Tachileik, Myanmar (Burma) Yea, Shopping!

We got up about 5:00 AM.  We dressed and I filled out my departure card for leaving Thailand as well as a new entry card for our return later today.  They are a lot easier to do sitting at a table then when standing in line at the immigrations window.

We have two goals today.  The first is to see Pastor Lota's Church in Burma.  The second is to find a jade chess set for a special friend in California.

We left our place around 6:30 AM and had our usual breakfast at the morning market.  We then headed to the Thai Immigrations office so Daeng could get her paper to visit the border city of Tachileik.  It took only a few minutes as we were the only ones there at 7:40 AM.  The cost to her was 30 Thai Baht (about 90 cents US)

We met Saimoon at the border bridge.  Saimoon is a Burmese guide that we have know for many years.  He speaks English and several other languages very well. 

The border crossing was very easy and the Burma side did not even give us a hard time about using a ten US dollar bill instead of 500 Thai Baht.  The difference is about 200 Thai Baht.  I think the reason is when they asked for the 500 Thai Baht, Daeng gave them the 10 US dollar bill and said she would use the 200 Thai Baht that was saved to buy a new purse.  Daeng had also ironed the bill with a little spray starch so it was a pretty good looking bill.

We got our Burma permits and left my passport at the border office for pick up when we return later in the day.  I did mention that the passort did not belong to me but belonged to the United States.

We called Pastor Lota on his cellular telephone.  He said to wait for him, he would pick the three of us up and take us to his church.  We waited in the Valentine Tea Shop.  We had Burmese Milk Tea.

Pastor Lota arrived about 15 minutes later in a pickup truck with about four door jams for his new church school.  There was four other fellows with him.  He said hop in as the trip was only about 20 minutes long.

I must say, it was the bumpiest ride I have every been on and I have traveled a lot of dirt roads.  I was worried about the six folks in the back, sitting on the wooden door frames.  If I had know it was this bad a ride we would not have gone. 

When we arrived at the Akha Christian Settlement we were greeted by everyone.  Almost everyone spoke English, to some degree, also.  There was a kid's bible class going on.  It was wonderful to hear the kids singing bible songs.

We sat and had tea and talked about all kinds of things.  Saimoon was a big hit with everyone as he explained how God had saved his life.

We talked with Pastor Lota and the other church Pastor's wife.  We donated a little money, 3,000 Thai Baht, to help buy cement for the new church school building.  We took one more picture and hopped back in the pickup truck for the bumpy ride back. 

The nice part is Daeng and Saimoon would not have to sit on the wood door frames on the way back, they can just sit on the pickup bed.  I sat in the cab with the driver; give me a break, I'm old. (Yep, I used the old card on this ride.)

Now for shopping, we visited hundreds of purse shops.  Daeng said no more pictures after about the fortieth purse shop.

You can buy a knock-off of just about any purse made in the world.

The folks in every shop will tell you it is real.  Then they wonder why we don't trust them.

Purses, purses and more purses.

Then, clothes, clothes, clothes and more clothes.

Saimoon had gone on ahead of us to visit some jade shops to see if he could find a chess set.  He called on the phone and met us. 

He took us up around the corner to visit a shop that had lots of jade.  We did see a nice set but it did not have any feeling, as I say.  The pieces were just normal and had no special look.

There was a beautiful wall picture done of the Dead Sea.  It was all done in polished jade stones.

We visited several other shops but with no luck for something that was really special.  It was now about 2:00 PM, after the pick-up truck ride and walking several miles through out the Tachileik Market we decided to call it a day.

Saimoon said he had some other things to do and would go on ahead of us and would see us again in the next day or two. 

Daeng wanted to look for a friend that she had not seen in over twenty-five years so we said: "good-bye" to Saimoon and we went looking for Daeng's friend.

On the way through the many side-walk shops Daeng saw a bronze shop and told me to take a look.

In the back of this shop was a chess set, made of bronze, that looked very old and had a wooden case that was also the chess board.

It was not jade but differently had a classy look to it.

The more I looked at it and touched the figures, the more I liked it.  It was a special set for that special person.

We made the deal for the set and the shop owner put it all in the wooden case and wrapped it in paper to go.

We know felt it was a worth whiled day.  It is a special chess set for that special person.

We picked up my passport and made the walk over the Mae Sai River bridge to Mae Sai.  Immigrations stamped my passport and we were back in Thailand, again.

We hopped on our motorbike that we had left in front of the bank and made it home for hot showers and dinner.  It was another great day in the "Land of Smiles" and "Burma".