Fast Track

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done a “Show & Tell” or “science fair” display but it seemed appropriate for the UL talk for the San Juan Mountain Association talk I gave with my mentor Will Rietveld last week.  Six years ago I attended one of his annual seminars on Ultralight backpacking, swallowing more Kool-Aide than anyone else.

When I joined Don Ahlert on the Southern Tier for a self-supported ride to Florida from Austin his recommendations influenced my first purchases of ultralight gear: a 30° MontBell SS 3 at 18oz and a NeoAir pad weighing 8oz. This gave me half the essentials for Utralight backpacking and over the next couple of years hiking with Will I’ve converted entirely to that UL sect.

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One of the “props” used in the presentation was the 5 Gallon Bucket Rule: showing folks that all your gear, your base weight, should fit into a 5 gallon bucket.  So as Will pulled gear out of a conventional 40-pound pack and a Lightweight 20-pound pack, I pulled gear out of the bucket.

We didn’t expect everyone, or even anyone, to rise up and join the 10-pound Base Weight clan, but there were a few that showed interest in adopting the maximum threshold weights on basic gear for their next purchase.

IMG_5594This talk followed one the week before on GaiaGPS which was given to a similar crowd of Wilderness Information Specialists.  That app for a smartphone was an easier idea to “sell” since comes in at a far lower cost.  I’ll post a review of that GPS tracking software once I complete the draft.

Right now we’re in Portland working on Daniel’s house.

Grand Ol’ Time

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What goes on on the river, stays on the river, until the photos start showing up in Dropbox, that is. It probably isn’t hard to tell who didn’t get the memo about bringing a costume for the traditional costume party, but the gals anticipated it with a few extra tutu’s and a kimono.

P1010899Rafting the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River is one of the “must do’s” on most outdoor recreation people’s bucket list.  I’ve been fortunately enough to have done it six times now and it’s still awe-inspiring in it’s majesty and constantly thought-provoking in it’s creation. Relative concepts of time are shattered contemplating what’s transpired on earth as evidenced in it’s exposed layers and fossils.

P1420709Having lost the use of my iPhone camera has limited the accompanying photos to those posted in Dropbox so far.  Suffice it to say, our Maravia raft flipped (I wasn’t on the oars) early in the trip in a “hole” at Tanner Rapid.  Nothing was lost off the boat other than the two guys that swam the remaining ¾’s of that white-water rapid. The rafts are typically “rigged to flip” by lashing all the gear down with river straps and nets. In the time that it takes to corral the raft to the shore-line and get 10 people on top to “right” the raft, my iPhone (which was inside a small water-tight bag, inside a water-tight day bag) got swamped probably due to the weight and pressure underwater.

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A good time was had by all as you can see by the waterfall hike up to Elves Chasm where our group enjoyed jumping out of the cavern into the pool.  The 15-day trip was designed to maximize our hiking opportunities which are some of the best experiences along the P1010888river.  Many trails and slot canyons are only accessible from the river and as such, provide somewhat unique experiences, if you forget that 30,000 people get to float the “Grand” each year.  Since the traffic on the river is limited by permits, we often hiked without other groups and the camps are such that you might never see another group near your river camp.

The Little Colorado River confluence, Matkatamiba, Havasu and Deer Creek are the exceptions where the large commercial rafting companies always take their clients each day.  During the summer season there is only one private trip and four commercial trips launched each day.  The commercial trips are 7 to 10 days and move their clients quickly down the 225-mile river; many clients are helicoptered out after the famous Lava Falls Rapid experience at mile 179.

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Since this trip was primarily to support kayakers, the group rented five 18′ commercial-sized rafts with all the trip gear from Moenkopi Riverworks out of Flagstaff. Normally we’d bring our own 16′ rafts and gear but the group opted for a fully outfitted package: boats, gear and food.  Since it was a private trip we didn’t have any guides, cooks or swampers, providing all the “man-power” ourselves.  It was a new experience to see how a commercial trip is provisioned and outfitted.  Food and menus were great and our 16 members divided into crews of 4 to take turns preparing each day’s repast.

Google Earth Map shows approximately 225 miles from below the Hoover Dam at Marble Falls to Diamond takeout on the Hualapai Reservation.

Happy to be back home, but if you ever get an chance to “do the Grand” — private or even on a commercial trip — don’t pass it up.  It’s a once in a lifetime experience.

And I’ve now invested in a LifeProof case for my replacement iPhone.

