Visa run in a tourist way
Because everybody hates the tourist - Pulp "Common People"
Visa, a thing, which keeps every second cheapjack out (or inside forever) from Thailand, needs to be renewed every second month. Renewal happens normally at Burmese or Malaysian border. If the tourist wants only a month's extension, it can be handled in an immigration office which are found all over the country. People who are renewing/extending their visas are said to go for a visa run.
My visa run was supposed to be a holiday from diving. Relaxed dip into a foreign culture. Bit of photographing, blog writing and reading.
Bah! It's not supposed to be that easy. During my stay here I have been eating almost everything from the cheapest street stalls. This has been especially true on Koh Tao, where I have preferred a place too low-class for many of my new friends. I have been eating ice-cream, salads, fruits, using ice and drinking shakes. No problems at all.
What happens the day before departure for a mandatory visa run? Fatigue, pain in everywhere, fever and crazy diarrhea. I had to double doze loperamide before I got any effect. If I would have decided to stay in the bed (or toilet), every day exceeding the visa limit would have cost 10 euros, which is a big money here. Travelling in diarrhea is how many tourists are doing it on the way home. Of course I had to try that fun as well.
Southern Thailand is far from a developing country. This time the trip to a island, Koh Samui, was done with a catamaran fancier than any I have seen in Europe (haven't seen any though). It was full of other tourists, of course. They all wanted to use the toilet. Luckily I was drugged enough not to develop any smelly problems. It was almost smooth.
I arrived Nathon, the main town of Koh Samui. The town was slightly dirty in a typical Thai way. There was lots of shops aimed for tourists. But for some reason almost no tourists. Maybe they all were on the beaches. The town had nothing to offer for me. I was too sick to care about it. The immigration office was closed, as any piece of bureaucracy, but I didn't care. I found a guest house where I slept about 18 hours. Next morning was not better, but there was some job to do. It took an hour to drug-up, then a scooter-taxi to the immigration office.
The government is making awful lots of money with visas. Still the price was kind of a surprise. An extension cost 40 euros, three to four days budget for cheapjacks, double as much as I paid for the Thai visa when I applied it from Finland. Apart from that everything was running just smoothly. Then it happened. Fucking conspiracy! The electricity cut off. "Sorry, sorry, come back tomorrow". Was I forced to stay another day in this damned town while being sick? I didn't know if I wanted to cry or punch that woman. I was probably too weak for either. After some conversations we made a deal. I should come back later the same day. They hoped to get the electricity back by then. It sounded fair. At least they should have the money for it.
In the end I got the visa and will head back Koh Tao tomorrow morning. A visit to a doctor is considered there. I almost feel a bit better than earlier today. Probably it's just a traveller's diarrhea. That's for everyone, they say.
Life needs challenges. That makes it interesting.
Posts
