Roaming Bangkok

The leaded fuel used in Bangkok is the responsible for the sweet-smell of the metropolis smog. Over time I’d learned to cherish it since it is a sign of my being in a loved place.

However, breathing fresh air is imperative from time to time. Then, the Chao Praya River is the only place in Bangkok offering breeze; despite being it a weak one, it combines with the gorgeous city sights offered there to create a refreshing break while roaming Bangkok.

Old Practices

A people that enjoy living next to water, the Thais make extensive use of rivers and canals as a transportation method; Bangkok – the Venice of the East – provides exciting opportunities for experiencing this aspect of the local culture. The murmuring, slow-flowing waters around the boats are one side of the magic; seeing the city slowly revealing its wonders is the other one.

Chao Praya River

The Chao Praya River separates between Bangkok and Thonburi – a former Thai capital - and offers many types of boat trips; however, the best way of travelling around and enjoying the main views is the Chao Phraya River Express boat.

The route starts at Wat Ratchasingkhon Pier near Krung Thep Bridge and ends at the pier of Nonthaburi (northern Bangkok). The grand views along the trip include the Royal Thai Navy Dockyard, the Thai Maritime Navigation Company, the Old Customs House, Wat Arun, the Grand Palace, and Wat Rakhang.

The whole trip takes about 90 minutes; the fares for a standard express boat trip range from 5 to 16 baht (about half dollar), depending on the distance. The boats leave every fifteen minutes from 6am to 6:30pm daily. Special express boats are marked with yellow, red and orange flags, and stop at major piers only. Their fares are 15 baht for the yellow and 10 baht for the red and orange ones; they operate only during rush hours (6 to 9am and 3pm to 6pm).

Khlong Bangkok Noi and Khlong Bang Yai

Another useful line is the canals trip along Khlong Bangkok Noi and Khlong Bang Yai. Boats in this route leave from Tha Chang Pier many times daily. The route passes through the Royal Barges Museum (a dockyard for royal barges used in official ceremonies), Wat Suwannaram, Wat Sisudaram, Wat Nairong and Wat Phaowana Phirataram. The highlight of the last temple, which was erected in the reign of King Rama V, is its multipurpose hall built in traditional Thai style. It takes about an hour to reach Bang Yai, from where a boat back can be taken.

Busy-dizzy Bangkok

Dedicating a day to river trips allows seeing a postcard of Bangkok’s main attractions in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere somewhat atypical of busy-dizzy Bangkok.

By the end of September 2006 the old Don Muang airport in Bangkok was closed and the Suvarnabhumi International Airport was inaugurated. In this trip to Thailand I had arrived at the first and departed from the second, and had thus the opportunity to check out the new airport and the way leading to it.

The days of cheap rides to the airport with bus number three are definitely gone since Suvarnabhumi is located in the southeastern suburbs of Bangkok, an area which was undeveloped until now and was not served by the regular lines. The old Airport Bus service is still available at the same cost (beginning at B100 - around $3) from the same stops around town to the new airport, but this has always been an expensive option.

Several regular air-conditioned buses lines were added to serve the new terminal, the most convenient one is bus 556. It leaves from the main entrance of the lottery building on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, just next to Khaosan Road. Being a new and unknown line, the buses travel almost empty; and the day of my trip I shared it with just one couple. It has very few stops in town and then it travels most of the way through an impressive network of highways. The trip costs just B35 (about one dollar) and after leaving the Khaosan Road area travels through the Din Daeng Rama IX Highway.

In the early afternoon the access to the highway was rather slow and the trip took a full hour. However, it was an attractive ride offering unusual views of Bangkok. The new airport is located in an area of swamps and the highway support columns rising out of the water are quite a view.

The new complex is huge and much work has been done to ensure a smooth access to it. All the buses arriving from Bangkok stop at a special bus terminal, from where free shuttles leave to the airport terminus. The arrangement is simple: the shuttles leave from bays placed across the arrival bays and are painted in a bright yellow color. The shuttles have a circular path along the complex and passengers board and leave at all the stops; they get very crowded thus it is wise to sit next to the doors, a location that allows a clear sight of the signs marking the terminus.

Finding the shuttle was the easy part. Inside it I discovered what seemed to be a code of number for the different stops (domestic, international; arrivals, departures) and I happily waited for the right number to appear. Surprisingly, the clearly numbered areas of the huge terminal building had no relation to the numbers appearing in the bus. After a fifteen minutes ride, I left the bus, entered the terminal at a random place and completed a mini-marathon to my check-in window. In that aspect, very little changed since the old days; the departure is an orderly affair, the departure tax is still B500 and leftover local money can be exchanged just next to the departure tax window and after that in the duty free shopping area.

