu. Both cater to tourists, foreign volun¬teer workers (from nearby refugee camps) and upper-middle-class Thais. Khrua Can¬adian (g 0 5553 4659; Th Tang Kim Chiang; dishes 30-80B; open 7am-10.30pm daily) serves breakfast, sandwiches and plenty of vegetarian food. It screens movies after 8.30pm.
KCB Snack Shop (Th Intharakhiri; dishes 35-75B; open 8am-9pm daily) is a friendly place a bit farther west past Soi Ruam Jai. Bai Fern ($ 0 5553 3343; Th lntharakhiri; dishes 35-75B; open ham-midnight daily) is next to the guesthouse of the same name. Both of these places have the usual mix of Thai and farang dishes. The cosy, wood-furnished Bai Fern has the edge on atmos¬phere and the salads are especially good.
A small, no-name vegetarian restaurant (dishes 10-208; open 7am-7pm), next to the Um Phang sawngthaew stop, offers good, inexpensive Thai vegetarian food until the food is sold out.
Khao Mao Khao Fang (( 0 5553 3607; 382 Mu 5, Mae Pa; dishes 40-70B; open 10am- 10pm daily) is a little north of town between the Km 1 and Km 2 markers on the road to Mae Ramat. It’s the place to try if you’re looking for an atmospheric evening out. A Thai botanist designed this open-air restaurant to make it feel as if you’re dining in the forest, with lots of common and not¬so-common live plants from around north¬ern Thailand. The Thai cuisine is equally inventive, with such specialities as yam het khon (a spicy salad made with forest mush¬rooms available in September and October only) and muu khdo mdo (a salad of home-cured sausage, peanuts, rice shoots, lettuce, ginger, lime and chilli).
Getting There & Away
Air From Bangkok Air Andaman (( 0 5554 4726; Mae Sot Airport) flies to Mae Sot (2400B) every day except Saturday and to Chiang Mai (1500B) thrice weekly.
Bus & SAwngthAew The locally famous `green bus’ is run by Chai Wattana bus com¬pany (S 0 5553 2331; Th Intharakhiri). It goes to various points north, including Tak (ordi¬nary/air-con 44/50B), Lampang (103/185B), Chiang Mai (134/241B), Chiang Rai (200/ 369B) and Mae Sal (219/394B). The buses leave from a dirt lot a block west of the post office, the ordinary bus at 6am daily and the air-con bus at 8am.
An orange bus to Mae Sot also leaves every day at 2pm, 4pm and 5pm from the Tak bus station and costs 50B. The more frequent orange-and-white minivans along the same route cost 35B per person and usu¬ally arrive a little quicker than the bus. The minivans depart from the roadside in front of the First Hotel in Mae Sot. The trip takes about 1′h hours and it takes you on a beau¬tiful winding road through mountains.Ordinary buses between Bangkok and Mae Sot (165B) depart three times each evening in both directions. First-class air-con buses run between Bangkok and Mae Sot five times daily (302B); 2nd-class air-con buses (232B) have similar departures.
VIP buses (24 seats) to/from Bangkok leave four times daily (460B, about eight hours). Thanjit Tour offers 32-seat VIP buses to Bangkok for only 345B, departing at 10pm. In Mae Sot, Bangkok-bound air-con and VIP buses leave from the northern side of Th Inthakhiri just west of the police station; ordinary buses to Bangkok leave from the bus station near the market north of the police station.
Sawngthaew to destinations north of Mae Sot, such as Mae Sarit (66B, 2′h hours), Tha Song Yang (55B, 1′/z hours) and Mae Sariang (165B, five to six hours) leave hourly be¬tween 6am and noon from the green bus sta¬tion near the northern edge of town.Sawngthaew to Um Phang (120B, five hours) leave hourly between lam and 3pm.
Getting Around
Most of Mae Sot can be seen on foot. At Motorcycle (Th Prasat Withi) rents out motor¬cycles for 160B a day. Make sure you test ride a bike before renting; some of the ma¬chines can be in rather poor condition. Cars and vans can be rented for around 1200B a day; ask at any hotel. Motorcycle taxis and shmlaw charge 20B for trips around town.
