City Of The Golden Triangle - Tachileik

[trick]

City of the Golden Triangle - Tachileik

Tachileik is a very beautiful small town which is safe and the people are friendly.

To enter from Mae Sai to Tachileik, You will pass through the custom (http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1MQTDIGHNDOVM2GCZID1NSXELW).

No payment is required at thai custom, once you are in the DMZ, the tour consultant will help you to apply a border pass (http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2C95KCEPDY8U50JAFFNN48R7CU) at the price of USD10 with 3 passport size photo for a 2 weeks stay in Tachileik.

After you have surrender your passport to the Myanmar Custom with a replacement of a border pass, you will enter into theCity of the Golden Triangle (http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RNKNVBLN8UPI0BAYQ8A2HP42B).

I will attached a map of Tachileik soon (Need to scan).

For the first two day, i had stay in Mae Khong River Hotel (http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1RLS083AJZ8O40U0Q0UDA69UMQ). This hotel is the highest (10 level) in Tachileik and is located after san sai road. The rate is 1500 baht per night include breakfast. here is the bird eyes view (http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=19H9ZTZVGDMXY2ZE0RUMENGUA4) that i took from the 10th floor.
The facilities in this hotel includes KTV at 9th and 10th floor, a Casino in 8th floor, a chinese restaurant in 2nd floor and a massage centre at first floor.

[Hakoshu]

So how was ur trip bro??? When planning for marriage?? never update me ah..

[lurpsexx]

So how was ur trip bro??? When planning for marriage?? never update me ah..

Wonder why his tirak never protest at the hotel choice leh... KTV some more! kekeke...small town. big wonders..! kekekeke.... :D

[MachoDevilX]

For the first two day, i had stay in Mae Khong River Hotel (http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1RLS083AJZ8O40U0Q0UDA69UMQ). This hotel is the highest (10 level) in Tachileik and is located after san sai road. The rate is 1500 baht per night include breakfast. here is the bird eyes view (http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=19H9ZTZVGDMXY2ZE0RUMENGUA4) that i took from the 10th floor.
The facilities in this hotel includes KTV at 9th and 10th floor, a Casino in 8th floor, a chinese restaurant in 2nd floor and a massage centre at first floor.

Wah... Bro, 1500baht per night? That is EX referencing to the lifestyle in Tachilek. The hotels in Maesai is much cheaper. I think the most Ex is Wang Thong and it cost 900 baht. I have stayed there only for a night and I start looking around for cheaper hotels. For budgeted and "Not so bad" facilities, I will recommend Tai Thong. But then for Tai Thong, there are only 2 rooms with King-sized bed at the 5th floor(Top). So, must grab fast and ask the receptions for it.

I will be posting another thread on my trip to KengTung where I have experienced a totally different culture. Sort of a lost city.
Hope your trip is nice.

:cool:

[bobosasa]

About 1km down the road towards chiang rai, there is a new small guesthouse call Good Night, very clean, new and nice road. Better than Tai Tong but same rates as Tai Tong.

bobo

[lurpsexx]

Wah...I will recommend Tai Thong.

Bro,

Mai Pua Kang Tao leh...

That is our exclusive harem with our tiraks la...

Haiz... later the bed spoil liao then cannot bonk already... kekekeke...

Fill me in on your upcoming trip, okie? ;)

[chanthira]

Bro,

Mai Pua Kang Tao leh...

That is our exclusive harem with our tiraks la...

Haiz... later the bed spoil liao then cannot bonk already... kekekeke...

Fill me in on your upcoming trip, okie? ;)

Bros
Never expected so many bros cheong until Measai ,Taichilek and keng tung
Your all must know the taste well
May I know the restaurant that open by a Singaporean a few years ago is still there ?
Or opened by one of you?

[Matthias]

When I am there, my girl simply insisted on staying at wang thong.....and ask all her friends over too and KNN I foot the bill!

[tirak99]

I will be posting another thread on my trip to KengTung where I have experienced a totally different culture. Sort of a lost city.


Bro, waiting for your thread on the trip to KengTung. something new. This thread reminded me the past when I was in Chiang Rai, Maesai, Taichilek. haizzzz... :(

[lurpsexx]

When I am there, my girl simply insisted on staying at wang thong.....and ask all her friends over too and KNN I foot the bill!

Thai Culture la... You are tirak what...

She got face you also look good ma.. then she love you even more... of course, wallet also lighter la... kekekeke... but not so ex la.. :rolleyes:

[MachoDevilX]

Here it goes....

