Koh Samui To Bkk - Keeping To The Coast

[devolad]

I have a couple of mates from NZ heading to LOS for a bit of r'n'r - they are pretty keen to rent scooters from Samui, catch ferry to mainland and try and keep to the coast as much as possible, eventually ending up in Bangkok.

Both of the lads are reasonably experienced riders (one more than the other) - they are in no rush - just after a bit of adventure.

Have impressed on them that it will definately be an adventure - and that medical insurance is a must.

Anyone done a similar ride that can provide some advise that I can pass on?

Rent in Samui or mainland?

Things to look out for?(Are there coconut trucks on the mainland?)

Places that are worth having a look stop or overnight stays?

1st time posting on tv, although have been a pretty regular viewer - nothing worth saying up till now.

[Bingo66]

I would say your mad, unexperinced Thailand riders? Samui to BKK? Different side of the road? If you are not use to the roads in Thailand, you should not be doing road trips on them, there will be trucks everywhere, bus's and trucks under and overtaking you, the roads will be pot hole ridden. Pickups will be forcing you over to the hard shoulder and bus's will be overtaking people and coming into your lane. Where will you rent the bike? Samui? And take it back?

Most tourists that come to do this, end up under a pickup or lorry.

Stay on route 41 and 4, don't go via ranong, it's all twisty cannon type hills, buses will be hacking through there on the oppisit side of road through blind corners.

[KRS1]

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Edited May 26, 2013 by KRS1

[KRS1]

Yeah Go For It !

Aint nothing like a great adventure, live dangerously, live life and dont be one of those that 'wondered' what would have happened.

Buy a couple of scooters in Samui, advertise them for sale at a low price and sell them when they get to BKK.

[RubberSideDown]

Tell them to confirm that the bikes they rent can be brought off the island- I would imagine that most of them can't be through the contractual agreement- it could make for some problems later, especially as most rental places insist on a passport as collateral.

[macknife]

I would say your mad, unexperinced Thailand riders? Samui to BKK? Different side of the road? If you are not use to the roads in Thailand, you should not be doing road trips on them, there will be trucks everywhere, bus's and trucks under and overtaking you, the roads will be pot hole ridden. Pickups will be forcing you over to the hard shoulder and bus's will be overtaking people and coming into your lane. Where will you rent the bike? Samui? And take it back?

Most tourists that come to do this, end up under a pickup or lorry.

Stay on route 41 and 4, don't go via ranong, it's all twisty cannon type hills, buses will be hacking through there on the oppisit side of road through blind corners.

Mug! Well firstly NZ dive on the same side as Thailand. If they are sticking to beach roads or B roads like the 4112 there wont be many trucks or other traffic. Twisty canyon type hills sounds like a bikers dream. Your only valid point is about renting in Samui.

RSD is right that want you rent in Samui probably can't be taken to the mainland, so ur friends may be better off buying 2nd hand scooters in Surat Thani or possibly you could rent there. If you can rent, then get Honda CBR150s or 250s, that way there will be no one overtaking you or forcing you anywhere.

Sounds like a fun trip, go for it.

[Bingo66]

I would say your mad, unexperinced Thailand riders? Samui to BKK? Different side of the road? If you are not use to the roads in Thailand, you should not be doing road trips on them, there will be trucks everywhere, bus's and trucks under and overtaking you, the roads will be pot hole ridden. Pickups will be forcing you over to the hard shoulder and bus's will be overtaking people and coming into your lane. Where will you rent the bike? Samui? And take it back?

Most tourists that come to do this, end up under a pickup or lorry.

Stay on route 41 and 4, don't go via ranong, it's all twisty cannon type hills, buses will be hacking through there on the oppisit side of road through blind corners.

Mug! Well firstly NZ dive on the same side as Thailand. If they are sticking to beach roads or B roads like the 4112 there wont be many trucks or other traffic. Twisty canyon type hills sounds like a bikers dream. Your only valid point is about renting in Samui.

RSD is right that want you rent in Samui probably can't be taken to the mainland, so ur friends may be better off buying 2nd hand scooters in Surat Thani or possibly you could rent there. If you can rent, then get Honda CBR150s or 250s, that way there will be no one overtaking you or forcing you anywhere.

Sounds like a fun trip, go for it.

Same side of road? HENCE THE ? it was a question.

yea twisty cannon roads are a bikers dream, but not when Somchai is yaa baa'd up in a bus driving around a blind corner on the wrong side of road at speed. 4112 ends near Ranong i believe which is still 500km from BKK so yea they will be driving with trucks and idiots in pickups overtaking them in the same lane. And with these b roads, how many days would it take to get to BKK? Not gonna do it before dark in 1 day on these roads and tourists on these roads at night with rented bikes? Road kill.

And you're forgetting, this is not NZ, this is TH and unless you have road experience on a bike in Thailand it's a pretty good bet you might end up as road kill. TOURISTS and rented bikes on road trips do not mix, don't you read the daily deaths in phuket and the south everyday? Imagine 1 of these rented scooter idiots in a wife beater on route 4 from Surat Thani to BKK ...

[cornishcarlos]

I think that sounds like a great plan... Bingo66 must be a bit fragile

Although, unless BKK is a priority, why don't they head south and then across to Trang and south again ??

Much nicer drive down that way.

Agree with the CBR150/250 option as well. Riding a scooter becomes a pain in the a** after a couple hrs.

From Surat going north, they could do coast roads for a little way, up through Chaiya etc but eventually they will find themselves on the highway, which isn't much fun and not near the coast.

Let us know how they get on..

