Mae Sai

[notlogic]

Does anyone have anything to share about Mae Sai? (possibly the northern-most town in Thailand)

 

I'm going there soon partly for a visa run, and partly to do a bit of business, which is why I'll be there for a few days. I realize it's a small place, so if anyone has any suggestions about things to do there, I'd appreciate the assistance.

[teigen]

Mae Sai, ... I’ve been there at least 6 times, and maybe this was 4 or 5 times too much for me.

 

It’s difficult to park your car there, or you have to find a place very far from the border checkpoint. The city is nothing more than a giant market along the main road selling products from Burma and China everywhere. Very, very crowded place, difficult to walk, but our ladies love it, another shopping place!

 

There is a very nice view of the city and Tachileik from the little hill with the giant scorpion statue facing Burma, it’s in the Doi Wao temple – only 300 meters from the border, don’t miss it.

 

About Mae Sai nightlife, I’ve been there only during daytime, and so I know anything about it, but rumors are that there is some of it under the border bridge south along the river.

 

I don’t know if you are going by bus or with your own car, so it’s difficult to give a good advice about things to see around, anyway:

 

The Golden triangle at Chiang-Saen is not very far, but it’s a boring tourist trap IMHO, except if you have never seen the Mekong river before.

Doi Tung is really worth a visit, but …

Some other places not far of Mae-Sai, are very nice, ignored by all the tour groups, and not mentioned in any book.

OK, I’m sharing my secrets:

GPS : 20°19’54 84” N - 99°51’52 61”E and 20°19’27 28” N – 99°51’58 08” E.

It’s a monkey’s mountain, and old temple, a quiet lake and a even bamboo bridge crossing it leading to a Cave. Good pick-nick place also.

 

Enjoy your trip.

 

... Just found some pictures and edited my post.

Edited May 14, 2011 by teigen

[Dr.Winston]

It's worth nipping over the border for the day. I love MC riding around the hills nearby. Doi Tung is cool and I also love Doi Mae Sarong which has a unique atmosphere that hasn't changed in the 20+ years since my first visit there. You hear Chinese spoken more than Thai and the surrounding hills are full of Chinese cemeteries and tea plantations. The MC rides around there can be great. My favourite is through Mai Sarong to Faang and then to Chiang Mai via Chiang Dao. I'm not that fond of Mae Sai town in itself, it's the surrounding areas I love.

[murrinman]

up there on the 7 of may touts across the border offering girls for 500 b didnt part take but next time i will go for a look

[misterbig1]

I crossed a few months ago into Burma at Mae Sai and the word on the street was there were some hens around but I didn't follow up. Mae Sai has always been very Thai and closes up at night.

[bastos]

Maesai is like most border towns everywhere......lotsa vice and redily available under and near the bridge.....lotsa dark spooky sois with mostly Burmese girls hanging out waiting for you. Actually some of the best English speaking girls came from a christian missionary school that taught them fluent English.....but Thai flesh traders taught them how to screw.

It can be fun after dark.

[themosch]

Went to Golde triangle and Mae sai border crossing on a day trip from Chiangmai. You can read more info and see pics on my TR from april 2010 to CM and Phuket.

[travelling_man]

Maesai is like most border towns everywhere......lotsa vice and redily available under and near the bridge.....lotsa dark spooky sois with mostly Burmese girls hanging out waiting for you. Actually some of the best English speaking girls came from a christian missionary school that taught them fluent English.....but Thai flesh traders taught them how to screw.

It can be fun after dark.

 

Hey bastos, let me know if you want a wingman on your next trip. I think you had a better time than I did.

 

Actually I went a few years ago and stayed for a few nights. If my memory is correct, I stayed at the Wang Thong hotel. Directly behind the hotel are various small sois. I hired a moto cycle taxi and told him to find the girl-houses for me and he did. It was all in-house brothel type action, and I had a good time. I don't think I had as good of a time as bastos did though.

 

I also never crossed the border for girls as one poster suggested. Again, something to add to the to-do list.

