500 Miles to Betong - Part 2

500 miles to Betong - Part 1 | 500 miles to Betong - Part 2 | 500 miles to Betong - Part 3 | Map of entire route | Map of places in Betong

First sights of Betong. Bustling city


The all important Watch Tower of Betong


First impression of Betong
Betong looked every bit like some Thailand small towns that I had been to. At the heart of Betong, was the Watch Tower whereby the entire town centered around it. There was a traffic circle and from there, you could drive out to the various directions from the town. Thailand biggest post box was also found here.

Traffic-wise, the traffic lights and road signs were rather confusing and most were writtin in Thai words. However, over my stay in Betong, we noted that the drivers here are a patient lot, and would give way regardless whether if you were in the right of way or not. Traffic here was also slow moving, mostly at 30-40km/hr. There were lots of motorbikes (mostly ridden by ladies) and extra care was needed to drive carefully. During the night, it rained and we saw an accident involving 2 motorbikes. But no one was hurt as the general speed here was slow.

The people here were mainly Thai Chinese and could converse in Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay. Money wasn't an issue and all you need to convert Thai Baht to RM was to remove the extra 0. eg. 100 Baht = RM10.

Oh, one more observation. There were plenty of stray dogs here. Cats, very few. Seems that Thais in Betong love dogs. The dogs, stray or not, are treated kindly. Some even have the cheek to sleep in the middle of the road. And cars would take care to avoid hitting them.

Trying to locate Hotel Merlin. But it wasn't there


But found this beautiful and clean hotel. RM73 per nite


Private sheltered parking some more


Nice lobby


Nice room, don't you think?


A biker convoy also came here


Finding an accomodation in Betong
I drove to find the Merlin Hotel that I read was ok. But all I found was a Cathay Hotel in place of the POI, and the hotel didn't look clean. I then drove around to see if I can spot any better ones. Luck was to have it that we by pass this Hotel on the outskirt of Betong, Butterfly Princess. It looked clean and new and there wasn't any obvious hookers or agogo girls hanging around. At RM73, it was a steal. And what more, we could check in right away. Betong time is 1 hour behind Singapore Time. That would put us at checking in at 10am, Thai Time.

Mongkolit Tunnel. Frankly, I don't know why they need this tunnel


Inside the Mongkolit Tunnel


The popular Garden View Hotel


A night pasar malam here


This dog was a stray. D loved it very much


Oh. A petrol vending machine. How clever?


Petrol vending machine (close up)


I wasn't sure about the local food yet and wanted to do something safe for a start. For some strange reason, we couldn't find any hotels that have lunch. Driving around, I found the Garden View Hotel that was talked about in a blog. Nearby up on a hill, there was a nice look-out place called Vision View Restaurant around the Hotel vicinity. However, it would open only at 4pm.

I decided then to head for some Betong tourist attractions and maybe, they would have places to eat there. From the information I gathered, there were 2 must see on the itinerary: The Piyamit Tunnel and the Hot Spring. Hot Spring would be the first as it was the nearest and along the way. The two attractions were on the northern side of Betong. But the place there was easy to drive to as there were plenty of road signs guiding the way.

Clear signs to the Hot Spring


Wow, sign board comes with photo!


Yeah, the water is hot!


This part, not that hot. Can soak your smelly feet into it


This part is hotter


Hottest water is caged up. In case you accidentally drop inside


Water was boiling


I was wondering what it says, until I realized that the 7 indicates the time to cook the eggs


Hot day! Time for cooling coconut drink


Nice park by itself


Hmm. That's how they spell it


See the bags of eggs hanging about?


Hot Sp"e"ing
We arrived at the hot spring and found a sprawling park area with the hot spring in the centre. The weather around this time was very hot. The hot spring itself was hot, adding to the hotness of this place. However, it was a nice park and there were some food stalls selling things to eat and even a children playground with toilets. The hot spring here was impressive and you could see the water boiling from the underground thermal heat. Unlike the miserable ones that we have been to in Malaysia. I soon come to realize that the stalls were also selling packets of eggs, for people to cook in the hot spring! I saw a lady doing it and went over to ask if the eggs would taste better. She said yes and we should give it a try. What an interesting idea. I bought 2 eggs for Desiree and get her to go about cooking it. Now I could say that I have eaten hot spring boiled eggs :)

This is the Aunties shop


Eh, the straw so short one?


Wah! Retro coke in a bottle


Road side stall opposite the Aunties shop


Thai specialty - Tom Tam


OOHLALA. So shiok!


BBQ crab for RM6


How to cook an egg in a hot speing
Step 1 - buy the eggs. Don't worry, the plastic bag won't melt


Step 2 - Get near to the caged boiling water


Step 3 - hang your eggs with the holder provided


Step 4 - wait while others copy you to do the same


Step 5 - 7 minutes later, collect eggs


Step 6 - enjoy eating it with your eyes closed


We saw a quaint old shop, kopi tiam styled, manned by 2 Aunties. We decided to get our lunch there. I was forced to use my smattering of Cantonese with her, and because of that, she treated us like important customers. The Aunties were very nice and look out for anything that we needed eg. extra bowls, tissue etc. But they only had noodles on the menu. Hor Fun and Seafood noodles Zhi Char kind of food. Food was ok, as we were not particularly keen on noodles at that point in time. But nevertheless, it was enjoyable. A saw a road side stall selling something interesting and went across to get it. It was known as Tomtam. According to her, it was delicious, although I declined to eat anything that is raw and filled with chilli.

