The Oh!belendir

Many bikers like to ride to Southern Thailand - some more regularly than others. UOMOs, as a group, has not had a chance to do the "Ride Siam"; however, I could safely say almost everyone has done the "Ride Siam" at least once.  Rik, NoX & Idrus are amongst those regulars from our little biker group (called UOMO) that frequently visit South Thailand, either Betong or Haadyai.

And this time around, I was fortunate to join them for a "getaway from it all" mini adventure to Thailand.

A new experience? Most probably... but not really. It's just that I've not done any epic ride for a bit, particularly across the northern border. But for whatever its worth, this ride was like a comeback-to-long-distance-ride for me...

So, there we were at the rendezvous point early Friday 3rd of August 2018 morning (7:30am) having breakfast while waiting for everyone to arrive and roll-out at the agreed time of 8:00am.  NoX and Rik was already finishing up their coffees when I rode into the rv point at around 7:45am.

   

First leg of this ride, as agreed, would be from RnR Sungai Buloh to Betong, with two stops - RnR Sungai Perak and Pengkalan Hulu for Friday prayers & re-fuel.  But by 8:10am, when Idrus hadn't showed up, we started to speculate.  It turned out, Idrus took the Guthrie Hiway and proceeded to RnR Rawang.  So, we rolled out at around 8:20am and after meeting up with Idrus, we began our ride, stopping at Sungai Perak for rehydration (and toilet visit).

We arrived Pengkalan Hulu earlier than planned - which was to perform our solat Jumaat there and enter Betong after.  But when we re-fuelled at the last station before entering Thailand, Rik suggested we proceeded into Betong and solat there, as it was still too early then (around 12:00noon).

there were only three counters open, and hundreds of visitors queueing

But we did not anticipate the overly crowded immigration checkpoint.  It was Betong Bike week that weekend.  According to NoX, we did not plan this ride because we wanted to be at the bike week. It was purely a coincidence.  So, we queued for about an hour to get our passports stamped.  Thankfully, the bike declaration was quick - only took a few minutes. Alhamdulillah when we stopped at the first masjid in Betong (just outside Betong town), the azan (call to prayer) just started.

 

Immediately after solat jumaat, NoX couldn't resist the durian temptation.... a stall opposite the masjid had this.... Rik did not want to eat durian, so the three of us had some... about 6-kilo's worth at RM18 total... huhuhuhu...

 

Rik wanted to have a proper lunch, so he went ahead.  After savoring the surprisingly delicious Thai durian kampong, I went to buy my compulsory-thai-bike insurance (RM90 for one year coverage) at a nearby agent.  That took about 20 minutes as there were a number of other bikers were also doing their insurance there.

  nasi campur, about RM36 for four of us

It was already past 2pm (local time) when we arrived at the Merlin Betong Hotel. Checking in was smooth as Rik had already made reservations through Agoda.

 

adjoining rooms (shaky hands...)

 I slept for half hour at around 4pm (5pm Malaysia time). Then, at around 4.30pm, we walked to buy a local sim-card.... the hotel's Wi-Fi nowadays is not as good as it was a few years back. 

120BHT for a 1MB internet, unlimited 7 days... not bad at all.. "True Move"

 

There really was not much to do in Betong.  Then again, there are also many things you can do if you wanted in Betong. :-) So, we went back to the hotel after a short stop at 7-eleven to buy some drinks and titbits.  About half an hour later, we again went out for dinner.

 

NoX updating Idrus' Navigator.... while waiting to go out for dinner

 

While NoX went back to the hotel after dinner (at the usual mee itik stall nearby the market), us three walked through the tunnel for a look-see at the bike week venue - which was at the Betong stadium atop the hill, which we didn't know existed (the stadium).  We stayed for a bit as d'Caraboa was performing that night.  Right after their "Made in Thailand" song, we walked back for a good night rest.

 

 

the stage where Carabao performed, over-exposed from my cheap camera phone

That was about it for "excitement" activity in Betong.  After all, this trip was all about riding..... :-)

 Second leg... Betong to Bannang Sata.... 

 

The next morning, we were ready to move out as planned at around 7:00am.  Our destination is Haadyai, via Bannang Sata.

Exiting Merlin Bentong, NoX plotting our route

Along the way, we stopped for breakfast...  according to Idrus' tagged photo, this place is in Tambon Aiyoe...  breakfast Kelantan style - nasi kerabu, pulut nyior

 

From there, we proceeded to Bannang Sata, but with a short selfie stop on the bridge.

 

  

We arrived at Bannang Sata at around 10:30am.  It so happened that Bannang Sata is the hometown of the wife of a friend of mine.  And it so happened that Qamal was back at her hometown that weekend.  So, we visited Qamal's in-law's home just before lunch... for a durian feast.

 Note for future drool - the durian was sold at RM0.80 per kilo (by orchard owner to wholesaler).  And that is what cheap should be!

