Ranong

Ranong is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, located on Kra Isthmus, the narrow strip that connects mainland Thailand with the Malay Peninsula. The province is known for having the most rainfall of all Thailand, the rainy season lasting for about eight months. This could be a reason why Ranong is the least populated province.

Looks familiar? Chicharon from the town's market.
There isn't much great cultural interest in town. Most tourists come by here just to do a visa run via Myanmar.

And that's actually why we went there. Visa runs can be organized in Phuket where we came from, but we figured it would be cheaper doing it independently.

Shervin and I arrived in Ranong at 7:00 PM. There weren't any songthaews doing rounds anymore. We hired a private one for 100 THB. It was a rip off but the driver took us to Asia Hotel, where we got a double room for only 150 THB.

We had dinner at the night market, then booked a visa run package for 400 THB each at a travel agent's office. The rate isn't so bad since it includes hotel pick up/drop off, a big boat (a covered longtail boat ideal for rainy season), and a representative to guide us with the procedure.

After the visa run the next day, we checked in a cheaper guesthouse for 130THB (an artsy one!) then bought tickets for Bangkok at the long distance bus station (40 THB each for songthaew ride).

'T.V. Bar' downstairs our artsy guesthouse.
The ticket counter attendant said that the next trip was at 8:00 PM. That means we got time to relax for the rest of the day. At the songthaew station, a local (who said he's a Pacquiao fan when I mentioned I'm Filipino) said there weren't any trips anymore going back to the town center so he advised us to hire a motorcycle instead.

A Thai Manny Pacquiao fan (beside Shervin, wearing the red vest) we met at the songthaew station.
We haggled for an 80 THB ride, and good thing we took it because when the driver dropped us off, it started raining.

[This blog is part of the South East Asia in Six Weeks series which took place May-June 2009. Price of goods, transportation and so forth may already be different.]

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