16 February 2010

Thailand the Land of Smilies.
Each year i get to take 2 vacations.Once during Chinese New Year
and a longer vacation during Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
This year i decided to ride to Krabi in Thailand.My wife will fly there
and I'll pick her up at the airport.So i left a day earlier and rode up
to my destination of Pakmeng beach in Trang Province.Explored a bit and
spent the night there.The next morning after breakfast i rode to Krabi
,checked in and took a cab to pick my wife up at the airport. Over the next few
days we explored the region from land to sea and ate like little piggies.
We spent 4days 3 nights in Krabi and on the last day i rode
back at the crack of dawn and my wife flew out later.The ride back was 11hours
of FUN. 2 very essential item for this trip was my GPS and my Airhawk seat.
The weather was excellent during the whole trip : )
Onto the pics shall we........


Early morning sky seen from my home just before leaving.


First rest stop near Tapah.


2nd stop .I had all the time in the world to ride and relax.


Nice roads and very few cars that early


Finally the sun is out.


Bike wondering who is tougher.


Thanks to some Fernorians i got to do this before the border
and in a relaxed enviroment.


Hills near Gurun.


Finally the Border : )


Through it ,now ready to RIDE !!

Ahhh Dannok .Border town AKA City of Sin ; )




Beautiful Thai temple-Clicky to enlarge


In the same compound was this huge statue of Buddha


Rest stop somewhere in Thailand.I just go where
the nice Garmin lady tells me to go : )


Beautifully smooth roads in Thailand

Pakmeng beach finally .
Beautiful beach with many rocky islands


Found a place for the night

Parking right outside my chalet


Wish i could take this statue home.Check the
elephants out.Damn cute.


Nice huh



Beautiful Pakmeng Beach




The beach goes on and on for miles in either direction


Tree lined boulevard



Watched the sun go down on the Andaman Sea



The next day woke up early and
went for an early morning ride.Can't get enough of the sea.



Love my bike : )



First light on the cliffs


Same beach in the early morning sun



Gorgeous






Last pic before leaving Pakmeng



First view of the sea in Krabi



Not too bad.My hotel for the next few days.









Lunch overlooking the sea



Low tide though


Main tourist street in Ao Nang



This is so cool.A real old school STEAMroller


The next day we decided to explore.Firstly--
Tiger Claw temple high on that hill -- clicky



Same pic zoomed in



Massive temple at the base of the hill


Beautifully carved gate


Huge gong


Interior of the temple at the base





Begining of the climb up.Remember the
earlier pic of the temple on the hill



The blue sign on the left says ........1237 steps to the top :o
An old sports injury prevented me from climbing to the top :)
really...

After the temple we went to visit the famous Emerald Pool.



Crystal clear water



Beautiful huh





Vivid natural colours





Then it was off to the Hot Springs.Water here is about 35-40C





Tropical sauna



Boiling my toes



Lunch was overlooking the estuary


Nice





OOOhhhhhhh Yeeeeesssssss



Another sleeping Buddha near Ao Nang



Finally we went to visit the Fossil Beach.Mainly small shelled
fossils



Various different types of fossils



Worth a visit though



Multiple layers of fossils





Saw a few local Er6s but the riders weren't around unfortunately.



Nice number plate bracket



Custom seat



Wider tyre



180 baby !!!!!!



Same bike with 636 front shocks i think



The next day was island hopping time



Captain and first mate



Gorgeous scenery






Enlarge this to see the people walking between the two islands during
low tide.



Hong island



Us



Beware the Bunnies for they are everywhere!!!!!



Aaaahhhhh Chicken island.Apt name.



I swam with the fishes ; )



Very nice



Words sometimes cannot do this justice



Local boys having the time of their lives.Grass is always greener isn't it



Limestone cliffs of Railey Beach



Longtail boats.The design hasn't changed much for ages.



Early morning the next day i had to set out for home.
A stop along the way.



Good quality roads.Malaysia has better infrastructure but Thailand
has much better engineered roads.



RnR along the way



And another



Finally back in Malaysia .At the border.



Didnt take pics of the ride home as it was slab all the way.
My longest trip ever-1763km



Map of the route




This trip has been a long time coming.I enjoyed it throughly
even though there were parts of long hours and hard riding.
Now if only i could afford that FJR........

Cheers.