Check out my vlog for this trip here Check out my Krabi trip report here Check out my Phatthalung & Nakhon Si Tammarat trip report here Check out my Surat Thani trip report here Check out my Khao Sok National Park, Takua Pa and Phang Nga trip report here Check out my Phuket trip report here
Check out my blog about South Thailand travel tips here >>> “in progress”
I spent USD167 for this 8 days trip (excluding flight tickets) and traveled 924KM
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
27 August 2022
Khao Sok National Park & Rajjaprabha Dam i visited Rajjaprabha Dam and Khao Sok (did not enter the national park since it requires at least 1 day to explore and my time is limited), just passing thru. the roads along the khao sok region are pretty bad, i guess they will make a new one soon. no mosque at all here, but i am used to pray at the side road/emergency stairway since i started living with the China CCP for several years. Nothing much to see in Takua Pa and it is raining the whole night.
Khao Sok National Park
Road leading to the entrance of the national park
Rajjaprabha Dam
30 August 2022 while heading back to krabi, i visited Phang Nga town and its museum. Entrance is free! and it is much more better than phuket mining museum! at the museum, i was greeted by a sweet lady called ms. สมัย . she is from Phang Nga and works at the museum and introduced me to the history of Phang Nga. i realized that Takua-pa is believed to be one of the pitstop along the ancient silk road where it is called Takola by ancient traders.
Phang Nga Museum
Thailand’s Rong Ngeng which has similarities with Malaysia’s Ronggeng (Phang Nga Museum)
Mangroves forest at บ้านบางพัฒน์ (8°21’53.9″N 98°34’50.9″E)
Mangroves forest at บ้านบางพัฒน์ (8°21’53.9″N 98°34’50.9″E)
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
28 August 2022
Halal Dim Sum at Khok Kloi nothing much to do/see at takua pa, the tsunami memorial museum at khao lak does not seem to be a museum at all and paid 300 baht just to enter!!! just a shoplot with a bunch of photos. Phang Nga museum costs nothing and far more worth it! however i found a tasty dim sum restaurant with an affordable price which is called Rafah (ระฟ้า โคกกลอย ติ่มซำ ฮาลาล). 20baht per plate. the tomyam is one of the best (100 baht), i literally drank all its soup!
Dim Sum 20 baht per plate, Fried Dumpling 70 baht
Rafah Restaurant
Phuket – Heaven for budget travellers and full of chinese migrants history Phuket is pronounced as Bhu-ket is taken from a malay word which means ‘hill’. i must say Phuket is a little better than Bali. Its cheaper to travel here from malaysia and the accommodation is very affordable (but Bali’s accommodation is way cheaper…). and most importantly, Thailand have SuperCheap supermarket! halal food is easily available anywhere and they even have islamic schools here! after i visited Phuket mining museum (100 baht for entrance), i came to know that before Phuket became a tourist spot, Phuket town was famous for its mining industry. Chinese from Penang, Singapore and China came here to make a fortune. Some of them did, and donated to the development of Thai Hua school where chinese influence in Phuket is prevalence until today due to efforts of those hardworking chinese migrants. The ones who migrated from China have good work ethics with high survival skills and they preserve their culture instead of assimilating with culture of the locals. It reminds me of my childhood days where my chinese counterparts were always smarter than me in class and even in the workplace. It was until when i work abroad that i able to compete with my chinese counterparts. There is a saying in malay, “sentiasa hidup dalam kepompong” which means living in a cocoon and disengage from outside world. My experience working overseas really broaden my thinking and helped me look at things differently. Covid19 really killing me mentally and its good to be able to explore again.
Phuket Mining Museum
School children at Mining Museum
Island Hopper Pier ท่าเรือไอส์แลนด์ฮองเปอร์
Met a girl digging the sand to look for clams (Polymesoda erosa)
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
26 August 2022
bought an engine oil at a pump station and the local guy asked for a selfie
difficult to find halal food at Phattalung i almost starved to death searching for halal food here. there are few stalls near the one and only mosque in town but no longer selling food as i reached there at 4pm.
halal food at khuan khanun night market while heading back to hotel, i ran across a night market which has 2 muslim sellers. both of them able to speak malay. one of them came from Tak Bai (the mother speaks Phasa Yawi / Kecek Kelate, but her daughter couldnt) and the other is a Phattalung local but studied at islamic school in Kedah. please help to support them if you travel here. the stalls are located at Khuan Khanun night market (opposite municipal food market)
halal burger stall at Khuan Khanun night market halal steamed chicken at Khuan Khanun night market
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
26 August 2022
Lady chef with Kedah ancestry after having to starve yesterday, the first thing i did today was to find something to eat first. had a beef soup with fried egg with generous amount which costs 130 baht at Phatdaw Restaurant . the lady chef’s grandfather was from kedah and migrated to Nakhon and married a local there. she speaks “phasa yawi” fluently.
