Overland from Koh Phi Phi to Kuala Lumpur

This was a journey that I figured would be fraught with delays and hassles but to be honest I was pleasantly surprised. We purchased our tickets from the travel desk at Oasis Guesthouse for 1000THB. It started with a 9am ferry from Koh Phi Phi to Krabi. As expected, this leg of the trip went smoothly. At the ferry terminal at the front gate there was a guy with a clearly marked sign waiting for us with a minibus to take us and several other travelers to Hat Yai. It was a bit cramped in the minibus but the journey was straightforward and easy.

In Hat Yai, we were dropped off at a travel agency with a large waiting area at about 4pm and were told that the bus to KL would depart from there at 6:30pm. We had some time to kill so we walked about 3 blocks over to a large mall across the street from the Novotel Hotel and got some great American comfort food at McDonalds. The bus to KL left on time and as promised, there were comfortable reclining seats and good aircon on the bus. We reached the border shortly before 10pm and as usual Thai Immigration was a breeze and surprisingly Malaysian immigration was easy as well. We stopped shortly on the Malaysian side of the border for food then set off for KL, arriving across from the Maybank headquarters at 4am (Thailand is GMT+7, Malaysia is GMT+8). Thankfully it’s only a couple of blocks from Chinatown, where all the budget accommodation is located. All in all, it was one of the easiest long journeys I’ve had so far.

Have you crossed the land border between Thailand and Malaysia? Was your trip smooth too?