May 1, 2016 – The next morning was time to check out and head back to Thailand while the rest of the group set off to Singapore. We’d agreed a 7am push off. For Roy & myself it was an easy decision to head back down the road we came up two days ago and steam the North South Highway back to Thailand. Riding through the highlands at that time of day is easy and no traffic. So we gathered for push off after a coffee only from the meagre breakfast buffet in the hotel, took a group snap and set off. The air was lovely and cool below 20 degrees.
I led Roy down to the bottom of the mountain. A pretty clear road and very cool such that I had to use my heated grips. We refuelled at the bottom of the road and Roy too was surprised to have needed his heated grips coming down. Next on the agenda was a good roti prata breakfast. Roti Prata is a typical Malay food made of a flour based chapatti cooked on an oiled hot plate and served with chicken or fish curry along with Teh Tarik (pulled tea). While looking for one, we ended up riding into the centre of Ipoh and to be frank it was a pretty good choice. Found one with many locals so we nestled in for a nice breakfast, chatted with some locals before heading out. Getting out of Ipoh is not too difficult but I still missed a turn and had to U-turn.
After that it was head up the North South Highway back to the border crossing at Sadao. Malaysian highways don’t charge bikes for tolls. At all toll gates bikes have to veer to the left and pass through a specific bike lane. It’s technically an offence to go through the main toll gate for cars. Approaching one at Butterworth I contemplated breaking this rule then decided better of it as at this toll gate the bike lane is a bit of a detour around the gate. Plus I’d been hit by a police check point for bikes at this gate a few years back. I probably still have an unpaid fine for having too small a number plate on my 1098 (Oops). Am glad I did use the bike lane as sure enough there was a police block, stopping and checking all bikes for their documents. Seeing our Thai bikes they immediately and sternly asked for the JPJ we had to get at the border. Phew, am glad we had that too else could be stopped and have the bikes confiscated. After producing the documents we were happily waved off with smiles and compliments on the bikes.
Getting into Thailand was a cinch. Just got our passports stamped, handed back in the customs paperwork to demonstrate our bikes returning back into Thailand, signed a book and then we rode off towards Hat Yai. I think we were through within 15 minutes.
The plan for the day was to ride through Hat Yai, and straight North to the Eastern coast at Songkhla. Then ride along the coastline through Nakhon Si Thammarat and then onto Surat Thani and find a hotel for the night. This would provide a much more interesting alternative to riding the very boring Route 4 which we came down three days earlier.
Riding through Hat Yai was relatively straightforward apart from a bit of traffic. Once riding through follow the signs for Surat Thani or Route 408. This will take you North and across Songkhla Lake. It’s a great road and the views across the lake are lovely. So much so we stopped for a quick photo Shoot.
Following on, arriving on the coast line I found a road that put us on the beach front where we found some food stalls serving freshly barbecued seafood and chicken. It was the perfect place to stop for lunch and take a break. The beach was deserted save for a few people, clean and as long as the eye could see. Totally different from the commercialised beaches seen in the main resorts.
After lunch we ride along the coast through Nakhon Si Thammasat. It’s a lovely road and in the future definitely more favoured than riding Route 4. It flows well with not much traffic so in all I didn’t feel that it took too much longer than steaming Route 4.
At a fuel stop about 50km outside of Surat Thani, Roy showed me something quite interesting on his bike. With his keys in his hand, his ignition was still on, and the bike could be started. It’s not a keyless ignition, so we realised we have a bit of a problem. After a bit of contemplation we decided to carry on. We’d just disconnect the battery overnight once we got to Surat Thani. The bike works fine so nothing to done and just focus on getting home while we can.
We reached Surat Thani around 5pm and after scouting around found a hotel, The BJ Hotel, for 500 baht a night and so parked up, unloaded and disconnected his battery. Then to find somewhere to eat, which after walking 2km around the block looking for halal food, we found a sea food only restaurant about 300m from the hotel. Something the hotel staff had great difficulty in explaining, but that’s Thailand. All in all a great days ride with 789km covered for the day.
Motorcycle Chronicles by Jamil Siddique 