 

iPhone is toast – wet toast

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Halfway into the trip rafting down the Colorado River our raft flipped and the iPhone didn’t survive the 30 minutes upside down inside a water proof sack, inside another waterproof iPhone in Riceday bag.  Owner is fine. Rice-to-rice resuscitation didn’t bring it around this time, even after 7 days in the RCU.  I’ve ordered a replacement but that won’t happen for several days, therefore my phone won’t ring, nor be answered until I put the old SIM card in a new replacement iPhone.

Still available via messages or email.

Liquid San Juan

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Moving a little too quickly lately, which hasn’t left much time for blogging. It was pointed out to us last week that we’re never completely offline or out of touch, but last week was an exception.IMG_5551

One of our favorite rivers is the San Juan River just southwest of Durango by 3 hours.  We used to run the San Juan every Memorial Day for years, with all our local rafting friends.  The habit was broken once we got hooked on sailing. The main motivation for rafting in those days was to get away from the hospital and the telephone.  It’s still possible to get out of touch when you go down a river, in fact the next two weeks on the Colorado thru the Grand Canyon will pose the same disconnect.

DCIM100GOPROFloat trips provide some of the best relaxation we can recommend. Of course there are moments of effort in the rapids but the San Juan has very few.  However there is one other drawback: In low water you have to pay attention to flow or you end up pushing the boat thru the shallowest sections.  We only got out to push a couple of times when we weren’t paying attention.

 

IMG_5553This trip was a very small group: eight folks in 3 rafts, a canoe and an inflatable kayak.  All folks we’ve rafted with previously.

It’s very hard to win a lottery slot on the San Juan River these days.  Fortunately Bill Atkins snagged a cancellation in late March for this time slot, allowing all of us to join him.

 

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Weather was cooler, with a little rain but not enough to dampen the camaraderie.  As always, the meals were superb with BBQ’d Teriyaki Chicken, Southwestern Beef Burritos and Tacos, Shrimp Panang Curry and Green Chili Chicken Stew, to name a few.  Rafting is the opposite of UltraLight camping as we literally bring the 3-tub kitchen sink for washing.

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Stanna cooked her Panang specialty with shrimp in a wok and we even managed a French Bakery Cheesecake for dessert one night.

Almost forgot to mention one of our favorite hikes on the San Juan is up Slickhorn Canyon thru the cascading pools of water.

 

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Now it’s time to leave again for the Grand Canyon. Should have some photos from that adventure coming up.

 

 

West Fork

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tgCampDespite not being allowed to hike in the Canyonlands National Park on arrival, as planned (all reservations and capacity was filled), we opted for hiking in the Butler Wilderness Study Area just below Canyonlands.  Access was 60 miles further south and this area was part of our original exploration route anyway. This diversion knocked off a half day on each end of the five day trip, so we came out in four days.

NotchWater was the controlling factor on this desert hike so we had to carry five or six liters much of the time. (Five liters of water is more than my entire pack weighed before water.)  Fortunately we found an elk and wildlife watering hole up a side canyon the first day and that afforded us further exploration looking for routes over the canyon walls. This “notch” (pictured on left) was our first success in finding a way thru the cliffs.

5routesWe’d mapped out five potential routes and only managed to pass thru 2 of the 3 we tried. Hiking was often tough as we were on game trails and bushwhacking rather than frequently used routes.  The washes were dry and sandy except when they were overgrown with vegetation which forced us up onto benches.  It was very interesting to see these areas of seldom-travelled and little-known parts of the desert wilderness.

CampSome nights just finding a flat spot for three tents proved challenging as you might notice in the lead photo.

It’s only twice a year that you can go into this region since summer and winter prove inhospitable.  We won’t be able to go back now until the Fall for more exploration. This was a great warmup or shake-down for a season of ultra-light backpacking.

BearTracksWe were overwhelmed by the number of bear tracks we saw of the way out. We’d seen single tracks occasionally, guessing they were at least a week old, but these tracks were recent, like that morning. A whole family was just ahead of us by the looks of it. There must have been several yearlings along because they often scuffled in the sand as they lumbered along.  We used the defensive measure of talking loudly to them as we followed along, “Hello bears, we right behind you.  No need to turn around.”  The tracks winnowed down to a couple after several hours and finally down to one set. At the last fork before our ascent over the exit pass the last bear took the left fork to our relief while we turned right.  Even though we’d planned to end the day before climbing the pass, we decided to soldier on over to put some distance between us and that bear we’d herded up the canyon.

