Pick-upHave returned to Ranong to do a visa run. The 30 days has gone really quickly and two years will go at the same speed! We could have done a run South to Malaysia but heard reports about unrest there so it is more convenient for us to do it here and cross the border to Myanmar and do it on the Burmese island. We went by pick-up which costs 40cents NZ not matter how far you travel.
We arrived at the immigration office as it was opening at 8.30 and were pounced on by a boat tout. After getting an exit stamp from Thai immigration we went with the tout on a long boat to Myanmar. He was Burmese and spoke great English. He took the two of us across to the border town and we paid $10US each for a Burmese day visa. We stayed 20 or so minutes in Myanmar and were swamped with money changers wanting to buy US dollars from us (in turn they sell them to foreigners who haven't got American dollars to pay for the Burmese visa- but at an inflated rate, of course!), local kids wanting to take us to see the town's Buddah, and child monks begging for money. It felt a very desperate place so we were out of there. Not dissimilar to many border towns we have visited over the years!
We plan to head north and make our way to Chiang Mai next.
