Wet 'n Wild...

If you like to have fun with water, then this is for you! It is where the whole town or better yet, the WHOLE NATION will join you (or you joining them) to play with water.

Every year in celebrating the New Year (Buddhist Calendar), Thailand will hold a water festival called SONGKRAN (song-kran), usually held between 13-15 April and it is regarded as the longest holiday in Thailand. The word means 'passing' or 'approaching' and this festival marks the traditional Thai New Year.

Pic Source: therealsingapore.com

Water is the important element so if you don't plan to get wet, DO NOT TRAVEL TO THAILAND around this time of year. Your only "safe place" will be your own hotel room. To me, if you're not in the zone means you'll be missing all the fun! There will be street parties, foam party, water war, food, and so on.

I didn't want to miss it either, so me and some of my mates decided to ride to Hatyai and join the Songkran festival there. From Kuala Lumpur, we planned to group up at Petronas Station, Rawang Rest Area at 0100hrs on 12 April. However, we were delayed because we had a Songkran prelude, RAIN! Since the words "we ride, rain or shine" have been instilled in our minds, all of us minded the rain. We left the Rest Area at 0210hrs and took a steady cruise up north.

Our first refueling stop was at the Simpang Pulai Rest Area. We reached there around 0330hrs. Around 0530hrs we reached our next stop, Juru Shell station. Traveling at these hours started to take its toll. All you think of was your cosy bed at home..haha. But hey, the journey had to go on.

We wanted to reach the border (Bukit Kayu Hitam-Danok) when it opens (0600hrs) as we anticipated that there'll be lots of people there trying to cross the border for the Songkran Festival, but that didn't happen 'coz we were delayed from Kuala Lumpur. We only reached the border at 0730hrs. We were right! The road was already jammed at least 3km away from the Immigration Centre. Full of busses, cars, trucks, you name it! Lucky us, we were on motorbikes..hehe. 

It took us a solid one hour to settle everything at the Immigration Centre, stomachs were growling hence it was a high time for breakfast. Yes! So we strolled down Danok town and went straight to a muslim hawkers area. They are also famous for Daging Bakar Harimau Menangis or Crying Tiger Grilled Beef (haha...direct translation). There's no issue looking for halal food in Danok for one simple reason, many Thai muslims in the southern part of the country.

The food at this hawkers' area was so tasty and cheap! I had the pulut (sticky rice) and rendang. Simply delicious! They also have nasi kerabu and such.

pulut and beef rendang

Ok, time to hit the road again. Danok-Hatyai is about 55km apart so it took us another hour to reach Hatyai. We were heading to our hotel. In anticipating the Hatyai town area will be packed, we chose to avoid it. We stayed 3km away from the town area and after searching for quite a while, we finally reached our hotel, the Boom Forest Resort.

MYR110/nite with breakfast

front desk

The resort was nice, clean, and quiet with parameter fencing and you get to park your bike at your doorstep. They also have a small restaurant where the serve a small buffet breakfast and other meals in a day. After a good catch up with our sleep, we went to Sami Kitchen. It offers, halal and good local cuisines. The resort we stayed in also offers shuttle service for TBH100 per one way trip.

selfie!

At the town area, Songkran celebration has already begun, so we head down there to get our share of fun. There are many ways you can join in the fun either by spalshing others with a water gun or you can buy talc powder and mix it with water and simply pour it on people..haha....but I always look for action so I chose the water gun!

The guns come in many sizes (hehe). The most expensive would be MYR60 (5500cc) a piece. They are sold everywhere. Now, it's time to rumble!

In Hatyai, amongst others, the Songkran will last until midnite. So please don't think that you will be dry at dinner time. Playing with water for hours will make you hungry! ;) We actually minded everybody and sat down at a nasi lemak hawker and take our meal smack in the middle of the "war zone".

teh tarik with straw

13 April was our second day of Songkran but it was the first day of the real Songkran celebration (13-15 Apr). So on this day, was the real deal.

ready to war!

