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MAE SAI , with its hustling tourist trade and bustling border crossing, is Thailand's northernmost town, 61km from Chiang Rai. Thanon Phaholyothin is the town's single north-south street, which ends at the bridge over the Mae Sai River, the border with Burma. For $5, farangs can make a day-trip across the border to Thakhilek (8am-6pm), but you have to leave your passport at the Thai immigration checkpoint on the bridge. On your return you get an extra thirty days on a single-entry visa, sixty days on a multiple-entry visa from the date of re-entry. Shopping is the main interest in Thakilek: the huge market on the right after the bridge is an entrepot for everything from crackers to tigers' intestines, but the Burmese handicrafts are disappointing. There is also a market in the grounds of Mae Sai's Wat Phra That Doi Wao, five minutes' walk from the bridge (behind the Top North Hotel), where Burmese and Chinese stuff is sold from 5am to 6pm. Most travellers staying in Mae Sai end up making day-trips out to Sop Ruak . Frequent buses run from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai. You can rent motorbikes from Pon Chai, opposite the Bangkok Bank (B150). A handful of guesthouses are strung out along the riverbank west of the bridge. The best of these is Mae Sai (tel 053/732021; under $5), a beautifully located set of bungalows, wedged between a steep hill and the river, fifteen minutes from the main road. The welcoming Chad Guesthouse on Soi Wiangpan, 1km before the bridge, is the classic travellers' rest (tel 053/732054; under $5) and also has dorms. Mae Sai's top eating place is Rabieng Kaew, opposite the Krung Thai Bank, which serves excellent Thai cuisine. The night market is across the main road from the Sri Wattana Hotel.
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