Backpacking Abroad - Travel info for backpacking in Thailand, Laos, China & Vietnam

Is The Airport Link For The Skytrain Open Yet?

No.  It is regularly rescheduled and pushed back by four months as it has been for the last two years. Its current opening date is scheduled for the Queen’s birthday, August 12th, 2010.

The Airport Link (or SRT as it’s called) has had a public test opening and some people report that it’s open once a week to the public for a test ride, but it remains as of yet unopened.  It had been scheduled to open for Songkran most recently before being pushed back to the Queen’s Birthday.  If standard Thai scheduling practices hold firm, the next push-back-date should be the King’s birthday which lies on December 5th, 2010.

The fares are rumored to be something like 90 Baht for a full ride to or from the airport on the local line (slower, stops at all stations) and 150 Baht for a full ride on the express line (stops only at Phaya Thai and Makkasan).  The geniuses who planned the project did *not* connect it directly to the connector station at Petchaburi MRT (subway), meaning that you have to exit the MRT, walk several hundred meters and then climb stairs to get to the SRT for the airport.  All presumably while carrying your bags.

Amazing Thailand!

When do the airlines start getting desperate to fill seats and start slashing prices?

ReindeerF, May 17, 2008

I haven’t seen any pattern to this as international markets (particularly flag carriers) don’t always obey the same revenue management models as we do. Usually the best deals for an airline that doesn’t use the train cars to Auschwitz as its business model are on the Taiwan/Hong Kong carriers like Cathay and EVA, though not always. Last year Malaysia had a really good special. This year Singapore opened up direct flights to Houston (hizzah) and are keeping that pretty cheap which is good if you happen to be American and live in a city in the middle of the country that’s not NY or LA. If you can get to KL or Singapore cheaply then you can add on a R/T to Bangkok as your connector for a hundred bucks and change usually on Air Asia, Nok Air or Tiger (but beware the baggage charges muhaha).
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Tags: Airports, Transport

Can I Get A Thailand PayPal Account?

A guy named Kevin has written a great post on how to set up a PayPal Thailand Account on his blog.  If you’re just staying in Thailand temporarily, it’s hit or miss whether you’ll be allowed to open a bank account as the law requires a work permit (while some bank staff reportedly aren’t very strict on the issue).  Still, as the PayPal Thailand setup guide there indicates, the best bank to go for is Kasikorn Bank (it’s the green one).  The rest of the instructions are explained at the site.

What does this have to do with backpacking?  Well, if you’re planning on “backpacking” in Thailand for months on end, there’s sometimes or even often a need to move money around cheaply.  With the new THB 150 fees on international ATM withdrawals, combined with already steep charges in many countries for withdrawing overseas to begin with, you can be looking at $10 to withdraw cash from an ATM in Thailand.  It’s usually much cheaper to send the money over from a US account (or from your parents) using PayPal and then pull it out from your Thai account with no ATM fee.

Would it make sense to bring travelers checks or just a lot of cash? Will $1000-$1200 be enough for a month?

Pompous Rhombus, May 26, 2008

Traveler’s checks are safest, but also the most hassle. I’ve generally used a combination of ATM’s/cash, although the increasing availablity of ATMs in Cambodia and Laos is making it less necessary to bring your own currency in. (Also, if you have USD you can use them in Cambodia/Laos)

Falco, May 26, 2008

Definitely don’t bring $1000 in cash over with you. You don’t want to be carrying around that much money at any one time. Just bring about $200 in cash with you and use your ATM card the to pull more money out. Just remember that you will get nailed with a 3% conversion fee from your bank, so pull out a fair bit at a time. I’ve been doing about 3000baht or $100 at a time, but could probably do a bit more.
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Tags: Money

What are the Phi Phi Islands on the Andaman Coast like?

Kan, Nov 07, 2005

The Phi Phi Islands are located about 29 miles (48 km) southeast from Phuket and 25 miles (42 km) south from the town of Krabi.  They can be reached by boat in a couple of hours from a variety of locations in south Thailand.  The islands are rugged, with vertical cliffs rising from the sea and jagged shores which conceal protected mini beaches. There are no motor vehicles on the islands at all, everyone gets around on push bikes or by foot.

Temperatures vary from an average high of about 86F (30C) at the end of the rainy season in September and October to almost 100F (37C) at the beginning of the rainy season in April. From November to March the temperature is usually in the upper 80’s and the chance of rain is only slight. Rainy season just means it might rain hard for 30 mins during the day.  The water temperature is constant - about 85F (29C). Day or night, year round the water is warm.

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Tags: Transport