The whole town has started splashing water from as early as 0900hrs. We arrived at the town area ard 1100hrs and went straight to Hamid Restaurant for our brunch. The food there, to me, was alright, tasty enough, but it's halal.

Meals done, game on! The streets were full of people, whenever you are there and you see this....START SHOOTING!

gang war!

If you think that you'd be safe in a tuktuk...think again!

sitting duck!

Some prefer the water and some just like to enjoy the concert, street party, and foam party...yeah baby! FOAM PARTYYY!!!

After all the hustling and water splashing, fingers were pruning, we decided to call it a day. We went to yet another tourist spot in Hat Yai, the Khlong Hae Floating Market for dinner. There you can find local delicacies, souvenirs, and such. They are open daily from 1500-2100hrs. It's better to go after 1700hrs when it is not too hot.

It has been a great experience riding 500km in the middle of the nite. Less traffic and much cooler, although you might get sleepy and will turn out to be dangerous. I'd say, with proper rest or even getting some sleep before your departure will definitely help a lot.

I have been to Songkran Festival for two straight years in two different places (first was Phuket) and I must say that so far it has never turned me down. It is a Festival in Thailand that you must go and experience it first hand. I will definitely be back next year, God willing...

Songkran thru my lense...

Oopps..we did it again...!

After successfully conquering the Peninsula Malaysia in January 2014, the Mandarin Boys (hahaha...just got to give it a name!) set out again and this time it's to Betong, Thailand. 

Betong is the southern town of Thailand bordering Malaysia, and it is the capital of Betong District the southernmost district of Yala Province. Total population is roughly around 35,000 (read it somewhere). As I understood it, the word Betong, in Malay is "Betung" means "bamboo" (also, read it somewhere).

We rendezvous (RV) at Rawang rest area on PLUS (North-South Highway) highway at 7.30am, and somebody woke up late and we can only roll out at around 8.30am. Shish! Anyhow, as usual we don't normally take a direct route, instead we took the inner roads where they are more winding and could add some spice to the ride. The normal direct route would be (or can be)...to take the PLUS Highway and exit at Kuala Kangsar, go through Gerik then head to Pengkalan Hulu (the bordering town Malaysia-Betong).

So from PLUS highway we exited at Gopeng then went through Parit, Kuala Kangsar, Gerik and Pengkalan Hulu. We can still see some smog along the way but it did not however affect our visibility. We did see some burning bushes along the way, although in small plots. Other than that, riding through the inner roads is more fun and a little bit cooler as you will get some shades from the trees. Roads are winding and small, lets you practice your "race line" (hahaha). Traffic was ok, nothing significant to comment. 

We stopped at Gopeng to refuel and we found out that one of our lady-biker friends, Jun Sharail, was en-route to Betong by herself on her BMW HP4 (cheewwiiit!). We managed to RV with Jun at Kari Kepala Ikan Salim Restaurant (Salim Fish Head Curry) at Gerik (need I mention that she had to wait 3 solid hours for us to arrive...hehe, sorry Jun). It was her first time riding to Betong and I guess she was glad that we were there, weren't you, Jun? 

We had our lunch there after which we continued our journey to Pengkalan Hulu (about 45km away from where we were) where we are going to cross the two nations' borders to Betong.

(Pic Source: http://www.cathay.com.my/project_ciq.php )

Not many traffic and people, it's always a breeze going through the two checkpoints.

(Pic Source: http://www.livingincmajor.com/betong-thailand-betong-attractions)

The Betong town is not very far from the checkpoint, I'd say it's a mere 3km away. Soon we arrived at our hotel, the Garden View Hotel. It's a big hotel, with loads of amenities (oops...i missed the fact if they had a swimming pool). Their own clubbing joint, karaoke, restaurant, and free wifi. Oh...and the restaurant is halal.

My room, for MYR79/nite (without breakfast):

View outside my room window..

