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Getting around Bangkok
We will use the first day to walk around our guesthouse area Banglamphu - Soi Rambutri - Khao San Road and learn to take the Skytrain through Bangkok with less than one dollar, how to enjoy the public boat on the Chao Phraya River with 13 baht (= 35 cents) and how to take water taxi Khlong Banglamphu - Khlong Saen Saeb from Banglamphu to Siam Square (mother of all shopping center) for only 10 baht.
First you should have our customized Central Bangkok map handy and repeat 3 times: Banglamphu - Soi Rambutri - Banglamphu - Soi Rambutri - Banglamphu - Soi Rambutri Banglamphu is the county (?) name, soi is a small street, Banglamphu - Soi Rambutri - it is very important to remember these words so you can tell taxi or tuk-tuk to take you back to guesthouse. Now take few minutes to follow points [1] to [14] in order to virtually walk on map :
[1] our guest house likely to be here it named "Happy House" Guest house in Soi Rambutri.
[2] is pier N13 where we take public boat on Chao Phraya River to central pier "TAKSIN" where we can catch a Skytrain to Siam Square or else. N13 stands for the 13th Pier of the North of Central Pier. N13 is the good number to remember, when the boat approach to a pier you know that this is a Pier you should get off back to your guest house, N8 for Wat Pho and Wat Arun, N5 & N6 for Chinatown, but how you can recognize Central Pier ? Answer: You can recognize Central Pier by its Skytrain overpass, if see N1 then next is Central Pier
[3] is Banglamphu water taxi boat ramp, in high water season you can catch a taxi boat from here to SIAM shopping center with 10 baht (1 US dollars = 35 baht)
[4] in low water season you can catch a taxi boat from here, it took me 10 minutes to walk from point [3] to point [4] (~ 1km) . One time a tuk tuk driver offer to drive us from point [3] to point [4] for 40 baht but we like to walk for fun
[5] is a boat ramp you should get off to shop at MBK center ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBK_Center ), you recognize this boat ramp by looking the Skytrain overhead MBK center will make every happy because it is big about South Center but it have 6 levels it will take you a day to walk around, it sell every things you can imazin, on the 6th level we have a food court that we also have vegetarian food here. If we get lost each other then we will meet each other on MBK level 6 food court. Soon or later we will get lost in Bangkok - so MBK level 6 food court is our default meeting place Okey ? - repeat 3 times: MBK Level 6 - MBK Level 6 - MBK Level 6 :)
[6] if you miss number [5] you can get off at this number [6] - be aware of pick-pockets in this area. This a very fun area but do not let Kimberly get in the Central World Plaza ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_World_Plaza ) because she will not want to leave ...
[7] [8] [9] mother of all shopping centers of the world, National Stadium Skytrain Station is station to get off for shopping at Siam square
[10] is Skytrain
to Mo Chit (Chatuchak ) market. Covering 70 rai (35 acres) of land with over
15,000 stalls and more than 200,000 visitors every Saturday and Sunday,
Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok is the mother of all markets - and possibly
one of the biggest and most famous markets in the world. FMI:
http://www.bangkok.com/shopping-market/popular-markets.html . Listen to
people said: "This market is too
big for anyone to handle during their visit. The size of the market can be
overwhelming. This market functions only on weekends (NOT so true). We
had one saturday during our stay here and we allocated that day for this market.
We were 8 people in our group and so we took two taxis. We did not realize that
the market was huge and had several gates on different roads. As a result two
taxis went to two different gates and we spent the first two hours trying to
connect with each other. Luckily I had a cell phone that helped us connect in
two hours time. But for the cell phone we would not have connected.
We spent about 4 hours there and we would have only seen < 5% of what the market
had to offer. Very cheap place to buy stuff. You think of anything and I will
bet that you can find it here. The challenge will be to find the store in the
market. Also walking from one to the other could take a long time.
[11] Taksin
Skytrain station. This is the BOAT-Skytrain connection place , Bangkok
Skytrain:
http://www.bangkok.com/information-travel-around/bts.html
[12] Central Pier. This is BOAT Center Pier, the BOAT-Skytrain connection place. Chao Phraya Express Boat:
Important note: The expensive "private" pier and the cheap "public" piers are next to each other, make sure you get on a right one, unfortunately "private" boat worker wear blue uniform and mislead us to get on their boat, make sure you confirm with westerner backpacker you are get on the right one, not be shy to ask, after walk out skytrain toward river, the correct "public" pier is on your LEFT - good luck - just after get off skytrain stair toward to river, their is a paid restroom on your left.
Trick: Since North or South bound boat pickup passengers at the same pier how you know which one to the NORTH to Banglamphu ? Answer: If you face to river you should catch the boat head to your RIGHT
http://www.chaophrayaboat.co.th/xboatschedule_new_e.htm
http://www.chaophrayaboat.co.th/routemap_popup_e.htm
http://www.chaophrayaboat.co.th/routemap_fare_e.htm#
[13] Pier N1 check first pier if its named N1 to make sure you go to NORTH back to Banglamphu hotel area
[14] Pier N8 - Good check point, where to get off for Wat Pho, Wat Arun , Grand Palace ...