After 6 days spent in Penang, well, in Georgetown which is the capital of the Penang island, we are moving again towards Thailand where we should be in 2 or 3 days time. We did not visit all the island. I thought I would spend a day or two cycling around but I got lazy. The back of the islnd is apparently very hilly so it cut off any motivation. I should have find the way to leave my trailer somewhere. Anyway, we visited the historical centre which was okay. Today we left Penang at 5pm and cycled just out of Butterworth city to find a quiet place where to camp. Easy day.
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We did not see everything in Chinatown yesterday so we have a second round today. We have visited more Chinese temple, seen more street art and walk too much! Yes, I prefer cycling than walking. This is much easier :-) Tonight is the last day of 2015. We planned to see the fireworks. We saw it but not in the best conditions. Finally, this is when we returned to our campsite that the night really started. Always no plan is the best one :-) That worked for 2015 and it’s going to work in 2016, for sure! Happy New Year!
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Today, we are visiting Chinatown, the real part. Until now, we stayed around the backpacker area. It is still in chinatown but on its edge. All the price are quite high but if you walk 5 minutes to the east side and follow the tourists, you will discover this old area with lots of souvenir shops, bicycles to rent, ice cream to eat and street art.
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What you need to apply for the tourist Visa for Thailand (and from Malaysia) is pretty simple. You need your passport and its black & white photocopy, 2 ID photos and 150 Ringgit. They will ask you to fill a paper and provide them an address where you will stay in Thailand. Make sure you have one. If you don’t have the photocopy or the ID pictures there is two ways to get them. You can go to a camera shop in the city (See map). The price: 4 ID photos for 12 Ringgit and 20 sen per photocopy) or you can do it front of the Consular itself but it will cost you a bit more. The price is respectively 20 and 2 Ringgit. Two guys have their car parked front of the Consular can do it on the spot. We came this morning at 8:15 to be the first one on the queue because it grows rapidly at nine o’clock. We will pick up our visa tomorrow at 2pm, so 29 hours later. That’s pretty quick!
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This time we are coming to Penan by ferry. The crossing cost us 1.40 Ringgit (bicycle included). That’s cheap. I’ve heard about Penang since I’m in Malaysia. Georgetown is an historical city and the capital of Penang. It reminds me Malacca in some places and has too much shopping malls for me. The development of the city seems fast. Lots of tall skyscrapers are in construction. There is lots of traffic. I’m disappointed that there is no beach in the city where people can walk or have a drink. We must have to go further out to see that. In general I can see that Malaysia (like Indonesia) doesn’t really care about improving the area next to the water. Maybe that’s the case on small islands but from what I’ve seen until now, this is not really the case.
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Beautiful sky today! I will have to stop definitely before 11am because if I don’t I’ll melt! Today I met Wimol! You never heard about him but I did ;-) He is a Thai guy we met with Stephane back in Penang (Malaysia). At that time he gave us his address and invited us to stay in case we would come around his living area. I absolutely didn’t know I would finally see him again. Wimol stayed an hour and came back to work. Me too :-) I kept working on my website until the sky urged me to move soon. Another 15km later I was laying down in my hammock in a peaceful spot.
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Touring
3997km
- +342km (commuting)
- Aonang 100km
- Ratchaburi 80km
- Bangkok 150km
- Bumihol Dam 12km
- +0km (car)
- +3km (bus)
- +240km (train)
- +500m (boat)
- +0km (plane)
Introduction
Thailand was the first Asian country with a new main culture I’ve never came across yet: Buddhism! The first thing I’ve noticed was how shiny were the temples, the Buddha. Without really knowing, the first night I’ve spent was in a temple area. Sleeping in temples is very easy. You get there, ask to a monk if you can camp somewhere and normally they show you a spot, even put you under a roof. You can use the toilets and have a shower. Very simple and very helpful. There is something like 40.000 temples in Thailand so it’s pretty easy to find a safe place where to sleep. Even if you don’t want to stay in temples, Thailand has been the easiest country where to find good spots. I look for football field where often there is a large roof under which I can set up my hammock and sleep dry. Sometimes, if you are lucky there is toilets too.
People are very friendly. On the road, the scooters turn back to you to say hello. Only few people speak english contrary of what I’ve heard but you always find the way to communicate. Thailand is mostly flat. If you look for mountain, that’s the northen side. But you can go up there and avoid most of the hills too! I’ve spent 4 months in total and I had a good trip.
Visa
I made my 2 months Thai Visa from Penang (Malaysia). I takes only two days to get it, it’s really straight forward. The price is 1500Baht. As french citizen, we got 28 days free on VOA (Visa On Arrival) which helped me well when I was in Laos because I could get to Thailand for free and then come back in Laos to apply for another 30 days VOA which is not free. I’ve travelled during the last month in Thailand on a VOA as well. I did not counter any issue with the immigration.
Food
Food in Thailand is nice and cheap. You have the traditional fried rice, fried veggies, fried noodles, the soups, the chicken rice, lots of different choices. Most of the local restaurants gives water with ice for free. That’s very appreciable after a hot ride.
Accommodation
As always, I didn’t use accomodation very often and always chose the cheapest one. In bangkok, for example, I went to guesthouses because sleeping out for free, I don’t know. I did not feel unsafe but it’s hard to find a quiet spot. The dorms are about 4 to 5€ per night with aircon and very nice bed.
Transports
I’ve used once the train to go from Ratchaburi to Bangkok. The ticket for the bicycle was nearly twice the price of my own ticket, respectively 180baht (4.50€) and 100baht (2.50€). Actually the train is pretty cheap, slow but cheap. I did not use any bus so I don’t know about that.
Internet / phone provider
I’ve start with the phone provider called True Move when I came from Satun (the south). It did work well for few weeks but after that, finish! Then I changed for AIS which worked perfectly all the rest of my trip in Thailand. Plus, with AIS you can get super fast Wi-Fi if you stop at Amazon Cafe. There is a lot of them in Thailand and everywhere. Often, they have electric plugs as well and there are quiet places.
Tips
As I’ve just mentioned: Amazon Cafe are good spot to get fast and free internet all around Thailand. There are situated inside the petrol stations or in the cities centres.
Language
I didn’t learn much about the language. It’s so hard to remember all those words that sounds the same sometimes.
- Few words/expressions
- Sawadikrap: Hi
- Kapunkrap: Thank you (if you are a man)
- Kapunka: Than you (if you are a woman)
- Nam: Water
- Hongnam: Toilets
- Chokdi: Good luck
Step by step
Satun > Ao Nang, Krabi (337km, 5 days)
Start the visit
Ao Nang > Phuket (240km, 5 days)
Start the visit
Phuket > Pran Buri (745km, 10 days)
Start the visit
Pran Buri > Ratchaburi (170km, 4 days)
Start the visit
Ratchaburi > Salok Bat (512km, 10 days)
Start the visit
Salok Bat > Chiang Mai (531km, 8 days + 2 days off)
Start the visit
Chiang Mai > Laos border (366km, 7 days)
Start the visit
Loa bridge number 3 > Poipet (1126km, 27 days + 2 days off)
Start the visit
