Getting To The Malaysian, British and USA Embassies From Pattaya. Plus Nana or Pat Phong.
Pattaya Ekamai Bus to Bangkok
This procedure could be applied for any trip to Pat Pohng, Silom Road, Wireless Rd, Sukhumvit Rd, or any location along the north end of Sathorn Road.
The bus service departs Pattaya from Roong Reuang Bus Terminal located at the Sukhumvit end of North Pattaya Road in North Pattaya. The trip takes up to two hours depending on traffic. The last trip I did took one hour and forty-five minutes to reach On Nut BTS station. I will tell you more about that shortly.
Take the Ekamai bus to Bangkok. The current fare is 113 Baht and 117 baht back. OK OK what's the difference? Another "I will tell you later". TIT
For those who love the early morning starts the first bus departs at 5.30 am then 6.30 then every 20 minutes.
6:50, 7:10, 7:30, 7:50, 8:10, 8:30, 8:50, 9:10 blah blah
Pattaya Bus Departure Time Hint
When the 6.30 bus reaches Bang Nah Bangkok it will sometimes encounter a load of commuter traffic. This is the "iron dragon".
It moves at the extraordinary rate of around one foot per minute followed by sudden bursts of ten or twenty feet per minute.
Yorky took this route one morning and it took one hour to get from Bang Nah to Ekamai Bus station about 6.2 Klm. With this information in mind it is better to take an earlier or later bus.
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Pattaya Bangkok Bus Seat Allocation
Try to get seat 5, 9, 12, or 17
Avoid seat numbers 27 and 28 on buses that have the toilet in the middle of the bus.
If you sit in either of these seats you will have the chance to breath in the aroma of the rarely cleaned toilet.
Unless you have some weird ass-frying fetish never take seat 41, 42, 43, 44 or 45 they are located right at the back of the bus above the engine and get very hot.
Avoiding The Bang Na Jam
When the bus reaches Bang Na Bangkok it could be moving at a tortoise crawl pace along Sukhumvit Road. To save some time in the traffic get off the bus at any one of the following BTS stations:
- Udom Suk
- Punna Withi
- On Nut
before you get to Ekamai. ( A good relief if your ass is frying and a double time saver if you happen to be on the 6.30am bus)
Getting Off The Bus at On Nut
On Nut is 2.3 KM before Ekamai. This stop is also called LoTUS as LoTUS is right there beside the On Nut station. It would be the Thai penchant to call that stop LoTUS since they are so much into spending most of their free time wandering around the cool SUE PURR! (Pronounced with great emphasis on the last syllable "PURR) Other more practical landmarks go unnoticed.
I once held a post as hotel front desk staff English language trainer, On Fridays, I would ask my class "What are you going to do on the weekend?" There were always two answers:
"Go to the SUE PURR" and
"SLEE PING"
I told the attendant on the bus I wanted to get down at On Nut. "Low TUS eh?" he asked.
I couldn't agree because at that time my knowledge of LoTUS locations in Bangkok was as clear as peering into the canal at BRA TOO NAM during a power outage at 3.00am on a cloudy night. If you don't know what that is like then it's sort of like looking into a dark dog's empty stomach.
Anyway the driver cleared it up by saying. "Eh you can call it On Nut or Low TUS On Nut OK Low TUS OK either is OK. What ever you like. It doesn't matter. Understand?" I think his attendant got the picture.
Hotels near On Nut BTS station.
More Time Saving Get Off at Udom Suk BTS Skytrain Station
Udom Suk station is three stations before On Nut so you will save even more time if you use the Skytrain from Udom Suk station. It takes just 9 minutes to reach Ekkamai station from Udom Suk station when traveling on the BTS. Depending on the time of day it could take up to 40 minutes on the bus.
You will be able to gauge the volume of traffic on the route. If the traffic is bad after the Bang Na ramp down on to Sukhumvit I would always get off the bus and take the BTS. Here again you can instruct the bus driver to let you get off at Udom Suk.I have noticed recently that the attendant sometimes announces "Udom Suk anyone for Udom Suk". Of course this announcement is made in Thai language .
Hotels near Udom Suk BTS station.
If you are planning to visit any of the embassies along South Sathorn Road then you can take the BTS train from Udom Suk to Chong Nonsi station. You will need to change lines at Silom Station (Central) to continue on to Chong Nonsi.
When you travel from Udom Suk you are on the Sukhumvit Line. When you get off the Skytrain at Central look for the sign "Bang Wa". Bang Wa is the last stop on the Silom Line.
You will travel on the Silom Line to reach Chong Nonsi Station. That whole ride takes around 26 minutes and will cost 52 Baht. From Chong Nonsi you can walk to Sathorn Road. If you are going to the Malaysian Embassy then it should take no longer than ten to fifteen minutes to get there from the Chong Nonsi station.
Hotels near Udom Suk BTS station.
