I'm now almost exactly 10 degrees north of the Equator, just off the
southern tip of Myanmar. This is the town (and province) of Ranong, raniest
in Thailand. It is hot season now, so not much rain is likely even if it did
rain in Bangkok last week.
First a word on getting here. Transport in Thailand is easy. I needed to get
out of Bangkok but hadn't done much planning (or anything else) in the last
week. So on Friday night I managed to grab a taxi to the Southern Bus
terminal and bought a ticket to here on what may be a 2nd class aircon bus,
as the VIP bus was full. This is the standard form of long distance
transport here, a huge aircon bus with about 45 seats, luggage underneath.
Airconditioning set to about 10 degrees C, free blanket which isn't really
enough, free drink (not usually drugged) and snack. I got a 9PM bus
intentionally to try to get in after dawn, but got in just around 6AM. The
motorbike misunderstood me and took me to the pier to go to some islands
I'll probably visit tomorrow, then back to the hotel which my guidebook
reccomended.
This town must have had a boom in the 60's. Many buildings are concrete
monstrosities right from about that time, including this hotel, with the
original furniture and plug-board switchboard system. Since it's in the
guidebooks, the hotel was predictibally overpriced, but at 6AM with no idea
of where else to go, who's to argue.
For breakfast I ate at the popular place. They spoke no english, but some
customers sort of did and I ordered some coffee. Food was whatever was
sitting on the table--various rice things steamed in leaves, I had one which
was slightly sweet. Also pancakes (bisquick?) and plain rice buns. All told,
very cheap, though the waitress told me the price in presumably Burmese, it
wasn't Thai and it wasn't english. The people I was sitting with were from
Mynmar, as are a large number of people in this border town. Signs are often
in Burmese too. It's a different group than I've seen elsewhere in Thailand,
I can't say who the people really are or where they're from. Probably Thai
groups, Burmese, Malay, and a large Chinese population, which is common
everywhere in SE Asia.
Today I may try to head off to the hot springs this area is famous for, then
figure out where to go tomorrow... perhaps one of the nearby islands,
supposedly like the now popular islands were like many years ago.
--Matthew
Posted by MBlain at March 15, 2002 12:00 AM