I have taken many roadtrips when travelling in Thailand. Each town and province in Thailand are connected through a series of highways.
The highways in Thailand are not like those found in other countries. Here, there are traffic lights and shops along the way. It is only within the town of Bangkok via the paid tolls that those are straight tollways with minimal interruption.
When you travel to Northeast, you would see a lot of paddy plantation. While going towards the north, there are more mountains:
And as you are approaching a new town, you would be greeted by signboards:
This would be similar if you are taking the bus or coach to travel from one province to another.
If you are taking the bus, they may stop at certain places which are not part of the rest area.
But I usually traveled in a car or van… hence we get to make pit stops at rest areas for refuel, washroom, flex our feet, get some snacks or simply to take a rest.
Highway stops in Thailand
I like the way the highway stops are designed in Thailand. It makes the travelling not so tiring and not dreaded even though it would take us hours to get from one place to another.
Usually the rest areas would almost always have 7 Eleven or a convenience store. And the washrooms are well maintained and clean. They also have disable friendly toilets.
Occasionally there would be additional stores such as Amazon coffee, food court, waffle shops, gift shops and even SE-ED outlets (I always look out for bookstores when I travel during year end to get my calendar and diary). Price of the items like in 7 Eleven are standard.
And you can find unusual decorations at certain stops such as the Incredible Hulk:
Or an artificial horse cart drawn carriage:
These are nice to take photos off and with.