Ah Ranong... just as I left you.

The bus pulls into the Ranong station at around 5am. I lug all of my shit about 200m to my friend Jai’s Guesthouse, which is basically next to the station. It appears that they have already opened, so I head into the restaurant and am greeted by a woman I haven’t met. Turns out this is Jai’s sister Lek, and she’s come from Rayong, where she has a travel agency, to help her sister in Ranong’s busy season for Nov. to May. This is the reason for the early opening. I guess she runs a pretty tight ship, and whoever the morning person was 2yrs ago, would often be closed until 7am. Thus, missing out on the many people who get off the bus from 5am on. Lek and I have some coffee and a 2hr chat until Jai gets out of bed. Once she’s up, we have our “hellos” and I tell her that I have brought her a bunch of brand new American $10 bills for her Visa service to Burma. It was like she won the lotto! When people do their Visa run to Burma, you must pay the Burmese $10US to cross into their country, so you can cross back into Thailand, get aVisa stamp to stay in Thailand another 15days. Anyway, the Burmese will only accept new series, fresh, crisp bills. My guess is so that they can rebundle them to buy various thing like… AK-47’s. Businesses that have Visa run services, have a had time getting these bills and must usually go to a bigger city and pay an extra premium to get them. Jai has asked me to bring her some on my next trip, so while in Nanaimo, my mMom and I went to the bank and I bought some for myself, and enough to trade with Jai. She’s thrilled with the loot. We do our “business” and a few of her guests start to rise. It’s noodle soup for breakfast, and Jai makes me a “fresh” coffee from her new cappuccino machine that she’s proud to show off. At 9am her guests traveling on the boats to Koh Chang or Koh Phayam, and I, hop into her truck and Lek drives us to Saphan Pla where the boats depart. I am staying at a guesthouse next door over night, so I say goodbye to Lek, and check into to the Star Crab Resort and see another family I spent a lot of time with 2yrs ago. At first, they don’t recognize me due to the short hair and 25 extra lbs I am carrying since they saw me last. As soon as I see the smile on their faces, I realize that my identity has come to them. More hellos and hugs, then I check into my room and chill out. At around 6p, I have a shower and head out to catch a truck-bus into the market which is in the main part of Ranong, to gather some supplies for my rental house on the Island. Cigarettes, coffee, and instant ramen so I can eat a few days until I get the lay of the land and know where the market is on the Island. After I’ve got everything on my list, I hire a motorcycle taxi to take me back to the guesthouse. When back, the owner of the place and I get reacquainted and then I’m greeted by a familiar face. Michael, a Danish guy I met 2 years ago, is also staying the night before heading to Kho Chang the following morning. We chat for awhile and then I say goodnight, agree to meet for breakfast, and I head to bed.