AROUND MAE SOT
Karen & Burmese Refugee Camps
A couple of refugee camps have been set up along the eastern bank of Mae Nam Moei in either direction from Mae Sot. Most of the refugees in these camps are Karen fleeing battles between Burmese and KNU troops across the border. The camps have been around for over a decade but the Thai gov¬ernment has generally kept their existence quiet, fearing the build-up of a huge refugee `industry’ such as the one that developed around the Indo-Chinese camps in eastern Thailand in the 1970s. Although many Thai and foreign volunteers have come to the refugees’ aid, the
camps are very much in need of outside as¬sistance. Tourists are no longer permitted to visit the camps, although if you meet a camp volunteer in Mae Sot you might be able to visit by invitation. Donations of clothes and medicines (to be administered by qualified doctors and nurses) may be of¬fered to the camps via No 4 Guest House in Mae Sot.

Waley
Thirty-six kilometres from Mae Sot, Rte 1206 splits southwest off Rte 1090 at Ban Saw Oh and terminates 25km south at the border town of Waley, an important smug- gling point. The Burmese side was once one of the two main gateways to Kawthoolei, the Karen nation, but in 1989 the Yangon gov¬ernment ousted the KNU. Until the Thai government cut off all timber trade with Myanmar’s military government, teak was the main border trade. Nowadays there’s a brisk trade in teak furniture instead. One can visit hill-tribe villages near Ban Chedi Kok, or the Highland Farm and Gib¬bon Sanctuary  near Phop Phra. The latter is a private facility that cares for gibbons and other animals who have been rescued from captivity. There is a small hotel (rooms 506 per per¬son) in Phop Phra.
Getting There & Away Sawngthaew to Phop Phra (34B) and Waley (40B) depart frequently between 6am and 6pm from a stop southeast of the mosque in Mae Sot. If you go by motorcycle or car, follow Rte 1090 southeast towards Um Phang and after 36km take Rte 1206 southwest. From this junction it’s 25km to Waley; the last 10km of the road are unpaved. Your passport may be checked at a police outpost before
Waley.
Border Market & Myawadi Sawngthhew frequently go to the border, 6km west of Mae Sot: ask for Rim Moei (Edge of the Moei). The trip costs 10B and the last sawngthaew back to Mae Sot leaves Rim Moei at 5pm.
A market about 100m from the river on the Thai side legally sells Burmese goods – dried fish and shrimp, dried bamboo shoots, mung beans, peanuts, woven-straw prod¬ucts, teak carvings, thick cotton blankets, lacquerware, tapestries, wooden furniture, jade and gems. You can also buy black-market kyat (Burmese currency) here at very favourable rates.
When the border is open, it’s possible for foreigners to cross the international bridge to Myawadi for day visits. If your Thai visa is about to expire, you can cross the border here, turn around, and walk back into Thai¬land for an instant 30-day visa. Immigration procedures are taken care of at the Thai im¬migration booth at the bridge, although if you have any problems there’s a larger im¬migration office in nearby Mae Moei Shop¬ping Bazaar. It takes about 15 minutes to finish all the paperwork to leave Thailand officially, and then you’re free to walk across the arched bridge. The bridge is open 6am to 6pm daily.
At the other end of the bridge is a rustic Myanmar immigration booth, where you’ll fill out permits for a one-day stay, pay a US$10 fee and leave your passports as a deposit. Then you’re free to wander around Myawadi as long as you’re back at the bridge by 5pm to pick up your passport and check out with immigration.
