Ekkamai (E7) Skytrain :: Description

Ekamai

The Ekamai (aka Ekkamai) area of Sukhumvit soi 63 and its subsois marks the end of the Sukhumvit luxury highrise expat region. It has nearly the same nature as the Thonglor region so that the Thong Lor (aka Thong Lo aka Thonglor) description fits both for the most part, except that the luxury expat highrises and general expat population taper off more quickly as you go down Ekamai Road, and it actually ends as you head eastwards in this zone. Both zones cut off at Klong Saen Saep, just before Petchburi Road two and a half kilometers north of the stations.

Ekamai and Thong Lor (the roads and the stations) are only about half a kilometer from each other. In contrast, Thong Lor marks the end of a vast 2.5 km wide residential region from Asoke without any major thoroughfare cutting thru, with Ekamai 3 km east of Asoke. Sukhumvit 71 Rd. (Klong Tan) is just one kilometer east of Ekamai, but by the time you get to Sukhumvit 71, expats are few and far between and luxury highrises almost nonexistent. Therefore, Ekamai is kind've like the second main road on the eastern edge of the expat concentration region. Of course, where the line is drawn is arbitrary.

Worth mentioning, and often a point of confusion, is that "Ekamai Road" is known for a different kind of luxury housing neighborhoods, if you continue driving down "Ekamai Road" well outside the Ekamai skytrain region, 5 to 10 kilometers from the station into Bangkapi, but down the same road. The road changes name, but many expats still call it "Ekamai" for some reason. (More on these neighborhoods later.)

The main difference between Thong Lor and Ekamai is the nature of Ekamai Road as you head north. Whereas Thonglor ends at Petchburi Road and you can only turn left one-way and enter Thonglor only from the east, Ekamai has a full interchange with Petchburi Road, consisting of a flyover of Petchburi, and also ramps with a major intersection underneath having traffic lights allowing turns in all directions in and out.

(Keep in mind that in Thailand, you drive on the lefthand side of the road, opposite of the USA and some other countries.)

Ekamai is particularly relevant as regards access to the elevated expressways in multiple directions. Ekamai is a segment to many destinations.

In fact, many people living in Thonglor will fight to cross Thonglor and contend with the narrow subsoi traffic to zig-zag over the Ekamai on their way out. Some even zig-zag further to get onto Sukhumvit 71 (Klong Tan) for certain routes, but Ekamai is usually the means towards the end.

You can forget about getting onto any expressways by going westward (unless you live east of Ekamai, of course).

Notably, there are no entrance ramps to any expressway directly from Ekamai, except the expressway going north to Ram Indra. Every other expressway entrance is off of another road, as noted in purple on the map. Newcomers are surprised to find that expressways cross over main roads with no direct entrance and exit ramps, or with only one entrance or exit ramp from one direction, and so on.

Also of interest is just going straight north over the Petchburi flyover. That way, you connect to a main north-south thoroughfare. It is also the source of a significant amount of traffic on Ekamai.

One of the problems with Bangkok, which causes a lot of traffic jams, is that the main roads are far apart, causing everyone to divert to a relatively small number of arteries, thereby jamming those arteries. For example, going west from Ekamai, the next main north-south artery is 5 km west, Ratchadapisek-Asoke Rd.

Fortunately, it's not quite so bad because most of that traffic incoming from the north turns off at Rama 9 Road and Petchburi Road, but you will see a good bit of that traffic go all the way to the south end where Ekamai terminates at Sukhumvit. Going north, it's not so bad, since you're near the beginning, before more feed roads. Most of the traffic is oozing in from the highrises and neighborhoods along Ekamai.

Going north on Ekamai, after crossing Petchburi, you can cross or turn in any direction at the junction of Rama 9 Road, but going straight Ekamai changes name and turns into a double-decker road, an elevated expressway and a 6-lane highway underneath, whereby you can turn off on Lad Prao Rd. (off the map to the north), Nawamin Rd., and finally at Ram Indra Rd. a good 13 km north. (This expressway is being extended from Ram Indra to the eastern ring road, construction well underway.)

There are many neighborhoods down this road which are unlike anything in the Sukhumvit region. They are large gated communities with big houses and yards. That is covered on the Thailand Guru website in the section on neighborhoods along the Ekamai - Ram Indra expressway.