Bangkok - Hua Hin by scooter

[HLover]

Meh, just use Google maps and a motorcycle phone holder and go for it.

Enjoy your journey OP!

[Stupooey]

Provided you remain aware, you shouldn't have a problem. However, I would suggest:

- between BKK and Samut Sakhon keep to the Frontage Road to avoid traffic filtering in from the left.

- after Samut Songkhram take the coast road (marked 'Scenic Route') as previously suggested, for both safety and aesthetic reasons.

- be extra careful when riding through Ban Laem, as I have found bike riders in the town to be somewhat unpredictable in their movements.

Enjoy your trip!

[chrissables]

1 hour ago, manchega said:

obviously not that experienced.  for that you need to experience the oh where did that come from experience as you get taken out at the red light by a fellow biker that don't want to stop.

it is the voice of experience after all that I am providing.

yes you can deal with what you can see in front of you, and obeying common sense.

but what about the other driver? the one you expect to use the breaks if you are stopped and waiting to make your turn? or the one you expect to use the breaks at the red light ? or the one that you expect to not make the turn when they see you coming on the dominant road ( the one that by thai law would see you win the civil or criminal case in court)?

when you have experienced these things, then you can be the voice of experience talking about stupid comments 

 

......

Are you saying these things happened to you?

 

It can of course be dangerous, but so can riding in a minibus and in fact most if not all forms of transport in this country.

 

For me the possibility of these things happening won't take away the fun i have traveling by motorbike. I have a fair amount of experience riding here.

[moe666]

3 hours ago, manchega said:

obviously not that experienced.  for that you need to experience the oh where did that come from experience as you get taken out at the red light by a fellow biker that don't want to stop.

it is the voice of experience after all that I am providing.

yes you can deal with what you can see in front of you, and obeying common sense.

but what about the other driver? the one you expect to use the breaks if you are stopped and waiting to make your turn? or the one you expect to use the breaks at the red light ? or the one that you expect to not make the turn when they see you coming on the dominant road ( the one that by thai law would see you win the civil or criminal case in court)?

when you have experienced these things, then you can be the voice of experience talking about stupid comments 

 

......

In the end you are talking about stuff that happens every where and it doesn't matter how much experience you have every thing you mentioned can happen to the most experienced driver or rider. Just stay at home do not go out, just incase you may have a wreck or the neighbor will hit you sitting on your bike in the drive way

[Hupaponics]

16 hours ago, manchega said:

obviously not that experienced.  for that you need to experience the oh where did that come from experience as you get taken out at the red light by a fellow biker that don't want to stop.

it is the voice of experience after all that I am providing.

yes you can deal with what you can see in front of you, and obeying common sense.

but what about the other driver? the one you expect to use the breaks if you are stopped and waiting to make your turn? or the one you expect to use the breaks at the red light ? or the one that you expect to not make the turn when they see you coming on the dominant road ( the one that by thai law would see you win the civil or criminal case in court)?

when you have experienced these things, then you can be the voice of experience talking about stupid comments 

 

......

 

This says a lot about your skills in driving. If you are experiencing "oh, where did that come from", well, than you better stay of the road. 

 

Thai drivers are pretty predictable if you pay attention to what is happening in the surroundings. You always have to predict what is going to happen next.

Just like a good football player, that can see the game in front so he can be at the right place in the right time to score. 

The same applies when reading the traffic. 

 

And to to all of yours expectations, I do not expect that. I expect the unexpectedly. 

 

Cheers 

[biker Bob]

On 3/3/2018 at 5:59 PM, jerojero said:

Deathwish. A fool and his life are often soon departed. Good luck, see you at your funeral.

<deleted>?   W*****

[MrJohnson]

Drove to Hua Hin and back last week. Absolute nightmare. The worst section is from Bangkok to Phetburi. Rama 2 around Samut Sankram is bumper to bumper trucks and lunatics in pick-up trucks. I saw a couple of accidents but saw a crazy number of near-misses. These were, as they almost always are, because of tail-gating. Most Thais have almost zero understanding of braking distances. If I were on a scooter (and I never would be), I'd be kitted out in all leather and a full face helmet. Visited a friend last week at Bumrungrad after he'd been cleaned up by a pickup truck  on a nice, long, clear stretch of road to Chantaburi. He's been riding here for twenty years and done well over 150K on a bike. He's still doing physio to gain his walking ability three weeks later. He's also in the process of selling ALL of his bikes. Go figure. Oh, and I forgot to mention, good all-purpose health/accident insurance and a go-pro on your helmet.

[manchega]

On 3/4/2018 at 4:21 PM, chrissables said:

Are you saying these things happened to you?

 

It can of course be dangerous, but so can riding in a minibus and in fact most if not all forms of transport in this country.

