Subject: Re: [103attendees] taxis

From: János Farkas <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2018 15:30:58 +0100

Hi,

On 10/29/2018 5:36 PM, Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:
> I don't know, never did that. I've always been able to find some of 
> the larger minivans at the airport. I always go to 1st floor at the 
> airport and get a taxi from there going airport->bangkok.

I can only report one sample not a measurement. The key point is that 
the regular yellow-green cab drier did not want to give receipt, but 
directed to the VIP cab, which gave receipt and was only slightly more 
expensive if at all.

Details:

We went to the first floor where the taxis are. A regular taxi is a 
Toyota Corolla. There are 4 queues, the rightmost is large taxi. You get 
a ticket from a machine with your cab's parking lot ID, which is called 
"lane".  This was written before.
We then went to our cab and started to discuss with the driver. I asked 
first about taxi meter, he said cannot do that. He said a price I guess 
600 bahts, but I'm not sure; I was just very surprised that the meter is 
not an option (despite the logo on the rooftop with "taximeter"). I then 
asked him about the receipt. He said he cannot give receipt and why did 
I needed that. I explained that my company needs it for the expense 
report. He then just showed the VIP cab and the booth at the next 
lane/corridor and said that they can give receipt. (I'd call it next 
lane, but they use lane for parking lot, so maybe we can call it next 
corridor where cars can pass.)
So we walked over to the VIP taxi. Both the car and the booth are withe 
and blue. There was a lady at the booth, the driver then joined us. We 
had the same discussion. Both the taxi meter and the receipt was 
absolutely fine with them from the very beginning. The only question we 
had to answer was whether or not we wanted to take the highway. They 
showed the difference in google maps on the phone with respect to the 
time given the actual situation. The highway fee is a 25 baht extra that 
the passenger needs to pay. It was rush hour so we chose the highway, 
got receipt on the highway bill as well. I think it was cheaper on the 
highway given the traffic situation.
So, the ride itself was 660 bahts, plus 25 bahts for the highway.

Regards,
Janos

ps:
As for exchanging money, we saw exactly the same rate for USD at each 
place at the airport irrespective of the logo of the place.

---

From: Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2018 10:51:33 -0400

Bob Hinden writes:
> I was able to add my visa to the app (on iOS) without issue.

Just tried to set up a payment card on Android while on layover in
Hong Kong, hoping that being in Asia would at least unblock whatever
problem was presenting itself in the USA.

At least this time it did give me error messages.  Adding my business
card: "amex card is not supported".  Adding my personal card: "visa
card is not supported".  Well alright then.  At that point I didn't
bother digging deeper into Discover or whatever other card type could
possibly get past "not supported".

The final try will be at BKK at 2:30am.  Whee.

---

From: Lou Berger <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2018 11:34:07 -0400

Has anyone tried Uber?

----------
On November 2, 2018 10:52:10 AM Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]> wrote:

> --
> 103attendees mailing list
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> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/103attendees
>

---

From: "Jakob Heitz (jheitz)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2018 16:09:55 +0000

There’s no Uber. There’s an app called Grab. There’s also a train.

Thanks,
Jakob.

> On Nov 2, 2018, at 8:53 AM, Lou Berger <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
> Has anyone tried Uber?
> 
> 
> ----------

---

From: Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2018 17:31:31 -0400

I said, about the Grab app:
> Hong Kong [and it still failed]

To finally bring this saga to close, while at BKK I finally got my
business AmEx entered and a short while later was on my way. 

It wasn't without difficulty, but I attribute that to whoever Verizon
(my USA mobile carrier) is partnered with in Thailand because despite
having strong signal I was getting lousy Internet performance, and a
timeout in the 2FA process for the card was awfully sensitive to the
poor data service.

---

From: Tony Li <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 07:42:47 +0700

We were able to Grab and then pay in cash.  360 Bhat, including tip.

