The best siew mai I have ever eaten is in Penang. While I’m not a siew mai hunter or dim sum gourmand, I’ve had a few in my time, at varying budgets, locations etc - and this was #1. The best siew mai i have eaten…so succulent.

The restaurant is 富二代（fu er dai - used to describe the “rich second generation”; kids who grow up enjoying the fruits of their parent’s wealth creation (and class migration). It was a 5 minute walk from the hotel (also reasonably recommended; Lyf, an Ascott chain), and is an outdoor setup under a gazebo, with a unique setup where you go up to the counter to pick up (already prepared) items. We ordered the signature siew mai with shrimp, fried yam with bbq pork, fried carrot cake, and salted egg custard bao.

Fu Er Dai restaurant setup

Then, we were on our way to Thailand.

It was a short ride; about 1 hour and 30 mins and ~175KMs to the border, with a reasonable amount of commercial traffic. That meant weaving between each lane and the shoulder for most of the way to make the distance and reach Thailand by 12PM. We were operating on a tight schedule, as after lunch, the afternoon shift at Thai customs at Sadao changes, and it is ‘a lot harder to get through’ according to our agent (i.e. more grease required vs the morning shift).

The first crossing: Malaysia to Thailand.

This was my first border crossing where I was responsible for getting the bike documents (i.e ATA Carnet) stamped properly. It is a bit of a complex process with each pages being two leaves, with tear-out sections and no clear instructions.

That was a bit of a problem, as clearing the carnet isn’t exactly well systematised. After a wild goose chase in Malaysia’s no-mans land, I eventually found someone relatively senior at outgoing customs, who resorted to using the Dubai > Malaysia documents as a reference for how to fill out the document. Total time was ~1 hour.

Thailand was no smoother; and much more time spent waiting. Even through there was a bit of “grease” applied by our clearing agent, we spent another 1.5 hrs going back and forth, until finally I was invited inside the customs office (behind the booths with all the agents serving the public). There, I helped the customs agent fill out the form, and gave words of affirmation + proofread their work. Only in Thailand! They were a very friendly bunch.

[Side note: I’m meaning to do a write up on the planning I’ve done + the agents etc I’ve used along the way, but if you’d like contact details before then, please reach out.]

Onwards to Hat Yai

On the Thai side of the border, the difference with Malaysia is stark. Rather than vast (very orderly) palm plantations carved by well maintained highway, the landscape is a lot more scrappy in a very Thai way. Banana trees here, mixed foliage there, and small huts placed whimsically along the road.

Having taken up more time than we’d planned at the border, we were getting hungry, so it was a spirited ride to Hat Yai - about 45 mins / 70KM - through an afternoon shower, and dodging the ‘more whimsical’ traffic.

Proudly showing off my winch-rope washing line setup

Then; lunch, hotel check-in, handwashing (and stringing up a washing line with my winch rope), dinner, and sleep (now).

Tomorrow; Phuket

Stats

• 225KMs
• 3 interactions
• Rained on today (3 total)
• 30gs coffee consumed
• 11.8L fuel added.