I took few pictures of the Zahir Mosque in Alor Setar and the new Alor Setar Tower. The mosque, built in 1912, is apparently one of the most beautiful in the country and I can confirm that statement. It is pretty. After that I was back on my way towards Malaysia – Thailand border.

I made a little detour to Kuala Perlis, which I expected to be an interesting seaside place. There was nothing really interesting except of the fishing community houses and boats that you can see from the bridge. Together with the ride there offering some nice views I didn’t regret, although I can’t recommend it too much either. If you’ve got your own transport and time than you can pay Kuala Perlis a visit.

As I was getting closer to the border with Thailand some limestone outcrops were popping up on the way – some of them really pretty. Shame there is always a haze that prevents the pictures looking their best.

On the border I had some “fun” with the customs officers and my Carnet again. Nobody have ever seen the document before apparently. I wonder if they change jobs so much that nobody had seen it before. I myself know a few people who traveled through this border with a Carnet so somebody there on the border must have processed it for them.

I was being sent from building to building, from window to window and from officer to officer until I ended up on the other side of the main building where inbound traffic is going through. The officers debated vividly over the document for about 15 minutes after which time the officer announced to me that they can’t process it for me since, apparently, Thailand was not a member of Carnet. I explained to him that that was not his concern and that his only concern was to fill it in and keep the export slip to which matching import slip was already in the possession of Malaysian customs to which they have to match it. I also required a stamp for my part of the Carnet to confirm that I exported the bike from the country. It took me a little while of debating with him before I finally got him to run around getting the necessary stamps. Then I waited with my bike until they brought my Carnet back and I was free to continue to Thai part of the border. Nobody checked that the bike was the actual bike stated on the Carnet…

On the Thailand side things were a bit easier. They had a special window for temporary vehicle imports so I went there. After a while of keyboard punching I received a form from the officer and was told that that was all. I requested my Carnet to be stamped and once again, I was talking to someone who has never seen it before. However, this time we just went straight to a few other officers and although nobody have seen it before either they were open to hear from me as to what to do with the document and so they did as I told them. Then a superior officer came. He apparently had some experience with Carnets and got them to destroy the original form I received as it was not needed in this case. I got everything stamped (even the re-export part already – they obviously really didn’t know what to do exactly) and was free to start roaming Thailand.

The first impression of Thailand was that it was really visibly poorer than the neighboring Malaysia. However, that impression didn’t last long. Contrasting to the surroundings are the Malay Buddhist Temples that are all decorated in gold as are big pictures of the royal family members in cities. Nobody scrapes the gold off, as I'm sure would happen in some other countries.

I first went to Thale Ban national park where I wanted to camp. I couldn’t find any camp site or park headquarters so I continued to Trang, where I found an accommodation for 180 Baht – apparently the cheapest in town. It is near the tourist information office which in turn is located at the hotel opposite the clock tower.

(419km)