Just completed a ride to Bangkok with a friend.  We left in the morning of 160114 and returned evening time on 250114.  We decided to take it slow this time round and it was a good thing we did that. The motto for the ride is “We are not rushing anywhere”.

Every time I ride up to Thailand, I usually depart Singapore at about midnight and reach the Thai border at about 8am.  But this time we departed at 7am and reached the border about 5.30pm.  The ride was more enjoyable, more relaxing and when we checked into the hotel, it was the “correct” time to stop and have dinner.  We agreed that we won’t be taking anymore midnight rides, for enjoyment and safety sake.

Usually people buy insurance and get their arrival cards filled up at Bukit Kayu Hitam, but this time round we just went in with the cards filled up ourselves.  Paid 2 ringgit each to get the passports chopped.  Bought the insurance in Sadao instead for 150thb (9 day insurance).  The insurance is properly printed instead of it being hand written if you get it from Sadao.

The roads are the worst at Chumpon as usual, thanks to floods that damage the road.  The Bangkok protest helped the traffic at certain locations, we had to make detours from the Asoke junction.  Roads that were usually jammed were clear, roads that are usually clear were now packed.  I dread the times we have to travel down Rama 4, sometimes I wish the bike was smaller so I can ride it on the pavement like everyone else!  There was obviously less tourists which I appreciate very much!

The ride down to Phuket was my favourite part, going through Ranong and seeing the mountains via Route 4. Took us longer to get to Phuket but it was worth it. There are long sections of roads which are being widened at the moment so we had to go off road for 1/4 of the journey, certainly not the ideal situation for a Harley Street Glide and a Kawasaki GTR 1400.

There are some nice rock formations at Phang-Nga as we rode from Phuket to Hat Yai.  Seems like Krabi is making effort to make bypass roads for easier commute.  The bypass roads are newly paved and straight, great for eating up miles.

I noticed that Hat Yai was pretty quiet even for a weekend, which is good for us!  Less jams, more peace.  The ride back to Singapore was uneventful but at least my friend managed to finally fulfil his dream of riding to Bangkok.

The next trip should either bring us to Cambodia or Mae Hong Son.  And next time round we’ll load the bikes on the train and skip southern Thailand.  6 times up and down the bumpy southern roads is enough for me!

Video was mostly recorded using Drift Ghost HD.  Some clips are from the Canon IXUS.