Anyone ever drive south of Thailand down to Malaysia?

[garyk]

I go every year to the deep south. Hala-bala. Last year I got all my papers in order and drove into Malaysia (one month). I never had a problem. Am headed back there in a few months. Will cross at Sungai Kolok. I even rented a place on the border last year for a few months. That was a little strange not recommended by me for sure.

Have fun and don't make your self conspicuous. I never once had a problem.

Make sure you get all your paperwork in order. Especially if you plan to stay for a while and drive down into the country site seeing. It took me a while to find out what all I needed.

My plans this year are to stay the entire summer in Malaysia. At least 3 months.

I am a birder and travel around to see and photograph wildlife. Also allot of my birder friends drive from Thailand into Malaysia each year for the birding. Farang and Thai alike.

Driving to Malaysia is fantastic but why the hell would you cross at Sungai Kolok? You are supposed to cross in Satun or Songkhla. The three southernmost border provinces are dangerous and it amazes me that anyone would be so reckless to head into that region, besides, that region [the three southernmost border provinces] is suspicious of outsiders and they don't like you anyway. Next time do the responsible thing and cross at Padang Besar, Bukit Kayu Hitam (Sadao) or one of the Satun crossings.

Good question. I go to Hala Bala each year for the birding. I stay in or close to the park and when I leave I head to Sungai Kolok to cross. Never had a problem. Very easy to cross there. There are insurance companies on the road and the people are very friendly. Been doing it for years, never had a problem.

Sungai Kolok is a rather strange place to say the least. If i have to stay the night there I rent a good hotel and do not go out at night.

Cheers

Edited February 15, 2015 by garyk

[rajyindee]

that region [the three southernmost border provinces] is suspicious of outsiders and they don't like you anyway. Next time do the responsible thing and cross at Padang Besar, Bukit Kayu Hitam (Sadao) or one of the Satun crossings.

Never had a problem with the folks when travelling in the southernmost provinces. They seemed to be pretty friendly and appreciative that you were visiting/passing through their little corner of Thailand. I certainly didn't get the impression they had particular "issues" with westerners.

Edited February 15, 2015 by rajyindee

[rajyindee]

Avoid the three provinces listed above and there is no problem. If you drive to Malaysia you need

- Translation of registration document provided by the transport department.

- License plate using western alphabet (you get the necessary characters from the translation above) (I printed out the number in large font, had it laminated and fastened it over the Thai plate)

- Insurance valid for Malaysia (I have been checked by Malaysian police twice)

You also need to display a vehicle disc (obtained from the Malaysian Dept of Transport, just after customs).

[garyk]

that region [the three southernmost border provinces] is suspicious of outsiders and they don't like you anyway. Next time do the responsible thing and cross at Padang Besar, Bukit Kayu Hitam (Sadao) or one of the Satun crossings.

Never had a problem with the folks when travelling in the southernmost provinces. They seemed to be pretty friendly and appreciative that you were visiting/passing through their little corner of Thailand. I certainly didn't get the impression they had particular "issues" with westerners.

Same here actually. Nice bunch of folks.

As a matter of fact they always went out of there way to be friendly. Never once did I get the impression I was not welcome or liked.

Edited February 15, 2015 by garyk

[WarpSpeed]

I sold my 69 Toyota Crown I've spoken of here a few times to a nice Muslim teacher that had come up from Songkhla expressly to see and try to buy it. He came all the way to Bangkok by bus with a couple of his friends to see the car. I could not resist selling it to him he was so impressed and wanted it so badly in spite of him being quite a bit short on asking price, he sincerely appreciated all the work I had done and the uniqueness of the car. I suggested that he not drive it that distance though and have it shipped instead as it was an obviously an older car and though I had gone through it completely and it was in great running condition it was still a classic and it didn't need all that extra mileage but true to Thai nature he did anyways and then called to tell us it took him 3 days to make the trip, but they loved every minute of it, every time they stopped had a dozen people eyeing and asking questions and it made it all the way without a hitch which made me very proud and happy.

He had taken a picture of all 3 of us at the registration agent on his phone and I wanted him to send me a copy but he didn't know how to do it with his phone or how to get the pics out of his phone, I'm not going to lie I had a bit of hesitation about having them come to the house and was even more uneasy when there was 3 of them that showed up, that was unexpected. Obviously given where they came from a lot of things ran through my head like maybe they were buying it for something nefarious, but the car had to much value for that so I quickly discounted it and his reaction to showing it to his mother when he got back and such was too genuine. In the end I was happy to sell it to someone who really appreciated it even if for a bit less money and no doubt him owning it really raised his stature in his village.

Edited February 15, 2015 by WarpSpeed