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Fellow MCFers, Am fairly new to Singapore and have been lurking around this forum for a while after I got my car. Having done road trips in europe,India one of my goals of being in Singapore is to explore SE Asia by road. Started on the earnest by making a few trips to Penang, KL and was planning to make a trip to Thailand,Laos and Cambodia. But then broke it down to two legs. First leg to cover Southern thailand and then next trip to cover Northern Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. This though resulted in me working out this route for a week long trip.. It was just me driving as well in the entire care. So, it is "Me time" all through. This is the route that I worked out.. https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Singapor...amp;t=m&z=7 Some of the earlier posts by bro Fongmy, Shore gave pointers on requirements to drive a Singapore registered car in Thailand. Thank you guys for the wealth of information available. Being aware of all these made crossing the borders the least painful. That is what my trip meter looked like for the entire trip. I started the trip meter after crossing Tuas checkpoint and having entered malaysia after @ 30 minutes from the checkpint. So, easily that will add up another 60-70 kilometers. First day: 18th August 2021 Started from my house in Hougang at @7:00 AM. My plan was to hit Hat Yai by sun down and start over night there. Had our Friday beer bust at the office and went to sleep only at 12:00 making it difficult for me to get up at 4:00 as I wanted. Departure delayed by 3:00 hours. That is the fun of driving it aint it? You are on your own. Left home at 7:00 and hit Tuas. Singapore side was ok, and was thinking how is it that possible. The Malaysian side is when it really got delayed. Pile up of cars and it took more than 35 minutes to clear the Malaysian side. Anyway I was out of the Tuas Checkpoint by 8:15 which is not that bad given that it is Hari Raya Pooja. Unevenftul drive all the way to KL and took the right exit heading towards Ipoh. The traffic was free flowing and I was left wondering what is going on, whether people are taking it easy on the roads. Was expecting heavy traffic. The trouble started only after crossing KL, joining E1. A few kilometeres before Slim river exit the jams started and it went on till I crossed Bidar That is the E2 Expressway. The jam ran for many many kilometers. On the final count, the stretch of @38kms between Slim River and Bidar took more than 3 hours to cross. But the traffic eased after Bidar. I found many many cars parked in Slim River exit, and the entire stretch till Bidar. Am curious if any Malay bros could throw some light on the reason. It was interesting to see so many people out on the road having fun, though it was a problem driving. But hey, we are all on vacation to have a good time. I would have done Penang usually in 6.5 to 7 hours but that day took around 10 hours. I reached Penang by 5:00 PM and was contemplating whether I should drive all the way to Hat Yai or break at Penang as it is already sun down. But I was still feeling ok and decided to push forward. Crossed Alor Setar by 6:00 and was in Bukit Kayu Hitam by 7:00 after purchasing Thai insurance for 15 MYR and a Thai SIM card. The guy also filled up Thai Immigration form for 1 MYR. Quiet convenient and took around 15 minutes at this guy's shop. There are a series of shops and you can stop at any one of them as they all provide pretty much the same service. Saw many many Malaysian cars and the guy gave a second look when I said I am in a Singapore Car. The border crossing was bit of a pain in the neck, with the procedures. I had to park my car in an open car park. As I hold an Indian passport, have to get Visa on Arrival. I had already confirmed with the Thai embassy that this border post issues that. Went through that, costed me 1500 Bahts Visa fee. They took a web cam picture, recorded my entry. The next process is to get the Customs declaration form. This gets filled by the official in a computer and it was not that bad. She entered all the vehicle details in a form, tore it away and gave me to give it to the customs officer. I gave it to him and then he instructed me to go to the parking lot and drive my car through that entry point. There is only one exit and when you drive through you will pass through this guy, who will check your vehicle number against the filled up form and give you a copy. Hold on to it as if it is yourlife. I had been asked this document in multiple places but it was easy once I was beyond Hat Yai. You need to return this while exiting Thailand and I dont know what they can do, if you dont have this document. So, keep this safely and if possibly keep a copy. Anyway I was out of the customs and legally in Thailand along with my car by 8:15 PM. The bureaucracy took some time but it is not that bad. I saw many hotels as I cross the border but decided to hit Hat Yai, my planned destination. Reached Hat Yai by 9:15 PM. I had not booked any hotel and felt that I should have. After such a long solo drive you dont have energy to look for a hotel. Hat Yai has many one ways. Called a couple of hotels that I had the numbers and they were both full. Out of luck, drove to Tunes Hotel. They did not have any rooms but the front office lady was kind enough to call BP Grand Towers and book me there. It costed my 1280 Bahts for a night. Went to have a drink and asked for cashew nuts and beer, thinking I will get some handful of cashews. Imagine how much cashew nuts I got. A plateful, good enough to be consumed for dinner. And that is my steed parked in the BP Grand Tower parking lot. Asked the watch man to keep a watch and gave him 50 bahts. He was more than happy to keep watching the car when I was sleeping. - This is what Thai's call as Cashews for snack! Plateful good enough for dinner That is my car in the BP Grand Towers parking lot among the Thai trucks.

