The Bordercrossing
After our guided tour through Myanmar, we crossed the border to Thailand in Mae Sai. Bringing your own car to Thailand is a pain at the moment, as authorities installed a new law on the 1st of November. Foreign vehicles are only allowed to enter with a guide and a special permit. But that rule is only enforced in certain borders, and Tachileik/Mae Sai is one of them. So we hired a guide for one day, gave him 320 USD per vehicle and drove directly to the Laos border. We entered Laos, stamped new Visas and immediately returned to Thailand – without a guide. All in all a big scam.
Bann Doi – Home and Healing Center for Children
The first thing I wanted to do in Thailand was to visit Babsi at Baan Doi. in 2009 she founded the children’s orphanage in Mae Sai, the northernmost city of Thailand near the Golden Triangle.
I visited Baan Doi the first time in 2010 when there were only 3 small buildings and a few children.
Now 10 years later a lot has changed and when I saw what was achieved here I was completely overwhelmed. The Baan Doi crew grew to a big, passionate team of professionals who are taking care of 18 children.
During our stay, we also visited the construction site of their permaculture project, which is realized by students of BaseHabitat, Art University Linz in Austria.
It was quite fun and interesting to share some travel stories with some Austrian students. Find out more about Baan Doi on http://www.baandoi.org
But now it’s definitely time to go to the beach, we are already on the way to Bangkok and further to Koh Phangan, where we will stay for Christmas and New Years Eve.