 

For me the possibility of these things happening won't take away the fun i have traveling by motorbike. I have a fair amount of experience riding here.

Indeed they can be happening anywhere.  When you experience someone driving into you out of frustration, or because they feel the vehicle they drive has higher status than yours then you will understand.

I will always want that protection of the collapsible chassie with crumple zones designed to give me protection at the 0 - 30 kph zone. and above that, well nothing fun about ditching a bike to avoid collision when someone pulls an illegal u turn on you.

 

You will find those are some of the most painful ones.  But at least in a car you can brace against the steering wheel

 

you would not catch me in a van, or bus in this country.  unless I am driving it of course.

 

 

[manchega]

On 3/5/2018 at 7:26 AM, Hupaponics said:

 

This says a lot about your skills in driving. If you are experiencing "oh, where did that come from", well, than you better stay of the road. 

 

Thai drivers are pretty predictable if you pay attention to what is happening in the surroundings. You always have to predict what is going to happen next.

Just like a good football player, that can see the game in front so he can be at the right place in the right time to score. 

The same applies when reading the traffic. 

 

And to to all of yours expectations, I do not expect that. I expect the unexpectedly. 

 

Cheers 

oh touche, what wit, you speculate over my driving skills.

 

Thailand is not number 1 for driving fatalities per capita globally for no reason.

 

while understanding the probabilites is one thing, minimising is another.

 

thus when one powers away from trouble on a big bike, putting it down to ones skills of driving ( chuckle chuckle) one beleives one can see every iteration that happens on the road, because one can sense things.

of course when you survive one or two events like this you gain confidence in your abilities to drive, instead of understanding that near misses are still near misses and you have no control over how other drivers behave.

So when the car in front is cut up by win, then the car swerves into you you were able to know this would happen because you knew win would cut the car and the car would swerve, and the other vehicles around you all also understood the dance of how that particular situation would play out......

 

the same reason you give is the one which makes gamblers believe in patterns.  But it is all maths after all

[moose7117]

this thread was about a guy asking about travelling from BKK to Hua Hin.

not a pointless argument about driving in Thailand.

 

so too original poster, try it, take care, take your time and enjoy the ride.

 

When you get to HH , we can catch up for a beer.

[chrissables]

3 hours ago, manchega said:

Indeed they can be happening anywhere.  When you experience someone driving into you out of frustration, or because they feel the vehicle they drive has higher status than yours then you will understand.

I will always want that protection of the collapsible chassie with crumple zones designed to give me protection at the 0 - 30 kph zone. and above that, well nothing fun about ditching a bike to avoid collision when someone pulls an illegal u turn on you.

 

You will find those are some of the most painful ones.  But at least in a car you can brace against the steering wheel

 

you would not catch me in a van, or bus in this country.  unless I am driving it of course.

 

 

Have been riding here for nearly 14 years i have experienced many crazy things. You are right cars and larger vehicles than motorbikes think they have rights over smaller vehicles.

 

Of course there is no fun in an accident. But at 100,000 + km, i can say there is a lot of fun riding. 

[Seanbhoy]

I did chumpon to Phuket on 110cc Honda wave in 2005, 18 years old, so much fun

[Seanbhoy]

Chumpon to  ranong

ranong to takua pa

takua pa to Kao lak 

khao lak to Phuket 

 

after 15 days of whatever Phuket had to offer then I returned the bike in on day haha

[Seanbhoy]

18 hours ago, manchega said:

oh touche, what wit, you speculate over my driving skills.

 

Thailand is not number 1 for driving fatalities per capita globally for no reason.

 

while understanding the probabilites is one thing, minimising is another.

 

thus when one powers away from trouble on a big bike, putting it down to ones skills of driving ( chuckle chuckle) one beleives one can see every iteration that happens on the road, because one can sense things.

of course when you survive one or two events like this you gain confidence in your abilities to drive, instead of understanding that near misses are still near misses and you have no control over how other drivers behave.

So when the car in front is cut up by win, then the car swerves into you you were able to know this would happen because you knew win would cut the car and the car would swerve, and the other vehicles around you all also understood the dance of how that particular situation would play out......

 

the same reason you give is the one which makes gamblers believe in patterns.  But it is all maths after all

Iran is number one

[moe666]

15 hours ago, moose7117 said:

this thread was about a guy asking about travelling from BKK to Hua Hin.

not a pointless argument about driving in Thailand.

 

so too original poster, try it, take care, take your time and enjoy the ride.

 

When you get to HH , we can catch up for a beer.