Yo bros/siss, Anyone here been to Koh Samui? I am currently planning a trip with my wife in Oct and would like to hear some advice here. 1) Which beach is nicer? Chaweng or Lamai? 2) Which hotel is cheap and good? Looking at $100+/- per nite kinda hotel near beach... 3) What are the activities available there? 4) Any big shopping mall or night markets there? Similar to Phuket or Bangkok? 5) 4 days 3 nites stay enough to experience the life there? 6) Any other advice... Thanks!

My thread in Road Trips was quite ignored, and poll doesn't really tell me a whole lot.. Anyway, my friend and I are driving my car up to thailand. it's part driving adventure, and part beach getaway. We may intend to scuba dive too between koh samui and krabi, which will be better? krabi is somewhat nearer but dun get to take the car ferry which would be quite an interesting experience. of course, going to krabi means saving on car ferry and petrol as well which is the nicer destination? i'm more for natural beauty than other things.

Hi All, I wanna get out of Sgp during the 2009 CNY week by driving to Koh Samui for a week. Anyone interested? I've already booked my rooms from the 24th Jan to the 31st Jan. Stopover at Penang for the night (23rd Jan & 1st Feb) Its a family thing for me with my 4 years old kid going as well. Do highlight interest. I can pass to you the websites that you can book your accomodation, eg. AWD or Asiarooms, etc. Cheers.

Any bros/sis travel to Koh Samui recently? Any hotel to recommend? Budget less than $250/night including breakfast. Prefer location is Chaweng beach. All inputs are welcome. Please said why you like the hotel and location. OK, I had check on trip adviser but still can't decide as most of the input are from Ang Mo, may had different preference. Want to see what local think.

Planning a road trip with my buddy. Main objective is the driving adventure, but we might also wanna do a spot of diving . I haven't been to any of the above locations, so I better check with MCF gurus first. I checked out tarzan666's post as well as poortraveller's blog. good resources which I will use as references. Anyway, my trip is 5 days, intend to head up to penang, overnight there, then hit our destination on the second day evening. I'm guessing that i should only try to go for one destination. Both of us drive, so no issues, probably do 2 hour "watches" though i've done 5 hours a pop before.. Intending to cruise at 140-150, as my car can't really do much faster without complaining. not intending to book hotels online as i feel it's better to go there and look around and choose. we are probably going for 3-star range

Remember I talked about this some time ago. The website that highlights this drive (Budget Car and Truck Rental) is very vague. No way to print it out. Now they have made a .pdf file of it. Visit this link and wait for the .pdf file to load. http://www.khaolaklovers.com/Phuket-Krabi-Samui-Drive.htm Plan your route on which accomodation to stay as you push your rented vehicle along or if you are daring like Poortraveller and Adrianli, use your own. A direct link to Budget with this document is here: http://www.budget.co.th/images/world/world..._phuket_eng.pdf

Juz 1 2 share with u some road trip pics & experience.. travelled up to Samui with few frds on a tucson & another frd on bike..stop over at Hatyai 4 a nite..then zoom straight to Samui..which is about 300-400km from Hatyai.Singapore to Hatyai about 1000km. Total distance covered about 3000km.