UM PHANG & AROUND
Rte 1090 goes south from Mae Sot to Um Phang, 150km away. This stretch of road used to be called the `Death Highway’ be¬cause of the guerrilla activity in the area that hindered highway development. Those days ended in the 1980s, but lives are still lost because of brake failure or treacherous turns on this steep, winding road through incredible mountain scenery.Along the way — short hikes off the high¬way — are two waterfalls, Nam Tok Thararak (26km from Mae Sot) and Nam Tok Pha Charoen (41km). Nam Tok Thararak streams over limestone cliffs and calcified rocks with a rough texture that makes climbing the falls easy. It’s been made into a park of sorts, with benches right in the stream at the base of the falls for cooling off and a couple of outhouse toilets nearby; on week¬ends food vendors set up here. The eucalyptus-lined dirt road leaves the highway between the Km 24 and Km 25 markers. A side road at the Km 48 marker leads to a group of government-sponsored hill-tribe villages (Karen, Lisu, Hmong, Mien, Lahu). Just beyond Ban Rom Mao 4 —roughly midway between Mae Sot and Um Phang — is a very large Karen and Burmese refugee camp (called Urn Piam) and several Hmong villages.Sitting at the junction of Mae Nam Klong and Huay Um Phang, Um Phang is an over¬grown village populated mostly by Karen. Many Karen villages in this area are very traditional, and elephants are used as much as oxen for farm work. Yaeng (elephant sad¬dles) and other tack used for elephant wran¬gling are a common sight on the verandas of Karen houses outside of town. You’ll also see plenty of elephants in other Karen vil¬lages throughout the district. The name for the district comes from the Karen word umpha, a type of bamboo container in which travelling Karen carried their docu¬ments to show to Thai border authorities.An interesting hike can be done that fol¬lows the footpaths northeast of the village through rice fields and along Huay Um Phang to a few smaller Karen villages. At the border where Um Phang district meets Myanmar, near the Thai-Karen villages of Ban Nong Luang and Ban Huay, is a Karen refugee village inhabited by over 500 Karen who originally hailed from Htikabler vil¬lage on the other side of border.South of Um Phang, towards Sangkhla¬buri in Kanchanaburi Province, Um Phang Wildlife Sanctuary links with the Thung Yai Naresuan and Huay Kha Kaeng Re¬serves as well as Khlong Lan and Mae Wong National Parks to form Thailand’s largest wildlife corridor and one of the largest intact natural forests in Southeast Asia.
Nam Tok Thilawsu
In Urn Phang district you can arrange trips down Mae Nam Mae Klong to Nam Tok Thilawsu and Karen villages — inquire at any guesthouse. Typical three-day excur¬sions include a raft journey along the river from Um Phang to the falls, then a two-day trek from the falls through the Karen vil¬lages of Khotha and Palatha, where a 4WD picks trekkers up and returns them to Um Phang (25km from Palatha by road). Some people prefer to spend two days on the river, the first night at a cave or hot springs along the river before Thilawsu and a second night at the falls. On the third day you can cross the river by elephant to one of the afore¬mentioned villages to be met by a truck and returned to Urn Phang. Or you can continue south along the road to Palatha 20km farther to the Hmong village of Kangae Khi. On the way back to Um Phang from Palatka you can stop off at Nam Tok Thilawjaw, which tum¬bles over a fern-covered cliff.
The scenery along the river is stunning, especially after the rainy season (November and December) when the 200m to 400m limestone cliffs are streaming with water and Nam Tok Thilawsu is at its best. This waterfall is Thailand’s largest, measuring an estimated 400m high and up to 300m wide in the rainy season. There’s a shallow cave behind the falls and several levels of
pools suitable for swimming. The Thais consider Nam Tok Thilawsu to be the most beautiful waterfall in the country; it is now part of Um Phang Wildlife Sanctu¬ary, declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 1999.
You can camp at the Um Phang Wildlife Sanctuary headquarters near the falls any time of year, and between December and May there are also rooms available for 100B per person. You must bring your own food. The 1.5km trail between the Um Phang Sanctuary headquarters and the falls has been transformed into a self-guided nature tour with the addition of well-conceived educational plaques. Surround¬ing the falls on both sides of the river are Thailand’s thickest stands of natural forest, and the hiking in the vicinity of Nam Tok Thilawsu can be superb. The forest here is said to contain over 1300 varieties of palm; giant bamboo and strangler figs are com¬monplace, and the orchid tree (Bauhinia variegata) can even be seen along the road to Palatha. Between 1 December and 1 June you can also drive to the falls via a rough 47km road from Um Phang suitable for 4WD or a skilled dirt-bike rider only. Or follow the main paved road south of Um Phang to Km 19; the waltz to the falls is a stiff four hours from here via Mo Phado village. A sawngthaew goes to the km 19 marker from Urn Phang once a day; ask for kii-loh sip kdo and expect to pay 15B to 20B per person.
