Taxis and Tuk-Tuks and Trains, Oh My!: Bangkok Public Transportation

Posted: September 12th, 2013 | Author: ctbideas | Filed under: ATW Updates | No Comments »

Rick and I declared a personal rest day today so I finally have time to write up this post.  Over the last few days, we’ve experienced a lot of different things, most notably, the different modes of public transportation options available in Bangkok. 

Walking

Walking is our primary form of transportation to get from place to place.  It’s free and great exercise.  I do still suffer from minor anxiety every time I have to cross a street since most crosswalks aren’t protected by lights or signals of any sort, but I’ve found that the people living here seem to possess a preternatural sense of spatial recognition.  Motorcycles, tuk-tuks, and cars zoom past with inches to spare, often driving on the wrong side of the road in order to bypass a slower vehicle, but so far I have yet to see an accident of any sort.  Perhaps it is the slower speeds everyone drives, or the fact that the driving is ALWAYS crazy, but it seems most drivers here are super alert, effortlessly weaving their way to their destinations without running over any pedestrians like us. 

The toughest part of walking around is the constant unrelenting heat and humidity, even in the midst of a thunderstorm, the way it drains all the energy right out of me.  I can see why the Industrial Revolution sparked in a cold country like England, because I can’t seem to summon the energy for walking more than a mile before wanting to take a small siesta on the nearest bench. 

Airport Rail Link

When we first arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport, we took the Airport Rail Link which is an express line from the airport to the city center.  All we knew was that we had to get to the Lumphini MRT station but we had no idea how to get there except by the Airport Rail Link.  There’s a big information booth on the way to the Airport Rail Link and the kind women there handed us a map of the public transportation system.  HIGHLY recommended.  That map is something we consult every single day.

 

From the airport, we took the Airport Rail Link to Makkasan station which is the transfer point to the Metro (MRT) line.  The tickets, to that particular stop, cost 30 baht/person and are purchased at the ticket machines set into the wall.  After paying the fare, red plastic coins drop out.  The plastic coin has a chip inside it, so when going through the metal gate, you hold the coin to the pad on the side, it beeps, and the gates part to let you through.  No one jumps over because a guard stands alert at each row of gates.  Once we reach your destination, we drop the coin through a small slot and it lets us out the gates.

Metro (MRT)

The place we’re staying at is near the Lumphini MRT subway station so we take this one every day.  There are security checkpoints at the entrance of every MRT station, either at the top of or the bottom of the escalators.  We always set off the metal detectors since our bags have metal zippers on them.  The first few times we were pulled over as we fumbled to unzip our pickpocket-preventative backpacks so they could flash their flashlights inside.  However, we’re now pros at it, confidently striding though the beeping metal detector with our backpacks already unzipped.  Sometimes, the uniformed guard salutes us as we walk past and we nod back at them. 

There are ticket machines on the side which can display in English also.  You just pick the station to go to, the screen displays the fare, you pay the fare depending on which station is selected (from Makkasan to Lumphini, it’s 15 baht/person), and a plastic black coin drops out, used in the same way as the Airport Rail Link.   

The MRT is super easy to navigate as there’s only one line, so only two directions to go.  We choose the right terminus point, either Hua Lampong or Bang Sue (*cue Rick’s snicker*), and then stand in front of the glass wall.  Subway trains arrive about every 5 minutes, so if we miss one, it’s not too bad.  There’s always a mad scramble for any open seats, especially during the crowded periods.  At each stop, a calm woman’s voice reads off the next station’s name in Thai and then English.  Television screens also display each station’s name in both Thai and English underneath a running loop of commercials.  It’s interesting to see a plethora of ads on woman beauty products, the lottery, mosquito traps, and Hollywood movies (right now it’s Riddick, the Steve Jobs movie, and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters).  I don’t ever see any ads for Thai movies. 

Since we take the MRT the most, we buy 3-day unlimited passes (230 baht/person) which can only be used on the MRT.  They’re plastic cards (the size of a credit card), and we swipe them at each gate to go in and out.   We ride up the escalators to the street-level entrance.  About halfway-up the escalator, the heat overpowers the lingering a/c and we begin sweating anew. 

