Buses. Night Or Day?

[fw1]

Greetings. After being unable to sleep twice going to and then from Mukdahan I've begun to wonder whether travelling at night is the better option. What do you think and why?

[devildog683]

usually the 7 hour trip from bangkok to surin is better at night, faster, and i can sleep

[Totster]

Night bus ..... get on and sleep all of the way ... ( except for a stop in korat )

My wife prefers the daytime buses.... not sure why..!

totster

[chuchok]

I like the night bus.Quicker and if you do plunge into on comming traffic at 100k, you will already be asleep and know bugger all about it.

[udon]

Daytime.

I want to see what we are about to hit.

Besides, it's easier to see which way your driver ran away to.

[lopburi3]

If you want to travel in comfort the 24 seat super VIP is the bus you need to take and it almost always will be running at night. As I can never sleep would prefer day travel where you can see more than the lights of after hour nightspots but long trips on a 40 seat bus or even 30 seat VIP type with full recline seat in front of you is not my idea of comfort. If under 5'5" perhaps better.

[Dragonman]

Having during the last 5 years seen bus crashes only second to motorbike accidents I would have prefered the choice "no way I'd get on a bus" and in fact haven't for 4 years!

When I was last in the UK my wife caught a bus back from Korat to Sattahip. When it got dark the driver nodded off and my wife told the hostess. She said "no, he's just relaxing" and drew the blinds down around the driver

[Totster]

Having during the last 5 years seen bus crashes only second to motorbike accidents I would have prefered the choice "no way I'd get on a bus" and in fact haven't for 4 years!

  When I was last in the UK my wife caught a bus back from Korat to Sattahip. When it got dark the driver nodded off and my wife told the hostess. She said "no, he's just relaxing" and drew the blinds down around the driver

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bloody ell.....Autopilot Thai style...

totster

[wix]

Depends on the length of journey. For anything up to about six hours I would travel during the day. For longer journeys I would travel at night. I have no trouble sleeping on buses. One annoying thing about night buses is they often arrive at four or five o'clock in the morning which is very inconvenient. Always worth spending a bit extra on a VIP bus. It's often still cheaper than the train (and easier to book).

[Jimjim]

Was on a night bus to down south once and went by a horrible, horrible accident involving at least two buses, several cars and trucks, and one big cement truck. That scared me enough to make me think twice for next time. Perhaps I'll take a train.

[torrenova]

Fly, fly and fly again. Failing that, taxi.

That said I have used the NCA 32 seat (no 24 seat on this route) to Buriram and Korat and gone at night and back in the day. Horrendous Thai TV crap but then lights out. In the daytime the bloody thing runs constantly.

I'd check trains if no airports.

Taxi to Buriram from Pattaya is 430km and can be had for Bt3500. Not a shitty pick up, a decent medium car (not small Vios). Crown or similar.

Takes about 6 hours with a couple of stops. Less if you drie fast and nothing on the mountain roads.

[Zpete]

In LoS, I am too chicken to take long distance huses.

Love trains, wish rail went to Phuket.

Terminate in Chalong.

Trains to CNX, and places north, fly to HKT.

[wayneo]

good to know many ppl like the night buses will be doing alot of bussing on my next trip, hows the train to down south compare to the bus ?

cheers

[twschw]

Our little "bump in the night". 30 mins outside Khon Kaen coming from BKK about 4:00 am July5. Chan Tour First Class bus.

[cdnvic]

The night buses are comfortable with a sleeper berth, but you'll never get out of one alive if an accident happens. With the low cost of flying I don't see the point in long bus trips anymore.

It's also annoying to be woken up at 3am for "dinner".

[CTO]

I hate buses - daytime as I can't sleep on the - wife and family prefer night as they can sleep!

If you book ahead air is so cheap now - inc taxes Air ASia Bangkok to Udon for 700 baht.

Trains I love but very slow.

[game4shame]

thai bus journeys are like f**kin' russian roulette. you just pray the bus driver is not some yaabaa'd up moron - all too often though, they are.

my worst ever thai bus journey was my last one, approx a month ago, from phuket-satun.

the driver was absolutely nailing it all the way, overtaking everything in sight (sometimes blind overtakes), no consideration for the oncoming traffic, just blasting his horn like a maniac.

he was weaving about the road like he was on a moped - the bus was swinging about all over the shop.

I was the only farang on the bus and when I'd almost fell off my seat for the umpteenth time I had a look around to see what the other passenegers' reaction was - they all had the typical thai stare as if nothing was wrong.

anyway, the moment that stood out from the journey was when he was tailing another bus and he must've left no more than a couple of metre gap - this went on for a good few kilometres and I can only assume he had some pathetic race going on with the other driver. that was the point I was ready to get off the bus but my gf told me to calm down. he overtook that bus and carried on driving like an idiot.

it helps if you know respectable bus companies but even then Im unsure.

think I'll stick to spots easly accessible by flight or rail in the future. thai bus drivers - in the main - can suck my hairy bellend.

[Kitsch22]

Greetings. After being unable to sleep twice going to and then from Mukdahan I've begun to wonder whether travelling at night is the better option. What do you think and why?

Night travel is marginally less terrifying. When approaching a blind bend the driver is warned of oncoming traffic by headlight haze.

[Geekfreaklover]

Done the Surin - Bangkok run more times than I care to recall. Travelled around Thailand by bus when I was younger. I like to travel by day. I think it's safer. Accidents do happen. They are less likely to happen if the driver is not falling asleep or high on yaba and the rest of the road traffic aren't drunk. Thai road law spells survival of the biggest, so in a bus you should be ok unless you have a head on with a 'sib-lor' ten wheeled truck. I've had a few near misses.

[Thongkorn]

I have-been from Bangkok to Phuket many times and to Rannong , I get the VIP buses, Air con, on board toilet and it stops s few times . I sleep most of the way as the seats recline a fair way nearly horizontally , It seems to be getting harder every year as now you have to book a few days before you travel , I use to just turn up and go , but not now it is getting more popular,

[marshbags]

The wife prefers day time, says she cannot sleep day or night, but can at least see things in the day time.

Me, I fly every time and unless something really urgent changes this never ever again, I hope.

I once did a visa run to Lao and had to get back to Pattaya urgently.

The VIP bus had left early and my only other choice was the red bus which left later.

Kin hel_l, talk about scary, I was so pleased to get to my destination, Lewis hamilton would have been amazed at the bus drivers equivalant to F1

speeeeeeds.

That and plenty more, packed like a sardine can later in the journey.

The conductor moved everyone from the back 2 rows of the bus and packed them in 5 to a 3 seat......................apart from me that is.

I told them I would not be moving forward under no circumstances.................... finnished up a little pissed off with and said so in non diplomatic terms.

They got the message and left me alone after that.

Anyways, with the 2 rows they vacated minus my seat, rather than using them for yet more passengers, the &lt;deleted&gt; used them to get their heads down on and sleep.

Kin ell again was my reaction, but as they left me on my own seat alone, tried to relax in my new found space, but couldn,t help but wonder how gullable they all where.

Moved without questioning anyone at all ????????? Just like zombies.

When I got of at the top of Central Road in Patta,s they all gave me the biggest smile you could imagine and one even gave me a thumbsup

I was soooo releived to arrive, I can tell you.

marshbags

Moved without questioing anyone at all ????????? Just like zombies.

[bendejo]

Can't sleep on buses or planes, usually, so for me night rides are torturous. If it's a very long way to go I may stop off and spend a night along the way, continue on the next. But I'm considering the 'bed bus' from Vientiane to Pakse.