Ride to Phuket 2013... Solo

It was the time of the year again to clear some annual leaves and it was time for me to hit the road.

I took a chance this time and decided to go alone, ride solo to Phuket. The main reaction of riding solo to Thailand is you will get many rolling eyes from people you talk to and seeing their face in disbelieve. I guess once you pass that you will be fine. Riding solo have its own advantages and also has its own risks. Be smart and ride safe, be prepared for anything that could happen on the road.

I started my journey on the 3rd week of November, after careful planning of my work and handing over my duties to my would-be assistants and saying goodbye to my boss, I was ready.

I took my sweet ass time this time around in the morning as my first day I only plan to reach Hatyai. During my past rides when I ride with a fellow rider, we had to meet up somewhere as RV point. I did not plan to push too much on the first day as ride to Phuket is only about 1,000 km away, it is either I do it iron butt ride, by making it in 1 day, or I can take my sweet ass time to make it in 2. I am riding solo, so it is up to me. Suka hati saya lah.

I started by bike and left home at about 8.30 am in the morning. By about 10 am I reached Simpang Pulai. However, half hour later, it started to rain. This rain which made my ride to Phuket for the next 24 hours turned into a near nightmarish ride as I had rode all the way to Phuket in the rain. No shit.

This trip has let me learnt more about my gears again. I get to know how water resistant was my Kriega R25 backpack was not very resistant to water at all, and how well my Kriega US20 drybag works and I was really impress with this drybag. It was a really good investment for the drybag.

I arrived the border at around 2 pm and I was hungry and tired of riding in the rain. My alpinestars excursion water proof gore-tex pants didn't happen to be very waterproof as I felt water started to slowly flow in from my waist and into my boots when I was at Gurun rest stop (after 2 hours riding in the rain). Maybe it was due to the mesh jacket that I was wearing that was not water proof. Hell, seriously how the fuk did I know it was going to rain the whole way.

Anyway, as I reach Changloon after refueling, I stopped by the usual coffee shop, bought insurance, filled up my white card, had lunch and I was ready to cross the border. I changed my plan to stay in Danok instead. I was soaked and not in the happy camper mood to ride another mile. I was riding solo so I can change my plan anytime I want. It was up to me. Suka hati saya lagi lah.

Crossing the border was easy that day. It took me not more than 20 minutes to get everything done and I was officially in Thailand SOLO!!!! I checked in Oscar palace hotel and paid the usual RM 80 for a nights stay. There is a gated, guarded and covered car pack, as a reason for me to stay here. I don't know any other hotels anyway. This was my 3rd time staying in this hotel.

I checked in the hotel and start getting my wet gears off. My wet jacket, wet pants, wet boots, wet shirt, wet underwear, and worse part of all, worse socks. Thankfully nothing was smelling funky.

I walked across the street to get dinner and I was feeling a bit warm. I told myself, this is a party for myself and no way I am going to let this weather to get to me. I had my very first Thai dinner and I was a happy camper. The tom yum koong was so spicy I could not finish. I was wondering why this soup can still be steaming hot after half hour on my table.

On the second day, I decided to wake up as early as 6 am Malaysian time to leave for Phuket. Reading the weather info from my phone just let me understand that the journey to Phuket was going to be a wet one. I was planning to ride pass Hatyai and stop by Patthalung amazon cafe on the 4. However, when I passed by PTT station, it was closed under renovation and I decided to carry on until I see another Amazon cafe. That was not a very good decision as after that, it started to pour and I could not see clearly. Visibility was low and then I decided to stop before I was being run down my a tourist bus or a local pick up truck.

I stopped by at this petrols station and waited for the rain to reside to drizzle. 

It looked relentless and unforgiving. Until about 11 am. Then, I hit the road again. It was still raining but I carried on. I rode on and I didn't stop as long as I could see.  

 Rest stop at Phang Nga. Hours later, after a few unintended short cuts by my stupid GPS, I reached Phang Nga for a petrol and pee stop. Everything was holding up better as I was wearing a 30 baht rain coat over my mesh jacket. I looked like an idiot but it was worth it.

I reached Phuket at about 5.40 pm that day. I realised that I have probably chosen the worse day to ride my motorcycle to Phuket. But you know what, it is up to me as I was riding alone. Suka hati saya lah.

It was time to take the load off time to relax. I have reached my destination. Solo. I do what I want and I will enjoy it.

Stay tuned and since I am riding solo.... "hoorah"... LOL

All pics are taken by my Samsung Galaxy S4.

Ride safe... rehydrate!

One thing that I learnt from riding on a long trip is that by after half day of riding, I would get really tired. When you get tired, your reflects become slower, intermittent attention span, less focus on the road. This could spell disaster as you could get into trouble in a nick of time.

Few reasons of getting rider's fatigue, it may be caused by lack of sleep the night before, comfortability of your gear, NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) of your ride and even hunger and thirst. 

Getting yourself hydrated is important to make sure you have a safe ride and you can definitely go farther. I have bought a hydration pack few weeks ago and during my recent solo ride to Phuket, I get to test out this hydration pack. And the result is nothing short of impressive. I am really happy that I bought this gear and I really appreciate this good design especially coupled with my R25 back pack. 

Watch Jamie Robinson on his tour to Mexico City and his Kriega 3 litre hydrapak at 4:10.

I got mine from Holeshot Motorwear in Shah Alam and it works really well with my Kriega R25 backpack.

This is how it looks like. 

This is the end of the nozzle which you drink from. There is a cap which is easy to find to remove the cap to drink or to put it back on, even when you have your gloves on.

This is how the nozzle looks like. You bite it to drink. 

The other end of the hose is to be attached to the pack. 

We can slide open the plastic seal which seals the pack securely. 

This is how to open the pack to fill up water and to wash it. 

This is my R25 backpack. Get to know more about the bag from Anthony Revzilla. 

As my backpack is the 2012 model, I put the hydration pack in the front pocket. There is a velcro strap to hang the hydration pack.  

This is how I put in the pack. Maximum to be filled with 3 litre. You can fill it up with water, 100 plus, gatorade, beer even. LOL.

Hang the hydration pack to keep it upright at all times.

The hose comes out from the front pocket. 

I let the hose go through the top handle strap to keep it steady during my ride.

Notice the hydration pack comes with additional 2 velcro straps, one to be attached on the hose and the other on my backpack strap. This thing works really well, as when I am on the road, even when I am riding, the velcro will attach and coupled back by itself after I am done drinking. I do not need to place it on the velcro as it will do it on its own. This is what I find impressive about the design.

Thanks for stopping by.

All pics taken using my Samsung Galaxy S4.