Semester abroad in Bangkok

[trytess]

Hi guys,

I'm going to study in Bangkok for a semester next year. The thing is, literally the only partner university for my faculty that is outside the EU is King Mongkut´s. I mean Bangkok is great, I was there for a good week when I did some backpacking after high school and really really love that city, but I'm not so sure about the university itself. I'd be going to the campus in bang sue (King Mongkut´s University of Technology North Bangkok). I don't know the city well enough to properly judge the location, but from the googling I did Thammasat for example seems much better in terms of location.

 

Maybe I should've prefaced this by saying that I'm not doing this semester abroad to pursue academics. Sure I'll do the minimum but the education I get at home is better and less of a hassle, so my priorities are heavily skewed towards partying, travelling and just generally having a great time. And I feel like a city centre location would be more conductive towards that goal. Apart from that I just love the bustle and the hustle and the skyscrapers. I want to be in the middle of it all.

 

I suppose what I'm asking you is how you would judge the Bang Sue location in regards to my goals. I could also imagine moving closer to the city and commuting to Bang Sue for classes. 3 day weekends are the norm and 4 day weekends totally doable so it could even make sense considering being located near the university might net a higher total commute time if you take extracurricular activities into account as well.

Anyway, I would appreciate thoughts/experiences on this from bangkok locals. Cheers!

[smutcakes]

You are going to need to do better than that! 0.5/10 at best.

[metempsychotic]

any search on google maps will show you the campus is outside the city center, likely an hours commute from silom, sukhumvit etc.

Edited May 7, 2019 by metempsychotic

[BobbyL]

All the hallmarks of a classic Reddit styled fishing post in this thread.

 

I mean .................. is great, I was there for a good week 

 

Maybe I should've prefaced this by saying that

 

so my priorities are heavily skewed towards

 

I suppose what I'm asking you is how

 

 

[CharlieH]

Flame post removed.

 

7) You will respect fellow members and post in a civil manner. No personal attacks, hateful or insulting towards other members, (flaming) Stalking of members on either the forum or via PM will not be allowed.

9) You will not post inflammatory messages on the forum, or attempt to disrupt discussions to upset its participants, or trolling. Trolling can be defined as the act of purposefully antagonizing other people on the internet by posting controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.

 

[Bang Bang]

From Google maps Bang Sue seems a short cab/motosai ride to Chatuchak-Moh Chit, which is on the BTS terminus. From Moh Chit to downtown on the BTS is about 20mins.

 

So, it's not like you're on a deserted island in Bang Sue. And the Moh Chit-Ari stretch is pretty happening too. And the Chatuchak MRT gets you to Ladphrao/Ratchada in a few mins. which is Thai teenage party central.

 

So, if your goal is to not get an education you could do worse than Bang Sue.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Bang Bang

[trytess]

7 hours ago, BobbyL said:

All the hallmarks of a classic Reddit styled fishing post in this thread.

 

I mean .................. is great, I was there for a good week 

 

Maybe I should've prefaced this by saying that

 

so my priorities are heavily skewed towards

 

I suppose what I'm asking you is how

 

 

Lol what

Yeah I'm on reddit and that might influence my writing but I dont know what you mean by fishing post. I'm just asking about the location in regards to nightlife etc.

[trytess]

8 hours ago, smutcakes said:

You are going to need to do better than that! 0.5/10 at best.

What am I supposedly fishing for?

[Nyezhov]

9 minutes ago, trytess said:

Lol what

Yeah I'm on reddit and that might influence my writing but I dont know what you mean by fishing post. I'm just asking about the location in regards to nightlife etc.

Dude: Go to Google Maps. The party places are Khao San Road, RCA, Mid Thong Lor, Lower Sukhumvit and Silom. So just go from there.

[OneEyedPie]

3 minutes ago, trytess said:

What am I supposedly fishing for?

Playing Devil's Advocate, I suspect your OP that draws one in on the educational aspect for which you quite quickly move onto to the pretext of carnal and craven desires doesn't ring true which suggests you're a troll, coupled with being a newbie.  

 

To the untrained eye and those with a highly evolved troll monitor then you appear to be a troll.  

[trytess]

1 hour ago, OneEyedPie said:

Playing Devil's Advocate, I suspect your OP that draws one in on the educational aspect for which you quite quickly move onto to the pretext of carnal and craven desires doesn't ring true which suggests you're a troll, coupled with being a newbie.  

  

To the untrained eye and those with a highly evolved troll monitor then you appear to be a troll.   

I was purely talking logistics and explaining my situation. And from the people I know of that did a semester abroad everyone saw them basically as party vacations.

