It needed a RM 15 map (PERIPLUS Travel Map – Koh Samui), a nice Indian dinner at Brickfields and not to mention 2 bored bachelors to decide to go on a road trip to Thailand for the Chinese New Year. Nick has a good BMW and he had promised his colleagues that he would treat them with a trip sometimes and everything fell in place.
7:30 AM: The start, sleepy eyed holiday morning, we started off only to realise we were already late for breakfast. After a quick breakfast and fretting to locate the E1 expressway, we finally hit the tar around 9AM. Smart as we were, we hit the road when everyone decided to go out on the Chinese New Year and E1 at certain stretches had become Jalan Sultan Ismail of the day. Beamer was good and we cruised at great speeds on the empty stretches.
We didnt have any idea where exactly in Thailand were we supposed to go. I remembered once on my way to Bangkok, I met a beautiful girl on the flight who was mentioning about Koh Samui and how she and her boyfriend (thats when my heart broke) were planning to stay there for 2 months. When I looked at the Thailand map, I figured Koh Samui was closer than Phuket and we voted out the Phuket option. So Koh Samui, it was!! We had not done any bookings and we were mentally prepared to stay at any place if we didnt get the bookings.
Malaysian Highways are great except for the momentary botheration at the frequent toll booths. We crossed Ipoh, Butterworth and just before Alor Star, we stopped for a break. It was almost 4 hours of driving by then. We hit the road after a short bio break and sped to the border. Malaysian border is at Bukit Hitam. Bukit Hitam borderpost is extremely organised. You dont need to get off your car for the stamping, just pass the passport through one open window and a smiling person behind the counter will stamp them and return. TAKE A STAMP EVEN IF YOU HAVE THE RESIDENT CARD. Habitual of not taking a stamp at the airport as a Gold Card (resident) holder, I made the same mistake at the border post only to be sent by Thai authorities 500 m by walk back to Malaysia to get the stamp.
As soon as you cross the no-man’s land full of duty-free places, Thailand is thrust on the face with chaos. First you need to park your car to take the visas and stuff. Next, corruption is rampant. The lady office charged me RM 15o for a RM 100 visa and I had to submit without protest. No Receipts, no record! If you are driving someone’s car, dont forget to get the letter duly signed by the owner. They wont allow the car to be driven into Thailand without it. Border is open 9AM-9PM but do check before hitting the road. Building and shops start at the first centimetre into the Thai border. We stopped at the border, had our late lunch. Sleazy places start right at the border. Rooms are cheap. There are couple of good restaurants. Border crossing may take 20 mins if you have all the documents in order. (Passport with Malaysian exit stamps, car authorisation letter & relevant papers, RM100 for visas)
Bukit Hitam Malaysia Border
First Step in Thailand
4PM: We started again. By this time, we had realised that we wont be able to make it to Koh Samui that day. We checked on the map and the closest big place was Shongkla which was roughly 80 km away from the border. Thai highways are good but the village crossings make it a little dangerous for speeding. There are acute turns and hilly roads and when the rest of the road comes in sight you will be taken for a rude shock by a traffic signal which would be blushing red! Be very careful of speeding on corners and ups.
We found our map pretty useful and as long as we kept seeing the Highway#208 and Hat Yai road sign, we were on the right track. Hat Yai is a larger city and is 15km from Shongkla which is by the sea. We stopped at Songkhla
Useful links
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukit_Kayu_Hitam
