KL to Betong Ride Jan 2014

A public holiday on a Tuesday may lead to many things.

For me, I called up a few guys and interested them to go on a short overnight ride to Betong, Thailand.

Since it was the first time ever for the guys to travel accross the border and we only had 2 days, I decided to lead them through my short version of long way up from KL to Betong, Thailand.

The trip was distanced a good 556 km, exactly the same route I took last spring with Terry.

This time around with 2 other riders Ray on his Honda CBR 500 and Johnny on his Naza Blade 250r (or Hyosung GT 250r), we started off by meeting up at the usual RV point at BHP Gombak. It was a really good sign as a start as both of them were actually early.

We started our journey 10 minutes after 8 and arrived at our first rest stop Sg Koyan Mobil station. It was the first time ever I arrived so early as it was only 9.30 am. After refuelling and a toilet break, we headed towards Gua Musang via Kuala Lipis on the 8.

The last time when I was on this road, this highway was still under construction. With new silky roads, we stopped and took some photos.

Johnny's new Shark S900c is really standing out here.

While Ray's spanking new CBR500 is looking sharp.

Beautiful road with very little traffic. 

And the same on the other direction. 

Something told me that I would see this pose again from these 2 guys.

Moments later we arrived Gua Musang at about noon. We refuelled and settled for malay folk food at a medan selera. GPS location was 4.862, 101.962. 

This was Ray picking his dishes. 

This was how the medan selera looked like. The food costed of us about RM 12 each. It was considered expensive as we just had plain rice and dishes. Anyhow, we started our journey after I briefed them how the next stop look like at Jeli. 

We took the D29 and 66 and headed for Jeli. After about 110 kms, all 3 bikes arrived at about 2.40 pm. It rained for about 20 mins along the way and I stopped to put on my rain coat.

On the way to Caltex station at Jeli 5.683, 101.851, while it rained, I rode through a flock of small birds that looked like swallows which were flying really low. I hit one and it flew. I hope it survived the accident somehow. 

The next stop, I explained the the boys that we would be stopping at Titiwangsa rest stop 5.606, 101.543. 

Many fun corners later, we arrived. 

Unfortunately the condition of the road with many holes and rough surface made the ride less enjoyable. But it was still a blast to ride after a whole day's boring riding. 

 Here's Johnny trying to get some heat off the bike on his frozen hand.  

Some sweet teh tarik was consumed here and we were then on our way. I briefed the boys that the next stop would be a fuel stop after the police stop near Gerik.

Somehow along the way I lost sight of the boys but I was happy to be signalled down by them at Tasik Banding 5.55, 101.349 for another photo stop. The lake looked stunning as ever.  

The Zed is really feeling at home with the twisty roads coming here.

The boys were also enjoying the ride away from home. Something new apart from the routine Genting ride, I presumed.

I have got to get a photo with the CBR. Stunning bike. It was a really busy bridge and I didn't think that it was a very good idea to stop for very long.   

Johnny pose again then off we went.

After the police block we stopped at Shell station5.454, 101.192, just few kms away from Gerik. 

We arrived here at about 5.20 pm. The boys are starting to complain about fatigue. Let's go guys, only another hour to go, less than 60 km then we'd be at the border. On the bike!

I always enjoy the last few twisties just before Betong on the 76. We took the 1157 this time around without passing Pengkalan Hulu and it was equally entertaining despite narrower roads. Finally we arrived the last check point 5.748, 101.03.

Few high 5s were exchanged and we were officially on Thailand soil.

We checked into Mandarin hotel at Betong. As I expected, we got our rooms with no problems at all, due to the recent bombing the place is quiet, at the price of 1480 baht per room. I got my room on the highest floor as I liked it. I chose this hotel as it has proper parking for our bikes under a nice shade.

After shower, we went out and hunt for some nice Thai food. We arrived at the same restaurant i came the last time. 4 dishes consists of otak, a chili steamed Barrmundi, hot tom yum soup, and a fried shrimp with petai and 2 big bottles of Singha costed us around MYR 120.  

We took a short walk around town before heading for our massage.

 Funny looking bike. We saw a couple of these midget bikes around town. It was a Honda.

And the massage at Sri Betong hotel starts. Johnny was complaining about back ache, and he was relieved that he got a strong masseur.

On the way back we saw a food stall with lots of local fruits.

 They looked really nice.

Beautiful flowers.

I stopped by at a 7 eleven, with the hope of getting some beers. Unfortunately, beer is illegal for trade after 11 pm local time. Shame.

Next day morning, I met the guys for breakfast downstairs at the hotel. Room rate was inclusive of breakfast. Thereafter, we went out on our planned sight seeing outing. We went to Phra Mahathat Chadi Phra Phuthammmaprakat to see the Thai temple with a very nicely built pagoda and the biggest bronze Buddha in Thailand. 

Very nice structure was seen here.

The pagoda was behind Johnny and Ray.

 There were many dogs around. Watch out for dog poo.

Ray risked his life by crossing the busy morning street of Betong standing in the middle of the street to take this photo of me and Johnny

The location was 5.772, 101.078. 

We checked out and left the hotel at about 10.30 am and returned to Malaysian soil just half hour to noon after formalities at the check point.

Important note: keep a habit of always checking the outbound stamp at the customs. The Thai immigration is really relaxed and if you crossed the border without stamping, you may be arrested the next time when you return.

Day 2 of our short tour is about 363 kms, approximately 5 hours to get back to KL with stops.

 As planned, we stopped to rest at Jambatan Raja Muda Nazrin 4.997, 100.951. 

Somehow I knew this was coming.

We continued out journey and had Mc Donalds for lunch at Ipoh. It was really hot and we needed the AC. We reach our last stop at about 4.30 pm then we bid good bye.

It was a really fun 2 days riding. The boys were great, they listened and they were punctual. Hope to ride with them again soon.


All pictures taken with Samsung Galaxy S4.