Honestly man I dont know what reaction you think I was fishing for. Something about thai hookers or what? I just don't want to go to <deleted> spain when I spend every summer vacation there. If a university in a decent city in south america had a bilateral agreement with my faculty I'd probably go there, because I already spent months in south east asia. I like to try new shit.

2 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Dude: Go to Google Maps. The party places are Khao San Road, RCA, Mid Thong Lor, Lower Sukhumvit and Silom. So just go from there. 

I looked at google maps a lot, I just cant judge from here how much of a hassle the commute would be, how the Bang Sue area is in general etc. Made sense to me to ask for info in a forum with people who know that.

[trytess]

7 hours ago, Bang Bang said:

From Google maps Bang Sue seems a short cab/motosai ride to Chatuchak-Moh Chit, which is on the BTS terminus. From Moh Chit to downtown on the BTS is about 20mins.

 

So, it's not like you're on a deserted island in Bang Sue. And the Moh Chit-Ari stretch is pretty happening too. And the Chatuchak MRT gets you to Ladphrao/Ratchada in a few mins. which is Thai teenage party central.

 

So, if your goal is to not get an education you could do worse than Bang Sue.

Thanks man.

So the commute to downtown would be a little over 30 mins I guess? Is that for rush hour too?

And what do you think of the idea of getting a place around the Phaya Thai area?

[Bang Bang]

46 minutes ago, trytess said:

Thanks man.

So the commute to downtown would be a little over 30 mins I guess? Is that for rush hour too?

And what do you think of the idea of getting a place around the Phaya Thai area?

Rush hour is not an issue on the BTS except for crowded carriages. And I doubt traffic in a suburb like Bang Sue gets as congested as in downtown. But, honestly, I've never been to Bang Sue. So you might want to post a separate question re Bang Sue roads and getting from there to Moh Chit. Because once you're at Moh Chit, with both the BTS and MRT, you have a straight shot to pretty much all places of interest in Bkk. For travel times look up BTS/MRT schedules.

 

Getting a place along Phaya Thai Road within the Phaya Thai BTS to Saphan Khwai BTS stretch is actually a good idea. Puts you kind of in the middle between school and downtown.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Bang Bang

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, Bang Bang said:

But, honestly, I've never been to Bang Sue.

I have. The traffic can be gnarly. He should live close to where he needs to be, not to where he wants to be

Edited May 7, 2019 by Nyezhov

[buick]

here are a few thoughts (i've lived 10 yrs in bkk near the sukhumvit/asoke intersection/terminal 21 shopping mall):

 

while i've only been through the area on the BTS, i've read about the Ari area (a BTS stop, not far from phaya thai).  that would be roughly in the middle of school and party central.  since you aren't close to either one, you'll be commuting for both school and the nightlife.  that doesn't sound very good to me.

 

you will have to use the MRT/BTS to get around town.  the good news is you'll be doing a reverse commute, assuming you live at Ari or closer to city center (let's call sukhumvit/asoke the city center).  so the MRT/BTS shouldn't be too crowded.  but you'll have to take a taxi to the school campus from the closest MRT/BTS stop.  likely going from the Tai Poon MRT station.  the MRT going north out of the city center is less than 30 minutes to tai poon (if you board at sukhumvit).  i just used google to see how long a taxi ride is (at 10:00am bkk time) and it said 10 minutes.  i think it was 4 kms distance.

 

keep in mind that the MRT/BTS systems close at midnight.  the nightlife begins about 9pm.  so you'll likely have to take a taxi home.  the drivers often ask for higher fares when taking you home late at night.  especially if you are leaving from nana plaza and soi cowboy.

 

of course i'm biased as i live in what i've deemed the 'city center' but if i were you that is where i'd live.  limit the party time sun-wed so you can manage to commute to school with minimal hangover. sun-wed happens to be a somewhat quiet period in the main party areas (sun-wed) so you won't miss too much.  once thurs arrives you'll be ready to enjoy thurs-sat and you won't have to commute for that, the bars/girls will be just down the street !!!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by buick

[asanee]

this ''college;; is not at all near or in Bg Sue, and is in fact hard to reach from there.

Its also a real blue collar college where english/angkrit is pretty rare. Note that here in TH a slightly better electricien or plumber is already considered to have a uni-level!

From Bg Sue/Tao Poon market, near the big Tesco, there are buses to all places recommended above. And also from on front of that college, in fact many more to also other areas. TV-users are often too scared or US/EN prejudiced to even think about that option.

[buick]

8 hours ago, asanee said:

this ''college;; is not at all near or in Bg Sue, and is in fact hard to reach from there.

as i recall, the OP mentioned the North Bangkok campus not the main campus (which is quite far).  the campus the OP mentions appears to be just west of Bang Sue.