Pit Stop Hat Yai and Onwards to Chumphon

Time started to move for me once I tendered my letter of resignation in May 2023. I was alive again, the clock was moving and however much busy I was during work, I was even more busier now ... dreaming. Plans always starts by dreaming.

By end May after serving work notice period I was out of Singapore ... totally done and sorted out all the nessesities. This time I have experience under the belt and decoupling of routine life was faster and more efficient. I could not set off immediately thou, I still had one key date to wait which was the China Visa application. I got back my passport with the China Visa on Friday 19 May 2023 and the inner kid in me was grining non stop. Pick up some last minute stuff and then it was Saturday a free and easy day shopping at Pavilion Bukit Jalid with mom, dad and my Thai Cuz that was down visiting for a holiday.

Sunday morning and everyone is headed out. Me all packed and starting the trip up north while mom and dad with cuz would head down to JB, pit stopping at my place before crossing the causeway on the following day to SG staying with brother for a week.

The trip up north this time was no nonsense. Direct up with no detours and barely any stops. First day warmup was an easy one clocking nearly 300km to Taiping for the night. Food was basic and bland and the next morning push off again stright for Hat Yai.

At Malaysia Border Town Changlun to buy Thailand Motorbike Insurance & Customs Form

I had a short break in Hat Yai for two nights just spending time with Uncle Seng and Ah Kim. Nothing fancy really .. lunch TV then dinner and repeat for the next day. One day pass at the time which was the feeling of retirement I got from uncle. I guess my parents generation is at that stage now ... passing time and not spending too much. 

Hat Yai - Dim Sum

Hat Yai - Dim Sum

Hat Yai - Left = Betong Noodles , Right = Thai Bak Kut Teh

Hat Yai - Dim Sum

Hat Yai - Old Town Back Road Family Restaurant

Hat Yai - Family Restaurant Meal

Hat Yai - Family Restaurant, Deep Fried Dish drowning in fried garlic 

I did manage quick shopping to buy a new set of rain gear for THB 1100 which was pretty good deal but Ah Kim was a bit exasperasted that she was not given the chance to bargain it down for I just said ok and paid within 2 minutes.

On the way back from the shopping I ripped my jeans at the knee in the car while pulling and trying to adjust, as it was sliding down. I ripped three things in three days I immediately thought. Push off day I ripped the battered old rain cover for the duffle bag. The next day I ripped the rain pants and today the jeans. I felt it was a bad omen ... just have to be extra careful riding and travelling the next few days I thought.

Along the Way from Hat Yat to Chumphon
Could not resist a Stop when I saw the cat .... - Its a bakery Cafe 

Hut for the Night - Chumphon 

Push off from Hat Yai and made the longest ride I have done in a single day. Stright to Chumphon nearly 600km. Early next morning I got a wake up call from brother informing me that Mom got a stroke and he was on the way to the hospital with her.

Feeling helpless .... I could only wait for the update and hold off the urge to call least I become a nuisance.

Traveled on: May 2023

If I were to Choose Between Luck & Money

The title is totally random so there wont be any phylosophy really in this post. Still I wonder how many people is intrigue by the title to give this a read.

Anyway this is the story of how things happens and somehow just falls into place allowing me to commence the fouth break or travel .... I dun know how to call it anymore, sabbatical does not cut it anymore and a long holiday seams wrong now that this is obviously going to be a recuring thing. A Break it is ....

Setting Off - Test Run China 

Usually there are many things to prepare and get ready for a big trip which usually starts with a plan, A Graaaand Plan ! or a target which is like the main course of the long disaperarence. The first trip main back in 2011 focused was backpacking europe and USA while the second trip in 2015 was backpacking South America and the third in 2018 was motorbiking South East Asia, thou I only manage to really explore 4 countries in SEA.

This time around the trip is way more ambiguous than usual. I had not planned it out throughly, but my bank account was fat enaugh due to working throughout COVID-19. I was sick of working .... the soul was really tearing inside from the confinement of not exploring and then suddenly China was open to the world.

I was considering travelling with Bluey through China to Europe then after a few research hit a snag trying to get into arjerbaijan. Then there is the issue of how to get back home. So biking long distance seams very challanging so at one point I was really considering backpacking again throughout China but then by some luck while dropping email bombs everywhere I got a DM back.

