billp

OK, I tried out the route to Hua Takhe one day just for the heck of it. I'm a self-admitted public transportation freak.

The fare from Hualamphong is the princely sum of 7 Baht. The train was old and clanky, but it left and arrived bang on time. There were no other farang. It made a number of stops; some of them weren't even any kind of station, but just stops where people clambered over the tracks and onto the train. One thing to note is that there was a stop at Phaya Thai (near the BTS station) and at Asoke near the Petchburi MRT station. It takes about an hour in total and that's unaffected by traffic tie-ups.

When we arrived at Hua Takhe there was a great big sign (in English) pointing to a bus stop, but no bus came after about an hour in the hot sun. We asked the food vendor ladies and they weren't sure when a bus might come, so we broke down and got a cab to the airport. Cost: 60 baht, 10 minutes. Later I went to the Airport Bus Terminal and asked how often the bus (#517) runs to Hua Takhe and they said "Every 2 hours." There was no sign of any SRT shuttle bus. It would have made a lot of sense if they had a bus meeting the train every hour, but I guess there wasn't enough interest. So, in most circumstances you'd have to take a taxi. Still, 67 baht is cheap and you don't have to worry about traffic jams.

Personally I think it's a shame the SRT doesn't upgrade this track and run a more frequent express train stopping only at Phaya Thai and Asoke, tying in with a shuttle service - and publicizing its existence. It would be a great way to get to and from the airport until the Airport Link is finally finished, whenever that might be.

I compiled a schedule with just those 3 stops.

FROM HUALAMPHONG TO HUA TAKHE

4:15 CMT 379 (Stops only in Makasan) Arr. Takhe 5:10 (Mon-Fri Only)

5:55 ORD 275 (Phaya Thai 6:09, Asoke 6:25) Arr. Takhe 7:07

6:55 ORD 283 (7:07, 7:21) Arr. 8:13 (Mon-Fri Only)

6:55 ORD 285 (7:07, 7:21 Arr. 8:13 (Sat Sun Only)

8:00 ORD 281 (8:10, 8:17) Arr. 8:45

10:10 CMT 367 (10:19, 10:27) Arr. 10:56

11:05 MIX 497 (No stop at Phaya Thai, Asoke 11:53) Arr. 12:34

12:10 EXP DRC 389 (12:19, 12:31) Arr. 13:02

13:05 ORD 279 (13:12, 13:19) Arr. 13:47

15:25 ORD 277 (15:49, 15:47) Arr. 16:17

16:35 EXP DRC 391 (16:45, 16:57) Arr. 17:28

17:00 CMT 383 (17:11, 17:20) Arr. 17:56 (Mon-Fri Only)

17: 40 CMT 371 (17:56, 18:09) Arr. 18:51

18:25 CMT 381 (18:34, 18:42) Arr. 19:12 (Sundays & Public Holidays only)

18:25 CMT 385 (18:34, 18:42) Arr. 19:12

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

LEAVING HUA TAKHE - ARRIVING HUA LAMPHONG

[about 40 minutes to Asoke (Petchburi MRT) and 50 minutes to Phaya Thai (BTS)]

06:00 - 07:10 (Mon-Fri Only)

06:25 - 07:45 (Mon-Fri Only)

06:59 - 08:15

07:34 - 08:35

08:05 - 09:20 (Mon-Fri Only)

08:32 - 09:45 (No stop at Phaya Thai)

09:40 - 10:45

11:06 - 12:05

13:14 - 14:10

14:34 - 15:25

17:10 - 18:25 (Sat Sun Only)

18:54 - 19:55

19:58 - 20:55 (Only before public holidays)

20:37 - 21:30

I think the 400 baht flat fare mentioned by the OP may indeed be a brand new scam.

I've got to say that personally, I've never had anything but good service and cooperative drivers from the taxi booth in a number of arrivals at Suvarnabhumi, but a poster on LP TT a few days ago mentioned the 400 baht flat fare as well.

