Well, actually Boats, Buses and minivans would have been a better name, but it just doesn't have the same ring to it. So, in Thailand, when you come you are issued a 30 day visa, and in order to renew it you just need to leave the country and come back in. Each day you overstay your visa you get fined about $6, and if you overstay too long they throw you in jail. Seeing as I didn't really want to go to Thai prison, I decided to take a visa run to Burma. I would then meet Erik, Keira, Jerome and the British guys in a place on the west coast of Thailand called Krabi.

My visa expired on the 30th, and seeing as I wanted to spend one more day after full moon on Ko Pha Ngan, I decided to book a bus to Ranong, the city on the Thai side of the border for the 30th. I took the early one, with my ferry leaving at 10, arriving at 12:30, my bus leaving at 1, and arriving in Ranong at 5. I heard the border was open til 6, so I could maybe squeeze it in, and if not pay a 200 baht fine.

Let me tell you, if you are in a hurry to get anywhere in Thailand, don't wait til the last minute. My boat was supposed to take me to Suret Thani, and then a bus would pick me up at 1. Well, my boat did arrive at 12:30, but not in Surat Thani, it went to a place called Don Sak, which is about 1 and a half hours from Surat Thani. I just showed people my ticket, they told me to get on a bus and just go from there. My bag was put on a separate truck (a little sketchy, but my bus was full) and sure enough, one and a half hours later it arrived with me to Surat Thani. I again showed people my ticket (I really have no idea how things work and I just rely on the people running the agencies to help me out, that's pretty much the norm here), and one of the driver took me to the travel agency my ticket was with.

When I arrived there, the lady said that my bus had already left, and that there was a bus leaving at 4:30 am the next day. After thinking about it a bit, I decided that would be best as I would not have to hunt for a boat to take me across to Burma. So I stayed the night in Surat Thani, didn't do too much as I had to leave the next morning quite early, but I did go to this cool night market. It's about 50 stalls, mostly food, and full of Thais. Dinner was sooo cheap here, I managed to get a nice soup, pop, waffle and banana pancake for about a buck.

So I get up at 4, and call the tourist place around half four (4:30, this what happens when you hang out with Brits), the lady said that a taxi would be coming in "10 to 15 minutes", when 5:30 rolled around, I got a little worried. I called again, and just as I hung up the phone, the taxi arrived. So, our minibus didn't leave til half 6, and went to a pier to try to pick up a person that was supposedly there. When we coouldn't find them, we headed to Ranong. The trip wasn't too eventful, the Myanmar (Burma) immigration office was this little shack that our boat pulled up to. Just showed my passport, paid $5 US and got a stamp on my passport. We spent a bit of time in Burma, these kids come up to you and offer to take you around to buy cheap stuff. They came up asking Whiskey, cigarrettes, Viagra, Valium. Cig's were super cheap here, there were knock off brands for about $2 a carton, and proper brands for $7. I did pick up some whiskey for $4 a bottle (there was some stuff for $1, but I didn't really want to risk losing my hair or sight), but seeing as I didn't need any of the other 3, that's all I got.

Anyway, came back across and by that time it was 1 pm. The last bus to Krabi that day was at 12:30 so I ended up having to spend the night, halloween at that, in Ranong. When I asked what time that busses were the next day, the lady said 6am, and when I asked if there were any others she said no. The place I got was really nice, it had a pool, gym, huge room with a TV for about $8. It also gave me a chance to call my parents whick I hadn't done for about 4 weeks. I just relaxed and watched some news and some movies that were on TV that night, as I had an early morning the next day. I didn't even realize it was halloween until all the movies were scary movies, amd I finally clued in.

Next day, I get to the bus station, and the guy who drops me off tells me there is also a bus at 7, 10:30, and 12:30, man i would have like to sleep in...oh well, at least I will get to Krabi early. After traveling for about 4 hours, the bus stops, everyone gets off, and I ask the driver if this is Krabi, he says yes, so I head to an Internet cafe to see where Erik is staying. There's an e-mail and he was staying at a place called CHa guesthouse, when I ask the lady where that is, she says, "this isn't Krabi, you're in Pha Nga". Apparently Krabi was 2 hours away. Great!! Luckily there was another bus (the 7 I'm guessing) that had just pulled in. I grabbed that, (having to pay again) and arrived in Krabi 3 and half hours later.

I just kinda laughed at this whole thing, I wasn't in much of a hurry, so this was kinda fun. Keira had a similar, good travel experience as well. Here is an excerpt from her e-mail:

we got put on a different bus [than Erik] and then our little non a/c mini bus dropped us off way outside of town, nowhere near the other nice big bus. i was not impressed in the least...sadly jerome had to see my bad side as i chased after our driver banging on the window trying to get him to take us into town...