T

---

From: Mahesh Jethanandani <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 07:49:40 +0700

Grab worked for us with 360 baht, and it emailed the receipt. And if you choose to chat with the driver google does translation on the fly.

Mahesh Jethanandani
[email-masked]

> On Nov 3, 2018, at 7:42 AM, Tony Li <tony.li=[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
>

---

From: Mahesh Jethanandani <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 07:52:32 +0700

One other note. Drivers expect you to pay the toll, approx 75 baht, which he can add to the total, giving you one transaction which you can pay with credit card or cash.

Mahesh Jethanandani
[email-masked]

---

From: Niklas Widell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 00:56:28 +0000

Grab seems to be the way to go, I got a regular green/yellow cab from airport with taxameter and receipt that ended up on 600 baht.

Cheers,
Niklas

From: 103attendees <[email-masked]> on behalf of Mahesh Jethanandani <[email-masked]>
Date: Saturday, 3 November 2018 at 07:50
To: Tony Li <tony.li=[email-masked]>
Cc: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: [103attendees] taxis

Mahesh Jethanandani
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>

On Nov 3, 2018, at 7:42 AM, Tony Li <tony.li=[email-masked]<mailto:tony.li=[email-masked]>> wrote:

T

On Sat, Nov 3, 2018 at 4:31 AM Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:

--
103attendees mailing list
103attendees@ietf..org<mailto:[email-masked]>
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/103attendees
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[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
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---

From: Bret Jordan <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 08:14:53 +0700

I just negotiated 400 baht with the taxi driver.  It was super simple.  

Bret 

Sent from my Commodore 128D

PGP Fingerprint: 63B4 FC53 680A 6B7D 1447  F2C0 74F8 ACAE 7415 0050

> On Nov 3, 2018, at 7:52 AM, Mahesh Jethanandani <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
>>> 103attendees@ietf..org

---

From: Ted Lemon <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 08:41:39 +0700

I will confess to being extremely lazy—I knew I was getting in late and wanted a soft landing, so I went against my traditional habit of taking public transport and just pre-arranged a "limo service" to the venue.   This worked really well, and I recommend it if you don't mind the extra cost, because there's no fuss—it just lands on your hotel bill.

---

From: Töma Gavrichenkov <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 07:16:37 +0400

On Sat, Nov 3, 2018 at 5:42 AM Ted Lemon <[email-masked]> wrote:
> [..] I went against my traditional habit of taking public transport

Which is extremely simple by the way:
- Get some cash from an ATM or an exchange;
- Buy a ticket for the Airport Rail Link (looks like a coin, but works
just like a plastic card) from a vending machine: 45 B;
- Hop off at Makkasan, change to the Phetchaburi subway station
(another ticket): 16 B;
- Next station is Sukhumvit, 10 minutes on foot and you're in Marriott.

| Töma Gavrichenkov
| gpg: 2deb 97b1 0a3c 151d b67f 1ee5 00e7 94bc 4d08 9191
| mailto: [email-masked]
| fb: ximaera
| telegram: xima_era
| skype: xima_era
| tel. no: +7 916 515 49 58

---

From: Piotr Strzyzewski <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 04:46:43 +0100

On Fri, Nov 02, 2018 at 03:30:58PM +0100, János Farkas wrote:

Hi,

> ps:
> As for exchanging money, we saw exactly the same rate for USD at each place 
> at the airport irrespective of the logo of the place.

One should go down, to the train station, to see much better exchange
rates. From what I remember from yesterday's evening:

- Arrivals: 31,03 for USD
- Train station: 32,70-32,72 for 50 or 100 USD banknote

Piotr

-- 
Piotr Strzyżewski
Silesian University of Technology, Computer Centre
Gliwice, Poland

---

From: Ben Campbell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 11:00:19 +0700

You can also just walk up to the AOT desk outside of customs. They will try to sell you on a BMW 7 series, but you can get a Camry for about half the price. (OTOH, there was a short wait for Camrys and a line of empty bimmers).