Safe riding

[devolad]

Thanks for the feedback,

Bingo66 - I do hear what your saying - its a different driving "style" in LOS and the guys are going to have to be pretty careful. But the only way to get experience is to have a go, and these guys are not the standard wife beater wearing tourists who have never been on two wheels before - both of these boys own bikes and ride regularly.

Cheers for the advise - i think the guys will want something a bit bigger than a scooter for comfort and safety.

The guys are planning on spending a week getting from Surut thani to BKK so it may be that sticking to B roads as much as possible might be the way to go.

Is renting a bike in Surut Thani and dropping it off in BKK realistic? Renting would be a bit less hassle for the guys - just from the perspective of paperwork and trying to sell it when in BKK.

I am killer jealous - I think a week to zig zag back to BKK will be a blast.

Will definately put a post up after I meet up with them for refreshments and debrief after they get to BKK

[cornishcarlos]

I think if they rent bikes in Surat and drop them in BKK, they won't get their passports back

Never heard of any places renting with a 1 way drop off, not like major car hire companies.

But I'm sure they won't leave their passports as deposit anyway ?????????

[asdecas]

I'm ninety-nine percent certain there is nowhere on Samui that will allow motorcycle hire on the island and return at a drop off point elsewhere. I seriously doubt such pick up in one place, drop off in another happens at all in Thailand, for motorcycles at least. And as others have pointed out, even if your friends did find such a place willing to allow the hire, what collateral (such as passport) are your friends going to leave and how will it be returned at the end of the hire?

Edited May 26, 2013 by asdecas

[devolad]

Cheers again for the advise.

Sounds like the lads have to buy and then sell in BKK or plan a return trip.

May suggest they add a couple of days on and do the return trip.

Once again cheers for the help

[craigt3365]

Sounds like a fun trip! I've done that stretch before, but with a car. Going along the coast as much as possible. It's a bit of a pain as the roads aren't that well marked and many end up being dead ends, so you have to back track. But some great beaches along the way.

I think a great idea would be to rent in Hua Hin and start from there. It's more of a tourist town, so probably easier to rent bikes than in Surat.

I'd also recommend they stop in Hua Hin. The drive from there to BKK is really busy. Crazy drivers, confusing road signs. They drive really fast along that stretch and there's tons of trucks also. Easy to get a bus or train from there to BKK.

Don't forget south of Surat. From the ferry to Samui down is a beautiful drive. Much less traffic. Khanom, Sichon and down past Nakhon Si Thammarat is great driving and less crowded roads.

As mentioned above, the drive from Surat over to Krabi is really beautiful. You can then go either north or south from there. Driving down to Lanta or up around Phang Na bay over towards Phuket.

Lots of great options and relatively easy to stay off the main roads. I'd highly recommend they get a GPS. They're not that much money and we found the best map we could buy didn't have all the roads we were seeing! We even stopped to ask a cop directions and he was confused. My wife is Thai, so language and reading signs wasn't the problem.

As mentioned above, get insurance that specifically provides coverage for riding bikes. Most don't. If you end up in a hospital, nothing will be done until you either put up a chunk of cash, or they've verified your insurance. Even if you have insurance, some hospitals will require you to pay cash. Plenty of reports about those without insurance having major hassles...

[Beardog]

Hey tell your buds to go for it. I myself would go for the option that Cornish Carlos made a 250 CBR or a Ninja would be much more comfy on the ass for that long of a distance & way more fun. The bike rental places usually have right on the contract they sign a limit to the amount of miles used 50 kilo's ---unless they make arrangements for the extra kilos in the contract. If thyey do get a place to rent have them go over with a fine tooth comb looking for any (even insignificant damage) so they don't allow themselves to be victims of the jet ski scam (except with bikes).They will probably be better off just buying the rides & turning them when they get done with the trip. Hell I did 3 weeks in Jamaica when I was 20 years old on a dirtbike. It is insane there. You drive from 0-80 in 3-4 seconds & drive right up on the ass of the car in front of you. One brakes you all brake as a team.Thailand is a challenge but I sure wouldn't let that stop me from an adventure! Some times you can even find a Thai owner that is willing to rent you his personal bike for an amount. That would be a little more involved & someone will definitely need to speak Thai to get a deal hammered out.

Sounds like fun ! I still want to take my ER6n to Krabi from Pattaya.

[devolad]

Team, once again appreciate the tips. This is killing me - I will be up north visiting family while the lads are exploring the south. I know my lass would say go have fun with the boys if i told her i was keen, but am trying a new "better man" approach to life - f(ire tr)uck - am getting speed wobbles.

One of the lads has a triumph 900 which is his mode of transport in nz - agree with the feedback that scooters wont cut it, not to mention being underpowered, dangerous, and sore on the ........

Craigt3365 - cheers for tip on possibly avoiding bkk. I think the guys chose BKK as a default destination, so will suggest they stay off the beaten track, maybe head south and have look around.

Once again, thanks - agree with you beardog - they are going to havve a blast - can see a one week road trip stretching into a border run to "refresh" visas.Will let you all know how they get on (mid july I think).

[Shurup]

I bought my bike in Phuket, rode it to Chayaphoom through BKK. The part of the trip from Phuket to around Hua Hin was fun, the rest of the way to BKK was boring and I f**ken hated going through BKK, would have went around if I didn't have to drip the GF off to pick her car up there. Please remember the bikes can't get on tollways in BKK so they will be limited to the rest of the stuffed roads. My bike is a cruiser though, they will do better on sports bikes but I still can't say they will enjoy it riding through the BKK. I would x2 whet Craig said about riding South, stopping at Hua-Hin and taking a bus to BKK from there.

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