Malaysia pictures and paradise

Some photos of Malaysia/Singapore:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=95362&l=3eee4&id=66112047

my time spent in Ko Chang was far too short. there are 2 ko Chang's in thailand. one is just a couple hours under bangkok, and is a VERY popular holiday island for Thai people, which means its VERY expensive, and VERY populated. The other, is somewhat of a backpacker urban myth. talks of a tropical island that only has a handful of guesthouses? isnt in the guidebooks? vastly secluded and peaceful? no tourists?! such a place couldnt possibly exist! well, im here to spoil the secret. this place exists, and it just as fabulous as everyone says it is. The 2nd Ko Chang is out of Ranong, which is a small fishing village, famous only because it shares a river border with Burma (meaning visa run, more on that later...). Until ko Chang came along. its only a 45 minute ferry ride (i use the word "ferry" very loosly here, its actually the grocery boat taking supplies out to the island 3 times a day), dropping people off at carious guesthouses around the island. the main beach has about 15 guesthouses, all set back from the beach. the whole island has 2 internet cafes, and 3 minimarts. My chosen bungalow was in a completly private beach about an hours walk north of the main beach. 20 minutes through the north trail (there are 2 "roads", the north one, a track through the forest, the other, the south one which leads to an actual asphalt road (for the 3 motobikes on the island)). During the day the power was solar, and at night we had light until the generator ran out. i spent my days laying in my hammock, and at night listening to the waves. in short, it was paradise. I have never been so happy to be without TV, internet, and a mass of people to talk to. there was a giant bookshelf of (mostly) english novels, and a stack of outdated magazines. plenty for me to do. Unfortunatly my time to leave came far too soon, and i can honestly say there was a serious pang of regret as the ferry (grocery boat) pulled away from the island. but, some ko chang is better than no ko chang, so im happy i got to spend at least a bit of time there.

the morning before i headed off to the island, my night bus from bangkok arrived in ranong. ranong shares a river with burma (myanmar), which makes it a popular place for tourists and locals alike to do a visa run. basically this consists of going through thai immigration on ranong, getting your exit stamp, walking 10 minutes to the pier (which makes me wonder, if id gotten my thai exit stamp, and no entrance stamp, what country was i in?) where you take a boat to the border, and burma immigration. there you get a burmese entrance stamp, signed and dated, then immediatly get an exit stamp, signed and dated the same day. back on the boat, to thailand where you get a brand new thai entrance visa, valid for another 30 days!! well, i didnt need to do a visa run, but i desperatly wanted to go to burma, so i took the run anyways. i was hoping id be aboe to at least walk around and take some pictures, but i was hustled back onto the boat pretty quickly. im glad i did it though, now ive been to burma!!