KAWTHAUNG, MYANMAR (BURMA)

I hadn't planned on staying in Thailand for over a month, but after my situation changed, it became necessary for me to renew my 30-day Thai visa. To do this, all you have to do is leave the country and immediately re-enter it, whereupon they issue you a new 30-day visa. It sounds easy, and in theory I guess it is, but making a "visa run" from Koh Phangan involves a rather arduous journey by boat, van, and bus to the Union of Myanmar (formerly Burma) and then back into Thailand.

So basically that's what I've been doing for the past day and a half!

At 10 pm on Sunday I caught the night boat from Koh Phangan to Surat Thani--but unlike the fast boat that brought me to the island in just over two hours, this one takes seven. Ugh. Inside the boat, there are two levels of sleeping areas, with ceilings so low you can't stand up in them, completely lined with mattresses and divided into narrow sleeping spaces. Kind of like a slave ship, come to think of it. But with all the smoking, eating, and talking on cell phones (okay, not so much like a slave ship), not to mention the vibration of the boat's engines, it was really hard for me to get any sleep on the journey.

On arrival (before 5 am), eight of us were herded into a van that took us to the office of the company that arranges the visa runs, where we had some toast and tea, picked up some more folks, then rode three more hours to the town of Ranong. There we got our passports stamped at the immigration office, got back in the van and rode to the pier, then boarded a longtail boat that took us along the river to yet another immigration office on stilts. After showing our passports again, we took the boat out and crossed a very choppy bay, getting more than a little wet along the way, to the southernmost tip of Myanmar and the town of Kawthaung (formerly Victoria Point).

There, at another immigration office on stilts, we surrendered our passports once again and got stamped into Myanmar, then motored to another pier where we got to disembark and walk around the waterfront for about 20 minutes. The whole time we were surrounded by local kids, who tried to get us to buy whiskey, cigarettes, and Viagra (all of which are sold here for really cheap). I decided to pass on all three, and just gave some change to a monk with a collection plate.

After that ever-so-brief taste of Burma, we got back in the longtail boat and headed back to Surat Thani. I had considered returning to Koh Phangan, but then I thought, Phuket.

That's a joke, people.

Anyway, it's pronouced poo-get. (Which I suppose I could make another joke about, but I won't.) But seriously, I did decide to take the bus to Phuket, as I was getting bored with Koh Phangan, and since I've got time to kill, I thought I'd check out some places on the west coast. The bus ride from Surat Thani to Phuket town took four hours, and by the time I found a hotel and checked in, it was 8 pm, making it 24 hours since I started this trip from Haad Rin Beach. Whew.