Hunnia Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 In August this will be my tenth visit to LOS in 2 years. With one exception it was all business trips so I saw very little of Thailand except Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket. This time I extended my trip by 5 days and I want to see other areas. I plan to take a bg with me if I can find someone suitable on my few short evenings. I do not drive in Thailand so my question is how would you go on such a trip? Take a bus, or train (I never took either of them before) and just go and stop where you see something interesting? If I take a train let’s say to the East and stop a few times, is it always possible to find a place to sleep? Or is it better to do some planning and make hotel reservations in advance. Do bg’s enjoy this kind of trip to the country side? I guess probably they enjoy it if they will be compensated no matter where we go. Thank you for you expert advice. Hunnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 Why do you not drive in Thailand? I can understand not driving in BKK, but once out of there it is not that bad. Anyway, hire a car with driver. Go wherever you want. It will impress the girl anyway. By the way, all she will want to do is go home and see family. Probably would be good for you to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunnia Posted July 28, 2001 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 Thaihome, I have never driven on the left side of the road but I guess it should not take a long time to get used to it. However, I am more worried not being able to read the signs and get lost. Maybe I should not be such a chicken so I will try to drive. Thanks for the encouragement. Hunnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thalenoi Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 quote: Originally posted by THAIHOME: Why do you not drive in Thailand? I can understand not driving in BKK, but once out of there it is not that bad. Anyway, hire a car with driver. Go wherever you want. It will impress the girl anyway. By the way, all she will want to do is go home and see family. Probably would be good for you to see. Hunnia, Above advice probably worthwhile. I don't know the cost of this. Renting a car with driver, feeding & lodging the guy underway.... I am "Cheap Chary" and did severall trips with bg using public transportation (train for long distance, bus for town to town, songteaw for village trips, even motor bikes on dirt roads and taxis in Bangkok) I spent 5500 bath on transportation for 30 days, including everything, even two skytrain refiilable cards and I did take a lot of taxis in Bangkok when to far away from skytrain. As for the bg's they enjoyed getting away from the scene and visiting their own country seeing places they only heard about. One trip I did BKK- Udon- Nong Khai- Chiang Khang- Phu Kradung- Khorat, an other one to Had Yai- Songhkla- Nakhon Sri Thammarat- Surat- Chumpon- Prachuap- Hua HIn. Advantage with the girl she can help with all travel related stuff in hotels, buses, asking for directions, and most important: getting good & cheap food. The bus system is excellent, average waiting time at busstations 15 minutes. Disadvantage: not easy to get off a bus in the middle of nowhere to visit say a nearby waterfall and catch up with the road. Confort on non-aircon buses (need to sit in frontseat of bus, can be hairraising experience) I wonder how much the driver solution would cost me for say two weeks? [ July 28, 2001: Message edited by: thalenoi ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phiketpete Posted July 29, 2001 Report Share Posted July 29, 2001 Personally I agree with thaihome . I would take a driver. The cost would be insignifiacnt and provide you with much more flexibility particularly if you are with a young lady. IMO driving on the left hand side would be the least of your problems outside of BKK. Doing it for the first time--driving thatis-would require your concentration. You can not expect drivers here in Thailand to obey the Highway Code to the letter.. after a while days/months it would become second nature I was reading the Hua Hin Observer the other day. The 'police blotter' for the week centered on a police memo to the paper asking them to remind farang visitors to this quiet seaside resort that driving here was not like back home and then went on to list the traffic accidents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunnia Posted July 29, 2001 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2001 Thalenoi, I like the way you travel around in Thailand. Driving alone is not very appealing to me and to have a driver and feed and lodge him and especially to have him around all the time is again does not seem to be a good option. I am not afraid to take the train and bus, etc. What is a songteaw what you use for village trips? Have you ever had problem finding lodging during your travel? Indeed taking a bargirl is a very good option and not just to have a nice female companion. I do not speak Thai so she can be a great help. I will check on the map your route and may follow your footsteps. I thank you for your advice. Hunnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted July 29, 2001 Report Share Posted July 29, 2001 quote: Originally posted by phiketpete: You can not expect drivers here in Thailand to obey the Highway Code to the letter.. A world-class understatement. But when you get down to it, why do you have to sit at a redlight when there is nothing coming from the direction that has the greenlight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thalenoi Posted July 29, 2001 Report Share Posted July 29, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Hunnia: Thalenoi, I like the way you travel around in Thailand. Driving alone is not very appealing to me and to have a driver and feed and lodge him and especially to have him around all the time is again does not seem to be a good option. I am not afraid to take the train and bus, etc. What is a songteaw what you use for village trips? Have you ever had problem finding lodging during your travel? Indeed taking a bargirl is a very good option and not just to have a nice female companion. I do not speak Thai so she can be a great help. I will check on the map your route and may follow your footsteps. I thank you for your advice. Hunnia Hunnia, The reasons you mentionned above are exactly the same why I would not like to have a driver around for say two weeks! (even one would drive me nuts) It's clear you must be adventurous to undertake such trip. But having a gf eager to travel with you largely over-compensates any inconviences. Therefore the lady must be enthousiastic to see the country and change her life style for that time. (they are used to work from 6pm to 3am, sleep into early afternoon whilst travelling means being on the road from 9 am onwards) Nightlife being inaccessible to farangs in small towns the first good thing having a bg with you is you