Ferg & Jude\'s Thailand Adventure 2002

Tuesday 29th October
Travelling South to Ranong

We got up early and went for a walk along the beach to watch the sunrise. We met a couple of locals and had an interesting conversation while watching the sun peak over the water. There were a few monks wandering around with their collection plates.

After breakfast we grabbed a tuk tuk to go out to the highway. We had a 3 hour wait for the Ranong bus or 20 minutes for Chumphon. We chose the later and arrived in Chumphon by 11.30am. Thanks to the trust L.P. guide we managed to find the A.C. Minivans that travel to Ranong. We teamed up with 3 English backpackers doing the visa run to Ranong. The minivan cost us 90bt each for the 2 hour drive. I had time to experience a squat loo before we took off. It can be very challenging, luckily I was forewarned and took my own toilet paper.

The minivan trip was quite hair raising, most Thai drivers are crazy. We were dropped off in town and had no idea where we were going to stay. Standing on the street corner looking totally lost. A German "local" pulled up in his fancy pickup and offered assistance. He suggested we stay at the Springs Guesthouse and offered us a lift. While we were slightly hesitant we decided to go with him. Turned out to be a good decision, the guesthouse was clean and airy. Downstairs we had a pool table, food, drinks and the internet. What more could we want. Ferg and I chilled out over a couple of Singha beers and played some pool. Had a great meal, a few more Singha's and sat listening to Dire Straits in the background.