Travel on the BTS or Bangkok Skytrain
If you have other places to go on the BTS and you calculate that you will spend more than 120 baht in fares for the day then buy the "One Day Pass" that gives you unlimited rides for the day for, you guessed it, 120 baht.
BTS Bangkok Skytrain Rabbit Pass card.
- The maximum value that can be stored on a Rabbit card is 4,000 Baht.
- BTS passengers can add a minimum value of 100 Baht (in increments of one hundred Baht only).
- The cash value remaining on a Rabbit card is valid for 2 years after the last transaction date.
- When the cash value is topped up the card validity is automatically extended provided it still remains within the card validity period (5 years).
BTS (Skytrain) Loose Change
I also bought the BTS Rabbit Card to avoid having to buy a hand full of 10 baht coins for the BTS ticket issuing machines.
If you don't have those heavy bits of shrapnel in your pocket at the time you need them then you will sometimes have to wait in a queue to buy the coins from the station ticket office.
Screw that.
You will need eight of those sinkers just for this round trip on the BTS.
Once you have the coins in your hand you will then have to spend a bit of time pressing buttons on the ticket issuing machine to get the right ticket. This wouldn't take too long if it is not the first time for you to use the ticket dispensing machine. However if it is your first adventure on BTS you will need to concentrate on which buttons to press.
A Ticket Issuing Machine (TIM) requires 1, 5 or 10 Baht coins. Change can be obtained at any BTS Station Ticket Office. (Machines only give change in 1, 5 or 10 Baht coins).
I find that waving a plastic card over the electronic pad at the gateway (drop-arm turnstile) is a much easier way to get to the train platform. The turnstile has two methods of activating the drop-arms for a passenger to pass through. One is the proximity card like the Rabbit card already mentioned and the other is the slot method where a card or ticket is inserted into a slot on top of the gateway.
On one occasion I travelled with a friend who had never used the BTS train. She inserted her ticket into the machine but forgot to retrieve it at the machine's ticket return slot. This of course caused some confusion when we reached our destination.
Getting to Australian Embassy
Please follow this link for details about
how to get to the Australian Embassy Bangkok.
Getting to Malaysian Embassy
Once you have completed your journey on the bus from Pattaya following one of the train routes mentioned above you can make your way to the Malaysian embassy.
The Malaysian embassy is located at 35 Sathorn Tai Road. "Tai" means it is on the South bound side of Sathorn.
There are two BTS stations that are almost equal distance from the embassy. They are the Chong Non Si and Sala Dang. In my opinion the easiest and closest BTS station is Chong Nonsi.
Chong Nonsi has an elevator from the street to ticket gate level. However when your destination is the Malaysian embassy and you don't mind walking, it is better to walk all the way from the platform along the pedestrian crossover walkway which will get you to the South side of Sathorn Road.
Once you reach the south side, from the bottom of the steps, considering the average walking speed of humans is 1.4 meters/second, it will take about eight minutes to walk to the embassy. The distance is 650 meters.
Note: You should be walking along the footpath in the opposite direction to what the traffic is traveling.
HOTELS NEAR CHONG NONSIIf you prefer not to walk so far then another option is to take the elevator to the ground level then find a motorbike taxi on the corner of North Sathorn. The motorbike taxi fare to the Malaysian embassy should not cost you more than 30 to 40 baht.
Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.
33-35 South Sathon Road
Thung Mahamek, Sathorn,
Bangkok 10120
Thailand
Telephone: (+66) 2629 6800
Fax: (+66) 2679 2208
Email: mwbangkok@kln.gov.my
Website: www.kln.gov.my/web/tha_bangkok/
Office hours:
Mon-Thu: 08.00-12.00 and 13.00-16.00
Fri: 08.00-11.30 and 14.00-16.00
Getting to the British Embassy
The British Embassy in Bangkok is located at
14 Wireless Road (Thai: Witthayu Rd.) Lumpini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330.
Phone: 02 305 8333.
To get there follow the directions above about taking the bus from Pattaya and avoiding the traffic by getting off the bus and on to the BTS at either On Nut station or Udom Suk station before you get to Ekamai bus terminal (the end of the bus journey).
The closest BTS station for the British Embassy is Pholen Chit BTS station. When you get off the skytrain there you will have about 250 meters to walk to the embassy front gate on Wireless Road.
Getting to the United States Embassy
The US embassy is located at 95 Wireless Rd. (Thai:Witthayu Rd.)
Khwaeng Lumphini, Khet Pathum Wan
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok) 10330
Tel: +66-2-205-4000
To get to the U.S. Embassy Bangkok follow the directions above about taking the bus from Pattaya and avoiding the traffic by getting off the bus and on to the BTS at either On Nut station or Udom Suk station before you get to Ekamai bus terminal (the end of the bus journey).
Get off the BTS at Pholen Chit station. From there you will have around 850 meters to walk to the embassy. You might prefer to ride a motorbike taxi to your destination on Wireless Road. That ride might cost around 20 to 30 baht.