New UltraLight Pack

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IMG_5526Does this pack make my butt look big?  It’s hard to check the fit of a new pack when you’re home alone. But there’s always a way in this new digital world.  (I’m sure to get comments on that location for carrying an iPhone as awkward and difficult to frame the snapshot on the trail.)

Our cadre of UL hikers are heading out for an exploratory trip into the southern region of Canyonlands. Will, the veteran explorer, has this region pretty well dialed in, but he is always looking for a new path thru the sandstone bluffs.  Topo map’s can’t give you a true answer whether a route down thru boulders or up a hillside is “doable”, but Google Earth 3D gives you a little more encouragement.

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Canyonland routesAs you can see from the tracks superimposed on Google Earth in photo on the right, Will has covered and explored much of this region already. It’s a real pleasure to hike with him and benefit from his extensive knowledge of these areas.

The only downside to checking out these routes is that you have to carry a lot more water than normal.  Six liters is what we’re planning on for this section and that’s 13.23 pounds of water.  Which is 4 pounds more than my *Base Weight of 9 pounds.  Fortunately our 5 day food weight will be down some from the approach hike and that water weight will decrease each hour we’re on the trail.

Regarding the new pack in the top photo: It’s a zPacks Zero (weighs in at 13 oz with extra custom features) that I ordered last Fall and haven’t had an opportunity to test it out. It’s only 5 ounces less than my other UL pack but was time to upgrade and save the other one for heavier loads.

Acclimating back in Durango isn’t quite complete, although the important things like taxes, re-stocking the larder, and getting back to the gym routine have been accomplished. The transition from sea level to the Rockies takes 21 days for the hemoglobin to increase it’s oxygen carrying capacity and that’s only 2/3’s done.

A couple of river trips are next on the schedule after this 5 day adventure in the Utah desert, and by then the snow’s will be greatly receded and hiking in the high country will be possible. Come join us. I’ve got an extra UL pack now.

*BaseWeight – Total weight on your back without consumables (water, food and fuel)

Last Ride

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Last Ride 2016

The last Sunday ride was perfect in that I got to ride with a smaller, faster group.  We met up with some Thai cyclists who were doing an 800-km 4-day ride from Krabi.  We met at the top of the pass and they learned we were going to a lesser-known waterfall which convinced them to follow us and delay their second 100-km of the day with a 50-km diversion. Our day was only 115 km.

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We didn’t know at the time, but they had a support truck with a wife and daughter who met us at the waterfall with 3 watermelons. We each ate 3 of those large slices as our lunch in the upper pools of the waterfall.  The rider on my right is 65 and was an equal riding companion on the hills with me.

ChillinI didn’t think to check my Garmin until the last hour of the ride home when it showed 103°. No wonder chillin’ in the waterfall for an hour was wonderful. Interesting to note my Thai friend Mr. Yao started shivering in the pool after a half hour (no body fat and he had on his wet jersey).

In southern Thailand the Uncrowdednumerous waterfalls serve as one of the major recreation attractions for families.  It’s probably the reason most Thai don’t swim since sitting in a cool fresh water pool doesn’t provide much opportunity for the crawl or backstroke. To say that hundreds visit each Crowdedlittle waterfall on weekends would be an understatement.  We arrived just before 10 AM and hardly anyone was there, by 11:30 there were over 100 people in the pool below ours.

 

We’re retiring the bikes two Two Bikesdays before we leave just to forestall any last minute problems and store them in good condition for next year, or whenever we return.  This year I invested in an extra set of wheels so that I’d have a set for off-road touring as well as the early morning sprints.

 

Borthday BBQBBQWould you believe Thais sing “Happy Birthday” in Karaoke English at their birthday parties, or was it just that we were there? Nevertheless, we sang three rounds of Happy Birthday (changing Dear XXX to just another chorus without the personalization). Our friend Mr Wat and his wife Jel-li invited us to celebrate her 49th along with 30 other family and friends.  The blind-alley BBQ was the perfect setting for tables and chairs and having several carport woks available to cook the numerous courses.

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Wat and Jel-li run the soup stand we frequent weekly. He’s also an avid mountain bike racer (despite his 95 kilos) and we’ve done a number of bicycle overnight island trips with them.

 

Charcoal

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StatuaryAt the end of a sparsely populated paved road which crosses over and terminates at a river estuary, is a newly constructed Charcoal Kiln Museum. Everything excluding fictional the accounting office is outdoors or under that same office.  Life-sized characatuers of the people involved in the traditional harvesting and production of charcoal are Charcoal Muesumrepresented. Evidently major charcoal production has just recently been made obsolescent in southern Thailand as this outdoor museum depicts.  One question was unanswered by the museum (It was lacking in any written information or text) was just where was the forest of trees used as raw materials.

