Re: Phnom Penh trip report
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aussie_
[FONT=&]I have just returned back to Pattaya from a 5 day visit to Phnom Penh. After arriving at the airport the process was fairly painless to get the tourist visa. Bangkok Air give out the visa forms and make sure you have a 6 x 4 passport size photo and $US30 cash. I will try another airline next time. Bangkok Air are expensive and you are bussed to the plane waiting 10 minutes away at the terminal at Bangkok. The boutiqu loung...
./FONT]
Thank you for detailed report!
Couple of things regarding the commute,
you said Bangkok Airways is expensive airline, it is a low cost, budget carrier, it's impossible fly to PP and Siem Reap for less. Bangkok Air match prices on most routes to Air Asia fares, they are direct competitors. Bangkok Air usual BKK to PP rate is 1400 baht one way. How can you call this expensive? Air Asia matches that price... But,
Bangkok Air flies Suwarna, and for most people Suwarna is much preferable to DMK, Air Asia flies DMK only.
For traveller from Pattaya, getting to DMK is painfully time consuming, you won't find Pattaya - DMK taxi for less than 2000 baht, while Suwarna is 1000 baht any time. There is no direct bus line. There is a minivan tho, but if you are unlucky, the van is full, and since you have not much time left, your only option then is 2000 b taxi, I've been quoted 2500 as well.
If you really want to take a bus from Pattaya to DMK, you go to North Rd bus terminal, catch a bus to Ekkamai, or anywhere on BTS line, then Skytrain to Mo Chit, and from there A1 bus to DMK. If your flight from DMK is, say, at 20.00, you must leave Pattaya at least 14.00, I'd leave even earlier, BTS can be crowded at rush hour, A1 bus may get stuck in Bangkok traffic. Pattaya to Suwarna is 1.5 hours on bus or taxi.
Coming back with Bangkok Air you are landing at Suwarna and you can take super cheap 120 b bus to Pattaya, I find bus seats much more comfy than taxi seats, taxi usually Toyota Camry.
DMK offers no bus to Pattaya, DMK does have a shuttle every 30 min to Suwarna, but it can take 40 minutes, if there's traffic.
And then there's the DMK itself, smelly rundown shithole.
Flying to Cambodia, Bangkok Air is best choice, but even better option, if possible, avoid Cambodia.
Re: Phnom Penh trip report
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DoubleDutch
you said Bangkok Airways is expensive airline, it is a low cost, budget carrier, it's impossible fly to PP and Siem Reap for less. Bangkok Air match prices on most routes to Air Asia fares, they are direct competitors. Bangkok Air usual BKK to PP rate is 1400 baht one way. How can you call this expensive? Air Asia matches that price... But,
I always Fact Check and for this exercise Google Flights provided the following data for 21 November. Instead of quoting prices I'll use percentages
Air Asia (DMK) was the cheapest
Thai Smile (Swampy) was 30% more expensive
Bangkok Airways (Swampy) was between 85% and 288% more expensive depending on time of day
Thai Airways (Swampy) was 377% more expensive
Re: Phnom Penh trip report
Absolute poppycock Double Dutch! Grade A* Bullshit. For starters Bangkok Airways is not a low cost budget carrier. It is a full service airline with complementary food and drink and luggage included in the fare and even a lounge at BKK which is open to economy class passengers. Secondly it is normally more expensive than Air Asia although in my opinion better value for money. Thirdly it flies to Suvarnabhumi Airport not “Suwarna”. Finally there is lots to see in Cambodia including the incomparable beauty of Angkor Wat and I think your advise to “avoid Cambodia” is absurd - it is a wonderful country.
Re: Phnom Penh trip report
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andaman!
Absolute poppycock Double Dutch! Grade A* Bullshit. For starters Bangkok Airways is not a low cost budget carrier. It is a full service airline with complementary food and drink and luggage included in the fare and even a lounge at BKK which is open to economy class passengers. Secondly it is normally more expensive than Air Asia although in my opinion better value for money. Thirdly it flies to Suvarnabhumi Airport not “Suwarna”. Finally there is lots to see in Cambodia including the incomparable beauty of Angkor Wat and I think your advise to “avoid Cambodia” is absurd - it is a wonderful country.
