Burmese borders

Let's put things slightly in a chronologically order as followers justifiably got confused ...

... as my Thai visa was once again expiring, I had to exit and re-enter the country. So I travelled to Phuket island and particularly Patong beach to meet my new co-traveller (Kikilis) and from there I had on the 10th of January a long day trip to Burmese borders.
Early in the morning by mini van a 6 hour trip through Ranong and then from that picturesque port by a small kind of ferry boat up to the borders with Birmania (Burma). Actually the borders are among some tiny islands, at one of them you can spot the coast yard and customs that are wooden constructions on the sea. The sea passage is controlled only on the way back from the Burmese land and they search everyone and thoroughly all baggage, as alcohol, lifestyle drugs (Viagra, cialis etc) and cigarettes are ridiculously cheap there. In Burma there are numerous laboratories that produce all these drugs for multinational pharmaceutical companies, so locals get them in bulk quantities unpacked of course and deal them by the borders to make some money.
Well about my this short visit there was some second thoughts, as there is an atypical boycott of all backpackers to this poor country. Travellers consider their visit in Burma as an economic kind of help to the junta and they prefer not to bother at all with it as a travel destination. Me and Dima had more or less the same perception, until we met some people that have been there and they claimed that no matter where you go there one way or another you give some money to locals. Even if you buy something to eat or drink your accommodation, whatever you may consume will definitely help such a devastated population. It's true that you are not allowed to travel wherever you like within the country as you may witness an authoritarian regime and I am not quite sure how much censorship is there for audiovisual material and how close you might get to people or even talk to them ... Nevertheless, directly the junta makes profit only by the visa fees. So, now I believe Burma is an interesting destination for non-comfy backpacking and I am strongly looking forward it in the next trip to the SE Asia.
Maybe it was a coincidence, but as soon as I got back to Thessaloniki, during the 11th International Documentary festival, a film called "Burma VJ - Reporting from a closed country", if I am not mistaken, won the audience and the International Amnesty award. It's a group of around 30 local reporters that illegally record the impingement of human rights in their country. They manage to smug from the borders the material to secret places in Thailand and then broadcast it through satellite from Oslo. These are the images we all watched by the end of 2007, when more than 100.000 people demonstrated against the military junta that governs the country more than 40 years now.

Please find more info regarding the documentary in the link below:
http://burmavjcom.title.dk/burma-vj/