Thailand - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 699

wooden, third-class seats are very cheap
(Bangkok-Chiang Mai B231); in second
class, you can often choose between
reclining seats or berths, with or without
air conditioning, on long journeys
(Bangkok-Chiang Mai B391-881); and
in first class (B1253-1453) you'll be in a
one- or two-person air-conditioned
sleeping compartment. Nearly all
long-distance trains have dining cars.
Advance booking of at least one day is
strongly recommended for second-class
seats on all lengthy journeys, and for
sleepers, book as far in advance as
possible. Make bookings at the station in
any major town, or through a hai travel
agent such as hailand Train Ticket
( W thailandtrainticket.com). he SRT has
a 24-hour hotline ( T 1690) and publishes
free timetables ; the best place to get hold
of one is over the counter at Bangkok's
Hualamphong Station (see p.719), or
from their website.

( W lionairthai.com) and, mostly out of
Chiang Mai, Kan Airlines ( W kanairlines
.com). Book early if possible - you can
reserve online with all companies - as
fares fluctuate wildly on all of these
airlines. For a fully flexible economy
ticket, Bangkok to Chiang Mai costs
around B4000 with hai Airways, but
you'll find flights on the same route with
the low-cost carriers for less than B1000
(with restrictions on changes), if you
book far enough in advance.

10

CAR AND MOTORBIKE RENTAL
Nearly all tourist centres rent cars
(B800-1500/day) and motorbikes
(B150-400/day), for which a national
driver's licence is usually acceptable;
helmets are obligatory on bikes. hais
drive on the left, and the speed limit is
60km per hour within built-up areas
and 90km per hour outside them; in
practice, a major road doesn't necessarily
have right of way over a minor, but the
bigger vehicle always has right of way.
Avoid driving at night, which can be
very dangerous.

BOATS
Plenty of boats , in all shapes and sizes,
connect the islands of southern hailand
to the mainland and each other. Large
ferries with interior seating and decks
often jammed with sunbathers serve the
bigger islands, and vehicle ferries,
catamarans and speedboats are also
common. he most pleasurable water
vessels to travel in, however, are the
traditional longtail boats , so named for
their long-stick propellers that make
shallow coastal navigation a doddle.
Longtails cover mainland coastal or
coast-to-island hops and short inter-
island journeys.

LOCAL TRANSPORT
Most sizeable towns have some kind of
fixed-fare transport network of local
buses , songthaews or even longtail boats ,
often with set routes, but never with rigid
timetabling; within towns songthaews
tend to act as communal taxis, picking up
people heading in the same direction and
usually taking them to their destination,
with set prices (around B10-30). It's
possible to charter a whole songthaew as
a private taxi (notably in Chiang Mai),
though this makes it much more
expensive. In most towns, you'll find
the songthaew “terminal” near the
market; to pick one up between
destinations, just flag it down, and to
indicate to the driver that you want to get
out, press the bell, shout, or rap hard
with a coin on the ceiling.
Named after the noise of its
excruciatingly unsilenced engine, the
three-wheeled open-sided tuk-tuk is the
classic hai vehicle. hey are fast and
fun, with fares starting at around B40
(B60 or more in Bangkok), regardless of

PLANES
hai Airways ( W thaiair.com) and
Bangkok Airways ( W bangkokair.com) are
the major full-service airlines on the
internal flight network, which extends to
all parts of the country, using some two
dozen airports; hai Smile ( W thaismileair
.com) is hai Airways' low-cost but often
barely distinguishable arm. AirAsia
( W airasia.com) and Nok Air ( W nokair
.com) provide the main low-cost
competition; look out also for Orient
hai ( W flyorientthai.com), hai Lion Air