Growth spurt

I had lunch with a friend today who has lived in Mae Sot for a while. Over 6 years in fact, which is a really long time for an expat. I know a couple of people who have logged a decade or more, but about 2 years is the max for most. At any rate, we were discussing the rapid growth and changes we have been experiencing in Mae Sot over the last year or two, and particularly in the past 6 months. New construction, new roads, and an abundance of new cards, all over town. And people, legal, illegal, local and expat, there have been increases in all sectors.

Growth itself is not new to Mae Sot. 40 years ago, it was cut off from most of Thailand. There was no road over the mountain to Tak, and all trade, news, and even fashion flowed from the west, across Burma. Even so, it was a thriving border town, a trade hub (both legal and illegal), and an ethnic mixing bowl. It has always been considered an interesting and lively place.

When the road was built, Mae Sot took off. Factories, staffed with underpaid Burmese migrants sprang up producing goods shipped to the rest of Thailand, and around the world. Trade of all kinds increased.

After the 1988 events in Burma, thousands of political dissidents and refugees flooded the town. Mae Sot has remained a home to an enormous concentration of Burmese ethnic minority refugees and migrants ever since, which only seems to increase.

Recently, the Thai government has put renewed attention on Mae Sot. It is apparently seeking to increase its position as a key point in trade with Burma. There is talk of building a highway all the way from the border town of Myawaddy to Rangoon (capitol of Burma, also known as Yangon, Myanmar). In the past 5 years, Mae Sot has experience 347% financial growth.

As the money flowed in and this most recent round of growth took off, it quickly became apparent that Mae Sot's existing infrastructure wasn't prepared. Mae Sot is bursting at the seams. Like a teen gaining height to quickly to adjust to newfound gangliness, Mae Sot is becoming an awkward, unattractive place. We here only hope that after this growth spurt, it will blossom into a new maturity and beauty. The key to that, however, will be in acknowledging the informal residents here - thousands of folks participating in Mae Sot economy, filling its pace, contributing to its unique air, but that are never officially counted, recognized, or wanted. However much Thailand doesn't want them here, until there is political change in Burma, going back is not an option. So for the sake of Mae Sot, I hope that they are being taken into account as Mae Sot is converted from frontier trading outpost and border town to bustling commercial hub and metropolis (well, maybe not quite a metropolis yet...).