Um Phang Khi
This `new’ area for rafting, northeast of Um Phang, counts 47 sets of rapids rated at class III and class IV during the height of the rainy season. The rafting season for Um
Phang Khi is short — August to October only — as other times of year the water level isn’t high enough. Rafting trips arranged in Um Phang typically cost 2500B for a two-night, three-day programme, or 3000B if booked in Mae Sot. Letongkhu to Sangkhlaburi
From Ban Mae Khlong Mai, a few kilo¬metres north of Um Phang via the highway to Mae Sot, a graded dirt road (Rte 1167) heads southwest along the border to Beung Kleung (sometimes spelt Peung Kleung), a Karen, Burmese, Indo-Burmese, Talaku and Thai trading village where buffalo carts are more common than motorbikes. The pic-turesque setting among spiky peaks and cliffs is worth the trip even if you go no far¬ther. Impressive Nam Tok Ekaratcha is an hour’s walk away. Sawngthaew from Um Phang usually make a trip to Beung Kleung once a day, and it’s possible to stay at the village clinic or in a private home for a do¬nation of 100B per person. On the way you can stop off at the small, traditional Karen village of Ban Thiphochi.
Four hours’ walk from here along arough track (passable by 4WD in the dryseason), near the Myanmar border on the banks of Mae Nam Suriya next to Sam Rom mountain, is the culturally singular, 109-house village of Letongkhu (Leh Tawng Khu). The villagers are for the most part Karen in language and dress, but they be¬long to a Hindu-like cult known as Talaku, with spiritual beliefs unique to this border region. They will eat only the meat of wild animals and hence do not raise chickens, ducks, pigs or beef cattle. According to what little anthropological information is available, the villagers belong
to the Lagu or Talaku sect, said to represent a form of Buddhism mixed with shamanism and animism. Letongkhu is one of only six such villages in Thailand; there are report¬edly around 30 more in Myanmar. Each village has a spiritual and temporal leader called a pu chaik (whom the Thais call reusti — ‘rishi’ or `sage’) who wears his hair long — usually tied in a topknot — and dresses in white, yellow or brown robes, depending on the subsect.
The current 48-year-old pu chaik at Letongkhu is the 10th in a line of ‘white-thread’ priests dating back to their residence in Myanmar. The sage’s many male disci¬ples also wear their hair in topknots (often tied in cloth) and may wear similar robes. All reusti abstain from alcohol and are celi¬bate. The priests live apart from the village in a temple and practise traditional medi¬cine based on herbal healing and ritual magic. Antique elephant tusks are kept as talismans.
Evangelistic Christian missionaries have infiltrated the area and have tried to convert the Talaku, thus making the Talaku sensi¬tive to outside visitation. If you visit Letong¬khu, take care not to enter any village structures without permission or invitation. Likewise, do not take photographs without permission. If you treat the villagers with respect then you shouldn’t have a problem.
Opposite Letongkhu on the Myanmar side of the border, the KNU has set up its latest tactical headquarters. Yangon gov¬ernment offensives against the KNU can break out in this area during the dry months of the year, but when this is happening or is likely to happen, Thai military checkpoints will turn all trekkers back. It wouldn’t hurt to make a few inquiries in Um Phang first, just to make sure. Sangkhlaburi (see Around Kanchanaburi Province in the Central Thailand chapter) is 90km or four to five days’ walk from Beung Kleung. On the way (llkm from Beung Kleung), about 250m off the road, is the ex¬tensive cave system of Tham Takube. From Ban Mae Chan, 35km on the same route, there’s a dirt road branching across the bor¬der to a KNU-controlled village. The route to Sangkhlahuri has several branches; the main route crosses over the border into Myanmar for some distance before crossing back into Thailand. There has been discus¬ sion of cutting a newer, more direct road be¬tween Um Phang and Sangkhlaburi. Because of the overall sensitive nature of this border area, and the very real potential for becoming lost, ill or injured, a guide is highly recommended for any sojourn south of Um Phang. You may be able to arrange a guide for this route in either Um Phang or Beung Kleung. Umphang Hill Resort in Um Phang can also arrange a trek but you need to give it a couple of weeks’ notice. The best time of year to do the trek is October to January.
Organised Tours
Several of the guesthouses in Um Phang can arrange trekking and rafting trips in the area. The typical three-night, four-day trip costs about 4500B per person (four or more people). The price includes rafting, an ele¬phant ride, food and guide service.
