Last night and today I spent a great deal of time on boats and mini-vans, traveling around Thailand and seeing parts that most people never do. I made what is known here as a 'Visa Run'. This may or may not be a legal maneuver, but it is common and the immigration department is well aware of it and doesn't seem to care or be able to do anything about it.

My journey began last night about 9:30 when I boarded an overnight ferry to Chumphon. It was similar to the ferry we took to get here, only there were just a handful of us on it. This one wasn't quite as comfortable as the last one (which wasn't the Love Boat) and the seas were very rough for the crossing.

We arrived sometime early in the morning, but just sat at the dock for an hour while the later boat, which also came from Ko Tao, caught up to us. When both boats were docked, they woke us all up and herded us into three mini-vans for a two hour drive to a small town near the border of Burma (Myanmar). We all headed into the Thai Immigration office to get our passports stamped with the departure stamp, and for those that had overstayed their visas to pay the fine and get the mandatory yelling at:)

Back to the vans for a short trip to the 'Big Boat Visa Run' office where all our passports were collected again, with the $5 "gift" we were to give them for assisting us in this matter. We then boarded the 'not-so-big' boat for the journey across the river that separates the two countries. When we arrived on the opposite side of the river, in Burma, we were warned not to wander far from the boat and that it would be leaving in 10 minutes whether we were on board or not. There were lots of locals there trying to lure us into town to spend money, but most of us stuck close to the boat. The fact that it was pouring, made the decision that much easier.

One of the crew arrived back in just under 10 minutes and started handing out passports and told us to check to be sure they had an 'Arrival' and a 'Departure' stamp on it. Once we did, the boat pulled out into the river again. We got about a third of the way across when we stopped at a small island that was crawling with Burmese military officers. They boarded the boat looking rather mean and formal and growled at us to open our bags for inspection. They took a cursory look to be sure we weren't smuggling anything and let us go on our way.

We arrived back on the Thailand side of the river and headed back the Immigration office and had the same officers who had just stamped our 'departure' stamps on the passports, now welcomed us to Thailand and gave us new 30 day visas. We were again warned not to overstay the 30 days under strict penalties, and sent on our way.

We then headed back to Chumphon where we had a half hour to grab lunch before heading for the catamaran speed boat back to Ko Tao.

So here I am, 17 hours, 1400 baht, $5 and a few hundred kilometers of travel later with a new 30 day pass to stay in this beautiful country. The ex-pats on the island do this once a month and are used to it. For a pretty seasoned traveler who hadn't done it, it was kind of fun to do once. Every month might get to be a bit much. Staying on this island and teaching clearly has an appeal to these people since some of them have been doing this for years!

The irony of this whole experience is that I now have a stamp on my passport from a country I barely even saw through the clouds and rain, and never really set foot on its soil (the dock was floating). But hey, it still goes on the list of 'countries visited' for the trip:)

The day after tomorrow, Val heads north for travels into Laos and Cambodia, so stay tuned for multiple journal entries for a while!

That's it for now,

Eric and Val