Going around is easy in Betong, You can either rent a scooter for MYR30/day or you can take a tuktuk (MYR2/person, every where around Betong town) or even, go with your own vehicle. Ohya..in Betong, you can use Malaysia Ringgit as medium of exchange, it is widely acceptable.

After freshen up, we took a tuktuk to a halal restaurant, Tuan Kitchen. There are many muslims in Betong so finding halal food is not a challenge.

Shah is enjoying his Asian Fruit Salad

Tuan Kitchen offers the usual Thai cooking and one thing we want to highlight is, Asian Fruit Salad is a must try!

Asian Fruit Salad

After dinner we walk around town looking for something interesting and to shop (window shopping for most of us).

Some of us did some shopping while others watched, if not influencing others to shop more and more.

Betong offers good seafood too. We had a rather big dinner but we didn't want to miss the fresh oysters!

Six big oysters, less than MYR20. Yummeh!

Day 2

On this day, we were going around Betong to its places of interest namely, the Buddhahadhiwat Temple, Mongkolit Tunnel, biggest mailbox in Thailand, Hot Springs, Winter Flower Garden, Piyamit Tunnel. Of course, we didn't go to all of them 'cause some of these places are quite far off from the town. So we rented some scooters and hit the roads.

We had our breakfast at Sarifah Restaurant, yet another halal food. They have nice nasi lemak and roti canai.

First stop is the Biggest Mailbox in Thailand. It's located at the City Convention Hall and stands about 9 meters tall. Historically, it was built in 1924 and it was used as a communication post for the town people where a radio is placed on top of the box.

Next is the Hot Springs. It's about 5km away from Betong town located at the Ban Charo Parai Village. It is believed that hot springs can cure muscle pain and minor skin irritation. No, we didn't jumped in the pool..haha.

After a short visit, we continued on to the Piyamit Tunnel. It is an underground tunnel and is about 4km further from the Hot Springs. It used to be the base of the Malaya Communist Division 2 and only took 3 months to built in 1976. Now, there is an exhibition about its history and the way of life in the forest.

to make charcoal

Smokeless Stoves

goods lift

museum

It was very cooling and windy inside the tunnel. I can't imagine how the communists stayed there at the time. Must be bloody cramped! 

Our tour guide was one of the communist personnel in its days. He is in his 60's now and he's from Kajang, Malaysia! He told us a lot about those days and how they fought bravely against the Royal Malay Regiment. I took a picture with him as shown below. Wow! I met a real communist (well...former communist) !

Exhausted by the climbing up and going down the hill, our tour had to carry on. It was sunny and dry and it's time to jump in to the river for a swim..hehe.

Ok, so climbing up hills..done! went through a communist tunnel...done! Waterfall..done! Guess now it's time for a good lunch..So we head back to the Hot Springs where we saw some roasted chicken and grilled fish. Yumyum!

it's rarely you get to see this.

After lunch, some of us wanted to go back to the hotel and rest. me and two others decided to look for a massage. A two-hour full body oil massage for MYR60...why the hell not!?

Day 3

Time to go home. We had our breakfast at Tiffany's (no, i forgot the name but it did sound like it..hehe) where there is nasi kerabu, roti canai, and nasi briyani ( we call it nasi kuning). Halal and tasty.

chicken briyani

nasi kerabu

After checking out, we rolled out...destination: HOME! This time, we took the shortest route available to Kuala Lumpur. Betong-Gerik-Kuala Kangsar-KL. The weather was so hot and dry and we had to make many unscheduled stops due to dehydration. When its hot and dry...this is the solution..COCONUT JUICE!

Our last stop for the ride was at Ulu Bernam Rest area on PLUS highway where we bid farewell and the boys didn't wait too long to start thrashing ideas for our next adventure. Hold your stallions, boys!

All-in-all, Betong is a nice place to visit especially if I want to compare it with Danok. Betong is more laid back with its own offerings. Will visit Betong again, given the chance...

Ciao!