Sky Train (BTS)

Sometimes, we have to get to places that the MRT can’t get to.  So, we ride the MRT to the Silom stop and transfer to the nearby Sala Daeng BTS stop.  The BTS is the sleek modern sky train, flying by on its concrete paths high above the rest of the city.  In order to get a ticket, we have to look up our destination on the map posted up next to the ticket machines.  These maps specify the amount of the fare.  We press the button on the ticket machine specifying the fare amount and try to scrounge up enough coins to feed the hungry machine, since it doesn’t take any bills.  When we tried paying for the ticket at the ticket window (being out of coins), the woman just exchanged our bill for coins and waved us back towards the ticket machine.  A trip from Sala Daeng to Saphan Taksin (the BTS stop we go the most) is 28 baht/person. 

We splurged once and got a one day pass (130 baht/person).  It was a little expensive but we definitely got our money’s worth especially when the rain forced us to detour our first attempt to go to Kao San Road and we ended up exploring the area around the Siam station.  There’s a FANTASTIC mall there, Siam Center, full of modern art installations, cushy chairs, and a retro-modern industrial aesthetic.  Also, the Scala cinema is within walking distance.  It’s an old cinema, a dramatic chandelier as its centerpiece, showing only one movie at a time.  I think the tickets are 100 baht but they were only showing Riddick which didn’t interest either of us enough.  The MBK mall is nearby, nearer to National Stadium station.  It’s a massive mall, 7 stories packed full of stores.  On the 5th floor is a large cafeteria-like place with food from all different countries.  We went to the bar there, showed them our passports, and got free thai iced tea.  I also bought my first souvenir there, an illustrated book.  I can’t read a word of it, but I love the look of it. 

Taxi

 

One of the places I wanted to go to the most was the Siriraj Medical Museum.  It advertised dead babies, giant testicles, mummified murderers, and miles of tapeworms, all of which sounded VERY intriguing.  We looked up the way to get there, took the BTS to our intended stop, and stopped at KFC for lunch.  While at KFC, we pulled out our tablet to confirm our walking route and discovered that we were WAY off where we were supposed to be, about 4 miles off.  Walking 4 miles in the heat & humidity would probably kill me.  I said, “Let’s just go back,” but Rick insisted, since this was pretty much the only thing I didn’t want to leave Bangkok without seeing, so we decided to splurge on a taxi. 

Outside, I asked if we could get a pink taxi, so Rick tried his hardest to hail one for me.  None of the pink taxis were interested, and finally, a green-and-yellow one took pity on us and pulled up beside us.  The young driver smiled at us but shook his head when we said “Siriraj Medical Hospital”.  He couldn’t speak English and we didn’t know a word of Thai.  In desperation, Rick pulled out his tablet and pointed at the mass of pink boxes denoting our destination on our Google Map app.  The driver lit up, nodded, and drove off.  We reached for our seatbelts but found no place to buckle them in, so we just sat back, enjoying the a/c. 

The drive was quick.  About 100 feet from our destination, we became snarled in traffic, so waited, watching the meter tick up slowly.  Three tiny gold buddha statues sat on top of the meter box.  The fare ended up being 86 baht, and Rick handed him a 5 baht tip.  The driver smiled as he maneuvered back into the flow of traffic. 

Siriraj Medical Museum

Chao Phraya Express Boat

In order to get to the famous (infamous?) Khao San Road, a sort-of mecca for backpackers, we had to take the MRT to the Silom station, switch to the Sala Daeng BTS station and take it to the Saphan Taksin station.  Next to the Saphan Taksin station is a pier where we took the Chao Phraya Express Boat to the Phra Arthit stop (exactly 10 stops).  The Chao Phraya Express Boat is a long red boat with many different routes.  You can tell which route the boat is going on by the color of the flag at the front of it.  There were two color flags going to Phra Arthit, the orange one and the blue one.  The blue-colored flag is the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat, which is the only one where they speak English and tell you what stops to get off on.  It is also 80 baht/person.  We, instead, took the orange-flag one, costing 15 baht/person. 

