Riding in one of these vans is like sleeping with the enemy for regular Thai road users.... These 'white and silver bullets,' that blitz down the highways and bi-ways of Thailand, at skidmark speeds, and with their willy-nilly bumper welding have been a source of massive driver angst for me.... so it was with reluctance and huge surprise, to find out that these road jokers do actually offer an incredibly-good-value-for-money service.
Since moving to Prauchuap a few months back, I found myself stepping into a rot doo to get to Bangkok (the better half needed the car)... and I've pretty much been in one ever since.
The advantages are simple.
To get to Bangkok from Hua Hin one-way is 180 Baht (3 quid). Bangkok to Pattaya 100 baht (2 quid) and Pattaya to Hua Hin 300 baht (6 quid).. You cannot argue with those prices.. If you were to multiply each figure by 5, you've roughly got the same cost of travelling by car (and not to mention you also can't have a kip en route).
SO, since finding this out, I've pretty much 'rot doo'ed' my way all over central Thailand.. Not just because I'm a cheap arse, but also because I now don't get caught up in all the speedway antics that left me so aggro before... I can leave all that to the driver..
A few tips for riding the Thai rot doo..
1. Don't sit at the back seat.. These will always get avoided like the plague by experienced rot doo passengers.... this is because you'll feel every bump, magnified by ten, the suspensions on some of these minibuses have been seriously hammered, and hills and bumps can mean you leave the seat completely (tall people will likely hit their heads on the roof of the van!).. Personally, I've found the seat behind the driver to be consistently the one that offers the most room, or the seat at the front of the van, next to the driver.
2. Try not to carry too much baggage.. It will minimise your already tight space. Leave it at home if possible. And definitely don't travel with small kids, this could be difficult at best....
3. Take food and drink... Most of the times these guys stop at petrol stations etc, but sometimes not. I often enjoy a beer or two on the bus, which can make for a nice night time drive..
4. Don't take a rot doo if you have to keep to a strict schedule (i.e like an airport run). If the bus isn't full, you may find yourself waiting for long-ish periods at various stops en route, so the driver can try to coax people in to top up his takings.. Also, you're likely to fill up at one of those NGV gas stations, and this can take forever. especially if you hit a queue.... I normally calculate the normal driving time, plus an hour and a bit..... this should easily cover it, but not always.
5. Don't be rude to the driver... Especially if you plan to take rot doo's regularly.. The drivers keep the same routes etc. So if you tell him to 'eff off' one day, it'll probably be the same guy driving you next month... Not good.... they'll ALWAYS remember you.
6. Get out the van when possible..... If the driver stops at a station, especially if they're filling up at an NGV, get out and walk off that DVT, even if just for the change of scenery.... If you're near home, journey times can still be long (it's taken me 6 hours Hua Hin to Pattaya before, without going through Bangkok!)
7. If you want to get a rot doo from somewhere to somewhere, but don't know where the rot doo's are, just grab a cab and tell the taxi 'yark bai rot doo hua hin' / or 'yark bai rot doo bangkok' etc (I want to get a minibus to hua hin / I want to get a mini bus to bangkok') etc. It's surely not the finest Thai vocab in the world, but its short and easy to remember, and the taximan (hopefully) will do the rest.
Enjoy the rot doo's! Not for the faint hearted though (but then, neither are the Thai roads, eh).
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