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Published: January 4th 2007
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A standard tourist visa issued apon arrival in Thailand is only for 30 days and there are 2 ways of extending this; either apply for an extention in Bangkok that could take several days (or so I'm told), or leave the country and come back again to get a renewed 30 day visa. The second option is a very popular choice and is the option I chose. I still had plenty of time before my visa expired but I was heading down south anyway and I wouldnt get the opportunity to leave at a border for a while, so I bought a bus ticket down to the border where you can leave Thailand and visit Burma before re-entering with 30 days extra stay.
While waiting for the bus I got chatting to a bloke heading the same way but not for a visa run. He was pretty cagey about where he was going at first but after a few beers, and funnerly enough in a manner reminiscent of "The Beach", he began to tell me about this paradise island. It was, he said, one of the last islands in Thailand to be unspoiled and his favourite place to go in
20 years of coming to Thailand (he'd lived in a cave here once for a few days when he was strapped for cash). I didnt have any real plans so decided to join him and check it out.
After 10 hours on the bus we arrived to the usual welcome of locals after our business. Its always a mad rush to get your bag at the end of a journey and stories of backpacks going missing are rife, I'd never seen it happen myself though. In this case it was 5:45am and as I got off the bus I saw that my bag was already on on the bike of one of the locals. I rushed over and he insisted on taking me to the Immigration Office himself and so I hopped on the bike. The office didnt open till 7:00 so he agreed take me to a coffee place where I'd rejoin my mate. This didnt happen and he took me all over the place. I was getting a bit worried at this point as I had no idea where I was and this guy could pretty much take me where he wanted. I ended up at what
Sunset on the beach
Expect a lot of these, I was constantly taking pictures of the sunset seemed to be someone's home with the motorbike bloke telling them to get me some tea. It was quite strange but my paranoira was unfounded as he turned out to be a nice bloke. It was the worst tea I've ever tasted however (it was actually slimey) but I drank it soas not to offend - gagging at every gulp - and I was pretty gutted when they brought the second cup. It finally got to 7:00 (conversation with the family was pretty strained by this point, bearing in mind my thai only covers 'hello', 'thankyou', and 'goodbye') and we headed to the immigration office. Its a little inland from the pier so its quite strange being stamped out of Thailand whilst youre still in the mainland, legally youre in limbo. We went to the pier and I got the boat over to Burma/Myramar. In between stops a 7 year old thai kid would jump off the boat with my passport to the immigration offices and some other places strangely. Luckily I was on the boat with someone who'd done it many times including once when he made it back about an hour before the tsunami struck. We got out
of the boat in Burma, got some photo's taken at an office whilst being offered everything under the sun which no doubt would have led to a prison spell for any takers, and we then headed back to Thailand again.
Another motorbike ride later and I was at a second pier just in time to meet Frank, the bloke heading to the island, to take the boat out. When we get to there I could see that Frank had exaggerated a fair bit for effect, its not quite the paradise that was described but it is fairly quiet. The owner of our ranch laughed as she told me I'd have to share my room with a family of gecko lizards, which isnt a problem until early morning when they seriously compete with the cockerels. I cant believe something so small can make so much noise. Like a lot of places, the toilet in is one of the holes in the ground in which you have to affect the downhill skiing position when really commiting yourself. This is particularly tricky in the dark after some beers, aiming is vital.
One afternoon we made our way through another part of the island to check out a sunset alcove. After the sunset was the obligatory bonfire, in where I found my lack of thai a little frustrating as for a large part there was just me and a non english speaking thai guy sitting round the fire. It took me 20mins of desperate charades just to point out the lightening storm in the background (always resort to talking about the weather), it was fairly awkward. Attempting our way back through the forest in the pitch black night, you certainly appreciate electricity more;
"Not many snakes around here I suppose Frank"
"Yeah, quite a few snakes"
"But not poisonous though"
"Yeah many poisonous"
"So what do we do if we see a snake?"
"Take a picture."
Right.
"Besides" Frank continued. "Its not the snakes that bother me, its the giant flying spiders that really annoy me. They land on your forehead."
This could have been a wind up of course but I stopped asking questions after that prefering to concentrate on what I was stepping on in the long 20 minute walk back. I've since found that most people do know about this island but this was off season for it and a lot decide against visiting as there isnt much to do. I know it sounds spoilt but there is only so much lying in a hammock that you can do.
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Liam
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"there's only so much lying on a hammock you can do" You've changed man. If you say that again, don't bother coming home.