You can buy the ticket either on land from a woman sitting behind a small folding table and a box full of multi-colored tickets in front of her, or you can buy the ticket on the boat which was what we chose to do.  Once we piled on the boat and found relatively dry seats, a man walked up and down the middle aisle with a clanking metal box.  We handed him our 30 baht and he handed us two tiny square orange tickets which he sliced down the middle with the lid of his box.  Every so often, he came by to check if we had tickets and we waved those sliced orange tickets to satisfy him. 

The view is very scenic, brown water rushing past choked with masses of thick green leaves, skyscrapers and elaborate temples and mosques rising from the banks, other boats in various shapes and colors slicing through beside us.  When it started pouring rain again, we reached up to unfurl the red and white plastic tarp down the side of the boat and listened to the rain spattering against the barrier. 

Each time we reached a stop, the driver in front whistles back-and-forth with the man at the back as they sidle up to the pier bobbing up and down in the water, buoyed by old black tires.  Since we can’t read Thai, we carefully counted the stops with each whistled exchange until we reached the number 10 and disembarked, following a line of white faces off, all heading to Khao San Road also. 

Tuk Tuk

Khao San Road was fun, but a bit overrated to me.  It was crowded full of tourists, many dressed in baggy intricately-printed colorful pants, which we termed “Asian Mom Pants” since it looked the same as the pants our moms have but ONLY for indoor wear.  I had little interest in the clothes and trinkets for sale, though I did indulge in some street-side pad thai.  Rick’s quest for edible insects ultimately failed, the only possibility being a brown leathery-looking man crouched on the side of the road holding a white box full of dead black scorpions.  Cool, but a little too sketchy for us.  We figured it probably got more interesting at night like the Santa Monica Pier or Old Town Pasadena, but we were tired and didn’t want to stick around much longer.  Not looking forward to another long trip back via boat, BTS, and MRT, and constantly hailed by virtually  every tuk-tuk driver we passed, we decided to see if we could hail a cheaper tuk-tuk driver on the street. 

Rick stuck out a hand, and a blue tuk-tuk halted.  When we asked him how much to take us to the Hualamphong MRT station, he quoted us 200 baht.  Rick grimaced and waved him away, “Never mind.”  The tuk-tuk driver persisted, “How much.  You say the price.”  Rick thought about it, looking at me.  I shrugged.  Finally, Rick said, “50 baht.  For the both of us.”  The driver nodded, replying, “Ok.  But you help me.  I help you and you help me.”  He said he’d take us for that amount of money if we’d go to some tourism board and ask for information.  For however many customers he could bring to that tourism place, he’d get a free fuel voucher.  We agreed since we weren’t in any rush and it didn’t cost us extra. 

The tuk-tuk ride was a rush, the wind blowing past our faces, the street streaming by us in a wide swatch of color.  Smaller in size, it could duck into alleyways to avoid traffic and when traffic couldn’t be avoided, it’d worm its way between cars.  I gripped the hand hold next to me with one hand and clutched my camera in the other.  Soon, he pulled up to a building of some travel agency.  We were ushered in and found ourselves in front of a smiling middle-aged woman.  After trying and failing to sell us some tickets to a show, she evidently decided we were going to be useless in padding her bottom line and released us back to our tuk-tuk driver about 10 minutes later.  Our driver stubbed out his cigarette from where he reclined in a purple plastic chair with other waiting drivers and we climbed back on the the wooden seat. 

Halfway through our ride, our driver began yelling in Thai to other passing tuk-tuks.  After maybe the 10th one, a green tuk-tuk pulled up alongside us and we halted in the middle of the street.  Our driver patted in front of him, “No more fuel.  You go with him.  50 baht, you give to him.”  We clambered out, narrowly missed by a pink taxi, and climbed up into the other tuk-tuk.  Without saying a word, our new driver sped off with us, depositing us at the station not much later.  We handed him the 50 baht note and he zoomed away before we could do or say anything else.   

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