Longer treks of up to 12 days may also be available, and there are day trips to Nam Tok Thilawsu as well. It is worth checking to see what kind of rafts are used; most places have switched to rubber as bamboo rafts can break up in the rough rapids. Choose rubber, unless you are really look¬ing for adventure — such as walking to your camp site rather than rafting there.
In Um Phang, Tu Ka Su Cottage and Umphang Hill Resort (see Places to Stay for details) have the best equipment and trip de¬signs. Both offer basic three- to six-day raft¬ing and hiking trips to Nam Tok Thilawsu and beyond, including one itinerary that takes rafters through 11 different sets of rapids on Mae Nam Mae Klong. Longer or shorter trips may also be arranged and ele¬phant riding instead of walking is always an option.
Places to Stay
Accommodation in Um Phang is plentiful, but since the majority of visitors to the area are Thai, room rates tend to be a little higher than normal. Thee Lor Su Riverside ($ 0 5556 1010; bungalows 600-1200B) is the first place you come to as you enter Um Phang coming from Mae Sot. It’s about 300m off the road, and features small wooden A-frame bunga¬lows facing a stream. It’s a bit overpriced even for this market, so best reserved for if everything else is full.
Umphang Country Huts (rooms down¬stairs/upstairs 400/7008, larger rooms with private veranda 400-700B), off the highway 1.5km before Um Phang, is in a nice hilly setting. Rooms in a wood and thatch, two-storey building facing Huay Mae Klong share a common veranda, with benches. A downstairs room has a bathroom, while a larger upstairs room sleeps up to four. There are larger, more atmospheric rooms in a other two-storey building that come with private verandas.
Thawatchai TJ Tour (Trekker Hill; $ 0 5556 1090; beds 60B) on a hillside near the vil¬lage centre, offers beds in rustic thatchedroof shelters with shared facilities.
Phudoi Camp Site (( 0 5556 1049, 0 1886 8783, fax 0 5556 1279; tent sites 50B, single/double bungalows 150/200B), around the corner from Trekker Hill towards the market, is a well-landscaped place on an¬other hillside. You can pitch your own tent at the camping ground, or you can rent one of four clean, wooden bungalows. Addi¬tional bungalows were under construction when we visited. Discounts are available during the rainy season.
Urn Phang Guest House (0 5556 1021, fax 05556 1322; huts 1008, rooms in cottage/ house 300/5008) is farther south towards Huay Um Phang. Owned by BL Tour, it has rooms sleeping five to six in Thai-style houses, rooms in a cottage that sleep up to six and thatched huts for up to six people. The facilities, however, are in need of renovation.
Continuing towards Huay Um Phang, you’ll find a few additional rustic guest¬houses (referred to as `resorts’ in typical Thai fashion). Um Phang House (( 0 55561073; rooms 1508, cottages 300B) owned by the local kamnan (precinct officer), offers a few motel-like rooms with private bath¬room that sleep up to three, and nicer wood¬and-brick cottages with hot water and ceiling fans that sleep up to four (a solo traveller might be able to negotiate the price down a bit). There’s a large outdoor restau¬rant in an open area near the cottages. Like Um Phang Guest House, the whole place could use spiffing up.
Garden Huts (no Roman-script sign; Boon- yaporn Guest House or Thaphae Resort; rooms without bath from 300B, bungalows with hot water up to 700B) features five levels of accommodation ranging from bamboo huts with shared cold-water bathroom up to bun¬galows with attached hot-water bathroom; most of these rooms will sleep up to four people. You can get your fix of good, Thai-grown Arabica coffee here.
Umphang Hill Resort (0 5556 1063, fax 05556 1065; 0 5553 1409 in Bangkok ,& 0 2573 7942; large bungalows around 2000B, wooden bungalows 500B), on the opposite bank to Garden Huts, overlooks the stream. It’s a friendly place where large wood-and¬thatch bungalows have two or even three bathrooms, and price varies depending on the season; these are usually rented by Thai groups and can accommodate up to 20 people. When not full, the resort will rent out beds in these bungalows for 50B per person. There are also a few wooden bun¬galows with attached hot-water shower, small TV and refrigerator. This is one of the most popular places in Um Phang to book treks or raft trips.
