Our room was on the 5th floor. In the evening we were going to walk down the stairs to the lobby, but discovered that only the 5th floor had lights. My crank up flashlight didn't put much of a dent into the complete blackness of the fourth floor so we took the elevator down. But in the morning, we took the stairs and could see the swimming pool. You can also see the shops underneath. All around the border area are shops with everything from pearls to dried everything imaginable. This was mirrored by similar stores on the Burmese side.
J is by the window having breakfast at the hotel before we head for the border crossing to get another 30 days in Thailand stamped into our passports.
When we crossed a month ago at Maesod, it all seemed much more imposing. Here we have just gone out of Thailand and are on the bridge. This one was much shorter than at Maaesod. I guess we survived that wtih no problems and so this time it was no big deal. But we didn't get captured by an English speaking guide on the bridge this time so we had to do our own interpretations.
Here's the river that separates Thailand and Burma at this point in the Thai far North.
If you have a big screen you can see the Welcome to Myanmar on the blue sign on the right.
I'm not even going to try to say what anything means. All I can honestly do is show you the pictures and add a little more context. Any interpretation would simply be me imposing my own stories onto what I see. As we walked up this street, we heard, blaring out of a music shop, "Freedom.... Freedom Now..." It was a music video in English. I thought it a little interesting to hear this blaring into the street in this country where there have been government arrests of monks not that long ago. I went in and tried to engage the young man and woman about the music and what it meant. They apparently spoke no English or Thai and had no idea of what they were playing. Or they pretended not to speak Thai or English, not knowing who I was. While a lot of people we met spoke Thai, my gut says that they really had no idea of the message they were blaring out into the street.
Tachileik seems much more prosperous and lively than the Burmese town across from Maesod. Perhaps it's because we crossed at 9am (Burma time is a half hour later than Thai time) instead of 1pm. It was relatively cool and monks were still out with their begging bowls.
Note: I've spelled the name of the Burmese border town both Thachilek (the Thai Anglicization) and Tachileik (the Burmese version.)
Ron ZZ, I really have no idea about these fishing reels, but this will give you another reason to put Northern Thailand on your travel list. 
I have no idea what the sign says. But it's to the left.
Two monks walking onto a backstreet from the main street. You can see J in the background in the new shorts she got at the Textile Fair while we were waiting for the bus back in Chiang Mai.
Just behind the temple we wandered down this back street with seemingly tiny crude houses. Actually, these were shops and the house was below on the hill. 
The first shots are at the end of the road before the border crossing bridge into Burma.
Thursday, when we left, was an unusual day because the sky was actually blue. Haze, smoke, and other pollutants generally make the sky less the bright blue, but Thursday was as though everything had been washed clean. (It didn't last)