[pythag]

After reading through some other forums and after many trips to Mae Sai in the day (for visa runs), I decided to try my hand at finding the bars "under the bridge" everyone's mentioned. It turns out, I just needed to go at night.

 

Parking

 

Above, someone mentioned having trouble finding parking at Mae Sai. I've found a nice little place not far from the border where I park my motorbike, but it costs ฿20. I believe cars cost ฿50. The easiest way to explain how to get there is...

 

Head north toward the border/immigration and, at the last possible moment, make a u-turn. From there, make your first left, the make another left as soon as you can down a smaller soi. As you head down this road, there'll be a large parking lot on your right. You can park here, or continue a bit down and park where I park. The place I park is very small, family-owned, and always very friendly. It's not too far past the other parking lot but is on the left and "up" a tiny bit. They can only fit about five cars in their lots and maybe five bikes, but always have room when I go by.

 

You can get to the border from here by walking back the way you came and turning right, up the hill to the Wang Thong hotel (which has a nice lunch buffet).

 

Bars, Girls, Etc.

 

In general, things get started in Mae Sai after the sun goes down or around 6pm, whichever comes first. If you're looking before that, you're going to have a hard time finding places, but massage parlors might offer more if you know how to negotiate.

 

It's pretty easy to find the bars with girls as, from what I can tell, they're all distinguished by Christmas lights – and yes, I realize we're approaching Christmas so this is likely to get harder for a few weeks. The Christmas light idea extends to karaoke bars, so if that's not your thing be sure to check them out before going in.

 

The quickest way to find the bulk of the bars is to head north, toward the border/immigration, but keep left instead of crossing the border. From there, you'll walk down a hill and turn right under the bridge. Going back up the hill, you only need to go for maybe 200m before you see the Christmas lights on your right and left and the familiar red (isn't it really pink though?) lights.

 

There's some cute girls around here, but I recommend continuing on a bit until you reach the red-roofed caged-in shrine. From here, you can turn left and hit one beer bar (so-so, but not great), turn right for a couple of places not far away (a bit better), or veer/turn right (kind of your second right) for a few more bars which have, in my mind, better looking girls. If you do make the first right (before the shrine) and head down that road, keep straight past the first intersection and make a right at the second intersection. There's a bar on your left that houses some gorgeous Burmese girls. I found it after I had already STed a couple girls at previous bars, but intend on visiting next time I'm in Mae Sai.

 

Also around Mae Sai are several karaoke places. I stopped in at one south of Mae Sai when I saw two cute girls just dancing and talking outside that was great. It was about 500m before reaching the checkpoint when heading south (so, quite a ways out of Mae Sai).

 

For most, I don't recommend trying at the karaoke places in Mae Sai unless you speak some Thai. Most girls I met didn't speak any English at all and negotiating is incredibly hard in those scenarios. But... if you speak some basic Thai and know how to use it, you can pick up these girls for LT.

 

In general, it's not even worth it to take a karaoke girl home as they tend to be about the same, looks-wise. They might rate one point higher, on average, but it's about finding the right bar girls in that instance.

 

Prices

 

Beer at bars: About ฿20 markup on drinks vs retail

Beer at karaoke: About ฿30 markup on drinks vs retail

Bar Girl ST: ฿500

Bar Girl LT: ฿800 I think (I took a karaoke girl LT; unsure of bar fine)

Karaoke Girl ST: ฿?? (unsure as I negotiated LT)

Karaoke Girl LT: ฿1100 (no bar fine)

 

Epilogue

 

I haven't had the nerve to spend some time in Tachileik and try out the girls there. Unfortunately, for an American it's hard to get even an overnight visa, though some friends have had success if they promise to gamble. Even so, you'd be unable to leave Tachileik without your passport, which they'd hold overnight. I am glad I finally found the places mentioned in these old Whorist threads. I was afraid Mae Sai had died down, but I'm impressed with some of the girls I found. Certainly worth staying the night when doing a visa run.