Just an hour and a half drive from Chiang Rai, Mae Soi is a small town that shares a border with Myanmar. Mae Soy itself isn’t anything spectacular, but it’s fascinating to visit as you get to see a chunk of what it’s like living in a border town.
Standing on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, you’ll see streams of people constantly traveling backwards and forwards between the two countries – most of them poor and most of them pulling carts piled with goods to sell or trade. Snotty nosed little kids will appear in huge packs begging for money and, once you cross over into Myanmar and see the small town on that side of the border, you’ll see how poor Myanmar really is.