Monday, March 9, 2009
To Burma, and becoming a Thai fisherman.
I am up at about 6:30am, and out having a morning smoke on the stairs to my room, when the father gives me a wave and calls me “early riser”. I think he is amazed that I am up after drinking 5 quarts of beer the night before. He lets me know that he is heading to work for a bit, but will be back at 8:30am, and we can head off to check out his boat. I head to the Burmese market around 8am, to look for Patongo fro breakfast, but they have stopped serving it by the time I get there. It’s only made until about 8am, but you can also find it being made at roadside stands in the nighttime. In 2007, I would often get Lek to pull the motorbike over, so I could grab a few before bed. They are really nothing special. Just dough fried in oil, but they are damn good! There is a picture of them in my Facebook photos, if anyone wants to check them out. I find them the best in the morning with coffee. Especially Lao coffee, like shown in the photo. Anyway, on way back to Starcrab from the market, I cross paths with the 3 Thai men from Chumpon drinking Whiskey at a local shop. Keep in mind that this is around 8:15am and they are still WASTED. I say hello and they call me over to have a shot. I try to tell them that it is too early for me, but they will have none of it. I sit down, they pour me a shot, and I slam it back… which blows them away. I tell them in Canada, this is the way we do a “shot”. They start to pour another, and I say “Pom gin khao, mai gin lao khap”, which means. I eat food, not drink whiskey. Thank you”. They agree and say goodbye, I head to Starcrab and have some breakfast and coffee. The father shows up and tells me that he’s a bit behind schedule, as the roof started to leak in yesterdays rain, and he’s got 2 workmen there replacing some roofing tiles. We’ll be going in about ½ hr, so I have one more coffee while I wait, and read the Tesco flyer to get an idea of what household items cost for when I set up in Laos or Thailand. The workers finish up, so I grab my passport and things for immigration, and we had to the pier where he’s got his boat. He was a fisherman all his life, but now leases his boats to his brother, and acts as a mechanic when they come back to port. Each trip lasts 2 weeks, and the boats have a crew of 9. A captain, a #2, a cook, and 6 deckhands. It is really incredible that 9 people can live on this thing. The boat is big, and Thai people are somewhat small, but come on. I am guessing that they must sleep in shifts or something. He gives me a bunch of facts about how much diesel the boat uses per trip, how much fish the boat will yield, how much the crew makes per day(300baht for a low level deckhand), and what they fish for. His boats go out for small fish used in fish sauce, and squid. Nets are used for the fish, and he’s got a bunch of Burmese guys going inspecting and repairing them while we are there. A Burmese worker can not work on the boats, so they do the work while the boat is in port, earning only 200baht a day. Another fisherman shows up, and he fills the man in on the fact that I drank 5 quarts and was up at the crack of dawn. We all have a chuckle and then my host buys me a Carabou energy drink. Much like a RedBull, but is the product of a VERY famous Thai musician, for which the drink is named after. My host remembers that 2yrs ago, I joked with him about coming back to Ranong and working for him as a 300baht/day fisherman. He asks if I want to have a holiday on the boat and do a shift. I tell him that my stomach would never make a 2wk trip, so he tells me he can arrange a 3 day outing. I am guessing, it would be 1.5 day on a boat going out, and 1.5 day on a boat coming in. I politely decline, but thank him for the offer. When we finish our drinks, we hop back on the motorbike, and the to the pier for my date with immigration. I head to Thai immigration to fill out my departure cards and get an exit stamp, while my host negotiates a fantastic deal for transport to Burma. You can arrange a package deal through most of the hotels and travel agencies. The rates can be anywhere from 400-1000+ baht. There are longtail and speedboats running tourists to Burma for this Visa run, and it is quite a big part of the economy in Ranong, because it is the closest border point for many of the high tourism destination places like Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, Koh PiPi, etc. Anyway, you also have to have a fresh, virtually, uncalculated American $10 bill, to give to Burmese immigration. They sell these in Ranong for 500baht, about $5US more than they are worth, but due to their scarcity and necessity, you pay what you pay. I, on the other hand, brought some for myself when bringing the $250US to my friend Jai. I will be able to do 5 of these Burmese Visa runs. For any other crossing into Laos, Malaysia, or Cambodia, you can use Thai Baht, American Dollars, or