Me and the Mrs are just planning our next trip out to LOS, for a month in January. It looks like we are going to be very busy travelling, as we both want to visit places in Thailand neither of us have seen before. However, we are going to have to fit some time in, to vist her parents village near Chaiya Phum. The other times we have been to the village, we have gone by VIP bus and quite frankly, it does my nut in The drivers stop whenever and wherever they want and can take anything from 5 to 6 1/2 hours. The wife is obviously "Mai pben drai" about it but i get "Twitchy". Does anybody know if a train goes there from Bangkok and/or Pattaya. How long it takes, cost, experience of travelling by Train etc. Or even a train website.

Cheers people

MrBoJ

No railway in Chaiya Phum city but only through far south area of the province. If you get twitchy on a bus do not believe you would find train travel to your liking - very slow. And you will not find from Pattaya in any case.

http://www.railway.co.th/Eng/

http://www.transport.co.th/Eng/HomeEnglish.htm

If you get twitchy on a bus do not believe you would find train travel to your liking - very slow. 

Cheers for the info Lop

I was thinking of the train, as you can at least stand up and have a walk around. Nothing worse than sitting motionless for long periods. I also looked at flying but that's a no go also.

Highway 201 which runs from the Korat Asia Highway 12 direct to Chaiyaphum is being made into 4 lanes once you enter the province and even with detours was quite fast on my last trip about 3 months ago. Make another trip week after next and expect it to be much faster.

Don't know if there is any super VIP bus service option from any operators but that is quite comfortable with 1x2 seating for 24 pax and much like flying.

My wife lives 1 hour north of Khorat and we usually take a private taxi. It is about 2000 baht and allows us to stop for a leisurely lunch wherever we want. We also stop at Big C/Tesco to stock up on "good" food and lots of beer. It is a little expensive, but it is door to do and is done according to your schedule. Just a thought...if you add in all the other costs of getting to the bus station, and the hassles, this is a pretty good way to do.