Friday night we were looking forward to a relaxing Saturday after a very busy week. We had friends over for dinner, and were really enjoying ourselves when Jeff mentioned he was going to the border. I remembered we were due for a border run soon, so I checked our passports. To my horror, I discovered that we are 4 days overdue! So we madly began to prepare for our trip to Mae Sai, on the border with Myanmar.

As we make our preparations, I also checked our vehicle, and made another disturbing discovery. Our registration had expired just under a month ago. What were we gonna do?? We need to drive 4 hours to the border and along the way we have to pass several police check points. If you are stopped for any reason, and they discover we have overstayed our visas (even though we’re on our way to fix the problem), they could arrest us, imprison us and then deport us. If you ‘surrender’ yourself at the border, then you are simply fined and allowed to go. I was pretty stressed out, but it was too late to call a friend to ask to exchange vehicles, and finances are a little too tight this month to hire a vehicle as well as pay our fine. So, we decided we’d just have to take the risk. Thankfully, our friend contacted us just before we were about to set out, and were able to exchange cars after all.

The trip was uneventful. Samantha did very well – as usual. At one point we decided to stop at a resort (it was the only place around) for lunch and to give Sam a chance to crawl around and stretch her legs. The place was gorgeous. And we were the only people there. So, we got lunch, ambiance and ‘baby sitting’ for a reasonable price. Sam always steals peoples hearts, and she just loves the attention! She’s an extrovert like her Dad.

We arrived at the border, and handed the official our passports…
Our conversation (all in Thai).
Official: “You have overstayed 4 days.”
Anne: “Yes Sir.”
Official: “I am going to have to fine you.”
Anne: “Yes, we know.”
Official: “Why didn’t you come sooner? Why did you overstay your visa?”
Sean: (wry smile) “Because we spend all our time taking care of our daughter and thinking about her?”
Official: (Big smile) “So, you forgot to take care of yourselves.”
Both of us: “Yes, Sir.”
Then the formalities progressed smoothly. When we were done, the official said, “Next time, don’t forget to take care of yourselves, okay!” With a smile.

We walked across the bridge to Myanmar, entered the immigration office to get our entry stamps. As we were waiting for paperwork, one of the young ladies asked me,
“Is your husband a teacher?”
“Yes.”
“Do you live in Chiang Mai?”
“Yes.”
“I think I met him in Yangon. He taught at my school.”
We were totally floored. It turns out, Mimi-lai was a student at a school where Sean and his Dad taught in 2005. And she remembered him and even what he taught about. So, we stayed to chat for a while.

When we go to Mae Sai, we usually spend about 1 hour just wondering around in the market by the river. So, we met up with our friend from dinner on Friday night, and ran the gauntlet of men selling cigarettes, women selling useless trinkets and children begging for a few coins. And, of cause, it was even more of an obstacle course for us because we had Samantha. People would peer into her pram to see her, others would reach out to touch her, and all the way down the street people yelled, “Tukadaa thii mii chiiwit! Muan Tukadaa!” “She’s just like a living Doll”. One woman was so determined to get a look at her, that she jumped right in front of me and said, “Stop!”, then knelt down to coo at and poke Samantha. As I said, Samantha just eats this attention up. She loved it. The more play mates, the better.

By the time we left Mae Sai it was 5 pm, and we knew we’d be home very late. So much for a relaxing, restful day! At around 7:30pm, stopped to have dinner at a place called Cabbages and Condoms. It’s a long story behind the name. They have a sign in the restaurant that says, “Our food is guaranteed NOT to cause pregnancy”. LOL. Samantha made more new friends, and enjoyed crawling around, chasing one of the waitresses daughters. An active baby like Samantha goes a little stir crazy strapped into a car seat and stroller all day. We enjoyed our food, despite being a little grumpy after our long day on the road. We still had a good 2 hours to go…

At 10:30pm we pulled into our driveway and were very happy that the long day was over.

Note to self: make sure you mark the visa run and car rego dates in the calendar so this never happens again!

At the border – just after Samantha’s first trip into Myanmar.