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Thailand Dreaming: Long-distance Bus Ride

Thailand Dreaming: Long-distance Bus Ride: There are choices to be made when taking a long-distance bus in Thailand. The regular buses stop wherever someone wishes to get on or off, ...

Long-distance Bus Ride

There are choices to be made when taking a long-distance bus in Thailand. The regular buses stop wherever someone wishes to get on or off, make a halt at every official bus terminal along the route; a time consuming journey cheaper than you, the foreigner, could imagine. My journey would take me from Chiang Mai to Bangkok’s Southern Bus Terminal. There I would switch to the frequently running A/C shuttle bus to my final destination on the beach, the small town of Hua Hin; a further 235 km and 3 hours away in a southwestern direction.

The local temperature in Chiang Mai at 8:30pm was still an enjoyable 33C. I was looking forward to a relaxing bus journey. I had a good choice of bus companies to select from. All would take me to Bangkok. I chose my bus company with care. The ticket price I paid for the 9 hour bus journey wouldn’t buy a decent breakfast in Europe. My VIP bus had 32 seats; 24 upstairs, 8 down with the luggage compartment and toilet. The seats allow reclining far back, good for sleeping. Head pillow and blanket are provided. Within minutes after departure the young and pretty bus stewardess delivers a snack box filled with a piece of cake, cookies, fruit juice and a small bottle of water. Halfway to Bangkok the bus will stop for an inclusive Thai food dinner break; the foreigners will get off for a toilet run and a smoke, the Thais to enjoy the free food.  Doesn’t the description make you want to ride a bus? Well, read on the pleasure is going to disappear.

An hour into the journey the interior bus lights go OUT. Total darkness. It is then that one realizes the air-conditioning, pleasant until now, is set to about 10C, just above freezing. A few tourists, dressed in shorts and t-shirts, find the blanket not enough and start whining. Previous experience riding long-distance Thai buses had me prepared. I have on a T-shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, a jacket, a scarf around my neck, a baseball cap on my head; wear long pants, shoes and socks and drape the blanket around me. I am still not comfortable enough to rest peacefully; the air-conditioning draft irritates me as it drifts across my legs. The on-board Thais love the air-conditioning and sleep peacefully; the fist-time foreign bus riders freeze and complain.

Halfway to Bangkok, the bus stops for the dinner break. All the foreigners rush off the bus to soak up warmth up in the local night. When the bus finally reaches Bangkok and I wait for my bag to be handed down from the luggage rack I see many foreigners shivering as they depart.

Hopefully they will prepare for the next journey. 

Visiting Thailand

I've been travelling through Thailand for many years now and I've also made many recommendations to many of my friends as to different destinations that you can see for different reasons all depending on what are are looking to get out of your trip.

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Here is some information on the three places that I have just sent to my brother. For example what is your budget? What's the duration of your holiday to be? Do you like to move around a lot to take in as many places as you can or like to relax in one or two areas? Are you male/female and are you travelling alone, with a partner or a group of same sex or mixed sex group?

As for language I have found going to any country it's always good to try and know some of the language of that area even if not a great deal people usually appreciate that you are making an effort in trying to know the basic niceities. Other than that I was always able to get around with limited skills in the Thai language and I have visited some very off the beaten track places.

Hope it helps.

Krabi Beach (Ao Nang) is in southern Thailand and a beach area that is great for relaxing and seeing all the sites of the southern area. It has access to all of the sites that you can get to from Phuket that are good to see but without so many western tourists. Tours or easy places to get to from here James Bond Island (tour with Kayaking), Phi Phi Island (explore yourself or tour) and this is a great place for diving. There are some great cave type dives, a wreck dive as well as access to whale shark and manta ray areas. The beach is nice and there are plenty of places that you can jump on a scooter and escape to without it being heavily populated with farang.