The museum was located in a clearing charcoal accountingof high ground along the densely overgrown Mangrove swamps lining the river. As TigerSong, our cycling companion and personal guide explained, “Mangrove trees are best for making charcoal as they are dense, grow rapidly, and use salt water for hydration.”

This all made sense when considering a similar location we’d seen in Cuba IMG_5352where the Granma came ashore along the southern coast with 81 rebels and Castro, in November 1956. Running low on fuel, Castro ordered the Granma to run around, unfortunately they landed on a spit of Mangroves where they labored for almost a kilometer to reach solid ground.  On that solid ground was a small charcoal producing family whose property and facilities are now memorialized. Cubans must have regarded the Mangroves as a fertile charcoal resource as well.  Shown here are only a few of some 20+ life-sized cement statues in a remote riverside park that surely few visitors aside from school children on field trips ever get to see.

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This diversion was on account of our going south to join, the following day, a Trang District bicycle ride with some 300+ cyclists and the local governor who would inaugurate a IMG_1585cave as an tourist attraction and recognize a very remote school with gifts of bicycles, soccer balls and school supplies.  TigerSong took us sightseeing on our way to camp overnight at a police guesthouse aka the municipal police gymnasium.  They often arrange accommodation for us cyclists in schools, gyms and temples.District Ride
Highlight of the 200 km weekend camping trip was discovering a tiny two table village restaurant that had the best shrimp I’ve ever eaten. It was served to us as a lark, since we’d ordered chicken fried rice for the four of us, and just as we’d finished and pushed back from the table a platter of this juicy buttery small shrimp appeared.

Best Shirmp yet

Shrimp & SeaweedWe said we were full but after swallowing these shrimp whole and in most cases with the heads on we ordered a second platter and TigerSong went across the road and brought back the very best fresh raw seaweed imaginable. Our very small group included a British family mentioned in earlier posts.  Hanna the five-year-old loved the shrimp and 5 year old eats seaweedwas like a little bird swallowing the seaweed.  What a treat eating Thai foods we’d never think to order.  Shrimp platter was 80 baht, about $2.10.  Palm oil, garlic, sugar, fresh shrimp and fish sauce.  A Roi.

 

 

Facie and another photo

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FacieI had one of those transliterative generational freudian slips and inadvertently called a “selfie” a “facie” with my Thai friend, SunSurn. He obliged the photo, but really questioned my term with all his body language.  Even Thai folks know what a selfie is, and here I go calling it a “facie,” showing not only my age but my lack of millennial jargon and basic tech expertise.

I’m not that far out of it, as I’m reading Exponential Organizations, by Geest and Ismail, but like Kurt said, who recommended an interview in the Wall Street Journal by the author, it’s a totally different world of business for the innovative disruptors. Just reading the book makes me quiver with anxiety trying to come up with my own disruptive innovation. Pushing 70 doesn’t seem like much of an excuse not to try to form an organization with a “massive transformative purpose.”  Then chapter 10 notes that the best visionaries for these tasks are in their 30’s.  However, the section on Boards is really illuminating; specifically not just that they should provide oversight, but direction. I’m eager to finish the book.

Big race in neighboring town last weekend, and since I’ve set a prohibition about racing in Thailand (decided rewards don’t justify the risk) there weren’t any social rides this weekend. Easy to reflect on Al’s accident in England and 70-year-old bones. So just a loop around the ring and more time for reading and podcasts.

Flat

Finally had a scooter flat tire and this time we just rode it to the mechanic (actually Stanna hopped off for the last 6 blocks).  For $4 they replace the tube without removing the tire.  That’s the total price of parts and labor, done immediately, and takes less time than repairing my bike tire.

 

 

Google Street View is now on the iPhone as an App.  Check Wassana Guesthouse our home in Trang.

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If you click on this image (larger file to load) it will actually fill your screen and another click and it’ll enlarge again and you can pan around the photo just like Street View in Google Maps

After latest iOS update (9.3) there suddenly appeared a new Google Street View app which allows, and in my case encourages, you enter in a Street View 360 photo of any place you want.  I noticed that Wassana Guesthouse didn’t have a Street View, so in experimenting with the new app I followed the “click on the orange dot” instructions and took 16 photos rotating in place as instructed. Above is the photo and I’m curious to see if it’s viewable in this blog.  Update: success!

