Many of you who are able to read the comments posted to this blog will know that a few were very nervous regarding our visa run to Myanmar (Burma). Myanmar has had a very unstable, authoritarian, corrupt government for decades. As you may know in several cases the government’s militia was responsible for the rape and murder of its own people. On a much less violent, yet still damaging, note, they exert a monopoly on all industries, most notably, tourism, and thereby restrict the local population’s ability to support itself.

As I have seen in Thailand, tourism is a major source of income and could be the same for Myanmar if only the Burmese people could work around government cronies. Buses, taxis, and many hotels are directly owned by (and therefore support) the existing regime. Tourists who sympathize with this depressing quagmire have a hard time justifying a trip because bringing in their money funds an unjust administration. In addition to these sad problems of poverty and oppression, Myanmar has also had recent tensions with the US government. Just this month the US tried to single-handedly (as usual) force other nations into condemning the regime. With Japan and several other countries, we were unsuccessful. This failure combined with our well-known and well-loathed international “diplomacy” has the capability to cast American travelers in a dubious light, and to my mom’s horror, make a border-crossing dangerous.

I am never one to throw caution to the wind, and as I assured loved ones, the Ranong-Myanmar visa run is a very safe and normal operation for tourists in Thailand. **Another major travel lesson I have learned is: never gauge the safety of a location by the media alone. Combining your own research on an area and talking to other travelers who have just gone where you want to go is the best practice.**

Frequently, ex-pats fail to get the proper documentation/visas to stay long term, and many resort to monthly trips to extend their visa. One of Dan’s acquaintances has been doing this for the past 10 years!

In our case, and many other long-term backpackers, we need more than just 30 days to see everything we want in Thailand; short of breaking your Thailand explorations into 29 day chunks a visa run is the only option.

I won’t lie and say we weren’t a little nervous, but no more so than we were traveling to any other new country. Reading the process was a little confusing, which disturbed me, because I wanted to know the exact process. Each site that I read seemed to have slightly different information; like having to buy a crisp US 5 dollar bill for the equivalent of 10 dollars to cross in Burma. Because of this, I researched several companies and hotels which offered package tours, and eventually settled on the expensive (1400 baht per person) run. This package was advertised and run by an English owned luxury hotel in Patong Beach and was seriously the best thing ever. When you have so many unknowns, sometimes getting a tour is the best option.
The van seemed to be 4 times the size of the soda can we rode in from Surat Thani, or maybe that was because there were only 5 ( including us) going, and there was working air condition, and a large screen DVD player stocked with movies, TV shows and even American music videos. The trip included all the trip costs, visa costs and even included a free lunch ( choice of chicken sandwich or fried rice) with water.

The entire thing was comfortable, delightfully uneventful, and cheap considering the amount of transport to and from Phuket. We took the large bus for a 4 hour ride ( the most discomfort I felt was due to the rambo-style, blind-curve passing, not the vehicle) to the border town of Ranong. This is a very small and depressed little village on the border of Thailand with tin-roofed shacks on stilts and lots of garbage. We walked through a small walkway ( where there was a perfect, red rose blooming amidst the litter/pollution/dilapidation; I thought it was so beautiful...we were quickly funneled through or I'd have taken a pic) After waiting for a minute for our guide, we were on our way aboard a real marine vessel! Seats, life vests and gauges! To get to the boat, we had to literally walk a 1 ft wide 15 ft long plank that was stretched between. The ferry ride was about twenty minutes and unexpectedly picturesque. The islands and peninsula surrounding the bay were shades of bright and deep green and dotted with golden spires that looked to be buddhist temples from afar. The water in the bay was a very bright green, a color that I have never seen before. When we arrived into Myanmar, our guide took our passports and handled everything for us while we sat on the pier. The captain assured us it was safe to cross into Burma, as there are cheap cigarettes and alcohol, but Troy and I decided we don't need any of that, and we'd rather not have any hassle.

Sitting on the dock as we arrived were several Burmese people. One of them, a child, made a big impression on me. Contrary to all other vendors I have come across who shout you down/pull your clothing, he sat quiet with his head down, his sack of peanuts on his knees. ( see pic) He had the traditional face paint used for both sunblock and cosmetic purposes, and didn't even make eye contact until I was standing right above him. We handed him 60 baht, about $1.25, and let him keep his peanuts. I asked only for a photo of him, what a beautiful child! He obliged, bashful and sweet, and I kicked myself afterwards for not giving him a lot more than we did.

In any case, after a few minutes, we had our passports stamped out of Thailand, into and back out of Myanmar. A piece of cake! Then we returned to Thai immigration and got another 30 day visa. We need to make another visa run or go to Vietnam/Cambodia before July 18th.

Well, I must admit I am pretty tired. Troy is already fast asleep....
It was a great success; easy, relatively fast, and even beautiful.

xoxoxoxoxo
night night