Driving in this country

[Guest joeblo]

I have finally started driving around here and it is an interesting experience.  How many of you drive in Thailand?

[vinapu]

Welcome to the forum and we hope you post some of you discoveries from the road here.

 

I, for one don't drive when vacationing  there main reason being my diet of Singha and Chang. 

[Guest anonone]

Other then the Pattaya motorbikes, only one experience driving in Issan to my credit.

Some details in trip report :  http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/8529-trip-report-isan-for-new-years-plus-wat-kham-pramong/

 

Biggest pain for a driver from the USA...all the hand controls are "backward".  Every time I went to signal a turn, I activated the windshield wipers instead.   BF thought that was hilarious.

[Alexx]

I try my best to avoid driving in Thailand, and Bangkok in particular. I do have a car, but I don't use it very often and let someone else drive it more often than not. I've always enjoyed driving elsewhere, but I have to admit that I got used to not having to drive here.

[kokopelli]

I only drove one time in a National Park where there was no traffic but, even then, the bf just about shirt his pants since he did not like my driving skills. So, after he cleaned himself up, I relinquished the steering wheel to him and sulked the rest of the way.

[Up2u]

I have been driving in Pattaya for several years now. It was a big change from driving in California but I have made the adjustments. So many more hazards here but it was worth the effort. Driving gives you freedom and you are not married to sawng taeo routes.

[Guest anonone]

How difficult is parking when using a car in Pattaya?

 

Obviously there are lots at the shopping malls and such, but I would think anyplace off the main drag would be difficult...correct?

Visiting Sunee or BT for instance...where would you park?

[kokopelli]

Visiting Sunee or BT for instance...where would you park?

 

Wat Chai has parking available. Easy walking distance to Sunee or Boyztown. There is also a parking garage in vicinity of Tukcom but I don't know the hours of operation.

[firecat69]

Lots of parking in both Malls

[Travellerdave]

I often hire a motorbike in Pattaya as I value the convenience of quickly moving between the different venues that I enjoy, such as Dongtan Beach, Samsuk Sauna and BT/Sunee, although I don't use the bike at night.

In 9 years of visiting Thailand I have never hired a car and in fact I avoid using them as a passenger. From Suvanaphuni to Pats I generally take the big bus as I find Thai driving to be dangerous, in particular they drive far to close to vehicles in front and make erratic lane changes at speeds well above the limit. The drivers often look very tired and rely on their Budha image for protection.

Maybe the odds of a accident are 100/1 as against 1000/1 in US or Europe but they will catch up on you.

I use the big busses rather than mini ones for the Same reason and fly BKk to Chaing Mai.

I accept I am being inconsistent by riding motor bikes - probably the odds are even worse.

[firecat69]

You certainly are being inconsistent and buses are useless for many of the arriving flights at night.

 

It is car or walk!!!

[Up2u]

When I was a tourist here there never was a need for a car. When you live here your priorities are different and Pattaya is a much bigger city now. Many of you have never visited the "dark side", Wat Yarn, Nong Nooch (no tour bus), Silverlake, etc. and witnessed the growth to the south and east of Pattaya City.

[ChristianPFC]

I don't drive car or motorbike, I do drive bicycle (when you can rent one, like in Ancient City or Siem Reap or Phonsavan/Xiengkhouang, I don't own one, might try Pun Pun Bike Share in Bangkok some time).

[gumbleby]

I've rented a car 3 times already, every time for a week, visiting BF's family and friends in Isaan.

 

I recognize the remark about mixing up blinkers and windshield wipers. After I return home I occasionally have the same problem again. Fortunately the pedals are in the same places.

 

It helps I've got quite a bit of experience driving on the left ; having a local car also gives the right clues to keep to the correct side of the road  - I'd hate having to drive a left hand drive car on the left side of the road ;

 

I think it's very useful having a local along for directions and to help interpreting traffic situations. I hope my BF gets his driving license soon though.

 

I found the roads generally in good condition and not too busy. That said, the to my BF's home must be the worst road I've ever seen - the locals joke the road has ten-thousand holes. Some sections of the road between Pattaya and Nakhon Ratchasima are extremely winding.

 

I find Thai car drivers hardly worse than elsewhere - at least inland (I guess traffic is crazy in European cities also - maybe that explains it). The motorbike drivers are slightly suicidal (for one they rarely use the special lane on the side of main roads). I like driving in the beginning of the night, the roads are more quiet ; the disadvantage is there's a lot of buses on the road then, they tend to be some of the most annoying drivers. Last time I drove was in January, during caning season, there were a lot of extremely slow, top heavy trucks loaded with sugarcane on the roads.

 

Fortunately all important road signs are Thai-English.

 

I've never driven in Bangkok itself (I rented a car from the airport once - the traffic jams when I wanted to return the car were impressive), In Pattaya I hated driving along Beach road etc.

 

I never had more than a cursory stop from the police.

 

I've also been doing a bit of bicycle touring in Thailand. I generally found it fairly enjoyable. Dual carriageway main roads are very disagreeable unless there's a decent shoulder, I avoided main roads where I could. People were at times somewhat surprised seeing a fat farang touring on a loaded bicycle, they were very helpful and friendly though.

 

I found no complete, detailed road maps for Thailand, I regularly ended up basing myself on the satellite imagery on Google Maps.  Even so, finding the correct turnoff points in villages was a bit of a problem though - I didn't have smartphone or GPS back then.

 

[ChristianPFC]

There are printed maps (but not very detailed, as far as I remember resolution 1 to 100,000 or similar for whole Thailand) sold in book shops.

 

I find googlemaps very useful (and let's not forget there is Here by Nokia and Bing by Microsoft and Openstreetmap; however googlemaps seems to have the best coverage).

 

I often ask locals for the way (easy when you walk and speak the language).

[Gaybutton]

For paper maps, the best I've found is Map Magic, by Thinknet ( http://www.mapmagic.co.th/en/online-store/ ).  The box set includes the paper maps and CDs for the computer.  The paper maps are made from a high quality material that is not prone to tearing.  Several bookstores carry it.

 

If you're going to do much driving in unfamiliar territory, a GPS can be essential.  The Garmin line of GPS products are very good and their maps are up to date.

 

If you have a GPS capable smart phone, the Sygic app is excellent.  I like it much better than the Garmin GPS. 

 

Both Garmin and Sygic have up to date maps, with voice, and have gotten me exactly where I want to go even in the most remote areas.

 

If I were driving a motorbike, I would opt for the Sygic app on a GPS capable smart phone.  That way, you can keep the phone in your pocket, plug in the earphone, and let the voice tell you when and where to turn.