We departed 5.30am from white house. At Pengkalan Hulu, we were joint by some cyclists (Hong, Liang and brother, and two other cyclists) who were to become our tour guide of the day. It was a smooth ride from the border town to the immigration, the only hiccup being that some of us were asked to pay a RM2 'tribute' to the Siamese immigration officer for entering Thailand. Hong turned back at this point as he was still recovering from accident. Betong was only 4km away from the border and we had wantan mee as breakfast with some added strength- a Betong bicyle shop owner, whom Liang called as 'Siam Lo', and his friend. It is interesting to note that Cantonese was widely spoken at Betong and RM could be used as with the thai baht.
Starting to depart
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| From Betong |
Leaving Malaysia. There were not as many cars as in Bkt. Kayu Hitam checkpoint
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| From Betong |
Entering thailand
The first thai chick that greets us in Betong: a calendar girl at breakfast place. Use your imagination for the covered portion
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Betong wantan mee looks the same as the Malaysian version
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After some 30 minutes of rest, all of us resumed our journey, without actually knowing where we were heading to. After some 15km and some mild hilly road, we reach a small town with a hot spring. Some local folks were bathing there and we even spotted an uncle brushing his teeth and soaping his body. Of course, there were some chicks too, but HK Lau's iphone couldn't zoom in to catch the scene without being noticed. Wooi told us that the ride ahead would be on very steep road-a 7km uphill.
Hot spring with smoke on the surface: imagine how hot it is.
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| From Betong |
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Forget about Wooi, he is not the model here, see the chick behind
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The crankies are as strong as the dragon!
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Indeed, the road ahead soon snaking up, with rubber trees along the road and hundreds of butterflies flying around. After some climb, we reached the Communist Hideout -> tunnel dug during the war time and converted into a tourist spot. None of us pay to visit it though and we continued the journey.
The ‘fake’ uphill before the ‘real’ uphill and already pretty steep.
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| From Betong |
After some uphill, we reached here.
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| From Betong |
Some fast cyclist raced up using the road on the right (which looked very steep) while rest of us used the one on the left. Eventually the riders who used the right lane had to turn back as the road was closed due to landslide. Cheer for their spirit!
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Only the bike is left, where is HK Lau the ownder? In the tunnel?
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President’s tyre punctured after working too hard
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Uphill ahead, let me change to my superman suit, oh shit, forget to wear it. Wow "Lu Lian Dian"
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| From Betong |
Steep road ahead?
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| From Betong |
We get to sample free guava enroute the uphill track. Part of the hill were orchards
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| From Betong |
The next place we reached was Winter Flower Garden. We had to go through a section of offroad led by a scrambler bike before reaching it, as the thais are reparing the road following a landslide. The place was like a little Cameron Highlands, the weather was cool and flowers were every where.
The Garden
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A durian opener tool
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The entry point for The garden. It cost 20 baht, and we didn’t enter
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| From Betong |
Group photo again
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| From Betong |
On the way back to Betong, we stopped for the famous 'leong fan'. Mr. Senyum took some time to his worsening cramp leg to rest. The mild hilly road we passed through in the morning began to feel like a more challenging hill. At Betong, we tried to have the famous Beef Noodle but had to settle for beef ball noodle as the shop had run out of stock (it was 120pm by then). After that, all of us head to Siam Lo's shop. Some of us had the bike serviced and some were shopping for parts, which were cheaper in Thailand. Mr. Senyum successfully shop for a Doraemon doll and HK Lau got some coffee canned drink which were not available in Malaysia.
famous leong fan. The lady ownder cuts the leong fan only when customer came
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| From Betong |
Beef ball, so many of them in one bowl. It cost roughly RM3 per bowl
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On the way back, we had to make a 5km uphill towards the immigration checkpoint. We were lucky that just after we reached Pengkalan Hulu, rain started to pour mercilessly. Wooi treated us with a popular and delicious local food with Siamese style. We had also just discovered Wooi was the 'land head snake' of Pengkalan Hulu. No wonder he knew so many friends from the town and could navigate the town like a local. We were already eager to have another trip departing from Pengkalan Hulu towards Banting island
Delicious tomyan dong fan and chendooi.
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Songtam, the thai style salad
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A really great trip and you think that is just about it. Hang on, what is better than a good shower after a long hot ride.
Where's the guys? Private and Confidential
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| From Betong |
trip is roughly 72km
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