VIP busses ... dont bother

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buksida
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VIP busses ... dont bother

Post by buksida »

A word of warning when booking a bus trip through any tour/travel agent in Hua Hin. They'll sell you tickets for a "VIP" bus to where ever you're going, usually for an over inflated price. The bus is a regular one, not VIP (VIP busses only have 24 seats).

Recently went to Koh Tao on one of these busses, it was nearly 2 hours late, the guys driving didnt really have a clue, they failed to drop us off in Chumpon and continued to Surat-thani leaving us stranded at some Derick Tour station where a plate of rice is four times the local price. I was then faced with a 7 hour boat journey when I should have already been on the island. We arrived at nearly 4pm - thats 18 hours to do a 7 hour journey!

Friends on the same bus were going to Kao Lak, they were transfered to a 3rd class government bus with no a/c or toilet for half of their journey.

I will never use this system again and was only forced to on this occasion as it was Songkran and you can't book the government busses. I wont name the tour operator as they all use the same bus company so this applies to them all.

:cuss: :guns: :angry:
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Bamboo Grove
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Post by Bamboo Grove »

What other alternatives would there be?
1. Take a train to Chumphon and carry on from there with a boat. Trains pass HH for south all night.
2. Take a taxi from HH to Chumphon (should cost about the same as taxi to BKK)
3. Anything else?
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Post by philip »

This seems to happen all too often, although when I went to Koh Samui I booked the VIP bus previous day at the actual Bus Station and it all went like clockwork - in each direction !

Doesn't fill one with confidence to attempt the journey when experienced guys like you two get ripped-off.

Cheers. :roll:
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