2010: Saturday night market.
2011.
2010: parade by Mae Sot's Muslim school.
2010: Late-night Burmese tea shop next to the market, open for vendors receiving deliveries. In 2010, a t-shirt like this, reading 'Peace in Burma Now' would not have been welcomed on the other side of the border.
2011: young woman wearing thanaka (traditional cosmetic made of powdered tree bark) peruses the market.
2011: traditional breakfast of naan and chickpeas. Usually sold by Muslim Burmese tea shops.
Dried shrimp in different qualities for sale in the Burmese market. A common ingredient in many Asian cuisines, used by Burmese to add flavor to vegetable curries and salads.
2010: Muslim sweet roti vendor trains her daughter. Usually sold at breakfast time in teashops, or by street cart vendors after dark.
2011: Bicycles are the most common form of transportation in Mae Sot, and with a long, intense rainy season, most residents become adept at riding while holding umbrellas.
2011: Converted trucks known as songteows ('two benches') or 'linecars' are a typical form of public transportation throughout Thailand, and the only type in Mae Sot, which isn't big enough for buses or metro trains. They generally aren't used for going around the city center itself, but to go to the Myanmar border and nearby towns. Drivers spend long hours in the trucks and have ways of making themselves more comfortable.
2013: The scarecrows at the end of harvest season became particularly elaborate that year.
2010: Bugs for sale! Fried insects are a popular treat, usually sold only at special-holiday night markets held throughout the year.
2012: Cockfighting does happen in Mae Sot, but the fighting areas are hidden. My Thai neighbors, a family of tailors, raised cocks on the side. This Burmese man was familiar to me from a sewing notions shop in the market, and was visiting the tailor to test out their fighting cocks' abilities.
2011: playing in a typical wooden stilt home in Pho Phra, about 40 minutes from Mae Sot.
2011: Lottery seller at a night market. Burmese people play two additional games where bets are made on the last 2 or last 3 numbers of the winning ticket in the Thai lottery.
2011: Manager at Borderline Collective, a popular Burmese vegetarian restaurant combined with a fair-trade handicrafts shop and art gallery.
2010: Friday night market on the Asia Highway. While the central Mae Sot market and the Saturday 'walking street' are rather crowded, some other markets are located in spaces big enough for kids' entertainment like this.
2012: Abandoned car.
2011: Mae Sot's architecture is a wide mix of old and new. Wood houses, bamboo houses, concrete multi-story buildings. Even traditional structures often have tin roofs. But occasionally you can still find thatch roofs in Mae Sot, which require regular repair.
2011: Pirated-DVD seller at night market.
2012: School 'bus', Mae Sot-style.
2010: Delivering fish in the wet market.
2011: One of the Muslim teashops has very early hours, with customers lining up at 7am for takeaway naan bread. By 8am, business winds down, and the owners' children can have their breakfast.
2011: Mae Sot's market opens from around 5am until 7pm, but you can find a few vendors there at all hours. Naptime is essential.
2010: The main market has several clothing, books, and other dry goods shops mixed in among wet produce.
2011: Children playing in the market.
2011: Tailors with Social Action for Women study a new proposed design from a donor. SAW works with displaced Burmese women on rights awareness, vocational training, child protection, HIV/AIDS support, and more, including this income-generation program.