The journey to KengTung was indeed an experience. It took about 4 hours by car to travel from Tachilek to KengTung. It is a direct road to KengTung crossing mountains and valleys with steep slopes along the way. The journey was definitely not suitable for people who will get car sick easily. It requires us to bypass 3 main customs and other small checkpoints setup by the military junta before we finally reaches the KengTung city area. And of course, money has to be paid at all the checkpoints by the taxi driver. It is not easy to find a taxi driver who can speak English and I was lucky that I manage to have one. He was in fact, hired by my girlfriend’s family at KengTung and he sent them to Maesai to fetch us. Foreigners going through the checkpoints have to be declared by the taxi driver and passports have to be shown when asked. There is a special form for foreigner that has to be shown to all the checkpoints officers. The form is taken at the Tachilek custom when entering Myanmar and it consist of the taxi vehicle number as well as the driver particulars.

Along the way, we bypassed villages and can see all sorts of local people wearing different costumes with dangling silver jewels. And of course, there are also small kids playing around at the roadsides. Most of the villages are built either at the side of a valley, of at the edge of cliffs and rivers. Sections of padi fields can also be seen with the local people working hard at loosening the soil and plucking of the grasses that grow out from their crops. Groups of cows, pigs and chickens can also be seen along the way.

After traveling for about 2 hours at the half-way point, the taxi driver stopped at a rest point where there are people selling local food and drinks. I think it is a common place for people to stop there for refreshments and rest on the way to KengTung. After resting for about 20 minutes, we are back into the taxi and on our way to KengTung. It took another 2 hours to reach the KengTung custom. At the KengTung custom, all the passengers were told to alight the taxi and walk slowly across a short road. The taxi driver walks the other way and enters a room located at a small hilltop. I believe that is the room to settle the documentations. At both ends of the road, there are Myanmar soldiers guarding and I can see that securities have been quite tight up. I think this could be due to the ongoing war between the Myanmar military and the Shans. After walking for about 2 minutes towards the end of the road, the taxi drives past us and horn us to hop in. We hopped into the taxi and here we go crossing the KengTung custom.

After about 15 minutes, we have finally reached the KengTung city area. We proceed to look for a place for dinner and manage to find a Chinese restaurant. Surprisingly, the person who attend to us, know mandarin. He told us that there are a lot of people who can speak mandarin in KengTung and I was really surprised. I think the main reason is because KengTung is just 2 hours away from China and there are lots of locals who picked up Mandarin in order to do business with the Chinese people. The meal cost around 10,000 kyats for a 4 courses dinner with soup for 6 person. That is about SGD$20. The latest black market rate for Kyat (in KengTung) is 1USD to 980kyats. For us, it is considered very cheap but to their standards of living, it is super expensive. To elaborate further, a bowl of noodles soup in KengTung town is around 150 kyats. That is about SGD$0.25. The KengTung town area is quite developed with painted bricks houses. Just now forgot to mention that in Myanmar, the correct way on the road is towards the “Right”. That means the cars are driving on the right lane and the opposing traffic is on the left. In Myanmar or in Thailand, you can see that any traveling vehicles, regardless of cars or motorbikes, will horn whenever they are negotiating bends or corners. I personally find that this is a good gesture as it will inform other drivers who might not be able to see other vehicles approaching.

Back to the KengTung town area, I was being brought to a budget Hotel where I have to submit my passport for the attendants to record my particulars. I checked with the taxi driver and was told that all foreigners arriving Myanmar, must stay in Hotels. The hotel must also submit the tenants’ particulars to the local police daily. After filling in my particulars and paid for the lodging which is 200 baht per day, I proceed to check out my room. I believe that the 200 baht lodging is the cheapeast rate I can find in KengTung. At the entrance of my room, I can see that there is only a small padlock that is latched at the door. After unlocking it, I proceed to enter the room. Inside the room, there is a single bed with mosquito net on top of it. And I can see that there are no light bulbs or fans, needless to say aircon, inside the room. I can only find candles, box of matches and 2 bottles of drinkable water at a small table just beside the bed. I check out the toilet and saw that there is no warm water for shower. But I think at least this hotel provides showering facility instead of “pail” bathing facilities.

After looking through my room, the taxi driver proceeds to send us to my girlfriend’s house. My girlfriend’s house was located at about 40-50 minutes away from the town area inside the mountains. The journey was bumpy. There wasn’t even any proper road linking to my girl’s village. There were only stones and sand that form up a so-called “road”. After traveling for about 40 minutes crossing various padi fields, we finally reached my girlfriend’s village. My first reaction was to smile at myself as almost all the houses in the village, are built by bamboos and dry yellow grasses as ceilings. After entering the “gate” of my girlfriend’s house, I saw pigs running around. The pigs are different from what we saw in tevision. I think they are considered as wild boars as they are black in color with rough hairy skin. I also saw my girlfriends’ cows. The cows are huge but tamed. When I approach the cows, they just looked at me with their lazy eyes and try to lick at my shirt.

