Transportation

There are 7 different ways to get around.

• Bus
• Skytrain
• MRT(Subway)
• Taxi
• Tuk Tuk
• Motor Bike
• Boat

Each of these have their advantages and disadvantages and I’ll detail them below.

Here is a great map book for Bangkok. It is the best one we have found so far. It only costs 250 Baht or about $7 and can be found at pretty much any book store.

Bus

The best thing we did was buy the Bangkok Bus Guide from a book store.

Its 99Baht or about $3 and if you want to try the busses you almost have to get it.

So basically the buses are the same as in the US where they have assigned stops and such and you get on, except, in Thailand they don’t stop for as long. So when you see a bus coming that you want to get on you better be ready and approaching it as its coming because they only stop for maybe 5-10 seconds(unless lots of people are getting on and off then they wait).

The fares for the busses is probably the hardest thing to figure out at first. The map book shows you which busses cost what, but basically air conditioned busses(any bus with closed windows) is going to cost 11-14 baht and the other ones are 8. I recently found that they list a fare list inside the bus either above the door or on the wall opposite the door.

When you get on the bus you will notice that there is somebody carrying a metal cylinder and ripping tickets out of it. That is the fare keeper or whatever you want to call them. When they come by give them the fare for that bus and they will rip off a ticket for you. If you are unsure then you can give them a 20 or 50, but I would suggest not giving them anything over a 20 as they don’t like that.

Skytrain(aka BTS)

The skytrain is the easiest of all the modes of transportation in my opinion. There are two lines that the trains run on. The Silom(See Lom) and the Sukumveit(Sukumwit). Basically the Silom line runs from the South West of bangkok(Wangwian Yai) to the center just past Siam Paragon at National Stadium. The Sukumviet line runs from the north(Mo Chit) down to the South East at On Nut. As long as you know the 4 ends of the trains you are pretty well set because the trains only list which end station they are going to so you get on the train that is going to the end station on the other side of your actual destination. The only exception to this is if you have to transfer between the lines at Siam Paragon which isn’t too terribly hard to do. You may have to go up stairs or downstairs depending on which train you come in on and are trying to leave on.

You can get a BTS/MRT map at any BTS station.

The fares for the BTS are pretty straight forward. If you just put money on a BTS card then it charges you based on how far you go. If you do a trips card, then it charges you a flat rate for every trip regardless of distance. So if you are going to be around Bangkok and using the Skytrain, its best to do a trips card.

To get a Skytrain card just go up to the window and say how much you want to put on a card in baht or how many trips. Most likely they will push a slip through the window that has all the fares on it and you just point to what you want.

MRT

I havn’t traveled on the MRT that much, but the times I have it was exactly the same as the BTS. Your BTS card won’t work, but you can get a similar card for the MRT, although, I suggest you just pay every time you take a trip as you probably won’t use the MRT as much.

Taxi

This is the most comfortable way to travel around Bangkok, but it costs a bit more and sometimes ends in a headache. Thankfully I’ve experienced the headaches already for you and can hopefully help you avoid them.

1. To call a taxi stick your arm straight out with your palm down and wave your hand up and down.
2. When they pull up open the back door and tell them where you are going. If they seem confused try again maybe a little slower. If they still seem confused then don’t get in you will be on the fast lane for a headache. In Thailand it is their culture not to seem like they don’t know what is going on so they will say yes even if they don’t know so go with your gut instinct. You will know if they don’t understand. I’ve been bitten many times by knowing that they don’t understand but going anyways because they say they do if that makes sense. Usually you just know when they know where they are going.
3. Always tell them to turn on the meter if it is off when you get in.
4. 4 words you will want to know(http://www.learningthai.com/directions.html)
   1. Leo Qwa means Turn Right
   2. Leo Sigh means Turn Left
   3. Dtrong Bia means straight
   4. Tee Nee means stop or right here
5. If you want to tip them just round off the fare to the next highest number or the next increment of 5. This is a rough rule so if you do 10% that works too. Our trip home is almsot always 41 or 43 baht so we give them either 45 or 50 depending on what change we have. If we give them a 100 baht bill they will give us 50 back by default so watch for that as they are doing the tip themselves.
6. If you are trying to catch a taxi around 3:30 – 4 this is usually around the time they switch shifts and you may have troubles getting a taxi if it is inconvenient for them.

Tuk Tuk

Tuk Tuk’s are usually cheaper than taxis but don’t have air conditioning. Depending on where you get a tuk tuk you might have to be careful of scams. I’d say a good rule of thumb is if the tuk tuk driver speaks really good English, he will try to scam you. Good thing is it is really easy to make sure you don’t get scammed. Before entering any tuk tuk negotiate a price. It’s hard to really say what prices would be what until you have take taxis, but 30 baht is normal for a 2-3 mile venture, so maybe just add 10 baht for every mile you expect to take. That would include tip as well.

So to explain the scam that they do just so you are aware. Basically they will offer a 10 baht ride to where you want to go, but they will take you to 10 other places called gem shops or whatever and they will pressure you into buying things from there. It’s not a terrible scam and if you want to just spend the day traveling around for 10 baht then go for it.

Also, be aware that they like to lie to you and say that the place you want to go is closed even though it is open so that you go with them instead.

Motor Bike

I would love to tell you all about these, but I’m too big so I’ve never take one. What I do know is they are probably the fastest way around town as they will weave between stuck traffic or ride through the sidewalks to get you to your destination. I don’t know how much they cost, but somebody told me they are a straight 20 baht fee for anywhere, but I don’t believe that.

Boat

The boats operate identical to the Buses. When you go to the pier you will be solicited by tourism boats that cost like 300 baht, but the boats that have the orange flags on them are only like 8 baht so its up to you. The orange flag boats are pretty crowded though so be aware of that. The other boat that you will want to know about is the cross stream boats that go from one side of the river to the other side. They are only like 2 or 4 baht.