Public Transport in Thailand (AKA Everything Happens for a Reason)

February 22, 2010 at 3:06 pm · Filed under Culture, Transport and tagged: bangkok, bus, holiday, journey, Kanchanaburi, koh phi phi, late, public transport, River Kwai, sleeper, south east asia, Surat Thani, thailand, train, travel, whale shark

I’ve made it to Thailand and am now on the last leg of the trip – a few more days in Kachanaburi (home of the WWII Death Railway and bridge over the River Kwai), then back to Bangkok and then home.

One (of many) important things I’ve learned so far:  if you’re travelling down south to go to places on the west coast, such as Krabi or Koh Phi Phi or Koh Lanta, be very wary of taking the train!  Yes you have a comfy bed, but the length of the journey to Surat Thani alone (where you then have to take a bus from the east coast to the west coast) takes the same amount of time as a bus directly to the west coast.

Also, 3 out of 4 of the long-distance trains I’ve caught on the trip were running at least an hour late… and up to 4 hours late.  I have heard legend of Super VIP buses, in which there are half as many seats allowing them to recline much further, but net research to pin them down hasn’t been successful so far.  But nevertheless, a sleepless night, or a crack of dawn bus journey is still more practical than the 24 hrs it took to get from Bangkok to Koh Phi Phi using the train, bus and ferry.

But as it’s always best to do when budget travelling, there was an upside to the drawn-out journey:  the 4hr train delay led to me catching a later bus, followed by a mid-afternoon ferry (instead of the morning ferry I had been planning on).  Halfway to Phi Phi Island, people started shouting and pointing and the boat ground to a halt as a magnificent whale shark glided towards then under us and re-appearing on the other side.  Truly a once in a lifetime spectacle.

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