Wistfully, we left our happy little enclave on Koh Lanta, heading north by ferry through Phuket, by bus to Champhon, and on to the border town of Ranong, on the Thailand side of the Myanmar/Burma border. In Ranong, we found Pon's Place, a homespun hub of travel activity including a restaurant, travel agency, bike and motorcycle rentals, taxi service, and visa assistance. We were there for the food and a visa run.
After brekkies, we showed up at Pon's and waited an hour past our appointed time for the boat to come in, then left for the dock in a minivan with Pon and a young German family. At the busy dock, we boarded one of many large, motorized longtail (canoe-like) boats: Eric on the back slat, me and the German mom in front of him, and the dad and two young kids in front of us. A captain steered us from behind, with a pre-adolescent Thai boy and another mate on board helping. The crossing to the Burmese city of Kawthuang reminded me of the movie Mists of Avalon, as we glided through the airy mist that clung to the metallic water and small dark islands. I was impressed with how the crew walked barefoot along the six-inch-thick sides of the boat. At one point, the mate and the boy sat on the sides of the boat on either side of Eric, and I was happy to hear a lot of chatter and laughing. Come to find out, the mate offered to help Eric procure some treats while in Myanmar: cigarettes (to which Eric said no), whiskey (to which Eric said no), and finally "boom-boom" (a prostitute, to which Eric said no, and has lived happily to tell about it).
The crossing, including a couple mid-channel stops at customs and immigration checkpoints, took about an hour, and our paperwork went off without a hitch. We had agreed with Pon and the family that we would take just a few minutes to check out the border town before coming back. We wanted to visit one big temple we had spied on the way in. Upon approaching it, though, it turned out to be Moby Dick Restaurant. That plus a swarm of hawkers hanging on to us from the border gate on was enough like India that we were happy to just call it a tour and return to Thailand.
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