27th May 2009

After Phi Phi we needed to head to Ranong to renew our visas. We caught the ferry to Phuket first and stayed at the Patong backpackers which we really liked as it was cheap, had air con and floor to ceiling windows onto the street from our room. It was fairly new inside as they rebuilt it after the tsunami devastated the area.

After a great sleep we caught a bus to Ranong to do the Visa run to Burma as leaving Thailand even for twenty minutes gives you another 14 days Visa.

The night before the visa run we went to a night market in Ranong where everything was very cheap. We bought some nice little cakes and Nikki put the rubbish in a small bucket that seemed to have more rubbish in it. The next minute a tiny lady squatted down next to it and we realised that the bucket contained what might have been all of her belongings. The bucket was her home and it seemed like a bin to us. Ooops.

We then walked to a hot spring and Nikki ran though a cloud of bugs swarming around a light on a bridge and slipped over cutting her foot again. This time not needing stitches but still pretty bad. The hot springs turned out to be too hot to get in anyway and Nikkis foot was bleeding a bit so we headed back.

During the night I was half asleep kind of sleep walking or something when I jumped out of bed because I thought there were monkeys in the room sitting on the chair next to me. The incident on the beach at Phi Phi must be haunting me. I could actually see them and my eyes were open.I quickly woke when Nikki calmed me and I got back into bed.

The next day we got up early for a bus then longboat to Burma. The Burmese people seemed to be first class scammers so we were on high alert walking to the customs hut and back. Even still we bought a large bottle of scotch (43%) for about (15AUD) and walked back to the boat. On the way down the pontoon a man said to me "magic trick" and signaled for me to hold out my hand. I was sus but stuck my hand out as I was curious.He then put a rolled up bag of white powder in my hand and closed it saying 500 Baht. My hand sprung back open to "No Thanks" very quickly. Then on the way back to Thailand we stopped at an island and the Burmese army boarded and searched the boat.

Arriving back in Thailand we had to walk between many unstable longboats to the pier with our laptop and important belongings in our bags. Nikki saw a huge turd floating in the murky water so we were extra careful.

When we got back to our guesthouse it was only about 10am so we spent the day exploring the town of Ranong which was quite small but enjoyable to walk around in. We spent the afternoon in an ice cream parlor and coffee shop before saying goodbye to the guesthouse owner (who gave us both big hugs which was a little strange but nice) and boarding our night bus for Bangkok.