Road to Piyamit Tunnel - it was a hilly ride


Popular tourist spot. Taxis all waiting for business


I suppose they don't have this during the war. It would be a dead giveaway


Entrance to the Tunnel. Pay money first


Ok. Brush up your history


Wah, climb and climb. I thot tunnel is to go down?


This tree survived the war


A guard post. Halt! Who goes there?


Secret map to the labyrinth of tunnels. The british would have paid a high price for this 60 years ago


Hey, the tunnel very cooling


Encounters of the 4th kind


Here, they held power meetings to thwart the British


All the commies torture equipments. (hehe, no lah. Some machineries they used)


Comrades! Ne Hao!


There is a temple here. Losing the war, pray!


Lucky number for Yew


Tourist attractions must have a souvenir shop


Piyamit Tunnel
I drove on next to Piyamit Tunnel. Along the way, we saw many places had landslide along the side of the mountainous road. It looked like quite a problem here, perhaps during the rainy season. But we were lucky for this trip to have bright sunshine throughout. We were also surprised that the tunnel was located at a mountainous area thinking it to be underground instead. In fact, after paying our fee, we had to climb quite a number of stairs just to reach the tunnel main entrance. By the time were were there, I was really panting away from the lack of exercise. But once in the tunnel, it was very cooling, almost like it was air conditioned. There was a guide explaining the history, but he was busy with another big group. We looked around at all the artifacts that were used during the communist war against the British. They were indeed very well organized.

Landslide along the way


Hmm. What is this flower garden? Let's go check it out


More landslides


Mountainous roads


Uh-oh. Unpassable now


Nice country drive


We were about 600 metres high. (When I check this reading, I had driven down for about 5 minutes)


Plenty of signs like this which I couldn't read


Flower Garden
On the way back to Betong Town, I saw a signage that said "Flower Garden". I decided to check it out and drove in. But the road ended up being a hilly one, and we found ourselves climbing up the mountain. Some sections, there were landslides which covered part of the road. That was when I recalled LS mentioning it in his blog and how treacherous the road was. Indeed I came to a section where the tarred roads ended and the ground turn muddy. Up ahead, there was a Excavator and the entire stretch was impassable. The workers saw me coming and signaled me to come ahead while they try to give way to me. But the stretch looked too dangerous. Mind you, we were on a narrow road up on a mountain with a sheer drop on the edge. I carefully maneuver my car to make a turn around. Any misstep, I could fly down the mountain.





Pump Petrol at Thailand
Going back to the hotel, my fuel was running low below the 1/4 mark. Initially, I just wanted to top up a little bit and have a full pump on my way back to Ipoh. But the attendant couldn't speak English nor Chinese well and due to the difficulty to communicate, I said "ok lah, full tank", which they understood perfectly. But to my horrors, I saw the petrol meter jumping up to 1000 bahts! That worked out to something like $43 for a 3/4+ tank. In Singapore, I could do a full tank for just $45. So, the petrol here is like pretty expensive. Now I know why they actually go into Malaysia to pump Petrol which led to the 20L rule for stations at the border. All their fault!

Vision View Steak House


View from the parking. Careful of the giant chickens from space!


All hungry. Waiting for food


Authentic Tom Yam Soup! I like!


Pineapple rice (tasted sour. their style here)


Boxing Chicken on Boxing day!


Dinner at Vision View
From there, we headed back to the Hotel for a wash up, and then it was time to look for dinner. A wanted to try the Vision View place. What's more, they have free WIFI! That's where I put my "greetings from Betong" post in Ning. Food was indeed nice and to my delight, they had Tom Yum Soup. I was craving immensely for Tom Yum Soup, as we were after all in Thailand. We had the best dinner so far for our trip. The food was cheap to us but probably quite expensive for the locals. The manager came over to talk to me and told me that he worked in Singapore for 14 years at Manderin Hotel. Wow. He was very helpful and pointed us to the chinatown in Betong. He even drew us a map on how to get there.

D trying her luck at a game


Opps. The dart missed the target


Somebody's prize would have a hole in the head


Knick knacks to buy


A clip for long hair


Pasar Malam now all lighted up


Pretty lights


A went gaga over the fake flowers


Shopping is safe. The military polices the area


Ice cream popsicles (thai style)


Children rides


Food street


Smells good


Not sure why all the bikes had to lift up their seats. Might be for security purposes


Betong Plaza. The only mall here


Beautiful Betong night scene


See my little blue car?


Alamak. Someone lost a dog


Getting some presents for folks back home


It started to rain


How come the light bulbs not on?


Wait a minute. Those are not light bulbs! They are swifts!


From http://wikitravel.org/en/Betong
"Swifts (นกนางแอ่น) at dusk the swifts would fly about the city center and come to rest at houses, on buildings and on electricity lines, especially on the Bell Tower that is well-lit at night. They have become one of Betong’s symbols, although they are there only during the cool season when they flee from the cold weather of Siberia once a year, usually from September through March."



Street selling food


Chinatown at night
That night, we didn't manage to find it and even the shop owners don't know where it is. But according to one, the whole area is "chinatown" as most of them are chinese. We spent the night after our dinner walking the Pasar Malam there and then proceeding to the town center to check out the shops. It started to rain rather heavily and we were just shopping for goodies to bring back. An interesting sight greeted us near the Town Tower with some thousands of sparrow perching on the wires that were over hanging buildings. And amazingly, they were undeterred by the rain and continue to lay themselves out in nice rows.

500 miles to Betong - Part 3

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Jessie said…
Hostels are cheap and easy way of lodging.

Palermo Hostel
Unknown said…
wah.. looks like my bikers also in your blog.. thanks.. really nice ride to Betong..

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