BETONG, THAILAND 5 & 6 NOV 2011

It's our first trip on bike to Betong, Thailand (border between Northern Malaysia & Thailand). We started our journey from home at 5.30am as we were scheduled to leave from McD's situated at the Subang-Damansara Petrol station along the NKVE. The group started to trail in one by one; introductions made, breakfast taken and soon we were ready to embark on our longest journey to-date. There were 7 of us in total with another 3 meeting us at the border. (namely - Alex, Ryan, Sam, Tong, Kai Seng & Eric)
At 7am, we began our long journey ahead. Next stop was Rawang to meet another 3 bikers who were also going to Thailand but on different destination. We traveled together until Kuala Kangsar where we bid our goodbyes to the 3 younger riders from Klang. Refueling & stretching out was at Tapah for about 15mins. By 10.30am, we were having our second breakfast at Kuala Kangsar after refueling in town! 
The strangest thing happened. After whetting our appetite for the second time in under 4 hours, Rocker57 remembered he had forgotten his passport!! Imagine that! Oh gosh!! 
AHA, me to the rescue... obviously I brought it with me - DUH!! Sigh, what would Rocker57 do without me? (snickering)

Breakfast at a curry house restaurant along the main road to the border.

Half an hour later, we were at the Immigration where we met the rest of the bikers. It was chaotic as there was no system nor signage to guide you. Lucky for us, the seasoned riders guided us through without a hitch giving us step by step instructions - Thanks! It seems that the vehicle declaration form is very important. If one forgets to return the form upon return, the same vehicle is disallowed to re-enter Thailand in future. So definitely, I kept the forms safe and sound.
Bikers being a spontaneous lot, no accommodations were made before hand. They love to scout around before settling down. Errrr...something Rocker57 & I aren't used to at all. But the 'kapala" (bikers slang for head of team) managed to secure accommodations for all bikers - RM80 per night per room. At that price, I seriously knew what to expect and I was not wrong. Complimentary toilet rolls were provided as tissue paper, so you can know what to expect, right? No pictures taken, didn't want to be reminded.
We went in search for lunch after being given half an hour to refresh. The gang then walked about 20mins then settled in at the seasoned bikers' preferred choice for good food at reasonable price al fresco restaurant.

Betong was an improvement from my recent trip to Yangon, Myanmar in late February. It is a small township, I think you can walk about town in under an hour. Motorbikes are aplenty and apparently helmets were required only on certain days or specified hours only, odd but true. Safety doesn't seem that important here as roads are small and vehicles can't really move fast around here. 

During the day, you can see a lot of police officers around town at their makeshift booths or walking/bicycling around. Well, at least a lot lot more police officers than I can see in Betong than in USJ where I reside!! In the night, more army personnel join in the routine. So, one tend to feel safe here. Is it safe? I wouldn't know.

Yes! They serve bak kut teh here! (pork ribs boiled in Chinese herbal soup). Apparently a lot of Malaysians trade or have settled down here. So these traders understand Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia, Cantonese and Hokkien! Therefore, communication is not an issue :)   Understandably, in the 50-60s a huge community of Malaysian communists evading arrest in Malaysia have called this "home". So their descendants are now naturalized Thais, I presume. Verdict of our Bak Kut Teh? Even the Klangnites swears it is as good as it gets!!! So there!
After a short walk about town, Alex, Kai Seng and us headed back to the hotel to rest while a large group of them went on to explore the communist camp. Rocker57 and I have just seen the ones in Ho Chi Minh City, it is quite similar, hence we did not join the group. Luckily, we did not follow as they were caught in the rain on the way back - all 30km!!

As bikers are spontaneous people, we were caught unaware of the agenda (none really! Apart from when we start, pit breaks along the way to Betong, there was NO agenda when one is in Betong). We waited for over half an hour for the group at dinner time, none appeared. Except for the one 'lost soul' from the touring group who joined us, the rest were MIA (missing in action, doing god knows what? Shopping/massage perhaps) After our meal (delectable and cheap), we walked around town, had our cuppa before calling it a day. ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The journey home the next day was uneventful as only 3 riders headed home in the wee hours of the morning while the rest were still snoozing.