Myanmar

So today I went to Myanmar. He he. I just like being able to say that I dropped by a new country today. I sound cool.
Seven of us who needed to renew our visas rented a van (and driver) and headed over to the border for the day. It's only about 4 hours over curvy, mountain roads, and it was cheaper than going to the office in town to get a visa extension. Plus, I now have two new stamps in my passport that say "Myanmar" and "walk" (because you just walk across the border) and a new country to add to my list. I'd say that's worth it.
We left at 7am after a little confusion with a driver who could say "toilet" and "okay," and who was adept at taking curves without slowing down. We slept most of the way (I actually took some dramimine and slept most of the way and way back), except for stopping at a little hot springs area near Chiang Rai. Women were selling eggs that you put in little baskets and dip into the hot springs to cook. I bought chips instead.
Crossing over the border really wasn't difficult. They kept our passports, I guess to guarentee that we'd come back. People told us that sometimes the border closes unexpectedly, but generally that is if some big world event has happened.
The other side of the border looked a lot like Thailand (after all, we were only about 100 yards away), but in some ways it reminded us more of China. Maybe it was the random, tacky items sold by all the vendors. They looked like China items. We ate lunch at a little Indian restaurant which was so small it didn't even have a menu. You could order vegetable curry....or vegetable curry. It was a little funny, eating Indian food in Myanmar, although I guess India is right next door. The family was really cute, and a little girl with big brown eyes kept dancing out into the front and being pulled back to the back by her mother. After eating, we wandered around for a few hours, bargaining and getting ripped off by the vendors. Then we crossed back over to meet our driver and came back.
Overall it was a fun trip, about 13 hours. Not too eventful, but fun to know that I've been to another country. :)