Wow wow wow, we started Saturday noon time from KL and what a jam. It takes us 3 hours to reach Rawang where normally it takes less than half an hour. Only after Tanjung Malim the traffice are able to move. The problem is cause by cars queing up to enter the highway rest areas in Sungei Buloh, Rawang and only Tapah is ok because they have a huge parking area for cars to enter easily. It took us 6 1/2 hours to reach Kuala Kangsar where the distance is less than 250 km. That means our travelling speed is about 40km/hr. You can see many stop by the roadside to pee. Furthermore it rains heavily and non stop all the way.

Next year we will travel by train. Never mind if it takes 4 hours or more rather than the frustration of caught in the traffic jam.

Anyway we are still in time for reunion dinner at 7.30pm. As usual after the dinner we have wines and cigars distributed by Datuk every year. Also ang pow are given to children.

The Chinese New Year in most of the villages are quieter now due to rural urban migration. There are less people now and most of the younger ones do not know each other apart from their own relatives.

Below are our itinerary for the trip. We will join the group in Mini Cafe, Changlun, border town in Kedah Malaysia before entering Thailand. Tomorrow is Chinese New Year eve and we will drive home ( balik kampung ) to Manong, a town near Kuala Kangsar. This is the place where we were brought up until we finished school at 17 years old. From here most of us either further their studies in colleges in bigger towns or seek employment in the city.

From tomorrow until 19th February 2007, that is the second day of Chinese New Year we will be start our trip from Manong at 9am to join the group.

Our first trip was in December 2002 where we drove to Angkor Wat, Cambodia. This is a 12 day trip where we reached Angkor Wat on Christmas eve. Since then we embark on many trips to Thailand. In 2005 December we drove to three islands in Thailand on two weeks trip. On this trip we drove to three islands, Koh Samui, Phuket and then Koh Lanta.


1
PROGRAMME
19/2 : Kuala Lumpur – Nakhon Si Thammarat
0700 hrs. Regroup at Sungai Buloh R&R
or
1300 hrs. Regroup at MINI Café
Lunch / Change Money / Application for vehicle
3rd party insurance, etc..
1430 hrs. Cross Border into Thailand
1800 hrs. Arrive into Nakhon Si Thammarat
2000 hrs. Dinner at Chao Rue Restaurant ( pax account )
Night free & easy

20/2 : Nakhon Si Thammarat – Cha Am
0700 hrs. Convoy depart for Cha Am after breakfast
Lunch at Chumphon ( pax account )
Check in at Long Beach Resort
Seafood Dinner ( pax account )
Night free & easy

21/2 : Cha Am – Udon Thani
0700 hrs. Convoy depart for Udon Thani after breakfast
Lunch on the way
Check in at Charoen Sri Royal Hotel
Night free & easy

22/2 : Udon Thani – Nongkhai – Vientiane – Luang Prabang
0700 hrs. Convoy depart for Laos
Lunch and dinner on the way
Check in at hotel in Luang Prabang

23/2 : Luang Prabang – Mohan – Mengla
0700 hrs. Convoy depart for China
Overnight：Jingxiu Hotel 0691-8128788

24/2 : Mengla - Kunming ( 720 km )
0600 hrs. Convoy depart for Kunming
Overnight : Jingjiang Hotel Building B 0871-3138888

25/2 : Kunming – Luoping - Xingyi ( 330 km )
1200 hrs. Convoy depart for Xingyi
Overnight : Xingyi Xintiandi Hotel 0859-8702989

26/2 : Xingyi – Huangguoshu - Guiyang ( 460 km )
Visit the Huangguoshu Waterfall.
Overnight : Guiyang Xinglian Hotel 0851-6765555

27/2 : Guiyang – Kaili - Zhengyuan ( 350 km )
Overnight: Taiji Old Town Hotel 0855-5727777

28/2 : Zhengyuan - Zhaoxing ( 400 km )
Enjoy Dong nationality’s dance after dinner.
Overnight: 0855-6130800

01/3 : Zhaoxing – Guilin - Yangshuo ( 370 km )
Enjoy the International acclaim “lui San Jey” show.
Overnight: Guifu Hotel 0773-8880000

02/3 : Yangshuo - Baise ( 685 km )
Overnight: Baise Hotel 0776-2886288

03/3 : Baise - Kunming ( 630 km )
Overnight: Jingjiang Hotel Building B 0871-3138888

04/3 : Kunming - Mohan ( 765 km )
Overnight: Xibu Hotel 0691-8811368

05/3 : Mohan - Mengla – Luang Prabang
Cross border back to Laos
Overnight at Luang Prabang Hotel

06/3 : Luang Prabang – Vientiane
Convoy to the Capital of Laos
Overnight at Hotel

07/3 : Vientiane – Nongkhai – Bangkok
Cross border back to Thailand
Overnight at Sofitel Central Plaza
Night free & Easy

08/3 : Bangkok
Free & easy day

09/3 : Bangkok – Hatyai
0700 hrs. Convoy depart for Hatyai
Lunch in Chumphon ( pax account )
Arrive into Hatyai
Night free & Easy

10/3 : Hatyai – Kuala Lumpur
1200 hrs. Convoy depart Hatyai for Kuala Lumpur
Event ends

Blog

Trying and trying to create this blog on a Sunday. We decided to create one for our next travel. It is always last minute as usual. We are planning to go on a 4WD convoy with a group to Kunming China from Kuala Lumpur on Feb 19th? With this blog we hope to list down the route we take on a daily basis on this trip. This is possible only if we are able to go online.

The First Post

Daddy decided to have a blog. So here it is.