Royal Princess Ranong

... it turned out to be not to bad, there weren't that many people on
there and even though the boat rocked around so much we both fell fast asleep quickly. We reached the mainland at a little pier in the middle of nowhere but as agreed our driver was waiting for us. Though there were already people laying across all the seats so the driver give some of them a kick and they moved up enough to free up 2 seats in the middle row and 1 seat on the front row (the bus was a ...

... We told our driver to take us to the bus station, but instead he pulled over on the side of the road and flagged down a big bus that was leaving town. Some guys got out and took our bags and threw them on the big bus. Luckily, they were heading to the town we were - Ranong, for the visa run. It was a really really nice bus though and super happy our taxi driver knew how to get the bus - you know ...

... Nemo), grouper, angel fish and lots more we couldn't name. The sea is so beautifully warm, we could have stayed there for hours. As well as lots of surfing, we kayaked out to a v small island (well rock really) one morning, where Andy caught a trevally fish, which we gave to the restaurant and they cooked it up in a delicious southern-style sauce. Esther's been refining her backgammon skills and on our final evening beat Andy ...

... as a whole, it was an interesting experience all the same...

Our visa run started by catching the 11pm ferry from Koh Tao, where at least another 50 travellers settled onto bunks for the night in a room on a cargo ship that felt more like we were a bunch of illegal immigrants heading to new found lands, rather than backpacking tourists heading for more new found adventures! Headphones in and engine noise and chatter were blocked out to enable a few ...

We arrived in Ranong and went to find food. We ate in the place that we ended up staying in and who helped us with our border run. Firstly she ironed our US dollars as the Burmese border only accept new ones for some reason. She did us copies of passports and then we went to the border pier. It was really smelly! Must be something about borders. We went through Thai immigration and they must know that ...

... and back on the ferry after being relieved of 850baht each, ouch! Thats blown the bucket budget. All chuffed with geting on the last run of the day we found out the buses had stopped so started the 7km walk back to town. Two local lads stopped and dropped us back, letting us ride on the back of the'r scooters. They refused any cash and restored our faith in humanity. Had dinner and a few beers with early night to prepare for a 6 o'clock start. Town seemed dead by 8pm anyway.

... eigentlich gestern schon passieren, aber leider haben die Aladdins das verpeilt) Von meiner Zeit Unterwasser gibts natuerlich keine Fotos; Impressionen vom live-a-board schon. Jetzt freue ich mich natuerlich saumaessig, die Anna in ein paar Tagen auf Sumatra zu treffen. Am liebsten wuerd ich sie dazu ueberreden, irgendwo tauchen zu gehen, statt durch den doofen Regenwald zu latschen ;-) Nieder mit der Schwerkraft!

... out with this, as it guided me to Asia Hotel only 400 meters away and fortunately for me the reception desk was open. I quickly found out that there were plenty of available rooms and that we would be able to check in for a night immediately. A room at Asia Hotel in Ranong was quite affordable at 260 baht a night and considering that they let us check in around 6:00 I feel we really got a great deal. The room was pretty basic with a fan and cold water shower ...

... bevoelkert von einer Gruppe original Berliner Punks mit Irokesenschnitt, Springerstiefeln, Schottenroecken und alle stinkbesoffen. Man konnte der Besitzerin irgenwie ansehen, dass sie mit der Situation nicht so ganz zufrieden war, aber was sollte sie machen. Noch unzufriedener guckten die Thai/Gespielinen die sie sich zugelegt hatten. Sowas haben die bestimmt noch nie erlebt und einige werden wohl wenn es vorbei ist in ein Kloster eintreten. Um 19.00 Uhr ging es fuer uns dann wieder ...

... we loved it! First we explored through the trees and rivers, crossing dodgy made briges, and seeing kids and monkeys playing in the water, this place was a wicked hideaway and hardly any other person here, just fab! Then a beer by the fire writing the diary amongst the jungle made us feel VERY lucky to have come here...




We decided to take a ten hour ...