Buy a ticket 2 weeks in advance, and Bangkok Airways one way is 1400 baht. Is this expensive? There is no way to fly to Cambodia for less, do you get that part?
And that was clearly the point of my post, OP aussie_ was simply mistaken, when he claimed Bangkok Air is too expensive.
Just to annoy you further, I looked at Air Asia DMK - PNH booking 2 weeks from today, 3 weeks from today, lowest is 1530 baht one way. So not only is Bangkok Airways cheaper, it is "full service", as you pointed out, I was wrong to call it budget airline, meaning you get 1 free 33cl beer lol. Great success!
What exactly then is poppycock in my post? You prefer DMK to Suwarna? Fine, but you are then the only person on Earth who feels that way.
Apologies for misspelling Suwarna, but you knew what I meant. No? Here - Suvarnabhumi, hopefully now you understand which airport I was talking about. I call it Suwarna just to annoy you, and people like you. Did you know, people call it Swampy, had I used Swampy, would that have made you happy?
Nah, you'd still be upset, because Cambodia is a shithole, and you know it. Take Thailand, and make it worse in every single way, and you end up with Cambodia.
What's really bugging you? You have misfortune of having to live in Cambodia, and not in Thailand, because Cambodia is dirt cheap, and your pension stretches further there? I always meet expats from Thailsnd, who moved to Cambodia because of 50 cents beer.
Whatever your reasons, please don't tell me it's these fucking ruins lol
Did you catch any spelling errors, teacher?
Re: Phnom Penh trip report
Double Dutch - I don’t live in Asia and am not retired. My suggestion to you is to find a good psychiatrist who can help resolve your troubled and tortured mind. You will find life much more tolerable if you are more pleasant to people. Good luck.
Re: Phnom Penh trip report
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andaman!
Double Dutch - I don’t live in Asia and am not retired. My suggestion to you is to find a good psychiatrist who can help resolve your troubled and tortured mind. You will find life much more tolerable if you are more pleasant to people. Good luck.
WTF was that lol.
I was not rude to you, it's you, who called my argument for Bangkok Airways poppycock, whatever that means. But I really was not rude, I only corrected what were clear, gross mistakes in OP post. That should not make you totally flip, and freak out.
Dude, it is not my fault Cambodia sucks, trust me, I wish it didn't, since the country is dirt cheap, beer 50 Cents US, cigs less than half of Thailand.
But food, oh man, it is nasty! You may think I'm exaggerating, I'm not. Thai food and Cambodia food are completely different, you'd think such close neighbors have similar food, unfortunately not even close.
So unless you are really struggling and every cents counts, no reason to go there.
Gay apps are dead, compared to Thailand, there is no gay areas such as in Bangkok and Pattaya.
Cambodia is truly a developing nations, with visible poverty, you see it everywhere, it is not a pleasant site.
But if you must go, fly Bangkok Airways, it is cheapest flight from Bangkok, to both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
Air Asia has now flights to Sianoukville, via KL, but for the love of God, don't go there.
There is nothing there! (Except some ruins in a forest)
Re: Phnom Penh trip report
Hi Aussie.
For me an interesting post and report. Especially since I am going to Cambodia for 4 days at the end of November, for the first time.
It's interesting to know about Toolbox, and will put that on my list to visit. Thanks also for the app and massage advice, and security etc.
For me I'll be doing the Air Asia option, though I'll be travelling from Pattaya to DMK, and I am under the impression there is a bus link from Suvarnabhumi.
I'll want to do the S1 and killing fields etc, and assume that tour guides are readily available?
Thanks.
Re: Phnom Penh trip report
The Killing Fields are a bit out of town but everything else is close by, if I recall.
Any tuk-tuk driver will take you. I paid $15 to go to the Killing Fields".
Re: Phnom Penh trip report
Thanks for that A!
I'm really looking forward to it!