Suvarnabhumi Airport, yesterday
Your first step into Thailand will almost certainly be by entering Suvarnabhumi International Airport. First stop if you’re a smoker is one of the handy smoking booths dotted along the rolling walkways for your first cigarette in potentially 13 hours or so. Be warned, they aren’t particularly well ventilated - you’ll probably be inhaling about a packet’s worth of nicotine. Which is nice.
Then comes the long walk to immigration - you’ll need your passport, and the immigration card you were handed on the plane. You did remember to fill it in, right? I have always put my full address in the box that asks where I’ll be staying in Thailand, but I know people who’ve been cleared after just putting “Bangkok”. I don’t think anybody reads them.
The immigration official on the desk will check that you look vaguely like your passport photo, check that you’re actually allowed into the country, and after what seems to be a random wait, will (if you’re lucky) stamp your passport, and wave you through to the baggage reclaim area downstairs. If you have a visa, do check that they’ve given you the appropriate length of stay, rather than the 30 days that the visa-less masses receive.
A note on that random wait - in February 2006 I arrived for a run-of-the-mill two week vacation (on a scheduled return flight) and had to wait 10-15 minutes while something was double-checked. In May 2006 I arrived on a one-way ticket with a 6-month visa and no confirmed plans to leave Thailand. The girl on the desk noticed that we shared the same birthday, and waved me through with a smile in less than a minute.
Grab your bags from the carousel behind the immigration desks, then head out into the main foyer. You will now be hassled, harangued and harried by all manner of touts - taxi services, limo services, people offering to take your bag (to their expensive hired vehicle) etc. Ignore them all - the official taxi rank is downstairs.
There are bureaux de change around here, but if you’ve any sense you’ll have saved yourself time and money by bringing some Thai Baht with you. Or an ATM card. Cash machines are everywhere. If you’re heading to vaguely central Bangkok then the fare shouldn’t be much more than ฿200-300, depending on the state of the traffic.
If the traffic’s particularly heavy, the driver might suggest taking the toll road expressway (”highway”), which should speed things up considerably. You’ll be expected to pay the toll though - ฿20-80 or so. Unlike the taxi drivers, the toll booths will be able to change high value notes.
Be wary of taxis elsewhere on the site - they will try to negotiate a fare that’s way higher than you’d get charged on meter. Insist on the driver using the meter - if he refuses, simply get out and walk away. In Bangkok, there’s always another taxi around the corner.
Buses are apparently available, but why bother? Taxis are air-conditioned, faster, and ridiculously cheap.
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BBB, first let me say "merci" for this excellent site.
Now, a question: does anyone know how much it costs for a taxi from the new airport to central BKK (Nana hotel)? And how long approx it would take (at 11am on a weekday morning).
Merci
Sam
View all comments by Sam
Wow. I had forgotten about this page. My first article.
Need to update it I guess, since most readers will be flying into Suvarnaphumi Airport these days [edit: done!].
Sam, go to the ground floor and get a metered taxi (there's a 50 baht booking fee), it will cost around 200-300 baht depending on traffic and road tolls.
You can still head up to departures and try to avoid the surcharge by hailing a cab that's just dropped off, but it's not as straightforward as it used to be at Don Muang. For the sake of 50 baht, I no longer bother.
View all comments by Bangkok Bad Boy
AOT own the new airport, and have set up a nice racket by launching their own fleet of limos from the airport. The only problem is they are more than double what you should be paying. From even within the luggage carousel area, all you see are AOT taxi service desks. They hide any signs to metered taxis in the arrivals area, and you are constantly being approached by AOT taxi service staff as you make your way out of immigration and customs. I have seen people wait ages for AOT limos, unaware that on the ground floor are dozens of metered taxis at less than half the price waiting for customers.
View all comments by Mochalover
some prick quoted me 1500baht from suvarnamamamamamabhum for sukhumvit before
rest assured i told him where to poke it
fcuking thief
View all comments by Penfold
First time i went from Suvarnaphumi to Nana Plaza, it cost me 450 baht (traffic was heavy). But i was so fed up with the Taxi Driver and his constant talking (after 12 hours in a plane, the last thing i want to do is conduct a pigeon-english conversation) that next time i took the airport bus (to the left of the taxis as you leave the airport). I can't remember how much it cost (maybe 100 baht or more) but it was fine.
View all comments by Sam
some of the taxi drivers are gold medal cocksuckers - after agreeing a fixed price, its amusing when you drive along and pretending you dont speak a word of thai only to hear them tearing strips off you thinking you know none the wiser…… when it comes time to paying up give them half the agreed fee and calling them 'peasent lizards'
priceless
View all comments by Penfold
Just to be clear - the simplest way is to turn right on exiting immigration/baggage collection, ignore all the "taxi, sir!" touts, go down the escalator, hook back left, look for the taxi desk (outside, next to the roadway) with the rope guides, queue if necessary, tell the guy at the desk where you're going ("Farang Fuck Towers, please!"), and once in the taxi, if you don't see the red lcd meter light up, say "open meter!" Be prepared to pay expressway toll (60/65 tb, I don't remember), and your fare should be around 2-300 tb.