the currency of the nation you arrive in. In short time, I am stamped out of Thailand, and meet up with my host, who has arranged a round trip boat ride for 100baht. Haha! It will be a slow trip, but it will be with only Burmese people heading back, so it should be interesting. I say goodbye to my host(I will go back through this and enter his proper name once I get it down pat) and hop on the boat. The trip is pretty uneventful, so I basically take some photos and video of life in the port as we head to a Thai exit checkpoint. We all give the boatman our passports and papers, and he hops off and into the office. It takes about 10min, before he’s back on board and we head off to the open water between Thailand and Burma. The sun is getting high by this point and I forgot to pack my sun screen before leaving Koh Phayam, I will pay for this later. Due to the wind and the boat moving, it is nice and cool. This is a good thing, but can also trick you into thinking the sun isn’t burning you up. The boat continues towards Burma, and the water between these two countries is filled with boats going back and forth carrying both people and goods. As we near the Burmese checkpoint, we hand our document back to the boatman, and he once again heads into the office. Everyone gets a good look over by the very stern looking army men. With everything in order, he hops back onboard, and we continue to the immigration pier, after making one stop at a small pier to drop off a few Burmese passengers. When we arrive at the main pier, the boatman tells me he’s heading back to the first pier and will come back for me in about 20min. I hop out and head to the immigration office, trying to avoid being swarmed by all the young guys who try to sell you Viagra, Ciallis, cigarettes, and anything else you might be interested in. They are not too aggressive and they usually speak excellent English, so you can have a laugh with them. When I get to the office, one young guy offers to make a photo copy of my passport, and fast track my passport for 10baht, so I take him up on it. He runs off to make a copy(I know, never give up your passport!), and he’s back in 2 min, handing my documents to the officials. We chat for a bit, I give him another 20baht for the help, and then he’s off to make some more money from the pier. After about 10min, they call me into the immigration office, make sure the photo is of me, stamp my page, I hand them the $10US, and they hand me back my passport. Viola! Done. As I am heading back to the pier, I see my boatman, and he tells me that we’ll be ready to go in 10min. He just wants to drum up a few more passengers for the trip. I take a seat in the shade, and see that my right arm is bright red. The young guy from the office takes a seat beside me, and he have another chat until it’s time to go. I get back on the boat, and as we are leaving, the boat gets snagged on another boat’s bow rope. My boatman calls out to the other boatman, who is walking down the pier, for some help. They guy just blow him off, and keeps going. I can see that my boatman is really pissed, but he throws off his coat, and after a 5 min struggle, manages to get us loose. We slowly move down the seawall which has a road at the edge of town, and my boatman is staring the other guy down. The boat pulls into another dock, and my guy start to lay into the other boatman. Just as this is going on, the other boat pulls up, and the boatman hops on while my guy is continuing to chew him out(see the video). As the other boat pulls away, it’s driver drops his motor barely into the water, causing a rooster tail of water to shower our boat. I am pretty sure this was an intentional “fuck you”, to my guys. In the video, you can tell I am ducking to avoid getting my camera drenched! With that over we make one more stop to take some cargo into Thailand, and we head back to the Burmese check point. Once again, I hand my passport over, the boatman goes in, and in 5 min we continue onto Thailand. Thankfully, it is a bit cloudy now, but my arm is fried, so I cover it with my terry cloth “sweat” rag to avoid any more damage. The scenery goes by, and eventually we pull into a Thai checkpoint on a small island, on the outside of the mouth to the Port of Ranong. You’ll notice that I turn the camera off just prior to pulling into these military points. In 2007, the Burmese check point got really pissed when I was taking pictures while we were waiting. So now I just film arriving, and start again after we pull away. The boatman gives the very big, stone-faced army man only the passports of the Burmese passengers. I guess this is to manage the illegal cross border traffic. The big guy barks out the names on the passports, and checks faces to ensure they are the proper papers. A few people are slow to answer, and he sure lets them know they should speak up. Two of the people were missing something, so they will have to get off at