Hot News - April 2006 (Ranong/Thailand, April 9th, 2006)
- Website statistics: In March we were able to welcome on our website 39'826 (= record) visitors
- from more than 104 different countries* who did 671'616 (= record) hits.
- (February = 31'246 visitors - 115 countries - 516'894 hits)
- (* = the country counter stopped working March 23rd)
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- As we arrived here in Ranong/Southern Thailand in March, we never expected to be still here today. But it just
- got to happen: Firstly, Ranong has a mineral well, and because the healing of Liliana's broken leg doesn't show
- the desired progress, she is bathing her limb daily - even free of charge. Secondly, our residence permit to stay
- in Thailand was expiring, and because just opposite of Ranong lies the Burmese Kawthoung, the easiest way to
- get a renewal is by boarding a small boat, "hopping" over, buying there at the same time a cheap bottle of
- Myanmar Rum - 700 ml (nearly 24 fl.oz.) for US$ 0.80 - and on return, the Thai immigration extends the stay
- for another month. Many European pensioners do this the whole year round, because - just to mention as a
- third point - the hotels and guesthouses are (still) pretty cheap in Ranong: An air-conditioned room with TV,
- shower with hot water and daily new bedding costs US$ 9.25. Thus we were able to finish our reports from
- Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos and put them online.
- But there is a fourth reason: The difficult procedures for the car permit regarding our future destinations. The
- visit of Myanmar is now definitively postponed to the end of the year - if it ever should get approved.
- However, there is a dawn at the horizon regarding an entry in the Philippines. Not only that we get a full
- support from the friendly Philippine Embassy in Bangkok, but in the meantime, the Department of Tourism in
- Manila is also getting more and more interested. As soon as we get a concrete approval - we hope in about a
- week's time - we shall leave Ranong to drive the nearly 750 miles to the Malaysian port of Port Klang near
- Kuala Lumpur, from where we want to ship our car, unfortunately pretty costly (about US$ 1'000), to Kuching,
- situated on the island of Borneo. This port is the capital of the East Malaysian State of Sarawak and allows us
- not only to visit soon also our "new" 154th country - the Sultanate of Brunei -, but also ferrying afterwards from
- the close-by Northeasterly State of Sabah to Zamboanga on the Philippine island of Mindanao.
New Reports/Pictures
SOUTHEASTASIA: mouse over picture shows comments
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| + added from a earlier visit to the USA: | Las Vegas (Millennium change) |
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| + added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip: | Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996) |
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| + Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour: | Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 84 - April 97) |
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