Tu Ka Su Cottage (Kin Ka Tu;  0 5556 1295, 0 1487 1643; rooms 1000-1500B), west of Huay Um Phang, is the cleanest and best-run of all the places offering accom¬modation in Um Phang. The attractive collection of brick-and-stone, multiroom cottages are surrounded by flower gardens. The largest sleeps 10, but it’s possible to rent half of one of the smaller two-room cottages for between 600B and 750B. Tu Ka Su Cottage operates good local trekking-rafting trips as well.
Places to Eat
Um Phang has three or four simple noodle and rice shops plus a morning market and a small sundries shop. Phu Doi Restaurant (dishes 20-40B; open Sam-10pm daily), on the main street into town, has very good food, especially the phanaeng (mild curry) dishes, but there are also rice dishes, noo¬dles, tom yam and cold beer. Phu Doi has a bilingual menu and seems to be virtually the only place open past 9pm.
There’s a short string of noodle shops along the main road. Tom Restaurant (dishes 20-40B; open 9am-8pm daily) also does rice dishes.
Getting There & Away
There are several pickup to Um Phang from Mae Sot (120B, 164km, five to six hours) that depart several times a day, start¬ing around lam and finishing around 3pm. pickup usually stop for lunch at windy Ban Rom Klao 4 along the way. From Mac Sot to Urn Phang, sawngthAew depart between lam and 2.30pm.
If you decide to try to ride a motorcycle from Mae Sot, be sure it’s one with a strong engine as the road has lots of fairly steep grades. Total drive time is around 3′h to four hours. The only petrol pump along the way is in Ban Rom Klao 4, 80km from Mae Sot, so you may want to carry 3L or 4L of extra fuel.
MAE SOT TO MAE SARIANG
Route 105 runs north from Mae Sot all the way to Mae Sariang in Mae Hong Son Province. The section of the road north of Tha Song Yang has finally been sealed and public transport is now available all the way to Mae Sariang (226km), passing through Mae Ramat, Mae Sarit. Ban Tha Song Yang and Ban Sop Ngao (Mae Ngao). In Mae Ramat a temple called Wat Don Kaew, which is behind the district office, houses a large Mandalay-style marble Buddha. Other attractions on the way to Mae Sariang include Nam Tok Mae Kasa, between the
Km 13 and Km 14 markers, and extensive limestone caverns at Tham Mae Usu, at Km 94 near Ban Tha Song Yang. From the highway it’s a 2km walk to Tham Mae Usu; note that in the rainy season, when the river running through the cave seals off the mouth, it’s closed.
Instead of doing the Myanmar border run in one go, some people elect to spend the night in Mae Sarit (118km from Mae Sot), then start fresh in the morning to get to Ban Tha Song Yang in time for a morning sAwngthtew from Ban Tha Song Yang to Mae Sariang.
pickup to Mae Sarit cost 66B and leave hourly between 6am and noon from the market north of the police station in Mae Sot (four hours). Mae Sarit to Ban Tha Song Yang costs 23B; from there to Mae Sariang costs 55B (three hours). If you miss the morning sbwngthaew from Mae Sarit to Mae Sariang, you can usually arrange to charter a truck for 180B to 220B.
If you decide not to stay overnight in Mae Sarit you can take a direct Mae Sariang sAwngthbew from Mae Sot for 165B. These large orange sawngthdew have the same departure times as the Mae Sot—Mae Sarit sbwngthbew (about six hours).
Along the way you’ll pass through thick forest, including a few stands of teak, and see Karen villages, the occasional work ele¬phant and a large Thai ranger post.
Places to Stay & Eat
Mae Salid Guest House (singles/doubles 70/1008) offers very basic rooms with pri¬vate toilet and shared shower. This guest¬house is in Mae Sarit.
There are no guesthouses yet in Ban Tha Song Yang but it would probably be easy to arrange a place to stay by inquiring at the main market (where the car stop) in this prosperous black-market town.
Krua Ban Tai ( 0 1887 1102; Th Si Wat¬tana; dishes 20-508; open 8am-9pm daily) is a two-storey wooden restaurant in the centre of Ban Tha Song Yang, around the corner from the main market. The creative menu includes very good yam wun sen (spicy noodle salad) made with freshwater shrimp.