News Forum - New train service to link Bangkok and Penang in three months

[Thaiger]

Thailand will launch a new train service linking Bang Sue in Bangkok to Penang, Malaysia, within the next two to three months. The initial phase will be a six-month trial period, marking a significant step in cross-border transportation. The announcement was made yesterday, August 20, by Ekarat Sriarayapong, head of the Governor’s Office of the … …

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[Pinetree]

Beware unintended consequences.  It will not be too surprising if a great many more tourists bypass that crime ridden, expensive, scam Island of Phuket and just go to the much less expensive, more attractive Penang. Better food, nice people, less crime, few scams. 

[Ramanathan.P]

Well...have to wait and see its implementations as from BKK to Padang Besar it is only diesel locomotive. Are they going to extend it till Butterworth?

[ChrisS]

That should help with the oft reported over tourism of Phuket as people choose to go to the much nicer Penang instead.

[Marc26]

10 hours ago, Pinetree said:

Beware unintended consequences.  It will not be too surprising if a great many more tourists bypass that crime ridden, expensive, scam Island of Phuket and just go to the much less expensive, more attractive Penang. Better food, nice people, less crime, few scams. 

Guys on these forums have been banging on about Phuket for the 20 years I've been coming to Thailand 

 

And it's busier and busier every year....

 

Sure there are surly Thais emboldened by the tourism 

 

But we frequent Phuket, have been for 20 years and I have just as many good interactions with Thais the same as I do all over Thailand 

[Pinetree]

13 hours ago, Marc26 said:

Guys on these forums have been banging on about Phuket for the 20 years I've been coming to Thailand 

And it's busier and busier every year....

Sure there are surly Thais emboldened by the tourism 

But we frequent Phuket, have been for 20 years and I have just as many good interactions with Thais the same as I do all over Thailand 

The place is expensive, more than Bangkok. its traffic is terrible, its hotels not very good, its airport is over capacity,  loads of scams, the people are generally unfriendly and it's being over come by low life Russians.  Doesn't sound very attractive to me. 

[Ramanathan.P]

Just to put it in a nutshell..."Phuket has lost its original Thai flavour" decades ago. 

[Marc26]

7 hours ago, Pinetree said:

The place is expensive, more than Bangkok. its traffic is terrible, its hotels not very good, its airport is over capacity,  loads of scams, the people are generally unfriendly and it's being over come by low life Russians.  Doesn't sound very attractive to me. 

But you also come off as generally a veey negative person

 

So often times people act in kind 

 

As I said, we been going for 20 years and still always go

 

Had a few issues here and there and yes traffic sucks but if you are where you want to be then it can be great

 

But not everyone enjoys the same places

[Pinetree]

7 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

But you also come off as generally a miserable and negative person

I'm far from that , I like what I like and dismiss, reject, or ignore what I don't. Don't we all do that to one extent or another?  People always seem to assume that they know a person from posts on an anonymous forum, that is a ridiculous idea. I have no idea about you, or who you really are, as indeed is the case with everyone on here.   A friend of mine, on a different forum, gets enormous satisfaction by portraying himself as a violent anti gay racist when he is nothing of the kind. Its his minor pushback on the obvious absurdity of social media,   Like I have stated many times' before, at best forums are merely  light entertainment.

[Marc26]

36 minutes ago, Pinetree said:

I'm far from that , I like what I like and dismiss, reject, or ignore what I don't. Don't we all do that to one extent or another?  People always seem to assume that they know a person from posts on an anonymous forum, that is a ridiculous idea. I have no idea about you, or who you really are, as indeed is the case with everyone on here.   A friend of mine, on a different forum, gets enormous satisfaction by portraying himself as a violent anti gay racist when he is nothing of the kind. Its his minor pushback on the obvious absurdity of social media,   Like I have stated many times' before, at best forums are merely  light entertainment.

I guess

 

Wasn't having a shot, you just seem a bit negative and I do think Thais feed off that 

 

But, like I said above, we all aren't going to like the same places

 

I know Phuket has it's issues, but a lot of places do

 

We been going for so long that we have our spots so we settle where we know

 

And traffic is horrendous 

That's why you mostly stay put in Kamala and over to the beach in Surin so don't face much traffic

 

 

But as far as interactions with locals

I have just as good of interactions in Phuket as I do when we are anywhere in Thailand 

 

 

Out of curiosity, what tourist places do you enjoy?

[Pinetree]

15 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

Out of curiosity, what tourist places do you enjoy?

I rarely visit traditional tourist areas,  as I live here, so I am not a tourist and they rarely appeal.  I food shop in Pattaya, but I don't visit  the beach for example, or the malls. My house is in a very pretty area which I enjoy.  I like Bang Saray, Sattahip, some parts of Rayong, Koh Chang. Kho Samet. North to Loei, West to the border areas. None of those are really touristy places, except for Thais. 

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, Pinetree said:

I rarely visit traditional tourist areas,  as I live here, so I am not a tourist and they rarely appeal.  I food shop in Pattaya, but I don't visit  the beach for example, or the malls. My house is in a very pretty area which I enjoy.  I like Bang Saray, Sattahip, some parts of Rayong, Koh Chang. Kho Samet. North to Loei, West to the border areas. None of those are really touristy places, except for Thais. 

I recently visited Koh Chang for the 1st time

 

I wasn't impressed with the whole island

Actually didn't think it was that pretty

 

But I absolutely loved Kai Bae and thought it was one of the better towns I have visited in Thailand 

 

 

Koh Samet water is gorgeous 

Although accommodation is not all that great on the island