Well, considering I am at betong now with bike, I will chime in.

Documents.
You need your ori grant (or certified true copy, or if a borrowed bike, you also need the owners authorization letter), drivers licence (no one asks here) and insurance.

Border crossing Malaysia
Make sure you have your grant. Malaysia side will ask for it before you cross into Thailand.
Malaysia immigration is simple enough, just give passport. Takes less than 1 minute if no queue.

Once approaching Thai immigration, park your bike and walk to the immigration building.

Thai side a few things you need to do.
1) fill out the visitor entry card
2) fill out the "information of conveyance" form TM2 (2 copies)

You can get them to fill up for you at the counter outside the passport room, for 2rm and 3rm respectively, just pass them your documents. I can't be bothered, for 5rm I just ask them to fill for me. They speak Malay.

Then go to passport control room and hand your passport and the above 2 forms.

Thai immigration will hand you one copy along with your passport.

Take your bike and ride to Thai customs checkpoint (about 20m) and park. Take your grant and pass to customs officer. Fee is 3rm. Once you get your temp vehicle import permit, you can go get your bike and ride in. All done. Don't loose the temp vehicle import permit. You need to return it to Thai customs on the way out.



As for insurance, you can get it before exiting Malaysia or after you get into Thailand. I paid 140 for 1 year for bike >150cc (60 for 3 months, 90 for 6 months). It is easy..you will see signs.


Do note, roaming will not work here at yala province due to Thai government ban. You will have to get a local SIM. However, you can download Google maps before entry for offline navigation so you can still get navigation from border to Betong town if you only intend to get a SIM in town or not at all and depend on wifi.


Those who are riding in, please note Thais ride very slowly and at speeds we are not accustomed to. The roads are also slippery when wet, with speed limits down to 30 kmh.


Well , cheap good food, good climate, cheap and good massage. Those who like camp, many scenic places like Punapa, Gunung Silipat, Larnmork...etc

I did a half hotel, half camp trip this time for a week. Got rained out though.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Dec 21 2022, 08:55 PM

Compulsory.

It's hit or miss with that one. They didn't ask for it in my case, in fact I don't know if they ever asked for it. But anyway I got mine done before crossing over so no Biggie if they did ask.



But for betong,they don't care, because many often only buy insurance after they get in. Or don't buy at all if they just want to go betong town and not ride/drive anywhere.



I paid 140 which seems a little much since the actual premiums was for 650thb. So maybe other agents inside betong will be cheaper. But what the heck.... It's for 1 year.

*I have my own travel insurance.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Dec 22 2022, 06:25 PM

Yes indeed, but dry still ok I felt...but then I wasn't like gung ho Malaysian style blasting 100kph on small roads.

But when wet, going up to Gunung Silipat twisties...holy cow, were the roads slippery....even at 30kmh.

Big bikes max is 100kmh or lower as indicated on local speed limits.

Thais also don't " require" a helmet until you crash. LOL

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jan 9 2023, 02:36 PM

Don't think most of us bother..since unless you have a centre stand, doing a chain lube is a PITA.... Might be easier to just take the bike to a bike wash and have them clean the chain and lube it for you..... Those that do ultra long distances would be better served with an automatic chain oiler.

That said, if you are doing trails and in dusty and sandy roads where you have to do chain cleaning mid trip then yes. Bring some chain lube.

My take on chain lube, correct or not, is that modern chains are sealed up o ring or X ring...and therefore doesn't need as much lube as previous chains. I only re-lube it after bike wash/chain cleaning which is about every 2-3 weeks..or after an off road ride...... About 1.5- 2k km. My stock chain lasted 30k doing it this way. My current X ring chain has 10k on it and shows no sign of wear.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jan 13 2023, 01:24 PM

I might do a solo ride up to Betong next week. maybe 25-27.

Considering I would be back Ipoh hometown all week, Betong is just a short 2 hr ride up. Hope the crowds arnt too bad.

There is nothing really at Danok. Unless you are a party animal.

The other option is to ride west coast, via Wan Kelian and Satun. On route to Ko Lanta - Kraby. But that ride might be taxing on a 110.

Im might head up to betong tmrw.

If you are going Saturday, a bit of a heads up. Weather will be a bit iffy.

Just got to Betong.

Real nice ride up. Misty and cooling all the way from Kuala Kangsar this morning.

Cloudy and cooling now. Immigration and customs not too busy, both took about 15mins to clear in total.

Please spend the time and read up the tread. That's the purpose of this thread. It's been discussed before.

Made it to Hatyai. Slightly over 4.5hours santai ride from Betong.

Decided to avoid Yala..so took kampung road. From hw410 to hw4077 and hw4070 and hw4085 then up to hw 42. Hw42 westbound will end with a T junction to hw4, which is the main road from dannok to hatyai. Turn left for dannok, turn right for hatyai. It's another 20-23min ride to dannok/hatyai, since Hw42 intersects hw4 sort of in the middle.

410 north is nice...lots of twisty mountain road, one part next to a lake. Road is recently paved, smooth but can be slippery. Traffic is light. 410 is the only road lacking in fuel stations, so fill up before leaving betong.

4077 is kampung road. Not much traffic. But roads in good condition. Some section twisty and cooling.

4085 and 42 is currently undergoing expansion road works. So some sections quite dusty and have to go slow.

But otherwise, traffic is light. Plenty of fuel stations along the way near highway junctions/intersections. Fuel is 37k B/L for 95

General speeds quite slow. Anywhere from 40 to 90 only. So bike got damn good fuel economy. My last fuel stop was in Pengkalan Hulu.....and still made it to hatyai just over 300km. Still got 2 bars left. Normally at 130-140 Malaysia highway speed, I don't even make 200km on a full tank.

Going to make my way down to dannok for a 1 night stay before coming back tmrw.


The alternative route is hw410 straight through Yala to Patani. But will go through both towns. Then take hw43 west all the way to hatyai. It's a longer route.


Sekian laporan.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jan 26 2023, 04:04 PM

I'm using a Dominar 400. Solo this trip. My friend is doing a west side route from wan kelian/ satun and was supposed to meet in hatyai today.

Security? Nothing. This is a cold bike in Thailand. But I usually stay hotels with private parking.

Yep. Vista. Nice hotel for the price. Just a bit far, but got bike easy to get around.

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.

I should be back in KL Sunday afternoon. pm time and location pls. Will join if not too tired.

Just got back to KL. See you guys 3pm. Might go there early have lunch first. Going to get a nap in first..damn sleepy.

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.

LOL.

Punctuality is one of the virtues of riding groups for obvious reasons. Without punctuality, all riding groups will fail. Good time management is necessary for group trips as everything is planned ahead of time.

Hope next TT people will be more punctual..if not at least let the organizer know ahead of time that you would be late or can't join in.

There is a nice place to chill. It's a very laid back shabu / al fresco bar call the shabu container or something like that... Live band. Not packed...

Directly opposite satit grand view hotel.