The Camry to the Marriott cost about 1200, tolls included. They take plastic at the desk.  Much more than a taxi or train, but given a late night arrival and 30 hours since I had last slept, I was happy for the convenience.

There was some gridlock on the surface streets near the hotel Friday night around 11:30.

Ben.

> On Nov 3, 2018, at 8:41 AM, Ted Lemon <[email-masked]> wrote:
>

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Nov 2018 11:34:48 +0700

>timeout in the 2FA process for the card was awfully sensitive to the

If you want a local SIM, it's cheap and easy to get one.  Take your
phone and your passport and proceed to a nearby 7-11.  Walk either
direction from the Marriott and there's one within a block.

They have a variety of SIM packs. Get the one from dtac that costs 49
baht (about $1.50) and says 4G on the front.  The clerk will use an
app on her phone to take pictures of your passport and of the SIM
pack.  This gets you a local phone number and basic service.  Then buy
100 baht ($3) of topup.  Use it to buy the 2GB for a week package for
99 baht, by calling *104*342*9# from your phone.  All set.  If you're
here for more than a week, buy more credit and it'll renew automatically
every week.

If 2GB isn't enough, 5G/wk is 149 baht.  Top up, then call *104*315*9# 

I did this yesterday, worked great.  The 4G is pretty fast, says it's 100MB.

R's,
John

---

From: Lou Berger <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2018 14:35:08 +0900

I saw the mail's about grab, but I also see https://www.uber.com/airports/bkk/

----------
On November 2, 2018 12:10:34 PM "Jakob Heitz (jheitz)" <[email-masked]>

---

From: Ted Lemon <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 12:53:20 +0700

At midnight Google Maps was saying this would take an hour and fifteen
minutes, which didn't sound so good... :)

---

From: Lou Berger <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2018 16:46:38 +0900

Okay, my info was stale...

----------

---

From: "Charles Eckel (eckelcu)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 07:58:08 +0000

Actually, I believe it is https://www.uber.com/en-HK/airports/bkk/ that is stale.
If you try using the Uber App while in Bangkok, it tells you Uber is unavailable in your area.

Cheers,
Charles

-----Original Message-----
From: 103attendees <[email-masked]> on behalf of Lou Berger <[email-masked]>
Date: Saturday, November 3, 2018 at 2:47 PM
To: "Jakob Heitz (jheitz)" <[email-masked]>
Cc: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: [103attendees] taxis

    ----------

---

From: Ray Bellis <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 15:34:17 +0700

> So, the ride itself was 660 bahts, plus 25 bahts for the highway.

I took a metered "regular sized" cab this afternoon - the 45 minute ride 
(which only used the highway for about a third of the distance) came to 
241 Baht.

Ray

---

From: Anna Sharapova <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2018 12:02:35 +0300

Hi, guy's,

A SIM-card you can find in each 7/11 or Family shop.

It's,

Anna

11:35, 3 ноября 2018 г., "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>:

R's,
John

---

From: Anna Sharapova <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2018 12:02:35 +0300

Hi, guy's,

It's,

Anna

R's,
John

---

From: Anna Sharapova <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2018 12:02:43 +0300

Hi, guy's,

It's,

Anna

R's,
John

---

From: Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2018 08:47:43 -0400

> There was some gridlock on the surface streets near the hotel Friday

3:30am too.  Another "City That Never Sleeps".

---

From: David Sinicrope <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2018 08:29:54 +0000

Paid 475 baht (400b +25b+50b ~15+USD) total last night for a large taxi (3 of us + luggage).  Just went to the “Large Taxi” queue at the airport got a ticket that said which taxi/lane to go to.  Asked driver about meter and receipt. Driver said he uses the meter and would provide a receipt. (Cash)  Brought up the hotel address and put into Maps.  Driver used the meter and took the highway.   He even got me receipts for the highway tolls.

Overall pretty easy.

Dave

> On Nov 3, 2018, at 07:52, Mahesh Jethanandani <[email-masked]> wrote:
>