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Published: November 28th 2007
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First Class Bus
Inside of the first class bus from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi Day 8 Caught my first Nokair flight out of Chiang Mai to Bangkok.
Chiang Mai airport is fairly easy to find your around although at the time they had 2 Thai airways flights delays due to technical reasons.
One was to leave at 8.05am and when I was there at 10.40 it was still delayed. And unfortunately it was at my gate along with 3 other flights due to leave around the same time.
So seating became a premium, there were people everywhere. Sitting on the floor became the next option as all the seating was taken.
Due to the congestion at my gate, they moved my flight to depart from another gate. Which I was grateful for, as some of the people around me were getting a little creepy!!
Our flight took off on time with no problems at all.
First thing I noticed...the colour of the plane with the smiley face on the front lol Very cute planes!
Second thing I noticed where, the width in the seats are a lot smaller than Tiger air. I caught Tiger Air from Singapore to Chiang Mai and the width on the seats where very comfortable.
However with Nok, I felt
like I had left half my thighs on the arm rests lol
Service was great, always smiling...and spoke very good English.
Arrived at Bangkok’s old airport.
Old building but very easy to find your way away.
Collection of the bags was simple and happened quite fast.
You exit out through the front glass sliding doors for the taxi stand. You line up and once you reach the booth, you tell the ladies where you are going. They print a ticket for ride.
Then an 'usher' will summon a taxi for you. All the taxis there as I was told MUST use their meters!! There was no question meter was automatically turned on.
You give the smallest portion of the ticket to the taxi driver and you keep the larger portion. The bigger part of the taxi ticket is where you can write any information such as taxi number, time, colour of taxi. This is used if something goes wrong with your ride and you can send that into the taxi company.
They are supposed to follow up on it, but I have no clue if this actually happens.
I had a small problem with my taxi driver -
VN Guesthouse
Spent quite some time in there!! lmao he had NO clue where I had to go.
My mistake was that because I booked this accommodation at short notice I didn't get a chance to find a printer so I could print off a map.
TIP - PRINT OFF THE DIRECTIONS MOST HOTELS/GUESTHOUSE PROVIDE ON THEIR WEBSITES - THIS WILL SAVE YOU TIME, MONEY AND BLISTERS ON YOUR FEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was dropped off at the beginning of Khao San Road; I knew that my hotel was on the other side of Khao San Road near the boat pier.
I had told him many many times this. He kept saying 'Arrhh river over the other side, to many guesthouses in Bangkok. "You get out here and walk - easier!!!!"
Well...I had NO idea how long Khao San Rd is!! lol It’s a BLOODY long street!!! Especially when you’re pulling a 18kg suitcase and have a 9 kg backpack strapped to your damn back!
Anyway - an hour later, I was at the hotel cooling off in the hotel room with the aircon. I was feeling a little worse for wear.
My back had been giving me hell for the last 2 days and this just topped it off.
Geckos
While out on the raft house balcony, I heard some chirping above my head. When I looked up I had 12 geckos above me having a feast on the insects around my light. I was so grateful that I had opted out of taking the big backpack.
BHIMAN INN BANGKOK - Very nice for 1200 baht per night. This includes breakfast, which isn't too bad. Very basic and simple, but when its hot and your in a hurry - who cares.
Rooms were good, with a big bed, aircon, mini fridge and a very good bathroom.
Shower was 'separate' - meaning it had a sunken area and had a shower curtain so everything including the toilet didn't get wet. Which seems to be the thing in Thailand. You spend about 10 minutes after your shower getting all the water off the toilet.
Day 9&10 - Woke up not feeling very well at all. Actually considered cancelling the idea of going out to Kanchanaburi. In the end, I sucked up enough energy and checked out and took a taxi to the southern bus terminal.
Taxi ride was uneventful and quite - he did not want to interact with me...AT ALL!!!
Arrived at the terminal and immediately was a little confused.
I think this is a new terminal so all the info that I had received about finding the right buses seemed to go
Geckos
Kept me amused with their argueing for ages!! right out of the window lol
In the end you have to take the escalators up a flight to ALL the ticket booths.
DONT assume you are buying a first class ticket - they are colour coded. Go to the information booth, they all speak very good English and ask them which one is the first class booth to Kanchanaburi.
Ticket process very easy and cost 106Baht. There must have been an increase from the 99Baht I was told.
You then head down what seemed to be 2 flights of escalators or if you are carrying luggage like me, you take the elevator.
The guards usher you in the right direction and check your ticket at the gate.
The driver will load you bags under the bus and you take your seat. (However on the way back, you seem to have a seat 'assigned' - don't know why, its half empty!!)
English is very bad - so lots of sign language!
The bus has a 'waitress' on board. Again I have no idea why - waste of money if you ask me. All she did was check the ticket, rip it and give you a very small bottle of water
Geckos
I hope this turns out! half way through the trip. This was after she had a catnap!!
Arrived at Kanchanaburi about 1pm, still not feeling crash hot. Very tired, nauseated, stomach cramps and a sweat!
Phoned the VN Guesthouse for them to come pick me up. If I had known it was going to be on this tiny motorbike taxi I would have caught a normal taxi. I guess in the end, it was free and kind of an experience - but with a suitcase and another smallish backpack it was a tad cramped and didn't feel real safe.
Wanted to get in a fair bit here, but due to sickness I only got a couple of things done. My main reason for going here was to go to the POW war cemetery.
Amazing place, I cried on a couple of occasions. Very moving!!
I said to my mum, that I had this 'feeling' like someone was watching me. It was like some of their spirits where there just watching!
It was a beautiful place and I would highly recommend it to anyone who goes there. I now hope to follow this up with a visit to the cemeteries in Singapore.
VN
Party boat
Some of these boats that past on by where so noisy. Especially the ones with very very bad asian karaoke!! lol Guesthouse was good. I had a room on the river. But with the way I was feeling, it made me feel worse I think. There are party boats and boat taxis that go up and down the river every night until around 10pm approx. And every time they go past, especially the fast boat taxis, it was causing the room to rock and roll. Not a good thing if you’re sick on the stomach!!
What food I had was excellent and the people there were very good.
I wish I could say their after service was as good.
I have left a brand new top in the wardrobe there. As soon as I arrived in Bangkok about 3 hours after I left I emailed them to ask if they could get my top and possibly mail it to me. I even said I would send them some money.
I've had to email again a week later as I've had no bloody reply at all. So once they get your business they don't give a s*%&$.
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Cathy&Gary
non-member comment
Fantastic and beautiful photos, hope you are also going to Kranji Cemetery in Singapore, also very beautiful. Its easy to get to by train. Really enjoying reading about your adventures. Keep having fun Cathy xxxx