Blogs from Ranong, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

We are staying about a week with Tony Dida and their 2 year old son, Galvin, in Ranong. Ranong is a small town on the west coast of Thailand bordering Burma/Myanmar (where Dida comes from). Tonys house is 4 stories high. He teaches children english after school in the ground floor. It is possible to see Burma from the roof top. The house is opposite a school. Each morning at 8am the children all sing the national anthem. Thais are very fond of their royal family....people even wear yellow T shirts saying 'I love the king'. It is very hot and humid in Ranong.....hotter than it was in Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Kao Sok. There are fewer monks here than in Chiang Mai or central Bangkok. It is not now the rainy season....but when it is ... read more

Nos a második lahu village-es tanfolyamon még több diák, még több asszisztens, még több fáradalom ill. próbatétel volt számunkra, szerencsére a lahu újév elmúlt, tehát a folyamatos tüzijáték s puffogtatás helyett lazulás vette át a falut - mindenki lemészárolta, eltáncolta, feláldozta, meglátogatta, megsütötte, megitta, megbeszélte, stb az ujévi megcsinálnivalóját, igy ez a két hét az önfeledt pihenésé volt, hasonlóan mint magyarhonban karácsony után. Senki nem dolgozott, inkább az idillikus családi élet dúlt, thai könnyűzene szólt a portákról, a tanfolyam nyugodtan haladt a megszokott medrében. Nekem a nagy idillben sikerült szemüveg nélkül maradnom az utólsó 6 napra, mely inkább a tapintás és az intuitív érzékelést helyezte a középpontba a látás helyett, de még így is sikerült befejezni a tanfolyamot úgy, hogy nem mentem le Chiang Maiba, bár sokszor összepakoltam. A tanfi végén minden ... read more

We got up at 8 and took the boat to the mainland and thereafter we went by bus to Ranong. Unfortunately we had to spend a night there because the last boat for Koh Chang had already left, a bit of a shame since we didnt have many days left. In Ranong we searched for the night market, but after walking around for ages we guessed that it was closed. Instead we had thai food at a local restaurant where there was live music and later we watched 'grimlings' on TV there. The next morning we got up at 8 and had som breakfast at Pons Place. After that we got on a minibus and down to the harbour where we got on the longtail boat to Koh Chang. Unfortunately the boat broke down after 20 ... read more

Ride 7, officially called "the ride of many hills and punctures" because there was many hills and many punctures. 900m of vertical climbing and 5 punctures. You see, many. The start to the day was delayed for both myself and a dutch cyclist who was staying at the same hotel as the hotel owner (a little crazy/over friendly) told the dutch guy he had to hang around to meet me at breakfast. Poor guy had been awake since 4 am and had already been down to the market and thai/myanmar border before I got up. He wanted to be out of here but there was no saying "no" to the lady. At 7:30 she came knocking at my door to see where I was. I know I had said I'd be over for breakfast at 7:30 ... read more

We had one hiccup in Satun that we didn't see coming. Because we came into Thailand over land, they were only willing to give us a 15 day visa, instead of the 30 days we were expecting. So it was with puzzled faces that Philippe and I walked into the arrivals hall at Satun's ferry port. A weird looking man in glasses and a wooley hat was hassling us to find out where were were going from the minute we set foot on dry land. He looked a bit like Ali G, but with a mafia boss swagger. We swatted him away from us a few times before we came to realise that he was the boss man in the terminal. There wasn't a taxi in sight when we hit sunlight, and the only communal bus ... read more