A Guide to Motoring in ThailandPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
When visitors arrive in Bangkok and see the congestion of traffic they automatically conclude that they would never attempt to drive in Thailand. I think this is a mistake. While it’s true, the capital might be congested, if you stick to the rules of driving, like staying in your own lane, driving is not difficult. That’s Bangkok. In the countryside it’s much different. A dozen kilometres outside of the city, the scene changes and drivers will be surprised to find little traffic.
A whole new world is open to the motorist. I assure readers there is no better way to discover the Kingdom than by getting behind the driver’s wheel, especially if one wants to get off-the-beaten-track. The diversity is there— forested mountains, forgotten beaches, hidden temples, seldom visited historic sites, small but interesting towns and un-rushed fishing villages.
I had a few free days and decided to make a short motor trip. I was interested in revisiting Mae Sot on the Thai-Burmese border. My wife wanted to visit some of the hill tribe villages in the area so we looked into the options offered by Royal Orchid Holidays.
ROH has two Fly-Drive options: The Fly-Drive Thailand package provides a self-drive car for those who fly THAI domestic to a major city or resort and want wheels to get around on their own. They can fly to an airport and have a car waiting for them. The other option is Fly-Drive Around Thailand and this offers some comprehensive touring itineraries covering some of the Kingdom’s most fascinating regions. My wife and I settled for a three-day package departing from Bangkok—Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop.
Royal Orchid Holidays has a service with two major car rental companies—AVIS and BUDGET. You have your choice and it’s a difficult one to make. They both offer excellent service. This time, however, I chose BUDGET for one reason: they have a collection of what they call “World Class Drive programmers.” The programs cover seven areas of the Kingdom which are (1) Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi, and Western Thailand: (2) Pattaya and the Eastern Gulf of Thailand: (3) Chiang Mai-The Golden Triangle Loop; (4) Loei and the Middle Kingdom; (5) Phuket, Samui & Krabi Loop; (6) Loei and trhe Middle Mekong: and (7) Chiang Mai-Sukhothai Loop.
No motoring travel guide could be more comprehensive. They not only have maps of the highways but they have city maps as well, descriptions of the roads and highways, a list of accommodations, alternative routes and inserts call “pointers” that give special tips.
The list of seven World Class Drives is certainly complete and leaves no part of the Kingdom untouched. And the good part is that they are free along with the car rental. My wife and I chose the Chiang Mai-Sukhothai Loop and focused on the “Mae Sariang Chiang Mai via Mae Sot” section.
Roads in Thailand are remarkable and not at all like I remember them 40 years ago when it took me two days to drive, in a four-wheel drive vehicle, from Fang to Mae Chan—and we had to cross rivers and streams 23 times. (I wrote about the journey in my book Who Needs A Road.) I drove the same route a few months ago and it took four hours.
All main and most minor roads are sealed. Signs and reflective markers warn of hazards on major highways, and sodium lighting illuminates major intersections. Bilingual (English/Thai) road signs indicate destinations, highway numbers and distances before and after intersections. Kilometre stones show highway number and distance along the road on the front face and distances to destinations in the direction of travel on the side. The police and military set up road checkpoints on highways, especially at night, but there are no security problems.
The most enjoyable part of our drive was from Tak to Mae Sot. The drive over Road 105 takes the motorist over a scenic winding road that leads to Mae Sot and the border, a few kilometres beyond the town. An interesting stop en route is at the spirit house below Phawoh Mountain where truck drivers make offerings for a safe passage. Road 105 sweeps through forests into a peaceful valley dotted with miniature farmhouses, white chedis and ornate Burmese-style temples.
Mae Sot is a sleepy town with not much happening. Nevertheless, we parked our car and took a walk through the streets. We quickly noticed that the town is an interesting mixture of races. The photographer will have a delightful time and can take pictures of Burmese men in their longyi (sarongs), Hmong and Karen women in traditional hill-tribe dress and Thai army rangers doing their shopping. Shop signs along the streets are in Thai, Burmese and Chinese. Most of the temple architecture in Mae Sot is Burmese. The town's Burmese population is largely Muslim while those living outside of town are Buddhist and the Karen are mostly Christian.
Mae Sot is also known for its big Thai-Burmese gem fair held in April. At this same time, Burmese and Thai boxers meet for an annual Thai-boxing competition, held somewhere outside of 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 are bound in hemp and the boxers fight until first blood or knockout.
You will hear, of course, that Mae Sot is the centre of the black-market trade between Myanmar and Thailand, which may be true, but for the casual visitor it's not obvious and certainly not worth investigating. It's no secret that 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.
After seeing the town, we drove to the Moei River which is spanned by the Friendship Bridge. The road to the right of the bridge is quite amazing for its shops, mainly teak carvings and woodwork and its Burmese tapestries and woven cloth. I cannot visit the place without driving back to Bangkok with a load of teak and once I even had to hire a truck to follow me. The carvings are some of the least expensive that you can find in Thailand with everything from small, carved elephants to whole bedroom sets and wall-size, floor-to-ceiling decorations. If for nothing else, the trip to Mae Sot is worth it.
If you want to cross over the bridge and take a peek at Myanmar, the fee for a day crossing is US$10 for foreigners; the border is open 6am to 6pm. Check with the tourist police before doing so. Myawadi is a fairly typical Burmese town, loaded with monasteries and temples. The most important temple is Shwe Muay Wan, a traditional bell-shaped stupa gilded with many kilos of gold and topped with over 1600 precious and semiprecious gems. And, they tell me the stones and gold are real. Surrounding the main stupa are 28 smaller stupas and these, in turn, are encircled by 12 larger ones. You need a guidebook to understand them all. What are quite fascinating, at the southern side of town, are Myawadi's 1000-year-old city walls, probably erected by the early Mon inhabitants. At the moment it's not legal to travel beyond Myawadi but let's hope in a few years that will change.
If time permits, visit Wat Phra That Doi Din Kiu, a forest Temple, a few kilometres 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 balanced on the edge of a cliff, is one of the attractions and is reminiscent of the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Myanmar. The trail makes for an interesting hike. You can get a great view of teak forests across the river in Myanmar. Who said teak is gone? 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.
One last note: It seems odd, a modern bridge that leads to nowhere. Mae Sot will one day form part of Asia's great Route 1, which will take overland travellers all the way from Istanbul to Singapore. It's not just wishful thinking. The Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge was completed in 1996 and already links Mae Sot with Myawadi and the highway west to Mawlamyine (Moulmein) and Yangon. Unfortunately, the route is not yet open to international travel. We have to admit that the route does present an exciting prospect for future overland travel but, at the moment, foreigners can go no farther than Myawadi. All that is needed is for Myanmar to get its act together.
Royal Orchid Holidays is publishing a series of booklets that outline some exciting new adventures. Hopefully, if they are ready soon, I will list them next week. QUESTIOINS & ANSWERSQ. Dear Harold, G’day and thank you again for visiting Spacewalker & Infinity and writing about them in your weekly column. I trust you enjoyed your visit to our attractions and the Gold Coast and attached are the photos from your visit. Thanks again and all the best for an excellent 2007! Kind Regards-- Don Jolly, Inbound Marketing Consultant - Infinity & SpaceWalker
A. Dear, Don. Indeed, I did enjoy Infinity & SpaceWalker.
And I thank you for the photo that I am including herein.
--HS
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail : ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
