Ranong, Thailand
9° 58' N 98° 37' E
Mar 16, 2007 07:36
Distance 469km

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Visa trip in Ranong....!

Text written in: English (UK)

After a 'luxary' night bus ride on the 'VIP' bus we arrived in Ranong at about 5.30am! We were the only 'western people' on the bus and we were therefore quite noticeable when we stepped off the bus! We were literally surrounded by scooter taxis and were asked many times where we wanted to go. We got our bags and we each got on the back of a scooter and our bags were held by the taxi man between him and the handle bars....quite a skill seeing our bags weigh just under 20kg each!

We arrived at the guesthouse we had thought we would stay at but it was 'closed for rennovation'!! Unfortunately for us the men decided to take us to a guesthouse they recommended even though we said an alternative! After a lot of scooting around we were finally dropped off where we wanted, but we were charged a lot more than they had said for the extra place they had taken us to...it was easier to pay up and get rid of them so we did!!

Our main reason for going to Ranong was to renew our visa's. A number of reasons had meant that we hadn't sorted one out before we arrived in Thailand so we only had 30 days. Ranong is across the water from Myanmar (Burma) and in order to get a new visa you need to leave Thailand, enter and leave Burma and then re-enter Thailand. It sounds simple in theory, but to cut a long story short, us and 4 other 'white people' had a bit of a unplesant few hours aboard a boat with 2 thai men who were asking us to give them extra money and our passports - no way!! It all turned out ok though and we can tell the story in all its detail to anyone who is interested!! :-)

We decided to leave Ranong the next morning and got the public bus to Khoa Lak further south on the west coast. Unfortunately for us the air conditioning seemed to blow out air as hot as outside and the seats were far too small for Mike! After a sweaty 5 hours we arrived at our destination and we were pleased to get off!!

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