Thailand is very strict about farangues keeping up-to-date with stamps in their passports so, last weekend , it was necessary to do a "border run". There are several places this can be done, we chose Ranong which is on the Thai-Burma border. It was a fairly straight forward drive of about 300km north of Phuket. The only incident was when we realised we were driving over what looked like dead fish. Sure enough, on the side of the road was a truck which had lost it's load as the tail gate had come undone! Considering it's a border run town, there is a shortage of signs in English but we did eventually find the immigration area. We were guided into a parking spot by a local guy touting for business. You see, it can't be done on land, you have to get a longtail boat to take you to the border!



After you have parked your car in the very fishy fish market, you then have to walk about 150m to the first immigration office to get a stamp in your passport. Not far, you may think, but it was well into the 90's. Then you negotiate a price for the boat. That agreed, you ignore the crowd selling illegal substances and head off for the next stop. It's a sort of a floating pontoon with an office on in the middle of the river. The boatman takes your passport for another stamp. It's decided that I can't go any further into Burma as I need to go to immigration in Phuket for my stamp. However, they provide me with a chair and a bottle of water and say I can stay on the pontoon while Jon continues into Burma to get his stamp.






So, he continues on, I'm told it will be about an hour and I watch the comings and goings of the boats with amazement! Every few minutes, boats pull up with a thud, the boatman comes up the rickety steps, hands over bundles of Bahts then hurries backdown the rickety steps. It's never ending, boats coming from Burma to Thailand and boats going from Thailand to Burma! Meanwhile, Jon has reached Burma immigration and has to disembark to get another stamp.



It was exactly an hour when the boat picked me up and we returned to the fish dock in Ranong. Jon then had to go back to the first immigration office for a re-entry stamp (this time we took the car). Now, he's OK for 90 days,  but I have to remember to visit Phuket immigration. Oh, on the way back I was complaining about the strong smell from the fish dock following us. It wasn't until we were nearly back when Jon realised it was the dead fish stuck to the bottom of the car!

 

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