ThailandAllan

Joe - Regular 'songteuws' run from the Bus Station to Ao Nang commencing at around 08:00am and finishing around 19:00 pm (high season) - Cost is 60 baht/person to Ao Nang. It will stop for about ten minutes in Krabi Town to pick up passengers, then make its way, with a few further stops to Ao Nang. Journey Time from bus station to Ao Nang overall is about one hour.

If you come in on one of the early morning buses from Bangkok you may have to wait for the first 'songteuw' so try to time it to arrive about 07:30 am - this means leaving BKK at around 20:00 hours.

There are only two bus companies operating from BKK to Krabi - the 'government' bus and Lignite Tours, both about the same price (1400 baht single/per person) for P1 standard - VIP is a little more if you want a 'lie down' seat. I usually use Lignite Tours from the Southern Bus Station in Bangkok.

When you arrive at Krabi the 'touts' will unload your luggage (they can spot farang gear a mile away) and try and get you to book in with one of the travel companies who run a similar, non-stop songteuw at about three times the price eg 150/baht. The 'cheapo' songteuw to Ao Nang parks up on the side of the bus station opposite where Lignite Tours pulls in, or nearest to where the 'government bus' pulls in, so if you want the cheaper option you'll have to grab your bags back and make for the Ao Nang 'bus stop'

If you are tired or in a hurry the 'touts bus' will get you there quicker (maybe) depending where everyone needs to get dropped off.

Outside the hours I stated at the beginning you have major problems - a) Krabi Bus Station is not 24/7 so waiting around in the middle of the night is not recommended. There are no taxis in normal times and no motor bike taxis overnight - getting away from the bus station into Krabi Town is next to impossible. If you think you will arrive at some unearthly hour i would pre book a taxi which will cost around five hundred baht and get it to meet you at the bus station.

Enjoy Ao Nang!

Thailand Allan

First off - don't buy anything abroad, there's a wealth of choice in Bangkok at Pantip Plaza

Second - I assume you have a PC, not a MAC so your choice of software will be greater, but all the packages take a fair bit of learning. You mentioned 'initial' drawings, so by this I assume you mean 'design' not 'technical' drawings?

There is no 'best' package, but for 'design' drawings, 3D included, you might look at Google's 'Sketch-up', or 'TurboCAD' - both with free demo packages or downloadable from P2P sharing sites, also free.

For more technical drawings (although 3D is included) AutoCAD is the 'industry standard' for PCs - MAC users will normally use Microstation or ArchiCAD, both of which I personally find hard to fathom.

Finally - dont forget you will have to print the results to scale and at a decent size so an A3 printer is a minimum requirement - or access to a local agency who has A3 or larger format. File transfer may be a problem here.

Personally, although I have many of the packages referred to, for initial design work I still prefer the drawing board! Good Luck!