A new visa and deserted beaches in Khao Lak

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Time for our visa run as our Thai tourist visa is only valid for 4 weeks - and believe it or not, we have already been away for 4 weeks now. So from Khao Sok we get on the bus to Takua Pa and then on another bus to Ranong, a city of around 30.000 people right at the Thai/Burmese border. As a typical border city there is all sort of trade (legal and illegal) going on here...
As we get off the bus we follow one girl advertising a place called Palmy House and as we have no clue where to go (did I mention that we travel without travel guide this time -which does make the whole trip a little more exciting but sometimes also a little more chaotic) we follow her. The guesthouse is actually not too bad and for 250 baht also good value. In the evening we have a walk around Ranong which is almost deserted. Again, you can feel that it is low season as especially all the more tourist looking restaurants are absolutely deserted. Well, so we are back rather soon which is also good as we have to get up early and as Ian has some stomach problems (always good to be near a toilet 😊)
The next day we are ready and prepared for our visa run. So off we go. Bus to immigration - wrong immigration point - lift by a very kind Thai guy to next immigration (this time the right one), exit stamp in our passport. All the time we are surrounded by several touts wanting to take us on their boat to Myanmar or selling us the needed 10 US for Immigration. After some haggling we get a boat for 400 baht (a 40 minute boat ride with loads of stops at various immigration checkpoints) and an absolutely ridiculous exchange rate for the US dollars. On the boat another try to get some more money : "You have to pay exit fee for Thailand!" Good try mate, but thankfully we knew that there is no exit fee. In Myanmar there is already a whole group of teenagers waiting for us at the pier. "You want cigarettes? Alcohol? Viagra?" NO. Around 7 kids guide us to the immigration checkpoint although we would have probably found it ourselves as its only a few metres from the pier. Copy of passport, pictures and US dollar and we get the stamp in our passport. We decide to immediately go back as its just too much and we really want to get going. So back on the boat for another 40 minutes and then back to the Thai immigration and we have our new visa. Unfortunately only valid for another 2 weeks. Ah, well enough time for us.
We then go back to the guesthouse and go to the bus stop to catch a bus to Krabi, our next destination. However, no one really knows when the buses leave and everyone is telling us a different time so we end up sitting at the bus stop for 2 hours with no success. As a bus to Phuket is arriving we decide that we definitely dont want to stay in Ranong and just go on the bus and get off in Khao Lak, a place I always wanted to visit as I heard a lot about it (especially with regards to the Tsunami).
So after 4 hours on a crammed bus (I think all the standing places where taken) we arrive in Khao Lak and we manage to find a little more luxurious place with TV and hot shower called Sri Chada. What a treat 😊.
Khao Lak is an area of several beaches on the Andaman coast. The province is called Phang Nga and this province was hit worst in the Tsunami 2004: Around 4500 victims out of around 10000 in Thailand. All this information can be also found in the Tsunami museum. There are still many refugee villages and orphanages along the way. It is still unbelievable when you stand on the beach trying to imagine what happened there that day. But other than that there is hardly any evidence and everything seems to be rebuilt. Loads of new fancy resorts are built up everywhere and we heard that tourism is almost back to normal again.
However, due to low season Khao Lak itself is absolutely deserted at the moment. There are only a few bars and restaurants open so the evenings are rather short and we have enough time to watch a movie or two. The beaches are fantastic. No people (even skinny dipping possible 😊) and some good waves. So we spend our days cruising around on our scooter, exploring different beaches and finding some fantastic local restaurants. One of our favourites is the BBQ Hotpot place. An all you can eat buffet for 99 baht. I think I dont have to mention that we could hardly move after eating there. There we also met one of the Thai waiters called Gai (chicken) who used to be a World champion in boxing and who invited Ian to train with him the next day. Very good training and all for free.
We also found the one bar which still seems to be open in low season. A Dutch guy who got stuck here volunteering after the Tsunami. He now runs the bar and is married to a Thai women with whom he has 5 children (2 own and 3 adopted). We had some good philosophical talks drinking Pina Colada and Sangsom Whiskey.
So after 4 days here we decide to move on to Krabi. Its been a lovely unexpected stop with loads of nice food, great beaches and nice people

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