VISA RUN TO BURMA, then to KRABI - CLIMBING

From Koh Tao I got the night boat to Chumporn. 11pm to 5am on a boat. there was a few blankets and a pillow for me on the floor, it wasn't bad at all. Even a few fans. Then I got a minibus to Rangon for a few hours, and a boat into Burma (another country). I was there for about 10 minutes to look around, but mainly to get out of Thailand and go back in because you can only stay in Thailand for 30 days at a time, and my time was running out. Doing this is called a "visa run." Kind of weird being in another country for only a few minutes. This "visa run" is also a drug run, as soon as we got back on the boat to go back to Thailand, everyone pulled out the drugs that they had bought in Burma. When i got back to Rangon (Thailand) my minibus guy insisted that I get back on the bus to go back north toward the boat back to Koh Tao. I told him that I was going to Krabi, and that I needed him to take me to the bus station which was only 10 km away. He wouldn't, and so I had to hitchhike to the station. When I got there I asked "when is the next but to Krabi" and was told..."one minute." I jumped on, and later found out that this was a 6 hour bus ride! Oh well, I was on my way to the climbing mecca of southeast Asia!! I had a bit of a moral dilemma here, because the "Union of Myanmar" is the ruling power in Burma, and the "government" is probably the worst violator of human rights in the world right now. Not that there are wars going on, but there are "conflicts" and the government has been using what are basically slaves to build up infrastructure to boost the tourism industry. The government sees all the profit while the peasants who built the roads and guesthouses starve. For this reason many people boycott the country all together. By doing a visa run, I gave this government 10 bucks. I could have gone to Malaysia or Cambodia but it just didn't work out because of where I am in Thailand. also, it would have cost much more. Anyways, I am having a blast and am trying not to get stuck in Thailand because I have a lot more places to see, but it is SO easy to travel here and everyone is so laid back and nice.