After having seen the Singapore and Hong Kong new airports I thought that Suvarnabhumi would have a hard time to impress me, but I was proven wrong. I quickly forgot the unclear signs and was overwhelmed not only by the size of the building, but mainly by its elegance. It was built to resemble huge connecting oval tunnels and it imparts mainly a feeling of being a lightweight, floating, well-lighted structure. Wooden pagodas adorn its interior and in the day of my visit traditional Thai puppet shows were performed at one of the main junctions. Suddenly, the awaiting flight became a secondary issue.

At first the idea was frightening. I couldn’t speak the language; reading it took me ages and thus I wouldn’t be able to read the signs on time. Without even considering the option, I began exploring the metropolis using other methods.

After a while I changed my initial reluctance. Buses ceased being threatening; in the worst case I would find myself in a random, unknown quarter. I could always catch a taxi and return to known areas.

Reinforcing the change was the fact that Bangkok is a safe city and thus buses posed no threats. The other eternal concern of a traveler - loosing precious time – was solved by dedicating a day to the exploration of Bangkok buses; now I could justify my aimless wandering in circles.

The foreign letters, the strange sounds and the many variations of buses did not make the beginning easy. The need to make a quick transaction on them without understanding the language was worrying. However, soon became clear that brain surgery is a more complex topic; riding the buses was simple.

Paying

The first lesson was not paying while boarding; a tickets’ seller approaches the passengers during the trip expecting to get approximately the right fare, paying the 7B fare with a one thousand baht note was an obviously bad idea.

Maps

The bus trajectories maps turned out being inexact.

Efficiency

Bangkok buses turned out being very effective at all times, especially since they travel all night; crossing the city on one of them at 3am is an inexpensive pleasure. However, at peak hours it may take hours to cross the city, thus planning is essential.

Views

I began looking around. Buses are taller than taxis and tuktuks and thus allow sightseeing; a new and less congested Bangkok appeared before my eyes. Traveling in an air-conditioned bus was more appealing than the fanciest taxi and both advanced at the same speed.

Fellow Travelers

The denizens made justice to the local claim that Thailand is the land of the smiles. Some of them wanted to practice English with me; others wanted to pull out the weirdly placed hairs on my arms. More experienced people around them shyly apologized for their peers’ conduct. Despite the misunderstandings and a few embarrassing moments I always felt as being among good people.

New Bangkok

A new city was so discovered, with quarters neither reached nor mentioned by travel agencies. I found markets selling local products and not souvenirs; people shopping for their next meal and eating their regular lunch; a living city instead of a museum.

Red and Green Buses

These buses are by far the cheapest ones; at 7B per trip regardless the distance you can hardly find a better deal. After midnight they charge 10B.

They do not have air-conditioners and their frequency is low; thus hordes of people attack them once they arrive. Using them at off-peak hours is a good tactic.

The most useful lines leaving from Khaosan Road are:

Line 2: leaves from the stop in front of the Lottery Building on the main road leading to the Grand Palace, just south of Khaosan. It reaches the Central World Plaza, from where all the main shopping locations in town are accessible, and through Sukhumvit Road to the Ekamai Eastern Terminal leading to the south-eastern parts of Thailand.

Line 3: Leaves from the closest road to the Chao Praya River, just west of the road around the temple at the west end of Khaosan. It reaches the Chatuchak Weekend’s Market.

Air-conditioned Buses

Air-conditioned buses are painted in yellow, blue or white and sometimes appear in two-car long buses; the doubles are usually a bit cheaper.

The fare depends on the distance traveled; the destination’s name – or the nearest landmark to it - should be pronounced to the tickets’ seller SLOWLY and clearly in English.

The most useful line from Khaosan Road is the 511 (it exists also as a red or yellow bus numbered 11 – but with a very low frequency). However two slightly different lines operate with the same number; if there is no additional sign on the bus, it reaches the Central World Plaza, Sukhumvit Road and the Ekamai Eastern Terminal. If there is a white sign in front of the driver, it means that this is the highway version of the bus, which after reaching the Central World Plaza climbs the highway instead of continuing through Sukhumvit Road.

Purple Buses

The purple buses are minibuses operating in relatively few lines along downtown. They feature a flat fare and a seat is guaranteed; once full it does not take more passengers.

