Chanthaburi Tales - Photo Report

[buksida]

Nice report, thanks. Never been there, and although the city sounds interesting, the hellish drive through Bangkok and down the other side would put me off! Your comments about driving through the Chonburi bottleneck remind me of the Nakhon Pathom area - its a similar shitfight if you want to go north from here, which we'll be doing next month.

[Bamboo Grove]

Nice report, BB. It hasn't obviously change much from the days in the early 90's when I went there a couple of times. They didn't have any bars even then but, in those days, all the smaller Thai towns had these sing song bars where the singers performed on the stage and would down with the customers, if invited and if you could speak some Thai.

[Big Boy]

I remember those sing song bars from my time in Isaan in that period. I used to enjoy them.

[caller]

Nice report, thanks. Never been there, and although the city sounds interesting, the hellish drive through Bangkok and down the other side would put me off! Your comments about driving through the Chonburi bottleneck remind me of the Nakhon Pathom area - its a similar shitfight if you want to go north from here, which we'll be doing next month.

I was surprised at the route taken, being honest. The bottleneck at Chonburi can be avoided by taking route 7 from Bkk, as i'm sure most do when going to Pattaya.

[Big Boy]

I rely on my satnav knowing the best route. It clearly sounds as though it didn't.

I remember the days before the raised motorway - it was certainly hell then. When the raised motorway came, it halved the time to Pattaya. That motorway was above the old route. I wasn't aware they'd built a better road.

[Big Boy]

I've just checked on Google Maps, and indeed there is a route 7, but 44Km further. However, both the route I took and route 7 both appear to go through Chonburi.

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[Big Boy]

I've just plotted the route using Route 7 continuing towards Pattaya as suggested, and it added 1 hour and 5 minutes to the journey (84 Km further).

[PeteC]

RT 7 is the divided Bangkok-Pattaya-Mataput motorway. It would have dumped you out onto Sukhumvit near U-Tapao, as it's not completed yet to Mataput. It bypasses Chonburi city completely.

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[caller]

Yes, I know, I've actually driven it from one end to the other. But it by-passes Chonburi and you can pick up the same road to Chantaburi from route 7. I never meant to take it until the end! I just checked the route and it gives 4 minutes difference, but for hassle free driving, I'd take that.

[Big Boy]

It sounds good, because that madness through Chonburi was a nightmare both ways. It there's only 4 minutes difference, taking into account the delays, the satnav should have diverted me that way. Strange that it didn't.

[Dannie Boy]

This is going away from the subject matter, but I’ve often found satnavs to be about as consistent as Trumps policies!!


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[Big Boy]

Google maps is usually brilliant. If there is a delay ahead (Chonburi), and there was a faster way through, it would normally ask. That is what happened a few miles further on - it told me my normal route was congested, and did I want to take the alternative route? I said yes, and that was when it tried to divert through the toll booth marked as Easy Pass.

On the Easy Pass subject, has anybody else encountered only one toll booth, which had Easy Pass above it. The other booths took me on a different route. Was it some sort of magical Easy Pass booth that I could have driven through?

I ask the question because when I went to Chonburi for the footie last season, I seemed to drive through a few unmanned toll booths. I just wonder if any of those had Easy Pass on them, but I didn't notice. In fact only one booth was manned all of the way, which was the last one, and that guy took quite a hefty fee. I was expecting a letter through the door for weeks, fining me because I had gone through numerous booths without paying.

[Nereus]

In fact only one booth was manned all of the way, which was the last one, and that guy took quite a hefty fee.

You are given a coded ticket where you enter the expressway. You are then charged the distance you have travelled depending on where you exit. I remember getting yelled at over the Tannoy trying to exit to Pattaya several years ago, as evidently, I was in the wrong exit lane.

The new part of HWY 7 at that time terminated there, although the extension towards Rayong was well advanced, as I used it not so very long after that to go all the way to, at that time, Sukhumvit near U-Tapo airport, as Pete has posted.

I cannot find it right now, but I did post how to get to Pattaya and beyond without going anywhere near Bangkok,
by using the eastern part of HWY 9, which joins onto HWY 7 near Swampy Airport.

[Big Boy]

Yes that is correct heading towards Chonburi, but the booth at Chonburi on the way home was unmanned as were several others. The booth that confused me though, was the booth with Easy Pass on top. I needed to take that route, but avoided it because of the Easy Pass notice.

I've just re-worked it on my laptop, and I think the instruction was, "Use the left lane to take exit 4-05 for Kanchanaphisek Road/Route 9 toward Rama II Road/Bang Pa-In"

In the end I took the toll booth next to it, which was manned, and I was charged 70฿ despite not having picked up a coded ticket. I presume some magic with number plate recognition camera technology. This did not allow me to join my intended route.

[Big Boy]

Google Maps graphic of the junction. I should have taken the blue route, but couldn't.

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[Edit] Looking at the graphic, the toll booth next door took me in completely the wrong direction. There's no wonder it added 15 minutes to my arrival at destination time.