"Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful..."
|
(The Guilin of Thailand) |
Day 1 - Friday, 7 March 2014
KL- Surat Thani
This trip was initially planned as our solo ride but when a few friends were also interested to ride along we had brought this trip forward as not to clash with our trip to Singapore, planned for the week after.
|
(Early morning rendezvous) |
On Friday early morning, the gang met at R&R Rawang, performed Subuh prayers and had a hearty breakfast of nasi lemak and toasts. Tayar golek around 7:30 am and our first stop was at Simpang Pulai for refueling. We rode direct to Changloon but one of the bike had to make a short detour to refuel as the fuel gauge was resting permanently on red.
At our favorite coffee shop, we completed the paper works for insurance and exchanged some bahts. For some of us who had bought motor insurance for the whole year need only to fill up the white arrival/departure cards. Border clearance at Bukit Kayu Hitam was smooth and very fast. We had lunch at Kak Jah Restaurant in Danok and performed our jama’ prayers there.
|
(Nescafe latte and iced cappuccino to quench our thirst) |
From Danok we rode north bound on Highway 4 then 401 towards Surat Thani and stopped in Patthalung for refueling and a short coffee break at the Amazon Cafe. It was a very hot humid afternoon and we were sweating buckets.
We arrived in Surat Thani early and decided to have dinner at Aji Restaurant by the river side. Unfortunately the road to the restaurant was closed as there was a Consumer Expo being held along the river bank and vehicles were not allowed to pass through.
|
(Princess Park Hotel, owned by a Muslim entrepreneur) |
|
(A cozy clean room) |
At first we wanted to check-in at a nearby hotel but all rooms were full. We then rode to Princess Park Hotel quite a distance away from town. We had stayed in this hotel before, during our KQ2 trip. The room is spacious and clean and it only cost us B700/night. After a refreshing bath and a short rest, we requested the hotel to call a tuk-tuk to bring us to Aji Restaurant for dinner. We learned from Aji’s son that his father had a stroke and is now bed-ridden.
*****
Day 2 - Saturday, 8 March 2014
Surat Thani - Kao Sok National Park - Ratchaprabha Dam - Krabi
We had halal buffet breakfast, toasts and eggs at the hotel cafe for only B80/person.
It was a perfect day for riding as the weather was cooler in the morning and the sky was clear. We checked-out of the hotel and started riding on Highway 401 towards Khao Sok National Park by-passing the junction to Ratchaprabha Dam.
Today there were busload of foreign and local tourists visiting the dam. And all the raft houses were fully booked. We were told that tourists have been avoiding Bangkok because of the unrest and instead crowded other place of attractions such as the national parks, islands and beaches.
|
(A first glimpse of the dam) |
|
(Waiting for our lunch order) |
|
(Special dishes to fill hungry tummies) |
We were not even near the pier or on the long-tail boat but Rozlan got his wallet drenched when his mineral water bottle leaked inside his pouch, wetting everything inside including his cell-phone. So after this little mishap and to grieve with Rozlan, we are going to nick-named this trip as ‘Van-Damn Ride’.
It was already noon, so we had our lunch of crispy fried fresh-water fish and spicy Tom yam at the restaurant somewhere near the pier. After lunch we decided to ride to Krabi on an alternative route of Highway 4035 then Highway 44.
|
(Entering Hatyai town during low traffic) |
|
(Colorful buildings of the city) |
|
(The Golden Crown Hotel room) |
Tonight we had burger for dinner. The Muslim burger stall was a short walking distance from our hotel. There are varieties of burgers to choose from. Besides the normal beef and chicken burger, they also served burger Rusa, burger Arnab and burger Kambing. The burger, topped with eggs, tomato salad and mayonnaise dressing is something worth a try.
|
(A stall selling exotic burgers) |
|
(Delicious, mouth watering burgers) |
After dinner, we walked to the area around Lee Gardens Plaza and met with some other bikers gang there. We bought some t-shirts for the kids and grand-kids at Pink Lady Plaza and later indulged in teh halia and char-kuey goreng with sweet kaya dipping at Aji stall. Others had a go for pulut durian or pulut mango, a delicacy not to be missed when you are in Hatyai.
|
(Being entertained while having teh tarik) |
We walked back to the hotel for a good night sleep.
*****
Day 4 - Monday, 10 March 2014
Hatyai - KL
We checked-out early and had a good heavy breakfast at Khalid Restaurant before we rode towards the border.
At the border, we need to pay RM2 instead of RM1 to the Thai immigration officer. The border clearance was fast. At Petronas Changloon we refuelled and after a short rest we rode to Juru Autocity. We had ikan bawal goreng for lunch at the famous Kelapa Sawit Restaurant.
|
(Crispy bawal goreng for lunch) |
The heavy lunch and the very hot humid weather made the body lethargic and sleepy. We rode leisurely and stopped at Simpang Pulai R&R for refuelling and a short rest. From here we split ways and rode home.
We reached our apartment around 4:30 pm. After a refreshing shower we drove to IJN to visit Shah, hubby’s elder brother. He will be undergoing an open heart surgery for a coronary by-pass.
Good luck Shah. We’ll pray for your successful operation and a fast recovery.
Insya-Allah...
Date: 7 - 10 March, 2014
Route taken: KL - Surat Thani - Ratchaprabha Dam - Krabi - Hatyai - KL
Total mileage: 2105 km
Bikers gang: Mus/Mun, Munawar/Rose, Zali, Taufik and Rozlan