Unlike the other buses, here the fare is given directly to the driver. All of these lines are doubled by cheaper ones.

TV Announcements

In front of the Central World Plaza there is a bus stop with television screens. There, a couple of screens on a high pole show video clips as well as announce the buses approaching the station using a sophisticated system.

Certain aspects of modern cities create effects and links that in the past were not possible. The Skytrain in Bangkok was built on an elevated rail crossing Bangkok high above the street level and created a virtual street connecting the main attractions in the city. Thus, a virtual street serving the denizens of a pseudo-virtual era had been mindlessly created.

In any other city, the Skytrain would have been regarded as a monstrosity. However, Bangkok has its own rules. Its climate has two basic modes: sunny or cloudy and rainy. If it is sunny, the Skytrain structure successfully blocks the harsh tropical sun and creates a welcomed shade for those walking on the street level. If it is cloudy, Bangkok gets a glorious gray light, soft and warm which invites for long walks through the city. Then, the grayish Skytrain structure seems to be the most natural thing, a mirror-like reflection of the sun light.

Stations

Unlike similar mass travel systems, the Skytrain stations are rather minimalist and have few shops catering for the hordes crowding them; with the exception of a casual coffee shop or snacks stall at the main stations. The reason for that oddity becomes clear just by taking a look at the streets below the stations: they are surrounded by commercial centers providing any possible human need or wish.

Routes

The Skytrain routes look awkward at first, but they make a lot of sense. There are two lines that meet at Siam Square, the system’s nexus. There, the trains travel on two levels above the street and create an eternal and blessed shadow over the people hurrying to their favorite shopping mall. Roughly, the lines create a misshaped "X" over the city.

The shorter line draws a half circle from south to west; it connects Silom with Ploen Chit and reaches the Chao Praya River.

The longer line runs from north to east and connects Mo Chit and the Chatuchak Market with Sukhumvit Road.

Most of Bangkok’s attractions can be explored by traveling exclusively on the Skytrain, with the obvious exception of the Grand Palace.

Tickets

All the stations are served by automated selling machines which are easy to use; they feature English menu. To get a ticket the destination zone (marked in an adjacent map) must be typed and the exact change given. Nearby are manned windows where tickets can be purchased from a human and change can be got. Single Journey Ticket, Skycards valid for two years, 30-days passes and One Day Passes are available.

Speed

The modern, comfortable and air conditioned trains are the fastest way to travel across downtown Bangkok, especially so during the rush hours which in Bangkok apparently last twenty-four hours every day.

Main Stations

There are too many stations for a complete review here, but some of them are worth specific mention.

On northern Bangkok, Mo Chit Station gives access to the northern bus terminal and the Chatuchak Market, while Ekamai Station - at the other side of the same line - is next to the eastern bus terminal.

Siam Square, Ploen Chit and Chitlom stops offer access to the city’s main shopping area.

Bangkok’s Metro resembles in shape and design its older brother in Singapore. As there, the passengers are protected from the railway gap by glass walls spiced up with doors opening whenever a train arrives. The cars and stations are very similar and comparably comfortable and efficient.

History

Due to Bangkok’s muddy underground and the 1997 economical crisis, the subway construction suffered many delays and was inaugurated only in 2004, eight years after the construction began.

Speed

Roaming Bangkok at eighty kilometers per hour, the metro is difficult to beat in this aspect.

Lines

Nowadays, there is only one operating line – called "Blue" – which is twenty-one kilometers long, it has eighteen stations and connects Bang Sue with Hua Lamphong through a loop reaching Phra Ram 9 highway.

Combined with the Skytrain two lines, the complex mass transport system draws a rectangle on Bangkok’s map. Other lines are planned.

Interchange with BTS

Connecting from the metro to the Skytrain is possible at the Silom Skytrain's Sala Daeng Station), Sukhumvit (Skytrain's Asok Station) and Chatuchak Park (Skytrain's Mo Chit Station) stations.

However, there isn’t yet a joint ticketing system with the BTS Skytrain, though the situation can change soon.

Fares

As with the BTS Skytrain, fares depend on the distance traveled.

The fares have changed a few times; however, the longest trips cost slightly over an American dollar. There are single trip tokens and contactless stored value cards which can be purchased at the stations.

Access

All the stations are equipped for handicapped passengers’ access and have flood’s control mechanisms; the last are important due to Bangkok being close to the sea and on a low area.

Maps

Conveniently, on the stations’ exits are maps showing the adjacent surface level area.

