We decided to go for the long haul bonuses in the morning. We went all the way to the north of Thailand on two different scavenges. First, we travelled three hours to Chiang Rai. We had to find the wat where the emerald Buddah, now located in Bangkok, is located. We researched the guide book and found it was Wat Phra Keo. A very long drive to look at a second rate has-been. But, if we continued on for another hour to the Myanmar border to get our passports stamped for bragging rights, we would accomplish another bonus. In order to do it correctly by the 2-scavenge-per-taxi rule, we had to pay our taxi to wait for two and a half hours, so we could have a fresh set of wheels to take us to the Myanmar border rather than risk not finding one back to Chiang Mai.
We left shotly after 6AM, taking food from the buffet with us in take out boxes.
The long drive wound through countryside dotted with police checkpoints. The Fodor's guide we were able to buy in the English section of a book store said that this region is rife with opium warlords who the police try to control. Great. We noticed that halfway into the drive. But then again, the guide book was five years old.
Stopping at a hotel in Mae Sai, the town at the northern border of Thailand, we got into a different taxi to do the one hour round trip to the Myanmar border. While explaining our intention to go across the border, the barely speaker of English said, "Oh, passport stamp". Apparently, we were not making an unusual request.
The border crossing involves walking into the emigration office in Mae Sai and then into the next room to buy a visa for Myanmar. In the Myanmar immigration office, you have your photo taken for a visa they produce at a desktop printer. Since the immigration office has a few tourists milling about, everyone's headshot photo has other people in the background. The visa is stamped "Walk" because the means of arrival is tobwalk across a bridge. Next comes the scary part. To pass border control into Myanmar, they give you the visa they just created and then they KEEP your passport while you visit Myanmar, with a promise that you will get it back when you leave the country. For me, that was not the formula for a lovely stay in Myanmar. We stayed long enough to improve their economy buy buying bottles of cold water and some nuts. Oh, and Brian bought a beer.
When we got to the office to emigrate, only Brian and Sami's passports were in the little plastic tray of passports to be returned. Christine and I had to wait. But, like watching your fellow travelers' luggage appear on the arrivals carousel, I had a good feeling that we would see our passports. We did. A few minutes later, ours were delivered. Phew.
We returned to Chiang Mai and did several more scavenges involving three markets and a wat, eating safe street food (grilled bananas), and talking our way into a restaurant kitchen to help cook something.