Travel Suggestions

[Spee]

Hello Group,

Looking for some travel suggestions for an upcoming trip ....

- Plan to fly into BKK and take the Chiang Main train line to Taphan Hin or Phichit.

- From there, would like to head towards Chon Daen and Phetchabun to visit some folks in the area.

Have many questions about getting from point A to point B:

- What is the easiest way to get from BKK airport to the main train station?

- Have read that for the trains it is better to pay the extra money for first class service. Have also read that the travel time by rail to Phichit is about 6 hours. Is this approximately correct? Is this train frequently on time? Late?

- Getting from Phichit or Taphan Hin to Chon Daen and Phetchabun, what is the best way to go? Is there any sort of scheduled bus or cars for hire?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Spee

[et33.com]

if you are going from BKK to Chiangmai by train

take the sleep train in the evening and arrive in the morning

can sleep at night

secure your stuff and sleep well...

i did that...

[NedKelly]

There is a train station at the airport. Well it's accross the road but there is a footbridge you can cross to get to it. You can buy tickets there for any train journey in Thailand. But it depends onwhat time you arrive as to whether it is best to wait there or go into Hualampong. If you go to Hua. then just get a meter taxi at the airport. Not expensive and faster than any other method.

You would want to go on the day trians to Phichit or Taphan Hin as stopping there on the night train wopuld mean getting there at quite a late hour. Even during the day you may need some Thai language skills as those places are probably not frquented by too many foeigners. But lookinmg at the map I would think that you would be able to get a local bus or even a songthaew to where you want to go. Maybe a combination of these. For example you may need to get one bus/songthaew to a place to meet another. it would probably be a case of waiting on the side of the road for the local buses to go past and just flagg them down.

Otherwise you might be able to get someone to meet yo uat the stations mentioned.

There is a day train that leaves in the morning called the Sprinter. It is a small air con train that has seating like an aeroplane and they even feed you with a small meal fo rlunch around 11.30. this one gets into Phitsanuloke in the early afternoon so you could easily get off earlier or go all the way to Phitsanuloke (the train goes to Chiang Mai)

You could probably get trasnport more readily from Phitsanuloke i would think as its a major centre.

[natee1]

Yes, trains are a comfartable, reliable way to travel. they are usually on time, and I am happy traevlling 2nd class, don't like to sit inside a refrigerator for long... they turn the aircon up to max to show what they've got. Timetables are on the net (through some travellinks), old ones, but they don't change much. I would ask at one of the helpdesks in the airport to write the most important questions/destinations on paper in Thai, as English is not understood outside main cities.

From Phichit or Phitsanulok there should be scheduled buses to where you want to go, main difficulty will be obtaining the info - I found notepapers in Thai work, though you might have to show them to 2 or 3 people before you get any useful replies.

[Thetyim]

There are no decent hotels in Taphan Hin, there is one decent hotel in Phichit.

Buses run from both to Petchabun.

PM me if you need more info, I have spent a lot of time there in the past.

[Spee]

PM me if you need more info, I have spent a lot of time there in the past.

Thanks for the advice, Thetyim!

Will shoot you an e-mail when I have a few moments free.

[Spee]

PM me if you need more info, I have spent a lot of time there in the past.

Thetyim,

Sent you a PM but didn't hear anything back. Did you get it? Do you have some info for me? Thanks in advance for your reply.

Spee