He wasn't an absolute newbie either, so he knew where the correct booth was and how it ought to have gone. In addition, he said the driver refused to use the highway even though the tolls were supposed to have been part of the 400 baht flat fare. When on arrival at his destination he refused to pay the part of the 400 baht that would have been the tolls, he got into one of those shouting battles with the driver that we all dread.

Ratchadamnoen Avenue is a nice - and interesting - area, but it's not exactly close to where most serviced apartments are located, which is what you want to rent, I think. However, right at the end of Ratchadamnoen is a khlong (canal) boat terminus which provides quick, cheap and traffic-jam-free transportation to near National Stadium/Siam and Pratunam. So you could find a rental in either of those two areas and still have no trouble getting to work. The khlong boats run every five minutes or so until sunset - about 6:30 PM.

There's little to fear about being ripped off if you use the airport taxi dispatcher, one level below arrivals. Costs an extra 50 baht. Big deal. For that, they register the taxi's number, make sure he knows where you're going, and he's guaranteed to use his meter. Cost to KSR area, door to door: 300 to 350 baht including dispatcher fee and expressway tolls.

The Airport Express now costs 150 baht per person. It's not such a good deal unless you're alone. If you're 2 people, you may as well take a taxi. City bus number 556 goes to KSR from the airport bus terminal (free shuttle bus). Cost: 35 baht.

Tapping the expat rental market

Official figures as of November 2006 showed there were 57,400 expatriates with work permits in the Thai capital, an increase of 10.7% over November 2005. [...]Also, not all live in condoms, with single-owner apartment buildings and serviced apartments putting up stiff competition.

More here.

I wish the Unico Grande Silom had advertised its free lobby wifi TO ITS GUESTS when I stayed there in January.

I didn't know about that and ended up searching for a connection in the area. Found a café with free wifi nearby in the area between Silom and Surawong (maybe on Th Decho?), then the pub on Soi Convent mentioned by Stickman, then the Om Yim.

Coffee shop (and ground floor) of the Landmark Hotel has free wifi.

On the budget side, Om Yim right beside Chong Nonsi BTS station has free wifi throughout,

Bangkok City Suite on Petchburi Road offers free wifi.

The Sanawan Palace seems to be collecting a fan club.

someone posted on YouTube (not me I swear!).

Sananwan Palace. Small family-owned place with pool & A/C for under 500 Baht, just south of the airport. Taxi drivers can't find it but if you ask ahead, they'll pick you up at the airport (for a fee). Everybody staying there says it's really nice.

What you need to do is download Mac the Ripper (free), then rip the DVDs onto your hard drive and burn them them onto new disks (use DVD-R for the most universal use). They will automatically come out as "Region Code 0". Then you can watch them on any DVD player, including the Mac's DVD Player application (which has some advantages over VLC).

Maybe you could ask to use the pool at the

Novotel Bangna?

Is it possible to buy borax in Thailand? Maybe in a pharmacy. Mix borax and icing sugar and put it in their path. They eat it and the borax makes them blow up.

Say "Chai meter dai na khrap/ka." - Use the meter please.

What the OP failed to mention is that it was the Thai embassy which told her that. Could there be a new policy that you can't mix & match tourist visas and 30-day visa exemptions?

Im not sure but someone was telling me they mite turn that area into a market? like a chatuchak kinda thing, but bigger and better built or somthing..anyone have any ideas?

They're going to turn it into an elephant race course! Vroom Vroom!

In the film they forgot to include what you should do when the men's room attendant gives you a back massage while you're piddling.

How much should it cost for a group of 4 adults to get from the new airport to a downtown Bangkok hotel? What are the available and popular options?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

Airport Express bus costs 120 apiece and stops at major hotels.

Taxi costs around 300 Baht all inclusive but may not have enough room for all 4 of you and all your luggage. Bangkok taxis often have a big natural gas cylinder in the trunk/boot.

