TRIP summary of Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia Driving tour

Click on the Picture above for the google map link.

I'm a bit late to write this blog but I think that's a good thing because now the mind has settled down with the trip adventure and one can write not with much enthusiasm but with specific details about the journey.

I drove around 7000 km in this trip. It was 2500 km in Malaysia which you can read in more detail in my Malaysia trip blog,  around 3500 km in Thailand and another one thousand kilometer in Cambodia.

As I can summarize that Malaysia is much more developed than Thailand which is more developed than Cambodia and so was the condition of the roads.

In Cambodia it's left hand side driving while in Malaysia and Thailand it is right hand driving. Malaysia to Thailand border crossing was quite easy as I checked-in. The Thailand police was very  professional and tourist friendly. Malaysia border police was also okay.

I bought Bike Insurance for Thailand in Malaysia border town and as usual I did not carry all the papers required for Entry in Thailand (Photocopy of passport and hotel booking proof and Bike registration papers). I did online reservation but the Immigration demanded the paper print. They allowed me to go inside Thailand and take the print out and then come back for visa (unusual help).

Now we talk about two most important things. First is the currency and second is data connection (Mobile Sim).

Currency:

In Thailand I changed Malaysian Ringgit at the border. I carried enough cash (As these seem relatively safe countries). 

Its always good to carry the dollars, e.g. in Cambodia I couldn't change my Malaysia Ringgit and I didn't have dollars at that time. Avoid using the ATMs because the banks are big looters, same as insurance companies and I don't understand why the government put the ban on carrying the currency if the exchange rates are so bad through banks. If governments want to stop the Black money, at least they should ask the banks to give the better rates. Anyway...

I used ATM In Cambodia two times as I couldn't get the conversion. Otherwise I was okay in Thailand as I already converted my Malaysia ringgits at the border.

SIM:

One can purchase SIM in Thailand at in any mall. Just show your passport and 5G connection. In Cambodia, the guy didn't even bother to see my passport. And even when it's 4G connection in Cambodia, the speed was good. Better than Malaysia and  that was a surprise.

Food:

During this Thailand tour, because I am a vegetarian, it was very very difficult to get food. In Malaysia, you can find some Tamilian restaurants where you can find the vegetables and dishes that are similar to India. So it was easier there. But in Thailand, it's more difficult. And I am talking about the restaurants only on roads, highways and villages as I avoid cities to stay.

I am totally dependent only on 7-Eleven grocery chain outlets, spread all over in Thailand. Even at village junctions, cheese toast of 33 Thai bhat (that's only veg I liked after all my attempts) is good. I purchase salt, green chili, onion and sometimes tomatoes (tomatoes can't carried all time as they get rotten quickly).

I used to ask them to warm up the sandwiches for me and I ate those with chili and salt (sometime onions) and then a coffee. If I was lucky I would get the vegetable fried rice at some places but I was never sure about the toppings as they usually contain fish.  I always watch the process of making fried rice and sometime they allowed me to cook in the kitchen and enjoyed watching my cooking skills.

Good thing about Thailand is that you can find hotels, small hotels in every countryside. I guess if you are in a very deep into the countryside, still you can get the hotel in Thailand . Agoda.com is not much of help but you can use the Google maps and find out hotels. I found some hotels closed permanentaly but they give you the other hotel address which I think is the best thing in any business: "Reference".

Second good thing about the Thailand is honesty. Hotel rates and veg fried rice are so fixed all over the country. I mean if you are in city you can get 400-600 THB range and in the village side, they start with a 350 Thai bhat and go up to 450. Hotels again are very good. They all have AC and a 10 inch bed mattress, very good Wi-Fi, 5G mobile network connection in the villages. So a solo traveler like me does not have any problem while staying in a village at night and I usually choose near a Seven-Elevan store. Please note that there is No-alcohol or Eeven Beer sale after 11 PM till the morning. It's Thai Government rule).

Further summarizing the trip, I was denied entry at Myanmar border although I had a visa due to unrest in Myanmar. At the Laos border, I got the online visa but again they did not allow me as I had a bike with less than 350cc engine. So I couldn't go there. I then took the online visa of Cambodia and they allowed my entry. Details about that are in my Cambodia blog.

Cambodia is not so rich and definitely there is not much honesty in the shopkeepers. Coming from honest countries like Malaysia and Thailand, I initially believed the them like I used to believe in those countries but had a shock in the capital (Phnom Penh). I was cheated two times before I even realised. Then I became careful.

Overall I have a regret that I didn't go deep into the Cambodia but the good thing is that I can use this as an excuse to come back to Cambodia.

One more food which one can take as a vegetarian is cooked rice in a bamboo with some peas, cooked together in the bamboo and that's very very delicious.

Epilogue: In Thailand, I found a lot of English people in many villages or even in small city (as i didn't visit or stay big cities). That was surprising. At the Laos border, I met a Canadian man who come in Thailand in winter. He had a family in nearby town. Met another one at the immigration post at Myanmar border. He was an American (same story) who came to get some papers required to buy or sell (I can't remember) a bike. And even in a small town I saw and met many white people and I talked to them. I understood that they prefer to marry woman and keep a second family here so now it's the for English women to that how much independent they want to be and how much manly roles they want in their society because I saw that man wants a woman to be a woman and prefer a woman who can be a wife, make his house a home.

The men are exploring this option in Thailand to make a family.

I would like to go into the Cambodia next time and maybe I can cover the Vietnam in that trip.