A little tour in the Bangkok Sky Train
While in Bangkok for a short while, I took the opportunity to take some pictures by taking the Sky-Train, in other words, the capital's aerial metro.
Early in the morning, I like to walk. The clock opposite with its Thai numbers, shows an hour late, the temperature at 8 o'clock is pleasant (about 28°C) the sun is not yet too strong, the pollution is not yet too aggressive, and people are starting to go to work as in every city in the world.
Some use the traditional buses, which are mostly crowded, others use motorcycle taxis or the Sky-Train, which we will visit today.
Je commence ma balade matinale dans le quartier de Pathumwan où se trouve le Phantip Plazza,
un centre commercial exclusivement consacré à l'informatique, la vidéo, les téléphones...
Vous y trouvez tous les composants dernier cri pour mettre à jour votre équipement personnel.
Ouvert jusqu'à 21 heures.
Je rejoins ensuite la station du Sky Train, le métro aérien qui va m'amener
dans un autre quartier de la ville en peu de temps et à moindre frais en jetant auparavant un oeil sur le Central World...
A few tours of the Phatumwan district
Workers leaving to return to their workplace
The opportunity to hear from Central World, which is five minutes walk from Phantip Plazza which had been partially destroyed by recent events.
How good is a little piece of fried chicken with sticky rice...
Here I am at the crossroads of RAMA 1 and RATCHADAMRI Rd where two lines of Sky-Train separate:
one going to SUKHUMVIT and the other joining SILOM.
For people allergic to concrete landscapes, I advise to abandon the visit...
A landscape that no longer has anything to do with that of deep Thailand, these thousands of tons of concrete and steel superposed that intersect, that decrease are actually not beautiful to see,
but essential in a modern city with such dense, noisy, polluted traffic....
Although it is not very beautiful, I am nevertheless admiring seeing these enormous achievements, these impressive structures and what they have represented in hours of work, technical calculations, and ingenuity.
Here, a view of the separation of two Sky-Train lines at the MBK shopping centre
There is no shortage of huge shopping centres in Bangkok!
And meanwhile, road traffic is still as dense as ever under the footbridges
Bangkok's two SkyTrain overhead metro lines, separated from the underground network, have been operational since 1999 (after a slight delay due to the 1997 Asian crisis).
The SkyTrain is officially called the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS).
The population commonly calls it - rot faï fa, (rot = car, faï = electric, fa = sky... or BTS)
Pricing is done remotely.
Magnetic cards are obtained from vending machines, they are recovered during the exit passage to be reused.
That morning, I decided to go from SIAM to SAPHAN TAKSIN, (the French Embassy five minutes from the latter)
Distance: about 7 km, duration about 10 to 15 minutes (5 stops), price 30 baht or less than 1 €.
By taxi the journey would have been probably twice as long in kilometres, and the time probably tripled.
That being said, the price of taxi-meters is not excessive, and in this case the advantage of the sky-train is to pass less time to move from one place to another if you have a station near your drop point....
From there, nothing more commonplace than a metro....
The only difference that can be noted is the air conditioning (mandatory in a hot country) and the extreme cleanliness of wagons, access halls and platforms...
No tags, no damaged seats, everything is perfect!
If you "have fun" throwing a cigarette butt... it will cost you 2,000 baht of fine...
but not only in the subway... it's also valid on the street
All I have to do now is choose a means of transport to continue my journey... there are plenty of solutions!
I finally opt for a Tuk Tuk, to join Chinatown which is a few hundred meters away... another very typical and quite surprising district of the Thai capital
The Sky Train
Note that: you can connect Bangkok Airport (Suvamabhumi) to Sukhumvit (for example) via the City Line
in 18 minutes for a modest fee of 80 baht (2 €)....
Notice to amateurs:
No more traffic jams and 40 minutes by taxi (when things are going well) after a long night flight...
provided that you book a hotel near a resort...
Menu Bangkok and Around
