Thailand Train Travel and Road TravelTrainThe Thailand train travel network is quite extensive, although it doesn't go further north than Chiang mai and is a little sporadic in the north-east region. Unlike the buses, it is worth booking many longer distance train journeys a day or 2 (or 3!) before departure. For the whole country, there are 4 main timetables that many large train stations are happy to give to you free of charge. To see the 4 timetables (for the Northern Line,the Northeastern Line, the Southern Line and the Eastern Line), click HERE. Towns in the west of the country are included on the Southern Line timetable.
These timetables do not include every journey throughout the country as it only includes trains that either start or finish at Bangkok. However, most of the trains in the country DO start or finish in Bangkok. As I progress with the website, I'll be adding information about other train times - bear with me! Helpfully, the timetables also have the price of the journey. You'll notice there are 4 types of ticket - First class sleeper, 2nd class seat, 2nd class sleeper and 3rd class. I've found that the 2nd class sleeper service for overnight journeys is very good and unlike Indian train journeys, very CLEAN! Come 8 or 9pm, a steward will meticulously arrange the seating to make a bed with clean sheets. There's also a curtain for privacy. I wouldn't recommend overnight journeys on 2nd class seats, and especially not 3rd class. I was a tad dazed and confused once after a 15 hour journey on the wooden 3rd class seats, but for the hardy, (re: masochistic) why not! The one frustration I have with the system is that you often can't go on very long journeys during the day in 3rd class. During the day, it's great to have the windows open and really get that feel of being on a train but for the longer journeys you have to be in an air-con carriage. I can only imagine long distance 3rd class travel during the day would prove too popular and perhaps profits would suffer (speculation!!).
For both trains and buses, hold onto your ticket, even after it's been checked once - you'll occasionally be asked to show it again - without a ticket on the trains, there's a possible fine on top of the ticket price. Traveling By Road (Bus, Motorbike and Car).Aside from the excellent condition of the main roads, most minor roads are also in fine condition. As you travel in more remote areas, with less traffic, the roads tend to become worse with occasional pot holes and uneven road surface. So if you're traveling by motorbike, especially at night, you need to be extra cautious on these roads. You've also got to watch out for dogs on the road (generally on the smaller roads - dogs know not to go wandering on busy roads) and flying insects - as the sun sets the air can be swarming with them - if you're traveling at 80 km/h and a large one his you in the eye, it could cause you to fall off...You've, of course, also got to be careful of other drivers. I find etiquette on the roads of Thailand to be much better than many of the countries close by. Giving way with a friendly smile is something common here, and not so common in other countries! However, I think I'm used to the driving conditions so it may be a bit of a shock to you if you're in Asia for the first time. 'Expect the Unexpected' is probably the best piece of advice I can give. Unusual things can happen....the worst thing that happened to me was in Vietnam, but I have seen similar things happen in Thailand. A man had a long metal pole attached to his bike that extended perhaps 5 or 6 meters beyond the bike. He came out of side street and didn't slow down at all - after breaking heavily, I just missed the pole. So that's made me much more aware of how crazy things can happen. Hazards include: motorbikes driving down the side of the road in the wrong direction (something many do, if done slowly it's fine - watch out for the quick ones). Going through red lights (much more common here than in the West but Thailand is again, generally much better at not doing this than neighboring countries). Coming out of side streets - some don't look and don't slow down much. (same can be said for drivers leaving the side of the road from standstill). Click HERE for more information on hiring a car or motorbike. (coming shortly) The Bus system - What's good about traveling by bus is that's it's relatively cheap and they generally go on time. There are 3 standards of buses - (actually 4 if you include VIP buses that have individual TV's like on planes but there aren't many of these!) First class air conditioned buses, Second class air conditioned and 3rd class with fan. The first class have a toilet on-board and quite comfortable seats that you can move back a long way.
The second class air-con have no toilet, and have less comfortable, narrower seats. The fan buses aren't that comfortable and can be too full, meaning people are standing. However, it can be nice to travel on these buses, having a lovely warm breeze blowing through the windows. Many like the air-con buses but I find they put the air conditioning on too cold (especially on overnight journeys). They'll generally give you a blanket on the first class, but not on the second class...so on long journeys, wear more than shorts and a t-shirt.
Generally, if the journey is long, it will be covered by first and second class buses - a shorter journey will be covered by second or third class buses. You'll hardly ever need to book a bus. Exception can be the Thai New Year (Songkran) and other National Holidays. Most destinations have buses leaving throughout the day, but for longer journeys, general rule of thumb is that many buses will leave in the morning, then again later at night for overnight trips, with perhaps the odd bus leaving during the day. Surprisingly, the difference in cost between the 3 standards of buses isn't that great. For first class air-con buses the rate works out at about 85 baht per 100 kilometers. For the second class air-con, it's about 70 baht per 100 kilometers. And for third class fan, it's about 50 baht per 100 kilometers One nice thing about Thai bus stations is that although you may be slightly bombarded with touts asking where you're traveling to, they are generally useful and will help you to get on the next available bus (unlike other countries I've traveled to where you might be sitting waiting on a bus, watching other buses, that you could have been on, leave!). A gradual trend I've noticed is that there are less and less fan buses on the roads - I think most Thai people like the air-con so there are often times when I've wanted to travel with a warm breeze only to end up on an air-con bus. To see more details, including times of buses and location of the bus stations, see the individual town/city guide.
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