won't get bored in your hotel room. Secondly, you have a guide and interpreter 24 hours/day, she will also be your full time "body guard", protecting you from any potential dangers (I mean little harrasments such as arriving at bus stations in any town and drivers glueing to you to get you at a hotel where they get a nice commission) I told my gf's I like to visit temples, so in every town we arrived she statred asking where to find the nicest wats and how to get there, same for waterfalls in the aera etc. I do plan my trips in advance, selecting potential hotels usint the Lonely Planet. LP is not supposed to be complete, not all places are mentionned, suffice to me. I do select midrange and downtown hotels, to be in walking distance from lively streets. The problem is you will not find decent accomodation outside of towns. Sleeping in villages is almost impossible, that's often a pity, I like the rural quitness of these places. In my experience so called "Beach resorts" are the worst places, overpriced and underscale comfort. in small towns your only choice sometimes are "guesthouses", for 150 baht often good value, but don't expect more than a bed, a fan and a common "shower" Again I had the chance never to shower alone. Altough my expression often was "Christ, how do I handle this situation?" She took my hand and I followed her example. And being showered, soaped and dried 3x day is heaven. She will also wash your clothes on the road unless you are in a decent hotel where you insist on using their laundry service. Songteaws are the next level of transportation after the non-aircon buses, and they transport people in a starsheme around cities. These are pick-up type cars with two or three rows benches. Sometimes they are empty, sometimes schoolchildren are on top of the roof... really crazy sometimes, and bumpy. If you want to visit small villages around for seeing mountains, caves, waterfalls you need to find where they depart from in the town you are, and that is not easy. Depending on destination they can depart from different places. Again gf help is essential to find the right spot. Prices depend on distance, very cheap, halfhour to one hour drive between 25 and 50 baht/person. Prices for non-aircon buses between towns also depend on distance, between 50 and 100 bath for 100 to 300 km. Every city had his own style of local transportation, from buses to songteaws to any form of tuk-tuk and motorbikes. Travel light, because sometimes your only choice from bus to hotel is the motorbike. They will try to stuff your luggage between their legs whilst you sit behind the driver. I slept at some "beach resorts" where someone from the resort needed to take a motorbike to get to the main road to bring two motorbike drivers to the resort. Often you will end up paying more to/from bus than for the bus. plenty of food around the busstaion, again gf will help choosing food, fruit and drinks for the trip. Often vendors will jump on the bus to sell food just before leaving. I never book rooms, I prefer going to one of the selected hotels, ask to see the room, if I don't like take a motor bike and go see an other one (does not happen often when you pay aircon rooms between in the 500-1000 range. Most of these place are decent. I avoid sub 500 baht places, but's a question of taste and need for a minimum comfort standard. Asd I stated earlier, some small places don't have hotels at all. >Edited to add note> Travelling by train means you need advanced booking and seating, long distance trains are often fully booked for days. You can book seats at any travel agent. It's better than buses, you can have a walk. For Bangkok to Had Yai I paid around 550 bath, second class aircon, plane style train, included a warm meal (15 hour trip for 900 km!) Some night trains have berths at a cost. I hope this helps. [ July 29, 2001: Message edited by: thalenoi ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunnia Posted July 30, 2001 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2001 Thalenoi, Your post was immensely helpful to me; I am very grateful for your detailed information. Indeed I am very adventurous and not spoiled; do not need a high degree of comfort (although sometimes it is nice to be pampered). As long as there is a bed and water (even cold water, which is not very cold anyway) to take a shower, that is all I need. Last time I spent a few days in my bg girlfriend's room (you might remember from an earlier post of mine) where she only had cold water. It was OK as long as she took shower with me, which was all of the time. I also greatly enjoyed these showers and with her I did not mind the cold water. I will also travel light, just with a backpack. Tomorrow I will run out and buy the Lonely Planet book, thanks for the idea. I understand that bg's sleep late into the afternoon and I noticed this also when I was on Phuket with my sweet lady. Nevertheless, she made a lot of effort every morning to get up reasonable early. She was very nice, extremely sweet and caring. I just wish that I could find somebody like her. Indeed it is an excellent idea to go with a bg, all of your reasoning is valid. In fact they are so true that I will not even go if I can't find a suitable lady. I have two more questions if you are not tired of answering it. All of my previous trips to Bangkok I never had any vaccination before the trip. Do you think is it a good idea to have some shots (hepatitis maybe) if I want to visit the countryside? However, it might be too late for an August trip (I will leave on 19 August). Being a farang and much older than a typical bg, how do the country and village people will look at us when I arrive with a young lady? Did you have any problems like this? Hunnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thalenoi Posted July 30, 2001 Report Share Posted July 30, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Hunnia: Thalenoi, I have two more questions if you are not tired of answering it. All of my previous trips to Bangkok I never had any vaccination before the trip. Do you think is it a good idea to have some shots (hepatitis maybe) if I want to visit the countryside? However, it might be too late for an August trip (I will leave on 19 August). Being a farang and much older than a typical bg, how do the country and village people will look at us when I arrive with a young lady? Did you have any problems like this? Hunnia Hepatitis vacine is a must bcause food, I think it takes two shots, one month in beteen, see your doctor NOW. Tetanos also, refresher every 10 years. Nothing else. I am not that young (over 50 already, catching up with what i missed) Absolutely no problem in villages, just smiles. I did my best to participate in conversations (poud thai nid noi) they try to talk to you as wel with some english, had chats with "resort" owners, restaurant owners, songteaw drivers etc Good times all the way. Success Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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