So after spending the weekend in Mae Sai twiddling my thumbs and moseying around the city, that fated Monday when the immigration office would reopen finally came. I walked 2 miles from the border to the Chiang Rai Immigration Office in Mae Sai early that morning, using deep breaths to subdue thoughts of all the possible problems that might await me there– will I get charged the 500 baht a day penalty for overstaying, or will it be 2000 baht a day like some people had mentioned?– hush hush little mind, you’ll find out in due time.

When I finally got there I was pretty shocked at how nice the immigration officers were. They were all women, and all of them were smiling at me… is this a trick, are they just smiling before I get the news that I owe the Thai government a bunch of baht? Not in the slightest. They took my application for a 7-day extension, I paid 1900 baht and I was on my way just like that. I had another week in the kingdom!

From there I walked to the Mae Sai bus station, booked a second class bus ticket back to Chiang Mai for 160 baht and within 5 hours I was back on the pretty side of town. I even ran into the German at the bus station!