As the story will continue and gets longer and longer, I have decided to cut it short. I manage to stay at my girlfriend’s place for a few nights and of course, it’s illegal. But who cares as long as I continue to pay for the hotel charges at the end of the trip. During the few nights stay, I have experienced the life of simplicity whereby there are no electricity, clean water and even gas. The cooking process was troublesome. The fire has to be started with woods and matches. And after starting the fire and burning for about 30 minutes, the food can then be thrown into the cooking pot for cooking. The bathing process was also very troublesome. Pails have to be taken to the neighbour’s well and then scoop from the well. It’s lucky that my girlfriend has asked her family to build a toilet before we return. If not, the bathing will be done just besides the well and of course, with clothes on. Staying there was indeed an experience for me and I will be returning back soon.

[Matthias]

Thai Culture la... You are tirak what...

She got face you also look good ma.. then she love you even more... of course, wallet also lighter la... kekekeke... but not so ex la.. :rolleyes:

i dont go booking every week unlike some people mah........saving up to go cnx to sian some uni girls mah.......

[lucifier]

Here it goes....

The journey to KengTung was indeed an experience. It took about 4 hours by car to travel from Tachilek to KengTung.............

Hi bro MachoDevilX,

Thanks for the very good and comprehensive FR. Very apprehensive that.
Do you know the procedure to carry on to Mongla. How long is it? How much u paid for the taxi fare from Tachileik to Kengtung?

So far, do u observe any cheong scene in Kengtung. Heard that it used to be quite havoc in Mongla before the crackdown. Wonder how is the situation there now.

Thanks.

[Hakoshu]

Indeed a detailed and interesting FR.. Awaiting Part 2

[MachoDevilX]

Hi bro MachoDevilX,

Thanks for the very good and comprehensive FR. Very apprehensive that.
Do you know the procedure to carry on to Mongla. How long is it? How much u paid for the taxi fare from Tachileik to Kengtung?

So far, do u observe any cheong scene in Kengtung. Heard that it used to be quite havoc in Mongla before the crackdown. Wonder how is the situation there now.

Thanks.

From what I heard, KengTung should be just 2 hours away from Mengla. There is a gathering place for taxis in KengTung where you can take taxis basically to anywhere. It is located at the centre of KengTung and once you reach there, you can see that there are basically tens of taxis waiting there for customers. It is like a taxi terminal.

The price that I paid to travel from Tachilek to KengTung is super expensive due to my girlfriend's no-identity status. The usual price should be around 400 baht per person but have to wait until 4 persons to be on board before the taxi proceed. If you does not want to wait, you can book the entire taxi at 1600 baht. The 400 baht is the cost for me to travel from KengTung to Tachilek custom. So, I presume that the direction from Tachilek to KengTung should be around the same price. The locals in KengTung are paying the same price as me and I will assume that it is the fixed rate.

Most of the time, I am with my girlfriend and hence, I am not able to tell if there are any cheonging scene but I know that there is a disco in KengTung located just next to a small lake. The disco shouldn't be difficult to locate but be careful. I heard from my girlfriend that the guys bring parangs to the discos. I also heard from my girlfriend that it is not as happening as the discos in JB. I have travelled round the entire lake and manage to see quite a few drinking places. But then, don't expect too much from the drinking places. From their outlook, I believe that drinking is all they offer. There is a chinese school located next to the lake and if you are there at the right time, you should be able to see pretty and young girls either cycling or riding along the road. They are very friendly and if you dare, can always talk to them. They look friendly to me.

:cool:

[eddy]

wow, fascinating!

[bobosasa]

Here it goes....

The journey to KengTung was indeed an experience.

Brother Macho,

which village did you visit? Maybe we should setup a Keng Tung travel web page

bobo

[MachoDevilX]

Brother Macho,

which village did you visit? Maybe we should setup a Keng Tung travel web page

bobo

Bro,

To protect my girl's identity, I am not able to disclose her village name until she is back with me in SG. :p Btw, I will be going over again next month. :p

[lurpsexx]

i dont go booking every week unlike some people mah........saving up to go cnx to sian some uni girls mah.......

I also not so rich unlike some people got money go CNX sian uni gals leh.... other uni gals in Muang Thai cannot meh? :cool:

[Matthias]

I also not so rich unlike some people got money go CNX sian uni gals leh.... other uni gals in Muang Thai cannot meh? :cool:

Some people go China 4-5 times a year.....don't know who richer? :rolleyes:

[lurpsexx]

Some people go China 4-5 times a year.....don't know who richer?

Rich in heart but poor in pocket...

To CNX To CNx to meet my pooyings!

Wan nee ao gan mai krap? :p

[Matthias]

Rich in heart but poor in pocket...

To CNX To CNx to meet my pooyings!

Wan nee ao gan mai krap? :p

barn pooying sow? :p