Has the OP even been back with all the nannies giving advice. How many with so much advice even drive a car here

[blanes2007]

On 04.03.2018 at 2:43 PM, Stupooey said:

after Samut Songkhram take the coast road (marked 'Scenic Route')

...OR good, empty and scenic roads 3206-3510-3301-3218

 

 

[sead]

On 2018-03-04 at 4:26 AM, chrissables said:

I have ridden my PCX from Pattaya up to North Laos and the Chinese border, Mae Hong Son loop, Kanchanaburi, Umpang...........great fun to be had.

 

The advice from people who don't ride, or get out and explore should be ignored.

Ok to add you. I would have some q about the trip to chinese boarder

[chrissables]

1 hour ago, sead said:

Ok to add you. I would have some q about the trip to chinese boarder

Ask away :)

[manchega]

On 3/6/2018 at 5:53 PM, chrissables said:

Have been riding here for nearly 14 years i have experienced many crazy things. You are right cars and larger vehicles than motorbikes think they have rights over smaller vehicles.

 

Of course there is no fun in an accident. But at 100,000 + km, i can say there is a lot of fun riding. 

Oh I agree , it is fun to ride and drive here.  I would take that risk on the bike in other countries, a lot of Europe for example where on certain roads too fast will see you crashing yourself.

but here for me, still, needs to be a cage

[nb1984]

Hi again (I'm the one that started this thread),

 

So I drove down to Hua Hin from Bangkok and then back again. I used google maps to avoid the major busy areas and take the scenic route (thanks for the advice from others). It was quite a long drive (I don't go that fast) but once on the 'scenic route' it was quite nice - not so much on the other roads.

 

Here are some of the things I think are important to share in case its useful for anyone else considering a similar journey.

 

- Anyone that rides a bike in Thailand should always be overly cautious and very alert to what is happening around them. If you haven't much experience driving in Thailand and you are surprised by getting cut-up or cars swerving when you least expect then get a bit more experience before thinking about a longer journey.

- I didn't go into the faster lanes at all - the speed of vehicles in those lanes was v. fast. However be cautious about the vehicles (predominantly lorries) pulling into the left-hand lane to stop with little advance warning.

- I did not have any notable trouble with the traffic and other drivers. I may be the exception but didn't feel it was particularly bad - it felt like a relatively normal journey on a bike in Thailand. If the previous points sound unsettling then probably don't try it for now.

- One danger that those living in Bkk may not think of is the dogs unpredictably running out into the road on the 'scenic route'. One of the reasons I don't drive that fast is as there are things like that you can't predict and if you are going too fast to respond to such things then you're putting yourself at risk - not to mention the innocent dog.

- Despite the unpredictability of the dogs - it's definitely worth taking the 'scenic route' - much prettier and easier.

- The majority of the journey is pretty busy - meaning if you don't have a face mask for the traffic fumes then you will feel it.

- Take lots of breaks - It took me about 4hrs one-way (shorter on the way back) so it can be quite tiring. This was mainly spent getting out of Bkk as you'd probably imagine but I also don't drive fast.

- If you do this or a similar trip in Thailand enjoy it but also be careful and alert.

 

Thanks,

[wonderlanding]

Phetkasem Road is a highway and as such it has fast moving traffic, larger vehicles and a not insignificant amount of maniacs.

If travelling up or down it on a scooter, you need to be aware of everything around you at all times. Don't just rely on your mirrors. Also turn your head when changing lanes to check your blindspots.

If your scooter is less than 300cc stick to the slow lane or hard shoulder. But even those two are not without obstacles. Take your pick:

 

Hard Shoulder:

A lot of back flow with scooter riders coming towards you in the wrong direction. Also be prepared for occasional cars or lorries stopping on the hard shoulder.

Occasional patches of sand or grit make for possible slides if you brake, accelerate or swerve while riding over them.

 

Slow Lane:

Probably your safest bet. But most of the holes, bumps, craters and sunken tracks (lorries braking on really hot days gouge tracks in the hot tarmac) are in the slow lane.

 

Middle Lane:

Faster moving so just use it for overtaking.

 

Fast Lane:

If you have a big enough bike and are experienced, then open her up and fly down the fast lane. But it is not for the faint-hearted. Be prepared to hit 140-150km/h at times.

 

If your bike is anything less than 300cc (that is a bare minimum) stick to the slow lane.

 

You will reach phases where the general flow of the traffic speeds up dramatically regardless of lane. I find it better and more enjoyable to go with the flow and keep up with the tempo of the surrounding traffic. Your choice.

 

The coastal road to Cha-Am is the alternative and that is a much more leisurely ride on winding roads through the salt flats. At Cha- Am you need to exit on to the Phetkasem Road to continue to Hua Hin.

Tip: when you reach Ban Laem on the 4012 take a left down the 3178 (just past the CJ Express) to reach the only bridge over the sea inlet.