Thailand: Su-ngai Kolok > Malaysia: Rantau Panjang

Feb 2023 |

I re-entered Malaysia on my Singapore-registered bike after 3 months touring in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Per Google Maps and Google search, the best and most logical border crossing was at Tak Bai, with a short ferry ride across the river to Kota Bahru (Kelantan), my destination for the day. But when I rolled up to that immigration point, the place was basically deserted, and the only official there seemed to be stating to me that the crossing I wanted to do was not available, and I needed to ride to Su-ngai Kolok - adding about 2 hours to my trip (not great for my recently severely food poisoned body).

Once at Su-ngai Kolok, departing Thailand was as easy as entry had been, requiring my Thailand bike entry permit, Singapore bike registration, and passport. As I had overstayed* my 30-day bike entry by about 6 weeks, I was required to pay a 10,000 baht fine. This required an extra 20 minutes of processing, but overall was very easy.

The Malaysia side was fast and seamless. My personal and bike (and Covid vax) details were already digital in the system, so all I needed was a stamp in my passport.

The total border crossing took about 40 minutes, including 20-mins of overstay processing.

In case you are wondering why I overstayed my bike. After 3 months of hard touring, my BMW 310gs (urban) "adventure" bike was basically imploding by the time I got to Bangkok, needing a new radiator, amongst a few other issues. The new radiator was going to take "10-days" with BMW Mottorad BKK (so I departed Thailand and did a 3-week ride in Sumatra). While I could have gone to immigration and requested a 30-day extension for my bike, I just dropped the matter, decided that having more flexibility and potentially wanting more time in south-Thailand was preferable to a 30-days limit with at least half of that time eatten up waiting for repairs (it took more than 3-weeks to get the part and reapir the bike, so I made the right call). In Thailand, after 10 days over-stay of your vehicle, the fine goes from 1000 baht per day to a 10,000 baht flat rate covering up to 1-year period. The caveat is that after over-staying you may not be able to bring your vehicle back into the country for an extended period of time. Double-check this, I may have some details wrong.