Or get the bus, or wait for the BTS connection to be built.
View all comments by Pants Elk
@penfold: when it comes time to paying up give them half the agreed fee and calling them ‘peasent lizards’
Sounds like a recipe for a guaranteed shoeing at the hands (and tyre iron) of a mightily pissed-off taxi driver. Don’t be a dick.
@Pants: "Farang Fuck Towers, please!"
Just to be clear, there is a Thai word that sounds awfully similar to our own wonderfully versatile "Fuck". Unfortunately, it means a type of pumpkin. And "Farang", of course, can also mean Guava.
So do try not to get dropped off at the fruit market…
View all comments by Bangkok Bad Boy
@BBB this prick must of had a lowsy day as for no reason half way through the journey he decided to say in thai my mom was a 'ferang whore' while rumbling with laughter and smiling at me
my actions were just in my book
View all comments by Penfold
@penfold: I'm not saying your actions weren't just.
But complaining to the taxi driver that "my actions were just!" isn't going to be much use when he and his mates are taking turns kicking you in the head. The Thais go nuts when they do lose their temper, and it's highly advisable not to provoke them.
People have been hospitalised and even killed for less.
View all comments by Bangkok Bad Boy
i know in the grand scheme of things it wasnt the best idea, and maybe if it would of ended up with a dust-up in the street it could of turned ugly - ive seen thais and know thais with foul tempers, but same token i know ferangs who are equally as fiery when they want to be
regardless of some1 being thai and they have a rep for a bad temper doesnt allow them to try and make a fool of you
spookily enough typing up on subject of airports just read about the phuket plane crash - any1 have any more info as coverage in UK is pretty lowsy?
View all comments by Penfold
@penfold: Fair play if you're happy to take the risk - just felt I needed to point out that this wasn't a terribly good idea, generally speaking.
Thai Visa are covering the Phuket crash in their usual inimitable style:
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=142829
View all comments by Bangkok Bad Boy
@BBB agreed and good advice for others, not a wise decision to poke a potentially mean dog with a sharp stick.
lucky for the driver i was laid back, as i know other ferangs that wouldnt think twice about dropping the driver like a sack of the 'brown stuff'
i was planning on using 1-2-go for a trip to samui after xmas - may have to reconsider
dumb question but are they in anyway affiliated with 1-2-call mobile?
View all comments by Penfold
According to the Thai Minister for Health: Amongst the survivors, there are 7 Brits, 4 Germans, 3 Dutch, 3 Irish, 3 men from Iran, 2 Swedes, 1 Austrian, 1 Italian, and 1 Australian. Footie and pussy, the great unifiers.
I realize that the comment is a bit in bad taste but whenever i am in Nana Plaza, i am always struck by the scene of all these men, from different countries, all drawn to an epicenter by the irresistible call of Asian pussy. If i were a white woman, i would be worried.
View all comments by Sam
Took a taxi recently from Suk area to the airport. Meter was 250 or so, tollway 65. He brazenly said to me "400 baht". Luckily I had change and he had to be content with 320. Are enough of us foreign johnnies really that stupid?
View all comments by Combover
@Sam: there was also a Canadian female survivor on that flight. Oddly enough, her Thai BF on the same flight survived also. They were going to the beach. Go figure.
View all comments by KMS
after a trip to phuket i went from suvarnawhatsitcalled to suk 22 and the fair came to 260baht - fair enough he put the case in the boot and got it out for me so i was certainly going to tip him - i gave him 300 with the intention of refusing the change for his tip - he took the 300 stuffed it in his pocket and didnt offer me change - on asking why he didnt pay me change he said 'tip for me'
sounds petty but i demanded my 60 back
thais are yet to grasp the fact that tips are mark of appreciation, not compulsary - cheeky swines
View all comments by Penfold
@Penfold: you just hit the nail on the head (although with maths like that, I'm glad you don't do my taxes). More on tipping culture soon…
View all comments by Bangkok Bad Boy
@BBB - good call, maths was never my strong point at school - the hours of sniffing glue and spitballing the fat kids in class has had a detremental effect on my adds and takes
as i mentioned before it tantermount to begging, and so many bargirls and waiters have talked themselves out of a tip that way, its is 1 of my biggest annoyances
a waiter/waitress would be sacked on the spot in UK for carrying on like that
i make a point of if the amount i have tipped them is questioned as being 'kee neow' by them, ill take it back and go without - if i go to a go-go bar have an 90baht beer then move on as the girls are poor and dancing worse, why should i tip more then 10baht?
View all comments by Penfold
p.s. i can account for the 20baht missing from the calculations………. 'tip for ferang'
after all i did absolutely nothing to earn it - like most of the bargirls
View all comments by Penfold