#14 Betong, Thailand— checked!

Well, hello assalamualaikum— everyone!

So this post will gonna be a bit about our road trippin' details, abt the budgets, itinerary and also the good places to visit in Betong, Thailand. I'm sure most of you never heard of these place. Well, me either. So lek ja. Banyak je tempat kita taktau pun wujud dalam dunya ni. So, meh lah aku introduce sikit Betong ni dekat mana and apa. Basically its located approximately 15 km from Pengkalan Hulu, Perak and its plus minus 375 km from KL. It can be entered from Betong Immigration Checkpoint, macam biasalah, settlekan passport, insurans kereta, well, macam biasa, family aku mmg suka benor travel by car ni, so kitorang p by kereta. Bukan apa, senang. Nak extend pun takdehal, taklde terikat with anything, so mcm lagi leisure. Lagi boleh randomly plan nak p mana and on je bebila mau.

Ce zoom in, tengok lah betapa dekatnya Betong ni dengan Malaysia

Betong Immigration Checkpoint

Kay, so idea nak p travel ni, tak lain tak bukan sebab aku cuti panjang, well alhamdulillah I've started to love my job even more sekarang, sebab every year, at the end of the year mmg akan ada 2 weeks off, sebab plant shutdown, so, I can always plan my vacation during these time. And thank God too, ada rezeki lebih sikit dapat sponsor family untuk vacation this time guna gaji sendiri, rasa puas tu, tohan je tahu. Well, kitorang memang suka gila travel, and seeing them happy, makes me happy too. Sabaq na, next year kita p jauh sikit. Another one is sebab kitorang mmg suka Thailand, I guess passport aku penuh cop Thailand ja haha idk why, maybe bcs of its ppl? Food?

Kay there's something you need to know abt this place. Dekat center dia, mmg penuh prostitution centre. Pelacuran kinda legal here. We made a mistake at first tho, of staying at Betong Merlin Hotel. Kay kalau korang google, that hotel is memang a well known one. Some even rated it as the most expensive hotel dekat Betong. But what I would suggest if you come with family, is DON'T, DON'T stay here. Sebab markas depa, bawah ni je. People will like pelik if you said you duduk situ. Lagi lagi if you come with your family. Bukan apa, tak proper. Well you know, if kome masuk je situ, terbanglah iman kome yang takdapat diwarisi ia tiada di tepian pantai tu. Kitorang get this one glance masa dalam lif otw naik bilik, masa tu ada kitorg girls je, aku anis awin, sebab p ambil luggage tertinggal dalam kereta, of them asking, with surely a weird glance, tanya 'why stay here?' Kitorang at first tak faham, kenapa nak kena buat muka pelik, ni hotel kut kemon apa yang aneh sangat?

After abah explained then we know. Kawan kawan bikers abah yang selalu p sini pun pelik why kitorang stay dekat sini lol haha. Utk rate dia, average is 1270 baht/night utk 1 room. Since kitorang mmg always ambil 2 connecting rooms, and for 3d2n, total for accomodation is: 5080 baht.

The reason of why stay dekat situ: booking lambat and situ je available. 

So mana nak stay? Ha jap. Kau search Butterfly Princess Hotel Betong. Ha that's the right place, right choice. Betong ni kan, kau masuk je border, dh nampak masjid. Dia ada masjid besor satu dekat center. So sebenarnya to find Muslim food, amatlah senang. Banyak choices lah kira. Why Butterfly Princess Hotel? Sebab situ lah area Muslim bersepah. Turun ja. Depan hotel tu bersepah kedai sedap, murah. Well, ala carte nasi goreng tomyam/seafood, dengan seafood yang mencurah ke ladang gandum, baru cost you 35 bath. Kitorang suka direct convert tau, so approx. 3.50MYR lah. Tapi tak pun, since currency kita dh jatuh. Tp gitu ah senang kira. Stay situ, selesa. And memang most of org kita stay dekat sana every time p sana. Betong ni, famous among bikers. Mmg bersepah superbike/touring bike dekat sana. So tak pelik lah why ramai tak tau. Bikers je suka redah ceruk daerah mana ni so depa depa jelah tau. Rate hotel ni? Affordable gila. RM 85/night. Selesa nauzubillah but takdelah swimming pool ke apa.

Well this is how it looks like

Okay. Why Betong? Apa ada dekat sana?

Here got few attractions yang korang wajib p:

1. I - yerweng Hill, 'the awan karpet'
2. Piyamit Tunnel
3. Betong Hot Spring
4. Winter Flower Garden

Kay this is the best part of our trip kalini. Plan firstnya nak makan and p tengok awan karpet ja. Memang tu niat utama, eksaited kut. First time tengok awan karpet without kena hike! Siapa taknak? It looks like this:

