From Kuala Lumpur to Hatyai: An Adventure on an Overnight Bus

Last November 2022, we planned a impromptu Bangkok travel trip. Instead of taking a flight flying over to Bangkok directly, we decided to take the overnight bus and train for this particular journey and it’s our first time. We packed and booked our bus ticket via an app called “RedBus”, got the overnight bus so we can sleep through the journey and arrive in the morning.

We took a grab and head over to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) to catch our bus ride, and got welcome by a massive traffics and people at the station due to an upcoming election. We quickly got down, rush over the counter to retrieve our physical tickets and proceed to the waiting area.

Unfortunately, our bus got delayed by approximately 30-45 minutes but was good for us to take a quick breath, ate some
snacks and toilet break. Finally, at around 11:00pm, our bus finally arrived and pick us up. We boarded and get to our designated seat and settled in for the long journey ahead.

We dropped by two small bus station along the way to pickup some remaining passenger before hitting the highway up north to Padang Besar. I decided to try to get some rest and closed my eyes, hoping to get some sleep on the bus. Haha, but was instead short-lived as the bus driver was driving very fast to catch up the time lost I pressume, it was extremely bumpy to my liking and found it difficult to get any rest at all.

At around 5:00am, the bus made a quick stop at a rest area before continuing on towards the border control. I was relieved to have a chance to stretch my legs, use the restroom and get a quick bite. Got ourselves Thai simcard at the local convienent store, cost RM20 each for 4Mbps Internet with Unlimited Quota valid for 7 days. We took off from the rest area around 5:40am and reach for the Border Immigration Centre around 6:00am.

There were quite a few buses already there unloading passenger, which means there will be a long queue incoming. Luckily, we got clearance around 7.00am for both Malaysia and Thailand side. We boarded back our bus and head down to our final destination, Hatyai downtown and finally reached at 8:00am, right on schedule. I was tired but at the sametime relived, we arrived safely.

Overall, my overnight bus journey from Kuala Lumpur to Hatyai was not the most comfortable experience, but it was a cheaper and convenient way to travel between the two cities. If you’re planning on taking a similar journey, be prepared for a bumpy ride and try to get as much rest as possible before boarding the bus. Cost for the journey was RM150 for two person one-way.

Next up, Hatyai to Bangkok! but will continue on the next post. Cheers and thanks for reading!

For the best experience view this post on Liketu