I often hear good things about Thailand and Bangkok, so for our stop over flight, we decided to stop over at Bangkok for 2 nights. We stayed over at the Convenient Grand Hotel (you can read my review of it in a later post).
I didn’t pick the hotel, someone else did. On Google Maps, it was right next door to the airport, but it turns out to be a 35 minute drive.
Convenient Grand Hotel (A on the Map)
Mistake No 1: Check the hotel you are staying at if someone else books it:
- Google Street View it
- Street view the surroundings
- Calculate the distance and travel time
When we arrived at the airport, the first step was to get our bags, go through customs and passport control and find our way to the Hotel. I had no clue where we were staying as I didn’t book it or how to get to it from the airport. I just hoped there were people their that spoke English.
We found our lift with thanks to the tourist information people repeatedly telling us which gate they were waiting for us at. We then waited for the shuttle bus to arrive and then took us to the Hotel.
Driving in Thailand
And was this an experience to just be a passenger driving in Thailand. After spending two days there, I still didn’t quite understand the road rules, and I am surprised about how few dints there were in cars. In Australia, everyone stays in their lane and giveaway to cars who have right of way – but not here.
Marked lanes seemed to be more of a guidance than something to follow.
I had no idea what the speed limits are, but for something that would be 70km in Australia, they were doing speeds of around 100km an hour. Cars that were stopped in traffic, would cross over to the oncoming lanes and use that to make a third lane. If you wanted to change lanes, you would just move over and cut someone off and that driving would just stop and let you in. If you drive like this in Australia, there would be so many crashes.
It was truly a different driving style and I would not like to drive around there myself. As far as I could understand, the driving rule was, whoever is in your way has right of way. But after a few days there, it didn’t seem so bad… unless the first time we just had a crazy driver.
The Traffic Lights
I did like the traffic lights in Bangkok because at each major intersection, there was a digital countdown timer informing you how long the lights will be green for, and how long left you have to wait. Australia, take note…
Taking a Ride in a Tut-Tut
If you haven’t taken a ride in a Tut-Tut before, you should do, but only do it once, and don’t walk down the street where you hoped on ever again.
I had a warning from a friend not to go on one, but we did – but only for the experience. Basically, how they work, you give them between 20 and 40 Baht and they take you to your destination, but you detour to one of their factories first, where the company would give the driver a free tank of fuel. Once you buy a tailored made suit or try to talk your way out of not buying one, they take you back to your destination. As a lost tourist,it turns out he took us to the same place where we got on, and he pointed 250 meters down the road to the building we wanted to go in. 20Baht to go to a place we could see.
These Tut-Tuts actually go considerably fast. We were keeping up with the cars doing 60km on the main road. I just had to ensure I had my hands were over my pockets the entire time so nothing falls out.
Where you don’t want to be is behind a tip-truck taking off at lights. We were about 1 metre behind it and breathing in all it’s black exhaust fumes. It was so bad I wish I had an oxygen tank. All I could do was close my eyes and burry my head in my shirt.
So I’ve taken a ride in a Tut-Tut once, talked our way out of buying a suit, and we never walked down that stretch of road again, because they could spot us a mile away. A few tips for getting our of buying from the factories:
- You’re flying out that afternoon
- You don’t have a postal address because you are travelling for a few months
- We don’t have the time now, but we’ll be back tomorrow
- I don’t like anything you offer
- Say you have just started working out, so in a few months time, the suit won’t fit
My advice to Tut-Tut drivers: If you want to make more money, actually take us to the destination we want and you might get more tourists and locals using your services and paying for it. Because of your free tank of fuel deal, it’s a turnoff for me.
Trains and Taxi’s
First level of train station
From our Hotel we took a Taxi to the train station. The taxi cost anywhere from 70 Baht to 95 Baht which isn’t too bad.The Airport Train was also very handy coming every 15 minutes and cost about 5 Baht per station. It would be much cheaper and quicker than taking a taxi. The only downside is, once you reach the end of the line a Phaya Thai station, if you want to travel North or South, on the other train line, you have to queue up again to buy another ticket, which would take some time as there was quite a long queue as pretty much the whole train had to queue up again. Nevertheless, it was easier to use than the public transport in some of the Australian Capital Cities.
Top level of train station
The Airport link seemed pretty new, and is a lot different to train stations in Australia. It’s built on three levels. The first level is just a walkway to allow you to pick a side of the road you want as the train line is usually over a rode, the second level you buy your tickets, and the third level, you take the train. The tickets where a like a plastic coin that acted like a smart card. Just touch on to get through the gate, and touch and deposit to get out of the gates.
Tomorrow will be my experiences of being outside in Thailand.