The Facebook Overlanding Asia has always been a precious source of information and this time due to the Myanmar Junta closing off its border for overland travellers, there appear more people trying to go through China even with the high guided tour cost. I email a few of the tour agency and everyone seams to have trips going from west to east. Non-from east-to west.

This I presume was due to the recent reopenning of China after Covid-19 so most of them that are stucked in europe or Kyrgystan now have the opportunity to really transverse China to South East Asia, while those in South East Asia is almost non existance. Regardless the case .... no luck on finding a group going west, Yet one tour group after asking around connected me to a Malaysian group that was going to do China 10 days loop. Meaning they would enter and exit back into Laos which solve one main issue for me ... getting back home. The downside to this trip was, it was only 10 days.

I had to decide fast as the Malaysian group was planning this trip back in 2020 when Covid-19 hit. For them this was a long awaited postponed adventure. For me finding out last minute with barely any information of their trip, I decided it will have to do as a test run. Made fast contact, so fast that I presume the captain did not really think I was serius in joining until I laid down the deposit for the guided tour.

Things moved very fast then, resigning from my job, handing over duties, shuffling all my stuff again and gearing up the bike and all the traveling hacks that I had shelved over the years. Bluey was no where near the travel worthy state as well since he was being heavily used everyday for work. Luckily I just bought a new bike, GPX Legend 250 Twin which I named “Bragge”. Bragge was suppose to be for work so I could leave Bluey in the workshop for upgrading but the China trip came so fast I now had to use Bragge to do the trip. A month later I realized even if I fixed up Bluey, he probably wont make the trip as well due to the high altitude which would screw up the old school carb engin.

While it looks like China is the theme for this trip, it really izzin. For the guided tour is only 10 Days in China covering just one small part of one province, Yunnan. In two months it would be done and over once started and I would be without a plan again. No subsequent trip line up, no follow up to connecting adventure. Back to Malaysia and back to the drawing board.

For now, iI’m calling it Test Run CHINA .... aclimatize to the altitude, weather and the great firewall of China.

After that, I have a few option listed so far which is still not set in stone really but in leaning order :

Genral Plan 1 

Pay the heavy price and find a group ... Ride again Through China to Krygstan ... explore Kyrgyzstan, Ubekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan through summer ... this would have to be in early 2024. then somehow, figure out how to get back home ....

Options to get back home :

Option 1

Get a Russia Visa – Ride to Mongolia then Vladistock – RORO boat to South Korea then RORO boat to Japan and RORO back to South Korea, shipping bike back to Malaysia. This path still require a lot of Red Tape nagivation and a high risk of being stranded.

Option 2

Get a Russia Visa – Ride to Mongolia – Joint another guided tour through China going different route back to Laos ... Luck to find a group will play a huge part in this plan.

Option 3

To infinity and Beyond, Get a Russia Visa – ride to Geogia, ride through Turkey and hello Europe ... somehow take a boat to Morroco maybe and figure out Africa and my bank balance which is not prepared for this kind of extended trip ... and I have no idea how to get back from that point.

General Plan 2 

Fly to Vietnam, rent a bike, explore the whole of vietnam, drop the rental and cross into china backpacking all the way up to Beijing then boat over the Taiwan or Korea. Explore the whole country of Taiwan or Korea via backpacking and train then fly back home. Optional bonus for Korea would be to extend trip by boating to Japan and exploring Japan on a Backpack.

General Plan 3 

Get a friend help, buy a bike in India ... and ride India and Nepal for a year, ditch the bike, cross by land into Pakistan and backpack through Iran to turkey and somehow swim over to middle east to explore all backpacking style.

General Plan 4

Fly to Indonesia, rent a bike and explore

When my brother ask me of my general plan, I started rambling up the above ... quite a detail rough plan I would say actually but once done he basicly commented ...., “so you dont have an actual plan yet” . Yikes ... I guess in a way it’s right as hell ... while most people tend to cover up the Grand Idea with I dunnu and lets see where the wind takes me ... secretly there is always a Grand Plan to a long trip.

One thing for sure, once I picked a route, it will be a while before I can reset and pick another. For now its Test Run China.

P.S .... I’ll choose luck ...