the next checkpoint and get something in order. As we pull away, two guys, who seem a bit drunk, leave the checkpoint as well. One guy is a bit too slow for his boat, and hops on ours. Our boat, then pulls along side his, and he makes a skillful transition from one boat to the other. It was really quite good, so watch the video once I post it! Eventually, we get to yet another checkpoint, where the 2 Burmese passengers who’s papers were out of order, have to go in and see immigration. This takes about 15min, and while we wait, it starts to rain. Thankfully, not very hard or long. When everything is done, we pull away and finally into the port. I thank the boatman for the ride, and head up to Thai immigration where a large boat of people had obviously just arrived. There are about 20 people in front of me, and 1 official working the arrivals window. It takes about an hour, but I finally get my 14day stamp and make my way on foot, back to Starcrab. The whole roundtrip took about 3 hrs I would say. An hour to Burma, an hour back, and an hour in the immigration line. My cost, about 500baht, most others… about 1000+… hehe. At home, I shower up and watch a bit of TV in front of the fan to cool off a bit. While I lay there, I thought, “when the hell would I ever get the chance to go oout on a Thai fishing boat again”? I decide that I WILL do this, and when I get out of my room, I thank him for the trip to see the boat, and the arrangements to get to Burma. I tell my host that I will lose some more weight, and practice my Thai, and come December, if the offer still stands, I WILL be a fisherman for 3 days… Stay tuned! Feeling a bit hungry, I head out to the main road to buy some lunch and dinner. I go to a shop Lek and I used to eat at in 2007, and order Kapow Moo, rice, and a fried egg for lunch, and take an order of Phed Prik Moo w/ rice for in the night. The 2 meals and the egg cost 65baht, or $2.50 Can… ha-ha, gotta love SE Asia! With food in hand, I walk back to Starcrab and eat my lunch at one of the covered picnic tables. I forgot to mention before, that Starcrab now has a pet monkey. It amazing to watch, but it’s always on a chain, and can be sad to watch at times. Regardless, I watch the monkey as I eat my lunch, and then the host comes out to give the monkey some off-leash time. Well monkeys are pretty damn smart, and considering he’s spending much of his time on a chain, the first thing he does, is get far away from the man, and scrambles up a small tree to enjoy himself. This starts a 2hr laugh fest of watching the man trying to coax the monkey down out of the tree. Food, sweet talk and shiny objects are all use, but the monkey is too wise, and is having none of it. In some cases, he even comes down and takes what is being offered, before quickly scampering back up to his perch. It was honestly hilarious to watch. Each time the man thought he would outwit the monkey, only to be disappointed. I could tell he was actually getting a bit pissed off by the tone of his voice. In Thai, he kept saying “Come here, have this”, and each time he outsmarted, the tone got a little bit more aggressive. He told me a story of how the monkey ran away for a week, and it was his “Hoo-hoo” call that finally brought him home. So far this was not working. In the end, what did work was bringing the pet Poodle out. I guess the monkey loves to torment this thing, and could not resist himself when he saw the man with the dog. Once he was close, and grabbing the dog’s tail, the man grabbed the monkey and put him back on the leash. The monkey had lost and was not pleased, but within 5min was back to his normal routine of climbing on the roof, the first part of the tree, and onto the picnic table top. What is really funny is his diet. He gets a piece of bread in the morning when the food shop opens, some peanuts in the daytime, and another piece of bread at night. He’s also fed some fruit and things throughout the day. He hates the crust of bread, so you can watch him chew the bread, and up to the crust, and then he throws the bread to the ground when he’s done! Just like a little kid who hates crust! It is amazing to watch, and they are just like miniature people! I will take a video on the 22nd so you can all see the humor in this. I took a shower about 6pm, and grabbed one more beer before I watched a movie on my laptop and called it a night.
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2 comments:
My experience with Myanmar regarding money was scary because I inadvertently carried 100 US dollars with little imaginary smudges, little imaginary creases, little imaginary ink blots that were deemed "unaccepted" for money exchange, I had to scrimp to get by. Even my $10 was possibly unacceptable (by my standard) I prayed hard they'd accept it (they did). Crazy system in this otherwise beautiful country.
...deemed "unacceptable" (typo)
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