New Custom procedures crossing from Malaysia to Thailand observed, and loading my baby Ducati up Thailand's Railway train for a 15 hour train ride from Hat Yai - Bangkok today!
Remembering how it was like during #BeyondEverest when my Suzuki DR200 weighing 120KG took 3 fit men to lift it up onto the cargo, I can't imagine my 180KG Ducati Hypermotard going up this time :s
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| Big Tree Foot Address: 652, Jalan King, Taman Hoover, 31650 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia |
Oh well, we'll see how it goes later! Let's start the day right with some delicious Ipoh food.
Rode to the famous Ipoh Yong Tau Foo at Pasir Pinji Big Tree Foot (Dai Shu Geok) coffee shop for breakfast. If you're not a big eater, you can order one bowl and share because it's quite filling.
With our tummies satisfied for just RM10, we departed Ipoh and headed for Hat Yai, Thailand!
Prior to that, we checked the schedule of the trains so we managed our time better on the roads. You can check the timetable here.
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| Look out for #BeyondEverest if you purchase your insurance here! ;) |
After clocking about 280KM and seeing the signboard to "Alor Setar" like 5 times, we were finally near Sadao Border.
There are quite a few places you can buy Insurance for your vehicle to enter Thailand, some are located along the road side on the way to Sadao Border like Chang Lun Tours, where I always purchase mine from.
Cost RM18 for 7 days or RM35 for 30 days in Thailand.
Cleared Malaysia's border and over to Thailand we go! This is the first time I'm riding my Ducati into the Land of Smiles and I'm so excited!
It was a Wednesday afternoon, so the border wasn't crowded at all. Parked our bikes here and went to do the necessary Custom & Immigration paperwork.
Try to avoid peak periods especially weekends or public holidays, if not you could wait up to 4 - 6 hours just to clear customs. Trust me, I've tried it and will never EVER repeat the same mistake.
New Custom Form to Fill In At Sadao Border
Apart from your passport and vehicle log card, there's now an additional Custom Declaration Form with specific details you need to fill in, like your enter/exit date from Thailand, where are you going, for what purpose etc.
Got our passports stamped, bikes cleared, and Sawadeekaaa!
We're in THAILAND!
This is the 5th time I've ridden to/from Thailand in just this year alone and still very much loving this hospitable country!
Just 50KM from Sadao Border, we arrived at Hat Yai Railway Station at 4:00PM, and ready for our train ride. I've ridden through from Hat Yai to Bangkok before via Chumpon and the road condition isn't great, with many patches and potholes. So we're taking the train instead to spare our bikes and backs some painful bumps.
Purchased our train tickets departing at 6:10PM for Bangkok, and went on to the Cargo area to get a ticket for our bikes. However when we got there, we were told that there was no space for our bikes in the cargo section and our bikes would have to be on a different train as us.
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| Not going anywhere without you baby |
I've read on forums that traveling on a different train as your bike is not ideal because its extremely troublesome if you arrive and can't find your bike, or it gets damaged upon unloading or some other undesired situation etc etc.
So, I politely requested for our bikes to be on the same train as us and was willing to take the later timing train. Again, my request was declined as the Thai lady staff seemed to have some difficulty understanding our concerns.
I decided to approach a train station staff who could speak English to try and get some help.
After about 15 minutes, we managed to get our communication across and we're taking the last train to Bangkok together with our bikes! :)
This time, we decided to try the First Class cabin that comes with a private cabin and a shared showering facility.
Cost Per Person
First Class - 1,540 THB
Second Class - 945 THB
Cost For Bike Varies According To 200/400/800/1200CC
600/800CC Bike - 1,390 THB + 250 THB (porter fees) + 60 THB (strings to tie down)
= 1,700 THB
Now that we've got tickets for our bikes and ourselves settled, time to dig into our first Thai meal for the day before hopping onto the train! Who can resist yummy Thai street foodzz! I can't!
After dinner, we headed back to the train station just in time to see our bikes go up the cargo safely.
And firmly tied down with nothing but strings..... doesn't.. it.. look.. stable...?
Dear God, please have my bike survive this 15 hour overnight train ride...
Goodnight now fellas! We'll be waking up to Bangkok tomorrow morning!
[Singapore.Malaysia.Hat Yai Thailand]
[Mileage Clocked: 940KM]
[Weather/Temperature: Sunny/33°C]
[Terrain: Tarmac]
Next: Bangkok, Thailand