Main Stations

The Metro system connects the Bang Sue Railway Station with the Hua Lamphong Railway Terminus, both in downtown Bangkok while drawing a wide open rectangle on its way; it crosses several important areas and attractions. Here are the main ones listed:

Bang Sue: This metro station gives access to the Bang Sue Junction Railway Station.

Chatuchak Park: For access to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, the Mo Chit Bus Terminal and the BTS Skytrain Silom Line.

Petchaburi: For access to Petchaburi Road, a popular shopping area north of Sukhumvit.

Sukhumvit: For access to Sukhumvit Road, the main shopping area in Bangkok, and connection to the BTS Skytrain's Asok Station.

Lumphini: For access to Lumphini Park, the main green area in Bangkok and to the main Muay Thai shows in Bangkok.

Silom: For access to Silom Road and the BTS Skytrain's Sala Daen Station, one of the main commercial and business areas in town.

Hua Lamphong: For access to Hua Lamphong Railway Station, Thailand’s main railways terminus.

Four lines of trains lead out of Bangkok; they are called according to the direction they travel to: Northern, Northeastern, Eastern and Southern, the last is connected to the Malaysian railways.

Hualampong: Bangkok Railway Station

Located on Rama IV Road, Rongmuang, the Bangkok Railway Station is easy to find; nowadays there is a Metro station right at its door, Bangkok's Chinatown is across the highway. The Hualampong Station was built between 1910 and 1916, and modernized in 1998; its huge hangar features short towers at its corners and is one of the best known landmarks in Bangkok.

The station provides 24-hour service, including a post office, money exchange services, a Thai food plaza, bookstores in Thai and English, information booths, luggage deposit, hotel reservations and fast food joints, including a Dunkin's Donuts branch.

Its central hall is mainly used as a waiting area, but at its backside are twenty-four ticket windows, including some reserved for foreigners, which issue computerized tickets; unlike in China, the staff speaks reasonable English.

Trains

The services are divided into regular trains, rapid trains, express trains, and the Sprinter or special express train; these offer 3rd class, 2nd class sleeping, 2nd class and 1st class sleeping cars with or without air-conditioning. The trains are rather old; traveling across Thailand by bus is faster.

Planning a trip is easy, since the trains keep the same daily schedule; detailed timetables are available at the counters; reservations for the 1st class cars are not necessary.

Sturdy locomotives and dwarf, boxy cars define the Thai Railways; they impart a solid sense of safety and silently imply a capability to survive any accident.

Security and Pricing

It is highly recommended to travel first class, since there are recurring reports - and most Thais would warn about that - of thefts in the lower class cars; if traveling in the lower class cars, care should be taken with the luggage and no food should be accepted from strangers.

The price of first class tickets is considerably higher than a parallel trip on bus; while third class tickets are much cheaper than the similar bus tickets.

Lines

The Northern Line connects Bangkok and Chiang Mai, through Ayutthaya and Phitsanulok. The first special express train leave daily from 8:30 AM to 7:35 PM; the trip lasts twelve hours. In the opposite direction, there is one morning train at 8:45 AM and thee in the evening, at 4:30 PM, 5:50 PM and 9 PM; slower trains are available at other times. As of August 2008, a first class ticket costs 1353 baht to Chiang Mai.
The Northeastern Line reaches Nong Khai, through Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen and Udon Thani. There is a single special express train leaving Bangkok daily at 5:45 AM, but it reaches only Ubon; in the opposite direction special express trains leave from Ubon (2:50 PM, 7:05 PM from Si Saket); slower trains reach Nong Khai. The best option from Bangkok is the express diesel railcar, leaving at 6:30 PM and reaching Nong Khai at 5:05 AM; other express trains leave Bangkok between 8:20 AM and 9:50 PM (6 trains). A full trip from Bangkok to Nong Khai in first class costs 1217 baht and longs ten hours.

Aranyaprathet - the northern border cross with Cambodia, leading to Angkor - is the final destination of the Eastern Line; though there is a side line reaching Chon Buri and Pattaya. This train has only third class cars, a trip to Aranyaprathet costs 48 baht ($1.5!!!).

Malaysia can be reached down to Butterworth with the Southern Line, which reaches also Hua Hin, Chumpon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Hat Yai and Yala. Five special express trains leave Bangkok daily between 8:05 AM and 10:50 PM. A first class ticket to Hat Yai costs 1494 baht. The whole trip to Malaysia longs twenty-one hours, while to Hat Yai just about fifteen.