Siapa taknak kan? Read more here

At first abah dh nak cancel, sebab kalau ikut van package dengan hotel, it costs us 2000 baht, RM 200+, mahai benor. But then kitorang jumpa another alternative. Naik rental motorcycle! Thus it makes this trip become more interesting. Meh aku habaq why: sebab kitorang deal dengan Abg Zan, owner motor yang kitorang sewa ni, nak ikut dia pepagi buta esoknya dengan bikers from Singapore, naik tengok awan karpet. Kay the reason why korang tak nampak any superbike in any of my posts, well depa mmg pakai touring jackets tp naik motor biasa/skuter? Mesti pelik kan? It is because of the road condition. Tak sesuai nak bawa motor besor. So depa yang datang mmg akan rent motor, naik sana. To be honest, jalan dia, adventure gila! Why I said so? Sebab nak p I - yerweng Hill ni dalam 45 km dari bandar Betong tau, kitorang gerak at 5 am gitu, gelap, and hujan. Jalan memang layan corner je, tu baru nak keluar town, then habis layan corner, masuk simpang bukit tu, nah, layan pacak pula. Dengan jalan off road, licin. Ada sorg couple husband and wife ni jatuh, bebetul depan aku. Masa tu takyah habaq ah, dalam hati ni ngucap je. Among all the riders, aku je the only perempuan yang bawak motor. Lain semua duduk belakang. Haha terpaksa, kitorang ber enam, abah dengan umi, amad bwk anis, well, aku kena lah bawak awin. 

Part paling best is when Abg Zan offer kitorang follow dorang, p rumah anak yatim, p visit masjid, sebab geng bikers ni nak sampaikan sumbangan. Thats why dalam ig story aku haritu, ada gambaq dengan budak kecik. Well, depa lah. Its a new experience for me, yelah, mana pernah, bawak motor sehari suntuk, cover almost 100 km, dari Betong sampai Yala, masuk celah kampung orang. Best gila!

With the kids

Bila datang Thailand, korang sewa lah motor. Seronok. Sehari dalam 350 baht ja, minyak lah mahai sikit, 4 ringgit gitu seliter. Tapi motor kan, so save gila. And dekat sini, takyah pakai helmet. Quite risky tp mcm best sebab kau lek je lalu depan polis depa. Dengan polis polis sekali tak pakai helmet haha. And dekat sini, kau takyah risau pasal minyak sebab bersepah depa jual minyak tepi jalan, range harga 20 baht sampai 80 baht gitu

We supposed to stay for 3d2n, tapi sebab abah dh serik nak hadap jammed, kitorang pun extend. And this time, kitorang stay dekat Butterfly Princess Hotel tu. Idk if I should wrote this, tapi malam last kitorang dekat sana, tetiba satu Betong blackout. Ingatkan blackout biasa, but the next morning, dengor local kata ada org bom tiang lektrik dekat Yala. Bukan satu, tapi tiga empat biji. Thailand bahaya sebab sebab gitu lah, sebab depa still ada rebellion, bahasa senangnya gitu lah, so if kau p, and nampak askar berkawad, and ada beribu pos askar mcm dekat border, jangan lah pelik. Bcs they need that. Bebila masa je boleh ada kes.

Betong Hot Spring

Habis cerita situ, kay utk Piyamit Tunnel, rate dia 70 baht for dewasa. Masuk lah. Utk pencinta Sejarah macam aku, mmg seronok lah, ambik ambik feeling zaman komunis dulu. Dekat situ ada ex komunis yang akan cerita dekat kau pasal zaman depa. Mmg dia yang duduk situ and pernah lalu everything there. Don't worry, depa boleh cakap melayu. Most of org sana boleh cakap melayu, kau try je. So far language takdelah jd barrier for us. Utk hot spring pulak, free ja. P lah bawak parents hangpa. Depa suka treatment gini, since dh lenguh berjalan seharian. Its a relieve tho.

Lagi satu favourite kitorang dekat Thailand— will always be its 7 Eleven!

7E depa seronok, jual memacam. Sebijik macam Korea. Kalau dekat mesia kau boleh tutup mata je takde nak hadap pun 7E sini, dekat sana lain. Pantang nampak, nak je masuk! Pastu shopping haha lol, kau kena p sendiri, then baru kau faham why aku eksaited everytime nampak 7E. Barang dia banyak variety, pastu muroh pulak tu. Kau even boleh shopping skincare dekat sana, dia macam mini Watsons too. In the next post, kalau rajin, kalau eh, nanti aku share skincare haul aku dekat sana. I bought quite a lot, and tak regret it hehe, ni baru start pakai, nanti aku review. And harga dia, serious, waaaaay much cheaper than Malaysia. 

Dekat Betong ni, bundle bersepah. Aku nangis keluaq darah bila nampak banyak betei branded kasut hiking here, semua lawo lawo, murah. Windbreaker pun ada. Just seluor je tak jumpa. Kalau jumpa cius aku borong. Pastu dekat sini ada satu kilang barang dapur, segala periuk kuali pisau belanga depa jual sini, murah gila. Pm je aku kalau ada plan nak p, nanti aku share semua

Aku rasa tu je kut, apa lagi eh. Kalau ada nanti aku edit balik, and share. Tu je kut— so far travel trip paling adventure, paling lasak penah kitorang p. Allah tu susun, baik betei. Of how we met Abg Zan and ikut depa, if tak, mmg pishang kitorang dekat sana. Well, I survived Betong - Yala already! If anyone ada plan nak p sana, habaq je aku, nnt aku bagi contact number Abg Zan, don't worry, he's a nice guy, banyak offer kitorang itu ini. Bawak jalan sana sini without minta return. May Allah bless him. Insya allah aamiin. 

Aku rasa tu je kut. Kalau ada nak tanya pape, kut nak tau procedure bawak kereta keluar Malaysia ke, feel free to drop a comment, takpun reach je aku dkt twitter or Instagram ok? Ciao.