 

Adoiiiii.... very long lah storyyyy.. and we are now on the third leg of the ride.  After a sumptuous delicious durian, rambutan & manggis offerings, we moved out from Qamal's in-law's place... under the scorching sun we rode... hahahaha...

   

 Its a three hour ride from Bannang Sata to Haadyai.  And did I mention it was a hot day.  NoX led the pack, assisted by Waze navigation, trying to do the rural roads, which took us to a narrow road and dead end... hahahaha... now, that's adventure!

 

 

We made an about turn, went back to the main road, and back to righteous path... hehehehehe.... And the day was still scorching hot.  A pit stop was in order (as opposed to the original plan of non-stop ride into Haadyai).

 

 

So we made this stop at this place in Tambon Lam Phaya  district... just for a drink, but Idrus couldn't resist the kueytiaw goreng , ordered a plate and shared amongst the four of us.  We did not actually want to have lunch, although at the time it was noon (12:30 local time).  For one, we were still full from the durian feast... and taking rice may cause sleepiness.... so they say :-)

 

Moving on, we arrived Haadyai around 3:00pm.  The Asian Hotel was packed with tourist, three buses of them, checking in.  Although we have made prior booking via Agoda, we had to wait at the lobby for the crowd to go up their rooms - limited elevators!

 

Next agenda, makan!  We did not have a proper lunch along the way, yet it was already too late to have lunch, but too early for dinner when we finally settled in our rooms.  Everyone had a good nap (I think - but I know I  dozed off for a bit) before Rik called out "jom pergi makan!".  It was around 5:30pm when we got out and walked (quite a distance) to find the restaurant that Rik has set out for our early dinner.

Quick comment about this restaurant:- service was slow - it took more than half an hour after we placed order for the foods to come.  And one dish (tomyam) did not make it on time as they did not serve all dishes at one go.  While the steamed kerapu (grouper) was delicious, we thought the price was not that cheap (BH400).  But the two grilled squid was even more expensive at BH300 (in our opinion). Although the service was frustrating, we had some sort of entertainment when a petai-monger came in and performed his (her?) sales pitch to NoX.  after much haggling and persuasions, NoX gave in and bought BH200 worth of petai (of which some were eaten during our meal).  It was fresh, it was big, it was delicious!  And we had a bit of entertainment from the petai peddler.... :-)

 

For most part, that early dinner was the most exciting thing we did in Haadyai.... or perhaps the slipper confusion?   Idrus wanted to buy a pair of slippers, so we stopped by Central Supermarket on our way back from dinner.  Idrus saw a promotion and was told the price of a slipper that he liked was 200 baht (about 20 ringgit).  The promoter went to take his size when Rik noticed the price tag as 2,000 baht (200 ringgit)! So, we quickly "escaped"... hahahaha I turned in early that night - almost immediately after getting back to our room.  NoX went out again as I learned later.  And the next morning we were already checked out by 7:00am.

Special "Big Bike" parking bay at the basement car-park.

[The last leg of our trip was of course Haadyai-KL.... The road was clear as we headed out Haadyai town, but there were too many traffic-lights as we rode to Sadao, where we stopped for breakfast before at this border town.  Apart from breakfast, did a bit of "shopping"... I think everyone bought tomyam paste, beras pulut and more petai for NoX!

 

[c

breakfast was delicious!

 

Idrus enjoyed it more than anyone :-)

 

Thanks NoX for paying our breakfast ...

 

The stall helper was friendly... :-)

[/caption] It has been quite a long while since I crossed the Thailand border.  The immigration complex has been upgraded on both sides of the countries.  But the bike clearance process on the Thai side was still as cumbersome.

   

 It was still a very hot day.  When we cleared immigration, the time was around 10:00am. We rode past Changlun and only stopped to refuel at Gurun RnR. But of course we also do the toilet thingy and had a bottle of water plus a stick of ciggy for Idrus.  It was a good twenty minutes or so pit stop. We planed to shoot straight and probably make another stop at Tapah RnR.  But NoX decided to stop at Sungai Perak RnR - a good move as the scorching sun was really getting to us.

 

It was quite a long stop we did at Sungai Perak RnR - close to an hour.  Although it was already noon (hotter), we rode out and mad another stop at Tapah, where we chanced upon ShamSrad with his "BMW" riding buddies.  They were on their way back from attending a wedding do in Ipoh.

Sham, NoX and Rik left earlier form this RnR - they had another "appointment" later that day.  Idrus and I do not have any commitments for the day, so we stayed back a while longer.  After performing our solat, we bid adieu and head back to our respective homes.

 

What a little adventure we had.  Its a first for me on the GSA after I got her some three years ago.  Could not do this cross-border trip earlier due to sudden change in work commitment.  But, insyaAllah, this trip would be the spark to ignite more northbound travel from the GSA.

Thanks NoX, Rik & Idrus for the awesome short adventure!

the Oh!Belendir