Border Market & Myawadi

Introducing Border Market & Myawadi

Experience a slice of Myanmar, or just go for the sake of an instant 30-day visa, by crossing the Mae Nam Moei to Myawadi. Immigration procedures are taken care of at the Thai immigration booth (8.30am-4.30pm) at the Friendship Bridge, although if you have any problems there’s another immigration office in the nearby Mae Moei Shopping Bazaar. It takes around 15 minutes to finish all the paperwork to leave Thailand officially, and then you’re free to walk across the arched 420m Friendship Bridge.

At the other end of the bridge is a rustic Myanmar immigration booth, where you’ll fill out permits for a one-day stay, pay a fee of US$10 or 500B and leave your passports as a deposit. Then you’re free to wander around Myawadi as long as you’re back at the bridge by 4.30pm to pick up your passport and check out with immigration. On your return to Thailand, the Thai immigration office at the bridge will give you a new 30-day tourist visa.

Before taking the 6km sǎwngthǎew trip to the Friendship Bridge, ask about the border situation in Mae Sot. At the time of writing the crossing was closed for a week due to the September 2006 coup. In addition, sporadic relations between Myanmar and Thailand can sometimes cause the border to close for a few days. If the border is closed and your 30-day visa has run out, it is possible to get a one-day extension for free at the immigration office. For each day’s extension after that it costs 500B.

There is a market about 100m from the river on the Thai side that legally sells Burmese goods – dried fish and shrimp, dried bamboo shoots, mung beans, peanuts, woven-straw products, teak furniture, thick cotton blankets, lacquerware, tapestries, wooden furniture, jade and gems. However, it’s not one of the more exciting markets in Thailand, and the Mae Sot market is much more lively. You can also buy black-market kyat (Burmese currency) here at favourable rates.

Last updated: Mar 2, 2009