The easiest (and most comfortable) way would be
Morning ferry from Phi Phi to Krabi, then Krabi to Surat Thani by minibus early afternoon. Then sleeper train number 171 (departs at 00:27) straight to Sungei Golok (arrives 10:45am) great scenery once you wake up on the train and far more comfortable than a long bus journey. Then walk across the bridge/border and then take a taxi to Kota Bahru, get your cash then go to Kuala Besut to take one of the afternoon boats.
Don't agree with # 10 at all for a few reasons.. Sorry Chinstrap.....One, the train mentioned is constantly late for starters....So you leave lets say PP at 9 am, putting you on the mainland by 11. Your in Surat by 4, even with a few flat tires, and now you have 8 hours to kill in Surat, waiting for a train that usually pulls in about 01:30??? So 8-9 hours to kill for nothing. Surat is fun, but NOT fun. At that time of night in the Surat train station, the mosquito's are voracious. Yes, its nice to get the sleeper the whole way, but you could be in Malaysia by 9 pm???
To those that mention Penang/Butterworth...its basically in the wrong direction and then you have to take a long windy night bus through the mountains. Not alot to see on the night bus as well, just overcramped legs.
Again, just get to Hatyai, take a minibus to Sungai Golok, cross the border, and spend a nice leisurely night with the local market, a good sleep, and then head out the next morning to the Perentians. . Honestly, its a no brainer. If you are on a budget, once you pass the border, you can also take a public bus to KB. Yes, there are ATMS's everywhere in KB. ANd you don't have to leave KB at 6 am, you can leave at 8ish and still be on the same ferry as everybody else.
Yes, it is a full day's travel from PP, but it's more like 12 hours max.
No need to apologise, we all have our priorities and the great thing about having different options is the person asking the question has choices they can choose from.
~~~So you leave lets say PP at 9 am, putting you on the mainland by 11. Your in Surat by 4, even with a few flat tires, and now you have 8 hours to kill in Surat, waiting for a train that usually pulls in about 01:30???~~~
Good point about the mosquitos, to cut down time I'd take the 14:30 ferry getting to Krabi at 16:30 and then an evening minibus which would get you to Surat at about 9-10pm. 2-3 hour wait (with repellant) and then a good night's sleep on the train, waking up to great scenery and a refreshing shower (if you take the first class cabin)
Personally, I hate buses, deplore them. I also love trains, adore them. If there is an opportunity to travel on one I'll always take it. If you needed to get there as quickly as possible though, then yes you certainly have that covered.
TravelliAndi, I'd say you're the voice of reason on this one. Like I said before, getting to the Perenthians from Thailand is a bit of a ballache any way you try to do it. The "problem" with Thailand is that travel is almost too easy - doing what the OP wants requires something of a more "old-school" attitude to travel, which, IMO, is what it's all about. Be willing to work it out, be willing to overnight in unknown towns, just do it. Better to travel than to arrive, and all that. That's how to have a great trip.
RE# 11 .
quote - "To those that mention Penang/Butterworth...its basically in the wrong direction "
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Yes we know , thats already understood , I was only mentioning Penang /Butterworth again just as a digression to get a couple of facts straight not to suggest that the poster should go via there . I had already agreed with what you said about going via Sungai Golok in reply #8 .
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As for trains versus buses , the trains are much slower and you have that noisy clackety clack of the tracks . So whether the trains are an easier way is more a matter of subjective preference .
To be honest, the express trains are not slower (it takes 10 hours by train to get to SG from ST and 9 hours by road) and given the state of Thailand's road safety and awareness are a hell of a lot safer. They are also definitely more comfortable than sleeping bolt upright in a seat with another seat inches away from your face.
As for going clackity clack noisily, they haven't done that for about 40 years LOL! (With the exception of the Thonburi - Nam Tok line).
Trains are safer both for your belongings and the chances of having an accident and more comfortable as you can walk around and sleep in a bed instead of being wedged into a chair. Its a no brainer.
Although for someone like yourself who always puts price over comfort I can see you would actually prefer to be stuck on a bus.
I have been on the Changmai to Bkok express trains and they took alot longer than the bus. With the bus you can recline the seats.
You seem to know alot about me for someone who claimed to be newbie poster awhile ago.
I have been on the Changmai to Bkok express trains and they took alot longer than the bus.
The train takes 12 hours. The VIP bus taxes approx 10 hours. The Government bus (which I assume you take as its the cheapest) takes over 12 hours.
With the bus you can recline the seats.
With the train you get a bed, a restaurant car and you can walk around. Tell me how a reclining seat on a bus when the seat in front is also reclined on top of you is better than a real bed and a restaurant?
You seem to know alot about me for someone who claimed to be newbie poster awhile ago.
You give a lot away about yourself dave.
Which reminds me. You mentioned last saturday that there is a James Bond book with a character called chinstrap in it. You seemed very proud of the fact if I remember correctly and even had TBL congratulating you for being so observant. Could you let me know which book you are referring to. Cheers.
Hey thanks for all the advice guys. I ended up getting a ferry/mini van combo ticket from ko phi phi to sungaikolok for 770 Baht. I ended up having to change minivans in hat yai. It would be pretty easy to arrange this yourself I reckon. I'm not sure much money you would save though.
Got to the border at 8pm then crossed over and luckily managed to share a taxi to kota bahru with some other travellers. Then in the morning shared a taxi again to Kuala besut then got the boat.
Yes it was a pretty long trip but luckily I'm quite small so found the mini cans comfy enough. If you want to get to kota bahru earlier then you could always stay in krabi the night before so you can get the earlier bus to the border.
Kirsten
RE CHINSTRAP -
The trains do make a clacketty noise on the tracks , you would have to be deaf not to hear it . And the poster wanted to go as directly and quickly as possible of couse its alot faster to do the journey by road going to Hat Yai and Sungai Golok.
On some Govt buses which are not full sometimes you can put your feet on adjacent seat so you can be horizontal . In other cases when its not likely anyone is going to be moving around I put my air mat on the floor and sleep that way . Despite the bad press about VIP buses , a number of times on the Bkok to Surathani buses there has been so much space it was easy to soft space to lie down .
Keeping money in money belt and not putting .valuables in the stowed luggage avoids theft