Page 96 - Experience Thailand and More

TAK

Gateway to Myanmar

The last province on this route west to Myanmar is Tak where National
Highway 12 crosses the Asia Highway, or National Highway 2, running
between Chiang Mai and Bangkok and as far south as Singapore. Set on
the Ping River, which flows south, helping to form the Chao Phraya, the
terrain, especially as one climbs to the border town, or now small city, Mae
Sot, is breathtaking with lush jungle-clad massifs, harsh limestone cliffs and
calcified rocky peaks. Because of its strategic location, Tak is actually much
older than Sukhothai, dating back to the first century and was a capital of a
kingdom that later moved its center to Lopburi in the fifth century.

Once reaching Mae Sot, visitors are immediately struck by its cultural
diversity as a melting pot for Thai, Chinese, Myanmar dressed in longyi,
Muslim men with beards, the women with head scarves, and the melting
pot of ethnic hill tribes, Karen, Yao, Akha, Lau, Lisu and Hmong. Then,
there are the travelers, tourists from around the globe along with those
employed by many NGOS. This can make the central Mae Sot Market quite
vibrant as well as by Friendship Bridge that crosses the Moei River to the
town of Myawaddy and Myanmar beyond.

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