http://www.aonang.com/

Chiang Mai is one of the best places to see to get a feeling of the northern culture and there are some great places to see up there. Doi Suthep temple, dinners that have traditional dance shows called Khantoke dinner, Chiang Dao mountains, night and weekend markets with some of the best shopping in Thailand, the zoo and a number of other temples and things to see in the city. The Chiang Dao mountains have a number of different tours and places to see including one of the best places to go elephant riding, a cave complex that the Burmese used to hide in when invading Siam to attack Chiang Mai, the Longneck tribes as well as cool river runs and other things depending on the tours you wanted to do and you can do a day trip up to Chiang Rai where they have a white temple

http://www.visitchiangmai.com.au/

Koh Chang is an island off to the south eastern border of Cambodia that is a great island escape. There are plenty of nice beaches to escape to and also an easy place to find a stretch of beach for yourself on the eastern side of the island. There are also plenty of areas for nice restaurants and party areas as well. Nice places for diving with a wreck dive and many other nice spots. There are also some nice walks in the island to waterfalls and things of that sort. Also from Koh Chang it is very easy to do a run up into Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat temple complex if you have time.

http://iamkohchang.com/

'Hitler' Fried Chicken: KFC May Sue Restaurant In Thailand For Replacing Colonel Sanders With Adolf Hitler

KFC may sue a fried chicken restaurant in Thailand called “Hitler.”
BANGKOK: -- Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) may sue a fried chicken restaurant in Thailand called “Hitler” for using a similar logo featuring an image of Adolf Hitler in place of the iconic Colonel Sanders.

"We find it extremely distasteful and are considering legal action since it is an infringement of our brand trademark and has nothing to do with us," a spokesperson for Yum!, KFC’s parent company, told the Huffington Post.

The “Hitler” restaurant, which opened in Bangkok last month, has a storefront logo very similar to KFC's but with an image of the anti-Semitic dictator responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust during World War II.

The fried chicken restaurant was originally publicized in May when British author Andrew Spooner tweeted a photo of its façade. “Very bizarre Hitler Fried Chicken shop in Thailand. I kid you not. Complete with pic of Hitler in bow tie,” he wrote on Twitter.

The restaurant sells fried chicken as well as chips, burgers and kebabs, according to the UK's Daily Mail. Bangkok resident Alan Robertson told the Mail: “The place opened last month and nobody quite knows what to make of it.

Where the pretty people play

Bed Supperclub is famous for its nightclub, but few know the venue serves fantastic gourmet cuisine, too.

Q Bar and Bed Supperclub, both on Sukhumvit soi 11 (BTS: Nana) are two of the capital's nightlife venues that have withstood the harsh test of time and the fickle nature of the after-dark prowlers.

The Bed Supperclub mini-complex consists of a restaurant-cum-lounge and an adjoining nightclub with a cover charge of 600-800 baht inclusive of two drinks.

The venue has themed music and dinner nights, and regularly hosts touring acts, with 2011 seeing performances ranging from indie group Klaxons to drum 'n' bass celeb Goldie and even pop icon Boy George.

Also down Sukhumvit Soi 11 just steps away is the 12-year mainstay Q Bar. Its skilled DJs and diverse spirit selection have attracted high-profile globetrotters including the likes of Mick Jagger and Colin Farrell. 

Being undoubtedly "Concierge Select", both Q and Bed attract their fair share of tourist traffic.

Proof that the beautiful do eat, Roof by Muse on Thonglor (BTS: Thonglor) offers clubbers a chance to fill up before they hit the dance floor at the club below.

Over on Soi Ruamrudee on the ground floor of Athenee Residence (BTS: Ploenchit), Hyde & Seekstyles itself as a "gastro bar," popular with the young professional crowd seeking ferocious drinks concocted by expert mixologists paired with beautifully presented munchies prepared by big name chefs.

Bangkok city break guide

An essential guide to the Thai capital, Bangkok, including advice on the best hotels, restaurants, bars, shops and attractions.

An urban cornucopia of smells, tastes, sounds and sights one in unlikely to forget

Why go?