Limo about 700 Baht and will have plenty of room.

If you only have carry-on, you might consider taking public bus 553 to On Nut BTS/Skytrain station and changing to the Skytrain.

Sounds to me like they didn't have appropriate servicing or the needed spare parts at Hangzhou. This would have resulted in a stranded aircraft and they would have had to fly in parts and maybe even personnel to get airborne again. So they decided to turn around and fly back to Bangkok, where they have everything available.

I agree they could have told you more, but maybe they were afraid they might get people alarmed.

An interesting "reader message" this morning in Nation. A guy who took a flight at Suva.

From what he wrote :

-taxis stand at arrival : OK

-fee of 50 THB for driver (like Don Muang)

-plus... a new fee of 100 THB for AOT

A few pages before : thai association of exporter complains : AOT has created a new fee of 1 THB per kilo for outbound airfreight. Why ? Mai ru. It's just "new".

Etc. etc.

Suva looks like the new cash machine...

Nonsense.

Anil of Suk 11 Guest House made the taxi trip yesterday and posted in on his webspace. Total cost 306 Baht from airport to soi 11 including 50 Baht dispatcher charge and toll charges. No 100 Baht extra charge.

I don't live in Thailand and up to now there've been few occasions where I've ever had to wear a suit there, so please tell me how DO you cope with a suit in that climate?

Even tropical weight suits are, in my opinion, just way too much fabric to be wearing in hot season temperatures of 38 degrees. I mean, it's OK when you're in an air conditioned office, but the minute you'd go outside, even for a few minutes, you'd be drenched, wouldn't you?

The classic lounge suit which became the present-day business suit, was designed to keep men warm in drafty 19th century English offices during the winter. Plenty of layers of wool and cotton, tight on the body. Necktie closed tight to keep the throat covered.

I find it just absurd that people are wearing this costume in the tropics. Think how much energy could be saved in air conditioning if everybody wore something nice and loose and airy to the office in keeping with the climate. I think it's a shame that the Thais, who do have a climate-appropriate national dress, have adopted the western business suit as a sign of prestige and authority.

If you want to have a bit of a giggle, check out this thread on the FlyerTalk Forum. It's a breathless trip report by a guy who was staying at the Sheraton Grande when the coup went down. He cut his trip short and checked out of the hotel in the morning, took a limo to the airport and boarded a plane first class. He reports on it as if he got the last seat in the last chopper leaving Saigon.

The article can be found here by the way.

I just made that trip a few weeks ago for the second time. Best way is to break it up in Vang Vieng overnight or you're going to arrive in Luang Phrabang exhausted and miss the best part of the trip in the late afternoon/early evening dusk. In Vientiane, you can book a tourist bus from your hotel. This could be a minibus or (as in my case) a larger bus. They'll provide transportation from your hotel. In Vang Vieng, your guest house will book you onto a van for Luang Phrabang. The most spectacular part of what I think is one of the best drives in Asia is about 90 minutes north of Vang Vieng when you start to get into the high mountains, with little villages, potbellied pigs and naked children, kharst mountain vistas and verdant valleys. You can spend 3 or 4 days or 3 or 4 weeks in Luang Phrabang, but I guess the 3 or 4 days would be enough to see the sights in the city and the surrounding area too.

Has anybody lately gone from Vientiane to Luang Prabang?

I know there is a bus, I have taken that to Vang Viene but the lonely plant says there are also min buses that make the trip

Has anybody done this trip? Are they the same type of mini buses like here in Thailand. That seems also small for a 9 hour journey (is this about how long it takes? How about by boat)

Lastly, how many days is needed to see most things in Luang Prabang?

Thanks in advance for any feed back.

It'll be at least another 6 months. They're still landscaping the golf course between the runways.

Sep 28, 2006 is now official:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=71855

I guess this is fast enough. But my connection is supposed to be 6 M/bit. If the test is accurate, what's happened to the other 4000 M/bit?