beef soup with fried egg 130 baht
phatdaw restaurant
thai muslim and steamed chicken and fried chicken i not sure if these food have relation with thai muslim because each time i go to the night market, they are selling these food.
steamed chicken with sticky rice
fried chicken with rice
Super Cheap supermarket – Thai version of Speedmart99 i have been to 7-11, Big C, some local groceries stores and none of their products seem to impress me. just the same old merchandise sold in Tesco, Hero supermarket but with a slightly cheaper price. i visited Super Cheap after hours of searching fruit juice in Surat Thani and i was surprised with the variety of products sold and its cheap price, including fresh produce, seafood and meat. from the outside it looks like a convenient store attached to a warehouse behind it. its like a combination of Supermart99 and Makro. all this while i have been having breakfast at 7-11 but now i have a better place to go.
SuperCheap supermarket
Fresh Foods at SuperCheap
red chilis at 77 baht per kg
fruit jams for only 48 baht
Rare Fruit Juice at only 15 baht
Assorted Thai Curries
12 baht grapes
Awesome Thai Chicken Biryani (kao mok gai) ข้าวหมกไก่ As usual, the first thing i did after leaving the hotel is to find a good food to eat. i dont really fancy rice type of food but at ไก่ย่างจีราพันธ์ (chirapan), they serve very tasty yellow rice with chicken with an affordable price at 50 baht! the rice can be eaten just like that without adding any sauce. they also have grilled chicken and intestine satay which i regret for not ordering it. i dont know when i will come to surat thani again. this restaurant has a seriously unique menu which differentiate them with other typical thai muslim food ( rice with fried chicken, rice with steamed chicken, typical siamese tomyam stall ).
Thai Chicken Biryani (kao mok gai) ข้าวหมกไก่ at ไก่ย่างจีราพันธ์ (chirapan)
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
24 August 2022
as usual, i ride my motorbike to klia2 and park my bike at the parking area. as i enter the departure hall, the crowd is not as much as before covid. in the plane, there are plenty of empty seats.
3 hours journey from airport to ao nang the flight took 1 hour. the immigration counters were not busy as well. there are 3 flights per week from KL to Krabi but it used to be 2 flights per day before covid. as i enter the arrival hall, taxi and bus drivers chasing towards me which made me think it looked like a bunch of scammers ( i was planning to take the 150 baht shuttle bus before the chasing event happened ) . so i left the quiet arrival hall and into the main road. i didnt know where to go, i just kept on walking but there is no bus stop in sight. then i arrived at a small restaurant luckily and there was one kindhearted thai lady which helped me grab another songthaew (blue colour, 40 baht) to Krabi Town and then take another songthaew (white colour, 60 baht) to Ao Nang. in wikitravel, it says i should be able to take the white songthaew to Ao Nang but it never came.
the kind lady who helped me look for songthaew
this whole scene took me 3 hours to reach Ao Nang. i headed straight to motorcycle rental shop to grab a yamaha gt 125cc for 200 baht/day. i was almost out of money after paying the deposit. the currency exchange here is very expensive. the rental shop lady said before covid, there were a lot of malaysian came to krabi. but now, only 1/10 of them came here after covid. business must have been pretty bad for them
songthaew
chicken noodle at krabi town i ate chicken boat noodle for my late lunch and opted for the spicy version which i found too spicy for me. the sweet waitress saw me struggling to finish the small bowl and asked “are you okay mai?” . they even use “mai” when speaking in english.
halal chicken noodle 40 baht
western union saved my life i am out of money after paying the motorcycle rental deposit. the rates for currency exchange is not attractive at all in krabi and the atm has a 220 baht withdrawal fee for foreign card which is not worth it to withdraw small amount. my hsbc credit card conversion rate is not attractive either (MYR1 = 7.87 baht) because at midvalley i could get MYR1 = 7.94 baht. i decided to use western union by sending money from my local bank account and collect the money at western union’s agent in thailand. there is a myr8 servicw charge for each transaction. in krabi, post office is one of their local agent. i went there and fill up a form, show my passport, and wallaaa, you get money.
exchange currency in malaysia – 5000 baht = MYR650 exchange currency with western union = 5000 baht = MYR628 + MYR8
thailand post office is one of the western union agent
krabi post office
tips : transport from ao nang to airport i couldnt find a 150 baht shared van and the white songthaew in front of mcdonalds at ao nang wanted 500 baht to go to the airport. however, i took the local bus (songthaew) from a bus stop at ao nang and went to krabi town which costs 50 baht. then i waited at the same bus stop at krabi town and look for a blue songthaew that goes to airport which costs 100 baht. the journey took 1.5 hours and i waited a few minutes for the songthaew to pick me up. allow some buffer time in case of traffic, bus delay, etc. other alternative is to make a booking for a shared van which costs 150 baht at some tour agent shops.
