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Getting There
It may be a bit pricey to get to Thailand by
air, but once you're there you can take
advantage of bargain-basement flights - Bangkok
is one of the cheapest cities in the world to
fly out of. Just bear in mind that flights in
and out of Thailand are often overbooked so
confirm, confirm and reconfirm.
Thailand shares land borders with Cambodia,
Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar. With improved
highways, it is also becoming easier to travel
from Thailand to China. Plans for land and rail
links between China and member countries of
ASEAN, including Thailand, have been increasing
since the turn of the new millennium.
Getting Around
The only fault of the trains
that ply around Bangkok is slowness - otherwise,
they're a delightful option: cheap, comfortable
and efficient. Buses are a sterling way to get
around. Motorbikes are popular, but if you want
to take to the roads, even in a car, beware of
the anarchic Thai traffic. A cruisier option is
to take one of the many forms of taxis - there
are cars, rickshaws (both the motorised and the
people-powered varieties), and small pick-ups. |
Thai-Cambodian border crossings are
typically straightforward. Most visitors cross
at Poipet (Cambodia) to Aranya Prathet. This is
the most direct land route between Bangkok and
Angkor Wat.
The Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge spans a
section of the Mekong River between Nong Khai,
Thailand, and Tha Na Leng (near Vientiane, Laos)
and is the main transport gateway between the
two countries.
Due to the unrest in the southern provinces of
Thailand, many border crossers are opting for
flights from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, Penang
or Singapore instead of crossing by land. |