Monday 21 April 2008

Hot Springs, Ranong

So we're back home. After our nice stopover at Ao Manao, I needed to go through Ranong and do the tedious border hop thing to get another three month stamp in my passport. I dropped off the family at the hot springs in Ranong. It would be a nice place for them to while away an hour or two while I sorted out the passport.

It turns out the immigration office in Ranong has just moved - it is now 1km further along the road at the longtail boat pier. So after a slight delay finding that, I did the usual routine. Stamped out of Thailand, got a longtail and crisp 10 dollar bill for the usual rip off 800 baht, went across to Burma, stamped in and out and then back to Thailand to stamp back in.

As I headed back to the hot springs, the heavens opened and the rain came down in a big way. Luckily, I had already moved all the bags inside the car so they would be safe while I did the visa trip. I found the family hiding under a sala. There was no way we were making the 4-hour drive back to Phuket in this rain. We had a full load so the bags and a couple of people were in the back of the pick up. The rain wasn't going to stop any time soon so we booked into a resort for the night. We then spent a bit of time relaxing in the hot springs. The water is so hot that you can barely dip into it, but once you get in and adjust to the temperature it is very soothing.

The next day we finished the drive to Phuket. It was a great trip and I really enjoyed it but it is also good to be home.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

People should read this.