29 July 2022 10am – reach Hat Yai 12pm – checked-in at The 1 Place Hotel ( https://goo.gl/maps/RYZ7oY48MFC6o6ZN7 ) , 400baht/night 2pm – reach Songhkla
30 July 2022 8am – ride from Hat Yai to Kota Bharu 2pm – reached Taluban. ate at halal boat noodle (ลันดาเกี๋ยวเตี๋ยวเรือในตำนาน)( https://goo.gl/maps/GD5K3dx9zcFwC2Ds5 ) 45baht/bowl 6pm – drive from Kota Bharu to KL
Trip Summary since the covid, chinese tourist find it hard to travel to thailand or any other country in the world. that makes it the best time to visit thailand because i find it too crowded when a lot of chinese travel here (buat semak je dtg).
it was my first time entering thailand via road at rantau panjang border checkpoint. the army guy at the checkpoint asked me “demo tahu demo nok gi mano dok nih?” later at the sungai kolok border checkpoint, one immigration fella asked me:-
immigration fella : demo nok pegi mano? me : gi hat yai bey immigration fella : ado mek ko kat sano? me : (whatever dude..)
currency exchange at sungai kolok (RM1=8baht) is way cheaper than in KL ( RM1=7.87baht)typical toilet bowl in thailand
after 1 day trip, me and my travel partner part ways, he headed straight to Hay Yai. at first, i had no idea what to do, where to go, the more i think, the more stressed i had. i headed to Yala, surprisingly, the more time i spent travel alone, the more excitement it gets, thats what kept me going during this trip. furthermore, this week is a public holoday in thailand which means it might be hard to find an accommodation which further stresses me. luckily, accommodation is easy to find.
roads in south thailand are very good
road condition in south thailand the roads from sungai kolok up to hat yai are surprisingly good! mostly it is 2 lanes and unlike malaysia roads, there are no tolls!
muslims in south thailand I noticed there are 2 types of thai muslims :- 1. thai muslims able to speak phasa yawi (similar to kelantan dialect) 2. thai muslims cannot speak phasa yawi (met some of them at Hat Yai)
i had a chat with a parking guard at the hotel at narathiwat. a malay of narathiwat origin. he was friendly after he knew i was from malaysia. he has a wife and a kid. even working as a parking guard can have a decent family here. you only able to dream if you are in KL. Allah Maha Adil…
a lot of islamic schools as i rode from Sungai Kolok to Pattani. a lot of women wearing muslim loose cloak, some even cover their face. this place feels more islamic than in malaysia.
typical army roadblock in south thailand
is it safe to travel to south thailand? some of my friends in KL, cousins and aunty in kelantan (seriously?!? u guys staying near the border this whole time dont even dare to go there?!? shame on you guys if our royal pattani forefather knew this!) were terrified when i told them i am going to south thailand. if i were a typical malaysian feint hearted guy, i would have chicken-out this trip. no doubt there lots of military roadblocks but those armies dont even look at me when they notice my malaysian plate number.
exchange currency in thailand you can get good rates for currency exchange at danok and sungai kolok (myr to thb) which is better than changing it at midvalley mall. but the rates seems to be unattractive in other parts of thailand such as krabi. i used western union which provides the best rates, even better than withdrawing money at atm. check my other post for my experience with western union.
PTT pump station – thailand version of RnR you dont wanna miss PTT if you visit thailand. i hardly see any RnR along the highway. PTT pump station is a one stop center for fuel, coffee, cafe, 7-11 and toilet. i am very particular when it comes to using toilet in which PTT did a good job maintaining their clean toilet. the coffee at their Amazon Cafe costs 35 – 55 baht! who needs starbucks when you already have PTT pump station.
its not that easy to find cheap (below 400 baht ) and good accommodation in narathiwat, yala and pattani you can literally get a decent accommodation in thailand as low as 400 baht (or even lover). airbnb and online hotel booking websites ha ve always been my source of quality and affordable accommodation. but it doesnt seem to work that way in narathiwat, yala and pattani. they can be found in google maps and the room price can be found in the reviews section ( some have but not all ) and in their facebook page. if you know thai, you can direcly call them to ask the price.
royal pattani bloodline my ancestor (Tok Dat) is among the pattani’s knight during the war with Siam during 1760s and fled to Malaya to a place now called Kelantan. in order to conceal his identity, it was said that Tok Dat let everyone know he came from Jawa. my aunt told me there was a time when my aunt followed my late grandmother to seek medical help, my late grandmother brought a yellow cloth ( a sign of royalty ), made me feel the royalty bloodline was still strong at that time. somehow i indirectly related to the people of south thailand.
video of the trip
Appreciation to the Government of Thailand and to the people of South Thailand i would like to thank the customs & immigration of thailand for their kind help to make this trip possible and also to the friendly people of south thailand for their hospitality. i really enjoyed the trip and looking forward to visit thailand again soon. i love you guys!