Sukorn 2016

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Boat to island

Bikes in boatSukorn Island is one of the favorite places we like to bike.  It’s only 60 km (36 miles) to the pier where we can chain-gang-load all our gear and bikes onto a long-tail boat and take a 30-minute passage to one to Thailand’s southernmost islands in the Andeman Sea.  It takes a couple of boats to get riders, bike campingbicycles and gear across and then we load the dunnage on a three-wheeled cart for the short trip to our destination on the island, while we tag along on our bikes.  In the past trips to Sukorn we’ve not had our traveling chef and provisioner, Go Cho, so we’ve supped on the local fare.  But Cho, who has one of our favorite restaurant in Trang, goes all out on these seafood panotrips bringing the kitchen to the camp, not to mention all the things we might tote along on a raft trip, like pots and pans, utensils, condiments and wash up supplies.  Of course he can’t go anywhere without a 4-liter rice cooker, 3-liter electric kettle and a Seafood Supperblender, a couple of 25-meter extension cords, fans and power strips for charging devices. He has at least 8 courses of foods and seafood is his passion, so this trip we had two sizes of shrimp (lunch and breakfast sized – Shrimp2″) and dinner sized (4-5″), plus a large crab for everyone, grouper, squid, octopus, sea bass and a number of other unidentifiable sea creatures.

Lunch, dinner and breakfast is the standard menu with snacks for the ride over and back, two 20-liter water bottles and a 100-liter cooler full of ice cubes for cold drinks, chilling the fresh foods and beer.  All that can be said is that no one goes hungry, left-overs are recycled for the next meal and I can’t believe how much Thai’s can put away.  I can do one and a half, maybe two full servings, and these men and women, go two and three times plus grazing on the tastiest items after they’ve put down their spoons.

Triptych of our lunch

Lunch 1Lunch 2Lunch 3

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GOPRO photo of island cement road

Sukorn Island doesn’t allow vehicles (only construction trucks and cement mixers) so cycling is ideal.  All supplies and materials are “carted” around on 3-wheeled scooters (basically a scooter with a one-wheel side car).  Since we last visited Sukorn they improved a number of crumbling roads with double-wide cement roads so it’s even better.  All minor pathways are meter-wide cement paths such that two scooters can pass traveling thru the fields and rubber tree plantations.  Besides fishing the main products coming from the island are rubber, rice, watermelons, and beef.

beachside batikOne other product is Batik cloth: we only know of one artist whose studio is a high road-side table on the less populated windward side of the island. Fortunately she’s there every time we visit and after purchasing a few items she happily gave us a demonstration of how she works the cloth.  I took several short videos which we hope to show back home.

Batik Lady

Planking

 

A couple of things I haven’t photoed before:

A man cutting 40′ planks with a chainsaw.  Most likely to build or repair one of their long-tail inter-island boats.

And although watermelons are ubiquitous during the time we’re visiting Thailand, it’s very rare to ever see a watermelon IMG_5289patch.  My Belgian friend, Rik, spent several years looking for one on all his weekly scooter excursions.  We found several on Sukorn, and even sampled some of the fruit left in the field as unsuitable for sale. These melons are said to be extra sweet because they are so close to the ocean and the ground water used to water them is slightly different.  Our group only took 30 melons home with them on the boat.

Chillin’ and Dancing

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BackyardWe aren’t always cycling to sites hither and yon. Quite often we get to relax and keep up with the world, thru our online resources.  This year we’ve added a back porch table and chairs, plus they’ve shifted a lounge chair to my pond-side spot that only I and the neighbor’s cows take advantage of.

Monitor Lizard
There are small fish in the several ponds behind Ban Wassana and the most interesting visitor besides the cows is a Monitor Lizard who we’ve never seen before this year. This guy is over 6′ long and moves very cautiously when he’s out of the water.  We’ve read that his diet is fish, small rodents and snakes, which is of particular interest to Stanna.

Muslim Traditional Dance

On Monday we cycled to the White Dragon Spine beach just south of Hat Yao, where the governor was promoting his plan to get tourists to visit this remote village and 5 other spots that have “spines.”  A dragon’s spine is a sand bar or shell bar that becomes exposed when the low tide (especially around full moon) drops the water level over 3+ feet.  According to local lore, it’s good luck to walk on the dragon’s spine and if you could conquer all 6 of the spines, the governor suggests you’ll be very fortunate.  Since this was a muslim village they had a performance of the local women dancing to an ensemble of drums and a fiddle.

