In reality, this is currently only passable from Thailand to Burma. Up until very recently the Friendship bridge would only allow crossing by foot, despite being a two lane highway on stilts, and your visa would only allow you a day’s worth of time on the Burmese side. The bridge is closed often, mostly due to the trouble on the Burmese side with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Like the Moreh crossing in the north, I would not be allowed to do the crossing I am about to do. From the Thai side, there is no visa required, only an entry stamp which you would pay US$10, if paid for in dollars, but more (about 500 baht) if paid in Thai currency. None-negotiable.I have to say, I have found that the US dollar is good in most places. Mae Sai/Tachileic, in the north is open daily, but obviously quite a way from Bangkok or this region.

When I started to plot my route through Thailand, I did contemplate going through the northern crossing, but there was something about Burma that I needed to sample. Besides, it would have then made sense to miss Bangkok and cut straight across into Laos. And where’s the fun in that?

So here I am, negotiating the line of people wandering along the road that connects to the bridge. The Friendship Bridge was completed in 1997. Another bridge is planned on the same river.

A look back as I cross the bridge.

The checkpoint on the other side.

Passing through Mae Sot, I join the AH1, which is part of the Asian Highway Network. I have driven parts of this road connection through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Burma, and now Thailand. Not all of this long Highway is open all of the time, and the Burma section is obviously limited. I fill up the tank at one of the big petrol stations and pick up some food from the side market. It’s suddenly great to see familiar products on the shelves. And proper shops for that matter. It’s about four hours to my next stop, so let’s get going and I’ll fill you in on the way.

After about three and a half hours I pass Kemapyu and change onto National Road 85, still going south. Google maps tells me that I am now passing between the Thai border to the east and the jungle village of Dutado to the west. Dutado became a news headline in 2010 when the Burmese army attacked the village, forcing the villagers into the jungle in little more than the clothes they were wearing. The village was burnt to the ground and people shot. More than 3,600 villages have been destroyed in Eastern Burma in the past 15 years, an average of four every week. It’s difficult to think that such extremes still happen in the 21st Century, but they do. The Karen National Liberation Army is fighting this area of Burma in a battle for more freedom, but certainly not the only front against the Military rule. Burma is not the only country that conducts itself in this way, but as I drive through in my virtual tour, I have learnt good and bad things, and I feel lucky to live in a largely free society.

I arrive at Hpapun, having taken a path along a very long valley, and take Highway 8 to the west and then south. One interesting thing I notice is the number of airstrips I pass on the way down. I can find that a lot of them were airfields laid down during the Second World War by the Japanese army. The majority now seem to be left to ruin. At Bilin I take the NH 8 on to Thaton, where I will be stopping over tonight.

Thaton was the capital of the Thaton Kingdom between the 9th and 11th centuries. Thaton was once a thriving seaport, trading with India and Sri Lanka. Heavy silting has now rendered the coastline some 16km away and the town is now quite. Its rail connection is not its main link to its surrounding country. I am early enough to find an open store selling cooked food in large metal woks. The food is both colourful and rish in flavour and I choose an aromatic rice dish. This is widely considered the Burmese national dish.

Mohinga dish

A traditional Mohinga street shop

I couldn’t leave Burma without sampling this lively dish. (although I am told that it is normally a breakfast meal, but I prefer something less spicy) I then retire to my camper for the night for a good rest. Tomorrow, I head east across the border into Thailand.