We started the first day from Kangar, Perlis. (Thanks to Khalid’s connections, we were able to park our cars in a safe place for two days.) 9:40am, we left for Padang Besar. The sky was dark and the road was wet… rain restarted after a few KM from Kangar as we were started to get organized to ride at 30KM/hr claimed average. Hm… who were pulling in front… my meter was showing 35KM/hr. We reached Padang Besar at about 1hr later. Before entering the customs, we stopped over at Petronas to clean up and refill. We left Malaysia at 11:20am and started riding into Thai-land.
The immediate observation was the road color and surrounding… it would be very dusty if it was not raining but we were lucky, the rain continued since we started the day. We continued with the claimed 30KM/hr average… and it went to 38KM/hr at time and lowered to 33-35KM/hr when some riders were not able to catch up. Our faces were so “muddy” and not to mention our bikes. We have two stops before we reached Hatyai… and as usual, most of the riders will clean up their bikes.
The lunch was quite delicious (maybe I should say tasty, maybe we were wet, dirty and hungry). The economy rice and the noodle soup were so great that Danny has two bowls of noodle soup. We reached Hatyai city at 4pm and guess what… the first place we visited was a bike shop followed by two more… all riders bought at least one item except Danny. We were not able to find the 3rd shop… thanks to a local Chinese uncle (in his late 70s). He rode an old single speed bike and led us thru the town cruising at 16KM/hr. We felt so warmed… we should have taken a picture with him. We must be too wet and too tired.
We checked in at Yong Dee hotel (located right in the downtown) at 5pm. We cleaned up and met for dinner at 6pm. After dinner, 6 riders went for massage and left 3 wandering around. The downtown was being setup for New Year count down. Many tourists on the street and police were everywhere. We felt safe. We even have some "star" drink on the street. We met up 9:30pm for supper and drink. The fried noodle was great and the Tom Yam noodle had 5 fresh water prawns in it!!! We ordered a huge “elephant” drink. Overall, we had a great night out. We forgot about the muddy ride… our bike was dirtier than almost all our previous off road rides. You will not believe it.
Day 2… we met at 8am for breakfast at the market nearby. We started the ride at about 9:30am. But, less than 1KM from our hotel, we had a puncture. We took opportunity to take pictures. About 25KM later… we were called to stop again… this time… two spokes on a rear wheel gave way. It took us a while to settle the situation with a wheel swap and a bike swap. One bike was moving for the rest of the day with two spokes less. We got organized again and resume our cruising speed at claimed “30KM/hr”. The road condition and weather was perfect. No more rain, no more dusty roads. At some point before noon, we were riding at 38KM++… the rider with the wheel swap started to ride slower as the disc brake was slightly “jammed”. We stopped to have his rear brake caliper “dismounted”; seriously!!! He continued to ride for the rest of the day with only the front brake.
We had our lunch at 2pm at a small town near Satun (~28KM) from Wang Kelian. We had fried rice and fried noodle. Do you believe a restaurant has no salt?? Choon Seng didn’t believe it and he searched the kitchen. No salt! We resume the ride… finally at the claimed 30KM/hr cruising speed. Everyone was so glad that we, finally, were able to enjoy the ride. We stopped by a waterfall to take picture and later, discovered that the same bike with rear wheel puncture now has a front wheel puncture. We reached Thaleban resort (just less than 1KM from Wang Kelian border). We took pictures and have a brief rest before leaving Thailand. At 4pm or so, we passed the border… nice to be back in our home country but many worried about the ride up the Wang Kelian hill… it took us less than expected effort to pass the hill and some members started to feel that they have a lot left in the tank for the last 30KM to Kangar. One member attacked a small hill… later, another rider attacked at ~50KM/hr. Few riders caught up with him and continue to sprint at ~40KM/hr… I think all have forgotten that they were riding MTBs… and most with XC or even off road tires. At 20KM before Kangar, the peleton was broken into 3 to 4 groups… we regrouped at 5KM to Kangar. The last 5KM was “peaceful”… no more attacks. At 5:40pm, we were back in Kangar. We had dinner before we left the town. We ordered some “Tiger” drink, and some said “Thai girl”… oh boy, the Thai fever was not over yet…
Overall, the ride was great! Day 1, we rode ~98KM in the rain… we have a good night out. Day 2, we rode ~137KM; perfect weather, nice road and fast pace however we had 3 incidents. Thanks to Khalid for hosting and Danny for organizing ride. Our next long ride will be 245KM or 300KM one day ride from Penang to Cameron on MTB. After that, 280KM ride from Cameron to Kota Bharu (the next month)… one rider said… if you want to play, play big, but don’t play too often. :)
Overall, the ride was great! Day 1, we rode ~98KM in the rain… we have a good night out. Day 2, we rode ~137KM; perfect weather, nice road and fast pace however we had 3 incidents. Thanks to Khalid for hosting and Danny for organizing ride. Our next long ride will be 245KM or 300KM one day ride from Penang to Cameron on MTB. After that, 280KM ride from Cameron to Kota Bharu (the next month)… one rider said… if you want to play, play big, but don’t play too often. :)
