Bangkok (Don Muang) airport is 23km outside of Bangkok, although the city itself is so sprawling these days that you will see no gaps or countryside. It is connected via a tollway to the city.
It is actually a quick and efficient airport although not one where you would wish to spend too many hours in a stopover. If you have three or more hours you can get a taxi into BKK - see below - and find food, rest and T-shirts a plenty!
English travellers will have no problems there; although Thai is a non-English script language English signs predominate and most people speak some English. Check-in facilities are quite good - they have a strange system where they scan your hold luggage on entry to the terminal and then seal it with a banding machine - and there are fewer queues in the International Terminal than most equivalents.
Once checked in, you must pay a 500 baht (about £8) departure tax... IN CASH... always keep a note in your wallet for the last day. Customs/Visa points are a little slow - esecially on the way in, sometimes up to 30 minutes - and make sure that you are always in the right lanes - Foreign - as they divide queues up a lot.There is a reasonable hotel - the Amari (book rooms online half the price)- at the airport. When arriving and heading into town, skip the limousine services - overpriced - and head into the queue for the metered taxis. They give you a slip with your destination on in case there is a dispute - although what use it would be, I would not know! Try at least to remember the four digit number of your taxi. Having said that, although they try it on all th etime, the taxis are these days pretty reliable.
ALWAYS use the meter in Bangkok, never barter. This has become the morm there now and if the driver will not use the meter, get out... there will be 50 taxis behind who will! You pay the tolls on the freeway - 40 Baht twice - but should still get tere for around 300 Baht - (£6) all in.
Finally, check-in times at BKK are overstated and you do not need that much time. The taxi out - at high speed! - takes about 30 minutes from Sukhumvit Road. Many departures are late night - to land early in the UK/US/Australia - but even so you can allow two hours comfortably and it is possible to do the works in 40 minutes.
Good travelling!
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![Let'S Shop Bangkok Thailand [DVD] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/88249882.jpg "Let'S Shop Bangkok Thailand [DVD] [NTSC]")
Aug 23rd, 2000
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