Advice on Visiting Tachileik

Overview

Tachileik is a small, bustling boarder town located in the infamous Golden Triangle area of Myanmar/Burma. It serves as a major boarder crossing between Northern Thailand and Eastern Myanmar/Burma.

The town itself is fairly small and easy to traverse. Most visitors usually arrive in Tachileik in order to access Kyaing Tong, a famous tribal-village community found in the Myanmar/Burma portion of the Golden Triangle.

Visitors wishing to travel overland through Kyaing Tong or to the community require a special permit. Rides to this area take about five or six hours driving. However, flying out of Tachileik domestically is possible.

Frankly, there isn’t much to do in Tachileik. There are several nice temples, some quiet foothills and a series of strange expat shops. Tachileik is a common destination for foreigners who need to briefly cycle out of Thailand to get their visas renewed.

Advice for Visiting Tachileik

When visiting Tachileik, know that the domestic airline terminal has flights only going to four other airports within the country: Yangon, Mandalay, Taungyi Heho and Kengtung.

Tachileik’s airport is infamously old-school. Though the flights are frequent and cheap, the terminal doesn’t accept credit or debit cards, as they have no digital transaction machines available. To pay for a flight, one must get a ticket from the various tourism offices or pay cash at the airport.

The majority of Myanmar/Burma accepts Kyat, which is the official currency of the nation. However, at the boarder crossing, foreigners are expected to pay exclusively with Euros, US Dollars or Thai Baht. Baht bills are the preferred currency. This is due to Thai money being more stable, easier to transfer and less prone to being counterfeit.

Keep in mind, Tachileik has a fairly porous border, with people wading across the Ruak River or traversing over the foot-and-car bridges between nations. Heading further into the country overland (through Kyaing Tong) requires a special permit.

Be somewhat cautious when transferring money around Tachileik. The city has a somewhat poor reputation for cash exchange scams, though there are many legitimate services at somewhat bad rates.

Tachileik has a bad reputation as a drug nexus for heroine, methamphetamines, betel nut seeds and other substances. Also be cautious at the wet market, as there are reports of poached or potentially dangerous meats.

Things to Do

Tachileik is a small town and doesn’t have too many activities. However, visitors can usually find a few sights to see over a day or so.

Tachileik Shwedagon Pagoda

This is a large, golden pagoda atop a curving hill modeled after the more famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. The temple has a large plaza space and a series of smaller stupas for visitors to walk around.

The Tachileik Shwedagon Pagoda is the main tourism attraction in the city.

Pasa Wildlife Reserve

The Pasa Wildlife Reserve is located on the East side of the city. It’s also called the Parsar Protected Area. The wildlife zone is somewhat underdeveloped, but has multiple narrow hiking trails and encases many temples and pagodas. Getting to and from the entry point is somewhat difficult.

Western Hiking Trails

Located to the West of Tachileik, there are a series of hiking trails specifically for locals. Tourists and expats are explicitly asked not to head this direction.

However, these hiking trails do lead to several villages and an Akha Hill Tribe about an hour away. There are no maps for such excursions and guides do not offer services in these directions. Local and state authorities generally frown of foreign visitors deviating from sanctioned tourism destinations.

The Northern Most of Thailand

This is a somewhat tacky-but-fun pit stop. Located on the Thailand side of the boarder, this attraction is a mall-market combination where elements of Thai and Myanmar/Burmese culture are shown off beside one another. This attraction is directly nearby the Myanmar Immigration Checkpoint.

Wat Thai Yai

This is a dauntingly large and active Buddhist Temple with many monks taking care of the complex daily. The interior main hall is ornate and very long. Located almost directly north of the border crossing, the unique architecture makes it an easy and beautiful place to visit.

Bayinnaung King Monument

An imposing golden figure with crossed arms stands here, moustache gracing his face. King Bayinnaung is one of the most famed and renown Burmese leaders. He created an explosive expansion of empire through Southeast Asia under his rule. He also famously integrated the Shan States into the Irrawaddy Valley-based kingdoms system. King Bayinnaung’s monument is surrounded by a half-circle golden plaza, making him an interesting figure to visit while in town.

Other

There’s not a terribly large number of attractions around Tachileik. There are many more temples, but most of them are fairly small, quiet affairs. There are various KTVs around the city, with several advertised specifically for expats. The main street has a few nice market stalls and taxis or tuk-tuks to the airport are very cheap and reasonably fast

Overall, Tachileik is a transient location between Thailand the deeper interior of Myanmar/Burma. There aren’t too many activities, though the restaurants and small temples in the area are pleasant enough.

Read more advice on visiting Tachileik and firsthand stories about crossing the Northern land border between Thailand and Myanmar/Burma. Click here to read the Leftfade Trails Blog

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