The summer heat puts many visitors off, however Thailand’s excessive New Year’s celebrations (Songkran is celebrated in mid-April) are a sight to behold. For a week, the capital turns into a battle zone for children and grown-ups, who roam the streets armed with water pistols, buckets of water and talcum powder which is shot or hurled at all passers-by (watch out, foreign visitors are favorite targets). Despite the heat, it’s really a fun time to visit and partake in Thailand’s most important festival.

Thailand’s capital is South-east Asia’s most enigmatic city, a head-on clash between tradition and modernity. First-time visitors may be a little taken aback by the concrete canyons and futuristic, billboard-covered skyscrapers, but take a few steps away from the main roads into one of the city’s countless alleys and traditional Thai culture is everywhere – an urban cornucopia of smells, tastes, sounds and sights one in unlikely to forget.

Bangkok gets the balance right between the expensive, the esoteric and the profane. The squeaky-clean sky train and underground system make most of this huge metropolis navigable, whisking visitors from their luxury accommodation to a sparkling Buddhist temple or an ancient amulet market within minutes – a kind of time travel possible in few other cities of 11 million people.

River trips, museums, shopping centers and, of course, Bangkok’s nightlife (which has come a long way from gaudy to cosmopolitan) make for the defining Far Eastern urban experience. Despite Thailand’s recent political turmoil, Bangkok remains one of the world’s safest cities. Violent crime against foreign visitors is extremely rare.

When to go?

Bangkok is at its best during the cool season, from November to February, after the monsoon and before the sweltering heat sets in at the beginning of March. April, May and June are infernally hot - sitting on a motorbike in the day time is like riding through a fire storm - though by mid-June, the rains usually arrive, bringing much needed respite, taking the dust out of the air and making the plants grow in record time. The rainy season is actually a great time to visit - few tourists, lower temperatures and the occasional monsoonal downpour that floods the streets and brings the kids out to play.

Getting there

Flights

International flights arrive at Suvarnabhumi International Airport (00 66 2 7230000,www.suvarnabhumiairport.com), about 20 miles to the east of the city. The old airport, Don Muang, about 12 miles north of Bangkok, handles some domestic flights.

Transfers

From 6am-midnight, the Suvarnabhumi Airport Express rail link (00 66 2 1321888) runs to a new terminal in Makkasan, which is not particularly central but connects to Petchaburi underground (MRT). Journey time 15 minutes, fare 150 baht (about £3). A slower Suvarnabhumi Airport Cityline goes to the more central Phaya Thai station, which connects to Phaya Thai sky train station (BTS). Journey time 30 minutes, fare 15-45 baht (30p-95p) depending on distance travelled.

For visitors heading to downtown Sukhumvit Road or the backpacker enclave of Khao San Road, an airport taxi, which rarely costs more than 250 baht (£5), is more convenient – but insist on the driver using the meter. A 50 baht (£1) airport taxi surcharge must be paid on top of the fare. Airport limousines charge about 600 baht (£12.75).

A number of airport express buses run to the city: AE1 heads for Silom Road, AE2 goes along Petchaburi Road to Khao San Road, AE3 serves Sukhumvit Road and AE4 passes via Siam Square to Hualamphong Railway Station. Tickets cost 100 baht (£2).

Trains

Some visitors arrive in Bangkok by rail at Hualamphong station (seewww.railway.co.th for information and bookings). An underground station (MRT) of the same name is attached to the station.

Getting around

Sky train

The quickest modes of transport are the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System) and the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit System). BTS tickets cost 15-40 baht (30p-85p), a Smart Pass 350 baht (£7.45) – good for 20 journeys (see www.bts.co.th for details). MRT tickets cost 13-30 baht. Both networks run from 6am-midnight.

Taxis

These are among the cheapest in the world, but should be avoided during rush hour. Always insist on drivers switching on the meter. The minimum fare is 35 baht (75p). A trip across town should be around 100-150 baht (£2-£3).

Walking

Due to traffic and pollution, this is only recommended by the river and through Chinatown.

Buses

These are painfully slow.