White Dragon Spine
About 200 people showed up for the ceremony which included a walk on the spine filmed by the newly requisite drone. This spine goes out over a kilometer into the sea and very nearly reaches Koh Libong across from the coast.

 

 

New WheelsThe rest of the week was consumed by visa extensions and getting my road bike upgraded with new shifters (eBay purchase and brought over), plus a new chain and a set of upgraded (used) wheels.  And, not to forget, reading the latest Economists and New Yorkers on the iPad. We should mention that this week’s temps are 38 C, and a clue to conversion is that the human body is 37 C, so shade and a cool breeze are very important.Chilax'n

 

 

 

 

Not Quite…

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Mini Gold Bananas $1 – Aroi

… bananas, but still fully involved in things Trang.

Besides getting in the pre-dawn rides, which this week have been a little more brutal than normal, we’ve been strategizing how and where to get our visas renewed, plus working on a new project of recording backroad cycling tracks around Trang for prospective day tours.

Ridley

 

A Ridley ringer showed up this week at the Fashung meeting point on his new Ridley Team carbon rocket ($3,000). Powered by a 150-lb 28-year-old, the group of old men (average age late 50’s) set Strava records trailing in his wake. Not satisfied with our normal ride after the first day, he shamed the group into challenging the pass the next morning for our 5 AM effort. All I can say is that Strava thinks I bettered my time to the summit by 2 minutes in 30-km head winds that almost stopped me cold rounding the first corner uphill.  His taillight wasn’t even visible after the half-way point.

Audax 200 TrangTrang cyclists, besides their individual daily routines, have a number of opportunities to support various community events. This weekend there were two events where local cyclists offered support. Trang hosted it’s bi-annual Audax 200 Km where 250+ riders test their mettle on a course with a cut-off time of 13 hours.  I did this last year on the east coast of the peninsula and Durango actually hosted one recently. I didn’t enter but was part of the governor’s escort out of town. a number of reasons not to sign up this year; I’ve already done it, El Nino has brought very strong summer winds three months early, and mostly I didn’t know about it until after registration was closed.

Anti-Corruption paradeAlso this weekend, Stanna and I were asked to “ride in a parade” for Journalists Day, which ended up being an “anti-corruption” rally that we had not a clue about until we saw one of the many Thai banner’s printed in English. The Trang cycle club followed the 200+ walkers at a push and glide pace. Not something we’d normally do consciously, and will seriously avoid in the future.

Pro Mechanic

I took my road bike in to a pro-mechanic (another unsecured outdoor shed-style workshop) to get the rear derailleur tuned (jumping up a gear while climbing with increased torque).  Tune up took less than five minutes, but subsequently he discovered the rear hub was bad and I had a broken spoke up front. So when he gets back from racing this weekend he’ll install a new set of “used” high-end wheels and a new chain.  Don’t think Mr. Ridley has to worry about competition, but this 30-year-old Trek should run a bit quicker.  I’m keeping the old wheel set for those Sunday rides where we go “everywhere” a two-wheeled bike can go.

Thai Omelette

Thai Omelette

In the TL;DR category: This year, because we only came to Thailand for 3 months, we didn’t obtain two sixty-day visas as is customary.  Last year we’d heard, from a inspecting Immigration Officer checking visas at our guesthouse, that we could easily get 30-day extensions at his office at the port town 20-km to the south.  However, since our return this year, reports have conflicted on this opportunity, saying that we could only get 15 days.  With the second 60-day visa they have to give you the longer extension, albeit that still requires you to check out and come back into the country at the border.  Foreigners without a visa, that would include us after our first 60-day visa obtained prior to coming to Thailand, can only get 15 days at a border or 30-days if they fly into the country.

Dory & Waffle Chips

Dory & Waffle Chips

Hence the dilemma, as you have to do the complete “visa dance” on the same day: either renew easily for 30 days, or find a way out of the country and method to return securing the last 30 days. We had two offers to drive us to any of the three border crossings in southern Thailand, we just didn’t know whether to take travel gear and how we might get back.

 

Update: Fortunately, just yesterday a Thai Trang friend offered to call her friend at the port town immigration office and confirm that we don’t have to leave Thailand, we can get an extension stamp without leaving the country.

Update 2: We were able to extend in Kantang, but it did required two extra trips for additional requirements: photocopy of passport and entry card, plus a color passport photo.  5 things in total.