VISA RUN #1
After 30 days in Thailand you have to get a new visa by leaving the country. The night before this particular run I had, while at the bus station with Nina, bought a ticket for getting the Visa which was to include the bus ride there & back, plus all the needed transport to the correct offices. This worked out all right for the most & I even met some nice older American people who had done the run a few times before, so I stuck with them to avoid getting taken for anything else. The one guy even gave me a $5 for the same amount in Thai. The company didn't tell you that you had to have the $5 in US, but they were willing to get it for you twice as much in Thai baht :) Everything went pretty well even though it was slow until we got to waiting for the bus back. It took hours for it to come around & when it finally did it was packed so I had to stand for most of the ride back. The worst part was from the numerous crying babies & the smell from the baby(s) that had thrown up near me. Other travelers might disagree but I think an MP3 player than can drown out noise is the most important traveling equipment you can have. You can deal with a lot when you are able to drown out the outside world. You also don't have a bathroom stop anywhere on the 5+ hour ride. Eventually I made it back to Phuket where I got a room for the night before getting the ferry back to Koh Phi Phi then next day.

VISA RUN #2
I didn't take picture from my second visa run which happened on September 1-2, 2005, here is the summary from an e-mail I sent.

September 1, 2005
I have been in Thailand for 4 more weeks & needed to do another visa run. This entails going to Burma to leave Thailand, get a stamp & come back in. It is such a waste of time, but something you have to do. I took the bus for 5+ hours this afternoon after going to Phuket on the ferry this morning. I successfully picked up my package with all the scuba equipment that I have at home which my mom sent. So that was nice, better late than never (it got stuck in customs & is about 2 weeks late).

September 2, 2005
After getting caught up on most of my e-mails in Ranong I went to my terrible 100 baht room (worst room of the trip but it only cost $2.50 USD). However, I was only using it for a shower & sleeping. The bed was no problem & there was water coming out of the pipe that was only slightly mud colored so it was all good :) Anyway got up the next morning and of course "Dang", my motorcycle driver, was waiting for me with a smile. Thai's never miss a shot at money, so I had no worry about him being there. Anyway he took me to the Visa office in Thailand which had just opened, which went well.

Then I went to the shipyard to get a long tail boat to Burma. I was able to negotiate a decent deal on it, but nothing great. I had to wait while they bought gas for the boat. I got 2 people on my crew, which was a kid that looked about 7 & possibly his older brother at 15. It was nice having the kid because he spoke better English & could do the running into the places. Plus the older one made him do most of the driving, but at least it was the easier parts. Even for those the kid had to put his whole body into it just to get the motor to turn a little. Anyway we did really well making time at all the checkpoints, but the ride across the ocean was very very slow.

Once to Burma I was getting off when I heard a familiar voice call my name. His name was Jason & I had done a dive with him when he freelanced at Visa while I was a DMT. So we talked a little in Burma then said our quick good-byes. After that I took the slow boat ride back, found my motorcycle driver & got back to the Ranong (Thailand) immigration office. There I saw Jason again, but we had different drivers so we said good-bye again. However, we would meet one more time at the bus terminal. I had been there before one time on a visa run so I knew that I should buy the nice bus, which has a toilet, back to Phuket. The previous Visa run return trip was on a normal bus & was the worst bus trip of my life. When I saw Jason he had just about been talked into taking a "cheap" bus to Phuket, which would have actually cost him more & required him switching buses. I grabbed him just before he paid & showed him where to get the better ticket. Then we waited for the bus that was an hour or so late (normal for Thailand).

We talked on the bus ride home & decided to share a hotel for the night in Phuket so that we could save some money. I did quite a bit of Internet that night & even watched a little TV (which is something I never see on Phi Phi). The next morning I slept in a little before doing some random errands & some more emailing (finally caught up). Then I tried to go to Dive Supply to buy some diving equipment, but the idiot tuk-tuk driver said he knew where he was going, & ended up wasting 45 minutes of my time. At that point we had to go to the afternoon ferry so I had to go back to the hotel with nothing. We caught the ferry & landed safely back in Phi Phi, ending my last Visa run!