I'll add in: slippery even on fully sunny day dry.

Their road LOOKS smooth, but it isn't grippy for tires. More rubbery content than small stones/pebbles for tires to adhere towards.

So those Twisties after customs towards Betong town, totally not advisable to speed/have fun. It'll quickly turn into brown pants moments or touch wood outright crash.

don't need international license. just use your malaysian license is enough.
well thai approach is that no license is needed, until you get into an accident.
if you rent a bike they normally won't even ask for a license.

do note that most (if not all) of these bike rental doesn't have voluntary or compulsory insurance for the bike.
so if you get into an accident you need to pay for the people that you hit, the vehicle that you hit and the bike that you rent.
they want cash so best to have some land that you could sell quickly. 

It was a roadblock at the beginning of Route 12 from the junction to Phu Tub Berk back in 2017.

I rode down towards BangCock Central Railway station from my China Border trip via Laos Vientiane border exit towards Thai.

The Thai Police with their tight fit uniform stopped us (2 bikes), then check the license plate (at the back),then he realized that we are foreigner, then try to communicate in Thai asking for everything (Passport, Thai custom form, License). So we use hand signal to communicate + Google Translate (earlier edition many error),

I got IDP, but my riding buddy does not hand being hard headed he insisted that MY driving license is valid and trying to explain in English to a person who did not even knew the Latin alphabet.

Cut the story short, we payed to them 300 bht of summon because my friend didn't have valid IDP according to the officer,

..... and a bullet hole in his top box ..

I can share this story because of that incident he (my riding buddy) decided to forgo the biking lifestyle, sold off his bike and avoiding Thailand.

now.. another info for Thailand, in LAND OF SMILE firearms are rampart can be obtained legally and/or illegally.

So if you are in the Touristy area, you are safe because the Tourist Police will protect foreigner, but when you in the rural areas, control your emotion, be humble and don't fall into their provocation even though you think that your right, Remember its not your country.

DC more affordable in Danok than Betong, its way over rated already..

My friends from Penang go there every month.. Haha.. Heard he said all nightlife entertainment already open.. Golok also same.. But these 2 places I've never been there before coz besides party, I would like to travel around and finding foods.. So Hatyai makes more sense to me.. If just wanna party I would go Betong, which is the nearest to me..

i'm into food too, nightlife definitely is a no for me..

*hopefully* there's someone organize, but i doubt tho.. 

usually there will be a organizer who organize everything, hotel/airbnb booking, itinerary, once done all of this, organizer will look for rider who interested to go together and enjoy the ride & trip

can define your "difficult" see whether i fit into ur description or not 

i'm in , after cny can plan? 

preferably during school holidays so that i dont have to pick my kid from school in the afternoon... but anyhow, do propose a date, if i can join then i will join

It's true.. The last trip that I organised to Hatyai nearly went downhill.. Luckily other participants are tolerate enough.. 7 bikes from 3 groups of friends. One fella became barbaric after drinking..    Aside from that, it's a fun trip.. So anyone joining new people, make sure to have high EQ because we will never know who we will meet.. Anything unhappy or irritate you, just forget it until ride is done.. You can complain or boycott the particular person after that, but please don't spoil the mood of other during the trip..

Dannok seems very dead. I know it's not the weekend yet...but still.

Looks like the new Thai border town hotspot is Betong. Huge difference.

Yeah I think it might take some time for Dannok to recover. Most people only go there for only 1 reason.....for rest, it's just a stopover to hatyai.

While shops on the main road are mainly all open. The side roads still have a lot of shops still closed. A few of the old time clubs are closed..maybe permanently. Even the big M club remain closed.

Nightlife didn't really start until 10pm...if that's your thing.

Weekend might be different though. As I was on the way back on Friday...did see a number of bike convoys going up north.
But exiting was quick on Friday afternoon. No line up. Just park bike, get passport chopped (have dedicated motocyclist counter) Then just ride bike around the building to the old border checkpoint and hand in your custom form at Counter 8. Took 5 mins.

Cars now use the new immigration checkpoint which did have quite a line up. So the main immigration building is only for bus passengers, walk in and motorcyclist.

..... spare bike ... 

hahaha..

I had lost my key before on one my my trip.
It's keyless. Manage to start the bike using backup method.